"As I said before, war is inevitable. If for the sake of feeding your people you attack another sea kingdom, not only will you be the trigger for the death of even more of your people but your own father and family will surely not let you go easily. On the other hand, the power of you sea lives fall greatly when you step on land, so, no matter how powerful you are, you will definitely experience many casualties."
The words that Bai Zemin said once again hit critical points that made the mermaid princess's heart clench tightly. She, despite being taken for a fool, had naturally thought about the points Bai Zemin had just made and therefore knew that as cruel as the reality may be that was the truth she had to live in and therefore accept.
Attack other sea kingdoms? Sure, surely Xian Mei'er would obtain many corpses of other creatures to feed her people. But in return, she would unleash a war that would kill millions.
Attack zombies or humans on land? Sure, Xian Mei'er would surely get some bodies to feed her people. But with the drastic decline in power of the sea creatures as they left the waters, the casualties her people would suffer would be catastrophic; hadn't she experienced it a week ago in the war of the four races on the bridge?
In fact, there were even many sea creatures that did not have the ability to leave the seas.
Therefore, her hands were tied in this situation. After all, just like Bai Zemin, the Seventh Princess of the Eastern Sea was not a supreme existence at all as to do as she pleased.
"… Do you have something in mind?" Xian Mei'er looked at Bai Zemin with narrowed eyes.
She didn't believe that someone like Bai Zemin could have become so strong just coincidentally. To be strong, an existence also needed intelligence or tremendously powerful instinct to take them to the top!
"Of course, I do." Bai Zemin smiled faintly and his eyes flashed curiously as he slowly said, "You, as the Seventh Princess of the East Sea, cannot attack other sea realms to avoid a war…. But I am different. After all, I am human!"
Xian Mei'er wanted to say something but Bai Zemin raised a hand to indicate her to be silent for a moment, then, he continued:
"Besides, just like in the seas, on land there are many races other than my human race. But in contrast to your sea lives, land creatures like us do not form firm kingdoms yet so we are all fighting fierce wars constantly." Bai Zemin's eyes flashed with a touch of coldness as he said, "Then, if you help me, you will be able to obtain hundreds of thousands and even millions of corpses of all kinds of species to feed your people."
The eyes of Xian Mei'er shined brightly as if a million stars that had been sleeping inside awakened at the same time when Bai Zemin's words clicked in her brain.
Just as Bai Zemin had just said, everything that was trouble to Xian Mei'er was nothing to him! What to her meant war to him was just a natural act to do!
However, even though everything seemed perfect, the mermaid princess was no simpleton. She noticed several weak points in the statements of Bai Zemin so she didn't hesitate to point them out next.
"So… You're telling me that if we team up, we'll both get what we want without harming the other?" Xian Mei'er asked with a frown. Seeing Bai Zemin nod, she asked in confusion, "But I don't understand, why would you choose me?"
In the seas, the intelligence of many creatures was no different from the intelligence of a human being; especially royalty members like Xian Mei'er. Therefore, if Bai Zemin wanted to form an alliance, with his power he could easily seek his ways to contact some other prince or princess who was in a better position than her and surely none would refuse.
After all, who would turn down such a powerful ally when the battle for the throne of Lost City was becoming increasingly dangerous and heated? Even if Bai Zemin was a being of the earth, there were many treasures in the seas capable of helping him close that gap for a certain period of time; more than enough time for him to cause chaos among the other sides with his monstrous strength.
"Naturally, I have my reasons." Bai Zemin raised a hand with his clenched fist and extended a finger upward. "First of all, you are trustworthy. You have proven yourself before and I am sure that considering your pride and kindness to your people you will not break your own principles. While it is true that the other princesses or the other princes of the East Sea might be as trustworthy as you, I have no time to waste looking for them and I don't want to risk meeting a treacherous dog either."
Although Xian Mei'er did not understand the slang "treacherous dog" very well, she understood 99.9% of what Bai Zemin wanted to explain with his words. Moreover, it was clear from how he openly narrated about his urgency that he was being sincere about this.
"Second point." Bai Zemin extended another finger upwards and continued calmly, "Unlike the other princes and princesses who are willing to kill themselves just for the sake of sitting on some golden or diamond throne, you, Xian Mei'er, you scramble your head thinking of ways to help your people without harming your family even though they would not hesitate to kill you for a single second if it is for their benefit. I think this is another proof of your dignity and pride, therefore, one more point to trust you for."
Xian Mei'er looked at Bai Zemin with weird eyes and could not help but remark, "Even though they are my siblings, we only share blood on our Lord Father's side. In fact, considering that my mother is only a low-ranking mermaid it is already a miracle that I am considered part of the royal family."
However, Bai Zemin shook his head and said in a firm voice, "Family is family. There is no need for us to debate this point here, princess. You and I were raised differently and thus our views towards our family probably differ greatly as well, therefore, it is better not to waste time on this matter."
Although Xian Mei'er was still confused, since to her the other princes and princesses were not family at all, she nodded without saying anything else. After all, as Bai Zemin had just pointed out, the two of them had lived 1000% opposite lives until now. Moreover, she was also surprised at how heavy his voice was as this was probably the first time she had heard the human in front of her be so unwavering about something.
