Hiss!
An extremely repressed cry of pain came from nearby.
Ye Xi, who had been laughing and chatting with others as they feasted on bug meat, suddenly froze. He stood up and turned toward the direction of the noise.
"What's wrong?" the tribe members asked, seeing Ye Xi's strange behavior.
Ye Xi's smile had completely vanished, and he softly whispered to the others, "Something has happened near the pits. The women should take the children back to the caves while all the men should get weapons and follow me!"
The Warriors of Mud Mountain were all catching up on sleep in the cave, and everyone left was an ordinary person. They needed to be careful.
The Mud Mountain tribe members glanced at each other nervously. The women hugged their children and tiptoed their way back into the cave. Meanwhile, the men took up spears and stone sabers.
Ye Xi led the men, who were all seething with murderous energy, toward the source of the sound.
...
Dogtooth thought himself very unlucky.
He was a Warrior of the Earth Tribe, and he had been sent by their chief to investigate the situation at the Mud Mountain Tribe. But somehow, without even finding a single person, he had inexplicably fallen into a pit.
Moreover, many spikes covered the bottom of the pit. Even though he had reacted quickly and instantly moved to the side the moment he started to fall, the sole of his foot had still been pierced by a wooden spike.
The people of Mud Mountain were just too treacherous!
He mentally cursed. The pitfall had been far too well concealed, and all these long spikes had been placed at the bottom… If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would already be dead, his guts spilled out across the bottom of the pit!
Dogtooth endured the pain and began to pull the spike out of his foot without making a single sound.
He was afraid of drawing over the Mud Mountain people, as he had vaguely heard their laughter in the distance.
If they could still laugh, it meant that Mud Mountain had not suffered significant losses from the insect flood.
So if he were discovered, everything was over!
This wooden spike was thick and long, and it took Dogtooth some effort to remove it. When he finally sighed in relief and made to climb out of the pit, he discovered that the edge of the pit was lined by the faces of hostile men!
The men held long spears or sabers, their tips pointed at him.
"Get down!" Awl yelled, jabbing a sharp spear at him.
Dogtooth was still a Warrior, and even if he was wounded, he would not be so easily stabbed by a provisional Warrior. He dodged to the side, but the other weapons aimed at him drew menacingly closer.
Dogtooth scanned the Mud Mountain tribe members and realized that they were all ordinary people. There was not a single Warrior among them.
His eyes flashed as he grabbed onto the pit edge with one hand and made to jump out.
Thump!
A large stone struck him in the face.
The flash of pain on his head made his grip loosen, and he almost dropped back down.
Dogtooth immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
The bottom was covered in sharp spikes. If he fell down again, he could not guarantee that he could be so lucky as to only be stabbed in the sole!
"Get down!" Awl roared again, his sharp spear tip almost about to jab Dogtooth's eye.
On the other side, Ye Xi raised another large rock and threateningly arched his eyebrows.
Dogtooth paused, and then he reluctantly kept close to the wall of the pit and jumped back down.
Ye Xi put down his stone, took his bow and an arrow from behind him, and the moment Dogtooth jumped down to the bottom of the pit…
Whoosh! A sharp arrow shot toward Dogtooth's left arm! Whoosh! Another arrow pierced into his right arm.
These two arrows were extremely cruel, nailing the primary veins for the arms.
Dogtooth was caught off guard by these two arrows, and the pain made him lose his mind. Clenching his teeth, he glared at Ye Xi and roared, "What are you doing?!"
Ye Xi coldly put away his bow.
He would not underestimate a Warrior. The Mud Mountain Warriors were not present, meaning that they needed to be even more cautious. If this Warrior suddenly rushed out, it was hard to guarantee that he would not escape.
Seeing the Mud Mountain tribe members staring at him with such hostility, Dogtooth paused. Suppressing the pain coming from his foot and his arms, he managed to squeeze out a simple and honest smile.
"I didn't come here with bad intentions. My name is Dogtooth, and I'm from the neighboring Earth Tribe. Our chief sent me to see if your tribe needed any help."
His answer brought on a deathly stillness.
No one replied to him, their expressions remaining cold and unmoved.
Ye Xi looked at him in amusement for a while before saying, "Oh? Your tribe didn't first think about filling their stomachs but instead came to see if our tribe needed help? What could you help us with, hmmm…"
Ye Xi dragged out the final syllable as he glanced at Dogtooth's clearly sunken belly. He slowly finished, "…Food, maybe?"
"Hahaha!" All the Mud Mountain tribe members broke out in laughter.
Did he think the members of Mud Mountain were fools?
If he had really come to help Mud Mountain, would he sneak in like this and then try to escape the moment they surrounded him? Did he really think they would believe his nonsense now that he couldn't escape?
Dogtooth knew that he would not be so easily believed, but there was nothing he could do. Would he have to say the truth, that their Earth Tribe was crazy from hunger, and they wanted to see if Mud Mountain was weak enough from the disaster that they might be able to wipe it out and cook its people to resolve their food shortage?
"I really came to just take a look. Now that I see that you're fine, I can rest easy!" Dogtooth clenched his teeth and insisted that he meant no ill will.
Ye Xi smiled, saying nothing about his claims.
As Dogtooth's arms and one foot were injured, he wouldn't be able to climb up the pit. Thus, Ye Xi turned to the tribe members and said, "Continue eating. This place will be fine."
Although the tribe members still wanted to interrogate this scoundrel, they always listened to Ye Xi. As Ye Xi had spoken, they went back without hesitation.
"Awl!" Ye Xi called Awl back and whispered a few words into his ear before letting him go.
Once the tribe members were all gone, the only ones left were Ye Xi and Dogtooth.
Ye Xi sat cross-legged next to the pit and talked like he was speaking to a good friend. "Your Earth Tribe must have suffered badly this time!"
Dogtooth refused to answer. "Little child, why not let this uncle go? This uncle's injuries are rather bad, so even if I get up there, I won't be able to do anything."
Ye Xi took off his quiver and began to play around with an arrow. Raising an eyebrow, he smiled and asked, "Little child?"
Dogtooth felt a chill down his spine, and the pain in his arms seemed to intensify. He instantly recalled that those two penetrating arrows had been loosed by this tender-looking youth. He made a flattering smile, not daring to continue recklessly speaking.
"Uncle, you still haven't answered me. Did your Earth Tribe suffer badly this time around?" Ye Xi sweetly smiled. "You came to pay us a visit so enthusiastically. If you're not faring that well, we might also pay a visit."
Dogtooth would never believe these words!
He saw from Ye Xi's ruddy and energetic face, and the oil on his lips, that he had probably just eaten.
If a youth who was clearly not a Warrior was not starving, it could only mean that the Warriors of Mud Mountain were not starving either!
If the people of Mud Mountain saw how badly their tribe was faring, they might eat up his tribe until not even the bones were left!