Generally speaking.
The Sacred Races kept things within the family.
First, to preserve the purity of their bloodlines. Second, they had simply never considered marriage alliances between Sacred Races.
As for races beneath the Sacred Races... they were by default not considered intelligent beings.
Among the Sacred Races, the Three Sacred Clans maintained a stable balance. None thought highly of the others, and they were even intermittently hostile toward one another.
From time to time, they would even have little clashes.
Especially between the Dragon Race and the Phoenix Clan.
So marriage alliances were truly something no one had considered.
There was also the matter of bloodline purity. This mindset was not limited to the Sacred Races; every race across the Demon God Continent thought this way. The Qilin Clan... especially so.
Because the Qilin Clan had fewer and fewer members, and the clan was growing ever more desolate.
To put it bluntly, they did not even have enough people for internal marriages. How could they possibly send someone out for a marriage alliance?
Take the three elders before them. Whenever they had nothing to do, they would patrol the clan. If they caught a clansman wandering about, they would rush up, seize them, and subject them to a round of questioning.
But they were not questioning them about why they were not cultivating.
They were questioning why, if they had time to wander around, they were not at home... making babies...
That was why they were so astonished upon hearing Ji Yuan say such things.
After a brief silence, the First Elder finally stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Young friend Feng, I trust you understand the matters between your Phoenix Clan and our Qilin Clan."
"Some things are not for the two of you to decide."