In the spacious hall, the Iron Hoof tribe's leader sat at the head of the table. Even though Xiao Chen didn't exude the slightest aura, he still felt as if a huge boulder had fallen on him, making him feel extremely stifled.
Even the sparkling and fragrant spirit fruit in front of him didn't attract his attention. Even though news of Xiao Chen's existence had spread throughout the Great Wilderness, only by standing in front of him could he truly feel how great of a crisis this faintly discernible aura posed to him.
The few people in the hall chatted in a somewhat stifled manner. Although Xiao Chen knew what the Iron Hoof tribe's leader was thinking, he didn't respond to the leader's words. Finally, after a long time, the Iron Hoof tribe's leader couldn't help but say, "What Patriarch Xiao said is true. The foreign races are rampant in the Human World. They are bloodthirsty and cruel, wantonly slaughtering our fellow humans. Our two tribes should work together to resist the foreign races. My Iron Hoof Division was ignorant of the heavens and offended you. I hope Patriarch Xiao can be magnanimous."
Perhaps afraid of angering Xiao Chen, the Iron Hoof tribe's leader added, "Since my Iron Hoof Division has offended you, I will definitely pay a price that will satisfy Patriarch Xiao."
After saying this, the Iron Hoof tribe's leader was no longer as stifled as before. Now that things had come to this point, it was better to speak openly.
Hearing the Iron Hoof tribe's leader's words, Xiao Chen couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. The Iron Hoof Division had suppressed the Blood Race's Void Road, which was a meritorious deed for the Human Race. Not causing trouble for him was one thing, but the benefits that the Ancient Yuan Tribe deserved were another.
Xiao Chen didn't say anything. He was waiting. Since the Iron Hoof tribe's leader had condescended to come here and even bowed to him, it was time for him to take out something to make amends.
"Currently, the Gu Yuan Tribe is powerful enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with an upper-rank combat division. However, the territory that we currently occupy and the vassal tribes that we have subdued are insignificant even among the middle-rank combat divisions. My Iron Hoof Combat Division is prepared to give up Giant Rock Valley to your tribe. Does Clan Leader Xiao feel that this is sufficient sincerity?"
With that, the Iron Hoof Grand Elder took out a beast hide scroll from his bosom and respectfully placed it on the white jade table in front of Xiao Chen.
"The animal skin scroll in front of Clan Leader Xiao is the name list of all the low-rank combat divisions in the entire Giant Rock Valley. In the entire Giant Rock Valley, there are more than seven hundred low-rank human combat divisions. As for the unranked combat divisions, there are countless of them.
How extravagant!
Hearing this, Xiao Chen could not help but glance at the Iron Hoof Tribe leader. He had not expected the Iron Hoof Tribe to pay such a price. The Giant Rock Valley was at least 50,000 kilometers wide, comparable to the Fallen Dragon Territory.
Seven hundred human battalions. Even the weakest ten thousand people battalion, adding on the large number of unranked battalions, had a population of almost ten million. They could give up as many as they could.
Even the territory under the jurisdiction of the Iron Hoof Tribe was less than 200,000 kilometers wide. This vast territory was the result of the Iron Hoof Tribe's continuous development for 5,000 years. This was equivalent to giving up a quarter of the territory and population to the Gu Yuan Tribe.
Feeling Xiao Chen's gaze, the Iron Hoof Tribe leader could not help but smile bitterly in his heart. The Giant Rock Valley and the Fallen Dragon Ridge of the Gu Yuan Tribe were only separated by ancient mountains. In the past few years, the forces of the Gu Yuan Tribe had already crossed the Fallen Dragon Territory and entered the Giant Rock Valley.
The friction between the Gu Yuan Tribe and the Iron Hoof Tribe in the past few years had arisen because of this. It would have been fine if the two large tribes were evenly matched, but the Gu Yuan Tribe had suddenly risen and become an existence that the Iron Hoof Tribe could only look up to.
At this time, if they still firmly held on to the Giant Rock Valley and could not see the situation clearly, it would bring endless danger to the Iron Hoof Tribe. He believed that if the Iron Hoof Tribe did not give up the Giant Rock Valley, Xiao Chen had enough ways to force him to give up this wasteland.
Since things had come to this, he might as well give up this wasteland to the Gu Yuan Tribe in exchange for a favor.
At this moment, Xiao Chen could not help but admire the Iron Hoof Tribe leader for being decisive. It seemed that anyone who could become a tribe leader was not a simple person.
Just like that, the Iron Hoof Tribe leader stayed in the Gu Yuan Tribe for four hours before walking out of the hall with the tribe's Great Elder. However, there was a look of relief on his face, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Then, the two of them did not linger and left.
In the hall, Xiao Chen did not move. Instead, he was constantly thinking. If the Iron Hoof Tribe withdrew from Giant Rock Valley, the Gu Yuan Tribe's territory would double. The territory under their jurisdiction would cover a radius of more than 100,000 miles, and the number of vassal tribes under their jurisdiction would reach 1,500 or even 600.
However, this seemingly terrifying number was not considered much for the Gu Yuan Tribe's current strength. Apart from the territory, the Gu Yuan Tribe's influence was also naturally limited due to the geographical restrictions.
