“Isn’t this also a form of mutual understanding?”

It is ultimately difficult to peer into the hearts of others; naturally, one will crave what one cannot see—this is truly normal.

However, even if bodies merge, consciousness resonates, and one becomes like those "New Humans" on this island, it does not mean true understanding.

Conversely, by learning a person's name, by understanding the history and stories she has personally walked through, perhaps one can touch upon something.

At the very least, it is more "understanding" than when one knows nothing at all, right?

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people in the world who love reading all kinds of stories.

"I see… That argument certainly makes sense."

Saint-Germain looked up, pondering, seemingly having some thoughts.

"Thank you for your mercy, [Master Leipu], I have also come to understand a story of yours through this."

As she said this, she suddenly revealed a playful and somewhat seductive smile, just like when they first met.

"Compared to some random woman you don't know, isn't it that the more you understand someone, the more excited you get, and the more you can ignite █ passion?"

Qi Xing: "…"

Do you really have to discuss someone else's sexual preferences in such a public place?

However, contrary to a moment ago, Saint-Germain now appeared very happy. Unlike her previous look of mourning and her past seductive provocations, she was now smiling genuinely from the bottom of her heart.

"I have already lost to you and submitted to you. This island, my knowledge, technology, body, and wealth—everything belongs to you to use as you please."

"Therefore, I only ask that you bestow a bit of favor upon humble me at an appropriate time…"

Who exactly won this battle?

Volume 5: Welcome to █ █ █ Paradise!: 206: Thanks for Visiting Labyrinth Island.

Giant Spirit Hera had just been defeated, and the [Inner Realm] shrouding the entire Labyrinth Island had just been lifted.

Officials from the [Global Supernatural Council] immediately took a boat to the island to cause trouble.

Whose trouble were they looking for?

Wow, they were actually here to cause trouble for [Master Leipu]!

"[Master Leipu], you have unauthorizedly intruded into the sovereign territory of another supernatural nation, triggered high-intensity combat, and caused significant damage. Do you think the international supernatural community will turn a blind eye and let this slide?"

They will.

Because Elaine arrived almost at the same time with Jingo Rin, waving various documents that seemed well-organized and supposedly had sufficient persuasive power, proving that Qi Xing's trip was to search for highly dangerous supernatural items. They were just short of holding a box of laundry detergent to prove Qi Xing's legitimacy.

When they saw the island owner, the [Count], respectfully lying at [Master Leipu]'s feet like a tamed hunting dog, the [Global Supernatural Council] officials instantly understood—

Forget it, how could this case be handled? It was absolutely impossible to pin the responsibility on [Master Leipu].

Thus, they quickly wrapped things up sheepishly and retreated in disgrace.

Then, it was time for Qi Xing to explain to Elaine and the others what had happened over the past two days.

"[The Council], why did they come to cause trouble for me?"

He even felt a bit amused.

"You scared them."

Elaine sighed.

"The words you said to the Knight Commander earlier made the higher-ups misunderstand that [Master Leipu] no longer intends to follow the rules of modern society. So, they had to send some hothead to knock you down a peg and see what the situation actually is."

Now that Labyrinth Island has been turned into this state by Qi Xing, the [Council] and the Vatican's upper echelons are probably not very at ease.

"It's fine, don't worry about them." After thinking for a moment, Qi Xing shook his head. "Anyway, I won't really do anything to the social order right now. Once they see that I'm not causing trouble for the time being, they probably won't dare to provoke me."

For a person whose fists are stronger than nuclear bombs, as long as he doesn't go around bombing everywhere with those fists, the international supernatural community will certainly turn a blind eye.

Although Qi Xing wants to change the world, if he were to smash the modern social order to pieces right now, the result would only be more innocent civilians dying. There is no rush for this.

However, from now on, the Vatican and the [Council] will definitely be more attentive and vigilant regarding all of [Master Leipu]'s actions.

Back to the present, the island's residents had already begun to repair the houses destroyed by the aftermath of the battle. After all, they were artificial demigods with strong vitality, so not many were killed by the collateral damage; and because they were endowed with a naturally optimistic and cheerful personality during their bloodline modulation, they all seemed to be in a pretty good mood now.

Qi Xing even saw some islanders using Alchemy to repair houses… Using Alchemy to repair houses?!

"I didn't specifically teach them, but you should know that there is no privacy on this island."

Saint-Germain smiled helplessly.

