124 Summoned (1/2)
The youngster accepted the painting and looked at it curiously. He knew much about Primordial Beasts since he lived in the Flowing Blood Prairie, as the few that could survive in their land were incredibly powerful, and the tribes have had a long history fighting with them.
Looking at the painting, the young man furrowed his brows. It was clear that he was in deep thought.
”This is your Crimson Devil?” he asked while frowning. ”I have never heard about this Primordial Beast before, is it a newly emerged one? The name is indeed domineering, even more so than most Primordial Beasts,” he asked curiously while deep in thought.
”He is the brother of the Ice Harpy. He emerged in the Kingdom of Heping a few months ago during a beast horde. It seems he was undercover as a human, intending to trick and kill our most famous Primordial Beast Hunter.”
Yuan Chao did not keep anything hidden. He was feeling rather energetic at this very moment when he saw the frown on the young man's face. From this, it could be inferred that he had had some sort of encounter with a person that looked like him, and this alone was already a great achievement for these soldiers.
”You say he is a Primordial Beast? Which kind of beast is he?” the young man continued to ask, sounding out the details, and while the soldiers were impatient and unhappy, Yuan Chao was patient.
”We do not know,” Yuan Chao answered honestly. ”We have never seen him in any other shape than his human shape, but his companion once changed his form to be that of a massive black dog with wings similar to the ones on a black crow.”
The eyes of the youngsters all widened in surprise when they heard this, and then they grit their teeth. It was clear that something was wrong with them.
”Have you seen him or not?” Finally, one of the soldiers could no longer take the suspense and sneered at the young man. He thought that they would kill these youngsters anyway so why not try and threaten them into speaking sooner rather than later?
Yuan Chao glanced at the soldier and conveyed disagreement with his eyes, but he said nothing. Although he did not agree with the rushed approach this soldier took, he had to admit that he too was impatient to know what these tribal youngsters knew.
”I know him,” the youngster said with a sigh. ”He is in our tribe right now. Are you sure that he is a Primordial Beast? You have never seen him take on a beastly shape.”
”We don't know for sure whether or not he is a Primordial Beast,” Yuan Chao said honestly. ”But even if he is not a Primordial Beast, he has conspired with them to cause chaos in the Kingdom of Heping. Even here in the Flowing Blood Prairie, you all ought to know that someone who conspired with a Primordial Beast is to be slain as soon as possible.”
”This is a serious accusation,” the young man sighed. ”The one I know cannot threaten our tribe as we have a Prairie Monarch, but I guess we ought to return to the tribe and inform them.”
”Tell us where the tribe is located,” Yuan Chao requested. ”We are here for the sake of killing the Crimson Devil. If he is in your tribe, then your tribe is where we are going.”
”I am afraid that is not acceptable,” the young man suddenly looked serious and shook his head. ”I am not allowed to return to the tribe with a force like yours following me; it is likely that it will be seen as treason. I cannot tell you where our tribe is located out of fear of you telling other tribes, which could potentially result in us being wiped out.”
”This is not the time to care about your rules!” a soldier sneered. ”Your life and death are in our hands! If you want to live, then you take us to your tribe right away!”
”Then kill me!” the young man did not hesitate and called out. ”I would rather die than go against the rules of our tribe! We are all proud men of the Chaos Vulture Tribe. Even if we are young, everything we have has been given to us by our tribe, and now you want us to betray it for something as simple as our lives?!”
The young man was seriously furious. Yuan Chao was impressed by him.
”Well, if we cannot go to the tribe with you, then what can we do to ensure that our target dies? We need proof of his death, preferably his head.”
”That's not really our problem is it?” The young man did not back down. He was a proud member of the Chaos Vulture Tribe, and he knew that he and his friends were likely to die at their hands today.
”Why not allow one of us to return to the tribe and inform the Elders of all this new information? You can keep the rest of us hostage so that the person who leaves is bound to come back with news of what to do with this young man you claim to be a Primordial Beast?”
”That won't do,” Yuan Chao was not dumb, he knew that it would be the same as putting their necks at risk. ”If you come back with a large army ready to wipe us out, then we will have no chance of doing anything against you.”
The youngster and Yuan Chao looked at one another; their eyes were both unyielding and unhappy.
No matter what they came up with, it could result in either the tribesmen suffering losses or the soldiers putting themselves at risk.
Since neither side was willing to back down. Yuan Chao sighed and a cold flash appeared in his eyes.
”I am sorry to make this decision,” he said after a bit of time, ”but since our two sides cannot find a solution, you and your friends will have to leave your lives behind. We will personally find the Chaos Vulture Tribe and figure out what to do after this!”
Having said this, Yuan Chao did not waste any time. He rushed forward and drew his sword, slashing out and slitting the throat of the young man he had spoken with.
The other soldiers did not waste their time. Swiftly, the remaining six scouts from the Chaos Vulture Tribe also became corpses that were buried in the Flowing Blood Prairie; their blood seeped into the dark-red ground.