Chapter 59: Admiration Is the Farthest Distance From Understanding (Patreon)

【Your ambition, your vision, could never be this small.】

【Integrating and unifying the Alliance's Vidyadhara is just one part of the plan. In your eyes, the Vidyadhara are merely useful tools.】

【Your true goal is to use the Vidyadhara as a bargaining chip, coercing the Alliance into not acting against you while simultaneously forcing them to cooperate.】

【You hold a knife in one hand and gold in the other.】

【If the Alliance chooses the knife, symbolizing 'force,' they will have to bear the consequences of the Alliance splintering, or even a civil war. At that point, the Abundance abominations would probably die laughing.】

【If the Alliance chooses the gold, symbolizing 'benefit,' it's a win-win for everyone.】

【The Abundance falls; you ascend to 'Immortality' and become an Aeon; the Xianzhou Alliance gains an Aeon as a patron; and the Vidyadhara completely solve their reproduction problem.】

【Of course, this is not something a few military officials can decide, even if they are generals at the very pinnacle of the military hierarchy.】

【Unable to defeat you, yet daring not to let you go, Jing Yuan and the others found themselves in an extremely awkward position.】

【In the end, it was you who gave them a way out.】

【'To show my sincerity in cooperating, I will remain in the Scalegorge Waterscape until you have made your decision,' you said calmly.】

【Jing Yuan couldn't help but sigh in relief. If the stalemate had continued, he truly didn't know how he would have resolved it.】

【But seeing your confident expression, he couldn't resist saying something.】

【'You are quite confident, Your Excellency. You seem certain the Alliance high command will agree to your proposal.'】

【'The people of the Xianzhou are pragmatists. Whether it was building the Xianzhou to seek long life, turning to the Hunt to rid themselves of the Abundance abominations, or allying with the Foxians to deal with the Borisin, or allying with the Vidyadhara to suppress the remnants of Abundance... need I go on?' you said with a smile.】

【Jing Yuan and the others frowned slightly. The history of the Xianzhou Alliance is too long—so long that it has left a pile of messes, so long that there is nothing new under the sun. Opening the history books reveals that these are all historical facts that have already occurred.】

【The Alliance high command plays their games, even tolerating the underhanded schemes of the Vidyadhara Elders. How could they not tolerate an Emanator of Immortality? Thinking of this, Jing Yuan could seemingly already see the outcome.】

【Jing Yuan and the others left dejectedly with the Cloud Knights. Your proposal was completely beyond his authority.】

【This matter was no less significant than the 'Exodus of the Five Dragons' signing their oath with the Alliance back then.】

【An Alliance high command meeting must be convened. The generals, marshal, the Ten-Lords Commission, and the Six Charioteers will all be present.】

【You also casually dismissed the people from the Vidyadhara and the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, leaving only you and Lingsha at the scene.】

【Lingsha trembled all over, looking at you helplessly like a small, wounded animal.】

【She had never imagined that the person she slept beside had hidden so much from her. The teacher she trusted most was the one who had deceived her the most. It seemed as if only today did she truly get to know you.】

【A thousand words were reduced to just three.】

【'Why?'】

【The warm smile on your face did not change, but the words you spoke sent a chill down Lingsha's spine, as if she had been plunged into an abyss.】

【'Because admiration is the furthest thing from understanding.'】

【Your sword did not pierce Lingsha's body, but it pierced her heart.】

【As your voice faded, you turned and left without looking back, leaving Lingsha alone, collapsed helplessly on the ground.】

【Subsequent developments unfolded exactly as you had predicted.】

【After much political maneuvering, the Alliance high command finally agreed to your proposal.】

【If you could only command the Vidyadhara of the Luofu, some radical factions might still have thought about how to eliminate you.】

【However, after you became the Emanator of Immortality, the situation changed.】

【Before you, the Vidyadhara revered the Fathom-Abyss Lord. To show its sincerity, the Alliance not only made her an Emanator of the Hunt and the Wave-Taming General, but also gifted the Fanghu to the Vidyadhara for self-governance.】

