Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 660 - 660 0426 Good News and Bad News

Chapter 660: Chapter 0426 Good News and Bad News Chapter 660: Chapter 0426 Good News and Bad News Chapter 0426: Good News, Bad News

Qi Tian spoke with a smile on his face, his tone as straight forward as if narrating a simple fact. His attitude left the Bei Rong officer who’d challenged him taken aback. Had anyone else said these words, he would’ve thought they were boasting. But coming from Qi Tian, for some reason, he found them chilling. It was as if a tiger was telling a rabbit, “I can definitely eat you”, and he was the unfortunate rabbit.

The Bei Rong officer felt himself drenched in a sudden cold sweat. A gust of wind blew past, chilling him to the core, as if plunged into an icy cave. He opened his mouth to utter more platitudes, but all that came out were whimpering noises. He had been frightened speechless.

A Bei Rong officer standing beside him stared at Qi Tian for a long time. At that moment, he seemed to recognize Qi Tian. He offered a respectful salute and asked, “May I be so bold as to ask if the ‘Qi Tian’ you refer to is the Master Qi who supports the ninth prince as successor to the crown prince in the Great Zhao Nation?”

“Correct, that would be me.” Qi Tian casually nodded and returned his question, “Do you know me?”

Upon hearing Qi Tian confirm his identity, the Bei Rong officer quickly dismounted and knelt on the ground. “Greetings, Master Qi Tian. I am Yelu Hongli, the deputy commander of the Bei Rong southward invasion army.”

Not only did Yelu Hongli kneel in fright, the officer who had previously doubted Qi Tian also quickly dismounted and prostrated before him. As for the others who were with them, seeing their two senior officers kneel, they did not dare to hesitate and hurriedly dismounted to pay respects to Qi Tian.

Qi Tian looked down at Yelu Hongli from above and asked, “It seems you know me.”

Yelu Hongli hastily answered, “Master, I do not personally know you, but I have heard some of your feats. I know you have extraordinary powers that can shake heaven and earth, and with your lone strength, you’ve turned the fate of the Great Zhao Nation around. I deeply admire your achievements and look up to your abilities.”

Yelu Hongli’s words weren’t flattery or a mere formality. He truly believed this in his heart. Qi Tian’s deeds were almost universally known in the Great Zhao Nation. Not only had he nearly left a gaping hole in the Great Zhao Nation, he was unprecedented in challenging royal authority. He had even managed to stir up significant controversy in his pursuit of this matter, killing multiple Gold Core cultivators in the process. He’d thus eliminated more than half of the nobles who had dared oppose the ninth prince taking over as crown prince, ultimately causing the crown prince to retreat to the Capital City, not daring to leave.

Everything Qi Tian had done was unprecedented, not just in the Great Zhao Nation, but also in several surrounding kingdoms, where he had established an extremely unique precedent. With his current power and influence, as long as Qi Tian was willing, he could repeat everything that had happened in the Great Zhao Nation in other countries. In other words, just as Qi Tian had made the Great Zhao Nation replace the crown prince, he could make the Bei Rong Kingdom replace their emperor.

The Bei Rong officers were blissfully unaware that what they feared had already transpired in the Chi Di kingdom. Under Qi Tian’s forceful intervention, the Chi Di’s Heavenly Khan had been replaced. Had they known this, they probably would’ve wanted to commit suicide.

Qi Tian spoke indifferently, “Alright, since you are aware of my reputation and accomplishments, the next part should be easier. Here are my conditions if you want me to look past the atrocities committed during the Bei Rong’s invasion of the Great Zhao Nation. Firstly, you need to weed out at least three civilian or military officials in Bei Rong who advocated for this invasion campaign, and exterminate their families. Don’t bother with anyone ranked lower than third grade. That’s the first condition. Secondly, you attacked the Yanming Pass, killed the five thousand soldiers guarding it, committed wanton murder and plunder within the Great Zhao Nation’s territory, and caused enormous loss of life and property. You need to compensate for all these. I won’t bother to calculate the specifics for you. The Bei Rong Kingdom should offer fifty million taels of silver.”

“What?! Fifty million taels of silver?” The Bei Rong officers gasped in shock. The annual income of their royal treasury was only around fifteen million taels of silver. Qi Tian’s demand of fifty million would empty out several years of the Bei Rong kingdom’s financial income.

“What, think that fifty million taels of silver is not enough to assuage your guilt and want to pay more? Fine by me. Let’s make it fifty-five million taels. If you still find that inadequate, we’ll make it sixty million taels,” Qi Tian sneered.

“No, fifty million taels is just fine,” Yelu Hongli hastily stated.

“Too late. That was then, this is now. It’s fifty-five million taels,” Qi Tian declared.

“Fine, let it be fifty-five million,” Yelu Hongli did not dare argue further with Qi Tian, lest Qi Tian further increase the amount they had to pay. He did not want the Bei Rong kingdom to endure years of hardship as a result.

Qi Tian held up three fingers and said, “My third condition. I want your Emperor Bei Rong to personally lead his heir to the Yanming Pass to apologize to the citizens and soldiers of the Great Zhao Nation who were butchered. After finishing the apology, the next in line to your throne needs to be held hostage in the Great Zhao Nation.”