Chapter 685: Chapter 172: Hastily Concluded

“Lord Thunder God, you flatter me too much,” Lu Hong shrugged. “I have only just taken over the position of Clan Leader a few years ago, how do I compare in experience to those present?”

It was unclear whether Lu Hong had a plan he wasn’t sharing, or if he truly had none. Hearing this, Lei Sai didn’t say much, but turned to the other Clan Leaders and said, “In that case, according to the scouts’ reports, there are three Spirit Clans showing a tendency to attack the Human Race. The troops are already being mobilized. I believe it won’t be more than three months before they launch an attack. Let us use this battle to decide the position of the Commander of the Guards. Whoever leads their troops to kill the top three leaders of the foreign clans will become the Commander of the Guards. Do you all find this acceptable?”

“No objections.”

“I agree.”

Beside them, Song Quan sneered, feeling quite downcast.

He had originally intended to control the entire guard force, but it had ended up being divided among others.

Though displeased, he had at least managed to secure a position for himself. It was best to take what he could—it wouldn’t do to go against Lei Sai head-on.

After establishing the matter of the Human Race’s self-defense force, the council then moved on to another core issue of the debate: territory.

The Human Race now entirely occupied the southeastern corner of the continent, bordering the lands of foreign clans. This meant that without attacking the foreign clans, the territory of the Human Race could not be expanded.

Some might think if expansion wasn’t possible, then it should be left at that. However, the political system of the Human Race was still based on autonomous governance by the tribes. This system ensured that internal conflict was a commonplace occurrence.

Lei Sai also saw the internal troubles of the Human Race, and thus took the lead in facilitating this council meeting.

Song Quan’s aim was to create a self-defense force, while Lei Sai’s goal was to resolve the internal strife within the Human Race—uniting them against external foes.

“Gentlemen, I have a document here that records the war statistics of our Human Race for the past half-year. Would you be interested in knowing more?” Lei Sai waved a thick parchment.

Hearing the Heavenly God’s words, the Clan Leaders thought Lei Sai would commend their achievements, so they shouted eagerly, “Of course, we hadn’t considered this matter. Lord Thunder God, you have thoughtfully kept a record of our military achievements.”

Listening to the quiet discussion among the Clan Leaders at the council, Lu Hong sneered internally. He was aware of this action—Lei Sai had specifically borrowed people from him for this purpose. He too had a copy of the data, and one might not realize the gravity until seeing these statistics, which were shocking when reviewed.

Lei Sai glanced at the Clan Leaders, who were full of joyful anticipation, and began to read: “Fire Rage Clan, on the eighth of March, battled the Beastman Viscount Viir, victorious, exterminating over twelve hundred thousand of the Beast People. On May, they marched again, fighting the Beastman Viscount Posi, victorious, exterminating over eighty thousand of the Beast People.”

Hearing Lei Sai announce these achievements, a proud leader of the Fire Rage Clan stood up, clasping his hands and laughing, “Gentlemen, gentlemen, haha, I had no idea that my Fire Rage Clan had slaughtered two hundred thousand beastmen in the last half-year. If not for Lord Thunder God’s meticulous attention, these achievements might have been buried.”

While speaking, he even bowed to Lei Sai.

“Heh, Fire Rage Clan Leader, hold on, I haven’t finished yet.”

“Oh, oh.” The leader of the Fire Rage first nodded, and then thinking it over, something seemed off—he had only initiated two wars against the Beast People in the last half-year, there should be no more incidents.

Not giving Fire Rage much time to ponder, Lei Sai continued, “In mid-April, due to a territorial dispute, the Fire Rage Clan launched a surprise attack on the Bai En faction, slaughtering thirty thousand of their own people and seizing over eighty thousand youths and women of the Bai En faction.”

Hearing Lei Sai’s announcement, the leader of the Fire Rage broke out in cold sweat, “No, no, no, this isn’t true, Lord Thunder God, please, listen to my explanation—”

“Fire Rage Clan Leader, didn’t you just say that the records were very accurate?” Lei Sai’s voice was very cold, filled with a murderous intent.

“Lord Thunder God, you really need to hear my explanation!” The Fire Rage Clan Leader scrambled in his mind about how to defend himself, while the other Clan Leaders neither kicked him while he was down nor spoke in his defense, because they saw Lei Sai’s intent—this wasn’t an awards ceremony, but a reckoning!

“At the beginning of June, using the excuse of needing passage to fight the Beastman Viscount Posi, the Fire Rage Clan made a surprise attack on the Human Race’s Nan La faction, slaughtering over fifty thousand of their own people and annexing the Nan La Clan.”

