The third day.
The group reached a forest of red lotus trees.
Seeing that the sun was sinking toward the west, the group began to search the forest of red lotus trees, but despite their best efforts, they failed to find a cave to rest their bodies. Their only option was stay the night on the largest of the red lotus trees.
The red lotus tree had a name exactly in line with its description. The leaves were dark red and their canopies were extremely lush, appearing like lotus seed pods.
This region consisted entirely of red lotus trees. The leaves were numerous and prone to falling, causing the ground of the forest to be covered by a thick, red carpet of leaves.
After eating a hasty dinner, everyone climbed the tree.
This tree was very large, more than enough to hold ten-some people.
The best position was given to Ye Xi, and Big River laid out a soft beast hide on the tree branch before allowing Ye Xi to lie down.
The other Warriors did not receive such fine treatment. As there wasn't much space, they decided to sleep while sitting cross-legged.
The last ray of sunlight vanished under the horizon, and the world turned dark.
The jungle turned into a pitch-black darkness that engulfed everything.
Ye Xi had been in this world for some time, but this was his first time not spending the night in a cave.
In his memories, he knew that this place was extremely dangerous and frightening at night. Unless he had no other choice, Calm Bulrush would have never chosen to spend the night on a tree.
The jungle at night was both quiet and noisy.
The cries of animals in the day disappeared. Almost inaudible rustling came from down below, and glowing eyes occasionally flashed in the darkness.
If one looked at this pitch-black jungle, one would think that a terrifying monster could lunge out of the oozing darkness at any moment.
Ye Xi closed his eyes and stopped thinking nonsense.
Worrying would do nothing, and at his current level of strength, he couldn't do anything.
Five of the Warriors did not rest. Holding their weapons, they watched their surroundings. They were responsible for keeping guard tonight. They would be vigilant throughout the night and resolve all dangers.
Ye Xi lay down on the tree branch, his hands pillowing his head as he looked through the silhouettes of the branches at the sky.
A dazzling silver belt crossed the sky, stars of varying brightness adorning the cracks between the branches like crushed gems. In the center of the darkness hung a hazy red moon.
The moon here is red…
It's no wonder this forest is covered in a layer of red, Ye Xi thought. He had thought that it was because the leaves were red, but it was actually because the moon was red.
He was rather tired from the day's exertions. As he stared at the moon, his mind gradually grew blurry, and he fell asleep.
…
The next day, when he was called awake, he opened his eyes to a frightening scene.
The base of the tree was covered with the bodies of savage giant insects and a single unknown monster with a long body and ugly appearance.
The five Warriors who had stood guard last night had bloodshot eyes and wound-covered bodies. It was like they had fought the entire night.
The Warriors who had not been standing guard were also fatigued.
When Ye Xi asked, he learned that it was because they snored at night. The guarding warriors were worried that the snoring would attract other creatures, so they pushed the others awake and reminded them to not snore. But when they fell back to sleep, they started snoring again and were pushed back awake.
After this repeated three times, they decided to just stay up and stand guard for the night.
Calm Bulrush saw that the Warriors were lacking energy after a night without rest, so he ordered everyone to rest for two hours before setting out.
The Warriors felt like they had been saved, and immediately lay back on the branches. It took only a few moments before the surroundings were filled with the sound of snoring warriors.
Ye Xi was the only member of the group who didn't snore, and he was full of energy after a good night's sleep. Thus, he decided to take up the mission of sentry.
The presence of so many insect corpses under the tree drew over many other creatures. They warily and cautiously looked around, but when they saw no reaction from the Warriors on the tree, they began to boldly drag away the insect corpses.
There was soon nothing left under the tree except insect blood. The wind rustled the leaves of the red lotus trees, sending more leaves drifting down, even concealing the traces of insect blood under a new carpet.
Ye Xi watched his surroundings.
Suddenly, he frowned and pushed at the sleeping Calm Bulrush.
Calm Bulrush immediately opened his eyes, which were bright and burning with energy. "What's wrong?"
