Chapter 6: Alliances
Three months passed, and I anxiously awaited Baku, hoping that he would bring me good news.
On the 29th day of the 13th month of the 1616 era, the historic Dragon Alliance at Mount Long began as scheduled.
When I entered the barracks of the Hidden Dragon Team 1 and the Sleeping Tiger Team 1, I noticed that there were more than ten people, and these were the orcs I had been waiting for three months.
“I am Bachxiang, the chief of the Lion tribe in the Changbai Mountains, and also the father of Baku,“ said a very imposing-looking Lion tribe member as soon as he saw me. Behind him stood Baku.
”I am Shuman, the chief of the Tiger tribe.“
”I am Romanlan, the chief of the Wolf tribe,“ said a Wolf tribe woman. I looked at her curiously. I had heard that the chiefs of the Wolf and Fox tribes were always female, and it seemed that this was true this time.
”I am Arcado, the chief of the Leopard tribe.”
“I am Pagnini, the Bull Clan leader.“
”My name is Qiulei, the prince of the Empire of the Sun Never Sets. Behind me are my guards. Now, can you tell me your opinions?“ I went straight to the point.
”We will do our best to help you ascend the throne. Once you are on the throne, you will grant the Songhua Plain to our five clans.“
”I have said that what I want is not the throne, but power. The throne is empty, only power is real.”
“Then that’s settled. We need to make a written agreement.“ The Lion Chief was a straightforward person who never dragged his feet.
”Impossible. I can’t leave the reins in someone else’s hands. Besides, do you really believe in that piece of paper? In the 5,000 years of history on the mainland, few agreements between countries have been kept, let alone agreements between individuals.“
”We need guarantees,” Bachiang insisted.
“Strength is the guarantee of everything. I will make your five tribes even stronger than before.” I calmly looked at them, ‘As far as I know, during the Third Territorial War, your Orcs lost a lot of their unique skills. I will pass on some unique skills to you. As for the issue of weapons and equipment, I cannot solve it for the time being, but it is not a problem to prepare some for a dozen of you.’ I could see that the weapons they were equipped with were really not very good.
When they heard that I was going to pass on their special skills, the five clan leaders were moved for the first time. After the Third Territorial War, the Orcs had a significant decline in both overall and individual strength. The reason for this was that a large number of outstanding warriors died in the war, and along with them, many unique skills were lost (however, the skills of the clan leaders could still compete with any master in the world, because the inheritance of their special skills was extremely special and not easily lost, but at the same time, their special skills were not available to everyone). Although the Orcs have been searching for the lost arts for thousands of years, they have achieved little, and the lack of these arts has become a bottleneck that has always limited the rise of the Orcs.
“Your Highness, can you tell us what the special skill is?“ Shuman, the Tiger Clan leader, couldn’t help but ask first.
”Yang Guoqiang, step forward and show the guests the special skill of the Heavenly Slashing Axe.”
Yang Guoqiang of the Hidden Dragon Squad took an axe and walked to the middle of the field. Without making a show of himself or taking a breath, he shook his hand and slashed ten times.
The five clan leaders were once again moved, not because of Yang Guoqiang’s own skills. To be honest, they didn’t even take such skills seriously. They were moved by the heart method of axe movement: there was no pause in the middle of the ten axe cleavages, and the power was so strong that it seemed to fly out of the hand. However, the strength was hidden and not revealed, and it could only be released when it hit the target. It didn’t seem that the young man had reached the point of internal essence, so this phenomenon must be caused by the extremely strange heart method of axe movement.
The three from the Bull Clan in particular, the big axe is their Bull Clan’s specialty, and now seeing this peerless axe technique, how could they not be moved.
“I promise that the stunt I pass on to you will never be inferior to this Axe of Heaven,” I said with conviction.
