Shi Lang turned his head to look at the source of this question and found a burly man walking over with big strides. Crystal mumbled, “Annoying tigers.”
Shi Lang caught this mumble and looking at the people coming over, he could see that these guys were not very sophisticated. The group of people all had long hair with bulging muscles and they were all topless with their torsos covered with tattoos. Shi Lang did not answer and waited for the people to come over.
The group of eight people stood ten meters away from him with scornful smiles on their faces. The leader of the group was about to say something when Crystal walked up and stood in front of Shi Lang, she glared at the young man and said, “Seems like, Elder Sabre does not know how to keep you under control anymore, right, Jianhu?”
The man furrowed his brows and glared at the girl as he said, “The princess of the foxes, you seem to be looking for a fight.”
Crystal said, “You sure you want to fight with me?”
Her voice was filled with provocation and her gaze was confident. Jianhu was surprised and said, “Oh, are you sure? I am a major realm ahead of you now.”
Crystal chuckled and said, “We shall see if your realm is effective or just a decoration.”
Jianhu sensed a vein pop on his forehead, and someone behind him said, “Terran, what are you smiling at?”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “Nothing, I am just happy to meet you guys. If my guess is not wrong then you all are the descendants of the tribes like Flame Tiger, and Thunder leopard, and you mister Jianhu, are a direct descendant of the Heavenly Blood-Spirit Tiger, right?”
The group of people was surprised to see how this guy was able to guess their origins. However, the surprise did not like it much and brushed it off. Jianhu ignored Crystal and asked, “What is your business here, Terran?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “Do you not know what my business here is?”
Jianhu clenched his fist, he was irritated by Crystal at first and now this guy was not answering him. Was he challenging his authority? The young heavenly blood-spirit tiger was about to attack when a deep voice sounded, “Jianhu, do you miss the black pit?”
The young man shivered and froze in his spot, the next moment, twelve figures appeared in the void. They were all men and women of varying ages and characteristics. Shi Lang was expecting this and stood calmly. Cara Baley appeared a second later and said, “Honorable, councilmen, Supreme Leader, this young man is a Terran, his name is Shi Lang.”
Shi Lang bowed to the people and said, “Junior Shi Lang has seen the seniors.”
The people all gazed at him with different thoughts in mind. Suddenly, an ethereal voice sounded in Shi Lang’s ear, “Young Terran, welcome to the Citadel.”
Shi Lang raised his head and found that he was standing in a hall, with twelve people sitting around him in throne-like chairs. He observed the room and found it to be filled with different styles of decoration. Given his mind, he connected the dots that all the decorations were dedicated to the twelve different people.
Shi Lang said, “Thank you for allowing me an audience, Seniors.”
A man that looked similar like Jianlu said in a deep voice, “Cara told us that you are the strongest in your civilization?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “If you mean strongest in terms of cultivation realm? Then I might be, but there are a lot of people who outdo me in different fields.”
He displayed a modest behavior, but another man said, “If your cultivation realm is the strongest, then the realm of those below you does not amount to much. What asset do you have to convince us to get into an alliance with you?”
Shi Lang looked at the man and found another burly figure and said, “Senior, the reason our base of cultivation is low, is because we have never cultivated until a few years ago. However, you have been struggling with the comprehension of arrays and the issues of stagnated alchemy. You need our help. Heavens is not without measure. While it blessed you all with a slightly higher strength, the humans got the boon of comprehension. This boon has evolved in a positive manner as the Terrans have evolved.”
The council was left speechless by his reasoning, what Shi Lang said was not a lie or an exaggeration. The most beautiful lady in the council spoke up, “Junior Shi Lang, my name is Moon Baley. You have my positive vote for this alliance.”
Shi Lang looked at her with a clear set of eyes and could see some resemblance with Crystal and nodded. The others looked at each other and the old elder of the Tiger clan said, “I, Sabre, support this alliance.”
Following this, all the people began to show their support. Shi Lang was not too surprised by this deal, after all, the condition of the citadel was not nice. The young man bowed his head in thanks and said, “Since the seniors have all agreed to this alliance, I would like to come forward with a gift.”
This caught the attention of the people and Shi Lang waved his hand and a metal plate appeared in his hand. He said, “This plate contains the array diagram that can be used for defense purposes. You can share it with your forces and have them follow the spirit stone placement to the point. If you all can use some precious material to replace the spirit stones, the array will have different effects corresponding to that of the material.”
Shi Lang extended the plate with both hands. However, the plates did not move much. He looked at the plate and then at the faces of the people in the chair and said, “Umm, did I make a mistake?”
Someone sighed and said, “You bunch of old people, are you happy embarrassing all of use in front of a junior? Stop grabbing the diagram. Have someone make copies of it and then give it to us.”
Shi Lang realized that all of them were pulling at the plate with similar strength and thus they could not take it away, it was a contest of tug-of-war.
He smiled and said, “Seniors, I can design twelve different arrays for you all. This way the security of your clans will not be put in breach. I know that you all live in harmony, but there are always those who seek fortune in chaos.”
The people looked at him and then after a few seconds of silence they all nodded. Shi Lang was a godsend for them. The two sides began to discuss their requirements in detail, and the young terran did not hesitate in stating his need for the heavenly oath. However, what surprised him was the suggestion of a council leader from the Mantis clan, that a blood oath will be better.
This will prevent future generations from seeking major chaos. Small conflicts and competition were inevitable, but as long as it was not something big that endangered the civilizations and their culture, everything was fine.
After this happened, Shi Lang found out that the head of the council was Luna Baley, Crystal’s elder sister. They assigned Crystal to show Shi Lang around the place while they made preparations for the alliance ceremony. Shi Lang conveyed his wish to send back a message to the Federation to inform them about the terms of the alliance treaty.
If it would have been in the past, Shi Lang would not have gotten things this documented and detailed, but with the change of times, it was necessary for everyone to be as detailed as possible to narrow down the margin of an all-out war.
Crystal showed Shi Lang around the city. This city was called the Citadel and it was the place where almost all the major clan heads resided. They all had their respective clan territories over the planet but the council was asked to be neutral and thus they resided here till a new member of the clan was not elected to take a seat in the council.
The clans also liked to flock together, like the tigers of different types would follow the lead of the heavenly blood spirit tiger, and the same applied to the rest of the beasts. The foxes will gather around their strongest relatives too. The title heavenly represented strength.
Shi Lang was visiting the city and he found that while some places had a little technical aspect while the rest of the city was left untouched. Crystal told him, that the people did not want to change their ways, and they preferred their old manners, thus the city did not have much technology involved. Many of the people in the city were those who were raised with the value of not losing their traditions and cultures.
Shi Lang would have laughed at the beasts having a culture and a tradition if he had not seen it with his own eyes.