Chapter 161: Transaction

"Zhou Tian... you will die a horrific death!" Knowing that death was inevitable the moment the Holy Grail was shattered under the attacks of the Ancestral Witches, Reyen could not help but curse Zhou Tian one last time before drawing his final breath.

"How tedious!" Curving his lips in a dismissive sneer, Zhou Tian completely ignored Reyen's dying curse.

With Reyen dead, Zhou Tian's operation was naturally concluded. Although the process had been somewhat circuitous, the result left him quite satisfied. What thrilled him most was that Reyen had inadvertently provided a "confession." Zhou Tian had originally been troubled by how he would explain things to the Holy City once he eliminated Reyen here. Now, however, Reyen had exposed his own misdeeds, saving Zhou Tian a great deal of trouble.

Of course, while the operation itself was over, the subsequent cleanup would keep Zhou Tian busy for a while.

The magic crystals Reyen mentioned were a minor issue. Reyen believed his actions had been covert, but he was unaware that very little in the capital could be kept hidden from Zhou Tian. Long before Reyen buried those magic crystals, Zhou Tian had already extracted and absorbed them. A major reason why Zhou Tian had moved against Reyen in the first place was precisely because of this plot.

Aside from the magic crystals, there were numerous other matters to handle.

First, such a massive incident had occurred today. Even if Zhou Tian issued no formal announcement, he refused to believe the residents of the capital harbored no suspicions. Therefore, before panic could take root, Zhou Tian needed to reassure the citizens. Otherwise, even though misunderstandings by the populace would pose no direct threat to him, he feared they might all choose to flee. A massive reduction in the capital's population would be enough to give Zhou Tian a headache. At the very least, he needed them to know that the capital remained safe. The recent turmoil was merely the dying desperate gasp of a small faction of rebels, and since he had already eradicated them, continuing to live in the capital carried zero danger.

Fortunately, this matter was not difficult to manage...

The words Reyen left behind before his death could not only be used to handle accountability from the Church of Light, but they would also serve a crucial purpose right now.

While he could not directly pin all the blame onto the Church of Light, Zhou Tian could certainly use Reyen as the scapegoat.

Thus, after suppressing Reyen and his faction of Church of Light infiltrators within the capital, Zhou Tian unhesitatingly heaped all manner of crimes upon Reyen.

In Zhou Tian's official proclamation, Reyen was portrayed as an outright villain who, driven by jealousy of Zhou Tian's power, exploited his identity as a Cardinal to incite ignorant believers into rebellion. When that failed, he even planned to detonate the entire capital. As to why the capital remained intact? That was thanks to the wise and martial Lord City Lord—Zhou Tian. Had Zhou Tian not turned the tide in the nick of time to thwart Reyen's conspiracy, the capital would have been blasted to smithereens by the magic crystals Reyen had planted.

As for how to convince the capital's residents, that was even easier for Zhou Tian.

By extracting a segment of the recording from Reyen's own words, Zhou Tian easily fabricated "evidence" proving Reyen's crimes. Armed with that "confession," even if Zhou Tian's pretense was somewhat flimsy, it was more than enough for the city's residents to vent all their negative emotions onto Reyen.

Following that, specialized personnel were assigned to clean up the traces of war, sparing Zhou Tian any further trouble. What truly required Zhou Tian's personal oversight were the vacancies in the capital's official positions.

Although Zhou Tian had long been aware of Reyen's covert actions, prior to making a move, Reyen's status meant that even when Zhou Tian clearly knew certain individuals were Reyen's men, whenever those subordinates produced results, Zhou Tian was forced to grant them high positions.

Under such circumstances, now that Zhou Tian had swept up Reyen's faction in one fell swoop, leaving aside those who were already dead, any surviving officials tied to Reyen were naturally no longer permitted to serve under Zhou Tian.

Consequently, a vast number of official posts in the capital had suddenly become vacant. While some unnecessary positions could be left empty for the time being, critical administrative roles had to be filled by Zhou Tian as soon as possible. Without proper management, no one could guarantee that flaws wouldn't emerge in certain sectors of the capital.

