Chapter 436: Good Faith
Even as Meng Hao spoke, he waved his right hand, causing a gale force wind to sweep across the land. It only took a moment for the wind to sweep the spider webs off of the Wild Giant, Hairy #2 and the others. The webs became nothing but ash. Having been freed, the Wild Giant lifted its head up and roared.
In turn, all of the neo-demons that belonged to Meng Hao began roaring. The spiders who remained in the rear mountain district all continued to remain prone on the ground, not daring to even lift their heads.
At this moment, Meng Hao’s might billowed to the Heavens as he hovered there in mid-air glaring coldly at the Five Tribe alliance.
Facing up against his power, and hearing his words, the Greatfathers, Priests, and Grand Elders of the Five Tribe alliance felt shaken inwardly. Their breathing became ragged in pants. The strength of this Grandmaster Meng vastly exceeded their expectations. Furthermore, they had no idea when he had unexpectedly acquired so many neo-demons.
Not only was this group of neo-demons large in number, but they all looked very familiar. Upon closer inspection, they were shocked to find that these were neo-demons from the Crow Divinity Holy Land.
“Grandmaster Meng….” said the Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather with a wry smile. Before he could finish, Meng Hao pointed toward the ground, causing invisible Demonic Qi to rise up from the earth below.
The appearance of the Demonic Qi caused the surrounding neo-demon hordes to roar with even more intensity. That was even more true of the more than ten thousand spiders. Now, they were no longer suppressed. Instead, Meng Hao’s Demonic Qi exerted incredible attractive force on them. Following the lead of the twenty or more three hundred meter large spiders, they filled the sky as they flew over to Meng Hao, circling around him with expressions of submission on their faces.
Meng Hao floated in mid-air, surrounded by a mixed neo-demon horde nearly twenty thousand in number. Their aura billowed to the heavens as they let out unceasing roars. Meng Hao didn’t look angry, and yet radiated power. Some of his Grand Dragoneer aura suddenly exploded out, causing everything nearby to shake.
The Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather gasped, incapable of continuing to speak. The faces of the other Nascent Soul Cultivators from the Five Tribes fell. As of this moment, Meng Hao was vastly more powerful to them than Zhou Ye had been!
“Fellow Daoists,” said Meng Hao flatly. “Ever since I arrived in your Tribe, I have abided by your rules. Never have I offended anyone or violated any laws. Therefore, I don’t understand why, when my neo-demons were being captured, not only did you do nothing to stop it, you even facilitated the matter…. I require an explanation within three days. If I don’t get it, then my close relationship with the Five Tribes of the Crow Divinity will end, and I will leave this place.” With that, he and his twenty thousand strong neo-demon horde whistled through the air as they left. The black mist once again appeared, billowing up into the sky like a hurricane. It was visible even from a great distance away as it stretched up above.
Seeing Meng Hao leave did not cause the pressure weighing down on the Five Tribes to lessen. Rather, it grew even stronger. The Greatfathers and Priests exchanged glances. Bitter smiles appeared on their faces as they began to confer with each other using Divine Sense.
They had no desire whatsoever to offend Meng Hao or cause him to leave. A Grand Dragoneer with so many high-level neo demons among his horde of twenty thousand, was indescribably important to the Five Tribes.
It wasn’t just their Tribes that would feel this way. Any tribe would place great importance onto a Grand Dragoneer like this. Even a great Tribe would feel this way.
It must be known that for a Tribe to be classified as a great Tribe, they not only had to have a sufficient population and number of neo-demons, but another critical factor was that they had to have a Grand Dragoneer.
The Five Tribes discussed the matter until dawn of the next day. Then, the Nascent Soul Cultivators all went to stand outside the black mist in the rear mountain district. They clasped hands and bowed deeply.
“We humbly request an audience with the Grand Dragoneer, Grandmaster Meng.”
They stood there listening to the sound of their voices echoing into the roiling black mist. After a moment passed, Gu La strolled out, his jaw set with pride and condescension, his hands folded behind his back.
He was followed by the roaring Wild Giant, as well as a vast collection of spiders, which flew out to surround the Greatfathers, Priests, and others.
The indistinct shape of some gigantic spiders became visible, their power comparable to a Nascent Soul Cultivation base. There was also the red crocodile, which emanated viciousness as it crawled out. Further back, black crows whistled through the air followed by the green mosquitos.
The sight of all this caused the faces of the Greatfathers and Priests to fill with serious expressions.
“The Young Master is currently practicing cultivation. Before going into seclusion, he made it clear that if the Five Tribes came without sufficient intention for reconciliation, then when he emerged from seclusion, he would depart this place and sever all ties with you!” Gu La looked them over, feeling extremely excited and complacent. The feeling was much greater than the feeling he’d gotten after acquiring power on his own. This surpassed that by far.
As of this moment, he was quite happy to be a follower of Meng Hao.
The Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather smiled wryly, but gave an inward sigh of relief. He was well aware that their actions yesterday had in fact been a way of forcing Meng Hao’s hand. After exchanging glances with the others, the Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather stepped forward.
“First of all,” he said with a slight smile, “we would like to congratulate Grandmaster Meng on recovering all of his powers as a mighty Grand Dragoneer. Regarding the slaying of Zhou Ye, we Five Tribes will stand as witnesses of the event. Furthermore, each of our Tribes would like to offer you a congratulatory gift of two thousand neo-demons, a mix of levels 3 to 7.”
