Chapter 496: Trade Offer
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Hmph!"
Sage Baize's reaction to such a change was a mere snicker.
After all, he was once a sage and was powerful once. Against such weak beings, he could probably kill all of them effortlessly.
Composed, he was confident of dealing with the situation.
"Kill!"
"Spiritual sword, go!"
Behind him, two True Divines leapt out together with another True Elemental. Executing his techniques, a long sword essence emerged, striking fear in many.
Looking at the strength of Baize Mountain, even though many dream masters were killed, Sage Baize could still gather 4 powerful beings together!
With a whistle, the 4 of them formed a huge array, surrounding the 3 black dragons within it. Relentlessly, they dished out their attacks.
"I sincerely thank the three of you for helping out!" Sage Baize secretly spoke in their minds. "When we return, I shall appoint the three of you as the Vice Sect Head. The few of you shall chair the elders and decide on important affairs!"
"It's nothing! We are always willing to serve you, Sage!"
Although these 3 people were once Sage Baize's disciples, even though they were receiving benefits now, all of them were still humble, but there was still competition among them. The good thing was that the situation in Baize Mountain had not escalated to the point where the sect would be on the brink of disbanding like the Divine Lotus Cult or the Source Seeking Sect and order was still maintained in the sect.
"Rumble!"
The array vibrated as it stood strong for about an hour.
Finally, after a huge explosion, the black dragons roared as they killed their way out of the array. They came together to form a single entity. One of the black dragon's head suddenly disappeared, leaving a big bloody wound on its neck.
"Roar! Roar!"
With a single roar, the Demon Spirits in the vicinity started to retreat. The 2-headed dragon transformed into a streak of light before disappearing beyond the horizon.
"Who would've thought that it would have such a sacrificial move to allow one of its magical clone to explode so as to allow the other two to escape from the array!"
The 4 powerful being revealed themselves as a True Divine sighed in disappointment.
"This dragon is not simple. It not only has wisdom but is also proficient in this secret technique..."
Sage Bazie stroked his beard. "To split itself into 3 without losing any power in each magical clone is the perfect '3 Clones in a Single Breath' technique in the legends. I suspect that its lost head will be able to regrow in no time."
Up to this point, Sage Baize unknowingly glanced towards the True Elemental who was wielding a sword.
If not for the fact that this True Elemental was selfish and was not willing to give it his all, they might be able to take down another dragon's head.
Unfortunately, Sage Baize was no longer in control of the situation. He had to compromise with the rest. Otherwise, Baize Mountain would not be able to hold up.
"None of us could've done anything to help the situation!"
The True Elemental who was wielding a sword was an old man in green robes. As he spoke, his eyes glistened. "These Demon Spirits evolve too quickly and it is getting hard to defend against them. Furthermore, they now have wisdom and might even combine forces! Sect Head, quickly make a decision!"
"To relocate?"
Sage Baize's face twitched.
Relocation was not as simple as activating the array and walking away. They would have to form a huge party to traverse through the disaster-plagued Da Qian.
To most people, the act of relocation was a disaster in itself!
However, it seemed as though Sage Baize was almost about to bear the consequences of being the one making the decision.
"Cough cough... this is the last resort. As long as we have resupplies in the form of either manpower or resources, we can continue to maintain this stalemate... After all, even though we dream masters are no longer powerful, we can still injure these Demon Spirits with our limited usage of dream elemental force!"
A True Divine displayed a different stance.
"That's right!"
Another True Divine quickly concurred. "The allied forces of the 3 Grand Organisations should help each other out!"
The Divine Lotus Cult was long swept by Fang Yuan and the Source Seeking Sect was split and therefore, these two organisations were no longer taken into consideration.
In a short period of time, these two long-standing organisations led by sages fell just like this, and this was a huge blow to many dream masters in Da Qian.
"Hmph! We cannot trust Evil Divine! He had used the heavenly evil force to control his elders previously, turning them into puppets. His disciples do not dare to talk about this issue. Now that chaos is everywhere, their sect is also troubled. Coupled with the invasive Demon Spirits, they are already troubled enough. Do you think they will come to our assistance?"
Sage Baize's expression changed. He had never thought about this before. "To make things worse... The good should not work with the evil. We have caused trouble for them before and therefore, we will never know if they truly want to help us or not."
"Since we cannot rely on the Evil Divine Sect, on the other hand, the Realm Alliance has always been neutral and our relationships are alright..."
An elder gazed towards the retreating demon army as the stone figurines returned to their places. The dazzling gems on them slowly dimmed. "Considering our prowess, we cannot hold on for long. Notwithstanding other issues, the pressing issue of the lack of spiritual rice and other basic necessities is enough to push us to desperation."
At that moment, all the dream masters remained silent.
Their resources had all been destroyed during the war. These dream masters were the most luxurious bunch and only knew how to obtain more resources from the realm in the past. How would they consider these problems before?
Now that they were all weakened and defeated after the war, they finally knew the hardships of being an average human living in Da Qian.
"Realm Alliance? Hmph!"
