Chapter 398 Trust and Transaction
The faceless man snapped his fingers:
"I know very well that just describing the future will not gain your trust, so I will show some sincerity.
"The status of the pure-blood mage camp in the temple is very embarrassing. The longevity method you provide to the members of the temple is being gradually replaced by the bionic alchemy body studied by the alchemy school. As time goes by, in addition to your own very long life, you will have almost no Have any special skills.
"In terms of alchemical attainments, you can't compare to an alchemist who turned himself into a half-machine, half-human, and installed a thinking amplifier.
"In terms of your magical attainments, you are no match for the tower wizards who are thirsty for magic.
"In terms of numbers, although pure-blood mages live long lives, most of them have difficulty in having descendants. Compared with other departments of the Two Halls Conference, you are a minority among the minority.
"How do you think the temple will treat you in this situation?"
The faceless man pointed at Xia Zuo:
"Your ending will be better. After all, you are a male pure-blood mage, you are strong enough, and you have a good relationship with the demon hunting school and the mystic mage.
“But the fate of Kristo and the others is probably not going to be good.
“On the one hand, they don’t have highly functional offensive blood magic like you [Blood Magic Offense and Defense].
"On the other hand, hey, you may not know that in order to pursue female pure-blood mages themselves and their descendants, the people in the temple have done those things. These things have made Kristo and others want to hunt demons. The impression of factions other than schools and mystics is extremely poor.
"After the longevity function of pure-blood mages is replaced, many people who have been blessed by you to extend their lives will soon become your enemies. The power of your own blood is of infinite value to them treasure."
There is an obvious arc fold on the face of the faceless man, which looks like a evil smile:
"I promised Kristo and others that from the day they join me, all my subordinates in the temple will unconditionally protect the pure-blood mage camp, and all proposals that are unfavorable to you will be rejected. After I reorganize the temple, you are still the most important members of the temple.
“All Kristo and the others have to do is each contribute a quarter of their bloodline power.
"This cooperation does not conflict with the matter of opening [The Resting Place]. Each of them will receive two rewards."
The faceless man rubbed his hands lightly, "I told them in advance what would happen on the ring island, which proved my ability and the temple's weakness. Do you think Kristo and the others agreed?"
Xia Zuo's tone was cold, "I promise you that I am betraying the temple. If the three of Kristo had done this, the light element in the spiritual ocean would have executed them long ago. Obviously, your conspiracy did not succeed. They held on Bottom line.”
"Hahaha~" The faceless man laughed wildly, as if he had heard a big joke, "Light element, hahaha. According to what you said, the Tao Winset who worked for me would have been dead long ago~"
Xia Zuo's expression froze...
yes!
The Faceless Man clearly wants to overthrow the Temple.
Conspiracy with him would directly violate the most stringent of the temple laws.
But there was nothing wrong with Tauwenset.
The faceless man suddenly stopped laughing, stood up from the vine sofa, and suddenly opened his arms.
Xia Zuo thought that the other party was planning to take action. He was about to send Janice away first, but was shocked by the scene in front of him.
I saw the faceless man's hood and cloak being lifted off by several silver sand palms, and the smooth artificial skin was also torn off by the silver sand palms.
A humanoid creature made purely of energy appeared in front of Xia Zuo:
This humanoid creature has limbs and a head, no obvious gender characteristics, and a flat chest and crotch;
On its head, which is equivalent to the brain, there is something that Xia Zuo is very familiar with - a diamond-shaped chaos container;
In its lungs, and in the left and right chests, there is a ball of wind energy blooming with green light;
Its stomach, spleen, kidneys, and heart are all fire energy of different brightness;
Its feet, hands, and limbs are made of earth-brown earth energy;
Water energy has become the filling of its skin and body. A shell of pure water that refracts sunlight wraps the entire humanoid creature, outlining the appearance of a human being. The pure water filling its body well integrates the energy of various systems. The composed viscera is fixed in the designated position.
The moment this humanoid creature appeared, Xia Zuo's attention was attracted by the chaos container in his head.
This was the first time he had seen a Chaos Vessel outside of the Pillars of Creation... Can this thing be fished out of the lava?
Xia Zuo was very confused.
"As you can see, Xia Zuo."
