After Chen Yan killed the bat, the girl who was trapped by the vines of grass and tree branches was freed. She looked at Chen Yan with a grim expression but said nothing, putting her guard up. She immediately went to the boy's side and started healing him. "Ma Xiao, focus and protect me while I treat your injuries." she said softly.
"Oh! Shui Chun, what's going on? Who is that girl? Did she help us? Wait! Why is Chen Yan not tel—" he started to say but was cut off by Shui Chun.
"Shhh! I don't know, but we better mind our own business. You don't want to end up like Min Ming, do you?" she whispered in his ear.
'What the hell is going on? Why isn't Chen Yan telling her about the other beast?' Ma Xiao thought, puzzled, yet he didn't say anything to warn the girl approaching. 'Wait! Is that who I think it is? Damn!' He caught a glimpse of a youth with an average stature, dark hair, and beautiful blue eyes walking behind the girl he didn't recognize.
"Ma Rue Bu! Be car—" he began to shout, but before he could finish, a tree root shot out of the ground and launched at Chen Huan. The 15-year-old girl was startled and didn't know what to do. The enormous root loomed above her and swiftly smashed everything in its way.
*Bam*
"Hmph, Ma Xiao, what were you saying? Ma Rue Bu? Who is that?" Chen Huan was still a considerable distance away from Chen Yan and the rest, but the attack had caused a dust cloud that nearly reached them, making Chen Yan and the others look like ants in comparison.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Why didn't you warn them about the unmoving elder tree? You're not going to get away with this, Chen Yan!" Ma Xiao shouted, his thoughts racing.
"What do you mean, Ma Xiao? I was so focused on dealing with the green bat that I forgot about that stupid tree. After all, it wasn't a threat to us as we were out of its range, so I forgot to warn Chen Huan and your fellow tribesman..." She paused for a moment before adding. "Anyway, both of you didn't warn them either. Why should I be the only one to take the blame? That's just totally unfair, don't you think?" Her tone was almost sarcastic, but both understood her point.
"It's alright, Chen Yan, we didn't..." Shui Chun began, but then she saw something—or rather, someone. Her face contorted in a confused and fearful expression.
"What's wrong?" Chen Yan asked, noticing Shui Chun's sudden change. Shui Chun pointed at the receding dust cloud.
When Chen Yan and Ma Xiao turned to look, they saw a youth with an average stature, dark short hair, and blood-red eyes. He was holding Chen Huan in his arms with a plain expression. The 15-year-old girl was so scared her eyes were closed, and she was shivering, evidently shocked by the surprise attack. Rue Bu put her on the ground after advancing a little to ensure the thing wouldn't attack again. Then he looked at the three youths in front of him, squinting when he recognized Ma Xiao. Shifting his attention to Chen Yan, he smiled.
'Why the hell is he smiling at me?' she wondered. She was about to smile back when Rue Bu suddenly appeared in front of her, startling her. She attempted to retreat, but Rue Bu grabbed her left hand. Not knowing his intentions, she swung the sword still in her hand at him. Rue Bu, having seen her use the gu worm on the bat, anticipated her move. He let go of her hand, thwarting her balance. She missed him, then felt something heavy land on the right side of her face, sending her flying.
"Hmph, I don't know what's your relationship with Chen Huan, but don't ever think of doing something like that again, especially with me around!" he said while heading her way.
"Ahhhh, you bastard! Do you even know who I am? I will make you regret this, you..." she started spouting nonsense. As Rue Bu came closer, she realized it wasn't working and stopped. Touching the right side of her face, she gritted her teeth and stood up.
"Do you still not understand?" Rue Bu said plainly.
"Cut the crap and come at me!" She shouted.
"Then I will make you." He said as he raised his hand and pointed his index finger at her. She didn't know what he was doing but figured it wasn't good. She started running towards him, hoping to shorten the distance and use her sword. Before she could take three steps, something hit her leg, causing her to fall to the ground and scream in pain.
"Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!" Her leg was nearly severed, and she couldn't understand what had just happened. The pain was overwhelming, clouding her thoughts.