But in fact, from the point of view of Bai Zemin, the words of Xian Mei'er were no different from pure nonsense. He had lived his whole life with a girl he didn't even share half a drop of blood with, they were raised together as siblings and were close as if they really were, just because he didn't share any DNA with her Bai Zemin shouldn't consider Meng Qi as his sister? Pure bullshit.
To him, the family was the family and the family should be there to help and support each other, not to kill each other for some gold coins. Simple as that.
Putting aside the mermaid princess's question, Bai Zemin raised a third finger and said in a serious voice: "Third and final point…. Our goals somehow align with each other in such a way that we will do little or no harm to each other's interests."
Xian Mei'er lowered her head to think for a moment before raising it again and asking, "You still haven't told me what you want." She frowned and pursued, "Bai Zemin, what is your goal and what do you have in mind to achieve it? I cannot give you an answer until I know this."
Bai Zemin lowered his hand again and said without missing a beat, "My goal is simple. First of all, I want to rule China and I must achieve it before 11 months pass from this point."
"… I see." Xian Mei'er was not too surprised by the goal of wanting to rule China, what surprised her was the clearly tight time limit. However, she didn't know much about surface affairs so she didn't get too much into it either.
"In exchange for your help in making me the King of China, I will help you become Queen of the East Sea." He said, taking the mermaid princess by surprise.
"Queen of the East Sea? The Lost Queen?" Xian Mei'er raised her voice and practically shrieked as if she had become hysterical: "Are you crazy?! To do that I would need a huge army! Not only that, I will also have to fight all the princes and princesses of the East Sea but even then I will have to face Lord Father at the end to prove that I am worthy of the throne!"
Although Xian Mei'er understood the reason why Bai Zemin proposed such a thing, she could not help but look at him as if he was a lunatic. After all, she knew how powerful the other factions of her realm were and in her eyes wanting to become the queen to gain total control over her realm in order to avoid continuous mass murder was nothing more than an impossible fantasy to achieve.
The voice of Xian Mei'er was very loud so those who were in the first few hundred meters near the bridge could hear her clearly. However, none of them understood much of what the conversation was about. Still, the words army and fighting, as well as princes and princesses, were enough for even the dumbest of them to realize that something really big was being planned ahead.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin with a serious expression, wanting to see what kind of answer he would give next.
Bai Zemin's reply was very simple. His expression was as indifferent as his voice as he said, "And?"
"… And…?" Xian Me'er looked at him with wide eyes as she muttered under her breath.
She expected any reply but one as simple and plain as that one so she didn't know how to react or what to say next.
But in fact, Shangguan Bing Xue chuckled and shook her head as she closed her eyes. Even though she was somehow expecting it, Bai Zemin's response was even funnier than she thought it would be.
"As expected of him, I guess." She muttered quietly enough such that only she could hear her.
Bai Zemin looked at the Seventh Princess and said indifferently, "No matter how many princes or princesses there are and no matter how many troops they have, in the face of absolute power they will all become paper castles. Xian Mei'er, have you forgotten what happened in the war a week ago? Let me tell you that before you arrived, I was single-handedly fighting against the zombie-beast alliance. On my own, I managed to obliterate over 10,000,000 enemies even though my soul was wounded due to carelessness on my part."
"You… You were fighting alone against all of them…?" The pupils of Xian Mei'er trembled when she heard Bai Zemin's words and indeed she did not doubt him because a person whose pride came from the bones would never use such low lies to make himself noticed and she could feel that the human in front of her was tremendously proud!
Bai Zemin ignored the question of Xian Mei'er which was mostly directed at herself as if she wanted to assure something and instead continued, "In my eyes, armies mean nothing. As long as a Fourth Order existence does not appear, even a high-level Third Order existence is not worthy of making me fear at present."
Although Xian Mei'er could sense the confidence in Bai Zemin's voice and associating this to what she had seen with her own eyes days ago she knew he had his reasons to be so confident, she still sighed and shook her head, "Bai Zemin, I don't know too much about the surface but likewise you don't know how terrifying the seas are either. My total army currently stands at around 30,000 warriors among which there are 1000 First Order and 4 Second Order existences if we don't include Xiao Xiao. However, compared to the troops in the hands of the other princesses and princes, I am no more than an insignificant prawn. It is also because of this that I have so far been ignored."
While it was true that in the face of absolute power the armies would collapse sooner or later, the problem was that Xian Mei'er could sense that Bai Zemin was still a First Order existence. Sure, he was strong and she did not doubt it, however, could he fight against thousands of Second Order creatures? Could he really take on dozens of Third Order? Xian Mei'er wouldn't believe it even if she was beaten to death on the spot.
Bai Zemin realized that they would get nowhere at this rate, therefore, he proposed another idea; one which would serve to fulfill his own goal, buy him time, avoid trouble, and also for Xian Mei'er to understand more about how strong he was and how much stronger he could be in the future!
"Then, how about this?" Bai Zemin looked at the mermaid princess and proposed, "You and I will enter into an alliance in which you will help me conquer the entire periphery of China when I request it. In return, I will give you 100% of zombie corpses, 20% of beast corpses, and also 40% of Soul Stones obtained during those joint attacks. What do you say?"
Lilith, who was invisible to the eye, felt Bai Zemin suffer when he said those words, but she chuckled and whispered in his ear, "Little brother, don't worry~ Believe me when I tell you that you will get something reaaally~ good when you help this little mermaid get the throne."
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