Chapter 199 Dongxue Village Part 1

The gasp escaping U-ri's mouth formed brief clouds of mist visible in the moonlight. With a child on his back and holding a newborn in his arms, U-ri ran on the high grassland, his heart beating rapidly. Although U-ri is considered an elder, U-ri's physical strength is still no less than that of those twice as young as him. The faster he ran on the grassland, the louder the child cried, perhaps because he was afraid of what was chasing him. U-ri also wanted to stop and cry, but he knew that once he stopped running, he would be crushed to death, so even though his old bones were getting weaker, he continued to run without looking back. 

As U-ri approached the clearing, a black gorilla leapt at him from the darkness, but the gorilla was shot down by four arrows. U-ri jumped over the dead gorilla and continued running. 

Shortly after U-ri jumped over the dying gorilla, Abrafo and Michio jumped over the dying gorilla, each holding a baby in their arms and a toddler on their backs.

Yul was the last one to jump over the dying gorilla, but after his feet landed on the ground, the dying gorilla grabbed Yul's ankle. To prevent the baby in his arm from falling to the ground, Yul's hand tightly grasped the baby in his left arm, and Yul knelt on one knee. Yul turned around and cut off the gorilla's hand with his sword. He quickly stood up and continued to chase Abrafo and Michio. When grunting and grumbling sounds came from not far away. Yul knew that the savage men were catching up to them. 

"The village is just ahead," Abrafo said breathlessly. When Abrafo turned to look at Yul and Michio, Abrafo saw a large troop of gorillas approaching quickly behind them. "Hurry, they can't get into the village." 

"Michio, stop!" Yul shouted. Yul stopped quickly as he heard the branches swaying, making a sound like water rushing ashore. 

"What are you doing?" Michio asked, stopping a few yards away from Yul. 

"I need to buy time for everyone to escape. If this continues, if they catch up, the villagers in front of us will probably die," Yul said, stabbing the sword into the ground and handing the baby in his hand to Michio's left hand. He then began to remove the straps holding the child to his back and quickly secured the child to Michio's chest. "Now, go." He pulled his sword from the ground and swung it quickly into the stomach of a small gorilla who jumped at him. 

The gorilla troops lined up and roared loudly at Yul. 

Yul's eyes were fixed on the troop of gorillas. His hand tightened around the hilt of the sword. He prepared to defend himself if the gorillas attacked him, but instead of attacking him, they stared at him with ferocious eyes, stood a few feet away from him, and growled at him. 

"Since you stole our feast, you will be our feast tonight." Xun's voice sounded from behind the twenty gorillas. The gorillas stepped aside, and Xun, a large gorilla walked in, facing Yul. He smirked. "If you want to save the village, first you must defeat us." He looked at Yul and smiled. 

Yul stared at Xun, the only white gorilla among the black and dark brown gorillas. Xun was larger than the other gorillas, and Yul was shocked when the white gorilla standing a few feet away from him spoke to him. 

Xun smiled and said, "Don't be so shocked. Those people's expressions before they died were all the same as yours now." He raised his wooden spear and pointed it at Yul. "Would you rather fight me one on one, or would you rather have my army crush you to death and drag you back to our cave?" 

Ten days earlier: 

The soft soil in the rice fields squeezed between Yul's toes making Yul's toes feel relaxed. Since the day he and others left Tanzang, the two years he spent in the temple were the most relaxing days for him. Up until this moment, he seemed to be enjoying the little things the monks had provided for him. He learned many new skills from Budi and the monks, and when he wasn't out hunting with the others, he was helping the monks grow rice in the rice fields or growing vegetables in the garden behind the temple. 

Although the trip would be delayed for three years, he and others learned a lot from the monks in these two years. Abrafo, Michio and he became better fighters, and U-ri learned many new medicines and treatment options. Remaining in the temple, they gained abundantly. The monks treated them well and did not force them to do anything against their will. 

Yul reached for a handful of young rice seedlings and began planting them in the cool muddy water above his ankles. When the bamboo chimes sounded in the distance, Yul and the monks in the rice fields stopped what they were doing, stood up slowly, arched their backs, relaxed their shoulders and arms, and embraced the breeze. 

Closing his eyes and feeling the breeze blowing on his cheeks, Yul admitted that the days and nights were too long for him on the first day they decided to stay, but now, as he is used to his carefree everyday lifestyle, he began to feel that the days and nights were too short. When the sound of the bamboo chimes gradually faded away, the people in the rice paddy bent down and continued planting rice. Although the weather is good but being baked in the sun from morning till dawn still has a certain impact on one's physical strength. 