"Hmph! You should be more careful in the future, or you might lose that leg completely." He said, looking down at her. Then he turned his head towards the other two. Both felt a chill, but Rue Bu's voice eased them slightly. "Hey you, are you the healer? You should have a healer in your team, shouldn't you? I know it's not her nor him, so I guess it's you. Come here and help her, or she might die." he said, pointing at Shui Chun and then to Chen Yan, whose leg was bleeding profusely.
"Ah! Yes, yes, I'm the healer. Don't worry about it, boss! I will heal her in no time, hahaha..." Shui Chun said awkwardly and immediately started healing Chen Yan's leg. When she saw the almost severed leg, she was horrified.
'He is so ruthless. If I didn't look closely, I wouldn't have noticed the burn marks on the wound. I was wondering how he could just completely ignore her defenses.' She got a small glimpse of Rue Bu's move and was amazed but equally terrified.
"You didn't have to do that." Chen Huan said from behind him.
"Don't misunderstand, Chen Huan. I didn't do it for you. I was in danger too because of her, and I don't really care what relationship you have with her. Besides, her smug face annoyed me." Rue Bu shrugged.
"I knew something like this was going to happen, but there were other people here with her. It's not like I wanted to save her either." She tried to change the subject before he could ask anything else. "Anyway, what was that just now? You also used it on the green bat, not giving it a chance to react. Is it a new gu worm you got?" Normally, she wouldn't ask about someone else's gu worms, but as they were a team, she felt she needed to know his full strength.
"I'll tell you on our way out of here." He said, glancing at the other three students.
"Ah! Sorry, I forgot about them." She whispered.
"It's alright." He continued. "What about that thing that attacked us? Are you certain it won't come here?" He was worried about the monster that had attacked earlier. 'Even with Ma Xiao's warning, I barely dodged that root attack. I don't want to fight it if possible.' He wasn't confident he could win after seeing the damage it caused with a simple swing.
"Oh, don't worry, Rue Bu. That's an unmoving elder tree. Even though it's rank two, it can't move. Depending on its age, it has a limited range of attack. If it didn't attack, it means we are out of its range. It should be safe." Chen Huan explained.
"That's great. Anyway, should we leave?" he asked, he didn't know if she wanted to say something to Chen Yan. She looked at Chen Yan, frowned, but stayed silent for a while.
___________________________________
*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*
A regular but an uncomfortable sound reverberated through the forest, making anyone who heard it feel the need to block their ears. In a remote part of the forest, four youths were present. Two of them looked scared and stood to the side, silent, while watching the other two continue what they were doing.
One of the two was lying on the ground, while the other was sitting on top of him. The latter's hands were stained with blood and had started to turn blue with bruises. The former's face was unrecognizable, with swollen cheeks, black eyes, and a likely broken, bleeding nose. He had been screaming earlier, but now he was silent. The youth hitting him noticed he was about to die and gestured to one of the two youths standing to the side.
"This is my final bit of primeval essence. I won't be able to heal him anymore after this." He said to the terrifying-looking young man, who was smiling at him.
"Hahaha, it's alright. I'm done anyway. Don't worry, guys, I'm not a monster. I just wanted to make sure he learned his lesson." He moved away from the unconscious young man beneath him and headed toward the river to clean his hands and the blood splattered on his face.
'Sigh! Poor Kui Mu. This monster just came out of nowhere and started beating him. He didn't even have time to react. When he managed to land a hit back, a fire cloak appeared on the attacker, defending his body from Kui Mu's attacks. He must be from the Ma tribe, but why is he teaching Kui Mu a "lesson"?' the other student wondered while his teammate was healing Kui Mu's injuries.
"Is he awake yet?" A friendly but now terrifying voice came from behind him.
"Ah, he... is still healing him. Ah, what should I call you, sir?" he asked, seizing the opportunity.
"Hmm? I guess I never introduced myself, hahaha." The young man started laughing, which made the student more uncomfortable. "My name is Ma Rue Gang. You can call me Rue Gang. I know Ma Tan Tian over there." he said, pointing to the one healing Kui Mu. "But what about you?"
