Taken In as Vassals, Willingly Becoming a Concubine!
"This is the Demon Cave Token that Ancestor Shi Jian bestowed upon my father when he swept across the western part of the Profound Spirit Continent and unified the Myriad Demon Domain!"
Her Zi Tong eyes were red-rimmed, and her voice carried an unconcealable sorrow and despair.
"For hundreds of years, our clan has been engaged in endless fighting; my father's lifespan ended, and he passed away several decades ago, his life force waning..."
"Before my father passed away, he entrusted the lives of the entire clan to me, instructing me to lead the remaining seven hundred clansmen across hundreds of millions of miles, traversing thousands of mountains and rivers, to the Giant Bear Ancestral Court to seek the protection of our ancestor!"
"Having been pursued and killed along the way, more than half of their tribesmen have perished, leaving only three hundred survivors stranded on the outskirts of the Savage Wilderness..."
"Zi Tong is at her wit's end, and her only option is to die. She begs the young master to take in Thunder Leopard's lineage, considering the past service her father served the ancestor! She will serve him like a slave, at his beck and call!"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The woman kowtowed heavily, her fair forehead striking the black iron stone slab, splattering specks of scarlet blood, and lay prostrate there.
The main hall fell into a deathly silence.
The old deacons exchanged glances, but none of them spoke.
The cultivation world is cruel and ruthless. Every day, countless small clans seek refuge due to the destruction caused by fighting. If they were to take in every one of them, even the largest family in the Lightning Bear Line could not support them.
Moreover, this is a foreign tribe.
Shi Lei's expression remained unchanged as he lightly tapped the throne with his fingertips, neither immediately agreeing nor directly dismissing the guest.
Although he was somewhat eccentric, he had been in charge of Lightning Mountain for many years and was by no means an ignorant fool; he did not know all the old stories of the Ten Myriad Demon Domain.
If he rashly takes in a foreign tribe, and it causes trouble, or if he is planted as a spy by someone with ulterior motives, the consequences would be beyond his ability to bear.
After a moment's thought, Shi Lei flipped his hand and took out a communication jade talisman that emanated a deep blue, chilling aura. He then channeled his divine sense into it like a wisp of silk:
"Brother Yin, in front of Lightning Mountain Palace, there's a man claiming to be a descendant of a former subordinate..."
Buzz.
A slight ripple appeared in the void.
A few breaths later, the previously scorching aura of Dao of Lightning outside the hall suddenly dropped; a bone-chilling cold, like that of ancient Mysterious Ice, silently seeped into the hall.
The electric arcs that had been moving across the surrounding rock walls condensed into a thin layer of pale blue frost under the pressure of this extremely concentrated cold air!
Shi Lei's expression shifted, and he stood up.
A tall and slender figure stepped into the hall.
The newcomer was dressed in a snow-white robe, with a handsome and serene appearance. He moved without making a sound, but an unfathomable pressure from the Peak Nascent Soul enveloped the entire hall!
It was Shi Jian's subordinate, Shi Yin, who was like a personal confidant to him!
With ample resources to sustain him, his cultivation level skyrocketed in just a few hundred years; he has now reached the Nascent Soul Great Perfection, and is only one step away from stepping out of the Immortal Foundation and achieving the Spirit Transformation stage.
Unlike Shi Lei's violent outward expression, Shi Yin cultivated the [Mysterious Ice] path.
The Ice Dao, while not entirely undeveloped within the Giant Bear Clan, which excels in earth, physical strength, and lightning, is still underdeveloped.
The clan's higher-ups valued this point and intended to cultivate a future leader who would be the master of the Ice Dao variant bear. Therefore, their preferential treatment of Shi Yin was no less than that given to Shi Lei.
"Brother Yin." Shi Lei stepped forward, his expression filled with sincere respect.
Although Shi Yin was not his biological father, he was like a father to Shi Jian from childhood. During Shi Jian's years of fighting, Shi Yin was the one who guided and protected him.
Shi Yin nodded slightly, his icy blue eyes sweeping over the Zi Tong lying on the ground before settling on the tattered bronze battle token.
