lovenovelstory #451 - trade
#451 - trade
Chapter 448: The Deal
Before Zhang Chen, arrays had never existed in this world, so it's normal that the Bear Demon King wouldn't recognize it.
“This seems to be the legendary array,” Bai Cang said. As the old ancestor of the Fox Clan, he had explored countless mysterious ruins and seen records of great arrays in ancient books.
“Array? What is that?” The Bear Demon King asked curiously.
Bai Cang said, “It seizes the creation of heaven and earth and the mysteries of the sun and moon. It is a mysterious array that can overcome the strong with the weak. Its power is a thousand times greater than a Feng Shui array!”
The Bear Demon King's expression turned serious upon hearing this: “So, we're in trouble?”
“Not just in trouble, but in immense trouble! This great array is filled with fierce winds and is utterly vicious. We must never step into it,” Bai Cang said.
“How fierce can it be? The range covered by this array is limited. As long as we use 法天象地 (Law, Heaven, Image, Earth, a powerful transformation technique), can't we crush it?” The Bear Demon King was unconvinced.
“In other places, we could easily destroy the array, but this place is connected to the ancestral veins of the Northern Lands. Destroying the array is equivalent to directly attacking the earth's veins,” Bai Cang shook his head, rejecting the suggestion. His eyes were fixed on the array before him, filled with gloom.
“Now, we can only try to negotiate,” Bai Cang took a breath, his voice like thunder, entering the Nine Bends Yellow River Array:
“Zhang Chen, can you come out for a meeting? I, the old ancestor, have something to say.”
“What do you have to say? Things have come to this point, and we've already torn off the pretense. Only one of us can live between you and me. Do you think there's still a need to negotiate?”
“I can help you deal with the Pingbian Royal Mansion!” Bai Cang said, revealing his trump card.
Zhang Chen's heart stirred upon hearing this. If he could use the hands of the demon race to strike at the Pingbian Royal Mansion, it would be entirely beneficial to him.
“How can I believe you? Don't think I don't know that the demon race and the Pingbian Royal Mansion are already in cahoots. You say you'll help me deal with the Pingbian Royal Mansion? I don't believe you,” Zhang Chen sneered from within the Nine Bends Yellow River Array.
Bai Cang looked at Zhang Chen with a surprised expression, never expecting that the demon race and the Pingbian Royal Mansion's plan had been seen through by Zhang Chen.
“I'll tell you a piece of news, and you'll know my sincerity,” Bai Cang said. For the sake of his physical body, he couldn't care less at this point. His physical body's bloodline had evolved to seven tails, only one step away from eight tails. He absolutely couldn't give up this physical body of his.
“Tell me,” Zhang Chen said noncommittally.
“The Pingbian King has already colluded with the demon race and secretly withdrawn the three million troops from the Bone Wall. Now, the demon race's army has already ascended the Bone Wall and completely occupied it. As long as I give the order, millions of demon race troops will rampage and drive straight into the territory of the human race,” Bai Cang said solemnly.
Zhang Chen's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, and a hint of horror appeared in his eyes: “The demon race has already taken control of the Bone Wall?”
“Otherwise, why do you think we demon race experts would dare to swagger into the human race's territory and cause trouble? We always have to leave a way out for ourselves, don't we?” Bai Cang stared at Zhang Chen: “This news is top secret and is enough to prove my sincerity.”
Zhang Chen fell silent, quickly weighing the various aspects, his eyes so gloomy that they seemed to drip water.
“How do you want to cooperate with me?” Zhang Chen asked.
“You want to flatten the Pingbian Royal Mansion, and I also want to annex the Pingbian Royal Mansion's forces. I think we can cooperate. When the time comes, my demon race will get the Pingbian Royal Mansion's territory, and your enemy will be reduced to ashes. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?” Bai Cang said, his voice filled with temptation.
Zhang Chen had to admit that Bai Cang's words made a lot of sense.
Zhang Chen shook his head after hearing this, rejecting Bai Cang's suggestion: “Your plan is good, but I can't betray my race. Once the demon race invades the human race's land, I don't know how many human race civilians will become blood food. How could I, Zhang Chen, do such a conscienceless thing?”
Although Zhang Chen wanted to kill the Pingbian King's ancestors and descendants, he was still a human and still had a human conscience. He couldn't do something that would cause his future generations to point fingers at him.
He, Zhang Chen, didn't want to bear the eternal infamy.
“Even if you don't do it, the Pingbian King has already done it. Moreover, the demon race's army has already occupied the Bone Wall, and millions of troops are eyeing it covetously outside the Bone Wall. Furthermore, armies from various races are constantly rushing over. This is the general trend, and even if the three great divine artifacts of your human race descend, they won't be able to stop this trend,” Bai Cang said solemnly, carefully analyzing for Zhang Chen:
“Regardless of whether you harm the Pingbian Royal Mansion, the demon race's army entering the pass has already become a foregone conclusion. This is beyond human power to change. And the culprit of all this is the Pingbian King. If you can kill the Pingbian King, you can be considered to be eliminating a scourge for the human race. Otherwise, if you continue to let the Pingbian King live, who knows how chaotic the Northern Lands will become! Little friend, this action will be immeasurable in merit.”
Zhang Chen agreed with these words. The great chaos in the Northern Lands had already become a foregone conclusion. Cooperating with the demon race to kill the Pingbian King wouldn't affect the situation in the Northern Lands.