Given Zhou Tian's iron grip on the capital, he had a clear understanding of who was truly loyal and who possessed genuine talent. Thus, he had long since calculated which individuals could be promoted to high positions. However, too many variables were involved, and sorting them out one by one to properly arrange all the new officials would still require a considerable amount of time.

Shortly after Zhou Tian finished handling the capital's affairs, the envoys from the Holy City arrived.

As for these envoys, let alone Zhou Tian, even the guards at the city gates probably felt entirely indifferent toward them by now. In any other place, the title of Holy City Envoy would genuinely awe many people. But here in Zhou Tian's domain, because these envoys arrived far too frequently, a group that once commanded high prestige had instantly been reduced to mere extras in the eyes of the capital's inhabitants.

Zhou Tian neither welcomed nor disliked the arrival of these Holy City envoys.

Welcoming them was obviously out of the question. Zhou Tian had just liquidated Cardinal Reyen. Regardless of Zhou Tian's justifications, due to the hierarchical disparity within the church, Reyen's death—no matter how much evidence was provided—would inevitably leave the upper echelons of the Church of Light with an unfavorable impression of Zhou Tian.

Since Zhou Tian was no masochist, knowing they would not offer him pleasant expressions, he naturally could not possibly welcome those envoys.

As for why he didn't dislike them—would Zhou Tian ever dislike people who delivered benefits right to his doorstep?

No matter how chaotic the affair with Reyen had seemed in the capital, Zhou Tian knew very well that the mere act of killing Reyen was not considered significant enough to draw the deep ire of the Church of Light's highest leadership.

Bishops and Cardinals might appear to be high-ranking figures within the church, but in reality, because the Church of Light had existed for an exceedingly long time, generations upon generations had accumulated a total of hundreds or even thousands of such high-ranking individuals. Although Reyen previously held a respectable position, he was still merely a Cardinal. If an outsider had killed him, it would indeed be a major incident; but dying after being dispatched to the capital specifically to deal with Zhou Tian was different. While the church's leadership would not view Zhou Tian favorably, when push came to shove, they still wouldn't care too excessively about the life or death of a single Cardinal. At the very least, before being entirely certain of defeating Zhou Tian, they would never risk a desperate battle with such a formidable powerhouse over an ordinary high-ranking member.

Now that the Holy City's envoys had arrived in the capital, Zhou Tian knew that their pretense of investigating Reyen's death was false. The true reason for their hurried journey was undoubtedly the "Holy Grail" Zhou Tian had seized from Reyen.

Though Zhou Tian did not know the specific origins of the Holy Grail, he could estimate from the abilities it displayed that its background was by no means simple. Given Reyen's limited status, Zhou Tian certainly did not believe the Holy Grail genuinely belonged to him.

Therefore, it could be deduced that the Holy Grail was originally a vital treasure of the Church of Light, temporarily loaned to Reyen only to grant him a certain degree of self-protection within the capital.

Yet, it was evident that the church's leadership had underestimated the capital's strength. Despite making thorough preparations, when Reyen actually confronted Zhou Tian, those preparations proved virtually useless. Not only did Reyen—whom they had never intended to sacrifice—perish at Zhou Tian's hands, but the Holy Grail also accidentally fell into Zhou Tian's possession.

The church's leadership might not care much about whether Reyen lived or died, but the Holy Grail was far too important. Once they learned it had fallen into Zhou Tian's hands, they were bound to find a way to retrieve it. Otherwise, if Zhou Tian accidentally damaged the Holy Grail out of carelessness, the higher-ups of the Church of Light would likely die of heartache.

To be completely honest, Zhou Tian actually cared very little about the Holy Grail.

He had already tested its capabilities. If placed inside a cathedral, the Holy Grail would autonomously gather the faith of the believers within. Once that faith reached a certain threshold, liquid energy would manifest inside the chalice. If the holder encountered danger, that energy could be converted into divine power to protect them. Even a divine-tier powerhouse, lacking hundreds of consecutive attacks, would find it impossible to breach the Holy Grail's defense.