The five clan leaders exchanged glances, then the five of them stood up. Bach Xiangdao said, “The agreement is established.” One reason the agreement could be established was certainly because I passed on the special skills to them. In fact, there was another important factor. Baku had told the five clan leaders that the Goblin Queen had said that I was the future hope of the goblin clan, and the Goblin Queen was born with the ability to know some of the truth about the future. Therefore, the five clan leaders believed that I could also bring hope to the five bring hope. That is why the five clans ventured to come to Dragon Town. Otherwise, even if I were a four-year-old child, they would not dare to take such a risk with the fate of the five clans, no matter how bold they were. Of course, I promised to pass on my special skills to them, so that they could make up their minds at the last minute.
“Okay, now tell me, how many people can you mobilize if necessary,” I asked.
“Thirty thousand of us lions.”
“Thirty thousand tiger warriors.”
“Fifty thousand werewolves, and if they had horses they could become werewolf cavalry.“
”Thirty thousand leopards.“
”Twenty thousand oxen.“
”You have quite a few people.“
”More than you humans, but not as many as you humans. This force of less than 200,000 is not enough for you humans to even scratch the surface. And this force is something that we five tribes have barely managed to preserve.“ Bachxiang’s mouth was full of bitterness.
”Are you the only five tribes in the Changbai Mountains?”
“Only our five tribes came, the rest of the horse, fox, bear, and monkey tribes did not come, they did not want to take the risk.“ Wolf Clan Chief Romanlan clearly heard my implied meaning.
”Then why did you take the risk?”
Bachxiang just gave a wry smile and didn’t answer my question. In fact, Bachxiang’s eldest son was the one who most advocated not taking risks, and most of the other clans were the same. However, the crisis of these clans was already apparent, and if it continued for another hundred years, the clans would probably lose the strength to continue to reproduce. If that wasn’t the case, these five clans probably wouldn’t have taken risks.
“How about this, you have come a long way, so take a rest first. Tomorrow I will pass on some of my skills to you.”
The five clan leaders nodded.
“The Hidden Dragon and Sleeping Tiger groups immediately spread out around the camp and go on alert,” I shouted.
The crimson sun leapt over the horizon, the crisp chirping of birds began to echo through the mountains, dew condensed on the tips of the grass leaves, and a new scene appeared between heaven and earth. As a new day began, a group of people practising martial arts also appeared on Zhenlong Mountain.
I sat in front of the orcs and began to teach them martial arts: first qigong, passed on to the lion tribe as Lion King Qigong, to the tiger tribe as White Tiger Qigong, to the wolf tribe as Ice Wolf Qigong, to the leopard tribe as Golden Leopard Qigong, and to the ox tribe as Wild Bull Qigong. These unique skills are no less impressive than the secret arts of each clan; the martial arts are the Furious Lion’s Fury (fist technique), the Lion King Spear, the Lion King Slash (can be used with swords, knives, axes, etc.), the Tiger’s Roar Blade, the Furious Tiger Slash, the Violent Tiger Halberd, the Howling Wolf Blade, the Ice Wolf Slash, the Wolf’s Heart Spear, the Golden Leopard Spear, the Swift Leopard Blade, the Thirteen Leopard Slashes, the Earth-Splitting Axe, the Sky-Slashing Slash, and the Charging Bull Fist. I discovered that these five clans happen to belong to belong to the five elements: the leopard is metal, the lion is wood, the wolf is water, the tiger is fire, and the ox is earth. Therefore, I specially passed on their five-element formation. This formation cannot be compared to the five-element formation passed down in the secular world. Its power is more than ten times greater. As long as you have the power of the five elements, you can set up the formation as long as the number of people is a multiple of five (that is to say, ten people can set up a double five-element formation, and fifteen people can set up a triple five-element formation). In addition, I set up the Five Elements Gathering Array (five arrays in total) so that the fifteen orcs could train in each of the five arrays. I envied the orcs a little. They were extremely strong and had excellent physiques. They could train in the Five Elements Gathering Array for an uninterrupted day and a half, while I had to come out after a maximum of two hours (32 hours a day).
