Dragon's Soul Chapter 205: Negotiations

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With the Rising Moon Sword still piercing through Holy Son Hui Ying's limp corpse, Zhang reached out his hand and retrieved the glowing golden colored pearl that was still being tightly grasped upon.

"I'll store this away first and inspect it when I have some time on my hands." Zhang thought as he flipped his hand and made the glowing golden pearl disappear.

"Now to see about that black colored Pearl that activated the array…" Zhang mumbled in his mind as his divine sense swept across Hui Ying's corpse. 

However, before Zhang could locate where the black colored pearl on Hui Ying's body, the columns of light that made up the Demonic Pearl Array, began to flicker and before long disappeared without leaving a single trace of their existence.

Seeing that the array had disappeared, Zhang shrugged his shoulders before storing away Hui Ying's corpse into his interspatial ring.

"You fiend!! Return the sacred Golden Pearl!" The voice of an elderly man rang into Zhang's mind before he could rejoin the battlefield. 

In a flicker of a second, the owner of the voice appeared not too far from Zhang with an ancient looking staff in hand.  

"Interesting… I just killed their Holy Son but he seems angrier about the fact that I got my hands on that Golden Pearl instead." Zhang thought looked at the elderly man who had just appeared.

"The likes of you think you have the right to fight with my lord?" Nai Fan and Xiao Gong's voices reverberated into everyone's minds as they appeared beside the elderly full saint with their weapons in hand.

Caught by surprise, the elderly full saint soon found himself impaled by Xiao Gong's icy dragon spear and bisected by Nai Fan's scimitar. 

"You two can split whatever he has amongst yourselves after you deal with those guys." Zhang said to Nai Fan and Xiao Gong with a grin on his face as he pointed toward an incoming group consisting of three of full saints with angry expressions on their faces. 

While leaving Nai Fan and Xiao Gong to deal with the last remaining full saints that had arrived with Hui Ying, Zhang arrived in front of an unsuspecting lesser saint who was busy dismembering low-level members of the Blood Scale Army with his sword.

Before the lesser saint elder could even attempt to flee, Zhang stabbed into the man's stomach with the Rising Moon Sword while performing a slash across the man's throat with his curved sword made out of a Mirage Viper's fang. 

Like death itself, Zhang soon arrived beside his next victim and with a twist of his wrist and a bit of strength, he cleanly sliced off the head of another lesser saint.

"Kill them all!" Holy Son Shan Li roared as he could feel his connection to the great flow of essence being restored. 

As equality was restored to the battlefield, the coalition force made up of Zhang and Shan Li's subordinates began to one-sidedly slaughter the remains of the Golden Pearl Sect.

The previously bitter rivals had set aside their differences and now pointed their blades and anger at a common enemy.

Although the coalition had suffered numerous casualties, the numbers they boasted still gave them an absolute advantage over their foes.

With their Holy Son slain, remaining full saints locked in a bitter battle with Xiao Gong and Nai Fan, and the lesser saints being hunted down one after the last by Zhang, the disciples of the Golden Pearl Sect quickly fell into disarray.

While some steeled themselves and continued to fight on, a large portion of the disciples of the Golden Pearl Sect began to flee toward the giant Chimera Maxima Clams waiting atop the seafloor. 

However, those fleeing toward the Chimera Clams were intercepted by a beautiful young woman with long flowing red hair, who had countless thousands of eerie looking bones floating about around her.

"You think you can come and go as you please? Hmph!" Yuying's voice reverberated throughout the minds of everyone present. 

"Please have mercy!" A level seven cultivator said as he continued to fly toward the seafloor, hoping that he would be spared.

"Coward…" Yuying muttered before a wave of bones collided into the man's body, scraping off all of his flesh, leaving only his bones for later use.

Quickly realizing that charging toward the seafloor would only mean going head to head with a powerful full saint, the disciples of the Golden Pearl Sect quickly changed their course and tried to flee in a different direction.

But sadly before they could get far, their path was blocked by a murky cloud of green ooze. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could obviously tell that this green colored ooze was unnatural and clearly poisonous. 

"Anyone who can make it pass my cloud of poison alive will be allowed to leave." Lingqi's voice could be heard, prompting many of the fleeing disciples of the Golden Pearl Sect to curse.

