Chapter 173 - Meeting with the Forest Lords

Morning of the fourth day, three days still at the end of the test

The situation inside the fort was tense. The first-year students of the Southern Royal War Academy were concerned about the unknown attack of cockroaches. About 100 people had already died, and none knew how many would die next time. But now there was a scene, outside of their understanding, that was happening before their eyes.

A meeting with the spirit beasts of the forest.

Long Tian had ordered the sentries on the walls to warn if they saw any approaching spirit beasts. However, if they had been different species other than cockroaches, the sentries should not have sounded the alarm. Instead, they should have let these spirit beasts approach without being obstructed. Other than that, no other details were given, but it was clear that Long Tian's orders were correlated with the exploration that Hei had accomplished.

Five spirit beasts arrived near the fort. They were a bear, an owl, a dragonfly, a tiger, and a zebra. All five were comparable in size to the bipedal cockroaches; however, their power was at the peak of the second level. It would have taken little to advance to the third level, but in order not to be killed by the human cleaning team, they had repressed their cultivation.

Without worrying about the looks of humans arriving from the front, the five spirit beasts settled about a hundred meters from the fort and didn't move. They were waiting for humans to send their representatives so that negotiations could begin.

The bear in the group of five spirit beasts was the same bear that Hei had encountered the day before. Since the problem of termites and cockroaches threatened the entire forest, the bear had been busy all night to gather the other lords of the forest and tell them what Hei had suggested. Obviously, they didn't take it well to collaborate with humans, but each of them wasn't one of the forest lords for nothing. They knew when to repress their pride for the sake of those who followed them.

Representatives from the human side were led by the Imperial Prince Long Tian. His four guards would accompany him to protect him in case of need. Although they knew that the spirit beasts grew in intellect as they advanced, they didn't trust them enough to let their boss go unescorted. Indeed, precisely because these spirit beasts had intelligence that they were even more dangerous.

In addition to Long Tian and his guards, there was also Hei, who had brought Lian and his little sisters with him. As a beast tamer, his presence was indispensable. Furthermore, it was he who had brought the information about the termites. Therefore, there was no candidate better than him.

Finally, to conclude the human delegation group, there were Feng Chen, accompanied by Huli Xieren, and Hu Jie. Being two of the generals appointed by Long Tian, they too had to be present at the meeting. Moreover, since they were the sons of the family heads of two of the Eight Big Families, their words had a considerable influence on what kind of concessions could be granted.

'You are late humans. I don't like waiting, and all the more reason, we have no time to waste.' The spirit beast tiger complained as soon as Hei and the others arrived at the meeting point.

Long Tian, who received Hei's translation, replied, "I apologize for the delay. Let's start the negotiations. Tell me the information you have and your requests. Then I will give you our proposal."

Without dwelling on unnecessary pleasantries, Long Tian came to the point of the situation. Hei quickly reported to the five lords of the forest what the Imperial Prince had said. The five spirit beasts were slightly affected by the attitude of the human representative. They thought that, as a member of the Imperial Family, Long Tian would have a disdainful attitude towards them. Instead, he took on a cordial and polite demeanor, while maintaining secure the position of humans at the same time. Undoubtedly, he was a born leader.

The five spirit beasts took a look at Hei before answering. In particular, their eyes fell on Ye and Xing, who were covered almost entirely by Hei's hair. Only their faces were visible. Evidently, the bear must have told the other lords of the forest about them.

'Okay. We will tell you what we know.' The spirit beast dragonfly broke that silence and illustrated what they knew. 'We don't know exactly from where that pair of termites and those seven guards came. If there had been some spirit beasts advancing quickly in cultivation, we would have known. Yet, they appeared out of nowhere about a week ago. Shortly after, the human cleaning team had finished their work.'

'As if humans weren't already an unpleasant problem, now we must also face the invasion of spirit beasts from elsewhere who knows where.' the tiger complained once again.

'Guanting, stop it. Your comments are useless. You're just making us waste time.' commented the zebra who became irritated at the misplaced intervention of its temporary companion.

It should be known that the lords of the forest were longtime rivals. Each of them yearned to become the supreme ruler of the entire forest. However, a fight between each of them would have left the winner in a precarious state. The other lords of the forest or even other spirit beasts slightly below them could have taken advantage of the situation. Therefore, a stalemate had arisen, with the five of them sharing the forest. But now the termites, leading the cockroaches, were trying to oust them and take over the whole territory. Thus, they had no choice but to collaborate. Though, this was easier said than done.

'What's up, herbivore? Is the herb you eat giving you a stomachache? Do you want to taste my fangs? It wouldn't be bad to use you as food and level up. So I could deal with those dirty termites myself.'

'As expected from a carnivore. You have a strong appetite, but you are certainly strongly stupid.'

ROARRR!!!

As the situation between the zebra and tiger became tense, the bear that had remained so far emitted a roar to silence the two of them. At this roar, the two quarrels continued to glare at each other, but they didn't continue with their feud.

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'I am sorry for their attitude. Zezi, go ahead.' the bear turned to the dragonfly to continue with its patrol.

Zezi, the second-level dragonfly, pointed to itself and the owl, 'Qiu and I flew over their nest from above. The pair of king and queen termites are third-level spirit beasts. They have recently advanced, but they undoubtedly reached the third level. The seven guards have a power similar to ours, probably slightly less. Considering their numbers, they represent a strong enemy. But if we were to attack with the spirit beasts at our command, it wouldn't be an impossible task to accomplish.'

