Delivered To The Jaws Of Death
Liu Longwei remained silent throughout the return journey to base camp. It was like he received some kind of revelation that enlightened his soul. After sitting silently inside the tent in the crooked stone fields and analysing the whole things that were happening around him for one complete day he realised that all the failings that he and his people had suffered through were because of his arrogance and inflated ego. Upon reaching the Pseudo Tribulation Realm he felt he was too powerful and started looking at everyone with contempt and through the tainted lens of his pride. He was not a young genius to be prideful, he was an old man who only achieved his current rank through external help.
On seeing the different state Liu Longwei was in, no one disturbed him nor conversed with him. It was a fast and quiet journey. When they reached the base camp they stayed only to rest, Liu Longwei wanted to go home to his clan. He had lots of things to do as the chief of the clan and as the most powerful master of the entire village. A moment later when their subject informed them about the discovery of the child's napkin he didn't issue any order. He just stood silent like before and when Bai Dong spoke of chasing and killing the Lu Clan members he calmly hushed Bai Dong.
Then he questioned in a considerate tone, "Brother Bai Dong, do you really think that it is a trail left behind by the Lu clan? Can't it belong to someone who came hunting in the forest? Have any of you seen Lu Donghai or Lu Yehan attacking us? Can these games be played only by the Lu clan and not Breaking Dusk Village?" Unlike before he stopped acting like a master commanding his subjects and instead treated Bai Dong with respect as equals.
Bai Dong was shocked by both the question and the treatment towards him by Liu Longwei. He stammered and replied, "My Grandson, Bai Baifeng and his followers saw them. It must be them." He answered back but he also started to doubt his reply because of a kind of conviction shown by Liu Longwei on his face, when Liu Longwei questioned. "Surely, Liu Longwei has unveiled something and had arrived at a conclusion, that I haven't seen yet," he thought.
Liu Longwei said, "My son told me that when the black ivy plague struck the Lu clan, their skins turned black and eyes bloodshot. I was not there but you were there along with many others, you saw it yourself. Can it all be a lie? Maybe they hid a few of their younger ones or sent them away to prevent getting sick themselves. Does it mean all the deaths were staged and are still alive? Is it not possible for a few of them to be alive? We have swept and searched the whole outer region of the Jinzhi forest. If approximately all 170 people of the Lu and Jia clan are alive, then won't we find them by now? Or are you saying that they are camping inside the sticky milk swamp or snake clouded grove? These are the only two places which we haven't searched. However, the sticky swamp is filled with water now and unless they have turned into fishes surviving there is not possible. No one can survive there for months by building small boats and they didn't have time for building a huge one. Moreover, the swamp is filled with insects and poisonous frogs. Suffering from sickness, diseases and poisons would only be the beginning, no children can survive there, and even adults prefer not to enter. I don't think I have to tell you about the clouded snake groove also. We have searched crooked stone fields. The North and the Northeastern region is the area of a cold winter so before proper preparation, it is futile even to think of going there. It is also very far and most importantly it is the domain of the Bull blooded bear, even after reaching the pseudo tribulation realm, I'm not sure if I can completely kill it. There are no trails of them anywhere and the trails left behind we're all misleading ones with traps all around. Think, if we face disasters who would benefit the most, Lu Clan? They are already trying to survive their blight. Who would benefit the most if our village falls?"
Bai Dong replied, "The Breaking Dusk Village would reap the maximum benefits." After listening to a series of questions and lectures from Liu Longwei, Bai Dong also became fully convinced that it would be the work of another village.
Liu Longwei then said, "Brother Bai, let's rest well and return home tomorrow. We will reorganize our clans and become true allies to face the coming troubles together. With the Lu clan gone the overall strength of our village has fallen. We should set aside our differences and work together. Tell your clan members not to treat subordinate clans too harshly. We cannot afford to let anyone leave our village. I will tell my clansman to treat Lu Fang and his people reasonably too. We don't need traitors to be born out of our village and we need every power to work together. I don't know whether Lu Donghai is working with the Breaking Dusk Village or not but I suspect that this whole game is plotted by the Breaking Dusk village."
