The negotiation between the Liu imperial clan and the four great families this time was about how to join forces to eliminate the enemies lurking in the shadows, preparing to ambush them!
In other words, the actual bargaining chips for this negotiation were the gaps in each other's strength.
Whoever was stronger would have more confidence to speak, and whoever was weaker would have a smaller voice.
It was precisely because of this that the nine of them engaged in such a display in mid-air.
They fought over a trivial seat and ended up in such a state.
In reality, they weren't fighting for a so-called seat at all; they were using the pretense of fighting for a seat to test each other's strength and see where everyone stood.
Through the scramble for seats, they could discern who was stronger and who was weaker among the nine of them. This way, it wouldn't harm their relationships or affect the negotiation.
One wouldn't know until they compared, and the comparison was astonishing.
Those who were strong had nothing to worry about, but whoever was the weakest would be the most embarrassed.
Of course, the final outcome could be seen from the seats.
Liu Xie was the first to sit in the first seat. His strength among the nine was naturally the strongest; this went without saying.
Wang Quan Gui was the second to claim a seat. He used the power of spatial laws to suppress the others and secure the second seat!
Among the nine, his strength ranked second.
The person sitting on the third chair was Kong Xiang Xi. He used the laws of culture to fend off all those who tried to stop him, easily taking the third position.
His strength was undeniably third among the nine.
...
And sitting in the fourth position, on the fourth chair, was Qin Ru Huo.
Qin Ru Huo's strength was indeed formidable, and the laws of the soul, unlike other laws, specifically targeted the soul, making it extremely difficult to deal with.
Under the apprehension of the others, Qin Ru Huo successfully secured the fourth chair.
Although he took the fourth chair, his strength might not necessarily rank fourth among the nine, as he had somewhat taken a shortcut.
The fifth seat was occupied by Li Zi Hao.
Even under the desperate obstruction of Liu Chuang, Liu Shan, Liu Gao, and Liu Jing, he easily took the fifth chair.
Among the nine, his strength was definitely among the top five.
Further down were Liu Chuang, Liu Shan, Liu Gao, and Liu Jing. They were all essentially a group, and honestly, there wasn't much to fight for, as they were all from the same family.
However, just for the sake of appearances, Liu Chuang, Liu Shan, Liu Gao, and Liu Jing had a slight competition.
This competition indeed revealed their strengths.
Liu Chuang was first, Liu Shan second, Liu Gao third, and Liu Jing last.
Therefore, Liu Jing's expression was the most grim.
He probably never expected that among the nine, his strength was the weakest.
However, the expressions of the other Liu family members were not much better.
Liu Chuang, Liu Shan, and Liu Gao had similarly gloomy expressions, but with Liu Jing at the bottom, they felt a bit better and their expressions weren't as terrible.
Liu Xie's expression was not much different from Liu Jing's, equally grim to an extreme.
As the foremost figure in the immortal cultivation world, the Immortal Emperor of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, Liu Xie looked at Wang Quan Gui, Li Zi Hao, Qin Ru Huo, and Kong Xiang Xi, who were all smiling beside him. At this moment, his heart felt as if a large stone was blocking it.
No matter how he looked, he felt something was wrong, something was awkward.
He had a feeling that the four of them were mocking him.
Shameful, it was too shameful; this time, he had lost all face.
In fact, these nine seats were designed by people he had arranged.
Liu Xie had arranged this precisely because he wanted to slap the Wang, Kong, Li, and Qin families before the negotiation, to gain the upper hand and lay a good foundation for the upcoming talks.
Unexpectedly, his clever plan backfired. Although he was the first to sit in a chair, Wang Quan Gui sat second, Kong Xiang Xi third, Qin Ru Huo fourth, and Li Zi Hao fifth.
After the four of them had all taken their seats, it was then the turn of Liu Chuang, Liu Shan, Liu Gao, and Liu Jing.
With the Purple Continent as its framework, the Purple Continent immortal cultivation world, though not as vast as the Nine Continents immortal cultivation world or the underground immortal cultivation world, was still considerable.
In the past, the first Immortal Emperor, Liu Hao Tian, had combined the strength of many noble families to conquer all sects, turning a region of the Purple Continent's immortal cultivation world into the dominion of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, and then dividing the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty into one hundred and eight domains.
Since then, the actual territory controlled by the Liu imperial clan was only thirteen domains, which were the thirteen core domains.