But he wasn't a fool and knew the significance of the Pingbian King to the Northern Lands. If the Pingbian King was still alive, the backbone of the Northern Lands wouldn't disappear. The Pingbian King still had the ability to clean up the mess and resist the demon race. If the Pingbian King died, the situation in the Northern Lands would be chaotic to the worst extent, and it would be completely irreparable.
“If I kill the Pingbian King, the situation in the Northern Lands will be even worse. At that time, the Northern Lands will be leaderless and will completely lose their ability to resist. But that Pingbian King is the culprit, a traitor to my human race. Just because of the situation in the Northern Lands, should I continue to let him live and cause trouble for myself? Moreover, only when the Pingbian King dies will the imperial court have a chance to take back the Northern Lands and perhaps end the turmoil as quickly as possible,” Zhang Chen constantly weighed the gains and losses in his heart, his heart constantly battling within the array.
His inner struggle and torment were beyond the understanding of outsiders.
After a long time, Zhang Chen gently exhaled: “How can I be sure that you won't go back on your word? What if I return your physical body to you, and you then gather demon race experts to surround and kill me? How can I survive?”
In the end, he still chose to cooperate with Bai Cang to kill the Pingbian King, that bastard. He didn't want to show any mercy to this kind of traitor.
Hearing Zhang Chen's words, Bai Cang said with a wry smile: “You can ask Chen Sanliang to be the guarantor! Chen Sanliang has a high status in my demon race. If he is willing to be the guarantor, we can definitely rest assured and complete the cooperation.”
Hearing Bai Cang's words, Zhang Chen's expression was surprised: “Chen Sanliang's status is so high?”
“Mr. Chen is a powerhouse who is only one step away from proving the Dao of the Yang God and controls a great Dao. This kind of person is a treasure in any race. Moreover, the demon race's ability to occupy the Bone Wall this time and cooperate with the Pingbian Royal Mansion was all thanks to Mr. Chen's efforts to bring it together. This time, the demon race invaded the human race, and Mr. Chen Sanliang was ordered by the old ancestor to be the sole commander!” At this time, Bai Cang didn't care about the demon race's secrets for the sake of his physical body and blurted them all out.
Zhang Chen's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing this, and a huge wave rose in his heart: “Chen Sanliang has actually mixed to such an extent? He is actually the mastermind of this demon race invasion?”
The fox demon controlled the power of the mind and only sensed the fragments of thought flowing from Zhang Chen's body. How could she not know what Zhang Chen was thinking? So, she said with a smile: “You must know that the demon race is a collective name for countless races. Your human race is actually a part of the demon race. If you call it by the name of demon, you can call it: Human Demon. The demon race is a large collective name, under which there are fox clans, tiger clans, cats, etc. When you count them, your human race is also one of them. It's just that your human race's ancestors became strong back then and thought that they were not the same kind as the demon race. So, they abandoned the name of demon and independently called themselves the human race, and also expelled all the demon races. So, the demon race had no choice but to unite to fight against the human race.”
“So, there are Human Demons in the demon race, which is not a rare thing,” Bai Cang explained to Zhang Chen. He explained it really carefully, trying his best to eliminate the trace of estrangement in Zhang Chen's heart.
Zhang Chen suddenly understood. It turned out that there was such a saying about the human race and the demon race:
“Go and invite Mr. Chen Sanliang. I have something to ask Mr. personally.”
Bai Cang didn't say much. His Yin God went away. After another half day, Chen Sanliang and Bai Cang came together.
At this time, within the array, Bai Cang's physical body had only two lives left, while Zhang Chen's Blood God Sons had made considerable progress.
“Zhang Chen.” Chen Sanliang stood outside the array, his figure thin and looking as if he could be blown down by a gust of wind. The whole person looked much older, and the hair on his head had all turned white.
“Sir, you've gotten old again,” Zhang Chen looked at Chen Sanliang, who was still wearing the robe sewn by Han Suzhen back then. The robe had been worn out and damaged, patched up in a mess, and he couldn't help but sigh.
“I didn't expect you to have such abilities, forcing Mr. Bai Cang into this state,” Chen Sanliang looked at Zhang Chen, his eyes full of gratification.
“It's a pity that my abilities came too late. Otherwise, Master wouldn't have died in vain back then,” Zhang Chen stared straight at Chen Sanliang, testing Chen Sanliang's reaction.
Sure enough, Chen Sanliang's eyes revealed deep-seated hatred upon hearing this, and his eyes were filled with killing intent: “Those hypocrites of the Confucian school really deserve to die! One day, I will kill them all, grind their bones to ashes, and dig up their ancestral graves!”
It could be seen that the hatred in Chen Sanliang's heart had reached an irresolvable point.
With the ups and downs of his emotions, the muscles on his face twisted, as if he were a vicious ghost crawling out of Avici Hell, terrifying and狰狞 (zhengning, hideous), causing people to tremble involuntarily.
“So, is this the reason why Sir led the demon race's army to cross the Bone Wall?” Zhang Chen asked.
Chen Sanliang nodded: “That's right, that's my reason! I want all the people of the Confucian school to be buried with me!”
Zhang Chen couldn't speak at this time. He wasn't Chen Sanliang and couldn't stand in Chen Sanliang's position to feel the pain of losing a loved one. Naturally, he couldn't persuade others to be 'magnanimous'.