To the people of this world, a treasure like the Holy Grail could certainly be classified as a divine artifact. Divine-tier powerhouses were overwhelmingly powerful; normally, unless one faced an opponent of the same rank, encountering them meant certain death. With the Holy Grail, while victory remained out of the question, the user at least gained a degree of self-preservation. Paired with a top-tier escape tool, one might even manage to escape a divine-tier powerhouse. Naturally, this held immense appeal for individuals holding high positions who lacked personal combat strength.

Moreover, while a divine-tier powerhouse could shatter the Holy Grail's defense, it would still require a considerable amount of time—to say nothing of those below the divine tier.

One could easily imagine that against opponents who had not reached the divine tier, ordinary professionals—even demigods—would only be able to stare in helpless frustration when facing someone wielding the Holy Grail. Short of the divine tier, there was simply no way to crack the Holy Grail's defense.

Yet, no matter how wonderful the Holy Grail was, compared to Zhou Tian's Chaos Bell, it was nothing more than mere scraps.

Even though Zhou Tian could only drive a ten-thousandth of the Chaos Bell's might, its defensive power already far surpassed that of the Holy Grail. Furthermore, the Chaos Bell integrated both offense and defense, making it a hundred times superior to a defensive divine artifact that required charging before use.

Since Zhou Tian had no use for the Holy Grail, and the Church of Light was so anxious to retrieve it, there was naturally no need for Zhou Tian to completely burn his bridges with the church over such an item.

However, returning the Holy Grail to the Church of Light was not something Zhou Tian opposed, but returning it easily was out of the question. Unless the Church of Light paid a sufficient price, Zhou Tian would absolutely never hand the Holy Grail back.

As for currency, Zhou Tian lacked nothing. The capital itself was a treasure basin; no matter how extravagantly Zhou Tian spent, he could hardly exhaust his wealth. Furthermore, the Yanhuang Empire had practically become his "property," and if he truly needed funds, Zhou Tian could simply demand them from Wu Zhao. Therefore, if the Church of Light attempted to trade money for the Holy Grail, Zhou Tian would likely reject the idea outright.

As for magic crystals, unless the quantity was astronomical, given Zhou Tian's current net worth, it would be difficult to move him. After all, Zhou Tian no longer lacked spiritual energy; what he truly lacked was the cultivation realm required to wield those magical treasures.

What on earth did he want, then?

Before the Holy City's envoys arrived, Zhou Tian had stroked his chin, contemplating his own needs. Opportunities like this were rare; naturally, Zhou Tian wanted to exchange the Holy Grail for something he needed most. After all, once today passed, finding such an opportunity again would not be easy.

While Zhou Tian was pondering these matters, the Holy City's envoys, led by his subordinates, finally found him.

Glancing casually at the envoys, Zhou Tian waved a hand to dismiss his guards and completely ignored the visitors.

Seeing this attitude, the envoys were naturally enraged. Glaring angrily at Zhou Tian, several of them took deep breaths, and one shouted, "We are envoys of the Holy City, yet when we come to see you, this is your attitude? What kind of logic is this?"

"If you have something to say, spit it out! Am I not listening right now?"

"You..." A young envoy was about to fly into a rage on the spot, but the leader of the envoys reached out to block whatever words he had left unsaid.

The younger envoys did not know Zhou Tian and lacked deep understanding of him, which allowed them to act with fewer inhibitions in his presence. However, those of higher status in the Holy City were aware of Zhou Tian's past deeds. With such a lengthy record of ruthlessness, everyone knew Zhou Tian was a cold-blooded and merciless man. Although they were Holy City envoys, Zhou Tian might not actually hesitate to take action against them. Despite the displeasure caused by Zhou Tian's demeanor, the leading envoy truly did not dare to cross him.