Apart from these thirteen domains, the other ninety-five domains were at most obedient to summons but not necessarily to direct commands. On the surface, they were areas that the Liu imperial clan could manage, but in reality, they were not under the Liu imperial clan's control.
The Wang, Qin, Kong, and Li families were distributed in the east, west, north, and south directions, each controlling five or six large domains.
The main plane was vast, more than ten times larger than hell and the realm of gods. It was precisely because of this that the hundreds of trillions of humans only occupied a small portion of it.
That's right, in this world, the strength of the human race was not particularly strong among the various intelligent races, nor was it particularly weak.
The human race was mainly distributed across three of the nine continents on the main plane. These three continents were the Divine Continent, the Sony Continent, and the Xia Continent.
Alex was currently in a remote jungle on the Xia Continent, at least several hundred miles away from inhabited towns and villages.
Unlike humanity in his previous life, where development was comprehensive, in this world, due to the coexistence of multiple races, humanity had focused its technological development entirely on warfare.
The top blacksmiths in this world could not only build sky warships hundreds of feet long but also developed magic cannons that could shatter an entire mountain with a single shot, as well as eternally powered magic warships for naval combat, and so on.
However, their quality of life was surprisingly poor.
In terms of lighting, people still used kerosene lamps. For cooking, they still used primitive methods of burning firewood. Even paper was only made from hemp.
Furthermore, humanity was extremely fragmented internally. On the Xia Continent alone, there were dozens of human factions.
Across the three continents combined, there were hundreds of human factions. Although they had formed a loose alliance to present a united front against external enemies, internal strife was constant.
Overall, this main plane had many similarities to Earth, but it was more colorful and not confined to a single small planet.
In a word, this was a vaster, more real world.
...
Firstly, Alex's current location was, to be precise, in Yunen Province of the Kingdom of Colun.
He casually opened a tattered map, collected by the original owner of this body previously, a map of the Kingdom of Colun. Although incomplete, many places were marked.
Within the Kingdom of Colun, the three largest powers were the Colun Royal Family lineage, the Knights' Guild, and the Mages' Council. This was stated based on the power, wealth, and strength they controlled.
The Colun Royal Family controlled the greatest authority. Although they couldn't completely control the Kingdom of Colun, most of the army and officials still obeyed the royal family's command, making their overall strength ranked first.
The Knights' Guild controlled the direction of movement for over ninety percent of the knights in the Kingdom of Colun.
Of course, this was nominal control, sounding impressive.
In reality, the high-ranking officials of the Knights' Guild would be fortunate to command around thirty percent of the knights.
Every knight, besides their identity as a knight, had other roles.
Even Alex, a bandit, was registered as a knight with the Knights' Guild.
...
The last major power was the Mages' Council.
In terms of the sheer number of powerhouses, it definitely surpassed the Knights' Guild by a considerable margin. However, in terms of its disorganization, it was the most chaotic of the three powers, with many factions, each unwilling to yield to the other.
Nevertheless, the deterrent force of the numerous mages placed them undeniably in the top three. Of course, besides these three major powers, there were other forces, such as the Alchemists' Guild and the Thieves' Guild hidden in the darkness.
The human world was far more complex and mysterious the more one explored it, compared to the law of the jungle that was the demon world.
...
Currently, Alex was far from having sufficient strength.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, Alex pondered that the most important thing now was to increase his strength, because he understood that no matter where one was, having strength meant possessing everything.
Therefore, he now needed to establish contact with his main body and use the power transmitted from hell to enhance his own strength.
To achieve this, a demon summoning ritual was required.
And for such a ritual, a large amount of flesh and blood was necessary.
Since he had decided on his goal, Alex's focus shifted to preparing the vast amount of flesh and blood needed for the ritual, while simultaneously heading towards inhabited towns and villages.
Up to this point, Alex had been traveling for about a week, and all his injuries had healed during this period.
...
Fortunately, Alex, on a certain day, stumbled upon several yellow-maned magic lions who were locked in a fierce territorial dispute, leaving them both badly wounded.
Overjoyed, Alex did not hesitate and quickly slew these yellow-maned magic lions, which were considered low-level magical beasts, one by one.
Then, Alex arranged the corpses of these magic lions in a circular pattern.
The blood, containing magical power, flowed along the magic pattern array he had previously drawn on the ground, converging at the center.