This time, it was the True Elemental wielding the sword who raised an objection. They are but a group of dispersed individuals. With the war, I'm sure more than half of them would have fled, especially so for The Ancient One. Being ever-so scheming, he might have already cultivated himself into a True Divine or True Elemental on his own. According to our insider information, he has locked himself up in isolation since returning from the war. What do you think he might be planning? If you ask me, I would choose to believe that this person might be even more dangerous than Evil Divine!"
In the war at the Jade Capital, the allied forces were defeated without a doubt. The sage of the Realm Alliance was already a True Elemental before the war and therefore, his losses were the least among the 5 sages.
Furthermore, there was a small rebel coming from his alliance - Fang Yuan!
All of these had already led to the dissatisfaction of many.
"The Ancient One is indeed scheming!"
Sage Baize had to agree with this. "Furthermore, he always seems calm and composed. He might not come to our help."
Everyone remained silent once more.
Dream masters were once the owners of the world. Other than the 5 Grand Organisations, it was impossible for them to seek help elsewhere considering the bad blood and the feud formed with every other organisation in Da Qian.
Everyone felt a sense of pity as they quietly returned to the sect.
"Sage! Elders!"
At this point in time, a deacon quickly rushed in with a weird expression.
"What happened?"
Sage Baize glared at him.
This deacon was once a 6th Tier Illusionary Divine dream master, the in-charge of a territory. Now that his cultivation was lost, he was demoted to become a runner, which was already considered rather good for other dream masters could not even obtain a role within the sect.
"Someone delivered a letter to us, claiming that they want to engage in a trade!"
The deacon's expression was weird as he presented a piece of jade to Sage Baize.
"Eh?"
Sage Baize took the jade and swept through it with his spiritual will before revealing the same weird expression as the deacon. "Take a look!"
He casually passed the jade to the elder wielding the sword.
"Fang Yuan? 9 Extremes Mountain?"
The elder wielding the sword took in a deep breath. "This person has disappeared after causing trouble at the Divine Lotus Cult. Who would've thought that he had established a sect for himself at the 9 Extremes Mountain!"
To think about it, the environment of 9 Extremes Mountain was comparable to even Baize Mountain in these tumultuous times.
"He is proposing a trade with us to use spiritual rice and elemental crystals in exchange for the recordings of dream masters' recordings and valuable pieces of information. Furthermore, he is proposing that we assist each other in times of need. What do you guys think?"
Sage Baize scanned around, looking at the reaction of the elders.
"We don't really have any bad blood with this person..."
A True Divine spoke as he totally disregarded Fang Yuan's relationship with Master Heartless.
Years before, Master Heartless had made many enemies everywhere, including the dream masters of Baize Mountain. However, in such troubled times, those dream masters with bad blood against Master Heartless were long dead and the remaining few were too weak to even pose any resistance.
In other words, the benefits which they were about to receive from Fang Yuan were able to shut any potential resistance among the elders.
"The thing is... why is this person after dream masters' recordings and valuable information?"
Another True Divine among the elders was confused.
If this was before the war, Fang Yuan's act of eyeing on other sect's dream masters' recording would be scrutinised and soon after, he would be hated upon.
However, now, these recordings were as useful as a bowl of vegetables.
"Could it be that... the dream dao can be salvaged?"
The True Elemental elder started to mumble to himself. Although he knew that it was impossible, he was still unwilling to lose all hope for the dream dao.
The 3 of them gazed at Sage Baize.
Sage Baize had already tried all means. He was once a sage and therefore, he knew more than anyone else that the dream dao was gone for good!
Shaking his head, he looked towards the deacon. "Tell me more about it..."
"Reporting!"
With a helpless look, the deacon started to report. "We have already gathered over a hundred disciples with their cultivations ranging from a dream-accessing dream master to a 7th Tier Illusionary Divine dream master. We have tried different means and have confirmed that all of their actualised dream worlds have crumbled and can no longer be repaired... Those with their cultivations below the Illusionary Divine stage had turned into normal human beings. While the Illusionary Divine dream masters might still be able to use their dream elemental force, they can only do basic control, transference and release of it and at most use the illusionary traits of dream elemental force to confuse the enemy. However, they will no longer be able to actualise objects."
The actualised dream world was the foundation of an Illusionary Divine dream master, the potential hollow! The key was in being able to actualised objects within it!
Without this ability, dream masters would be no different from the rest in the Demonic Heart Realm in terms of the usage of dream elemental force.
"Such usage of dream elemental force would make it similar to martial arts elemental force..."
The 3 elders appeared desolated. "The usage of dream elemental force will still be more limited compared to martial arts elemental force even if we were to change our cultivation to become a dream martial artist."
"At such a young age, Fang Yuan had already cultivated in both martial arts and the dream dao, pushing both of this cultivation levels to the level of a powerful being. He is a rare talent indeed and must be ambitious enough to find a new dao and restore the dream dao!"
Sage Baize spoke his mind. "After reading this letter, I believe that all dream masters should put our differences aside and work together to find a solution to this problem!"
"This is an ambitious goal. Unfortunately, it is too... naive!"
The remaining dream masters sighed.
Working together was the most optimum. However, dream masters were all scheming and selfish. Against a calamity, they would not completely trust each other.
Ambitions would always remain as ambitions!