The Magus Era

Huaxu Lie raised his eyebrows and looked at Ji Hao, showing an obviously surprised look.

Ji Hao was good at fighting and killing, determinedly standing on the humankind’s side. Additionally, he was especially talented in many ways; all this already made Huaxu Lie value him very much. However, what Ji Hao just said had shown a practical skill of bargaining, which was an unexpected surprise.

“Is this kid also a master of bargaining and negotiation?” Huaxu Lie narrowed his eyes and gave a cunning grin, that made him look like an old, smart fox. Among the younger generation of human warriors, many were talented, brave and determined, yet, most of those kids were especially simple and honest, never having too many schemes and complicated ideas in their hearts. In a good way, one could say that those kids were upright and straightforward, but in an honest way, one could also call that dull, as if their brains hadn’t yet been explored.

If Ji Hao happened to have some extra gifts besides fighting and killing, having Ji Hao would be a wonderfully and surprisingly great gain that even made Huaxu Lie started thinking about snatching Ji Hao from Si Wen Ming’s hands.

“They…” Di Luolang sounded hesitant.

“I thought you just said no bargaining.” Standing in front of Di Luolang, Ji Hao slowly sighed and said, “How could you say that you will never bargain against us if you can’t even make an offer? Are you truly an emissary of the Di Family?”

Ji Hao shrugged and went on with a weirdly gentle and low voice, “Well, well, I’ve spent quite an effort to capture them from the battlefield, why should I sell them to you anyway? Should I release them, let them bring more warriors back and kill more of our warriors? I don’t think so.”

Shaking his head, Ji Hao then continued coldly, “Not cost-efficient… not at all.” Ji Hao turned to Huaxu Lie and said, “Minister Huaxu, why don’t we just find a nice, commodious place, call as many as Blood Moon’s army commanders together, execute Di Suo and Di Mo right in front of their faces, to let those things know that anyone who offended our humankind will eventually be exterminated, no matter how far away they are?”

“Anyone who offended our humankind will eventually be exterminated, no matter how far away they are?” Huaxu Lie’s eyes instantly shone, he clapped his hands and laughed out loud, as he said, “What a marvelous saying! Hm, do you mean we should execute those two as a warning to the others? Not a bad idea at all. Hm, we can also set two showing stands and hang their heads up to show the world!”

“We should also strip them, I mean their bodies, and hang their bodies as well,” said Ji Hao in an evil, even spooky voice, “When I was back in the Southern Wasteland, every time after we killed an enemy, we always hung the body right on the borderline of our territory.”

Di Luolang abruptly leapt up from his seat.

‘Execute Di Suo and Di Mo in front of hundreds of the Blood Moon’s army commanders, then strip them and hang their corpses on showing stands?!’

‘Such a thing can never, ever happen! Never!’ thought Di Luolang. Once this truly happened, no one could predict how much negative effect it would bring to the Di Family. The hierarchy of the Yu Clan was extremely strict, as well as all kinds of commandments that affected all Yu Clan’s people. All kinds of interests, relationships and hidden conflicts had existed between big families all the time.

Although upper class families and lower class families were all Yu Clan’s noble families, sometimes, the relationship between an upper-class family and a lower class family could be none. In other words, the relationship between upper class families and lower class families could equal to the relationship between masters and slaves. Therefore, among Yu Clan’s noble families, all lower class families had always been ridiculously ambitious, dreaming of taking an upper class family out and dragging up their own families to the upper class.”

At the same time, every single upper-class family had been keeping a high standard vigilance and wariness against every other family.

Carefully and cautiously, they tried their bests to maintain the power, status and glory of their families, no one ever daring to show any weakness of their own families.

Di Sha already died, but his family could always say that he died on the battlefield with glory, and as long as they could have his skeleton back, the family could cover everything up. But if Di Suo and Di Mo were executed in public, the consequences would be unimaginably severe.

