Chapter 924: Two Proposals
The objectives spoken by Elder Chi were something that was within Lin Wu’s considerations. In fact, the second objective of going against the Calamity Fiend was something that Lin Wu had manufactured after all.
And the first object was just a fruit of his ‘efforts’.
Both had come from the same source, but they would allow him to expand his scope of influence even more.
‘The south is mostly under me and now it’s time for the north…’ Lin Wu thought to himself.
With the southern part of the Long Continent, exerting his control was easy, since there were only a few powers. Even among them, the three sects from the top ten were quick to come under his fold.
The Frozen Cloud sect had been under him for a long time, and the other two were the bottom two sects in ranking. With the Frozen Cloud sect submitting, there was no other option for them too.
As for the seven kingdoms?
It was even easier. The Blight along had made them fear for their lives. Not to mention the Calamity Fiend, which was already a great trouble. But it was trouble that could move around.
With the Blight cured, it was time to pay their debt. While they had given a lot of gifts and made beneficial deals with the Millennium Forest kingdom, everyone knew it was nowhere close to being enough.
Unless Lin Wu stated his price, everything would be useless.
The envoys all watched with tense expressions as Lin Wu held his silence for two minutes.
“Hmm… I’ll begin by answering your second objective.” Lin Wu spoke, much to their nervousness.
~gulp~
They swallowed their saliva, wondering if they would get a positive response or not. All their hopes for the future relied on the fact that Lin Wu might help them survive it all. The Calamity fiend had already reached a level that none of them could deal with, even when combining their strength.
Then there was the fact that the Calamity Fiend was smart and could just retreat upon facing a lot of danger. It would attack helpless settlements, thus it only made them that much wary.
“I accept your request. I shall help you fight this Calamity Fiend.” Lin Wu said, sending a wave of relief among them.
“GREAT!”
“PRAISE THE KING!”
“WE SHALL BE IN YOUR DEBT!”
The Envoys were joyous and had not expected their request to be accepted this quickly. But they didn’t know that soon, their excitement and joy would be washed away by more fear and anxiety.
“As for your first objective, I have decided to ask for something as payment.” Lin Wu stated.
“Please do, King Lin Wu. We will do our best to fulfill any of your wishes.” The envoys replied right away.
Lin Wu could see the uncertainty on their faces and decided to make them a bit comfortable first.
“Do not worry, I don’t want anything material from you or your powers.” Lin Wu said shocking them.
“What!?”
“Really, King Lin Wu?”
It was normal for them to be shocked. After all, if they had asked any other power of someone like the top three clans, the price they would have to pay might just be half of their entire net worth.
“What is it that you want then, King Lin Wu?” The envoy of the White Loom Kingdom asked doubtfully.
“What I want from you isn’t resources, but rather assistance.” Lin Wu replied.
“Assistance? We can do that!” The envoy of the Juhe kingdom said with a nod.
“Yeah, just point us to any enemy and we’ll get rid of them for you.” The Envoy of the Dark Plains sect said without a care.
“Mmm, but I don’t just want your assistance to kill someone. Or rather I’m sure none of you or your powers will be able to kill it.” Lin Wu replied.
“Kill it? Is your enemy a non-human?” they questioned.
“Yes… and I have certain suspicions that it is related to the Calamity Fiend.” Lin Wu said, making all of them anxious again.
“What is related to the Calamity Fiend?” the envoy of the Zhan kingdom asked, feeling helpless.
“The Calamity Fiend that you are facing might just be one of the pawns of the true Calamity of the Ming Dao world.” Lin Wu revealed.
“WHAT!?” they couldn’t believe their ears.
“Don’t tell me… King Lin Wu means there are more of them?” The envoy of the White Loom Kingdom asked with an ashen complexion.
“I’m afraid that is true. Or at the very least, I hope it is not like that.” Lin Wu replied.
“And what if it is?” someone questioned.
“Then we need to grow strong quickly. The Ming Dao world is still too weak to survive against large scale strong invasions.” Lin Wu answered.
“We… We’ll inform our people and report to you soon King Lin Wu.” The envoys stated, wanting to get this started.
“Okay… now then, hear what I have to say.” Lin Wu said, before waving his tail.
~SHUA~
A group of runes appeared in the thin air before turning into a large, illusory frame. The frame was like that of an old painting and fine patterns could be seen on it. The frame glowed before its insides turned into a faint white screen.
A set of images appeared on the white screen, making the people looking at it confused.
“What is that?”
“Looks like a weird hill.”
“Maybe a cliff?”
The Envoys wondered what the image was.
“That beast you see on the screen is what I want you all to look for.” Lin Wu revealed.
“Huh?” they were certainly surprised upon hearing this.
“That’s a beast? It just looks like a normal hill.”
~SHUA~
Then in the next moment, they saw the images start to move.
“Wait, the hill is shaking!” they soon saw the ‘hill’ rising up.
And when it rose, they saw the large empty chasm beneath it. One by one, several segments of the ‘hill’ parted and ‘stepped’ out.
“This…”
“It really is a beast…”
The envoys were surprised to see it. While the beast didn’t seem to be as terrifying or oppressive as Lin Wu’s appearance. It was still strange enough for them to find it unusual.
Then there was the size of the beast, which was quite literally the size of a hill.
“The beast on the screen is possibly many times more dangerous than the Calamity Fiend. In fact, the Calamity Fiend might just be a puppet of this beast.” Lin Wu informed.
“How is this possible, though?” The envoys were confused.
“Yeah… how is it that you know about the Calamity Fiend and this hill beast too, King Lin Wu?” they found it weird.
“The truth is… this isn’t the first time I’ve seen them.” Lin Wu revealed.
“Wait, you don’t mean to say you were there when it devastated the lands thousands of years ago?” They questioned.
“Well, I didn’t exactly face the Calamity Fiend. Or at least, not this Calamity fiend.” Lin Wu answered. “I’ve lived a long time, and been on the Ming Dao world for such a long time I’ve no sense of it.”
Hearing Lin Wu’s words, the envoys got the confirmation for a certain set of rumors that had been making rounds for a few years now. The rumors were that the King of the Millennium Forest was, in fact, an ancient being who had lived for countless years.
Most thought of it as just a fake rumor, but the true powers of the world were simply doubtful. They had tried to find some information in their records about Lin Wu, but all their searches had ended up in a dead end.
They barely had any records of the Ming Dao world before the rise of the three guardian clans. Even the information about the Calamity Fiend was only found through great luck and it was not something that could be repeated.
Of course, there was always a chance that Lin Wu could be lying. But the envoys present here weren’t some newborn calves. They were old foxes who had seen the world and dealt with many people.
At the very least, they could tell when someone was lying. And from Lin Wu, they only felt the truth.
“The Calamity Fiend you all have encountered is probably just one of the many recurring calamities of the Ming Dao world. All of these arise from one main being… the Shadow Calamity.
It has tried to spread chaos and destruction across the Ming Dao world many times, but had been prevented by the protective forces.” Lin Wu explained.
~gulp~
“King Lin Wu… Are you…. part of these protective forces?” the envoys asked.
“I am… or perhaps I am the last one. I’ve been here since before the three guardian beasts awakened. I’ve stopped four calamities, and now this would be the fifth one.” Lin Wu replied, much to their shock.
It was all mind boggling information.
“I know it’s too much to take at once, thus I’ve prepared some contextual records as well as more information about the beasts’ appearance.” Lin Wu stated.
