Apologize!
The realisation that Ji Yao held the power for them to go home made them extremely uncomfortable. Some began to calculate the possibility of successfully overthrowing Ji Yao and snatching the keystones away but before they could even come up with a strategy their keys home vanished without a trace.
The way they vanished made it very difficult to determine whether they scattered into the great distance or they were in Ji Yao's storage space. All in all, they knew they couldn't go back to Niuq without Ji Yao's approval. Wasn't this coercion? Did they have to acknowledge Ji Yao as their King for them to go back to their families?
Ji Yao ignored their ugly expressions as he carried on saying, "If I may remind you that I can simply choose to suppress you into submission which is what a Qilin would do of course..... but, I am benevolent and considerate so I will give you some time to reevaluate your standing."