After three days, the orcs walked out of the array with a radiant look on their faces, happily discovering that each of them had increased their power by at least three levels.
Bach Xiang spoke up again: “We can’t stay here any longer. We need to return to Changbai Mountain to pass on these extraordinary skills to our people.”
“I know. You should go back quickly,” I thought to myself. The stronger you are, the greater my hope.
“How can we get in touch in the future?” Roman Lan, the wolf clan leader, asked a crucial question.
“Elder Zhang, could you please go to Changbai Mountain once?”
Zhang Zhengli froze for a moment. “What am I going to do?” The orcs were also confused.
I handed Zhang Lao a talisman and a note: “This is the talisman for the spatial displacement spell. When you arrive at the Orc settlement in Changbai Mountain, find a safe place and hang the talisman with the red thread. Then draw this six-star magic circle on the ground according to the instructions on this piece of paper. The activation of this formation also depends on Master Zhang infusing magic into the six-star magic circle. When the magic circle emits a blue light, it will be ready. We only have Master Zhang here with such magical powers, and only you can take on this important task, so we can only rely on Master Zhang.”
Master Zhang nodded with a bitter smile, took the talisman, and put it in his bosom.
Then I turned to the five clan leaders and said, “I can go directly through the magic circle to your gathering place. Using this method, we can communicate freely. I used my primordial spirit to carve this talisman, so I must personally activate it in order to operate the circle. Each time I travel through, I can take ten people with me.” I explained in detail to the five clan leaders to prevent misunderstandings. “After this spatial displacement is complete, I can go to your side and set up the Five Elements Gathering Array to quickly increase your strength.” I dangled another carrot in front of them.
“Thank you, Your Highness. It’s getting late, so we’ll head back now.”
“I have prepared some equipment for you, so just take it with you,” I said kindly. In fact, I didn’t know that each tribe of orcs had a sacred artifact that was extremely powerful. The reason they didn’t bring it with them this time was that they were afraid of danger and losing the artifact. Therefore, they left the sacred artifact of the tribe to the heir of the next chief, and even instructed that if they did not return within five months, the heir would become the chief. I handed over the equipment that I had prepared long ago, and the orcs did not hesitate.
I handed each of them a long-sleeved shirt. “I have arranged for a group of about a hundred men at the foot of the mountain to escort you to Changbai Mountain. They are from a private security company with no political affiliations, and they will protect you just to hide your identities. When you arrive at your destination,” I made a gesture of beheading.
“Old Zhang, you will take four more men from the Hidden Dragon Squad with you. Take care of them along the way, and be careful not to let anyone see through your disguise. This jumper is a gift to the Five Tribesmen to help them hide their identities.“
The orc nodded, took the jumper, and put it on.
”I see hope,” Bachiang said before leaving.
“Hope is something you have to earn for yourself. Relying on others to give it to you is just wishful thinking,” I said to Bachiang as I watched him turn around.
The legendary Alliance of Dragon-Mounted Warriors came to an end.
During the days after Zhang Lao’s departure, in addition to having the members of the Hidden Dragon Team and the Reclining Tiger Team practice martial arts, I also taught them magic spells and the advanced technique of splitting the mind into two—splitting the mind into four. In addition, I found a special forces training program in the database (tracking, reconnaissance, counterintelligence, assassination, night raids, counter-terrorism, poisoning, coercing confessions, etc.), and made this their daily compulsory homework. After all, the Tianxingjian Heart Method can be practiced during any exercise, and of course a certain amount of Taiyi Xuangang cultivation is guaranteed every day. assassination, night raids, counter-terrorism, poisoning, coercing confessions, etc.), and I made this their daily compulsory homework. After all, the Tianxingjian Heart Method can be practiced during any exercise, and of course a certain amount of Taiyi Xuangang training is guaranteed every day. I will go home once in a while to prevent my parents from worrying. More than a month passed peacefully like this, but then one day, an accident occurred.