The humanoid points to his head:
"The Chaos Container is not a unique prop of the Temple. As long as you have a Chaos Container that is independent of the Temple, you are equivalent to completely controlling the spiritual ocean and becoming the master of the spiritual ocean. This is a truly free mage."
The humanoid stretched out its fingers of translucent pure water and drew a circle on the side of its head.
A crack opened on the edge of the diamond-shaped chaos container. This crack slowly opened to both sides, and a dense light group appeared from it. There were countless star-like bright flashes flowing in the light group, which looked like a time A brilliant orb that shines with colorful light all the time.
"Did you see the white light inside? That's the light of the light element. There are a lot of this element that symbolizes the authority of the law in my chaos container, but I'm still alive and well, right?"
The crack in the Chaos Vessel closed, and the humanoids put on artificial skin and cloaks again under the service of Silver Sand Palm.
"Your knowledge of elements all comes from the elemental magic theory instilled in you by the temple. I can't say it is wrong, I can only comment that it is incomplete and biased.
"As long as you join me, I will teach you how to have your own Chaos Vessel and better use the elements.
"At that time, the light elements you originally possessed will no longer pose a threat to you. They will serve you completely instead of executing the orders of the temple law."
"The terms you offered are indeed very tempting, I have to admit it." Xia Zuo said calmly:
"You used these words to impress many temple members, right? Tauwenset must be one of your followers. You recruit people with status in the temple and use them to control more people, at least three One-third of the meeting seats in the two halls are already under your control, right?"
"Yes." The faceless man spread his hands, looking very proud, "So, what is your decision?"
Xia Zuo fell into thinking.
Since joining the temple and participating in the two temple meetings, he has been pursuing a trend-following strategy of not going against the trend.
This strategy is not suitable for every scenario.
Because it is a strategy to resolve internal conflicts rather than a strategy to confront external forces.
When faced with internal conflicts, choosing to follow the trend in order to avoid internal friction can solve the problem as quickly as possible.
The only difference is whether Xia Zuo is riding the wind or against the trend. If there is a tailwind, you will gain more benefits; if there is a headwind, you will have to sacrifice some profits to avoid greater losses.
In the final analysis, the strategy of following the trend is to make the pie of the temple bigger and then divide the pie.
This strategy cannot be used when fighting external forces, because external forces will not share their cake with the temple. There is only slavery, being enslaved, and life and death between the two.
When one force targets another force, the initial strategy adopted often best reflects its true purpose.
Looking back, the Faceless Man wanted to obtain the blood power of a pure-blood mage. What did he do in the first place?
Did he friendly invite the pure-blood mages to sit down and discuss, share his information and make promises to the pure-blood mages in a frank and open manner?
no?
He secretly sent people to extract Kallus' bloodline, used despicable means to remove Kallus, and finally planned to make Kallus disappear as a civilian.
No matter how much you use sweet words to make amends afterwards, it will never change the bad behavior of the shameless people.
He only has ill intentions toward the pure-blood mage camp!
No kindness!
What he just said was just to better plunder the blood power of the pure-blood mage!
It is absolutely impossible for Xia Zuo to trust such a person.
Maybe, the method of using the Chaos Container taught by the Faceless Man contains a vicious trap that can completely control the mage's mind and will. Any pure-blood mage who falls into his trap will completely become his blood vessel.
Xia Zuo firmly rejects the faceless people for another reason:
Only by fighting can the war be stopped.
At this moment when the pure-blood mage camp is completely at a disadvantage, all the goodwill shown by the Faceless Man is just to reduce the price paid by his side and enslave the pure-blood mage at a cheaper cost.
Only when the pure-blood mage has enough combat power to challenge the faceless man, the faceless man will retreat and not confront the pure-blood mage for the time being.
Based on these logics, Xia Zuo gave his own answer:
"I still have to think about it. I'll give you an answer in a month."
"Okay." The faceless man nodded, "We might as well make the first deal first."
The faceless man rubbed his palms gently and said, "Keep my secret and don't report it to the Holy Pattern Department, the Demon Hunting School and the Tribunal. In return, I will not touch your blood mage descendants for the time being, including those you left in the Western Continent." A few. This deal is valid for a long time and lasts until you leak the secret. How about it?"
"Deal." Xia Zuo responded coldly.
