Negotiations (Last Part)

Pakura was horrified, "You are going to kill off everyone on this plane just so you can prove your Dao? Even your own descendants? How could you?!"

Lin Feng's eyes also widened as the implications kicked in.

Kaguya's pearlescent eyes narrowed and a formless pressure bore down on them.

"Girl, I do not have as many moral hang ups as you do. Every mid-level plane has populations measured in billions, out of which a mere hundred or so Shattered Void practitioners emerge every millennium.

"Only a tenth of them manage to reach the Grasping Principle realm in their lifetime due to the fortuitous encounter required for principle comprehension.

"A Grand Dao needs a minimum of three principles to condense and the Dao formed will be of the shoddiest Earth tier. So, the proportion of cultivators reaching this realm drops off exponentially with the number of principles required to condense their Dao.

"For example, for a Grasping Principles realm cultivator to reach Dao Seeking stage, he would need to comprehend two more principles at the minimum each with one tenth probability. Thus, for every hundred Grasping Principle cultivators, one Earth tier Dao Seeking expert will emerge.

"As for someone like me who has an upper tier Divine Dao with nine constituent principles? It would be one in a billion Shattered Void practitioners.

"I feel myself justified in believing that I am a special being whose wishes are worth more than billions of mortal lives. I am a God amongst men and it is unfair to hold me to the morality of mere mortals. I have no qualms admitting that hundreds of thousands died due to the chaos caused by the war I orchestrated right after my arrival here. They died for the success of my cause and I haven't a shred of guilt for their deaths.

"Listen girl, there is no equality in the multiverse… only equal opportunity. Even a mere ant can cultivate into a deity that overlooks all things. I crawled my way up a path soaked in blood, sweat and tears to finally reach this height and it would be hypocrisy to hold me to the same moral standards of those just at the starting line.

"Even a mortal realm Emperor grasps the life and death of his subjects let alone a God. So, relinquish your foolish morality. It hobbles you.

"But, worry not. My plan does not involve any deaths. The idea of my proposed microcosm is Samsara Reincarnation. I will collect the souls of all sentient lives on this plane and invest them into my Samsara passageways.

"Based on their disposition, they will move into one of the six paths of Samsara. If their disposition is combative and they find joy in bloodshed, they will move to the Asura path. If they are affable in nature and obtain satisfaction from assisting others, to the Deva path will they go. If they are governed by their desires and lack self-control, the Preta path will be their destination. For those with a penchant for intrigue and a suspicious nature, the Beast path will be their home to return to. As for the loners and antisocial souls, the Naraka path will accept them with open arms. Finally, for the boring ones that blend into the crowd and have no special characteristics, the Human path will be their best bet.

"They will be reborn as the respective races depending on the path they take. Although, they will be born as a blank slate, but the essence of their existence, the memories of their previous lives will remain preserved until they die again and reach the Samsara pathway. There, they will regain their memories. Unlike the current Ghostdom, where most souls unravel due to the corrosive atmosphere, in my microcosm, they won't stay long enough in the passageway for that to happen, effectively making their souls immortal.

"Thus, they will strengthen with every cycle until, they are too strong for a mortal body to support whereby, they will merge with my soul as a form of Nirvana, changing me in the process. It will be a sort of continuation of their lives in another form. Fresh souls born in the microcosm will supplement the void left in the river of souls by their absence.

"So, no one will truly die in the process of my ascension to the realm of a Demiurge. You can allay the pangs of your conscience with this knowledge."

Lin Feng's world view vibrated greatly with her words. He felt the truth in them. Even as the hegemon of the Grand Architectural Sect, every stroke of his pen as he signed a petition on his desk was capable of affecting the lives of millions.

Was what Kaguya doing so different? He didn't think so. It was just an inflation in the scale of operations. While he had worked at the level of a sect, she worked at the level of worlds.

It had just been three months since he had arrived here after breaking through to the Shattered Void realm. His thought processes were still adapting to his new status as a… demigod, yes that was an appropriate term. While treating mortals as toys to play around with was too extreme, putting his interests above theirs was fair play.

He had been overcompensating after the conversation with Pakura. Right after arriving at this world, he had let loose a bit too much, using his strength to awe everyone into submission and delving into devilish acts like experimentation on unwilling, innocent humans. When it had been brought to his notice, his actions had clashed with his morality from his home world and he had been disgusted by himself and therefore eschewed the use of his strength in his future interactions with the people of this world, instead resorting to diplomacy.

As he went over his interactions with the Suna council of elders, he realised that at first, they had been quite amenable to his proposals due to the deterrence of his strength, but after a few interactions, when they had realised that he was unwilling to use his strength to oppose them, they had become increasingly recalcitrant, resorting to all means to maximise their own profits.

This was why, in the recent few days, he'd been having a constant headache because of his dealings with the sly old foxes.