"Oh? I didn't know you knew each other, that's good, hahaha. Me and Tan Tian are basically best friends now, right Tan Tian?" said the student nervously. "Anyway, I'm Shui Kei Ren. You can call me Kei Ren." Tan Tian rolled his eyes at the obvious lie but said nothing, understanding that Kei Ren was just trying to ensure his own safety.
'Hehehe, even if I were the closest of friends with Rue Gang and he wanted to smash your head, Kei Ren, I doubt I could stop him.' Tan Tian thought. They weren't that close to begin with, so Kei Ren being "best friends" with him was meaningless to Rue Gang.
"Oh! Obviously, you are from the Shui tribe. Why didn't I think of that? Hahaha, I thought you were from the Lin tribe as my buddy over there, and I would have had to do something unfortunate. Your tribe has possibly just saved your life, Kei Ren. You should thank them sincerely in the future." Rue Gang mused.
"Hahaha... ha... ha... you have a really good sense of humor, Rue Gang." Kei Ren laughed awkwardly, treating his words as an obvious "joke."
"Ahhhh!" Suddenly, they heard a horrified shout as Kui Mu woke up. His face, now healed, looked more handsome, with rosy red eyes and golden yellow hair that complemented each other, despite the distressed look on his face. He frantically assessed his surroundings, and when his eyes landed on Rue Gang, his heart sank. Five minutes ago, he would have wanted to attack and destroy his enemy, but now he knew it was useless.
'I'm not his match. I should run.' he decided immediately, but his body froze when he heard Rue Gang's cold voice.
"You can't run, Kui Mu. Trust me, I will catch you if you run, and in the slim chance that I can't, I will eventually find you again, like I did today. Do you understand what I mean?" Rue Gang said, shifting his gaze towards Tan Tian.
"..." Lin was confused for a second but eventually gritted his teeth when he understood. "You are from the Ma tribe? What the hell do you want from me?" he said, glaring at Tan Tian.
"Hahaha, is that how you talk to your friends, Kui Mu?" Rue Gang started moving towards him.
"..." Kui Mu was outraged. 'Friends? Friends? Who the hell is friends with you, you crazy son of a bitch...' He continued cursing him internally but stayed silent on the outside.
"My name is Ma Rue Gang, Kui Mu. Does it ring a bell?" Rue Gang asked in a deep voice as he reached him, his laughter ceasing.
"What? I've never heard of you..." Kui Mu was about to curse him out loud but managed to calm himself. 'I just need to stay calm. He won't harm me anymore because of Tan Tian's limited healing capabilities, but I shouldn't be reckless. I need to understand why I angered him so much that he almost killed me. Ma Rue Gang... did I hear this name before, though?'
"Wait! Wasn't it Ma Rue Bu?" he said unconsciously, quickly shutting his mouth again.
'Fuck! Is it that girl's brother or something? But she said his name was Rue Bu, right? Who is this Rue Gang then? Anyway, I'm in big trouble this time...' He continued thinking of a way out of this situation when Rue Gang gave him one.
"Oh, so you finally remember? Then you should also remember what she said to you, right?" Rue Gang sounded calm, but his anger flared when Kui Mu mentioned Rue Bu but not him. When Kui Mu still didn't answer, he continued. "Don't worry, Kui Mu, I have already released my anger. You don't need to worry about me punching you out of nowhere. Just answer me and don't make me angrier."
"Yes, I know what you are here for." He gritted his teeth and said.
"Hahaha, good, good. Then you know what you need to do, don't you?" Rue Gang laughed and gestured for him to move. Then all four of them started heading towards the Ma tribe's direction.
'What the hell is going on? Why are we suddenly heading to the Ma tribe?' Only Kei Ren didn't know what was happening, so he had to ask Tan Tian.
"Huh? Don't you remember what Kui Mu and his brother did yesterday?" Tan Tian said in a low voice.
"Hmm, if I remember correctly, he said they met another team on their way home and..." Kei Ren paused for a moment and then blurted out. "Oh God! Didn't he say that the girl mentioned having a strong relative? Did she mean Rue Gang by that? If so, he is truly lucky for not dying today."
"Hahaha, yes, he is truly lucky that the strong relative she mentioned didn't really come." Tan Tian said mysteriously, making Kei Ren even more confused.