Instead, after cutting off his companion's outburst, the lead envoy took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and explained to Zhou Tian, "Our visit here today is primarily to inquire, Lord Bishop Zhou, what on earth transpired regarding the death of Bishop Reyen? As a member of our Church of Light, attacking a fellow church member without cause is a capital offense within our ranks!"

"So that's what this is about!" Putting on an expression as if he had just realized why they had come, Zhou Tian nodded, then without any warning, suddenly slammed his palm onto the table and roared angrily, "You have the nerve to come and question me? I should be the one questioning you lot! What kind of scheme are you playing, dispatching a scoundrel who wanted to destroy my entire capital to serve as a bishop here? Do Zhou Tian and the residents under my rule displease the church so much that you had to resort to such methods to wipe us out?"

Upon hearing Zhou Tian's words, the envoys could not help feeling a jolt of shock in their hearts.

The crime Zhou Tian alleged was something they could never, under any circumstances, admit to. The main reason the empire feared the church—aside from divine protection and the church's powerful experts—was the church's solid foundation of public support. The vast majority of the continent's residents trusted and respected the church. In the eyes of ordinary commoners, the church was a sanctuary of benevolent people where no villains existed. To make an enemy of the church was to make an enemy of most of the world's commoners; under such circumstances, no one would willingly provoke them.

Yet Zhou Tian had just uttered such words. If this matter were verified, the Church of Light would instantly lose the public's favor. While it wouldn't diminish the church's physical strength, losing popular support was equivalent to striking at its very foundation. That consequence was far more severe than Zhou Tian killing a high-ranking member of their church.

"Talk nonsense no longer!" Regardless of why Zhou Tian spoke thus, the envoys dared not acknowledge those accusations. Therefore, paying no heed to the motives behind his words, the moment they heard them, the envoys instantly began sternly reprimanding Zhou Tian.

Zhou Tian did not bother arguing much with the envoys. Facing religious fanatics brainwashed by the church, no matter how reasonable one's arguments were, they simply would not accept what contradicted their beliefs. Knowing he could not persuade them, Zhou Tian naturally wouldn't waste his energy on this front.

Without a second word, Zhou Tian pulled a recording stone straight from his robes and played a clipped segment of Reyen's previous words for the envoys to hear. Faced with this undeniable evidence, Zhou Tian required no further explanation; the envoys immediately understood why he had spoken the way he did.

The faces of several envoys turned bitter. Though they had deeply trusted Reyen and refused to believe he would commit such acts, they all recognized Reyen's voice in the recording. Furthermore, they trusted that Zhou Tian would not fabricate lies about such a matter. This meant Reyen had indeed done those things. Regardless of Reyen's underlying motives, now that Zhou Tian had produced evidence proving Reyen's crimes, the envoys no longer knew how to face Zhou Tian as the "aggrieved party."

With ironclad proof before them, Reyen's reputation was cemented as that of a "villain" who had attempted to blow up all the capital's residents out of selfish motives. While such deeds had been done by others in the past, according to the Church of Light's propaganda, they were acts strictly committed by the demon race.

Now that the Church of Light had produced such a bishop—and a "victim" like Zhou Tian held concrete proof—even if they didn't hate Reyen for his actions, the envoys resented him for leaving the church in such a terrible mess.

Originally, Zhou Tian's killing of Reyen was supposed to be the church's primary bargaining chip to retrieve the Holy Grail. But because Reyen had left behind incriminating evidence in Zhou Tian's hands, their bargaining chip had entirely shifted over to Zhou Tian. It was no longer a matter of the church questioning Zhou Tian for slaying Reyen, but rather Zhou Tian questioning them as to why a Cardinal of the Church of Light would commit such atrocities.

Reyen's actions were entirely his own individual behavior and had nothing to do with the Church of Light.

The Church of Light could certainly offer that explanation. But the problem was, even if they explained it that way, people had to be willing to believe it!

After all, Reyen was a Cardinal of the Church of Light and an old-guard figure within the organization. For such a person to commit these acts—even if the church claimed it was an individual matter unrelated to them—was still insufficient to convince the public.

