Chapter 7 - Ningjing Tribe (1)

He stands up, carries his wife, and immediately runs, not caring about his injuries getting worse.

Blood splattered following the man's footsteps.

He ran without looking back until he came across a cave large enough for three people to enter.

The woman immediately got down and assisted her husband in entering the cave. She then went outside and gathered grass to cover the cave entrance.

After that, she ripped her husband's pants and used them to stop the bleeding.

Pale white and unconscious.

That was her husband's situation.

The woman watches over the cave throughout the night in case a beast dares to enter. When she sees her husband's wounds begin to mend naturally eight hours later, he feels relieved, and the pent-up exhaustion she's been carrying instantly makes her tired, and she falls asleep right away.

In a few hours, both of them wake up together. Check on the man's injuries and feel relieved that his wound has already fully recovered.

They sit down and consume a few of the foods they collected along the way. While sitting, the man keeps thinking and feeling disappointed. He will be able to properly control his speed if he consumes the black fruit.

He kind of regrets eating the yellow fruit because, until now, he wasn't sure what the effect would be.

With tired bodies, they followed in the direction of the rising sun, and continued their journey.

And shortly after, they leave the Fenghou forest.

The first thing they noticed was how many human traces were present, which gave them both hope and apprehension.

"We are getting closer." His heartbeat began to race as he gripped his wife's hand tightly and said nervously.

After three hours of continued walking, they finally come across a large number of houses and children playing happily in the open, free from oppression, worry, or fear. Their expressions are pure happiness, joy, and freedom.

As they recalled how miserable life was outside, the man and woman's eyes began to turn red, to tear up, and teardrops began to fall one by one.

With racing hearts and trembling legs, they walk in the direction of the tribes.

A six-year-old child appears in front of them as they are about to enter the tribe. weak and lethargic, pale and sickly, with messy hair and a dull face, looking up into the eyes of the husband and wife.

Small and bony body, added the torn clothes, make this child look in contrast to the surrounding people.

The woman, who had previously felt happy and curious about what kind of new family she would be joining, has become angry, and her first impression of the Ningjing Tribe has become so bad that she wishes to leave. Disgusted and rejection is what the woman feels for this tribe. She thinks if this is a safe place for their children later to live in.

When the young child detects their emotion, approach them right away and take hold of both of their hands.

The tribe's members quickly become aware that a foreigner has entered their territory as a result of their inaction. Suddenly, whether it is a man or woman, children or adults, they face the husband and wife simultaneously.

Out of nowhere, all kinds of weapons were already in the hands of the tribe's people. Kitchen knives, ax, machetes, bows, spears, swords, and all kinds of weapons that they never see.

The husband and wife are immediately surrounded by tribe members. Startled, they pull the small child to their back and take a fighting stance.

Suddenly a muscular man with a two-meter height walked from behind, making him look like an elephant that mingled with an ant. Even though he was bare-handed, his mere presence could intimidate and frighten them.

His presence is overwhelming, his steps make all hearts tremble, a hint of a red aura can be seen with the naked eye; he stood in front of the husband and wife with a stoic face.

His lips began to move, and he was about to speak. However, a very loud screaming voice is audible from the center of the tribe before his voice is heard.

"STOP!!!"

Suddenly, a woman in her thirties ran from the center, her skin smooth and her face pretty. Her slender hands clenched her fist, jumping from a distance of twenty meters, she was directly above the muscular man. She punches the muscular man in the head with her slender hand.

The man and woman are perplexed by this.

And after that, the woman who punched the muscular man immediately stood in front of the husband and wife.

Carefully, she narrowed her eyes and stared at the man from head to toe.

"Leng Shui!" She hugs the man without a second thought after realizing that the man in front of them looks exactly like his brother.

"Forgive your aunt, who cannot be by your side all this time." She hugged him tightly while sobbing.

"Are you… aunt meng?" the man asks with a slight doubt.

"Yes, dear, forgive your aunt Meng." The woman said while stroking the man's head.

"Aunt meng! Dad always talks about you!" Leng Shui immediately hugged his aunt back.

His happy feelings were clearly painted on his face.

He can't help but recall his father's story about his aunt and the history of their tribe.

