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Chapter 1863 Provocation
"You need to find your place in the hierarchy of the Martial Union," the Hugging Hegemon calmed down a bit, yet a flame still flickered in her eyes. "To do that, you'll have to fight us, starting from the weakest to the strongest, to determine exactly where you're ranked."
RUMBLE
The air grew prickled.
"And why must I do this?" Matriarch Nephi narrowed her eyes.
A sharp smile appeared on the Hugging Hegemon's face.
"Because you're a Martial Artist, of course."
Her powerful eyes bored into the matriarch's. "What's the matter? Scared? Is the oh-so-mighty leader of the Silas Clan a little wuss who can't fight for herself? Her pride and honor? Or is your prophecy too weak for that?"
Matriarch Nephi's rage flared. "You dare disrespect me?! You dare insult my prophetic power?!"
"If you want respect…" The Hugging Hegemon grinned. "You're gonna have to earn it. So far all I see is a Martial Sage with a big ego who spent her life running away and hiding."
It was blatantly evident what the Hugging Hegemon was trying to do.
She was trying to bait the Silas Matriarch into a fight, essentially.
Unfortunately, even if Matriarch Nephi was aware of her intentions, her pride in her prophecy could not allow her to back down.
Additionally, she was indeed a Martial Artist.
Martial Artists respected power.
This was a simple truth.
And it was a truth that she could not run away from.
If she wanted to truly earn the respect of her peers in the Kandrian Empire, she would have to demonstrate her power and earn it.
Matriarch Nephi closed her eyes. "So be it. I shall demonstrate the superiority of prophecy in combat. You shall learn why I am called the Celestial Seer."
Rui raised an eyebrow with a hint of curiosity.
That was indeed an extravagant nickname that conveyed majesty.
"Hehe, then let's begin!"
"No," the Mountain of Fortitude and the Flickering Elder narrowed their eyes as they glared at the Hugging Hegemon.
"Why not?!"
"You'll destroy half the Kandrian Empire. If you want, you can fight her yourself in some other remote part of the continent."
"Tsk, spoilsports," the Hugging Hegemon grumbled.
She turned to the matriarch with a mischievous grin. "I'll see you on the battlefield."
"Which battlefield?"
"…I will find a place and then send you the location."
WHOOSH
She was gone.
Rui heaved a sigh, shaking his head lightly.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious as to how she compared to the Kandrian Empire.
The prophecy Martial Path was undoubtedly very potent and high-grade with versatile application.
His grandmother most likely had an edge against the Martial Sages of the Martial Union in that regard.
However, she had broken through to the Sage Realm just a few years ago. That was definitely a disadvantage compared to her peers, who had had more time to acclimatize to the power of the Sage Realm and make even further progress.
Unfortunately, it didn't appear as though Rui would be invited to the battle between the Martial Sages.
Hell, he doubted he was qualified to witness the battle in the first place.
"We apologize for her rudeness," the Mountain of Fortitude heaved a tired sigh.
"Hmph, it's not particularly shocking," the matriarch snorted. "Besides, her words, rude and disrespectful as they were, contained an inkling of truth that could not be ignored."
"We hope to speak with you more once as and once we finalize the agreement between both parties and sign the contracts," the Flickering Elder smiled friendlily to the matriarch of the Silas Clan. "The availability of your prophetic power has opened up paths and doors to the Union, Empire, and use Martial Sages that were previously unavailable. I believe that you can help us grow stronger by foreseeing the outcomes of certain pursuits of power."
That was definitely a clever and resourceful use of the prophetic services to shorten the time that they needed to make gains.
In fact, those weren't the only ways her prophetic power could be used.
There were so many ways that it was no wonder that the world hunted the Silas Clan.
It did make his job of coming up with a system to evaluate the value of prophecy by the outcomes they produced harder. He would definitely need to invest some serious capital to ensure that the team he put together would be able to accurately evaluate her contributions with her prophecies.
"I suppose with that, our meeting comes to an end," Rui remarked. "We have managed to arrive at firm agreements on several matters, and while hashing out the details will take some time, it is all but set and established. I would say this meeting has been a success."
The Flickering Elder smiled at the matriarch. "While we represent the Sage Council, the other Martial Sages will want to speak to you as well, aside from two of them, perhaps. We hope that you will seriously consider meeting each of them and come to an arrangement with all of them. We often trade out services with each other informally. It is stuffy and inconvenient to go through a contract each time. We also often spar and train with each other. Experience is important and relevant at all Realms."
Matriarch Nephi nodded, interested. "…I do lack experience in the Sage Realm, unfortunately. I have yet to fight a Martial Sage, although I have fought Sage-level beasts in the Beast Domain. Prior to joining the Kandrian Empire, seeking out a Martial Sage would be unthinkable for me due to the security risks. But now that I am in a nation with allied Martial Sages, I do look forward to making the best out of this opportunity and training hard against different kinds of Martial Sages."
The three Martial Sages discussed several matters after the official deliberations had concluded while Rui remained silent, taking the privilege to listen to a conversation that he normally would never have a chance to listen to.