"Many children often learn new skills unknowingly, and then pass them on to each other. Therefore, they must be controlled."

…It seems that if these "New Humans" are to leave the island, one must be truly cautious.

However, let's put this matter aside for now. There's no rush at the moment anyway.

"Saint-Germain… That's too much trouble to call you. I'll just keep calling you Xue Ning."

The name Xue Ning was actually one of the countless aliases that Count Saint-Germain had used in the European courts; it was enough to use it as a form of address.

"I intend to collect thirty [silver coins] to change the world. To this end, I need to know the background of you [White God Believers] and [Peacock Disciples]—how many [silver coins] do you still control, where are they, and what kind of combat power do you possess?"

This was the matter Qi Xing was always most concerned about.

But this matter was truly complicated to explain.

"Where should I start…?" Xue Ning sighed softly. "[Master Leipu], if you are willing, you only need to slightly… with me…"

"Don't even think about it." Qi Xing immediately shook his head. How could he not guess what Xue Ning was planning?

"Fine. Then I'll just have to slowly explain it with words."

Xue Ning frowned.

"We [Peacock Disciples] revere the Peacock Angel—also known as the White God—as the true Creator. There are five leaders, as well as one Sage Prophet who enlightens and leads us; all are transcendents who have experienced hundreds of years of time."

"In your words, we are all immortals who have left our names in human history and have been active in different eras under multiple aliases."

These leaders are not necessarily world-famous great figures, but they are certainly people who have left their mark in history and have had some influence and traces of their own.

"If a leader truly falls, the Sage will enlighten a new one to fill the position, maintaining the number of five… But as you know, beings like us are not easy to kill. I have only seen this kind of replacement once myself. After all, I am still a relatively young leader."

Immortals are not necessarily stronger the older they get. Yaobikuni has lived for over eight hundred years, and Saint-Germain is probably only half her age, but the two are actually at similar levels, just with different strengths and different skills.

But hearing this, Qi Xing was still a bit moved: "Since I have already defeated both you and Yaobikuni, will your Sage Master enlighten two new leaders?"

"I don't think it will be that fast."

Xue Ning shook her head.

"Strictly speaking, neither Yaobikuni nor I have truly been killed yet. The last leader who was truly completely eliminated was Karl Kraft, who infiltrated Nazi Germany during World War II to conduct research on holy relics."

"I was busy with eugenics research on the island at the time and didn't know the specific situation on his end. I only knew that in 1943, he suddenly exploded and blew up an entire mountain in Bavaria. It wasn't until the Cold War that the Sage selected a new leader."

Qi Xing was speechless.

Kraft? He seemed to have heard Gwendolyn mention this before.

…As for Jingo Rin, who was on the side, she was frowning slightly, lost in thought.

"Sometimes the Sage will distribute [silver coins] to us, but we leaders are forbidden from connecting directly to the [silver coins] because the risk is too high and it is extremely easy to lose control. We mostly use them indirectly, so not every leader has a [silver coin] in their hands."

Xue Ning frowned as she said this.

"I estimate that the Sage Master has at least about six [silver coins] in total."

Yikes.

"Six [silver coins], and I guess there must be other controlled Giant Spirits. These ancient demon kings are really hard to deal with."

No matter how reckless Qi Xing was, he knew this was not an enemy that could be defeated by just charging in head-on.

But he still had to ask first: "Where is your Sage Master now?"

Xue Ning shook her head: "She is no longer in this world."

The words she spoke next, while not shocking to the world, were enough to make Qi Xing secretly alarmed.

"The Sage of us [Peacock Disciples], as well as the ancient demon king of the [Magis Sect] on the other side, all ascended and left the human world before they were a thousand years old, entering the small worlds they each opened up in the [Dream of All Living Beings], continuing to guide their disciples from afar."

"Messengers capable of controlling multiple [silver coins] simultaneously seem to appear only once every thousand years on average. So, there were originally only three in this world—[Master Leipu], you are probably the fourth one that no one expected."

…After this, Xue Ning briefly explained many other secret histories of the world that Qi Xing and the others had never known.

The [Magis Sect], this faction represents the disciples and descendants of the world's oldest [Silver Coin Messenger]. Of the people still alive in the world today, not one has ever seen its true form with their own eyes.

"It is said that he is the oldest [Silver Coin Messenger], a contemporary of Jesus Christ, and the first magician to obtain and use [silver coins]."