Ye Xi pointed to the west and whispered, "Over there. A group from another tribe is coming."
Calm Bulrush trembled in shock and turned to look, but he saw nothing.
"There really is another group. My vision has been improved after eating the miracle flower, so I can see farther," Ye Xi explained.
Calm Bulrush frowned. Running into another tribe here was not a good thing. Humans harboring ill intentions were even more frightening than fiendbeasts. He immediately decided to wake up the others.
The Warriors immediately woke up and concealed themselves and their tracks with leaves.
A little while later, a group riding giant insects entered the forest. This group was only two or three hundred meters from the giant red lotus tree.
Calm Bulrush squinted at their totems. "It's the Flint Tribe," he almost inaudibly whispered.
"A flock of black birds is flying over," Ye Xi whispered, looking up.
A few moments later, a cloud of birds arrived in the vicinity.
Each of these birds was the size of a pterosaur, and they flew straight toward the members of the Flint Tribe.
Calm Bulrush softly said, "It's the Redeye Crows, another creature of the Blackspine Mountains."
The mounts of the Flint Tribe, frilled insects with eight feet, became restless upon spotting the birds.
The members of the Flint Tribe swiftly soothed them and began to take out fist-sized, translucent rocks from their waists. Holding the rock in one hand, they fiercely rubbed the rock with their other hand.
As Ye Xi watched in shock, flames erupted from the surface of the rocks, quickly blazing into fireballs. The Warriors of the Flint Tribe threw these fireballs at the Redeye Crows.
Fearing the fireballs, the Redeye Crows fell into disarray, beating their wings and cawing as they took evasive maneuvers.
The members of the Flint Tribe continued to throw fireballs at the crows.
They could handle fireballs with their hands? When Ye Xi focused, he saw that the members of the Flint Tribe wore brown gloves of unknown material on these hands. It was presumably the unique material of these gloves that allowed them to produce flames by rubbing the stones.
"As expected of the Flint Tribe. Those pieces of flint are superb," Calm Bulrush muttered.
Ye Xi raised an eyebrow. So the stones were flint. Given the name of this tribe, it seemed that it really did excel when it came to flint.
The Redeye Crows feared fire, so despite the meal in front of them, they eventually had to flee.
The Flint Tribe team cleaned up the area, picking the pieces of flint off the ground.
After falling to the ground, those fireballs had returned to ordinary stone.
On the backs of their insect mounts, the Flint Tribe Warriors began to talk. They were too far away to hear what they were saying, and Ye Xi could only identify what they were saying by concentrating on their mouths.
"This is already… attack… east… move…"
"There could… fiendbeasts also…"
Fiendbeasts? Ye Xi silently pondered the words he had heard.
With the enemy having retreated, those frilled, eight-legged insects calmed back down and continued to slowly carry the Flint Tribe members forward.
But after crawling forward a little more, the insects became restless again.
Ye Xi saw the leading Warrior mouth, "There's danger!"
Ye Xi stared in shock as those eight-legged insects transformed, their short legs instantly growing to a length of two meters and rapidly striding west, carrying away the members of the Flint Tribe.
"Something happened!" Ye Xi and Calm Bulrush blurted out together.
"Let's go!" Calm Bulrush immediately ordered, ordering the Warriors to pack up and get down from the tree.
Ye Xi frowned. He did not immediately jump down, instead climbing up to the very top of the red lotus tree and looking far to the east.
His pupils constricted and he gasped, and he immediately climbed back down the tree. "A pack of giant beasts is headed this way!"
A pack of giant beasts! Everyone shivered.
The Mud Mountain Tribe didn't have the mounts of the Flint Tribe, so they could only flee on their own two legs.
It was fortunate that they had discovered it early, as discovering it too late would have resulted in unimaginable consequences. While the red lotus trees seemed large and impressive, it would take only a few seconds for those giant beasts to knock them down.
The Mud Mountain Tribe Warriors did not dare to take any breaks, resting only at night. Finally, on the fifth day, they reached their destination: the Blackpond Tribe.