'So, that's what the Black Magnate meant with negotiations,' Gravis thought.
Gravis looked at the Sect Master of the Eternal Fire Sect and hoped that the Sect Master didn't lose his reason. If he did, he could flatten the entire Myriad Sect with a flip of his hand. However, his Karmic Luck would essentially drop even below zero.
In actuality, it wasn't possible for Karmic Luck to fall below zero, but there were legends about some things that happened when someone with zero Karmic Luck continued to unnecessarily kill Cultivators.
Gravis was pretty sure that the Sect Master wouldn't want to test if these legends were true.
At the same time, Manuel stepped forward and bowed politely. "I am the Sect Master of the Myriad Sect. How can I help you?" he asked.
The Sect Master looked at Manuel.
Then, he looked at Mortis and Gravis.
"What about those two?" the Sect Master asked, referring to Mortis and Gravis. The Sect Master had seen that Gravis and Mortis were even more powerful than Manuel.
"They are friends of the Myriad Sect, but they are not part of it," Manuel said with a polite smile.
The Sect Master combed his small beard with his fingers in thought. 'Understandable. The people in the Myriad Sect are already very talented, but such a small Sect couldn't possibly house two such freaks.'
Even if the Sect Master planned to kill the Myriad Sect, he wouldn't dare to attack Mortis and Gravis.
Why?
Because the two of them were too abnormal and too special. Only a Peak Sect or similar powers could possibly hope to create two such insane geniuses.
Right now, the Sect Master was trying to come to a decision.
He had two options:
Kill the Myriad Sect.
Don't kill the Myriad Sect.
What were the pros and cons?
The pros for killing the Myriad Sect were revenge for his dead disciples and to prevent future trouble. This Sect had already proven that warring with it was too dangerous. Nearly all the Star Gods in the Eternal Fire Sect warred other Sects due to training. This was not meant as tempering.
The Star Gods would search for tempering on their own. When it came to warring Sects, it was all about teaching the Star Gods how to run a Sect and how to triumph over an opponent.
These were two different parts of training.
So, by killing the Myriad Sect, not only would the Sect Master get his revenge, but he would also eradicate the future danger for the Star Gods of the Eternal Fire Sect.
What were the cons of killing the Myriad Sect?
The killer would essentially lose all their Karmic Luck, and they might even summon the Sin Monsters. At that point, only a cruel death would await the killer.
The Sect Master could send another Ancestral God to destroy the Myriad Sect, but the rules were not that easy to circumvent. Orthar had thought about everything.
If someone decided to send someone else to do their bidding, any eventual damage to Karmic Luck would fall on the person issuing the order. Depending on the willingness of the person doing the act, they might also receive a part of the Karmic Luck damage.
For example, if someone manipulated someone into doing something horrible, the manipulator would get 100% of the damage while the person doing the act would get away scot-free.
If two people jointly decided that they should do something like that, both of them would get 50% of the damage.
The Sect Master could unite the Sect to make a joint decision to destroy the Myriad Sect to share the Karmic Luck damage.
However, there were problems with that.
First of all, not everyone would agree, and some of them would feel forced. This would push the damage back to the person giving them the decision.
Second, people joined a Sect to become more powerful. Karmic Luck was very difficult to increase. The only feasible method was to take on disciples and guide them to power. That took a lot of work, time, and resources.
The disciples joined a Sect to become more powerful, not to become weaker. The disciples would be very angry and dissatisfied with having to sacrifice their Karmic Luck for their Sect.
Third, the Myriad Sect had an absolutely insane amount of Karmic Luck.
Looking at Karmic Luck wasn't very difficult for Ancestral Gods. The Sect Master was shocked when he saw the Karmic Luck hanging over the Myriad Sect.
10%.
The Myriad Sect had 10% of the Karmic Luck of the Eternal Fire Sect, which was insane.
The Eternal Fire Sect had over a hundred Ancestral Gods, and they had thousands of Star Gods. The gathered Karmic Luck of these disciples all worked upon the entirety of the Eternal Fire Sect.
Yet, the Myriad Sect had 10% of the Eternal Fire Sect's Karmic Luck.
