Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

Five days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Alliance headquarters, top-floor office.

The Jade Emperor's avatar sat behind a large desk, looking at the visitor with some surprise.

She was a tall, imposing woman clad in dark gold armor. Most striking were the two winding black dragon horns atop her head, gleaming eerily under the office lights.

Ye Li—the current ruler of the demon race.

In terms of status and position, she was even slightly higher than the Jade Emperor.

After all, although the Jade Emperor was the ruler of the Heavenly Court, he was unable to govern all humans and immortals; while Ye Li truly governed the entire demon race.

However, the two are quite similar in some ways; above them are several saints who have already transcended worldly concerns.

Although sages usually don't get involved in affairs, that invisible weight always exists.

At this moment, Ye Li, who is in the mortal realm, is just an avatar, just like the Jade Emperor.

"Speak," the Jade Emperor said, putting down the documents in his hand and getting straight to the point: "What is it?"

Before Ye Li's visit, he only said that he had something to discuss, which made him quite curious—what exactly was the purpose of this demon lord's visit?

Ye Li smiled, walked to the window, and looked down at the city below: "Haven't you noticed? Human cultivators who have ascended to the Heavenly Realm seem... not very comfortable fighting alongside the demon race."

The millennia-long war in the Celestial Realm has long since led the human and demon races to put aside their past grievances and form a united front.

Initially, the two tribes did indeed repel each other, but the strength of their enemy left them with no choice—to not cooperate meant certain death.

The blood and fire of fighting side by side have gradually transformed their former bitter enmity into peaceful coexistence.

"You wish to open a passage between the two races in the mortal realm to promote communication?" the Jade Emperor confirmed.

"Yes." Ye Li turned around, her gaze calm. "That is indeed my thought."

"Have you considered the inherent differences between the two races?" The Jade Emperor's expression turned serious.

He was aware of the problem Ye Li raised. However, the starting points of the two races were simply too different.

The young prodigies of the demon race rely more on bloodline inheritance. Many demons with powerful bloodlines are born with the strength equivalent to an ordinary human cultivating for a lifetime.

This is no exaggeration—among humans, those with mediocre talent may never reach the level of refining emptiness and merging with the Dao in their entire lives; while among demons, those with pure bloodlines may be born as earth immortals.

For example, Ye Li's offspring, the one with the best talent, was born a celestial being. Although the cultivation speed of the demon race is slow, their starting point is already a destination that many humans can only dream of.

Of course, it's unfair to compare a mediocre person with a genius. But even a prodigy like Lu Qingshuang, who is one in a hundred years and has 100% affability, only reached the mid-stage of Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness after twelve years of arduous cultivation.

To break through to the Celestial Immortal realm, who knows how many years it will take.

This is also the main reason why the Jade Emperor never actively promoted exchanges between the two races in the mortal realm—the difference in strength was too great, and forcing them together would not be very meaningful.

Once in the Celestial Realm, human cultivators are at least at the Celestial Immortal level. At this point, the two races are evenly matched, and only by cooperating can they truly achieve their goals.

Ye Li smiled and said, "I have naturally considered that. I will select suitable young people to come—their strength and temperament will be kept within a reasonable range."

The Jade Emperor gazed at her and slowly said, "Speak frankly. Your purpose is probably not just 'exchange between the two races.' Now that the two races have reconciled, you don't need to hide it from me."

Ye Li stared at him for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.

"Alright." She walked to the desk and placed her hands on the surface. "I won't hide it from you. My target... is Qin Le."

The Jade Emperor was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized.

"I see." He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Then I agree. But since we're going to start exchanges, we should also discuss other areas of cooperation..."

He now understood why Ye Li had chosen this particular time to initiate the conversation.

Having comprehended the Dao of Immortality, Qin Le's every move naturally exudes Daoist charm. For the demon race, whose comprehension is generally low, he is practically a walking enlightenment stone.

Because Qin Le's own strength is still low and he cannot fully control the power of immortality, this naturally dissipated state will last for a long time.

In the celestial realm, once a person or demon has just comprehended the Dao, the demon race will always try to get close to them for a period of time in order to comprehend that Dao essence.

However, once celestial cultivators comprehend the Dao of Immortality, they usually gain complete mastery over a short period of time, at which point they lose the effect of this humanoid enlightenment stone.

On the other hand, what about Qin Le?

He is too weak. This state will last for a very long time—for the demon race, this is an opportunity that comes only once in a lifetime.

"As for other aspects, can't we just follow the usual procedures?" Ye Li raised an eyebrow. "What else is there to discuss?"

"No, no, no." The Jade Emperor shook his head, his expression somewhat embarrassed and helpless: "We... are missing quite a few things on our side. Some terms will probably need to be renegotiated."

Seeing his expression, Ye Li instantly understood what was going on.

"You guys were really ruthless back then," she said meaningfully.

The Jade Emperor smiled wryly: "Stop talking. We're already... starting to regret it."

The regret he spoke of referred to the fact that back then, in order to completely sever ties with the mortal realm, the celestial realm even drew most of the spiritual energy from the mortal world to the celestial realm.

The direct consequence of this move was that the human race in the mortal realm fell into a true mortal era—without spiritual energy, making cultivation impossible.

The spiritual plants that once depended on spiritual energy to grow, the mineral veins that nurtured them, and the spiritual stones that formed... almost all of them have disappeared.

More than five hundred years ago, when the Heavenly Realm reopened its passage, it faced a mortal world that had nothing. All cultivation resources had to be allocated from the Heavenly Realm.

After more than 500 years of recovery, the situation has improved, but various resources are still in short supply.

The situation is different for the demon race in the mortal realm—the celestial demon race has never severed its ties with the lower realm, and the demon race in the mortal realm has far more abundant resources than the human race.

"Give me a list of what you need," Ye Li said calmly as she sat back down in her chair. "I'll give you a quote based on market prices."

"Yes," the Jade Emperor nodded.

He was mentally prepared to make concessions. Although many resources were not very useful to the demon race itself, the demon race simply had lower comprehension, but they were not stupid.

Those array materials and refining ores are useless to the demon race, but that doesn't stop them from selling at their due price.

Furthermore, precisely because resources are scarce among humans in the mortal realm, the demon race could easily raise prices—after all, the Jade Emperor cannot continuously extract resources from the Heavenly Realm. It's important to understand that the war in the Heavenly Realm is ongoing, consuming enormous amounts of resources.

After Ye Li left, the Jade Emperor immediately instructed his subordinates to compile a list of resources that were in short supply in the mortal realm. Such trivial matters naturally did not require his personal attention.

The list arrived quickly. After reviewing it, the Jade Emperor ordered it to be sent to the demon race.

That very evening, Ye Li's offer was sent back.

The Jade Emperor looked at the price list, remained silent for a moment, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's alright... the price isn't too high."

Although the price is slightly higher than that of internal transfers within the Celestial Realm, the increase is well within an acceptable range.

This result was much better than he had expected.