Chapter 731: Young Man – Political Ability Up ↑
The negotiation outcome with Mi Fang was far more fruitful than the dragonman youngster’s prior moves.
As he left the restaurant, the dragonman youngster recalled what Cang Xu had said.
Cang Xu analyzed Mi Fang, “Of all the duelists, Mi Fang is best suited as the first place to breach.”
“On the one hand, he is in a terrible situation and is implicated in our benefits. On the other hand, more importantly, his temperament is obviously feeble.”
When the dragonman youngster heard that, his mind couldn’t help but think of how heavily armored Mi Fang was during their duel.
The dragonman youngster didn’t fully understand, “Since Mi Fang is certain he cannot defeat me, and even fears he’ll lose his life, he came fully armed and adopted an extremely conservative tactic, that was sensible.”
But Cang Xu shook his head, “To see someone clearly, you must examine their actions. Look at how they act, not just during a short time period, or superficially, rather look at how he lives. Especially what key choices they make during important impasses, that will more elucidate you of their nature.”
“We don’t know how Mi Fang lived before coming to the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, but after he came here, what did he do?”
“Through his masculine charm, he exploited the resources of female snow elves and invested them into himself.”
“Through duels he earned money and reputation, he then utilized his reputation to expand his romantic charm, thereby increasing the amount of resources he milked from his female companions.”
“Finally, he chose the Jing Xiang Clan, that clan suited his growth the most.”
“Summing all this up, we can find that Mi Fang likes to take shortcuts. During duels, he is always extremely prepared, greatly emphasizing whether he wins or loses. When he tries, the gains and losses are weighing heavily in his mind.”
“He has a keen sense for opportunity; therefore, he was able to beat the other Jing Xiang Clan snow elves to become the person in charge of the mount potions.”
“Thus, he rode the wind, and it was also because of that he fell into the abyss after losing the duel. According to the intelligence, his authority in the Jing Xiang Clan has nearly vanished, this is precisely the optimal time to negotiate with him.”
When the dragonman youngster heard this analysis, he felt he had gained immensely from this, and he promptly asked Cang Xu for guidance and how he should specifically conduct the negotiation.
Cang Xu taught him, when handling people of weak, rich, and ambitious nature, he should do his utmost to display an intensely intimidating stance to gain dominance, then he could use benefits to entice and sway his mark. By accomplishing these two steps, he could achieve his negotiation goal on a basic level. If he could add a third step, it would be to increase a feeling of acknowledgement, that would be better.
Afterwards, Hun Tong scouted out new information, allowing the survivors to learn of a “saint level devil transformation potion”, it was crucial information.
Due to it, the negotiation with Mi Fang became a more pressing matter.
“This negotiation was a total victory.”
“The ‘saint level potion’ has been neutralized in advance. Although it can’t bring about a crisis, it is still a gigantic inconvenience.”
The dragonman youngster felt quite happy.
He had left the room before Mi Fang, ignoring the saint level potion left on the dining table, both to deter Mi Fang and to impress upon him a feeling of unfathomable depths, that everything was under his control.
Hun Tong was hiding in the room and would bring the potion to the dragonman youngster.
Since Cang Xu converged and pointed out the dragonman youngster’s many strategic mistakes, the dragonman youngster immediately corrected course and brought Hun Tong back from the Snow Bird Harbor branch to join at his side again.
The mysterious voice Mi Fang had heard, along with the sudden appearance of the invitation letter, was from the deception divine spell empowered Hun Tong.
After returning to the temporary capital base, the dragonman youngster was still pondering this operation.
“To solve a problem, it might be necessary to kill it!”
“Killing Mi Fang, or inciting him into rebellion, the latter is obviously more useful to me.”
“At this time, what do we currently need to do? Integrate with the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, take root here.”
“Therefore, we must have a good relationship with all powers here.”
“Eradicating Mi Fang, even if I show strength, will establish enmity with the Jing Xiang Clan. Meanwhile, it will cause the other noble to be vigilant and loathe us.”
“Simultaneously, Mi Fang is also a duelist. He is not from the military, and if I kill him, it will estrange me from the other duelists, and they’ll be stringently on guard against me.”
“I have so many worthy subjects to study from Cang Xu.”
The dragonman youngster sighed to himself.
In the past, to deal with problems, he usually used violence and strength.
His experience in Ocean Mother Nest allowed the fishman youngster to comprehend the usages of deception. In the Snow Bird Harbor battle, he put that into practice.
His negotiation with Mi Fang was him following Cang Xu’s guidance, an attempt to handle a problem in a new way.
“This method is neither fighting nor deception, but upon carefully sampling it, it has ingredients from both.”
“We used the pretense of arms merchants to bluster and deceive many people. Mi Fang is no exception. Our breakthrough into the Alchemy Guild was a decisive victory. By contrast, Mi Fang was forced into a corner, it is obvious the enemy is strong, and he is weak.”
“Thus, this was the best time to negotiate.”