'The problem, though,' said the second-tier owl, 'is that those termites have taken control of the colonies of cockroaches and termites in the forest. In addition to them, they also subdued numerous mantises. So their total combat strength is something we forest lords can't handle alone. Even if we don't like it, we have no choice but to collaborate with you. '

At that point, the bear revealed what they wanted as a reward, 'Since we are giving up our pride as spirit beasts, we want your word as a member of the Imperial Family that you will ban the access to any human. In return, we promise to stay within the confines of the forest without going beyond them.'

Hearing their request, Hei sighed to himself. He imagined that the five lords of the forest would attempt to ask for this. But he already knew that Long Tian couldn't consent their proposition.

"No, I'm sorry. It isn't possible."

As expected, Long Tian instantly denied their request. However, instead of closing the deal there, he said something to which Hei attributed a hidden hint, but he didn't investigate further.

"Even though I'm a member of the Imperial Family and one of the Sun Emperor's sons, I don't have that power. Only the emperor can order such a thing. All I can offer you is an alternative - a truce."

'A truce? What do you mean by that? Explain yourself, human!' replied the tiger who preferred to go straight to the point.

"Trial grounds are indispensable for training martial artists. There is no way that the Empire can renounce even one of them. Not until a total war with demons is still a more than concrete possibility. What I can propose is to modify the degree of difficulty of this trial ground. To move the limit that you, spirit beasts, can reach from the second level to the fourth level. It is the maximum that can be granted to you. And since it will take time for your forest to become a territory suitable for spirit grandmasters, you won't receive attacks from humans for many years. I don't know exactly by how much. It will depend on your speed of development and the needs of the empire. However, I can promise you twenty years, at least."

When Long Tian proposed his solution, the five lords of the forest entered into a heated debate among themselves. They knew since the beginning that their first request would be refused. They weren't so foolish to believe that despite the situation, they could receive grace from the Sun Empire. Therefore, Long Tian's offer represented a real possibility to develop and grow in power.

In the process of discussion, the bear looked up at Hei and asked him a question, 'Don't translate. 20 years. Are you able to reach the top in that amount of time?'

Hei was surprised at this question. However, he instantly understood what the spirit beast bear was referring to. "I do not know. As you progress through cultivation, the advancement process becomes slower and slower. I will do everything to advance as fast as possible, but I cannot promise you I will reach the top of the cultivation path in twenty years."

Hei's honest answer made the bear smile. Usually, it wouldn't have been strange to promise something impossible to obtain an agreement. Humans were in a delicate situation and needed the strength of the forest spirit beasts. Yet Hei had said that he wasn't sure and was unable to promise to succeed. Doing so could have blown up the negotiations; this is why the bear appreciated Hei's sincerity.

The other lords of the forest listened to this exchange and made their decision. The bear had informed them of the presence of two divine beasts and what Hei wanted to accomplish. Nonetheless, they hadn't believed its words. But now, seeing the living proof before their eyes, they could finally feel a spark of hope for the future. If so, the decision was easy.

'We will cooperate.' the five lords of the forest said in unison.

"They will cooperate. It is what they said." Hei translated their decision to Long Tian and the other people present.

Long Tian looked at Hei for a few moments. Up to now, Hei had translated every word, except for the last exchanges before the final decision.

'I don't know what they said, but I feel it's about why the lords of the forest accepted my terms. If so, it must be something important. You are a real mystery, Hei. But now is not the time to investigate it.'

"Great. Now we have to decide how to move and the sharing of the spoils of war. I promised my men that they would be valiantly rewarded for their courage. So I wish you to leave the spirit cores of the enemies to us."

'Do you want to take all the spirit cores of the enemies? And the part that belongs to us? Our subordinates also need spirit cores to grow.' replied the second level tiger annoyingly. This time, however, the other lords of the forest also supported its cause.

Long Tian didn't blink and exposed his point of view, "I made this proposal for two reasons. First of all, you need us more than the other way around. If we wanted, we could reinforce the fort and wait for the end of the test. Although it's not a foolproof plan, there are real chances of success. Secondly, I only mentioned the enemy spirit cores and not their bodies. Not to mention the twenty years of development without human intervention. As lords of the forest, I doubt that you don't have stocks of spirit cores in case there was an opportunity to level up. As a result, my request doesn't harm you at all. "

Long Tian's tone was calm and polite, but the listeners could immediately understand who had the knife on the handle side in that negotiation. Long Tian had granted great benefits, based on their desire to become third level spirit beasts. All this, however, was in anticipation of his request - to be able to take possession of the spirit cores of the enemies.

The lords of the forest discussed among themselves. This time Hei wasn't consulted. They knew that the boy, raised by a divine beast, would support the other human. If Hei wanted to reach the summit as soon as possible, then he needed as many resources as possible.

'Alright. But on two conditions. First, the spirit cores of the invading termite group are not included. Whoever kills its prey gets everything. The second one is that you will take care of the termite king. The queen is pregnant, so she is unable to fight. So your opponent will be one newly advanced third-level spirit beast. It should be feasible for you if you fight like a group, right?'

Listening to the conditions of the lords of the forest, the humans present there frowned. It was clear what they had in mind. Although they wouldn't let any of the humans chosen as delegates die, if they used them as cannon fodder to weaken the termite king, they could obtain both the cores of the guards and the termite king.

"Okay. I'm in. We will take care of the termite king while you take care of the guards. My other companions and I will leave in an hour. In the meantime, I recommend that you gather your subordinates and prepare yourselves."

This concluded the negotiations between the humans belonging to the Southern Royal War Academy and the spirit beasts of the forest. But when Long Tian motioned to return toward the fort, the spirit beast tiger chuckled.

'Not so fast. Although we have decided to cooperate, we cannot trust you. We require tangible evidence!'

"What evidence could satisfy you?" asked Long Tian, who sensed where the spirit beast was getting at.

'A blood pact! We want you to sign a blood pact.'