After reading the Fire Rage Clan’s records for the past half-year, Lei Sai angrily threw the parchment roll at the face of the Fire Rage Clan Leader. Though he did not utter a word of reprimand, his action silenced everyone present.

Lei Sai took a deep breath, picked up another parchment, and read, “Mount Anger Clan, at the end of March, initiated a war against the Beastman Earl Viiku, victorious, exterminating over five hundred and eighty thousand of the Beast People. In May, to expand their territory, they also waged war against six small surrounding tribes, slaughtering over one hundred and twenty thousand of their own people, and massacring more than three hundred thousand of the weak, sick, and elderly of these tribes.”

“Mount Anger Clan Leader!” Although these data were not being read for the first time, his fury remained unabated: “You truly deserve to die!”

The parchment was furiously thrown in the opponent’s face, and the Clan Leader of Mountain Fury trembled all over, his heart filled with extreme terror.

The Human Race was becoming strong, and assimilation was inevitable. Originally, there were thousands of large and small human tribes, and over the years, smaller tribes had been swallowed up by larger ones—a common occurrence. Lei Sai understood this, but it was only when the data came into his hands that he realized such intra-race assimilation was no more merciful than wars with other races.

Especially during the assimilation process, their attitude towards the old, weak, sick, and disabled almost always involved seeing them as a waste of food, resulting in mass slaughter and the bodies discarded in the wilderness.

The deeds of seventy or eighty Clan Leaders were read one by one; they had indeed accomplished great feats but had simultaneously harmed their own people.

Nearly every tribe, upon killing a thousand enemies, had slaughtered more than five hundred of their own.

When all the tribes’ sins had been exposed, they instead breathed a sigh of relief. The law does not punish the masses, and surely the Heavenly God couldn’t kill them all, could they?

That was when Song Quan spoke up, pointing at Lu Hong, “Heavenly God, why haven’t I heard you recount the deeds of the Xiao Clan?”

“Because in the last half-year, my Xiao Clan didn’t do anything.”

Hearing Lu Hong’s explanation, Song Quan was pleased, “So the Xiao Clan hasn’t contributed anything to our Human Race. Then I would like to know, what right do you have to sit here and discuss matters with us?!”

Song Quan’s rebuke was like a wake-up call, energizing the previously silent Clan Leaders.

Following Song Quan’s lead, a number of Clan Leaders began to openly criticize Lu Hong; although they had erred, at least they had achieved some meritorious deeds for the Human Race—mistakes were to be dismissed as compensated by their contributions. Now the most important thing was to shift the topic and move past this moment.

Thus, Lu Hong became everyone’s target for shifting the topic, and the denunciation continued unabated.

Lei Sai clearly hadn’t anticipated such shameless behavior from this group, and he resented Song Quan’s interruption of his rhythm.

Originally, according to his plan, he would first deliver bombshells to subdue these Clan Leaders, and then issue three orders to completely resolve the internal conflicts within the Human Race. Instead, the entire meeting had descended into chaos.

Facing criticism and attack, Lu Hong was completely unconcerned as he said with a laugh to Lei Sai, “See, I told you, the wickedness of human nature is hard to eradicate. That’s why a dynasty needs to be established—only centralization can reduce such disputes.”

“But once power is centralized, who will lead, and who can ensure that the person in power will not get drunk on it, becoming corrupt and oblivious?”

“There could be a dual monarchy, alternately ruling every few years.”

Lei Sai shook his head, “I’ll think about it some more.”

The two of them, oblivious to the noisy Clan Leaders, continued their private conversation.

Seeing the attitude of Lei Sai and Lu Hong, the Clan Leaders were secretly delighted; it didn’t matter if they were ignored as long as the earlier matters weren’t brought up again—they could discuss whatever they liked.

Thus, the Human Race’s first meeting concluded amidst a lot of noise.

Apart from agreeing on matters concerning the self-defense forces, no other important business was resolved.

Lei Sai also truly recognized the selfishness of human hearts, feeling inevitably saddened.

Lu Hong walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, “Relax, this kind of thing is inevitable, but right now the most pressing issue is dealing with Song Quan.”

Sitting high up in the loft, the two of them reviewed the day’s meeting.

“Song Quan,” Lei Sai said solemnly, recalling his opponent’s demeanor during the day, “how do you think we should handle him?”

“Hey, hey, the guy is a Heavenly God; what do you expect me to do?”

“We can’t just kill him, right? It’s very hard for the Human Race to produce a Heavenly God.”

“I don’t know, don’t ask me. I can’t handle these trivial matters right now,” Lu Hong said, pointing to his reddened eyes. “I haven’t slept well in a long time. Have you noticed anything suspicious from the Beast Race?”