Hearing this caused Gu La’s heart to begin to beat wildly.
Two thousand neo-demons wouldn’t count for much to a great Tribe, but to a small Tribe, it was an incredible show of good faith. After all, neo-demons were the most important thing for Dragoneers.
Dragoneer cultivation was not based on personal strength, but rather, controlling neo-demons. Neo-demons were the basis of power, and for each of these Tribes to give two thousand meant that it was a total of ten thousand. Such a vast number caused Gu La to begin to breathe heavily.
“Well….” said Gu La, hesitating for a moment.
“Grandmaster Meng is a Grand Dragoneer, and we feel very honored that he picked our Five Tribe Alliance. We know that the position of Grand Dragoneer is an esteemed one, so each Tribe is also willing offer him 300,000 Spirit Stones in order to help facilitate his daily cultivation. That will only be the first payment! From now on, the Five Tribe alliance will provide him with an equal sum every three months as compensation for his assistance.” With that, the Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather once again clasped hands and bowed deeply.
Obviously, he wasn’t bowing to Gu La, but toward the churning black mist.
Gu La’s eyes were wide, and he couldn’t stop himself from panting in nervousness. His eyes began to glow, and his mind was reeling, filled with nothing but the thought of Spirit Stones. If each Tribe provided 300,000 Spirit Stones every three months, that was a total of 1,500,000. Essentially, that meant that every month Meng Hao stayed in the Five Tribes Alliance, he would get 500,000 Spirit Stones.
That was a vast number that Gu La had a hard time even imagining. Of course, he had no way of knowing that if it wasn’t for the imminent danger facing the Five Tribe Alliance, they would never possibly offer up such an unimaginable number.
“This matter….” Gu La’s mouth and tongue were almost too dry to speak, and he didn’t know what to say. Despite the fact that he had actually come prepared to strike out with deadly force against these people, he could never have predicted that before he even struck a threatening pose, such incredible gifts would be offered.
“Furthermore,” continued the Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather, “considering that Grandmaster Meng is a Grand Dragoneer and vassal of the Crow Scout Tribe, we would like to earnestly request that he assume the position of Grand Elder of the Five Tribe Alliance, a position equal to that of us Greatfathers!”
Gu La was panting and his mind was shaking. A position like that, equal to that of the Greatfathers of the Five Tribes, was incredibly high and vastly meaningful.
Suddenly, the Greatfather of the Crow Scout spoke again: “All of the resources of the Five Tribes Alliance will be poured into fulfilling Grandmaster Meng’s needs. Furthermore any spoils of war will be split six ways, with one part of that belonging to Grandmaster Meng.”
These words only served to add to the roaring that filled Gu La’s head until it was on the verge of exploding.
This last benefit seemed almost unreal. In fact, though, it was real, and vastly exceeded anything from before. This truly was good faith on the part of the Five Tribes Alliance, to split all future spoils with him.
At the same time, it would also tightly bind Meng Hao to the Five Tribes.
“In addition,” said the Crow Scout Tribe Greatfather, continuing on with the last item the Five Tribes had agreed to offer, “if Grandmaster Meng becomes the Grand Elder, then the Five Tribes agree to provide food for all of his thirty thousand neo-demons!”
Gu La didn’t know what to say. Thirty thousand neo-demons could eat a small mountain of beasts in a very short time. That amount of food was no small number, and when you added it all together, could easily drain a small fortune.
That was why Grand Dragoneers usually attached themselves to a great Tribe; both benefited from such an arrangement.
Gu La subconsciously looked back toward the black mist. The Greatfathers and Priests of the Five Tribes also looked toward the black mist, awaiting Meng Hao’s response.
“Lastly, as a show of good faith, if Grandmaster Meng agrees to all of this, and the Five Tribe Alliance survives for the next year, then we are willing to allow Grandmaster Meng to be our sole representative to enter the Bridge of Immortal Treading!” The person who uttered these words was not the Greatfather of the Crow Scout Tribe, but rather that of the Crow Soldier Tribe. He was the only of their number to have a Cultivation base at the mid Nascent Soul stage, and was their most powerful expert.
Almost the same moment that he finished speaking, the mist began to seethe, and then shrink back. The surrounding neo-demons quickly retreated along with it. In the space of time of a few breaths, the mist had completely vanished, along with neo-demon horde.
Now, all eyes were focused completely on the person slowly walking toward them.
It was Meng Hao, wearing a long black robe. His hair fluttered in the wind, and his eyes were cold. On his skin could be seen a dense, endless amount of totem tattoos. They even existed on his face. Each and every one of these totem tattoos depicted neo-demons.
20,000 neo-demons, all transformed into totem tattoos, branded onto Meng Hao’s body. His aura was thoroughly Demonic at this point, filled with a barbaric savagery that drifted slowly out from his body.
If the people in the Southern Domain who were familiar with Meng Hao were to see him now, it would be difficult for them to recognize him. As of this moment, anyone who looked at him would take him to be a powerful Western Desert Cultivator!
Such power, although it wasn’t of the Nascent Soul stage, was enough to slaughter anyone of the early Nascent Soul stage!