Wuzhi had assumed that his journey to arrive at the hotel where the negotiations would take place would be filled with much difficulty and bloodshed. He had even made some arrangements to this extent and was prepared to fight a large battle.
However, much to his surprise, he faced no obstruction or hindrance during his journey.
Arriving at the entrance of the Oceanic Plaza Hotel with Baixue in tow, Wuzhi was greeted at the lobby by the higher-ups whom he had threatened with blackmail. They wore the look of defeat and resignation on their faces and seemed to have completely submitted to the young scholar's power.
Wuzhi was honestly baffled at this sight. For someone who had been expecting much resistance, the sight of their pathetic, spine-less behaviour caused him to feel great disappointment.
For once, the young scholar was mistaken in his assumptions and beliefs. What he had failed to consider was that these people were businessmen in the end; not soldiers or warriors.
For a warrior, the act of raising a white flag could be viewed as something of great dishonour. However, for a merchant, compromise was the very key to their success.
Upon taking a seat in the very opulently-decorated conference room, Wuzhi was immediately met with a question.
"Speak! What do you want in exchange for the safety of my daughter?" A tall, voluptuous woman clad in the black and gold attire of the Divine Lightning Sect asked, unable to hide her impatience and worry.
The 'Negotiation' chapter of 'Schemes and Strategies' said that 'One must never expose one's weakness in the negotiation table unless for the express purpose of appearing as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing.' Continuing on that, one must also never expose their true purpose during a negotiation.'
This older woman had explicitly broken this rule with her question. Wuzhi narrowed his eyes and tried to reason whether she had a hidden purpose for doing so. However, from what he could infer, there was none.
It appeared that the woman truly was worried about the safety of her daughter and was, to that extent, agreeable to any conditions that the young scholar might put forward.
Here, was Wuzhi's second mistaken assumption; he had utterly failed to understand the weight of a bond.
Under the tutelage of the Heaven Scheming Devil, Wuzhi had learned to assign an impartial, absolute value to everything in this world; be it items, lives, or even relationships. He had learnt how to measure the weight of a bond and assign it an absolute value that can be used when negotiating. However, 'learning' was not 'knowing.' To 'know' something, one had to first experience it.
And it was precisely in terms of 'experience' that Wuzhi was severely lacking.
The young scholar had analyzed the bond between the mother and daughter of the Divine Lightning Sect and had assigned their relationship a rational value. However, in his lacking experience, he had been incorrect in his assessment. The true value of this bond was far above the young scholar's estimates.
Wuzhi recognized his mistake in the few seconds that followed the older woman's question. He instantly entered 'study mode' and analyzed his mistake. After analysis, he identified his mistake and quickly understood the reason behind it.
'I was mistaken in my belief that all relationships can be assigned an arbitrary, unbiased value. That is not the case. Bonds and relationships are biased and relative; they are subject to sudden changes.'
'In the future, I must gather more information about my targets before I assign a value to them.'
Wuzhi was never of the belief that he was always correct in his answers; only his teacher believed that. He keenly understood that he was lacking in experience and wisdom and therefore kept an open-minded attitude towards mistakes. And once he identified a mistake, he whole-heartedly pitted himself to understand and learn it, thereby ensuring that he did not make the same mistake again in the future.
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His thoughts and silence lasted no more than a minute. Taking a deep breath, Wuzhi rearranged his thoughts and spoke his terms. "Gentlemen, and lady, you can rest assured that no harm has come to your children or your secrets. They are safe and well-cared for at an undisclosed location whose knowledge only I am privy to. Should our negotiation today bear fruit, they will be shortly released."
Wuzhi was a great orator and possessed some accomplishment in the [Speech Path]. His voice sounded clear and sincere, causing the others to unconsciously lower their guard and trust him.
"Firstly, I must apologize for my uncouth behaviour. It was never my intention to mar our first interaction with threats and violence. Circumstances forced me to employ such drastic measures that spoiled my image. But alas, we are all slaves to our master's interests; a small cog in the machine that governs the 'big picture.'"