It could be stated with certainty that if the church issued such an explanation, their reputation would inevitably suffer regardless. Even if they didn't instantly lose public support, it would at least plant a negative impression of the church in the minds of many. If one or two rival factions stepped in to fan the flames afterward, the church would find itself hard-pressed to cope.

Therefore, the Reyen incident was something that absolutely could not see the light of day. It was best to let the matter end right here in the capital; otherwise, once word leaked out, no one could control how the situation might develop.

Thinking of this, the lead envoy silently cursed Reyen before taking the initiative to speak to Zhou Tian: "Whether Lord Bishop Zhou believes it or not, the actions Reyen took were truly not instigated by us. However, regardless of the circumstances, the decision to send Reyen to the capital to preach was indeed made by us. To compensate for Lord Bishop Zhou's losses, we are willing to offer you a certain degree of compensation."

"Can you make that decision?" It wasn't that Zhou Tian looked down on the lead envoy, but the impact of Reyen's deeds was right there. No matter how soft-hearted Zhou Tian pretended to be, the benefits he would extort would certainly not be small. Besides, when had Zhou Tian ever been soft-hearted? If he truly applied pressure, he could definitely make the Holy City's heart ache. Zhou Tian naturally didn't believe just anyone could call the shots on such a massive transaction!

"Audacious! This person is our Church of Light's Grand Cardinal, Lord George, the Grand Inquisitor of the Tribunal! How dare you show such insolence—this is truly..."

Zhou Tian paid little attention to the rest of what the other envoy was saying. The only part he truly took in was the first half of the statement.

Although Zhou Tian knew that given his current status and strength, the person dispatched by the Holy City for negotiations would not hold a low position, he had originally assumed the visitor's rank would be comparable to a standard Cardinal. He had never expected the Holy City to regard him so highly that the leader of the delegation was actually the Grand Inquisitor of the Tribunal himself.

A Grand Cardinal was already considered a core member of the church's highest decision-making body, let alone someone holding the concurrent position of Grand Inquisitor. While his political clout might not surpass the Pope's, in terms of sheer influence within the church, the man before him undoubtedly qualified to rank among the top five.

Even though Zhou Tian cared little for external factors like status and prestige, learning that the Church of Light attached such great importance to him still brought a pleasant warmth to his heart.

Treat others as they treat you; given this impressive display by the Church of Light, Zhou Tian felt quite a loss of face would be spared, and naturally, it became difficult for him to continue making things difficult for the delegation.

With his expression softening considerably and his frown fading, Zhou Tian smiled at George and said, "Grand Inquisitor, with a status like yours, you are indeed qualified to make decisions on this matter. I can treat Reyen's affair as if it never happened, and even actively help the church cover it up. However, I have one condition!"

"Name it."

"The Church of Light must execute quite a few people every day, right? Take all those criminals, heretics, and anyone else you need to execute, and send them all into my Trial Pagoda. As long as you agree to this condition, I will return the Holy Grail to you."

After much deliberation, Zhou Tian realized his most pressing need right now was cultivation, and cultivation for him was essentially equivalent to experience points. Aside from hunting monsters outside, the Trial Pagoda served as his optimal method for accumulating experience. If he could have the Church of Light send all their condemned prisoners into it to be converted into experience, leveling up would become much easier.

However, upon hearing Zhou Tian's request, George hesitated.

Had Zhou Tian demanded money or political power, given George's status and influence, as long as the terms weren't too exorbitant, he would have possessed the absolute authority to grant them.

Yet the condition Zhou Tian proposed seemed far too bizarre. While it didn't sound overly excessive on the surface, George was forced to carefully consider the hidden motives behind such a demand.

As for the Trial Pagoda, George, who had studied Zhou Tian to some extent, knew precisely what kind of treasure it was. It was precisely because he had heard of the Trial Pagoda that he found himself deep in contemplation over Zhou Tian's request.