“Your Highness, the sleeping tiger team’s sky numbers 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 suddenly disappeared in the dense forest area of No. 7 (northeast of the dense forest), and the hidden dragon team’s earth numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5, which went to investigate, also disappeared. Now the hidden dragon team’s wood, water, and fire teams’ numbers 2-8 are ambushing the missing location, and the hidden dragon team’s gold numbers 1-10 are pursuing further down. Judging from the situation at the scene, they were all ambushed by someone. It seems that the enemy came from the head. There is only a small amount of blood on the ground, so they may have all been captured alive.” Luo Peicheng, the sixth member of the Earth group, said to me, his face full of confusion.
I was taken aback. Training a group of people is not easy. If eleven of them are lost, it would be a huge blow to me. Fortunately, the other party did not kill them, so I still have a chance. ”Gather the people from the Earth group and let’s go immediately.”
“Yes.“ Luo Peicheng left to carry out his orders.
It seems to be the Winged Clan attacking from above. I was just about to look for you, but you just happened to show up, I thought to myself.
Soon after, the nine of us – me, the Yuri siblings, Lu Weixian, and the five from the Earth Division – arrived at the scene of the incident. It so happened that the people from the Gold Division had also returned.
”Gold One, report the situation to everyone,”
“The enemy can fly, so I’m afraid the people who were captured were attacked from above. The enemy’s gathering area is ten li north of here. One group lives in the treetops of the dense forest, another group lives on the mountain wall, and the enemy’s senior personnel live in caves that are extremely hidden. The entrances are covered with vines, so it’s very difficult to notice if you’re not paying attention. Most of them have average martial arts skills, but some of them are more skilled, probably specialized fighters.”
“I don’t think the area we found is the enemy’s main gathering area, and there aren’t too many enemies there. But the enemy is blocking our way, so we can’t go down there to investigate,“ Jin Er Li Zhidan added a few points.
”Okay, let’s go down and investigate. Everyone form a five-element formation. The winged people here should belong to the wood attribute, and may also have the earth attribute. Their attacks and defenses will be based on the metal attribute, and they will use the water attribute sparingly. Okay, let’s move forward now.”
Forty people in a row infiltrated deep into the forest. I slowly opened my spiritual power and began to explore the surroundings.
Suddenly, I raised my left hand, signaling everyone to stop.
The effect of months of hard training showed, and everyone stopped almost instantly. Everyone found a place to hide, but still formed a five-element formation.
I made a gesture to indicate that there was someone in front of me. I clearly sensed that there were three people standing on the three large trees in front of me, surveying the situation. I gestured a few times to point out the trees where the three people were hiding. Then, members 3, 4, and 5 of the wood team performed wood-based martial arts to hide their breath and figures, and quietly crept under the trees where the three people were hiding. Each of them took out a blowpipe from their arms. Inside the pipes were hidden thin needles not much thicker than a cow’s hair, coated with a powerful numbing agent. The sensation of being pricked was like being bitten by a mosquito, but it could bring down an elephant within three seconds (the blowpipe could also be used by hiding it in the mouth). The three members of the wood team exchanged gestures and blew out the iron needles at the same time. The three people at the top of the tree fell from the tree almost at the same time. The three members of the wood team caught the three fallen people quickly, then jumped to the top of the tree again, and leaned the three people against the branches to stand, as if they were still on guard.
I exchanged gestures to indicate that members 3, 4, and 5 of the wood team should stay behind to provide support, while the rest of the group continued to advance.
On the way, we encountered several police posts, but they were not set up tightly and we easily bypassed them.
We heard a noisy sound in the distance, so we became even more cautious and slowly approached it.
The scene in front of us was really astonishing: a group of more than 30 children with wings were practicing lancing with wooden lances. Not far away, nearly 100 teenagers were also playing with lances, while nearly 400 adults were practicing battle formations next to them. There were both men and women in this group.