Now that he thought about it, his strength was part of him too. There was no reason he shouldn't bring it to the negotiation table.

If there was something that he wanted he should just take it. Considering their feelings or strategically manoeuvring with them was only to be done when resorting to violence would be more troublesome.

As his power rose in leaps and bounds, the number of times he would have to negotiate with them would grow fewer in number until finally, if he wanted something done, his word would be law.

As Lin Feng combed out the tangles in his mentality, a profound aura began to condense on him, growing stronger with every passing moment.

The expression on his face grew more aloof as he began emanating an inviolable dignity reserved only for Gods. As his aura crashed against Kaguya's, his soul sutra began revolving rapidly as the Resolution Earth started to evolve into the final stage, Will of Diamond.

His eyes locked onto Kaguya's. This time he met her gaze as an equal. "Deal."

The mindscape rippled as the third and final clause of the soul contract was finalized and turned into matching intricate tattoos on the backs of their left hands.

Pakura watched with a complicated expression on her face as she felt Lin Feng's soul evolve again. Including this time, it had happened twice. Once, when her words had snapped him out of his indifference towards the populace of this world, and now when Kaguya's words made him come to terms with his status as a deity.

She agreed with the logic of Kaguya's words but she disagreed with her conclusions. A God was a person too, just a very strong one. They too shared the feelings of laughter, anger, fear and sorrow with their mortal counterparts. Their origin was mortal too. Then why was it so difficult for a deity to inconvenience himself slightly to make that many mortals happier.

Power, to her didn't just mean an increased ability to gain what she wanted. It meant that every one of her actions had broader consequences. While, from the fluctuations of his emotions through the bond, she could infer that Lin Feng had chosen to eschew ponderance of those consequences, she, personally couldn't bring herself to do so.

Lin Feng had chosen the path of indifference while she was doomed to walk the path of careful consideration. As a hardened kunoichi, she wasn't a benevolent person by a long shot. Sacrificing something of significance to her in order to help strangers was the last thing on her agenda.

But putting some thought into choosing a path to her goal littered with the fewest corpses was a use of her time she could get behind. At least he hadn't chosen to be a cruel God that derived pleasure from tormenting those under his sway.

Well, the bond linked them inextricably and now, after their coital union in the World of Infinite Dreams, they shared a connection of the heart.

She would be there by his side, cleaning up the obstacles in his path the best she could so that his hands were dyed with the least amount of blood possible and only praises of him remained upon his departure from the worlds they would visit in the future. She felt the purpose for her existence take shape within her mind.

After her abandonment by Suna, she had felt like a piece of driftwood being towed by the current called Lin Feng in the ocean of life. It was finally the time for that wayward plank to turn into a ship and for her to take a firm hold of the rudder.

She might not be able to reverse its direction, but guide it? She believed herself competent.

What surprised her the most though, wasn't the series of revelations.

No, it was the undercurrent of envy. She was jealous of Kaguya for being the second woman who had affected Lin Feng's world view so profoundly. She had subconsciously been treating it like a unique achievement and as a mark of ownership. To have another woman, a divine beauty to boot, intruding on her perceived turf had her hackles raised.

The realization was so shocking that she burst out laughing, disrupting the solemn atmosphere that had built up around the three of them.

"What is the cause of your mirth, girl?" asked Kaguya curiously.

Pakura replied through her bout of giggles, "I just realized that I was jealous of you for affecting him so."

Her eyes widened in surprise before she covered her mouth with one voluminous sleeve and chucked demurely.

"Fu fu fu. Worry not, my future apprentice, I have no designs on your lover. In fact, rather than him, I appreciate you a lot more. He is a flower in a greenhouse, having never encountered a significant setback, his morals are plastic and easily influenced by the viewpoints of others.

"Also, I may or may not have projected a mild mesmeric along with my aura that makes one more amenable to suggestion. After all I need like minded collaborators. You, my dear, shrugged it off without a hitch. Your will is much firmer, tempered as it is by adversity. I might not agree with you but I respect how you were able to just move on without any form of vengeance after being discarded by the very village that you had wagered your life to protect.

"Though born of a transaction, I believe that taking you in as my disciple will be a very enjoyable experience."

She lowered her voice conspiratorially as her eyes glinted with mischief. "And if you have any troubles with your man, I have picked up a few tricks in my long life that will have him dancing to your tune in no time. Fu fu fu."

Pakura blushed at her last statement and shot a glance at Lin Feng. Seeing his scandalized expression set her off into a renewed bout of giggles.

"Oi… can you not criticize me while treating me like air? And… why do I feel like you two are getting along a little too well?" interjected Lin Feng ill humouredly.

"Because we are." Came the synchronized reply.

All three of them burst into laughter.

…

This was a day that went down in the history of the multiverse as the day when three of its future rulers met for the first time, fought, pit their wits against each other on a negotiation table and became fast friends…

All over a cup of tea.