The place before them was hardly a city; "lair" might be a more fitting term. Upon the sheer, thousand-foot cliffs, countless interconnected caverns had been carved by hand, and into the extremely hard Moli rock at that.

One could only wonder how much effort the people within had expended. The majority of the inhabitants inside were naked, chests exposed.

They wore only animal hides to cover their vital areas. The population wasn't large, perhaps just over half a million.

However, every single one possessed a strong and imposing physique; even the shortest among them stood at least eight chi tall. Silver-white hair streamed down their backs, lending them an air that was both noble and rugged.

Yet, their circumstances were quite poor; they were unkempt, most of them with matted hair and dirty faces. When the thousand-odd Cloud Ships under Zong Shou's command finally pierced through the black mist and their silhouettes emerged beside the massive mountain, the Snow Lion tribesmen in the caverns were instantly struck with panic, rushing deeper into their recesses.

"It really is the Snow Lion Clan! One of the three great royal lineages of the old Lion Tribe!" Chu Xue showed a slight surprise, rising to her feet to look toward the caves.

"Young Master, weren't the Snow Lions legendary to have been wiped out? How can there be so many people beneath the Cloud Sea?" There was more anticipation than astonishment in her eyes.

Her own Tiger-Lesser Clan had, in fact, once possessed the bloodline of the Snow Lions. Approximately three thousand years ago, they had maintained frequent marriage alliances with a branch of the Snow Lions, making them close kin.

Zong Shou knew a few things about the background. In those ancient years, when the Demon Race was cornered by the Human Race with nowhere to hide and forced to fight back, some rebellions succeeded while others failed.

The ten tribes of the Lion Tribe had once been powerful on the Eastern Lin Cloud Continent. But because their slaughtering was too excessive, it provoked a strong backlash from the humans.

Several major powers joined forces, coinciding with the rise of the strongest dynasty on the Eastern Lin Continent at that time. The entire lineage nearly collapsed.

It was likely during that era that the Snow Lion Clan chose to retreat beneath the Cloud Sea, thereby managing to survive. Zong Shou was too preoccupied to delve into the fine details; he only needed to know that the people before him were indeed the Snow Lion Clan, from whom a truly peerless general had once emerged in his memories!

In less than ten years, an empire spanning tens of thousands of li would appear beneath this Cloud Sea, unifying tens of millions of condemned subjects under its banner. With over ten thousand dilapidated ships, they would simultaneously resist the Savage Beasts and Evil Spirits while battling the Cloud Ships of the Eastern Lin Cloud Continent.

In just over twenty years, their power would inflate tenfold. Had the various Sects been unable to tolerate the continued expansion of this subjugated force beneath the Cloud Sea, perhaps one day this empire could have completely unified everything below the sea.

It must be said that this particular figure was once a goal Zong Shou himself aspired to match. When he mixed among the battle formations at a friend's request, he had studied this man's methods of deployment extensively.

Unfortunately, this person’s career consisted mostly of ship-to-ship combat, which was Zong Shou's least proficient area. He had long wanted to recruit this talent.

However, Zong Shou genuinely did not know where the Snow Lion Clan had hidden themselves. The company that developed the Divine Emperor game had also failed to find even a trace of their original location in the vast historical records.

The Snow Lions' initial dwelling place in the game was merely fabricated. And since returning to Mount Qiantian, Zong Shou had not had a single idle day, and over time, he had completely forgotten.

He never expected to stumble upon them here—could it be fate? His gaze flickered slightly, and Zong Shou’s expression immediately returned to tranquility.

"Governor Gu! Find a way to force their surrender.

I want all of these people!" Gu Liekong frowned slightly, wondering if Zong Shou intended to engage in slave trading. However, the Lions were inherently proud and would never consent to being enslaved.

For these Lion tribesmen, such humiliation would be preferable to death. It was easy to make them submit, but difficult to make them willingly obey.

The slave traders on the Eastern Lin Cloud Continent rarely dealt in the Lion Tribe; even when they did, the price was exceedingly low. But if one possessed means of control, the price often skyrocketed to astronomical figures.

This was partly because members of the Lion Tribe were truly rare on the Eastern Lin Cloud Continent, and partly due to their extreme difficulty to tame. Still, Gu Liekong did not say much, merely unfurling his command flag.

A thousand Cloud Ships lined up in a single row, countless crossbows aimed toward the stone caves. The entire process was remarkably simple and required little effort.

When the eight hundred Yuan Mie Crossbows unleashed a single coordinated volley, displaying just a fraction of their might near the caverns, the great mountain nearly collapsed. After the final half-hour warning, the entire Snow Lion Clan surrendered.

This was not due to a loss of spirit, but because the enemy was so overwhelmingly powerful that they could ensure the annihilation of all the tribesmen without even needing to engage—resistance was utterly pointless, and thus, their will to fight vanished. The Snow Lion Clan already possessed about a thousand ships, all of which had been salvaged, pieced together, and modified after being wrecked over the years by the forces of the various cities on the Eastern Lin Continent in their conflicts beneath the Cloud Sea.

It took nearly four more hours to load the hundreds of thousands of Snow Lion tribesmen onto the ships. Afterward, Zhu Junhou and Zong Yuan led teams to search the caves, and sure enough, they found quite a few more.