Just in terms of vassal battalions, almost one thousand and six hundred vassal battalions was not a lot. There were countless low-grade battalions in the Desolate Border Region, but if all the middle and high-grade battalions were added together, there would only be a hundred something. For example, those high-grade battalions, which battalion did not have thousands of human battalions as vassals?
Not long after, the elders of the seven great halls of the tribe arrived in the hall and took their seats according to the order.
Then, Great Elder Tie Shi stood up and explained the purpose of the Iron Hoof Tribe's visit, which immediately made the elders extremely excited.
"Alright!"
Seeing that the elders had already understood the reason of the matter, Xiao Chen said softly, "The Iron Hoof Tribe will soon erase the tribe steles of all the low-grade combat tribes in Giant Rock Valley. Next, we only need these tribes to brand their tribe steles on our Gu Yuan Tribe's tribe steles.
"This matter will be handled by Great Elder and Third Elder, and the other elders will assist from the side."
"Yes!"
The elders immediately responded in unison.
"Third Elder, how many primordial stones are left in the tribe's treasury?"
Then, Xiao Chen changed the topic. This time, the void battleship seemed majestic, but the consumption behind it made Xiao Chen's heart ache. The battleship flying across the sky and killing the Ghost Race Venerable required a large amount of primordial stones.
This time, in order to kill the Ghost Race Venerable, more than 80% of the 10,000 upper grade primordial stones that they had prepared before leaving had been consumed. 8,000 upper grade primordial stones were equivalent to 80 million lower grade primordial stones, which was a terrifying number.
Not to mention the consumption of upper grade primordial stones, the remaining sacrificial grade primordial stones and spirit crystals in the battleship, which were used as power crystals, were almost completely consumed. There was simply not enough for the void battleship to move again.
In other words, if the Gu Yuan Tribe could not find enough top grade primordial stones or spirit crystals, the void battleship that shook the vast wilderness would completely become a decoration.
"Reporting to Patriarch, apart from the daily consumption of primordial stones in the tribe treasury and some from the Treasure Trove Building, we currently have 750,000 middle grade primordial stones and 6 million lower grade primordial stones in reserve."
Hearing this, Xiao Chen nodded. This reserve of primordial stones had been accumulated over the past five years by relying on the many mineral veins. Even so, low grade and middle grade primordial stones had no effect on the void battleship at all.
After a pause, Third Elder Xiao Qin continued, "As for the upper grade primordial stones, there are only a little over 3,000 left. What's more dangerous is that the two excavated upper grade primordial stone veins in the tribe are only extremely small veins and are about to dry up. According to the survey of the tribe's cultivators, there won't be more than 3,000 upper grade primordial stones left."
"I remember that the Fallen Dragon Descendant gave our Gu Yuan Tribe many ancient books, which included information on most of the Fallen Dragon Territory's topography. Could it be that no new veins have been discovered?"
"Patriarch, the entire Fallen Dragon Ridge has changed over the past ten thousand years. Apart from the area where our Gu Yuan Tribe is located, which has not changed much, the other areas have changed beyond recognition due to the movement of the Earth's crust."
"The tribe has also sent people to investigate the territory, but they have found almost nothing. Instead, they have found a few abandoned mines that have long since lost their mining value."
Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice. Xiao Chen was dumbfounded. The void battleship's cannons required at least upper grade primordial stones as an energy source, and in order to power the battleship, supreme-grade primordial stones or even spirit crystals were needed.
However, these crystals could be said to be things that could only be found by luck. For example, the Gu Yuan Tribe's two upper grade primordial stone veins had only inherited the original vein left behind by the Fallen Dragon Ancient City, and it was only a remnant. Even if there were supreme-grade primordial stones at the very core of the vein, they had long since been mined out.
As for spirit crystals, they were priceless. When a warrior's cultivation reached a certain level, the world's essence energy was already full of impurities in the eyes of an Almighty. Absorbing the world's essence energy alone would not only slow the progress of cultivation, but it would also take a lot of time to remove the impurities from the body. The gains simply did not make up for the losses.
Fortunately, in addition to the lack of high-grade primordial stones, there were other cultivation resources for the tribe's ordinary people. This was the foundation of the tribe's development. The current Gu Yuan Tribe no longer needed Xiao Chen to personally enter the Ancient Desolate Forest to obtain daily necessities for the tribe.
After thinking for a long time, since the Gu Yuan Tribe could not obtain a large number of upper grade primordial stones within a short period of time, they could only think of a way from the outside. Of course, the price would be quite high, but the strongest person in the Gu Yuan Tribe was currently only Xiao Chen, and he was only at the fifth level of the Heaven of Building Realm.
The void battleship was the tribe's divine weapon, and it was the tribe's weapon to intimidate the vast wilderness. If there was no sufficient supply of primordial stones, wouldn't it become a toothless tiger that could only watch helplessly?
The greater one's strength and influence, the greater the corresponding crisis they had to face. This was an inevitable result. It was better to nip problems in the bud to ensure the tribe's stable development.
In the end, Xiao Chen ordered the tribe to send more people to investigate the mineral veins within the territory. Fortunately, the Gu Yuan Tribe was about to take over Giant Rock Valley, and their territory had more than doubled. Perhaps there would be unexpected discoveries.