We gasped in shock. Damn, they’re a military-minded people. If this is not their main gathering place, as Jin Er said, then we can’t fight this time, otherwise even if we can win, it will be a miserable victory that will seriously affect our strength and the losses will outweigh the gains.
I signaled the people from the Hidden Dragon Team to stay behind and keep watch, while the remaining four of us entered their residence to take a look.
After searching for a while, we didn’t find the person we captured. It seems that this really isn’t their main residence, and I guess our people have been taken to their core location by them. It seems that the difficulty of rescuing them has increased considerably.
There aren’t many people left from the Winged Clan. Except for a few male guards at the sentry posts, the rest are all women, and most of them are busy cooking dinner. A few others seem to be resting because they are sick.
In fact, the place where they live has an unobstructed view, and there is nothing at all there. It was all made from wood taken from the forest. But I still carefully surveyed the place, and even watched them cook.
After a while, the food was ready, and a woman flew out and rang a small bronze bell hanging from a tree. “Dong, dong, dong,” the sound of the bell slowly spread out in all directions, and the people put down their weapons and returned to their dwellings to start eating. However, they were eating in an open area, and everyone was together. At this time, an old man caught my attention. He had gray hair, a ruddy and majestic face, and like everyone else, he was holding a bowl and standing there eating. The difference was that he was guarded by eight or nine people next to him, each with similar martial arts skills as the members of the Hidden Dragon Team. I suspected that this old man was in charge of this place.
However, I did not reveal myself, but used the gap between their meals to beckon everyone to retreat.
After returning to the farm, I asked some people to guard the perimeter, and the rest of the Hidden Dragon and Sleeping Tiger teams gathered to discuss the situation.
I asked Jin Yi to give everyone an overview of the situation, and then I added a few words: “We already know about the strength of a small part of the enemy, and it is impossible to succeed in confronting them head-on. The reason I gathered everyone together today is to get everyone to come up with some ideas on how to rescue our captured brothers. First, let me make it clear that I will not let my father mobilize the City Guard. I don’t want people to take this place seriously.”
“Without calling in the city guards, we can threaten them with the city guards. We can threaten them that if they don’t hand over our people, we will tell the city guards to rescue them, and secretly announce to the world that they are hiding here. Let’s see if they are afraid.” Lu Weixian said with ease.
Yuri couldn’t help but nod in secret. Judging from the fact that no one has ever known that the Winged Clan has been living here for so many years, they must have done a good job of keeping secrets and concealing their light. But this also reflects their fear of being discovered, so threatening them with this may force them to let the people go.
Other people also nodded in agreement.
“Don’t you have any other ideas?”
“Can we rescue them secretly?“ Hengdel, the 18th member of the Crouching Tiger Team, asked.
”It’s very difficult, almost impossible,” said George Sand, the 1st member of the Golden One. Jin Yi is a girl. “First, we don’t know where they are being held captive, but we can guess that it is deep in the jungle. Second, we don’t know how strong the other party is. Third, we don’t know the terrain or the defenses of the place where they are being held captive, which will greatly increase the possibility of accidents. Fourth, even if we successfully rescue the people from the place where they are being held captive, the enemy will soon know. Since we are deep in the enemy’s territory, we will not be able to escape immediately, and in the end, we will probably still be captured, and there may even be casualties. Finally, even if we successfully escape back here, since we know the hiding place of the Winged Clan, the Winged Clan will definitely send their best experts to hunt us down in order to silence us. No matter what the outcome is, we will not be able to live here anymore.“
”I think we can start by setting a fire to give them a shock, and then threaten them to release the person.” Someone from the Crouching Tiger Team said.
“No, a big fire is hard to control. If it’s not big enough, they won’t listen to you; if it’s too big, you won’t be able to control it, and the whole forest will burn down. Then there’s no way to save our brothers, and they’ll all be roasted pigs.“
”Hahaha,” everyone burst out laughing, and the scene became lively. Everyone expressed their opinions, offering suggestions and pointing out the shortcomings of others’ methods.