One could picture Yu Clan’s noble families as a group of fierce, cruel, brutal and heartless sharks, living together in a big pool. Normally, they got along pretty well, but if any of them got wounded by even a slight little bit, and shed a tiny drop of blood out, all the other sharks that sensed the scent of blood would immediately and madly rush up, tearing that wounded shark apart and devouring it completely.

Therefore, Di Suo and Di Mo could never, ever be executed in public, not to even mention hanging their dead bodies on the showing stands!

If such a thing happened, the Di Family would be destroyed without a doubt, and the other families wouldn’t even need to take any action for it; because Dishi Yanluo, who would explode in anger and shame, would definitely kill every single one of the Di Family’s members, then select a few people from the other branch families of the Dishi Family, to rebuild the Di Family.

“We offer you…” slowly, Di Luolang began talking, while a drop of cold sweat oozed out from his forehead.

“I don’t want any jade coins!” said Ji Hao. He looked at Di Luolang’s sweaty forehead, and began wondering how come Di Luolang’s psychological quality was so bad. ‘Did I push it too far? But I haven’t even named my price, have I?”

Shaking his head, Ji Hao quickly continued, “I don’t want any jade coins. Aren’t those jade coins made by your Yu Dynasty? You can make as many of those as you want anyway. I don’t want those, they might turn into worthless things anytime.”

Di Luolang couldn’t help but yell out in anger, “Nonsense! Jade coin is the official currency of our Yu Clan, and every single jade coin contains the purest natural power! Natural power! Do you even know what that is?! The natural power is the most stable currency, it will never, ever devalue, will never become a worthless thing!”

“I don’t want jade coins!” Ji Hao responded, coldly looking at Di Luolang, “I am all alone, and already have some solid properties in the Pu Ban City. I am not greedy towards those ‘wordly possessions’ at all. What I want are formulae of alloys, secret metal forging methods, structure charts of magic puppets, patterns of magic formations, recipes of magic medicines, blueprints of architectures…well, in a general word… I want your knowledge!”

Huaxu Lie took a hugely deep breath while hearing Ji Hao. He stared at Ji Hao with a pair of brightly shining eyes, while his body slightly quivered. He had already decided that he would do whatever he could to make Ji Hao one of the Huaxu Family, even if that may cost the friendship between Si Wen Ming and himself.

“Hm, do I have a sister who is just in the right age to marry?” Huaxu Lie narrowed his eyes and began murmuring, “No, sisters might not be appropriate…should be one of my nieces or brothers’ granddaughters… do I have one, do I?”

Di Luolang leapt up once again, this time in a great shock. He yelled, “No! Never! We can give you countless wealth but knowledge…”

Ji Hao pointed his finger at Di Luolang and yelled back at him, “Knowledge belongs to the entire Yu Clan, but your glory belongs merely to your Di Family! Oi, I don’t want the knowledge belonging to your Blood Moon, you can probably give me what the High Moon has…hehe… Do you get my point?”

Di Luolang paused, and his eyeballs began rolling quickly in his eye sockets.

Huaxu Lie nearly clapped his hands and hailed.

What a genius! This was the smartest suggestion a person could ever make under the current situation! What a wonderful suggestion! Give up on the knowledge belonging to the Blood Moon but ask for what the other possessors of the Yu Clan’s bloodlines had. Without a doubt, Di Luolang’s conviction should be destabilized already.

“I don’t want your Blood Moon’s knowledge.” said Ji Hao blandly, “as for the other moons…you think about it. Your Blood Moon won’t lose anything anyway. I bet the other moons aren’t as solid as an iron board, are they? If we have their knowledge, perhaps, we will be able to weaken them, largely. Am I right?”

“Till then, your Blood Moon might suppress them and become the most powerful one among the entire Yu Clan!” Ji Hao shrugged and went on, “Most importantly, think about your family glory!”

Di Luolang gasped deeply, looked at Ji Hao, and abruptly gave a bitter smile and began shaking his head, said, “You’re right, the family glory! You are such a treacherous little bastard… We will, certainly… kill you.”