"Looking forward to our next meeting." The faceless man put on his hood and turned into a white shadow and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
After he left, Xia Zuo clenched his hands tightly.
The small deal just reached put tremendous pressure on Xia Zuo.
If, one day in the future, he could fly out of this planet and wander into outer space, Xia Zuo would definitely take someone with him, and that would be Anruer.
This may be something that many people cannot understand, and may even think Xia Zuo is very stupid.
But Xia Zuo had to do this.
Everyone has their own unchangeable nature, and everyone’s driving force for spiritual sublimation is different.
Many people like to have a large harem and get pleasure from being surrounded by women, but Xia Zuo can only get sublimation from the act of protecting his only true love.
This is a nature engraved in his bones, a fundamental personality trait that cannot be changed, and it has not changed at all even in two lifetimes.
The threat posed by the Faceless Man made Xia Zuo thirst for power for the first time.
"Uncle Xia Zuo..." Janice woke up in the blood magic shield and looked at the blood barrier around her and the familiar face in front of her in confusion.
"You're awake." Xia Zuo smiled at her, "Go back to the dormitory first. Anru'er will explain to you later."
"Oh..." Janice packed her schoolbag at Xia Zuo's urging and walked back to the other end of the corridor.
Xia Zuo's clone turned into a blood shadow and got into her schoolbag.
The vine corridor returns to tranquility under the warm breeze and sunshine.
…
The underground caves of the Wildhammer Kingdom.
The figure of the faceless man appeared in the comprehensive alchemy room.
The human-shaped potted plant had already been waiting here. Beside her, a young woman wearing a mage's robe was lying peacefully in a basket made of vines with her eyes closed.
"Rena is already in place?" The faceless man looked at the female pure-blood mage in the sleeping basket, "Well done, Melindora. According to the agreement reached by Xia Zuo and Kristo, one month later , I will consider whether to extract the power of her bloodline."
Melindora said nothing, her two eyes made of petals stared at the faceless man, the branches on her body were slowly swimming and trembling, and the small whiskers on the branches were stretched straight, like sharp thorns.
The faceless man noticed something strange about Melindora. His eyes slowly swept across the other person's body, and he felt the anger that was about to erupt, "What's wrong with you? Why are you so angry?"
"I promised you to bring Reyna to you, and I did. But why did you go to war, plan things on the ring island, and publicize your theory?"
Melindora gritted her teeth and said:
"This will expose us to the sight of the Holy Pattern Department and become their enemies. Our past covert operations will no longer exist. The provocative Holy Pattern Department will also lower its bottom line and use more means to deal with us. You Why should we draw their attention?”
The faceless man tried to keep his tone as calm as possible:
"Melindora, you did a great job in bringing Reyna to me. I highly praise your execution. But you must also understand that in order to achieve our goals, a less peaceful temple is more It meets our demands.”
"You" Melindora wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the faceless man.
"Wait, calm down first, I don't want to think about internal strife, Melindora. I know that I didn't discuss it with you before doing these things, which will make you feel that I don't pay enough attention to you. But please believe me, I do this It won’t cause us any trouble. All the tails have been cleaned up by me and others. The Holy Pattern Department, the Tribunal, the Demon Hunting School, no one can investigate anything.”
Perhaps it was the Faceless Man's promise that played a role, or perhaps the Faceless Man's prestige still existed. In short, Melindora calmed down after a few seconds of silence, and her words were no longer so fierce:
"Okay, I believe what you said for the time being. I hope we can still remain secretive."
Melindora paused and asked:
"You revealed your own secret to Xia Zuo, aren't you worried about leaking it? He has the ability to transform ordinary people into pseudo-blood mages, which will allow both parties to establish a blood relationship that is undetectable to outsiders. That's how you are sure , he won’t reveal your secret to the Demon Hunting School through blood induction?”
The faceless man waved his hand, "My assumptions about the pure-blood mage camp were deviated. I didn't expect that they would still maintain such a tough attitude after my prophecy about the ringed island was fulfilled. In this regard, I did make a mistake. As for the leak you mentioned... I have to go to the End of Time to confirm whether Xia Zuo has kept his promise."
The faceless man pointed to the flowerpot on the wall, "You should go back first. If Xia Zuo breaks his promise at the end of time, I will inform you."