Chapter 647: Consensus

The Dazai spoke before all the Sword Immortals, and was so rude that he seemed to have no self-awareness; no matter how one looked at it, he was a delusional person, or even a clown.

But upon closer thought, there seemed to be no other way.

The others all had deep grudges with Jinwu, and they were all of the status of Sword Immortals; once they determined their stance after a few words and set up their momentum to start a fight, there would be no room for the Dazai to intervene, logically or emotionally.

Having reached this point with such difficulty, how could he sit by and watch others' battles without saying a word, only to end up as a fish in a moat suffering from the collateral damage?

If he wanted to interject, he had to be the first to speak before everyone else, seizing the initiative to gain attention; moreover, due to his various previous maneuvers, he had few allies left to choose from.

Basically, only Ruyi Sword and Jinwu remained.

And among them, Jinwu could be considered... an old acquaintance?

Then Jinwu was the first choice.

Since he had to speak to Jinwu to request an alliance, there was naturally no need to be servile; otherwise, if Jinwu were to say, "I still like the way you were unruly before," he would truly become a clown.

At this moment, he maintained the bearing of a Dazai and spoke eloquently: "Your Highness must have discovered that Destruction is no longer what it was back then. The issue now is not whether we can return to the Jinwu Sword of the past, but how to handle it; if not handled well, it will lead to a great disaster and harm the common people."

"If it were someone else, they would certainly not consider so much, but Your Highness keeps the common people in mind and possesses a heart for all, so you would certainly not want to see the Jinwu Sword, once the hope of the world, now become a source of chaos."

"As it happens, I have a solution here that can separate Destruction and Wangliang, not only stripping away those negative influences but even directly restoring them into pure Sword Intent. By then, the Jinwu Sword will still be the Jinwu Sword, and Jinwu will still be Jinwu. Dongjun's will will be inherited, and the world will have peace; wouldn't that be perfect?"

"Of course, Your Highness has always been indifferent to personal fame and fortune, but I must still tell you that for your hard work and great contributions, you deserve your due rewards. When the time comes, you may choose for yourself. You may return to Suiyu to rebuild the Jinwu Tianwaitian and become the Pillar of Suiyu, or even its only Pillar. My Great Wei will provide resources to help you build it, making the scale and quality of the Jinwu Tian even better than before."

"If you do not wish to return, then any place in the world will welcome you; wherever you are, that place is your Shengdi, a sacred place in the hearts of all people. Of course, I still recommend Zhenping Shan next to my Wei Jing Yong'an; the scenery there is picturesque, and it sits in a commanding position. We will build your palace on the mountain, where you can calmly look down upon all living beings."

"At that time, anything in the world you want, you shall have immediately; anything you dislike, no one is allowed to have. Anything in the world you want to happen will happen immediately, and what you do not want to happen will absolutely not happen. Although it is in the Human World, it will be just like being in your Tianwaitian. The Dongjun currently worshipped by the pseudo-court is nothing but child's play; in the future, we will worship the true Dongjun and you, Jinwu, together. You are the successor of Dongjun, and it is only right and proper."

He paused and said: "These are the conditions I offered when I first communicated with you, and not a word has changed to this day, because we came with sincerity, and these are the most appropriate conditions. They will not increase because I am in a crisis, nor will they decrease because you are in a crisis. We only need a promise, and we can form a life-and-death alliance. What do you think?"

The Dazai spoke with resounding force, possessing a convincing, unquestionable quality. Even though he wore a black cloak and appeared to be hiding his identity, he still had strong persuasive power.

Wangliang, who knew their background best, sneered slightly, feeling that this monster was spouting nonsense and was extremely brazen, speaking as if they were already the true Imperial Court, when in fact they were still being chased everywhere. Wei Jing, Shengdi, Zhenping Shan—none of these places were under their control; it was simply drawing a cake in the Void, with no sincerity at all.

If it spoke to refute him, it could definitely refute him point by point, but that would inevitably lead to the level of a Mortal tearing each other apart like dogs. If it were before, that would be fine, but now its serious old rival was right in front of it, and Wangliang would never lose its status.

Moreover, it knew there was no need to refute; no matter how silver-tongued that androgynous monster was, it meant nothing to Jinwu.

Jinwu also had its own way of thinking and would never be led by others.

Sure enough, Jinwu waited quietly for him to finish, then said to Destruction: "Destruction, he just called me the successor of Jinwu. But the successors should be the two of us. We don't need others to announce it; we are the Jinwu Sword by nature, born to stand together."

Destruction sneered: "Stand together? Is that to let me be your wings? Then we shall see if you are worthy!"

As it spoke, the gold and black intertwined light on its body surged, just like a crow fluffing its wings—

Extinguish!

A light of destruction, even more powerful than the one that erupted above just moments ago, turned into sharp light feathers and lunged at Jinwu. This first battle of Yingyuan was actually Destruction launching an attack on Jinwu!

Jinwu maintained the posture of Ju Dongjun, but a phantom appeared behind it—it was a Jinwu!

The cry of the crow pierced the eardrums, so much so that everyone's ears buzzed, and they all felt as if they had heard a double tone!

From behind Ju Jinwu, a light feather was shot out as well. The shape of the light feather was almost exactly the same as Destruction's, but the color was different. Destruction's color looked like dark gold from afar, and up close, it was black and gold intertwined endlessly. As for Jinwu's light, it was the purest Sunlight; it looked golden from afar, but up close, it was approaching pure white!

