Chapter 134: Strategy Meeting
While Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were preparing for the future battle, a meeting was held at a valley many kilometres away.
"Young emperor..." A female voice called, but the young man didn’t respond.
Instead, all his focus remained on a parchment held in his right hand.
"Young emperor...". It was a young man who called this time.
The person called the young emperor lifted his head and passed the parchment to the young man.
After the young man read it, he passed it to the female cultivator and then to another young man.
"What’s your opinion?" Young emperor Zhu asked.
Although it was a question, the three knew that the young emperor didn’t really need their opinion.
His asking was a test, and each of their words would determine their position in the future.
The three looked at each other, and one stepped forward to answer.
"I think we should cooperate to eliminate the Death Flower Ascension Front."
The young emperor did not show any changes in expression. He just looked at the young man and raised an eyebrow.
’He wants to know my reason...’ The young man thought frantically.
He quickly arranged his thoughts and bowed before answering.
"The inner region will not open for several months, and all the herbs in the outer region have almost been harvested. The fight will take place one month before the inner region opens, and we should suffer no losses by cooperating."
"Suffer no losses?" The other young man sneered.
"The Death Flower Ascension Front cannot be taken likely. If things go wrong, we may lose several people, which would not be worth the gain."
"Are you underestimating the young emperor?" The first young man retorted.
However, the young emperor was not interested in watching them fight.
He turned to the second young man and asked for his opinion.
"I think we shouldn’t get involved. Our Great Zhu empire is different from most other regions. We are the least affected by the Death Flower Ascension Front, and there is no reason to confront them right now."
"Don’t forget our Great Zhu empire has a bigger purpose for the thousand herbs garden. If we fail, we can’t justify the delay in the young emperor’s cultivation."
When he heard that, the young emperor still did not show a change in explanation. He just turned to the female cultivator, and she knew her turn to answer had come.
She sneered at the two young men, and her eyes sparkled before she spoke.
"The eighth young prince and the eleventh young prince both have valid points, but they are taking the situation too lightly."
The two mentioned young princes narrowed their eyes and glared at her.
"Say." The young emperor encouraged.
"The eleventh young prince wants to lend a hand, but the eighth young prince is right to consider injuries and fatalities."
"However, we can’t ignore the threat of the Death Flower Ascension Front to our Great Zhu empire and the Cangxing world. Also, the Front has a treasure map."
"We know nothing about the map, and its value is unclear." The eighth young prince argued.
"Exactly. We know nothing about the map, but the BlueStar Treasure pavilion has gone to great lengths for it. This is enough to tell us that the map is valuable." The female said.
"What does the fifth young princess suggest?" The eleventh young prince asked.
Although he gave his opinion first, he knew he couldn’t win this round.
After all, he had never been good at scheming and dealing with intrigues in the court of the Great Zhu empire.
"I think we should participate but on condition."
"What conditions?" The young emperor asked.
"First, we can’t ignore the possibility of deaths, which will affect our position when we enter the inner and core regions later. Even if we send people, we shouldn’t send more than ten."
Like other regions, the Great Zhu empire had fifty places to enter the thousand herbs garden.
Twenty-five of the fifty were distributed to the royal family, fifteen were given to noble families, and the remaining ten were left to common people.
"Do you mean to send out the common folk?" The eleventh young prince asked.
His face creased in a frown and his entire demeanour was against the idea.
"The eleventh brother seems to have a bad opinion of me." The fifth young princess said.
She had a smile on her face, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, which made her look eery.
However, the four people knew the fifth princess indeed had the idea of sending the common folk.
Unfortunately, four of the common had already died along the way, but she didn’t wasn’t worried about that.
When the time came, they would fill the hole with some of the less favoured nobles.
Although this decision would cause dissatisfaction, no one would dare confront them.
After all, the young emperor was the future ruler of their Great Zhu empire. Not only that, he was the sole heir of the nascent soul monster entrenched in their region.
"What’s the second condition?" The eleventh young prince asked.
"The second condition is the map. The map can only fall into our Great Zhu empire’s hands."
"The second condition is difficult." The eighth young prince said.
After thinking about it, there were sixteen regions in the Cangxing world.
If each region sent an equal number of people, they would only be required to send three to make up for the fifty needed for the planned battle.
However, things were not so ideal.
For one, the unrighteous regions were unlikely to participate, and the allied forces may not contact all the regions to take part in the battle.
Although this would place a heavier burden on the participating regions, it would make the division of gains clearer.
However, the participating regions would not give up the map easily.
"In exchange for contributing ten people, we can propose to buy first priority for the map." The fifth young princess insisted.
"The other regions also have the ability to contribute ten or more people." The young emperor stated.
"This is true, but most regions are not like our Great Zhu empire. They neither have a leader nor means to gather in the secret realm."
"They are scattered all over the place and may not come up with the numbers when the time comes."
The other three listened to this reasoning but were not convinced.
There was still a lot of time before the battle, and a lot could happen within that time.
"Other than contributing more people, what other means do you have for getting the map?" The young emperor asked.
Although this plan was proposed by the fifth young princess, he addressed his question to all three.
"Compensation." The eleventh young prince suddenly said.
"What kind of compensation?"
"We can compensate other participating people to relinquish their stake on the map."
"What kind of price would we ask if our Great Zhu was to relinquish the stake?" The young emperor asked.
The eleventh young prince was taken aback when he heard the question.
Without further explanation, he understood what the young emperor meant.
Since they dared to covet the half of the map belonging to the Death Flower Ascension Front, other people also dared to do so.
They would also come up with strategies and would think of compensating others for relinquishing their stake on the map.
’However, ...’ His thoughts trailed.
It was impossible for the Great Zhu empire to relinquish the map, and other participants should also have the same mentality.
"How many cultivators have joined the allied forces?" The young emperor asked.
"There were more than three hundred when we last checked." The fifth young princess answered, but her brows creased right after.
’If they have so many people, why do they need our Great Zhu empire to participate?’
"Why do they need us when they already have more than fifty people?" The eighth young prince wondered aloud.
"I am afraid things aren’t so simple." The eleventh young prince said.
If things were simple, the allied forces wouldn’t send a letter requesting the cooperation of their Great Zhu empire.
"Our strategising is useless until we know more." The fifth young princess suddenly concluded.
The other two had also come to the same conclusion, and all three turned to look at the young emperor.
"The Death Flower Ascension Front can steal other cultivators’ foundations and transplant them to their own people. Unlike our regions, all the Front members are elites. Its overall strength is higher than any of the sixteen regions, the BlueStar Treasure pavilion, and the border guards." The young emperor explained.
"We are also unaware of how the battle will be conducted and can’t assume an advantage until we know."
"Knowing all these, what opinions do you have about the matter?" The young emperor asked and once again looked at the three.
Although his words held no threat, the three felt like the person could see into their souls.
They felt like he could dismantle their reason and always find them lacking.
