I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

History is always strikingly similar.

231 This damn novel is already 600,000 words long, and you all bear some responsibility.

Kujo Masahito looked Li Lin up and down and felt that Li Lin seemed to be seriously ill.

In this situation, what he says has very little credibility.

As for the two people next to him, the children were dressed in the clothes of the miners from Bayun Island, and were probably family members of the miners who stayed here, which was not surprising at all.

Although the shogunate was constantly transporting the affected villagers, the scope of the relocation was limited due to the worship of the gods. During this period, most of the miners had already fled, but their families might not have been able to evacuate immediately.

The focus is on the young ronin beside them—his appearance is very familiar, somewhat resembling the face on a wanted poster issued by the Inazuma Shogunate, and he is carrying a rare and famous sword at his waist.

That was a famous sword made by Kaedehara Kagemitsu, which once cleaved seven corpses piled together in one strike.

Otsutsuki Isshin Kagemitsu, also known as Shichidōkiri, is the family heirloom sword of Navy Admiral Uchimizu Kotaro.

"This is a family heirloom of my Uchimizu family. My father passed it on to me in his old age, and I will pass it on to my son in the future."

That uncle, even more rigid than himself, yet utterly loyal to the shogun and the Kujo family, was usually stern and rarely smiled, but would always boast like this when drunk at Uyutei.

Why would Kotaro Uchimizu, who always carries his sword with him, give his treasured sword to someone else?

Kujo Masahito simply stared at Kaedehara Manyo's face: "The Heavenly Territory Enforcer issues a warrant for the arrest of fugitive Kaedehara Manyo for disrupting a duel before the Emperor and defying the Eye Hunt Order."

He picked out the wanted poster for Kaedehara Manyo from a pile of posters and threw it in front of Manyo.

"I never imagined that a fugitive from the Kaede family would have the audacity to return to Inazuma's land. I don't know whether to praise your courage or lament your foolishness."

"Men, seize him!"

When dealing with fugitives, the government naturally no longer cares about chivalry or honor.

"Watch out." Kaedehara Manyo drew two long swords from his waist and used his elbow to push Nagatsugu behind Li Lin.

Just as the atmosphere was about to become tense, Li Lin yawned, walked up to Kaedehara Manyo, and stared directly at Kujo Masahiro and the swords standing on both sides.

Li Lin's dark eyes were calm and devoid of any emotion.

Kujo Masahito, who was being stared at by Li Lin, involuntarily shivered. He realized that Li Lin's identity was not simple.

"who are you?"

"How dare a mere mortal question the name of an immortal?" Li Lin's brows were filled with indifferent disdain. "So be it. You are nothing more than a small, ignorant barbarian from a tiny country."

"You!" Kujo Masahito gripped the sword at his waist, his eyes beneath his helmet blazing with fury.

As the head family of the Tenryo magistrate, the Kujo family held the most real power over law enforcement and the military among the three magistrates, and no one ever dared to challenge the Kujo family's authority.

Not to mention, this is a battlefield, and they are surrounded.

"Yes, I did all of this, so what?" Li Lin put his hands behind his back, took a step forward, and as he moved forward, the troops surrounding them had to retreat.

Kujo Masahiro dared not back down.

Or rather, he wanted to back out, but a sense of shame that arose spontaneously kept him rooted to the spot.

Under such linguistic humiliation, he couldn't control himself and raised the flag.

Li Lin misplaced his demonic power, but it worked surprisingly well.

Kujo Masahito, clad in armor, bent slightly, trying to conceal the unusual reaction in his body.

"Who exactly are you?" To bolster his courage, Kujo Masahito had no choice but to ask again.

"Here's the question: who are you, daring to question an immortal?"

Li Lin sighed, "Don't you know what price your Kujo family will pay for asking this question?"

Just like the ancient petitioning drum, regardless of success or failure, one would be exiled three thousand miles away as a painful consequence of challenging authority.

“I’m afraid that in Inazuma, apart from Lord Raiden-shogun, no one can punish the Kujo family,” Kujo Masahiro replied through gritted teeth.

