CoPW 161 – Kill
Translated by Joycelyn
It wasn’t very far from Chen Jia’s house to the central area. However, it also couldn’t be considered near. The Drumming tribe had a huge territory, as it was spread along the river. Therefore, the living areas were not packed together like in the Flaming Horns tribe.
Now that most of the tribe’s warriors had already gone to repel the intruders, there were only a few left in the internal area. The ones who were patrolling in search of dangers there may not be able to take everything into account.
Shao Xuan walked along the riverside. The night was not completely dark due to the moonlight, which allowed him to keep an eye on his surroundings. But even so, it was not easy to identify the dangers hiding in the dark.
At the front, Qing Yi was leading the way, his pace not too fast and not too slow. He did not slow down because of the unknown dangers of the night and did not speed up either.
At the riverside, there was a pool of blood. Laying on the water grass, there was a person with not a breath left in him. Judging by his clothing, he was from the Drumming tribe.
When Chen Jia and the rest hurried over to his side, they revealed a face filled with grief, but did not utter a single word. There would be similar incidents happening every year. However, not every year would they suffer such heavy losses.
Shao Xuan observed the surroundings. His many years of experience in hunting led him to believe there were people staring at them from somewhere. He did not, however, know their exact location. As long as the other party made even the slightest movement, Shao Xuan would be able to determine where they were.
Not just Shao Xuan, if it was any of the Flaming Horns tribe’s warriors who often went hunting, more than half would be able to notice their presence.
Since their exact location could not be accurately deduced, he just had change his methods.
Shao Xuan activated his body’s special innate skill. With this ability, he could clearly see through the surroundings trees. There were a few obvious skeletons showing up apart from the trees. Although he couldn’t clearly see them, there were still some body parts not covered by the trees.
That was more than enough.
Someone was hiding around thirty meters away from them. He was hidden very well, even to the point of holding his breath and blending in with the trees surrounding him. He was not easily found.
Just like what Qing Yi had said, the ones that could silently sneak in were very good at hiding. The opponent was just like a hunter waiting for his prey to be caught in their trap. To achieve their goals, they could even stand all day and night at the same spot without eating, drinking, moving and sleeping. They would act in one fell swoop once there was a chance, risking their lives just to drag their enemies to their deaths.
The way the Martyr tribe did things had made the other tribes fear them. Once the Martyr tribe was involved, one would always go into high-alert state. Encountering them always led to tragic fights.
On the path from Chen Jia’s house, which wasn’t too far, Shao Xuan had already noticed quite a few corpses. They had already been killed quietly, without anyone knowing.
From around the muddy area, or perhaps from the water weeds near the river, there were still a few baby crocodiles calling. They were very unsettled, wishing eagerly for their parents to come back. However, they had to wait for the adults for at least one more day, when the river rose back up again.
“Everybody, be careful.” Shao Xuan did not point out the exact locations of their enemies. He could see that Qing Yi, who was walking at the very front, had already noticed. After all, this was their territory. If the Martyr tribe’s warriors’ locations were revealed to the children, they could alert them and force them to come out immediately.
Chacha had not returned yet, and there were still five more children with them. It was not convenient.
A man hiding behind a tree nearby had been moving closer. Qing Yi raised his hand, making the four kids behind him fall back. At the same time, Shao Xuan pulled Chen Jia, who was beside him, in another direction.
When Qing Yi was just about to take another step, a silhouette with cold ferocious eyes suddenly rushed out from the forest. His eyes were different from the Drumming tribe’s. They were filled with more of an expressionless coldness, while the Martyr tribe’s had a coldness that was addicted to death.
This was a pretty dangerous tribe. Shao Xuan added them to his diplomatic blacklist. When the time came for the Flaming Horn tribe to make it to this side successfully, returning to their tribe’s birthplace, they definitely had to make preparations against the Martyr tribe.
The guy who suddenly rushed out had a body full of fine lines packed together like scales. He gave out a dangerous aura and instantly cause Chen Jia and the other kids to tense up, making them feel like someone was pulling out their hair.
And at the same moment the enemy came out, Shao Xuan noticed that both of Qing Yi’s arms bulked up sharply and swiftly, giving out a ka ka sound. In addition to his arms, the rest of his body suddenly increased in mass. He originally looked thinner compared to the other Drumming tribe members, but after this brief change, the loose beast skin leather tightened.
Mouth agape, four tiny pointy teeth extended out, two above, two below. Low gurgling sounds came from his throat. When he looked up at the lurker, his eyes became two shiny spots. Perhaps due to the moonlight, those two spots were slightly brighter than expected.
Once the intruder closed in, Qing Yi moved too. With both legs stepping onto the ground, he was fast like lightning. His arm muscles bulging, each with great explosive force which was faintly pulsating. All that allowed him to strike in the shortest amount of time.