After Yul finished planting the rice seedlings in his hand, he reached out and grabbed a handful of seedlings. Yul realized that his rice-growing skills had improved a lot since the first day he stepped into the rice fields. His planting skills were as good as any of the monks who planted with him. Two years ago, when he first entered the rice fields, he was always trailing behind the others, but two years later, he can proudly say that he can grow rice fields on his own. When he realized that rice is a food source that could help the people of Tanzang from starvation, he set his sights on learning how to master rice farming so that if one day he returned to his hometown, he could pass on his knowledge to others. Just as he reached out to grab another handful of seedlings, the bamboo chimes sounded again. He smiled and stood up straight, relaxing his shoulders and arms, feeling the cool wind blowing across his face. 

"Hey! We're back!" Abrafo shouted, his voice echoing. 

Yul opened his eyes and saw that Abrafo, Michio, Kaizen, and the two monks had returned from their mission. 

Abrafo waved at Yul and said, "Hey come on... I brought back what you asked me." 

Yul walked out of the rice field, grabbed his straw sandal, and walked up the little hill to meet Abrafo and Michio. 

Abrafo sighed and saw that Kaisen had left with the two monks without waiting for Yul. "I don't understand why he still hates you," Abrafo said. 

"I don't know either. I don't have any grudge against him," Yul said, starting to walk with Abrafo and Michio. 

"Well, he seems to have a deep hatred for you," Abrafo said. 

Michio asked, "Have you offended him recently?" 

Yul shook his head. "The reason why he doesn't like me is probably because of Hajime," Yul said. "How was the mission?" 

Abrafo said, "Nothing special, just killed some evil goblins." He looked at Yul. "But I believe I found Kaizen's weakness. 

Yul smiled at Abrafo and said, "You do? You remember that if we leave the temple, he won't chase us, right?" 

Abrafo said, "This is just a precautionary measure. Whatever we do, we need a contingency plan." 

Yul smiled at Abrafo's childish thought and said, "You're right." 

Michio said, "After two years of hunting with him, we have a pretty good idea of how he creates limitless portals." 

"How?" Yul asked. 

"Kaizen uses the power of a mage combined with a spell to create portals, but every time he uses it, he burns his power in half," Michio said. "And his ability to create portals isn't as limitless as we thought." 

"You mean he doesn't have the ability to create limitless portals?" Yul asked. 

Abrafo nodded and said, "Yes, he can only open one portal at a time, and this spell can only be used twice a day. The longer the portal is open, the more energy is consumed in his body." Abrafo smiled. "And the longer he rests." 

Michio said, "I don't even know what benefit knowing Kaizen's weaknesses would do to us. Kaizen said he wouldn't chase us unless Master Budi ordered him to." 

Abrafo raised the corner of his mouth and looked at Michio. He asked, "And you believe him?" 

"I don't understand why he would lie to us. After Hajime gave birth, they had no reason to keep us here unless we decided to stay forever," Michio said. 

Yul said, "We can't stay here forever, but maybe after we save Tanzang, if you want to stay here, you are welcome to do so." 

Michio said, "It's a good idea, but no matter how nice this place is, this is not my home." 

Abrafo asked, "Eh... where is Hajime? He usually brings lunch to you during lunch time?" 

Yul said, "He is out gathering herbs with U-ri and Master Yuuto." 

Abrafo looked at Yul dissatisfied. "His belly is as big as a melon, and he barely can walk. Are you crazy?" 

Yul said, "You know Hajime's personality, lately he gets irritable if he doesn't get his way. I didn't want to argue with him, so I let him go." 

Michio was listening to the conversation between Yul and Abrafo when he looked at the road, he saw a child pass out in front of the temple gate. 

"Hey...hey...hey...look, there's a child lying on the ground in front of us," Michio said, pointing at the front gate. 

"Child?" Yul and Abrafo said in unison, looking at the gate at the same time. 

The three Tanzanies quickly rushed towards the unconscious child, but when they arrived, they discovered that the child they thought was a child was a middle-aged man. 

"Sir," Michio bent down and helped the middle-aged man up. 

The exhausted middle-aged man finally opened his eyes when he heard Michio's voice calling him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Michio. "Holy Monk, please save our village," the man said weakly and began to cough violently. After the cough subsided, he looked at Michio and said with trembling lips. "Please save us from the savage men." He fell into Michio's arms.