Liu Longwei really had a very powerful imagination. Bai Dong was right this time and if he would have listened to Bai Dong then they could have crushed the Lu clan easily. But his overimaginative mind took a grip on his actions and made him withdraw. He had his misgivings about the Breaking Dusk village but his overall thinking was not completely unjustifiable. As soon as he became the strongest person in the village pride filled his mind and he felt like he was too overpowering but when he was played like a pawn in a chess game by the Lu Clan's village, it broke his pride and his head became clearer to think properly. Before they were just fighting over small things on an individual or clan's level however he was on a different plane now, and he has become the sole dominant person in the village. He doesn't have to fight for power anymore, it was already in his grasp and as this realisation start to root in his mind his view on things started to change too. He could see and understand things from a broader perspective. If he kills all the other clans because of the enmity how can his clan grow strong, how can he protect others on whom shall he exercise his authority? He was just looking at the sky from the hole. And he didn't become a good person altogether after his enlightenment, he just happens to look at the same old things in a different light now. Thus, he decided to change the way he and his clansmen conduct things in the village. It was completely to serve his purpose and not for a change of his heart.
By the time Arthur and all the sick children got better, it was already the 16th day of their journey and also the day the Liu clan returned to the base camp. Their present location was only a 3 to 4 days journey away from the Lu clan's base camp and the migratory clans still needed around three weeks to reach their destination. By this time most of the senior elders and instructors who left for laying traps had reunited with them.
After 6 days Lu Yehan was notified that Liu Longwei and his companions had also returned to the forest base camp and they were now at a distance of almost a week's journey away from them. The informer also took 6 days to travel to unite with his clansmen to report the news, so it meant that if the pursuing group had already made a move then they would catch them at any moment. The overall travelling speed of the Lu clan was much slower than the speed by which the Liu and Bai Clan's experts moved because of the presence of the clan's weaker members especially the small children and younger generations. Arthur's grandfather and his companions also came back two days after Arthur got well from his sickness, which brought another level of security to the clan but the looming concern over the return and likelihood of being followed by their pursuers brought great anxieties and fear among them. There were scouting teams at the front and behind the wayfaring clans who were travelling to the snake clouded groove, preventing them from facing any kinds of dangers inadvertently. Four days later another vigilant member came to report that the Liu clan members had left for the village instead of trailing after them, easing the burden and pressure on them extensively.
It was a lucky escape for them. If they were truly chased this time, then the annihilation of their clans was inevitable. The immediate danger which supposedly hung over them was lifted but they continued with the same pace as before instead of relaxing and slowing. The only changes that they made were to make a camp at night, and cooked warm food to fill themselves. Eventually one fine day, after a long and tiring journey they were finally welcomed by a great expanse of thick and twisted forest. The branches were so twisted and entangled with one another that they had to cut them down to make a path for striding into the groove. It was a tiring job to clear out the thickets of the grove but fortunately, it was the only trouble that they faced while venturing into the groove. With the presence of the desolate rain flower and its seeds, they were not disturbed by the attack of the snakes. The path they made was narrow and it took them another week to traverse through the grove of twisted trees to enter the groove. The groove from the air, above the clouds, looked like a narrow slit in the forest however they found that it was actually quite a broad and elongated valley. It had a pristine lake in the middle and a freshwater river flowing out of it coursing in the north and eastward direction, which was also protected by the twisted grove on each side. On reaching the valley they first planted the desolate rain flower amid the vast plain near the lake, then hunted small animals for dinner and finally relaxed. The place was quite beautiful and was devoid of any visible danger. It had a meadow, and forests with tall straight trees reaching almost the top of the mountains and twisted groves surrounding it. The peaceful atmosphere and the games grazing and playing in the meadow made them very pleased with their new environment, but they still stayed vigilant in fear of any unexpected danger to arise suddenly. For two days they did nothing except for fishing in the lake and hunting in the meadow. On the third day when they were finally loosening up to relax and accept their new home, abruptly a large surge of water pounded toward them and the head of a flood dragon emerged from the serene lake. The water drenched them only without harming them as they were far away from the lake. He looked at them disdainfully and spoke through mental power in human language.
"How dare you, puny humans enter and disturb my domain. Do you think that you can harvest my energy and kill me by planting this poisonous flower near my home?"
Every one of them who had formed soul space heard it inside their mind and they were truly terrified. It was the most powerful being they had ever seen in their entire life.
Arthur was the least affected among them, his soul space was already protected by the silk cloth and also most of the suppressive power of the beast was repelled by the energy source which was inside his soul/mental space. Consequently, he messaged Lu Donghai.
"Grandpa Hai, how powerful is he? Can you kill it?"
"Sansan, he is too powerful, your grandpa cannot kill it. We can only ask for its forgiveness and this flood dragon is more powerful than Tribulation Realm...Perhaps he might be at the rank of Connate Realm," replied Donghai.
The Dragon said, "Your Desolate rain flower can keep away only those weak snakes but do you think it can prevent me from destroying it? And he reached out his hand to destroy it."