He raised his hand and made a grasping motion; the battle order flew into his palm.
As his Divine Sense swept over the inside of the token, the remaining traces of the ancient seals caused a faint hint of reminiscence to flash across Shi Yin's eyes.
"Indeed, it was the work of our ancestor back then."
Shi Yin spoke, his voice like shattered jade striking the ground, clear and indifferent, "The old forces of Profound Spirit Island, the Thunder Leopard Clan; after our ancestor suddenly left, the Thunder Leopard lost contact with their clan early on and went to the outside world to seek a way to survive."
"It's quite rare to run into an old friend these days."
The woman with Zi Tong, who was kneeling on the ground, trembled and suddenly looked up. "My lord... you, you know my father?!"
Shi Yin tossed the token back to her, his face expressionless.
"So what if I know? My father issued the order to fight back then, settling the score. In this world, no royal family would support a good-for-nothing who does nothing but eat."
"Your Thunder Leopard unit, having left alone back then, has long since severed the bond between ruler and subject."
"Back then, your tribe sought survival, and no one blamed you. Today, you seek continuation; our tribe cannot do without you."
Zi Tong's face paled, and she hurriedly gritted her teeth and said, "My clan is not useless! All three hundred clansmen are proficient in Lightning Evasion Technique, and there are more than twenty Golden Core cultivators among them!"
"Zi Tong herself has already entered the Nascent Soul Realm, and is willing to swear a soul-death pact, to be a loyal follower of the Lightning Bear Line for all eternity! If she harbors any disloyalty, may she be struck down by heaven and earth!"
"Their descendants can also serve as elixir, nourishing the superior clan!"
Shi Yin turned to look at Shi Lei, but did not make a decision for Shi Lei. He simply analyzed the situation calmly:
"The Thunder Leopard Clan is born with a natural affinity for lightning speed. If properly trained, they could be a very useful tool as scouts and sentries."
"Now that the Ancestor is in seclusion and the Mistress is in charge of affairs in the Dao Realm, although Lightning Mountain's power in the Beast Realm is growing daily, he is indeed lacking in informants who can truly gather secret information."
Shi Lei understood what Shi Yin meant.
This small clan has potential, loyalty, and a clean record; it's worth recruiting.
"Since Brother Yin vouched for you, and you both had a past loyalty to the emperor, my Lightning Bear tribe will take you under my wing."
Shi Lei made a decisive decision and said in a deep voice, "However, the death pact must be made; from this day forward, the Thunder Leopard Clan will be assigned to the Lightning Bear vassal tribe, and a fiefdom of 50,000 li of Divine Firmament Plain will be granted to them."
"Ten tribute pills every hundred years, are you Qi Ingestion?"
Upon hearing this, Zi Tong felt bitter but was powerless to resist.
"Zi Tong... I thank you, Young Master, for saving my life! I thank you, Second Young Master!"
She kowtowed several times without hesitation, and immediately forced out a wisp of her divine soul imprint, imbued with her life Essence Blood, from between her eyebrows, and respectfully presented it to Shi Lei.
Shi Lei raised his hand and summoned the wisp of divine soul imprint into his sea of consciousness.
Thus, the roles of master and servant were defined.
This incident did not cause much of a stir in Lightning Mountain.
However, several months later, a gentle and warm atmosphere quietly appeared in an exquisite villa on the back mountain of Lightning Mountain.
In order to firmly establish itself within the Lightning Bear Line and to seek the most reliable protection, the Thunder Leopard Clan, at the suggestion of its elders, had Zi Tong voluntarily remove her blood-stained leather armor, don a gentle silk dress, and move into Shi Lei's backyard, willingly becoming his concubine.
This is perfectly commonplace in the world of Demon Race.
When weaker tribes rely on stronger tribes, marriage is often the most reliable bond.
Moreover, Shi Lei, at such a young age, is already at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage Peak realm, with a Spirit Transformation ancestor who is about to reach the Four-Foundation Perfection standing behind him.
For Zi Tong, who had nowhere else to turn, this was the best possible outcome.
This is also for the purpose of continuing the bloodline.