“Good.” Li Lin nodded approvingly. “I am Sun Xiaochuan from the M78 Nebula. I was attacked by Oser in the Lonely Cloud Pavilion and fell to Inazuma. If you are willing to help me leave and provide travel expenses, I will appoint you as prime ministers when I return to the M78 Nebula, and you will have an endless supply of finger-licking good chicken every Thursday.”

"...?"

Kujo Masahito paused for a moment, trying to figure out the truth or falsehood of Li Lin's words. However, just as he had never heard of Sun Xiaochuan or the M78 Nebula, he also found it difficult to discern the truth of these words.

A moment later, Kujo Masahito decided to surround Li Lin and the other two to prevent them from escaping, while he himself would relay the message back.

After all, aside from the ambiguous dialogue about Original Recipe Chicken, Lonely Cloud Pavilion and Ausel are real entities, and it wouldn't be difficult to verify them.

Although Inazuma strictly enforced the isolationist edict, the three magistrates had their own ways of circumventing the restrictions, especially the Hiiragi family, who were in charge of the investigation.

At this moment, the Sangokyu army on the opposite shore finally decided to come and see what was going on. They sailed over a warship, then launched a small boat. The negotiators on board swayed and drifted across this newly formed strait, and then landed on the shogunate army's side.

"I'll deal with you later." Kujo Masahito, not one to back down, casually uttered this harsh remark before making his way away.

He had never felt that the messenger from the Coral Palace had arrived so conveniently.

"Interesting." Master Li, maintaining a cool and aloof demeanor, watched Kujo Masahito's departing figure and sneered. "No one has ever dared to threaten me like this before."

"Don't do anything stupid!" Kaedehara Manyo was terrified. "This is the Shogunate army's position. If anything happens, you can run away, but I can't!"

Li Lin looked at him with a hostile expression: "You want to stop me?"

Kaedehara Manyo answered truthfully, "I really had no choice. The main problem is that if you leave, we will be arrested and taken away."

Li Lin hesitated, mainly because once Maple Leaf was captured, no one would listen to his tasteless little stories and his crooked ways anymore. Sometimes, having a lucky teammate by your side is quite important.

Kaedehara Manyo pressed his advantage: "Besides, it's not like you're going to keep holding back forever. You'll have plenty of opportunities in the future."

Li Lin's dead fish eyes widened slightly. Maple Leaf's words reminded him of many stories about the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King, which excited the brain, which was unique to mental patients.

"What a thoughtful child." Li Lin sighed and gently stroked the head of Maple Leaf Dog. "Hey, I didn't expect time to pass so quickly. I have someone who cares about me so much now. It makes me think of the past... I was young, full of energy and passion back then. In the blink of an eye, 600,000 words have passed. Water Literature really has a long way to go."

232 I bet you guys went back to check the word count again.

While Li Lin was reminiscing about the past, Kujo Masahito had already made contact with the envoy sent by Umijima Island.

"Your name is Teppei?" Kujo Masahito flipped through the silk scroll handed to him by the soldier from Kaiji Island, glanced at it, and then casually put it aside. "You have no right to talk to me. Bring your general, Goro, over here."

Zheping thought to himself that it was fortunate that General Goro had given him a brocade pouch before he came, instructing him to open it, read it, and then destroy it on the way there.

After secretly praising Coral Palace Heart Sea and Goro for their foresight, Teppei cleared his throat and repeated the words from the note in the brocade pouch.

“You are absolutely right. As a mere envoy, I am indeed not qualified to discuss important matters with you.”

Kujo Masahito stroked his chin, sensing that Teppei's words had a hidden meaning.

As is customary, what follows should be a "but".

"However, the rebels and the shogunate army have been fighting for a long time. If they were to meet rashly, they might be ambushed. So please forgive me, Lord Kujo."

Kujo Masahito's heart skipped a beat, but the antler helmet on his head concealed his expression. The words of the envoy from Umijima had struck a chord with him.

