MW 2199
“You want to set up talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign?”
“This is...”
The human rulers present were all shaken by Lin Ming’s words. They couldn’t help but glance at each other with dismay and even the wine in their glasses spilled out. The Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was expending all efforts to find Lin Ming, and yet Lin Ming wanted to deliver himself on his own initiative.
In a war between races, if one wished to set up talks then both sides had to have equivalent strength. Otherwise, who would want to discuss anything? They would simply eliminate the other party and be done with it.
Could it be that... Lin Ming had confidence he could face the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign!?
Realizing this point, everyone was left speechless.
“Lin Ming, you want to fight the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign in a showdown?” Empyrean Vast Universe asked after some time. In his opinion, setting up talks was no different from a challenge to a final battle.
“Do you... have the confidence to defeat the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign?” Xiao Moxian asked, a bit of worry tinting her voice. She believed in Lin Ming, but for Lin Ming to fight the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign after having just broken into True Divinity was far too risky.
“I don’t know what boundary the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign has reached. If possible, I would like to end this war with words alone, and not battle. But, things don’t always go as I hope they do...”
Lin Ming casually said. No one thought that right after Lin Ming returned, his solution to deal with the saints would actually be so simple.
......
The decision of Lin Ming setting up talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was passed down. Although Xiao Moxian, Vast Universe, and the others were all worried about him, Lin Ming still possessed an extremely high degree of authority within the human race. He had created far too many miracles in the past and no one would think of questioning him, let alone believe that there was something he couldn’t accomplish if he decided on it.
Stepping back, even if the talks weren’t successful, there still shouldn’t be some disastrous ending.
If Lin Ming faced Good Fortune then even if he was at a disadvantage, he should still be able to withdraw safely.
Thinking of this, many human rulers felt themselves calm down a little. Afterwards they settled on a time and place for the talks to occur, and then news of Lin Ming wishing to set up talks with Good Fortune was sent out.
The ones passing on information were messenger puppets.
In truth, these puppets were in the shape of small spirit ships. After being carefully refined they could carry out great void shifts and even change directions mid-way so no one could find out where they came from.
Over a thousand of these messenger puppets were sent out to the areas where the saints had accumulated in large numbers. Then, around half a month later, the messengers reached the saints...
......
In an elegant garden that hung high in the skies –
In the vast and infinite void of space, a garden extended outwards for hundreds of miles. Spirit plants grew everywhere, with birds and flowers mixing in amongst all the wonders of the heavens and earth.
The edges of the garden were covered by an array formation. If one took a single step outwards they would be met by the deep and infinite starry skies. This sort of scene simply shocked the mind.
Within this garden were several floating celestial mountains. On one celestial mountain, there were blue lotuses that blossomed as large as pans. The flower petals shined like jade, and sitting atop one of these lotuses was a blue-clothed woman.
This woman wore a blue dress that perfectly contrasted her slim figure. Her eyes were long and slender, but her complexion was slightly pale, making her seem as if she were a bit ill.
The woman’s hair was wrapped into a bun, and inserted within this bun were three beautiful feathers. These added to the mysterious and illusory aura that surrounded this woman.
She was Soaring Feather God King’s most favored disciple – Fairy Blue Lotus.
Ever since her suffering under Lin Ming’s hands, Fairy Blue Lotus had gone into seclusion. During these years, her cultivation had rapidly risen.
She didn’t have hopes of catching up to Lin Ming, but she still tried hard while taking Lin Ming as her goal.
Sometimes, by setting up an impossibly high goal, even if one couldn’t reach that goal they could still display their potential to the peak.
Soaring Feather God King had already recused herself from the war between humanity and the saints. As for Fairy Blue Lotus, she had arrived in the wild universe by herself. The reason for this was because the universes of the saints were far too peaceful and bland. Fairy Blue Lotus could find no competition amongst her peers, thus staying in the uneventful and boring Saint Convocation Heavens by herself was no different from going into seclusion alone.
Because of that, Fairy Blue Lotus came to this battlefield and wanted to feel out her own road of martial arts in battle. To be able to see armies battle to the death and even see peak masters fight was a sort of inspiration to her.
Unfortunately, humanity had gone into hiding and it had been a long time since they battled the saints.
During these days, Fairy Blue Lotus had been bitterly cultivating atop this celestial mountain. On this day she suddenly opened her eyes from meditation. She saw that beyond the enchantments of the floating garden, there was a three foot long puppet bird flying towards her location at rapid speed – this was a messenger puppet!
“Mm?”
Fairy Blue Lotus’s thoughts stirred. Her figure flashed and she appeared outside the enchantment.
She reached out her hand and easily grabbed the puppet. As she read the message within, she felt her heart shake.
