Chapter 435: Chapter 434: Three Principles
“Ten years ago, with the opening of a space channel by the Brahma Tower, allowing other immortal artifacts to venture to other worlds, our Jiuzhou world began to formally engage with the countless worlds of the universe.”
“The Ming Zhong World was the first to make contact with our Jiuzhou world.”
“The countless worlds narrate different historical stories, nurtured dissimilar cultures and thus, have formed manifold and diverse situations.”
“You all have, to varying degrees, some understanding of the Ming Zhong world. You know that its developmental trajectory is starkly different from ours.”
Upon uttering these words, they all nodded. Indeed, without mentioning anything else, let’s just take the automated low-level talisman production machine that the Dao Sect and the Ming Zhong continent co-developed. It managed to decrease the price for low-level talismans to such an extent that even mortals could afford them.”
These advanced cultivators among them had played with the holographic simulator, truly a miraculous device able to fulfil any fantasy.”
The only regrettable aspect was the time constraint on the holographic simulator.”
“Science and technology have taken root in Jiuzhou, gradually integrating with the cultivation system. Though we are now only seeing the beginnings, I believe that in the not-too-distant future, thanks to technological advances, everyone’s lives will keep getting better and better.”
“And this is merely the consequence of communication with a single world.”
“Over these ten years, during my travels with several friends, we discovered the Corpse World, Ring Universe, Ancient World, Lingxi World, and Wei Kingdom respectively. Each of these worlds has its unique characteristics, with plenty for us to learn.”
“Considering the independence of each world, cultural impact, and other societal stability issues, so far Jiuzhou has only formally established diplomatic relations with the Corpse World.”
“Here is the diplomatic agreement called ‘Bilateral Friendly Treaty,’ and you all can take a look.”
Jiang Li projected the agreement text onto the centre of the round table and continued: “From now on, when establishing relations with other worlds, we will use this as our reference.”
“Presently, the Heavenly Demons from beyond our domain are covetously eyeing our countless worlds. Even though the Immortal Realm is indifferent, our Jiuzhou world might not be as powerful, but we still hold our own against these Heavenly Demons.”
“However, these worlds are barely managing against the threat of these beyond-domain Heavenly Demons.”
“I have conducted several years of research and verification in these worlds, finding that the beyond-domain Heavenly Demons fear sentient beings’ willpower and hence dare not directly destroy the world. They will use a different strategy for each world. In the previous Jiuzhou meeting, we thoroughly cleansed the multiple secret plots the Heavenly Demons had laid here.”
“For other worlds, the strategy used by the Heavenly Demons was to incite internal strife and let those worlds die a slow death.”
“The specifics of our survey and validation process have been included in the jade pendants distributed before the meeting. I believe you’ve seen them.”
Currently, only Jiang Li, Bai Hongtu, Yu Yin, and Immortal Elder Changcun know that the beyond-domain Heavenly Demons are no different from Immortals. Jiang Li isn’t planning to let Jiuzhou’s high-ranking officials learn about this yet.
“Even though I managed to decipher the plot of the beyond-domain Heavenly Demons, nothing is absolute. There might be conspiracies that I’ve not yet uncovered, or perhaps the Heavenly Demons might launch another attack that could put these worlds under catastrophic circumstances.”
“Morally, as fellow humans, we should help each other. Logically, these worlds each have their unique features. We can conduct exchanges, spur each other’s improvement, and develop together.”
“Development is predicated on stability, and stability is predicated on the absence of interference from beyond-domain Heavenly Demons.”
“To this end, I propose that we from Jiuzhou should contribute our strength to assist these worlds to address the threat of the Heavenly Demons.”
“The Dao Sect supports the Human Emperor’s decision.”
“The Buddhism Sect supports the Human Emperor’s decision.”
“Body-incorporating Sect…”
“Zhou Dynasty…”
“Tian Yuan…”
“Red Dust Pure Land…”
Representatives of each power expressed their support for Jiang Li, eventually leading to a consensus within the Jiuzhou world to protect other worlds comprehensively and propel mutual development.”
Despite Jiuzhou’s extensive lands and abundant resources, there’s fierce competition among countless talents. It’s not enough to rely on strength alone, especially when everyone possesses similar capabilities. What truly distinguishes people is their intellect.”
Rather than developing in Jiuzhou, it would be better to expand their influence to other worlds.”
The Corpse-Driving Sect is the most classic example.”
The few powers in good relations with the Corpse-Driving Sect got wind of the news. They heard that the Corpse-Driving Sect had already settled in the Corpse World and was gradually reducing the prices of buying corpses.”
It’s a well-known fact that the Corpse-Driving Sect lacks corpses. To address this, they advertised year-round and racked their brains to collect corpses, consuming a vast number of Spirit Stones.”
But in the Corpse World, zombies are everywhere – it’s a natural resource. The Corpse-Driving Sect thrived there, and it’s foreseeable that their overall power will rise several levels. It’s enough to make others green with envy.”
“The Ming Zhong World agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
“The Corpse World agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
“The Ring Universe agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
“The Ancient World agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
“The Lingxi World agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
“The Wei Kingdom agrees to the Jiuzhou decision.”
Jiang Li nodded contentedly, which meant the consensus had been reached among seven worlds.”
Jiang Li addressed the representatives of the six worlds, “This is the ‘Mutual Aid Convention,’ drafted on my request by the Zhou Dynasty. Please take a look.”
The convention was composed of a preamble and a hundred and eight clauses across twenty-one chapters.”
Ming Zhong recited softly, “…create a suitable environment, maintain justice, respect all worlds, persevere endlessly, promote societal progress, to achieve this goal, practice forgiveness, treat each other in a good neighbourly fashion, get along harmoniously, concentrate strengths to maintain peace and security for all worlds…”
Following the preamble, there were three principles:
The principle of peace. Maintain peace and security among all worlds, and take effective measures to prevent and eliminate threats to peace, suppress acts of aggression, or other methods of disruption that violate peace.”
The principle of equality. All worlds are equal in status and have the rights to handle their own internal affairs.”
The Principle of Cooperation. Encourage cooperation among all worlds in addressing cross-world issues related to economics, society, culture and the well-being of the living.”
The rest largely pertains to the implementation of these three principles.”
The last clause stated: The original of this convention should be kept in the Imperial Archives of the Jiuzhou World’s Imperial Palace, with copies left in each world.”
Several world representatives, like Luo Ying, are still young, lacking vision and standing. They couldn’t quite understand the underlying humanities care within this agreement. Only Ming Zhong and the leader of the Wei Kingdom realized that Jiang Li was making every effort to consider their feelings and secure their rights.”
In terms of comprehensive power, even if these worlds were combined, they would not be able to hold up against any of the six major sects, let alone the entire Jiuzhou world. Jiang Li was worried that after establishing official relations, some Jiuzhou powers might despise the six worlds. Therefore, he decided to publish the ‘Mutual Aid Convention’ in front of representatives of all powers. The idea was to declare his stance and attitude.”
Rather than calling it a Convention, it’s better to say it’s an amulet safeguarding the independence of their respective worlds.”
Jiang Li added, “Specific implementation details like the locations of space channels and their managers, standards for taxes on goods circulating between worlds, and so on will be progressively perfected.”
On June 7, 4810, by the Yan Calendar, seven worlds jointly signed this historic ‘Mutual Aid Convention,’ which came into effect on the same day.”