Chapter 17: Chapter 16(1/2): Negotiations

Yao Shen patiently waited until his grieving disciple regained composure, maintaining the awkward hug for one long minute before she hurriedly pulled away with a panicked expression her face— in her moment of weakness she had completely forgotten that she was in presence of the Council of Elders, whom she had just become sworn enemies with. She now followed a singular path, having gambled everything on Patriarch Yao Shen’s reputation and strength. If he were to perish, she had no qualms about the calamity that would befall her— the legacy families did not react well to those tarnished their honor, and she had gone far, far beyond their bottom line.

The feeling of calmness had already left her, the effects of what she had hypothesized to be the Patriarch’s Human Dao worn out without leaving a trace. The sheer audacity of belligerent actions was starting to sink in, but even so she could not bring herself to feel the slightest trace of regret. Not only that, but when she saw the heads of the prestigious legacy families laying sprawled across the floor, their usually stern and proud faces flushed red from resisting Patriarch’s soul encroachment, an unfamiliar sensation started to well up in her heart, one that had always been a laughable dream for her: vengeance. She may not have entirely avenged her sister’s death, but in her mind she had never even considered the possibility that a mid-foundation establishment disciple could bring harm to a legacy family lead by a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

She felt good. Delighted, even.

Was this how it was, to feel alive?

If so, she had missed the sensation.

Yao Shen, of course, noticed the melange of emotions rising from his new disciple. A cloud of ‘relief’ floated around her like a gentle guardian, shielding her from the rapidly shrinking cloud of ‘hatred’ that slowly evolving into a smaller, far less threatening cloud of ‘vengeance’, or so he interpreted the emotion fragments, unassumingly lurking in the background as they waited for a chance to strike.

For now, at least, Yanyue’s mental state seemed to have stabilized. The new desire for vengeance in her heart was far from unwarranted, and it would help her tread farther on the road of cultivation. As much as Yao Shen wished to change the ways of Azlak Plains, and eventually Ionea, he had never allowed himself to forget that the sole reason he could even hold such radical ambitions was not because of the memories he had inherited, but the power he held and represented.

Yao Shen would not stop Yanyue from seeking vengeance if she truly wished for it— she was his disciple, and her choices were her own to make. But he would not let vengeance consume her mind, body and desires, like hatred had. Instead, he would help her channel it, focus it, towards one singular goal— surpassing Dongmei Xue.

Truly, in effect, if he wished to kill Dongmei Xue, there was little that she could do to stop him. But Yao Shen was a Major Dao Practitioner in the Elements of Earth, Wind and Fire, the three elements he had chosen to ascend as a boon for reaching the Soul Emperor stage and none of them were particularly suited to the art of healing. Dongmei Xue may be lacking in conscience, but there was no viable replacement available at her level, and many promising disciples, guardians and even elders had received life-saving treatment from her. One could imagine the favors she could call upon, and the goodwill the elite of the Heavenly Sky Sect held for her.

Dongmei Xue had positioned herself in a politically invulnerable situation, which was why Yao Shen had such limited control and insight over the activities of the Healing Hall back when he led the sect as a Nascent Soul Cultivator. Killing her now would mean that the cycle of vengeance would start anew, and the Xue Family’s loyalists would either rebel against his authority, bide their time or even worse— seek refuge in the demonic path sects.

But, even if he disregarded all those consequences and decided to eliminate a possible future enemy right now, would the sect that remained still be the ‘modern sect’ he wished to create? If he wished to create a sect that was ruled through fear and tyranny, he could accomplish it right now— with a mere tap of his finger. No, this was the true challenge of the task he had set out to accomplish and neither force nor diplomacy would alone achieve his goals.

His aim from the very beginning was to first cow them with force, and then offer the legacy family elders an opportunity they would be foolish to refuse. This would be their first, and only warning: those who adapted to the modern sect would thrive, but if anyone dared to make a move on himself or his disciples— there would be no second chance.

Yao Shen traced Shadow's location through the strand of divine sense he had split off, ordering her to return to the Council Hall. A minute later, the shadows in the room started shifting and coalescing at one point, forming the vague silhouette of a woman. Shadow appeared next to Yanyue with a wary expression on her face, hand resting upon her dagger as she examined the girl and her proximity to Yao Shen.

Yanyue stumbled back in shock, her expression turning pale as she stared at the mesmerizing silver haired woman whose presence had completely slipped past her perception until the last second.

"Shadow….," Yao Shen protested with a sigh, but then just shook his head. "This is your new junior sister, Yanyue. She will be staying in the tower along with us for the foreseeable future, so please make the arrangements."

Shadow just stood there, rooted to the spot for one long minute before she turned her gaze to Yanyue with curiosity in her eyes, that morphed into a perplexed expression before she just nodded once in her direction.

Then, in an act that both surprised Yanyue and Yao Shen, she offered her open palm in the former's direction. Yanyue seemed uncertain, but she gingerly clasped her hand around Shadow’s own, almost as if she feared being attacked if she didn't.

A light blush appeared on Shadow's face as she hurriedly shifted her gaze away, awkwardly dragging away Yanyue to the second floor of the tower. Was that.... 'excitement' he detected? The auspicious green cloud had half enveloped Shadow, but she soon disappeared out of his sight and human sense could not detect emotions through divine sense.

