Chapter 684 Encirclemen (1/2)
Crunch, crunch. The sound of wilted leaves being stepped on could be heard in the distance. A tall skeleton walked over with long strides, its body covered by an ink green robe. Eerie orbs flickered around it.
”Master, we didn't fail you.” Dumby knelt with one knee on the ground, its right hand on its chest.
”You did well.” Gao Peng nodded. Gao Peng didn't inquire further about what had happened to that Saint-tier specter, but if Dumby was there unscathed, it had probably been completely absorbed by Dumby in order to strengthen its territory.
The people were stirred by the strong tension brought by the familiar. Right then, they were defenseless and without familiars. Naturally, they were scared when they saw other monsters and familiars.
Upon seeing Gao Peng glance his way, the elder bowed and made to kneel, but Gao Peng raised him up. ”You don't need to do that.”
”I believe you're a good person and have no malicious intentions toward us. Our Li Tribe always remembers our friends and enemies. We certainly won't return your kindness with ingratitude.” The elder was overcome with emotion.
Gao Peng took out a map of the entire Empyrean area. Of course, it was only a crude sketch. Much of the map only had rough regions marked out, such as the Northern Lands, Southern Desert, Land of Ruins, and so on.
What was worth noting was that Mingyu Country took up a fifth of the territory on the map, while the neighboring Withered Country took up a sixth of the territory. On this map, Mingyu Country was the center of the world. For people who had never traveled outside their country or had only traveled to neighboring countries, this map was the entire world.
The elder studied the map for a bit with his cloudy eyes, then pointed in a direction with his gnarled finger. ”It's around here.”
At night, Gao Peng's group slept. On the other side of the woods, the ground was swept clean. Dead leaves and branches were swept to the side, and people squatted together, discussing something. They were very quiet, sometimes not even talking, but writing on the ground with their fingers. On the branches overhead, an invisible Dragon Ant silently watched the scenes below, reading every character they wrote.
...
”Master, that was the entire contents of their conversation.” Dragon Ant crouched to the side, its voice resounding in Gao Peng's mind.
Gao Peng leaned on the trunk behind him and looked into the distance with narrowed eyes as if in a daze, when in fact, he was quietly listening to everything the Dragon Ant said.
Those people's writings were similar to the Oracle Bone Script, mixed with characters from the Mutated Tribe script. Gao Peng knew some Oracle Bone Script and was fluent in the Mutated Tribe's language, so with a bit of guessing, he understood what they were discussing.
Over the past few days, the tribe people followed Gao Peng by day, then rested at night. Gao Peng's crew didn't need sleep, but the normal people with them needed to rest.
After listening to the Dragon Ant recite what they had talked about that night, Gao Peng digested the information. He had thought that only Mutated Tribe people remained in Jiutian Shidi. He hadn't expected to see… his own tribe.
He simply considered them the same tribe, with the same black hair, the same red blood. If it wasn't for this reason, Gao Peng wouldn't have secretly rescued them. Through their conversations in these past few days, Gao Peng learned they still had tribes in the south.
Although he didn't know how strong these tribes were, from what Gao Peng had seen in the past few days, the Mutated Tribe's people fought amongst themselves so recklessly that they probably weren't threatened by any outside dangers. These tribes were likely not strong; they just had the advantage of location. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been oppressed like this.
While Gao Peng pondered, aggressive auras rose around him and blocked Gao Peng from the front and back.
”They're colluding with the Red-Blooded Slaves.”