Was this not a collision of fate?

Dark gold and gold collided in the air!

There was no explosion as imagined, nor was there a strong light so intense that one could not even open their eyes; it was not even as deadlocked as the moment Jinwu saved Zheng Yun. This collision was surprisingly quiet. When the lights of both sides collided, they did not maintain the shape of light feathers clashing tip-to-tip; instead, they easily turned into formless light and merged together, just as easily as water and wine.

The light enveloped the two Jinwus. Even with Wangliang's eyesight, it could not see what they were doing. Perhaps because they were light themselves, and light and they were one, how could one distinguish them?

Only hearing from within the light, Destruction gasped: "You?! How could you..."

There was no sound after that.

After a while, the golden light gradually extinguished, and the remaining people saw that Jinwu and Destruction were still standing in the same place.

Jinwu was still standing peacefully in the light in the form of Ju Dongjun, and Destruction still maintained the form of a dark golden giant bird, but for some reason, everyone felt that its feathers had become smooth, no longer in that bristling state from before.

In other words, its anger had calmed down.

Was it that reason returned after the violent venting?

Destruction put on a mocking expression and sneered: "So that's how it is. No wonder you wanted me to come over. This is you having a request of me, not me having to rely on you. That's fine, too; you really can only rely on me, and I can't just turn a blind eye. But in my current state, I have the heart but lack the strength. If I return, you have no way to handle it; isn't listening to this person's words killing two birds with one stone?"

Jinwu said earnestly: "I have already considered the matter of handling you, and I have already found a solution. This is the reason I stayed here."

Destruction was slightly surprised, but it did not doubt it; it was also the Jinwu Sword, and it would not doubt that the Jinwu before it was lying.

Then, it maintained its mocking posture and said: "You have a way? That means you can completely control me? Then, how does the lone hero in the tiger's den, the shining Jinwu Dianxia, intend to deal with me?"

Just as it understood Jinwu very well, Jinwu also understood Destruction very well. Although Destruction seemed to be mocking, it had gradually calmed down and was already able to communicate. This was a very good development.

As for the sarcasm, Destruction was also sarcastic when it was perfectly fine.

So Jinwu truly told it with a straight face in the posture of an orthodox successor: "I will treat you the same way I treat myself."

Seeing that the two Jinwus were gradually tending toward reaching an agreement, the rest of the people, including Wangliang, felt that things were going badly. Just as Wangliang was trying to find a way to interrupt their rhythm, the Dazai was quick-witted and sharp-eyed, catching clues from their words, and sighed: "Destruction Dianxia cannot last long, but Jinwu Dianxia still can; why be like this? To die together is also to return together. Jinwu Dianxia, you actually harbor a death wish?"

Wangliang was very surprised. Destruction let out an "Oh," and actually asked as if it had guessed right: "No way? Did he guess it? Shine, you are living well and could still be carefree for hundreds or thousands of years; why do you suddenly not want to live?"

In its words, there was no surprise at the Dazai's assertion that it could not last long; it seemed to have been expected long ago.

Jinwu said: "I didn't say we must both die. If we live, we live together; if we die, we die together. Isn't that good?"

Destruction suddenly laughed: "Good. Living together is so boring; it's better to die together. If you agree, we can temporarily shake hands and make peace. I can even help you. But there is one thing: if I die, you must die; you cannot live alone."

Jinwu also said very calmly: "Good."

If there had been any confrontation between the two sides before, after bringing up the topic of "dying together," they had reached a consensus in an instant, as if this had been their wish for a long time.

This was truly a way of thinking that others could not understand. Even the Dazai, who was trying to stir up trouble, was stunned. After a moment of being stunned, he looked at Wangliang.

At this time, Wangliang was also secretly shocked in its heart, and then felt three gazes looking at it.

Besides the Dazai, who had completely lost hope in Jinwu and turned to look at it, the other two gazes were from Jinwu and Jinwu.

There were still spots of black on Destruction's body, but its gaze was already similar to Jinwu's; it was a look it had never seen when it was entangled with Wangliang.

It was not anger, nor was it hatred, but it was very clear: it wanted it to die.

Wangliang said coldly: "Destruction, have you already made your choice? We could have existed together, even shared power and enjoyed blessings forever, yet you would rather die with Jinwu?"

Destruction said: "Don't use that tone, as if I abandoned you. How could I abandon you? I am going to perish together with Shine; how could I leave you behind? Everyone should be together."

Jinwu said indifferently, "That is exactly right. If we were no longer here, where would the meaning of your existence in this world lie?"

After saying this, it even asked toward the sky, "Isn't that so, Your Highness Ruyi Sword?"

A zither sound came from within the silver threads, expressing agreement.

At this moment, the three Sword Immortals reached a consensus.

Their alliance was equivalent to passing a death sentence on Wangliang. Even though the three each had their own flaws, with the three of them against one Wangliang, how could Wangliang cope?

At this time, it was still Dazai who said, "Your Highness Wangliang, why not agree to my covenant? What was said before remains valid."

He jumped back and forth, not caring in the slightest, and this sentence was also spoken very sincerely.

Wangliang paused, then suddenly flew into a rage and said, "One after another, flip-flopping, what are you things? Where do you think this is? This is Wangliang Mountain! Yingyuan is my Yingyuan! Return to me!"