If Zhou Tian simply wanted a batch of death-row inmates—even if he intended to use them to practice necromantic magic—George would have agreed without blinking an eye. No matter how radiant the exterior of the Church of Light appeared, it had inevitably committed its fair share of bloody deeds.

Slaughtering cities and destroying nations were not acts exclusive to the demon race; if a city or nation was ruled by enemies, the church was equally capable of wiping them out. The only difference was that the church knew how to cover up its evil deeds afterward, whereas the demon race was usually too lazy to bother with such redundancies.

Therefore, providing death-row prisoners was well within George's authority to grant by the millions. But what worried him now was *why* Zhou Tian wanted those prisoners.

The prisoners provided by the church naturally hated the church to the bone. Meanwhile, Zhou Tian's Trial Pagoda had always advertised itself as a place for trials and training. Even now, to acquire certain specialized "alchemy products," a large number of mercenaries entered the pagoda for trials every single day. Under such circumstances, for Zhou Tian to herd batches of people who harbored a mortal hatred for the church into the Trial Pagoda made it extremely easy for others to jump to conclusions.

Was Zhou Tian planning to use the Trial Pagoda to cultivate a faction of subordinates?

Given Zhou Tian's past behavior, George easily arrived at that conclusion. Once people were sent into the Trial Pagoda, no matter how high the mortality rate, if the sheer volume of entrants was large enough, a batch of powerhouses would inevitably be born. Those powerhouses would hold zero goodwill toward the Church of Light. Should a conflict erupt between Zhou Tian and the church, those individuals would easily accept his hostility toward it. If actual war broke out, they might even form the backbone of Zhou Tian's forces.

The Holy Grail was truly important to the church. To get it back, the church could negotiate over any number of magic crystals or funds; they even had no objection to trading death-row inmates. But if Zhou Tian wanted those prisoners to cultivate a death squad for the future purpose of dealing with the church, then no matter how important the Holy Grail was, George could not possibly agree to his terms.

Unaware of George's internal anxieties, Zhou Tian grew somewhat dissatisfied when he saw George's hesitant expression.

To be frank, this was not the only condition Zhou Tian had originally prepared to ask for. He had proposed it purely because the church had sent a high-profile figure like George to meet him, offering a gesture of goodwill by limiting himself to this single "minor" request.

Yet, when Zhou Tian felt he had already extended enough courtesy, George refused to agree even to such a small demand. Naturally, Zhou Tian felt a twinge of annoyance.

Zhou Tian had no intention of concealing his thoughts, so George naturally caught the change in his expression. Heart skipping a beat, though still unclear of Zhou Tian's ultimate objective, George hurried to offer placating words: "Lord Bishop Zhou's request is not particularly unreasonable, and condemned prisoners meet the same fate of execution wherever they go. But if I recall correctly, the Trial Pagoda is a place meant for people to undergo trials, right? By putting those prisoners inside, Lord Bishop Zhou, do you intend to execute them, or are you planning to cultivate them?"

"So you were worried about this!" Even though George hadn't stated it outright, the conversation had reached a point where Zhou Tian couldn't possibly fail to grasp the hidden subtext.

Realizing what troubled George, Zhou Tian chuckled and reassured him firmly: "I cannot disclose the specific functions of the Trial Pagoda to you, but I can guarantee you one thing: I maintain a certain degree of control over it. For ordinary people who enter, the pagoda serves indeed as a trial ground. However, if I place special markers on those death-row prisoners before sending them in, they will never think of walking back out. Therefore, regardless of my purpose for putting them inside, the outcome you fear will never come to pass."

Perhaps wanting to further convince George, Zhou Tian added, "If you still don't trust me, I can allow you to station a group of your own people outside the Trial Pagoda to monitor it. If even a single prisoner ever walks out of the Trial Pagoda alive, consider our agreement null and void. How about that?"

Hearing this, George felt significantly more at ease.

Though Zhou Tian's words couldn't be trusted implicitly, having him state things so definitively considerably lessened George's anxieties regarding Zhou Tian's intentions.