Here, there were no fancy skills, the battle was simple and direct. There were also no deceptive moves, there were only decisive attacks aiming to kill the opponent.
The invader held a sword made of animal bone and swung down. However, at that moment he realised his sword had been caught!
Qing Yi held on to the bone sword bare-handed, his other hand dropped down like a stone pillar, aiming towards the intruder’s head. At such a distance and with such a powerful attack, hitting straight in the middle of one’s head would always result in death.
The invader quickly tried to escape. However, he realised that the hand that was originally holding on to the sword had unknowingly clamped his arm, like a fierce beast firmly biting onto its prey. Only by cutting off his arm could he escape.
The invader was courageous enough to do it. But sadly, he had run out of time.
Ka!
The sound of bone fracturing rang out.
The invader’s eyes were filled with disbelief, but very quickly died down. His body twitched for a bit before dropping.
Qing Yi was holding the man with the smashed head and arms and threw him aside, like he was throwing out the trash. His feet burst with power and headed towards another direction. In that direction laid a bush that was not too big. When you looked at it, it didn’t seem like a good hiding place.
Qing Yi was like an accelerating sports car flashing by. He made it in front of the patch of bushes in the blink of an eye.
After countless collisions came a ripping sound.
This was followed by the shadow behind the bushes being torn into two halves.
An extremely barbaric and bloody way, befitting of the Drumming tribe. If you had seen Qing Yi’s eyes now, you would have noticed his eyes were not dark-brown, but yellow-brown instead, like a person with a bad temper.
Qing Yi was the only one in the tribe to have two different eye colours. His eyes were usually dark brown, making you think he was harmless. However, once he went into battle, they would change into those of a foreign tyrant.
Qing Yi’s actions probably made the lurkers in the area believe they had already been found, so they rushed out one after another. Thinking that he was too hard to deal with, they put all their attention on Shao Xuan. Only by dealing with the few older ones would the children become manageable. They were really easy to handle and could be done in at any time.
The opponent made use of his speed advantage by constantly changing his position when he rushed out to escape the Drumming tribe’s initial burst. He would have a much higher chance of success after dodging the first strike.
But Shao Xuan was not from the Drumming tribe, and his speed was not any slower than his opponent as well.
Shao Xuan drew out his white tooth sword. After leaving the tribe, this sword hadn’t gone through the cleansing ceremony since, leaving its white body stained with blood in different shades of red. These were all from the time he was in the canoe, killing the river beasts. Even if he was very careful, he could not avoid killing.
A regular cleanse could not totally cleanse the sword. A sword that had not gone through the cleansing ceremony and had killed many would always emit a breathtaking, biting-cold aura from it. Chen Jia, who was closest to Shao Xuan, felt a shocking cool sensation in his forehead, which sent chills down his back. He couldn’t help but shudder.
Shao Xuan took in a big breath, his body bent down in position to face the incoming opponent; without hiding or dodging, welcoming him instead. The shoulder of the hand holding the tooth sword trembled, before his whole arm moved like he had installed an accelerator, making his sword blurry when slashing down onto the incoming opponent.
Compared to the Drumming tribe’s members, Shao Xuan did not inflate massively, but the aura he emitted with his sword strike was much stronger, dominating his opponent.
The sword left a blurry arc, only a slight sound was heard, and the first invader rushing out towards Shao Xuan had already had his neck sliced. Due to the force of the sword strike being extremely ferocious, the opponent’s entire head had almost come off.
After killing one man, Shao Xuan did not stop. Like a leopard hunting its prey, he dodged another incoming strike. Just as the strike went past him, he used his sword to stab the opponent’s arm.
Bang!
The opponent’s sword did not reach Shao Xuan. Instead, it went into the mud near Shao Xuan’s feet at full force.
The strike was like a miniscule bomb exploding. It slammed down, splashing the muddy water in all directions, just like mud-coloured fireworks.
At the moment, Chen Jia was unable to see what was going on behind the explosion of muddy water. But after it dropped, the battle behind had already ended.
The intruder stood by the muddy waters, hand holding a black bone sword, still maintaining the position of hacking. The scale-like totem pattern vanished and his eyes stared with disbelief at his chest. There was a bloody hole. The red liquid was constantly flowing out, staining the muddy waters.
Shao Xuan was very calm the first time he killed a human. He did not know if it was because his new body had affected his way of thinking or if it was because he had grown accustomed to this world’s cruel rules. Or even maybe because he was naturally cold-blooded.
Shaking off the blood on his tooth sword, Shao Xuan observed his surroundings and saw that somebody was making his way over to him. He did not know if they were Martyr tribe members who broke through or the ones who were sneaking within the tribe.
No matter, this was not a place to stay for long. It was better to send the children off to the chief’s side as soon as possible.
From the sky came a shadow and Shao Xuan’s heart pulsed with happiness. Now, if they could send off these five children, everything else would become easier to handle.