1299 SUDDEN APPEARANCE
The stone slab that Kunzi had thrown looked unassuming at first. But upon landing between the three rocks, the pale white crystal within it let out a faint light.
A mere moment was all it took for it to release a large amount of energy and explode!
~BOOM~
The explosion was loud enough that the scouts of the Haima Tribe in the distance heard it too.
“What the hell are those humans doing?” One of the scouts said upon seeing the dust rising in the distance.
“Who knows?” Another one spoke.
~Sigh~
“Let’s just hope they don’t trouble Noble Lin Mu much.”
“Yeah, the faster he captures them the better for us. I wanna go back to the tribe and cultivate under the array again.”
Back at the place where the explosion had happened, no sign of the three rocks could be seen. All that was left there was a shallow crater that was about six inches deep and some fragments of stones. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
There was no burning or scorching of the ground either, showing that the explosion wasn’t caused by heat or fire.
“Seems like there wasn’t anything there.” Kunzi confirmed.
“Yeah... thankfully.” Little Gian replied. “Though do you think this will pull attention to us?” he asked.
“If you mean those four-legged freaks, then yeah. But then they’ve already been tailing us for a month now. So there is no way they didn’t know where we were since the start.” Kunzi replied.
“Then do you think they’ll come close?” Little Gian asked next.
“No, I think this should serve as a good enough warning to them.” Kunzi replied.
“Yeah...” Little Gian agreed.
“I’ll get back to work.” Kunzi sat down and was just about to pick up the stone slab he was working on when he felt a chill go down his back.
“This is some interesting stuff.” A voice suddenly spoke in the darkness.
“Who?!” Little Gian heard it too and looked down knowing that this wasn’t Kunzi’s voice at all.
There they saw a pair of eyes that were barely illuminated by the dim light coming from the hole.
What was most shocking though was the fact that they were barely a meter away from Kunzi.
‘Who... what is that?’ Kunzi wondered.
He couldn’t understand how anything could get in here. Logically speaking, there was just one entrance to the little cave they had made and there were no signs of anything digging in either.
~shua~
A small flame lit up in the air next to the pair of eyes, revealing its appearance.
“A man?” Little Gian finally saw.
pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴOᴠᴇʟ.ᴄOᴍ “A human?” Kunzi felt a little relieved at the fact that it was a human and not some other strange creature. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕ(ꪫ)ꪣꫀ ꪶ
‘No, I can’t lower my guard. If he can get in, then he must be dangerous!’ Kunzi realized he had almost made a mistake.
“Who are you?” Kunzi asked warily.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.” Lin Mu spoke. “As long as you two don’t do anything stupid.” He added.
~gulp~
“And why should we believe you?” Little Gian questioned, while secretly circulating his spirit Qi.
He was ready to act the moment anything happened.
~shua~
“Well, for starters.” Lin Mu lightly spoke before a wave of spirit Qi spread from him. “If I wanted to, I could have suppressed you two from the start.” He stated.
“D-Dao... Dao Treading realm.” Little Gian and Kunzi both recognized.
‘This pressure... He’s close to becoming an immortal too.’ Kunzi who had better senses, realized.
“Correct.” Lin Mu nodded his head. “Now then, why don’t we all peacefully talk? You two have made my friends chase you for quite a while now.”
“Your friends?” Little Gain said in confusion. “But we didn’t see anyone else?”
Kunzi though, seemed to have guessed.
“Those four legged creatures... those are your friends?” Kunzi asked warily.
“Yes. They’ve been trying to talk to you since the start, but you all just kept on running,” Lin Mu replied.
“Humph, you really expect us to believe some strange things in the Land of Exile, of all places?” Kunzi retorted.
“That... does make sense.” Lin Mu nodded. “Though I assure you, they only meant to talk to you.” He said, but it didn’t make the Kunzi and Little Gian feel any safe.
“Let’s do it like this. How do I make you trust me?” Lin Mu asked.
Kunzi furrowed his brows and thought for a few seconds before replying. “Tell us who you are and what those creatures are first. Then what is it that you want with us?”
“Alright.” Lin Mu agreed. “I am Lin Mu, and those people so saw earlier are the members of the Haima Tribe.”
Kunzi didn’t forget to pickup the word ‘tribe’, which made him raise a brow.
“A tribe? You mean to say, there is an entire tribe of those creatures?” Kunzi found it hard to believe.
The common knowledge about the Land of Exile dictated that there was danger everywhere and most people would not survive for long. For a tribe to have formed in that time was astonishing. Especially considering that they were certainly not human.
‘If it was a human tribe, I would have understood, as it would just mean the exiled humans have banded together. But those Haima tribe members... I’ve never heard or seen any of them before. Either they are very rare, or... natives of this place,’ Kunzi quickly analyzed.
“That’s right. They do have a tribe, and it is also where I’m residing. You should come with me. There is plenty of food and water, along with shelter from danger.” Lin Mu answered. “And just to prove to you...” he then took out a basket full of Stone Flesh Mushrooms.
~thud~
Lin Mu also put down a barrel full of water.
Seeing this, the two humans were surprised, but didn’t take things directly.
“What do you want in exchange?” Kunzi asked carefully.
“I want to know information. Such as who you two are, where you came from and what is the situation outside.” Lin Mu stated plainly.