"Damn… If we turn back no then all that awaits is death, might as well test out our luck." A young level nine cultivator said as he charged into the green colored ooze, disappearing from sight. 

Before long a handful of brave souls charged after him causing a smile to appear on Lingqi's face.

"Like darling said, we should always seek to add to our subordinates and in the end, only the brave, loyal and unyielding should be given mercy." Lingqi thought as she continued to see if anyone else dared to enter the field of green colored ooze. 

Those that were brave enough to charge into the green colored ooze soon found themselves overcome by weariness and eventually sapped of strength, causing them to fall unconscious. 

Elsewhere in the battlefield, Ling, Yuying and Ai were also selecting individuals from the Golden Pearl Sect to given amnesty to. Since the battle had caused them to expend quite a few number of soldiers, it was only right to find substitutes. 

Thus the battle drew on for a few more hours before reaching its climax after Zhang had slain the last lesser saint level member of the Golden Pearl Sect and proceeded to help Xiao Gong and Nai Fan battle the three full saints that they had been battling against. 

With the addition of Zhang, Nai Fan and Xiao Gong were quickly able to overcome the last experts of the Golden Pearl Sect, sending them on a one-way trip to the Underworld.

Once all of the Saint level experts were eliminated, and the bulk of their forces had dwindled into nothingness, the remnants of the Golden Pearl Sect dropped their weapons and surrendered. 

"Brother what are we going to do about those." Ai asked as she pointed toward the massive clams sitting quietly at the seafloor. 

Due to their lack of mobility and offensive power, none of the Chimera Maxima Clams received any damage at all. 

"I don't know… We don't really have any uses for them and I'm not entirely sure we can make them follow our orders." Zhang said as his gaze looked past the countless soldiers who were cleaning up the aftermath of the battle. 

"I don't think I can use any of my techniques on them either." Yuying said as she shook her head.

"Well, we can't exactly leave them here." Ling interjected. 

"We can cook them!" Ai suddenly said with gleaming eyes. 

"I have a better idea." Zhang said as a thought popped into his head. After signaling for the beauties to follow him, Zhang headed toward where Holy Son Shan Li and the forces of the Starry Sea Sect were.

After the battle had concluded, Zhang had asked Holy Son Shan Li and all of the members of the Starry Sea Sect to retreat a total of five miles away from the vicinity of Blood Coral Cove, as a show of good faith.

If they had not complied with Zhang's request, then the battle would have resumed once again and blood would continue to be spilled into the vast sea.

Thus with the beauties in tow, Zhang soon arrived in a separation field that had been set up not too long ago, where they were instantly greeted by the full saint referred to as Uncle Lu and a team of lesser saints who followed closely behind him.

"Welcome, Lord Zhou Zhang." Uncle Lu said respectfully.

Having witnessed Zhang's battle prowess, it was obvious that Uncle Lu was trying his best as to not offend or provoke Zhang in any way. There was also the fact that the Starry Sea Sect's forces had suffered much greater casualties than the forces of the Blood Coral Cove, so if a battle were to ensue once more then they would be in dire straits unless reinforcements arrived.

"Mister Lu, I would like to have a word with your sect's Holy Son." Zhang said in a respectful manner. 

"Please refer to me as Uncle Lu like everyone else." Uncle Lu said with a smile as he directed Zhang to follow him. Walking side by side with Uncle Lu, Zhang, and the beauties attracted the eyes of everyone around them.

Since it was usually customary to send a messenger and set a meeting place in neutral territory instead of arriving in person, Zhang and the beauties were able to pique the interest of all of the members of the Starry Sea Sect present.

Unknown to them, dozens of rumors were soon sparked and was passed on from from one person to the next.

"Those five must be extremely confident in their abilities if they're able to stroll straight into our camp like that." Someone said.

"Yea! To think they are simply walking around with an escort or any bodyguards in a camp belonging to people who were out to get them not too long ago, without even a hint of worry on their faces. What if we deployed some kind of array or trap for them?" Someone else said as he eyed Zhang and the beauties from afar.

"Sis, I almost forgot to remind you to let Little White out." Ai said in a soft voice to Yuying as they followed behind Zhang and Uncle Lu.