They didn't even have ten Star Gods!
Would it be worth it to destroy the Myriad Sect for the Star Gods of the Eternal Fire Sect in exchange for 10% of their Karmic Luck?
No.
Having the Myriad Sect around would only endanger some Star Gods, who could quickly be replaced.
However, if they damaged their Karmic Luck to such a degree, even the Ancestral Gods might run into a couple more instances of bad luck.
They would be exchanging potential danger for some Star Gods for certain danger for all Ancestral Gods.
After thinking about all of this for a while, the Sect Master made his decision.
"The Eternal Fire Sect and the Myriad Sect will have an indefinite ceasefire," the Sect Master proclaimed.
"Could you please elaborate on the details of this ceasefire?" Manuel asked with a polite smile.
"The Eternal Fire Sect won't attack or act against the people or territories of the Myriad Sect. The Myriad Sect won't attack or act against the people or territories of the Eternal Fire Sect," the Sect Master explained.
With this solution, the Myriad Sect couldn't attack the Star Gods of the Eternal Fire Sect without repercussions.
"The Myriad Sect thanks you for your offer, but it has to be amended somewhat," Manuel said with a polite smile.
WHOOOOOM!
The entire Myriad Sect was suppressed by an apocalyptic pressure.
The Sect Master had activated his Will-Aura.
"This is not a negotiation. I am making a demand," the Sect Master said coldly.
Manuel couldn't move under the suppression of the Sect Master's Will-Aura.
Pack!
Gravis put a hand on Manuel's shoulder with a smile, and Manuel could finally move again.
At the same time, Gravis activated his Domain of Sentience.
The Law of Freedom acted upon everyone in that domain, and the Sect could move again.
The Sect Master's eyes widened in shock.
He couldn't suppress these mere Star Gods with his Will-Aura!?
The Sect Master looked deeply at Gravis, who was only smirking at him.
'Who is this person?' he thought. 'His powers are too strange!'
"I think you misunderstood me, Sect Master," Manuel said. "I don't ask for any kind of concession or payment. Instead, I wanted to give you an offer that will make it easier for both of us."
The Sect Master was unused to negotiating with mere Star Gods, but just this once, he listened to Manuel.
"What?" the Sect Master asked.
"Your Eternal Fire Sect dominates a gigantic territory to the east and north of us. We can only expand towards the west. That would be okay to some degree, but your Eternal Fire Sect will surely expand even faster than us. Eventually, we would be surrounded by the Eternal Fire Sect's territories, and with the ceasefire, we wouldn't be allowed to attack your territories."
"This could be counted as indirectly acting against our territories since you would be suppressing us into nothingness. The Heavens are not blind, and they would see the actions of the Eternal Fire Sect as going against the agreement. Thus, the Eternal Fire Sect would be losing Karmic Luck with every moment they surround us," Manuel explained.
The Sect Master furrowed his brows and summoned a map made out of light.
This part of the Eternal Fire Sect's territory was meant for the Star Gods to gain experience with other Sects. Because of that, the surrounding territories would fall into the control of the Eternal Fire Sect and would then be released again to become unclaimed land.
The Sect Master made the territories on the map move, and he realized that the Myriad Sect would eventually be surrounded.
The Sect Master gritted his teeth.
He was furious!
With whom?
With himself!
He had nearly damaged his own Sect!
If he had simply forced his demand, the Myriad Sect would have become a parasite consuming the Karmic Luck of the Eternal Fire Sect.
This would be really bad!
In essence, Manuel's words had helped the Eternal Fire Sect.
He had been under no obligation to do so.
The Sect Master looked at Manuel, his expression a bit friendlier. "What do you have in mind?"
Manuel only smiled politely. "The territory of the Eternal Fire Sect is so big that there are bound to be places about equal to the Myriad Sect's territory. Right now, we are occupying a border region of your Eternal Fire Sect, but in the future, we will be occupying a core region. Border regions can be sacrificed, but core regions can't."
"I am willing to exchange this territory with one of about equal value in a region where we can co-exist without endangering the other's territories," Manuel said.
The Sect Master combed his tiny beard a bit.
"Fine."
