68 The Black Hand Arrives

The Forest Will Outpost was bustling with activity. The leaders couldn't keep the news from spreading. Not something like this.

A Great War!

A Great War between tribes was coming! The old people were shivering with fear, remembering the last time the tribe had to take part in a similar conflict. It had been a carnage, a senseless slaughter that had cost the region thousands of young lives.

At the time, most of the old people were only children and saw their parents and loved ones go to war, only to come back decimated.

The feud that made them become enemies with the Fire Earth Tribe was started in that period, during the last Great War of the Extreme Wilderness Region. At the time they survived thank to the help of the Black Elks, following them in battle next to the fallen tribe of the Eastern Crystal.

Today, the situation was even direr: the Black Elk didn't have any other force near the Yellow Lake Region and the enemy seemed to have two powerful warriors that alone could slaughter hundreds.

The young people, on the contrary, were incredibly excited. They all dreamed to shine in battle, slaying countless Fire Earth berserkers and gaining personalize Hunter titles, the ultimate honor that a warrior of the Forest Will Tribe could aspire to.

They were too young to remember the horror of war. They didn't even fear the so-called cultivators. Wasn't Elder Star a cultivator herself? And what about her companion, the vicious looking snake that made people tremble with fear with a single glance?

Some said that he was the war beast of Star Leaf, others said he was a Devil, like those that lived deep in the mountains and made even the Cultivator Clans tremble with fear.

The people didn't quite understand what a Devil was and the difference in power between cultivators, so they thought that until they had their own powerful warrior things would be well balanced.

Inside a large building, an old man with a devious scar on his face, running down towards his neck was talking with a group of old men.

"We need to leave at once!"

One of the men shook his head, his gaze moving towards the large table that stood between them. On the surface of the table, there was a single object, encased inside a crystal bottle: it was a small fragile looking flower. It seemed made of moonlight, shining gently and emanating a sweet aroma that wasn't blocked at all inside the bottle.

The plant was incredibly weird, and it made anyone who saw it froze for a second in awe that something like that could even exist.

The man pointed to the flower, his voice trembling with indignation.

"We can't. We tried everything, but this damned flower continues to release this scent even when we seal it in dozens of different containers."

The young didn't seem to like the explanation. Black lines appeared on his face and his tone became dangerously low.

"Who cares?"

Another old man interjected, seeing that the previous didn't dare to go against the will of the young man two times in a row.

"Young master, The Blood Woods are filled with countless strange beast that will be attracted by simple Umbra Flowers.... let alone this one. Our Leaf family doesn't have the manpower to secure the transfer and even if we had, we can't know for certain that the scent won't attract creature that we cannot fight. "

The man coughed, trying to find help between the other mature people around him. Finally, noticing that no one wanted to time in, he looked carefully towards the young man, making sure that he wasn't upsetting him too much with his following words.

"If we go and the flower does attract similar beasts... we will be in a very bad stop... we might also not being able to survive... if d-"

The young man slapped his hand on the black table, interrupting the careful speaker. Large veins pulsed on his front and he had a ferocious expression on his face.

"Staying here mean death regardless! We need to go! Let's take with us all the Hunters, and we will be able to defend it while we go towards the Xia Clan!"

The men around him seemed very troubled by his proposition, but no one wanted to try again to make him change his mind.

They were all afraid to go against him. He wasn't someone that even people with their statue in the Leaf clan would dare to anger. That young man wasn't only the only son of an Elder of their Family, he wasn't only the third in line to the succession of the position of Clan Head. That young man was one of the two Leaf clansmen that were chosen to become Cultivator inside the Heavenly Reptile Sect!

He was going to be a cultivator! Only a fool would anger someone that one day would be able to control all their lives in the palm of their hands.

Seeing that nobody dared to contradict him, the young man become even bolder. He moved his hand towards the glass container, trying to grab it.

"Then, it's settled. Let's go, give the orders that I just gave y-"

Abruptly, the doors to the hall were the little group of man was talking was opened with a loud bang. They were pushed so hard, that they slammed against the walls and ruined the elaborate fresco behind it.

A man with a devious scar on his face exploded with anger towards the figure that was entering.

"Insolence!"

He pointed his old finger towards the newcomer, but then wasn't able to continue his tirade. His finger started to tremble, his furious voice became a shrill shriek and he stumbled back several steps.

The same reaction came from everyone else in the room, even the arrogant youth that was behaving like a king not even a couple of instant before. They all retreated in fear, some even stumbled to the ground in shock.

An old and tired voice echoed in the hall, while the newcomer stood between the opened doors.

"I am looking for Young Master Darkscale."

The room had no windows, so all the light was artificial and came from numerous oil lamps sitting on the walls.

Their light lip up the figure of a large man, three times taller than the taller Fire Earth Warrior. His head was barely fitting the large entrance of the central hall without touching the wooden frame.

It was an oblong skinny head, with light grey skin. He didn't have any hair, not on the top on his head and not on his face. He also didn't have a nose, only two holes that probably were his nostrils. The same could be said of his ears: only two holes where the two organs should have been.

His mouth was weirdly wide, his thin grey lips run from his left cheek to his right cheek. When they opened, countless sets of yellowish sharp teeth appeared inside.

However, the thing that was most disturbing, the thing that made all the people in the room tremble with fear the moment they saw him were his eyes: they were large and ovals, with no difference between the iris and the pupils. They were black, completely black. Like two pieces of black onyx encased on a grey mask.

They seemed able to penetrate the very soul of everyone that made eye contact with them, making the people on the hall have the weird certainty that the owner of those eyes could extract any kind of information from them with a look. If only he really wanted to do so.

The strange man's face was the only part of his body that was visible, together with his abnormally long neck. The rest was hidden under his clothes. He wore a simple black robe, with a single ornament centered on his chest: a crimson handprint.

"Do you know where he is?"