"If you didn't remind me I would have forgotten also." Yuying replied with a smile as she waved her hand and activated the powers of the Ruler's Domain Ring that Zhang had given her.

Since Little White isn't an aquatic animal, and constantly maintaining an air bubble around its body during was highly impractical, Yuying had allowed it to roam about within the Ruler's Domain with her horde of Wraith Spiders.

As Yuying activated the Ruler's Domain a tiny portal opened up in midair, which Little White soon fell out of before being caught by Yuying's arms. 

After a yawn, Little White leaned its head over and licked Yuying's finger before working its way out of her hands and landing onto the ground where it made its way to Ling. 

"Have you slept well?" Ling asked Little White with a smile as it replied with a soft purr while settling itself upon her shoulder after licking her face. 

With their little furry friend joining them, the beauties and their husband were led to a large tent that was guarded by a pair an intimidating full saint and four lesser saints.

"The young master is ready to meet with you." Uncle Lu said to Zhang upon reaching the tent.

"I hope I'm not intruding." Zhang said as he made his way into the tent where Holy Son Shan Li could be seen seated at a square table.

"Is there something I can be of service of to you, Lord Zhou Zhang?" Holy Son Shan Li asked after standing up from his seat to greet Zhang.

"I was hoping to speak to you about how we are going to divide the spoils of war. Also, there is no need to refer to me as Lord Zhou Zhang. Since we seem to be the same age how about brother Zhang?" Zhang said with a smile as he walked up to the table where Shan Li was and seated himself.

"I couldn't possibly call you that. As far as rank goes in our respective forces, you my lord and my father, are considered equals. As for dividing up the spoils of war, may I suggest a fifty-fifty split?" Holy Son Shan Li said as he began pouring tea into a cup for himself and Zhang, while the beauties conversed amongst themselves not too far away.

Although under normal circumstances only Zhang and Shan Li should be present, while the beauties should not have come into the tent and waited outside. However, considering the beauties were all full saints and seeing as Zhang's marital relationship with the beauties was not a common one, Shan Li did not voice his opinion.

"I may be the same rank as your father, however, I'm only as old as you are so I would like to insist that you not make me feel like an old man." Zhang said with a laugh as he sipped a cup of tea.

"Also I agree with your suggest of dividing the spoils of war into halves, as long as reparations are made for the unprovoked attack that had occurred before the arrival of the Golden Pearl Sect's forces." Zhang added while eyeing Shan Li's facial expressions. 

"Of course reparations will be made for any losses you may have suffered due to the little tussle that had occurred between our subordinates." Shan Li replied quickly after grasping Zhang's Intentions.

"Then I'll get straight to the point then." Zhang said as he glanced at the beauties who responded by headed toward the table where he and Shan Li were currently seated.

"We would like for you to hand over the ownership of these islands." Ling said as she arrived beside Zhang and placed a large map on the table while the other beauties moved everything on it aside.

"Of course since I'm not one to take advantage of others, in exchange for those islands I'll give to you all of those giant clams that the Golden Pearl Sect had brought with them and instead of only thirty percent of whatever territories we manage to take from them you can have sixty percent." Zhang said.

"I'm afraid I'd have to ask my father for permission before I could make sure a decision. But with the terms you've offered, I'm sure father would be more than willing to consider giving up those islands." Shan Li said as his eyes brightened upon hearing Zhang's terms. 

From his perspective, the islands that Ling had pointed out held little to no value at all, whereas the Chimera Maxima Clams and sixty percent of any territory they manage to steal from the Golden Pearl Sect was a very worthwhile offer.

What Shan Li didn't know was that Zhang needed these islands and a few islands under the control of the Golden Pearl Sect to set up enough Teleportation Arrays to connect the Blood Coral Cove to the Aurora Empire.

Overall Zhang wasn't really interested in gaining more territory out at sea and simply wanted to secure what he already had and the best way to do that was to link the Blood Coral Cove to Aurora via Teleportation Arrays.

By doing so not only would he be able to establish a highly profitable trade route, but he would also be able to bolster his forces if the Aurora Empire or Blood Coral Cove was to ever be attacked.

Chapter end