Chapter 1617: One Hundred
The fowl looked at Li Qiye with one eye and said: âHehehe, damned crow, invite you in for a bit?â
It paused for a bit and loudly said: âWe must be sick in the head to let you in. Havenât you borrowed enough immortal crystal from us already yet you still want more? Plus, what if you donât leave until you get what you want, what are we going to do then?!â
âIâm really someone like that?â Li Qiye smiled and said: âIâm always open and honest with a penchant for fairnessâ¦â
âYeah, youâre someone like that!â The fowl interrupted Li Qiye without giving him any face.
Li Qiye was as carefree as always: âThereâs no free lunch in this world. You can say that I did borrow a lot of immortal crystals from you cheapskates and never gave them back, but after the long years, shouldnât you all be thanking me?â
âThanking you, my ass!â The fowl snorted: âBack in the Ancient Ming Era, you borrowed so much resources from us. Just that portion alone is enough to start a world!â
âExaggerating again?â Li Qiye shook his head:â Thatâs indeed the case but it was only a dozen or so crystals, the other stuff are just scraps.â
âScraps?!â The fowl had a bigger reaction this time and jumped up high. It stretched out its neck and screeched: âI hope the heaven kills you, damned crow! You dare to say scraps?! Those are precious materials of the Immortal Emperor level! Go die already!â
âIâm just telling the truth. Compared to the special crystals here, the other materials are just scraps.â Li Qiye ignored the fowl and said: âIn my eyes, the immortal crystals are the real goods here.â
âHmph, you got enough crystals already just from the Ancient Ming Era. A dozen? Damned crow? Not even talking about the other times, you still havenât paid back one from that period!â The fowl was exasperated.
âI donât have any left. Remember, I was the one who ended the Ancient Ming Era and swept away the darkness. If it wasnât for me, can your mine still be so peaceful and you old chicken can sleep like this? No chance! Then, why should I need to repay you?â Li Qiye nonchalantly stated.
âHmph, we knew you would renege on your debt. Every single time, always some excuses to not pay back!â The aggrieved fowl felt helpless as well.
Li Qiye continued: âHow can you say that instead of thanking me? Yes, I do borrow a lot of crystals but think about it, if Immortal Emperors had come to harass you every once in a while, or, if I had gathered the legions of the nine worlds to attack your place, how many generations would this place last? How many crystals would be required to make up for the loss? There are two sides to everything, good and bad, so you shouldnât latch on to the bad all the time. Focus on the good now. For millions of years, because of me, you were able to have peace. Thus, lending me the crystals isnât a loss at all. Am I right?â Li Qiye smirked at this point.
âCrow, youâre a goddamned bastard, a bloodsucking devil!â The fowl indignantly shouted.
âI know Iâm a bastard.â Li Qiye smiled leisurely: âBut, now that you got your yelling done, no longer angry, right? Itâs time to talk business.â
âHmph, youâre just here to borrow more crystals. Well, in this generation, we can only give you five crystals since you borrowed already two generations ago. Yes, five at the most!â The fowl knew what Li Qiye was here for but he had to acquiesce.
Li Qiye indeed came here for the so-called âscrapsâ back in Immortal Emperor Yin Tianâs generation. Of course, these scraps were precious immortal items if others were to find them.
The crystal eighteen cannons of the Yu were made from the scraps of the Crystalfowl Immortal Mine!
âFive is not enough to satiate my appetite.â Li Qiye shook his head and refused.
The fowl glared at him in response: âCrow, you should stop borrowing from us so much. Remember, last time you promised us to bring the escapees back but I donât see them right now yet you have the face to come and borrow more?â
âI know.â Li Qiye chuckled: âBut thatâs two different matters. I only promised to find them back then but I couldnât so how am I going to catch and bring them back here?â
The fowl guarding here wasnât afraid of people sneaking in or invaders. Its job was to stop people from inside running to the outside world!
âHmph, I donât believe your lies. There are things you canât find in this world? No way, itâs just that you never really tried to search for them.â It snorted in response.
Li Qiye shook his head: âItâs all in the past now, no need to talk about it. Letâs focus on the immortal crystals, I need a certain number this time.â
âFive, thatâs the max.â The fowl said: âThatâs the number we negotiated back then. Even when Immortal Emperors pushed it, whether they even got five or not was situational. And since you have borrowed some recently, all you can get is five now.â
The immortal mine wouldnât necessarily cave into Immortal Emperorsâ demands. There were strict standards in play.
âYou want to chase me away with five? Impossible since I want to go all out in this generation. My supreme formation requires a large number of immortal crystals.â Li Qiye said slowly.
The fowl stared at him before conceding: âOkay, damned crow, give me a number so we can negotiate but donât push your luck. We donât have that many.â
âNot much, just one hundred. Thatâs enough.â Li Qiye revealed.
âOne hundred!?â The fowl screamed again with a long and piercing harshness.
After a long time, it took a deep breath and said: âCrow, thatâs not funny at all. Try again!â
âIâm not joking.â Li Qiye emphasized.
The fowl gave a careful stare and eventually found that he wasnât messing around, judging from his expression.
âThereâs no way.â It coldly refused: âWe can give you fifteen at best, just fifteen.â
âOne hundred, I must have one hundred.â Li Qiye didnât relent.
âTwenty, no more. Crow, this is the limit and weâre only doing this to give you some face. Otherwise, even the strongest emperor wouldnât get this number!â The fowl said firmly.
âIâm not leaving without one hundred.â Li Qiye gently shook his head with the same unyielding attitude.
âCrow, donât take a mile when weâre giving you an inch.â The fowl turned cold: âFor millions of years now, our cooperation can be regarded as beneficial so thatâs why we accede to your pleas for crystals. However, asking for one hundred is simply crossing the line. Youâre not just robbing us at this point but simply wanting to kill us!â
Li Qiye stared straight at the fowl and said: âFowl, itâs not easy to hide anything from me. Let us talk numbers then. No need to talk about ancient eras. All of you had only escaped here so I can understand it was hard at the beginning. However, you have some reserves now, especially after the Emperors Era when it was peaceful. It should have been a handsome harvest and I should be given credit for it. Now onto the numbers, your production should be around ten if slow in one generation, twenty if fast. Of course, your nest does consume some so you keep at least eight each generation. This is a conservative number. Of course, when I come to borrow, I go even lower at five. That shouldnât be a problem at all. After some gains and losses across the generations, in my calculation, you should have around two hundred crystals in stock. Of course, if you were lucky, the number should be around three hundred.â
He paused for a moment here: âEven if you have two hundred crystals, all Iâm asking for is one hundred. Thatâs not unreasonable, Iâm still leaving some leeway.â