Indeed, if General Goro of Umijima had come alone, Kujo Masahito would have admired his courage, but he would not have cared about chivalry. Instead, he would have detained Goro immediately, then sent a large army to raid the Umijima camp and seize the opportunity to take down the Umijima resistance army in one fell swoop.

Under such circumstances, putting himself in their shoes, Kujo Masahito himself would not risk attending the meeting.

A son of a wealthy family should not sit under a dangerous roof, let alone the eldest son of the head of the Kujō family, the Tenryō magistrate.

"So what do you want to do?" Kujo Masahito asked calmly.

Zheping once again marveled at the strategies of Lord Xinhai of Coral Palace, and then recounted the second half of the brocade pouch.

"Of course, we fully understand the shogunate's thinking and have set up a venue for negotiations."

Teppei, following Goro's instructions, said, "It's right here, on this side of the Musou-no-Kage Gorge, but the premise is that the shogunate army needs to withdraw a certain distance."

Kujo Masahito was having a headache trying to figure out the instructions in the brocade pouch, but then Umijima suddenly offered him a way out, which he could accept.

“Okay, but you’ll have to retreat a certain distance,” Kujo Masahito said. “The shogunate army will retreat even further than you. Hmm, how about ten miles?”

"Then the resistance should withdraw five miles." Teppei had no idea about this and simply followed Goro's instructions verbatim. He would give half of whatever Kujo Masahito said.

"...Have your people arrange the negotiations." Kujo Masahito's breath hitched; he hadn't expected that a mere envoy from Kaigoshima could answer so flawlessly.

A moment later, both the Umijima and Shogunate armies began to retreat, and Kujo Masahiro, who was being protected by soldiers, seemed to suddenly remember something and pulled his page over.

"Wait, what about the three men I left in the camp? Bring them here."

"Lord Kujo, are you suggesting they participate in the negotiations as well?" the page asked hesitantly. "But what about Kaedehara Manyo..."

As a page of the Kujo family, the Tenryo magistrate, he was not merely a tool for venting his desires; he also served as a strategist and advisor in the military camp.

Kujo Masahito shook his head: "Leaving Kaedehara Manyo and that boy named Nagatsugu behind is to keep an eye on them and prevent them from participating in the negotiations."

The shogun reached out and gripped the hilt of his sword, saying confidently, "The treasured sword of the Uchimizu General is still hanging at Kaedehara Manyo's waist. Who knows what might happen if he meets with the rebels from Umijima? So we'll keep him alive and see if he reacts, and then we'll decide what to do with him."

“As for Nagatsugu—” Kujo Masahito paused, “he’s just the son of a local miner on Hachiyū Island, not worth mentioning.”

“My real concern is that man who calls himself Sun Xiaochuan.” Kujo Masahito’s fingers unconsciously stroked the hilt of his sword. “He calls himself a celestial being… Only one of the seven continents has people who call themselves celestial beings, and that is the heart of Teyvat’s finances, the oldest country blessed by the rock god Morax, a prosperous and thriving port.”

"Liyue."

Kujo Masahito's brows furrowed without him realizing it: "The immortals of Liyue... Although I am reluctant to admit it, aren't those sealed and lost divine techniques the very ones that the immortals Seinosuke sought from the immortals when he traveled to Liyue?"

"It is no exaggeration to say that everything in the world goes to Liyue. Our silk fabrics, tea sets, porcelain, fireworks and gunpowder all originated from the gifts given by the Geo Archon of Liyue. It can be said that one-third of Inazuma's prosperity is due to the support of the Kingdom of Liyue."

“But what if it’s fake?” Xiaoxing said worriedly. “Who can be sure of his identity? I’ve heard that the immortals of Liyue often appear in animal form, and their divine eyes are not visible on their bodies.”

Kujo Masahito nodded: "The fact that you can say these things shows that you've done your homework. It's true that the Liyue Immortals do like to move around in animal form, but who says they can't walk around in human form? Just like that Yae-no-miya priest at Narukami Shrine... Anyway, it's better to believe it than not."