“Why do you have to fight and kill? Can’t you solve it peacefully?“ An eleven-year-old girl stood up and spoke out. This little girl is the one I bought at the slave market.
”How to negotiate peace?” I was invigorated. This is the answer I want. After all, I not only don’t want to be hostile to the Winged Clan, but I also want to borrow their strength.
“As far as I know, no one has ever mentioned the Winged in the past few decades. The area we usually train in, Area 7, is also very ordinary. Quite a few hunters went deeper than Area 7, more than ten miles away, a few years ago, and I have never heard of any accidents happening to them. But why did our people encounter an attack by the Winged in the usual Area 7 today? And we have discovered that there is a Winged Clan settlement just ten li from Area 7. This distance is not at all safe, and there is a high probability that they will be discovered, which goes against their usual code of hiding.“ There was silence in the room as everyone listened to the little girl. The little girl paused and looked around at everyone.
”What’s the point of this?” Yuli deliberately asked to encourage her to continue.
“This shows that something has changed within the Winged Ones, forcing them to violate this rule. They must be facing great challenges to their survival, but it is unclear what is causing them. We can take advantage of this and solve their current difficulties in exchange for the hostages. Of course, we must promise not to reveal their secrets. We can also reveal some of our secrets to them in exchange for their trust.” The little girl sat down after she finished speaking.
“What’s your name?“ This girl is good. It seems that my decision to buy her was correct, and I have picked up a gem. This little girl is a rare talent.
”My name is Konstantin, from Jiading, Jiangsu Province. I am eleven years old and have lost both parents.“ The girl sat down again after she finished speaking.
”Does anyone else have a different opinion?”
No one answered.
“Very well, I will tell you what I think. We should negotiate with the other side, but we should not go to them, we should make them come to us. That way, we will have the initiative. After all, their secrets are far more important to them than their captives. We should not give up threats either. Appropriate threats at the right time will make the other side make up their mind. As for secretly rescuing people, let’s put that on hold for now. This can only be used when we know exactly where the prisoners are. As for how to convince the other party that we will not reveal their secrets, it is not easy to solve, but just now Konstantin also provided us with an opinion; in addition, there are other methods. Just now, when I was inspecting them, I discovered that they could wear very little clothing. Most of them wore animal skins, and many of them used leaves. There was also very little food, only one bowl of porridge, mainly animal meat, which barely fills the stomach. Their meals contain no salt (which makes it hard to swallow), and there is no tea in their usual diet (eating too much meat plus no tea can cause intestinal emergencies). I don’t think they have much medicine either, which is the result of a long period of not trading with the outside world. We can start with this and give them immediate benefits to dispel their suspicions.”
The Yuri siblings nodded approvingly. The rest of the group began to add their opinions and discuss the details.
After the sound of discussion died down, I spoke again: “Starting tomorrow, everyone should be on guard. Some of you will come with me to go shopping. To avoid arousing suspicion, I will disguise myself and everyone will go shopping separately, so that no one will notice that we are all buying the same things. After we have finished shopping, we must be careful not to be followed, and we will use the methods I taught you to get rid of any possible pursuers. Then we will return to the farm. Since our allies may also have the same problem, we may need to buy more supplies. As for the funds, I will ask my father for them, saying that the orphanage needs the money.
“Your Highness, I think the manpower left here is too thin. Although it is unlikely that the winged tribe will attack, if they do, the people left here will be in danger,“ Konstantinia questioned.
”Good,” I smiled approvingly at her, ”before leaving, I will also set up a gathering element array here to defend against possible dangers. I will also give you three fireworks. If there is an enemy attack, you set off the fireworks and we will immediately come back.”
“Any questions? If not, everyone rest now, we have a lot to do tomorrow.” I looked around to see if anyone had any questions, ”Okay, everyone rest. The wood team will be on guard for the first half of the night, and the water team for the second half.”