“The goal of this negotiation was to force the enemy into surrender and compliance. Therefore, it was not just blind force, I also had to look for common ground. Therefore, I stated we were the ‘same’. Looking at the results, it was very remarkable.”
“The reason why I could accomplish this, apart from my prior victory over Mi Fang, was thanks to Zong Ge’s 3 v 1 deterring him. More importantly, by relying on Cang Xu’s methods, I was able to resolve the difficult problem that was the Alchemy Guild.”
Cang Xu helped Cai Jing and the two others form a faction, aided the dragonman youngster in becoming a duelist, and also helped him contact Shuang Lian. In this string of operations, they accurately struck the core problem and affected the decision making of the highest echelons of the kingdom.
From this high place, they effortlessly suppressed the Alchemy Guild President and powerful elders like Hua Ni.
After this news got out, his surging renown flabbergasted hostile powers.
“How did Cang Xu achieve this?” The dragonman youngster pondered this question many times.
He asked himself for the answer, “He saw through the situation, beyond the façade and into the Ice Sculpture King’s plight and requirements, then with the help of the situation, applied leverage to make new advances on these forces to benefit us.”
“Cang Xu truly is amazing!”
The dragonman youngster felt admiration as well as vigilance.
“Racial contradictions lie between Mi Fang and the Jing Xiang Clan. Although Mi Fang joined the Jing Xiang Clan, and became a son-in-law, superficially integrating with them, as a matter of fact, he was unable to.”
“Why?”
“The Jing Xiang Clan’s snow elves don’t want to give Mi Fang an influential position, and they can’t satisfy him.”
“Essentially, this racial contradiction prevents either side from trusting the other completely!”
“If Mi Fang was a snow elf, his situation would be completely different.”
“This is a racial conflict. Every intelligent life form, because of different bloodlines and life shapes, will bring about different worldviews, value systems, and outlooks.”
“These differences are usually massive and cannot be jointly understood.”
“Because I have the Bloodcore, and can transform myself, I can personally experience how immense these differences are.”
When the young man was a fishman, he felt incomparably close to water. If he was in his dragonman form, he absolutely wouldn’t feel that way.
The young man thought of what Long Meng had told him.
Be vigilant of your draconic nature, by mastering it, it is possible to go a step further in the martial realm.
“If one was unaware of racial instincts and the need to master them, it would be difficult for people to cooperate with each other on a deep level.”
“Mi Fang’s relationship with the Jing Xiang Clan can be regarded as such a situation. But ultimately, their cooperation is fractured!”
“An overall survey of all powerful organizations in the world shows that without exception, all of their main members are of the same race. The Sheng Ming Empire is mainly made of humans, the Ice Sculpture Kingdom of snow elves.”
“In that case, what about my Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps?”
Mi Fang’s loss, and living example caused the dragonman youngster to be more alert, more interested in the racial contradictions in his own mercenary corps.
Cang Xu evaluated the dragonman youngster and said he was an outstanding leader. It wasn’t flattery, it was practical and realistic.
The dragonman youngster was constantly changing, constantly improving.
He was continuously learning.
This time, with Cang Xu, he experienced and learned much from his negotiation with Mi Fang.
The dragonman youngster had experienced and been enlightened by politics, and so his political acumen soared!
After Mi Fang secretly negotiated with the dragonman youngster, he returned to the clan base.
That very afternoon, he publicly declared that he wanted to challenge Long Fu again, to wipe away his humiliation!
This news rapidly spread, attracting widespread interest and discussion.
“Indeed, in that duel, Mi Fang didn’t show off his strength. If I were me, I’d be unwilling to resign myself to that.”
“Older brother is older brother, he defeated himself, and although he lost, he didn’t truly admit defeat. In this battle, he has come to a great realization!”
“Did the Jing Xiang Clan force him to fight again? Mi Fang’s loss caused the Jing Xiang Clang to suffer castigation!”
“I’m afraid Long Fu won’t agree. As a dragonman, it is normal for one to look down upon their defeated opponent.”
The masses were unaware of the truth.
Mi Fang’s self-pitying female supporters, the projecting populace, and those analyzing the current political situation were more or less right.
The dragonman youngster received Mi Fang’s challenge letter, and that evening, he declared that he accepted this challenge.
The masses cheered.
“Long Fu accepted, he didn’t refuse!”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps doesn’t actually need to work with the Jing Xiang Clan. Now they have people in the Alchemy Guild.”
“I’ve always heard that Long Fu is a warrior, that he has a heroic and magnanimous nature. You can see that from each of his fights. Believe me, I can judge people accurately. Even if I am mistaken, there is no reason the others aren’t mistaken too. The masses’ eyes are bright as snow!”
Thus, the dragonman youngster once again gained the good graces of the populace.
The next day, the duel began.
The public duel containing the most magnificent Long Fu under the limelight, as well as the narrative of revenge for a past transgression, caused the dueling arena to be a full house inside.