Chapter 880: Peace Talks

The appearance of Caiyi drew varied expressions from the human Eminent Ones in the hall. Yet, even the most hardline advocates of war showed no signs of murderous intent toward her. They all understood that none of the other demons mattered. The only one who could tip the balance was the Demon God.

"Peace talks..." the emperor muttered, falling into deep thought. Then he turned to the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner.

The Imperial Supervisory Commissioner immediately spoke in a loud, clear voice. "Demon King of the Verdant Foxhills, since you have come all this way, you must already have a proposal in mind. Why don't you tell us about it first?"

"Very well," Caiyi replied.

She stepped further into the hall and stopped at the center, where she proceeded to explain the demons' proposal.

"Throughout history, every Hallowed One who emerged in the world became the ruler of their era. The only exception was our god, the Demon God. During his reign three thousand years ago, he was never acknowledged by the humans."

No one interrupted her opening remarks.

After all, it was true that throughout history, every being that reached the ninth realm became the supreme sovereign of their era, and none could oppose them. The Demon God was the only Hallowed One who had faced intense resistance from the humans, and in the end, he was successfully subdued.

The reason the humans succeeded wasn't because the Demon God had been weaker than the previous Hallowed Ones from ancient times. It was because the human cultivators had been incredibly powerful during the Demon God's era.

Since the era of Hallowed Li, no human had managed to ascend to the peak of cultivation. Nevertheless, the strength of the human cultivators as a whole had only continued to climb.

It made sense. After all, their divine skills and spells, cultivation arts manuals, utilization of resources, and cultivation of young talents had all improved steadily, becoming more systematic with time. In fact, it would be illogical for them to be inferior to the human cultivators of the past.

The defeat of the Demon God was a historic turning point, showing that the combined forces of the world's human cultivators could overpower even a Hallowed One.

Caiyi continued, "Leaving aside the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, the Mount Shu Sect's legendary artifact, the humans never acknowledged the Demon God back then because he was too cruel, too bloodthirsty. He devoured living beings to strengthen himself, violating the natural order.

"That is why the reborn Demon God of today no longer wishes to devour living beings. She hopes to coexist peacefully with humans."

"Peacefully?" the Celestial Saber of the North muttered. "Humans and demons walk different paths. In the past ten thousand years, when have we ever been at peace with each other?"

"You're right." Caiyi nodded. "Humans and demons are different by nature. If we're forced to coexist in the same land, it is inevitable that we'll have conflict. That's why we hope for a territory of our own. There are many good demons who long for peace and a civilized society. If we can live in our own kingdom separate from yours, then there would be no further strife."

"Isn't that already the case?" Wenren Yue challenged.

Instead of retorting, Caiyi remained calm. She just smiled and said, "Yes, it is. But the Far West is too barren. It took us three thousand years just to cultivate the land and develop some semblance of civilization, but that was all destroyed when Sect Leader Wen Yuan and his forces attacked us. Now that we have the Demon God's support, the one thing we ask for... is better land."

"Which territory do you want?" the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner asked.

"The Western Regions," Caiyi answered without hesitation. "We don't want the Yu Dynasty's land, nor do we intend to forcefully occupy the lands of the four seas or the nine provinces. We only ask for the stretch of land extending from the Far West to the northwestern border of the Yu Dynasty.

"I believe once news of the Demon God's return spreads, many citizens of the kingdoms in the Western Regions will flee in panic. I know that the Yu Dynasty doesn't have control over the kingdoms there. But if we were to take over by force, there would inevitably be casualties, and that would only deepen the hatred between demons and humans. I am willing to give you one year to gradually relocate the citizens of the Western Regions."

Her eyes were filled with sincerity as she swept her gaze across everyone in the hall. "I don't wish to see any more bloodshed, be it human or demon. If this world has land for humans to live on, then it should have land for demons too. I believe that's not an unreasonable request."

The northwestern border...

There were many intelligent people present in the hall, and the same city popped into their minds.

Originally, the kingdoms of the Western Regions bordered the Yu Dynasty's western provinces. However, a new city had been built on the border recently, expanding the Yu Dynasty's territory even further.

That city was, of course, Mount Mang City. Founded by humans with demon blood, Mount Mang City would make a perfect buffer between the human and demon territories.

Several Eminent Ones turned to look at the emperor.

Was this his idea... or someone else's?

Could it be that ever since the founding of Mount Mang City, someone had already been planning to use it as a potential buffer between the human and demon territories?

But even that seemed like too much of a coincidence... It was almost as if someone had orchestrated all of this from the very beginning.

The Imperial Supervisory Commissioner was the first to respond to Caiyi. "Unfortunately, we cannot give an answer to your proposal immediately. As you know, the kingdoms of the Western Regions are not part of the Yu Dynasty's territory. We cannot speak on their behalf. We'll need some time to discuss matters internally before giving you a response. Additionally, if possible, we would like to speak with the Demon God directly."

"That's all acceptable," Caiyi replied. "However, if there is to be a representative to mediate between our two races, we hope it will be someone both sides can trust. It would be more beneficial for the peace talks."

Venerable Wen Yuan seemed to realize something and uttered, "You mean..."

As expected, Caiyi said the name that was on the tip of Venerable Wen Yuan's tongue.

"Chu Liang."

...

While the secret discussion was underway in the throne hall, the Celestial Northern Prison, which used to pique the interest of the world, had now faded from everyone's attention.

After the fierce battle against the Demon God, only a handful of convicts remained in the Celestial Northern Prison. Most of the convicts had perished when the powers of beings at the eighth-and-a-half and ninth realms exploded from the Celestial Cosmic Ring. Despite being powerful evildoers at the sixth or seventh realm, they were nothing compared to beings at the eighth-and-a-half and ninth realms.

Deputy Commissioner Zuo sat on top of a large boulder. He wore a bewildered gaze as he watched the prison guards below clean up the aftermath.

He had spent many years overseeing the prison, longer than most of the evildoers had been incarcerated. Now that he was suddenly back in the open world, it felt quite unfamiliar.

Deputy Commissioner Zuo had spent a century guarding the prison from the inside until it finally collapsed. After spending such a long time in that role, he had almost forgotten that his true identity was the second-in-command of the Imperial Supervisory Bureau.

Zuo Ci let out a soft sigh. "

Haaa...

"

Going by the average lifespan of an eighth-realm cultivator, he was just reaching middle age. He had suddenly lost the job he had dedicated half his life to... What was he supposed to do now?

While he was lost in thought, a prison guard walked over to him and reported, "Deputy Commissioner Zuo, the count is complete.

"This collapse of the Celestial Northern Prison resulted in the deaths of 186 evildoers. 14 are missing, and 2 have been confirmed to have escaped."

"14 missing and 2 escaped?" Deputy Commissioner Zuo glanced over. "What happened?"

"Those who are missing were most likely killed as well, reduced to dust when the Celestial Cosmic Ring fell onto the prison buildings. Their remains simply can't be recovered.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"As for the two that escaped..."

The prison guard paused, hesitating for a moment before saying, "Because they were serious criminals that had to be kept alive, the guards released them from their cells with the intention of transferring them elsewhere. It was during the escort... that they escaped."

"Serious criminals that had to stay alive..." Deputy Commissioner Zuo's brows twitched. "Don't tell me... it's those two?"

"That's right. They're the two criminals that His Majesty ordered to be imprisoned here—Xiao Wuyin and Xiao Wuyan!"