The total population reached five hundred and seventy thousand—they were indeed a great clan that had once flourished on the Eastern Lin Cloud Continent. Even after several millennia, their population was only a few tens of thousands less than that of the Tianhu Sect Clan.

Just as all the Cloud Ships were setting sail again, a middle-aged man, nearly ten feet tall and built with a physique exaggeratedly robust even among the Lions, was forcibly escorted by Zong Yuan onto Zong Shou's flagship. He was bound from head to toe with chains as thick as a man's wrist, though they did not creak or rattle, making one suspect the chains might snap at any moment under the strain.

Following him were over a dozen others, equally stout, their muscles tightly corded, only slightly less imposing than the Bear Clan, though their strength was somewhat weaker. Unsurprisingly, there were several women among them.

While the male Lions were burly, the females possessed normal builds, only appearing slightly taller than average human women, with curvaceous figures. "Are you their leader?" The silver-haired middle-aged man, despite his domineering and arrogant appearance, exuded an exceptionally calm aura once aboard the ship.

His golden eyes swept over everyone on the vessel, finally settling with mild astonishment on Zong Shou, who sat under a large parasol as the most honored person present. "Since when has our Demon Race stooped so low?

A mere youth lacking three ounces of strength can become a leader?" Zong Yuan's gaze chilled, his expression unchanging, but the hand gripping the chain tightened slightly. The silver-haired man’s eyes immediately shifted, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Yet, he remained defiant, gritting his teeth: "Today, you won by unfair means! But I, Shi Fatian, understand the way of conflict—the necessity of using any means necessary.

Whatever your intentions, I only beg that you grant our Snow Lion Clan a path to survival, a shred of dignity. Even if I, Shi Fatian, must serve you as a slave or beast of burden, I am willing!" Zong Shou paid no attention to the plea, instead focusing intently on the few Lion clan girls.

In a brief moment, he realized that the figure depicted in the Divine Gaze game was likely a fabrication by the game developers. None of the women before him bore any resemblance to that image.

In fact, it was logical: if the developers couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the Snow Lion Clan before the start of the Spirit Tide, they certainly couldn't know what the other figure looked like. Feeling no disappointment, Zong Shou turned and asked, "You are Shi Fatian?

The Snow Lion Clan Chief? Then which one is your fourth daughter?" He had no choice; this was the only piece of potentially reliable information he possessed.

Shi Fatian frowned, showing a slight hesitation. A moment later, when Zong Yuan applied further pressure, he realized refusal was impossible and let out a cold snort: "The third one from the left!" Zong Shou’s gaze immediately shifted, and he froze completely.

Where his eyes landed was a small figure. It wasn't just because she was young—only ten years old—but because her stature was genuinely diminutive, comparable only to a normal seven or eight-year-old child.

Compared to her towering brothers and sisters beside her, she was a mere speck. Her face was smeared with mud, and her large, watery eyes glanced timidly in his direction.

In an instant, the image of the heroic, tall, and beautifully proportioned figure from his memories completely shattered. Zong Shou suddenly understood why the historical records about this person were filled with so many peculiar descriptions.

"For years, she showed her face behind a ghost mask; her physique was unlike the norm..." This truly was unlike the norm; her size, even among ordinary people, could only be described as petite. Zong Shou strode forward and gathered the little girl into his arms, using his sleeve to wipe the black mud from her face.

He let out a soft laugh; with such a beautiful face, it was no wonder she would frequently wear a mask later in life. Yet, his mind remained slightly disbelieving.

Was this tiny thing the woman who, ten years later, fought her brother's battles in proxy, severely wounding Taoyun City with just three hundred damaged Cloud Ships, leading to its decline? Later, she commanded the subjugated masses in over three hundred engagements, land or sea, suffering not a single defeat; eventually, feared by her own brother, she was forced into seclusion, only to perish alongside this empire beneath the Cloud Sea, earning the title of "Unparalleled Heroine" across the entire Cloud Realm?

In that moment, Zong Shou almost began to doubt the reliability of the very histories he had read. However, Zong Shou's heart suddenly stirred.

He abruptly took out a talisman, which ignited in mid-air, sending a stream of spiritual light into the girl's brow, forming a chess-piece shaped seal. He then summoned the Huan Xin Mirror, shining its light into her soul.

Yet, only fifteen minutes later, the chess talisman on the little girl's brow suddenly shattered, and the light from the Huan Xin Mirror dimmed slightly. Then, those endearing eyes looked toward him with an expression of profound grievance.

Zong Shou's mind went completely blank. He had used the Huan Xin Mirror to create an illusion within her mind.

Since she was still a child, he hadn't conjured anything too perverse—merely a set of war chess pieces extremely popular in later eras. But the final result was entirely unexpected.

After a stunned pause, Zong Shou smiled slightly: "Does this girl have a name?" Shi Fatian found the situation increasingly bizarre, yet he was compelled to answer: "In our Snow Lion Clan, females are not given a name until they turn fourteen!" "Then I shall name her for her. Shi Ruolan!

How does that sound to you?" Though phrased as a question, there was no true sense of inquiry in his tone. However, when Zong Shou looked up, his scalp tingled slightly; he saw Chu Xue, Ruoshui, and the others staring at him with deeply strange expressions.