Hearing these words, their originally terrible impression of this young man instantly saw a rise. A few of them even found themselves nodding along with his words, its contents deeply resonating with their hearts.
Who where could confidently say that they were masters of their own fate? Who here weren't victims of the 'big picture?' Hell, they even had to call off the manhunt and put down their desire for revenge because of the 'big picture!'
"Without further ado, let me state my terms; I want the Hodgepodge faction to withdraw from the war for unification," Wuzhi stated his price and waited for a reply.
The representative from the Eternal Flame Sect, the representative from the Divine Lightning Sect, the people from the Apothecary Guild, and the others looked around and met gazes with each other.
"Mr Wuzhi, that is your name, correct?" asked the representative of the Eternal Flame Sect, Mr Devon.
"Indeed," Wuzhi replied with a bow.
"Then, Mr Wuzhi, allow me to be honest with you; it is impossible for us to meet your terms." He straightforwardly stated without beating around the bush. "And as for the reason why it is impossible to do so, I am certain that a man of your intelligence will have already seen through the reason."
Wuzhi exhaled heavily. He wore a polite smile on his face and replied, "Is it the Heavenly Spirit Empire?"
The man nodded his head.
Wuzhi inwardly tutted; his guesses had been true. It appeared that the Heavenly Spirit Empire had jumped to nab this piece of the pie before he could.
"May I ask what it is that they offered? It was my understanding that the Hodgepodge faction was neutral in this war," asked Wuzhi.
For a merchant, neutrality in a war guaranteed the highest profits. It was for this very reason that the Hodgepodge faction entered the war for unification as a neutral faction.
For them to have broken their vow of neutrality, meant that the benefits that were guaranteed for making such a choice were far greater than what neutrality would have netted them.
At his question, the various representatives showed a bitter smile on their faces. The voluptuous, mature-looking woman, who was the representative of the Divine Lightning Sect, broke the silence and answered his question.
"Two weeks ago, a young woman arrived to meet us. She introduced herself as the representative of the Heavenly Spirit Empire and offered us a choice; join the war and help them eradicate the South Aislan Empire, or die."
Wuzhi was struck dumb by her answer. As far as he was aware, the Heavenly Spirit Empire was the very personification of peace, compromise, and stability. It was simply not in their nature to make forced threats. And yet, the mature woman's answer told him the opposite.
"May I ask Lady, who the young woman was?" questioned Wuzhi.
The eyes of the mature-looking woman grew a little glazed. With a powerless voice, still tinged with traces of disbelief, she replied, "It was the Goddess, Feng Tianfei."
---
At the same moment. Elsewhere.
"My Lady, I do not understand." A heroic-looking general clad in golden armour looked back with an expression of confusion and disbelief on his face. "You want us to leave the Scarlet Demon Army alone?"
"Yes." An angelic voice replied from within the extravagantly decorated carriage. "Leave the Scarlet Demon Army to the Mu Household. We shall go around and head toward the capital city of the South Aislan Empire."
"Understood, my lady," replied the man. He then went away to give the orders.
Inside the carriage, Feng Tianfei sat with her legs crossed and her head resting upon her right hand. An expression of indolence and boredom was painted on her face. With her left hand, she played with a bunch of small crystal balls which intermittently pulsed with a strange, mysterious light.
"How odd," she suddenly said, speaking to no one in particular. "No matter how many times I try, I still cannot predict the fate of this war."
"Is it because the heavens are in flux and the outcome is still undecided?"
"Or does it mean that a greater power has intervened in the affairs here and is blocking my attempts?"
A bright light appeared in the depths of her eyes as strange and indecipherable characters appeared and disappeared mysteriously. A few seconds later, Tianfei's body suddenly trembled with a chill. Her eyes returned to normal as she sank deeper into the velvet cushions of her seat.
"Maid! Someone bring me a blanket. I want to take a nap," she cried, before closing her eyes and falling asleep.