His aunt is very mischievous and has a great adventurous spirit from a young age. She frequently visits the Fenghou forest in search of any exotic creatures she has never encountered, always wanting to find out about the truth of the four emissaries. Is it true that the white tiger can control thunder, that the dragon is real and can control nature, that a firebird is real, that there is a turtle who can control ice, and if so, where did they come from and why is there no news about them?

When Leng Shui asks how his aunt became like that, his father proudly says, 'of course, because of me.'

He always tells how, since he was a child, he has quietly sneaked into their shrine, where there are many archives and records of many histories dating back to the founding of their tribe until his father served as tribal chief.

He read about their ancestors, who came from the west, a very faraway place. Who are initially just the remaining refugees fleeing the sudden floods that drowned hundreds of tribes and killed hundreds of thousands of people. They are individuals who are fortunate enough to reach a mountain before the flood arrives, as well as the hunter who leaves the tribe to go hunting. They can see how terrible the flood was from high in the mountains, dregs of houses and hundreds of thousands of corpses carried away by the strong current. Their feel so scared and hopeless, their home, their friend, their family, and many people they care about just leave them, their remember clearly how they just talk, how they smile to each other, how they just meet each other, it just not that long, it just about five minute ago, but they are gone, just like that, die because of the disasters.

Not knowing what to do, the two hundred survivors just keep walking and walking until they reach the mountain's peak. A weird thing started to show up. The world appears to be divided in half; behind them is the world of water, and in front of them is the world of nature.

When they see this weird scene, their hearts are shaken. With heavy hearts, they keep walking in the opposite direction of the flood. They walked for months using only improvised weapons, which caused their group of two hundred to be reduced to half due to the dangers of the forest that no one had ever encountered before. There are hundreds of thousands of species of wild beasts that they have never seen before. While some died as a result of being devoured by the wild beast, the other half died as a result of a poison.

Halfway through the trip, all of the refugees feel so tired, not just in their bodies but also in their souls. After seeing almost all of their family members and friends die in the flood, they need to see that the remaining survivors died because of their inability to help. They must always be alert and vigilant because of the beast; irregular eating for fear of poison makes them feel that their future is bleak.

They keep walking aimlessly and randomly, hoping to find a safe haven, until eventually they feel like they pass through some invisible membrane. Suddenly, the forest feels different, the life force of the forest feels more abundant, and the place feels more fertile than anyone else. Just standing in this place, they feel like they are 10 years younger, all their fatigue has washed away, and their soul feels more relaxed, like they have come back to their hometown after a long journey. The leader of this, or so to speak the first ancestor of the Ningjing tribes, directly asked all the people to gather in one place, and start to discuss and decide if this place is a good place for them to start to rebuild their tribe.

But before that, they need to ensure that this place is a really safe place and that no beast can endanger them, so the leader divided the men and ordered them to explore the place, search for any beast nearby, and find water sources. while the leader explores the more dangerous area on his own.

When the leader saw many strange and powerful beasts, he became alarmed and wanted to immediately return to warn his fellows, but he stopped midway when he saw the best simply glance at him and ignore him. This situation piqued his interest, so he continued to explore and look for another beast. It was the same situation as before after meeting a few large and frightening beasts; they just looked at him without caring. Following this, the leader becomes brave and curious about what happened to this forest.

And without him realizing it, the sky started to darken, and he immediately went back to the temporary camp of the refugees. When he arrives, he immediately asks them to make a temporary resting area.

The sun had already set when the makeshift camp was finished, and the moon had taken its place in the sky two hours later. The atmosphere in the forest begins to heavy; the sound of the howling beast becomes increasingly close and clear, putting the refugees on edge; and the leader, who believes the situation is not right, is constantly on guard.

And it is right for the leader to trust his instincts. A short while later, a number of large, frightening beasts suddenly surrounded the makeshift camp, forcing all the refugees to immediately gather in one place to look for each other and prepare for a fight to the death with all these beasts.

Without further ado, the beasts immediately attacked, making all the refugees hold their weapons tightly.

They fight and fight, with a resolve to die, until eventually they make all the beasts retreat.

The leader then orders the person still able to move to check on the casualty. Oddly enough, no one is killed by the beast attack; instead, only a few people are injured, and even those injuries are not serious—just a few scratches here and there.

This makes the leader feel confused and want to search for the reasons behind it.

Tomorrow morning, the leader asks them all to pack up and immediately change their camp location to be near the water sources.

After that, the leader immediately makes the same arrangement as yesterday and immediately goes exploring by himself.