【Now that you have become the sole Emanator of Immortality, your status instantly surpasses that of the Fathom-Abyss Lord. Never mind the Vidyadhara of the Fanghu Xianzhou; even the Fathom-Abyss Lord's own attitude has become ambiguous.】

【The Alliance high command completely underestimated the Vidyadhara race's pursuit and desire for 'Immortality'.】

【'Immortality' not only symbolizes the 'roots' of the Vidyadhara, but also the hope for the continuation of their entire race.】

【Especially when they learned that you, like the Corporation's Emanator of Preservation, 'Diamond,' could grant the authority of 'Immortality' to ten people, allowing them to reproduce normally as they did when the Dragon of Permanence was still alive.】

【The reproduction of the Vidyadhara was no longer an ethereal hope, but a tangible dawn.】

【Through your deliberate dissemination, this news quickly reached the ears of all Vidyadhara in the Alliance. The entire Vidyadhara race was instantly in an uproar, and all Vidyadhara began to see you as their new hope and new leader.】

【Under these circumstances, if the Alliance dared to move against you, they would have to risk antagonizing the entire Vidyadhara race and plunging the Alliance into civil war.】

【Even the most extreme radicals would not dare to take this risk. If any did, others would make them shut up.】

【Moreover, you also left the Xianzhou Alliance enough of an out.】

【Although you seized the power of the High Elder from Yanting-jun, you did not kill her.】

【As for that mess with the Luofu Vidyadhara and the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, to put it bluntly, the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus have never been eradicated on the Xianzhou precisely because the Alliance high command, including the Six Charioteers, has maintained an ambiguous, even permissive, attitude towards them.】

【If they were to truly investigate, never mind you, many in the Alliance high command wouldn't escape unscathed. This is a topic that cannot be touched.】

【As for the matter of you experimenting on the bodies of Xianzhou natives in your past lives to advance your medical skills, let's not even mention that your hands are clean and no one has discovered it.】

【Even if it were discovered, you wouldn't be afraid. You have the Vidyadhara's reincarnation mechanism to thank for that. Since you have already been reborn, the deeds of your past life have nothing to do with you.】

【In the words of the Vidyadhara, the 'me' of a past life is not the 'me' of this life. Naturally, the crimes of a past life have nothing to do with me.】

【After repeated deliberations and countless hidden power plays, the Alliance high command finally agreed to your proposal, and both sides reached a cooperative agreement.】

【And so, a world where only Yanting-jun gets hurt was achieved.】

【Late one night, you sensed something unusual and quickly threw off the covers.】

【Under the covers, Lingsha was looking at you with an innocent expression, just as she always did.】

【You looked at her with a helpless expression.】

【'You...'】

【Just as you were about to speak, Lingsha took the initiative to explain: 'The Vidyadhara population has been constantly decreasing. Now that we finally have the ability to reproduce, we naturally must hurry and increase our numbers. Teacher has to take the lead, you know~'】

【After speaking, she even gave you a mischievous wink.】

【You started to say something, but stopped.】

【Lingsha suddenly hugged you tightly.】

【'Teacher, since you said I don't understand you well enough, then I'll cling to you tightly until I understand you completely!'】

【You remained silent for a moment, then rolled over and pinned Lingsha beneath you.】

【So be it. What's the harm in playing Xu Xian for one night!!】

……

【After the clouds dispersed and the rain scattered, you gazed at Lingsha sleeping soundly beside you, your expression icy. You raised a hand and waved it past her nose and mouth.】

【Under the light, a faint, colorful powder drifted down, inhaled by Lingsha through her nose and mouth. The soundly sleeping Lingsha didn't notice a thing.】

【A woman who is deeply in love with you is indeed very reliable, but people's hearts can change. You have only ever trusted yourself, so you left an 'insurance policy' on Lingsha.】

【If her heart never changes in her entire life, this insurance policy will never be activated.】