Once they were gone, Yao Shen released the soul suppression upon the Elders, who regained composure with surprising speed. Back on their feet in an instant, they distanced themselves from Yao Shen like terrified prey in the presence of an apex predator, their horror openly worn on their faces.

"Now, now, there's no need to be like that," Yao Shen chided with a light smile on his face, but to the Council of Elders it was no different from a demon's bloodthirsty grin staring down at them.

"Since the disciples have left, we can finally discuss benefits and the consequences as well," Yao Shen continued to smile, the three unaffiliated elders standing behind him respectfully, now that they had witnessed his might first hand.

"Benefits?" Meili Zhu's voice still retained a cheery quality to it, betraying no resentment at the events that had just transpired in her voice. They were all members of the righteous path present in attendance, and while the legacy families knew it was in their best interests to assure each other's continued survival, they also had different surnames and their true loyalty would always lie with their own respective families.

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"Indeed. Please, do have a seat," Yao Shen chose to play the gracious host, and the other elders except Dongmei Xue seemed inclined to at least hear him out without any further protest. Though he was sure that the legacy family heads had already informed the reserve elders of the events that had transpired in this room, and dealing with them was going to be far more troublesome than the Council.

Dongmei Xue's face grew increasingly pale at the thought of the consequences Yao Shen had mentioned, but everyone in the room was tactful enough to understand that Yao Shen’s words were not an offer, but a command.

The Xue family patriarch was the last one to be seated, plunging the room into a period of silence.

“Firstly,” Yao Shen spoke, and he could feel the nervous tension on the room focused upon his each and every word— any one of the cultivators in attendance was one of the peak powers of the Azlak Plains, yet Yao Shen could kill them without even offering them a chance to resist.

“For ones as long lived and cunning as yourselves, you all are surprisingly short-sighted in nature. Tell me, Meili, have you been indoctrinated to such an extent that you believe your legacy bloodline to be a superior form of humanity?” Yao Shen asked her, only receiving a calm shake of the head that implied a clear ‘No’.

“Then why do you not see the value of the gift I have given the legacy families? Your wisdom exceeds that of any other here in attendance, including myself. Why are you not able to see the truth?” Yao Shen asked, and he could immediately feel a sliver of confusion that was shared amongst all the legacy family elders in attendance.

“Forgive me, Patriarch. This one is not as talented as you believe her to be,” Meili Zhu replied with a low bob of her head, though under his human sight she just seemed confused instead of embarrassed or angered.

“Out of ten disciples from the inner sect that I chose at random, one turned out to conceal such a tragic tale and a burning hatred for the legacy families. You are completely misguided if you believe that I, or my poor disciple is the one you are fighting against. Even if I were to die tomorrow, I would still be assured of the destruction of your proud legacy families. Truly, your arrogance knows no bounds,” Yao Shen explained, and then he broke out into a laugh that seemed endlessly amused at a joke only he seemed to understand.

“Patriarch, please explain,” Meili Zhu’s expression turned grim, because she knew that Yao Shen was not one to bluff or exaggerate about such matters.

“I was born talentless to mortal parents and yet I managed to achieve the coveted Soul Emperor stage in merely two centuries, which continues to elude your families. Now imagine another like myself, whose talent the legacy families choose to oppress instead of flourish, humiliate instead of praise, berate instead of train. Your disciples are drunk on inherited power, and they are known to abuse it. Imagine, just take a second and imagine, what such a person may choose to do if he reaches the Soul Emperor stage," Yao Shen paused, to allow his words to sink in, before continuing:

"You fight not against an individual… but instead, the collective will of humanity that yearns for freedom. You wish to force promising disciples into indentured service, and in doing so you challenge the nature of Human Dao itself. A fight that you are bound to lose," Yao Shen calmly his knocked his hand lightly upon the table for emphasis, though from the shocked expressions on the faces of the Elders his statement already had more than the intended effect.

“Is there truly such a thing?” Zhou Hui questioned, not out of malice but purely curiosity.

“It is my understanding of the Human Dao that led me to this conclusion. Whether you choose to believe me or not, that is up to you," Yao Shen replied, his words spoken without falsity. The other elements he had mastered, be it Earth, Fire or Wind could be manipulated in a variety of ways, imbued in artifacts, formations, talismans and even pills, but Human Dao was an exception.

 

That was the reason why, when Yao Shen projected emotions such as 'comfort' back in the outer sect, it had affected both the young girl chef and Elder Han— he merely projected it outward, it's destination for itself to choose. Any attempt to imbibe artifacts, formations or constructs with human dao would be met with failure, for the element simply refused to be caged, refused to have it's freedom denied.

 

Yao Shen had studied his previous world's history in surprising depth, the subject a matter of fascination for him in his previous life. And throughout history, there was one scene that repeated itself time after time again— 'humans' fought for their freedom, fighting against others of their kind that wished to deprive them of it.

 

Yao Shen was almost convinced that the 'Human Dao' was inextricable from freedom, the two concepts having a natural synergy with each other. Maybe it was is own bias clouding his judgement, but Yao Shen's gut told him that he was on the right track— for most humans had almost an instinctual desire for freedom that seemed to be encoded in their very bloodlines, while the Elves on the other hand seemed to be content under the rule of their Monarchy, very few internal wars fought across their long period of existence.

 

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