“This is... what is going on here!?”
The puppet messenger carried with it an information jade slip, and the message recorded within was extremely simple. There were only a few short lines that dictated the time and place for talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign. And, the one who would be in the talks was – Human Sovereign Lin Ming!
Lin Ming wanted to set up talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign!?
Fairy Blue Lotus’s jaw dropped open. She felt as if her brain had been fried.
Over 2000 years ago was when Fairy Blue Lotus first encountered Lin Ming. She thought Lin Ming was her opponent and led the Legion of Famine to encircle him. However, what followed proved that she and him were on completely different playing fields. And afterwards, he broke into the Empyrean realm and managed to fight to a draw with her own master, Soaring Feather God King!
Although she couldn’t help but be sincerely convinced of Lin Ming’s strength, she still didn’t believe that Lin Ming had gained the strength to fight with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign in a mere 2000 years!
And the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign was an existence that could truly be described as unfathomably deep.
As for setting up talks, that was in truth no different from setting up a showdown. Unless, Lin Ming’s true self didn’t appear.
But if Lin Ming’s true self wasn’t going to appear then he might as well have transmitted the full message with the messenger puppet. Why would he bother deciding a time and place to set up talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign?
Could it be that Lin Ming was already confident that he could fight the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign?
Fairy Blue Lotus felt this was completely impossible. 2000 years ago Lin Ming had a lower Empyrean cultivation. So, what boundary could he have reached now? Could he really be so naïve as to think that someone at the limits of an Empyrean could defeat the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign?
She held tightly onto the puppet messenger as she lost herself in thought. After a moment, she decided that she needed to report this new event to her own master first – Soaring Feather God King.
It wasn’t just Fairy Blue Lotus, but many other saint masters obtained this message at around the same time.
This included numerous saint Empyreans as well as elite juniors like Highsun and Darkmoon.
As everyone read through the puppet messengers, they simply felt as if this was a joke being played on them. Or, it was likely a trap!
They didn’t really believe that Lin Ming would show up on that day to engage in talks with the Good Fortune Saint Sovereign. Even if he had 100 times the courage he still wouldn’t be that brave. If he really did come, then that wouldn’t be brave at all, but instead the height of stupidity.
“Do you think this is humanity’s trap?”
At this time, many Empyreans had gathered around the Good Fortune Saint Palace and began speculating on the intentions of the humans.
“Hehe, just what sort of trap could the humans possibly set up? Right now the only True Divinities amongst the humans are Divine Dream and Emperor Shakya. In addition, although Lin Ming hasn’t reached the True Divinity realm, he still has the strength of one. By now he should be the strongest person in the human race. But even with those three joining forces, do you really think they could lay down any trap that could possibly threaten His Majesty the Saint Sovereign? Even if the humans were given a thousand years to lay down layers of grand array formations, they wouldn’t be able to wound a single hair on His Majesty.”
“Indeed! What you said is right, but still, this is strange. Why would the humans be so bored that they would waste time like this? Or, could it be that they have been pressed down so hard by us for all these years, and also because His Majesty the Saint Sovereign has swallowed up their destiny, that they have begun to become impatient and have decided to use such weak methods like this to retaliate?”
“Humph, the human race shouldn’t be so bored as to do this. But no matter what their plan is, it’s impossible for Lin Ming to show up that day... that person’s strength is amazing and his rate of growth is too fast. He’s nothing but a thorn in our side and the greatest disaster that could descend in the future. For someone like him, it’s impossible that he could be so stupid.”
“I can’t figure out why the humans are doing this. As for whether or not this is a trap, I believe all of you are far too worried. Let alone the humans, not even the spiritas could do anything if they joined in. As long as we investigate beforehand then it will be fine. Moreover, His Majesty the Saint Sovereign can use his sense to probe from a distance. If there is any sign of a trap, he will be able to find clues.”
The many saint Empyreans were left dumbfounded. They analyzed the messenger puppets and speculated on the reason that they were sent out, but in the end they couldn’t figure out what the humans were intending.
And at this time, whether it was Soaring Feather God King or Astral Vault God King, they had also obtained the news.
“Interesting, how interesting!”
Astral Vault God King rubbed his chin, excitement brewing within him.
Lin Ming wanted to set up talks with Good Fortune!
He also didn’t believe that Lin Ming’s strength could grow so quickly, but this didn’t stop him from looking forwards to this event. He wanted to see just what Lin Ming and the humans were planning to do.
“It looks like I will need to make a trip to the wild universe.” Astral Vault God King said, anticipation thick in his voice. Although he had withdrawn from the war between humanity and the saints, this didn’t mean he couldn’t go to watch the show.