"He supposedly ascended around the tenth century, but nowadays, all magic traditions based on the Hermes system can theoretically be considered his lineage. He is the grand ancestor of all Western sorcerers."

Moreover, unlike the [Peacock Prophet] and Papiyas, the ancient demon king of the [Magis Sect] never distributes [silver coins] to his disciples.

How many [silver coins] this oldest, first-century primal demon king has in his hands, I'm afraid no one really knows.

"The history of this world is actually the result of two new and old millennial [Silver Coin Messengers] constantly manipulating from behind the scenes, playing games against each other, and compromising with one another."

"By the twentieth century, Papiyas appeared as a new player on the ancient demon king's field."

"But no matter which side it was, none foresaw that a person like you would suddenly appear."

At this, Xue Ning bowed her head again, offering a respectful salute to Qi Xing.

Qi Xing rubbed his temples; he had indeed roughly sorted out the confrontation pattern of the [Silver Coin Messengers] in this world.

Two ancient demon kings over a thousand years old had both ascended, leaving behind a group of immortal disciples in the mortal world to act on their will, confronting each other, and secretly manipulating the direction of the world and history.

For example, during World War II, the [Peacock Disciples] sent three leaders to infiltrate the Axis camp—not to support the Nazis, nor out of political stance, but to utilize the war to obtain benefits for their own factions and secretly manipulate the world.

Presumably, the [Magis Sect] also committed their power and resources to the Allied forces.

Although Papiyas is also called an "ancient demon king," in essence, he is just a newcomer who appeared a century earlier than Qi Xing.

Although there are still many details that haven't been elaborated on, which Xue Ning will need to explain slowly later, Qi Xing already understands the general outline.

Enemies are numerous and powerful; one must pick the soft persimmons to squeeze. Anyway, the grudge is already formed, and Papiyas's faction is obviously truly evil—should Qi Xing go and kill Papiyas first and snatch all his [silver coins]?

As for those two millennial-old demon kings, should he just let them continue to fight among themselves? Should Qi Xing first accumulate grain and delay declaring himself king?

…Unless they are foolish enough to remain indifferent, this plan probably won't work.

The worst-case scenario is that [Master Leipu], this new player who jumped out to cause trouble, gets targeted by the three ancient demon kings in unison, and even the entire world order comes to gang up on him.

So what is the best next step? Find an ancient demon king to form an alliance, or just accept it as it is and fight a guerrilla war against the three senior demon kings?

—After deep thought for a long time, Qi Xing suddenly asked a question that seemed completely unrelated:

"Elaine, where is our prisoner? Did you bring him along?"

Hey, believe it or not, Elaine really understood Qi Xing's thoughts—she had already had Old Wolf tie up Vittorio Spina with cold iron chains and drag him over.

"You led me to cause trouble for Count Saint-Germain, and the result was not bad; I obtained a [silver coin]."

Qi Xing flicked the [Truth] silver coin in his hand.

"But why did you do this? Was it for your [Magis Sect] to stir up the conflict between the [Peacock Disciples] and [Master Leipu]? To sit back and reap the benefits?"

After all, Qi Xing has now defeated two leaders and killed one of Papiyas's demon king attendants, so currently, only the [Magis Sect] has not yet formed a grudge with him—perhaps they are thinking of forcing [Master Leipu] to come and form an alliance.

If it were anyone else, seeing [Master Leipu] staring at them with such a dark face, they would probably have been scared out of their wits long ago, with their butt cheeks clenched tight.

But Vittorio Spina, this madman, this lobbyist who stirs up trouble everywhere, showed not the slightest panic.

The corners of his mouth slowly curled up, revealing only a hint of a smile, and then he replied:

"[Master Leipu], I haven't even lived to be sixty yet. May I ask, do you think that for a demon king who hasn't appeared in over a thousand years, how many mortal magicians of the Hermes Society remain loyal to him?"

…These words were truly persuasive.

The persuasiveness of this answer was so good that it left Qi Xing speechless for a moment.

But, being persuasive does not necessarily mean it is the Truth.

"Interesting."

Qi Xing raised an eyebrow.

"So you want to defect to me, this newborn demon king? What exactly do you want to do?"

"My thoughts have never changed, noble new king."

Spina also bowed his head respectfully.

"Ever since I was still in the [Exorcism Association], persuading Father Amos to guide you to compete for the first [silver coin], I have had only one wish."