Even so, no matter how much peace of mind George gained, he could not possibly agree to Zhou Tian's terms on the spot.

After remaining silent for a few more moments, George looked at Zhou Tian and said, "Demanding an endless supply of the Church of Light's condemned prisoners is unrealistic. Every transport of prisoners incurs not only considerable risks on our end, but the teleportation costs alone are no small expenditure. Therefore, providing some prisoners is fine, but it cannot be done in the manner you requested."

"That's not a problem." Hearing George's response, Zhou Tian agreed without missing a beat.

You ask for the moon and negotiate down, right? Zhou Tian had never expected the church to agree to such an open-ended condition in the first place. Once the Holy Grail was returned to them, if they decided to welsh on the deal, Zhou Tian truly wouldn't have much recourse. Thus, from the very beginning, his real plan was to extract a fixed batch of prisoners from the church. The initial demand was merely thrown out casually.

George's earlier expression had simply caused Zhou Tian to lose patience. According to his original plan, he had intended to haggle with George for a while. But seeing George's reservations, Zhou Tian decided to ease his mind rather than stubbornly holding to an unreasonable baseline, conceding readily.

"One hundred million death-row prisoners. Once you have delivered one hundred million prisoners into my Trial Pagoda, I will return the Holy Grail to you." Since he wasn't going to make an unlimited demand, Zhou Tian decided to wait until the Church of Light fulfilled this condition before surrendering the artifact. Otherwise, should they play any further tricks in the middle, Zhou Tian had no desire to see his hard-earned benefits vanish due to some inexplicable reason.

"One hundred million prisoners is far too many." George, who had originally intended to counteroffer, suddenly remembered something. Seeing Zhou Tian frown slightly, he quickly added, "However, considering the value of the Holy Grail and the condition of erasing the fallout from Reyen's incident, your demand is not overly excessive. On behalf of the church, I agree to your terms."

With that, George let out a quiet sigh of relief. He remembered that when he set out, more than one person had warned him: when negotiating with Zhou Tian, accept any reasonable condition immediately; otherwise, if you tried to bargain with him, his demands would only escalate, leaving you with zero room for counteroffers.

While the tribute Zhou Tian requested was somewhat unconventional, it still fell within the Church of Light's tolerance threshold. One hundred million prisoners sounded like a lot, but given the Church of Light's sphere of influence, that was roughly the number of people they executed in a single year. During special times or major crackdowns, the number they slaughtered at once could easily exceed that figure.

Since Zhou Tian only wanted condemned prisoners, leaving aside everything else, the Church of Light could spend a bit of money to easily acquire one hundred million non-human slaves, such as orcs or goblins, through inter-racial conflicts. Compared to welcoming back the Holy Grail and wiping away the stain of Reyen's incident, Zhou Tian's demands were practically negligible.

Having finalized the terms with Zhou Tian, George naturally did not linger in the capital. After exchanging some polite pleasantries, he hurriedly took his leave.

Given George's status, since he had already settled the agreement with Zhou Tian, the other high-ranking figures of the Church of Light had nothing more to say. Reaching a consensus, the massive machinery of the Church of Light swung into motion, instantly demonstrating its formidable influence.

One hundred million condemned prisoners!

Relative to the entire population of the Demon Moon Continent, one hundred million was not actually an exorbitant number. Excluding other races, even among the human race—owing to the long-standing encouragement of childbirth—any minor kingdom, as long as it wasn't suffering from severe famine, easily possessed a population well exceeding that figure.

While one hundred million prisoners meant little compared to the total number of living beings on the continent, rounding up that exact quantity exclusively from death-row inmates was rarely achievable short of a full-scale empire's destruction.

The collapse of an empire was an event that occurred perhaps once every few millennia. For ordinary continental factions, gathering a sufficient number of prisoners was no easy task.

Yet, a feat that would take other factions a very long time to accomplish was executed by the Church of Light in the span of a single month.