Chapter 219

Yan's shout even drowned out the still-blowing horn, echoing across most of the dormitory area.

Compared to the ordinary beastmen from the Xiangke Tribe who joined the escape later, the workers who were former slaves instantly began trembling uncontrollably upon hearing the words "giant pigs." Even the long-healed flame brands on their faces seemed to grow burning hot.

Giant pigs. It was the people from the Sanghuo Tribe. The Sanghuo Tribe had come to capture them!

After the trembling subsided, all the slaves' gazes turned to Hu Xiao, who had also climbed onto the rooftop.

The biting cold wind, like countless sharp blades, scattered the last bit of warmth Hu Xiao had gained in front of the stone house.

Hu Xiao bit his lip, staring死死地 (intently) towards the plain's edge, which almost merged with the horizon.

Beast forms, dark and压倒性的 (overwhelming), advanced towards Black Mountain like storm clouds.

Hundreds, thousands of giant pig beast forms, mouths agape with tusks, charged forward relentlessly.

The largest giant pig beastman ran at the very front. He bared his enormous tusks and suddenly rammed into two other giant pigs that had barely overtaken him.

The massive beast forms collided, only slowing down slightly. The layers of rough, overlapping skin on their bodies served as the best cushion.

The nearly dragging赘肉 (excess flesh) swayed, shaking off the gravel溅起 (kicked up) from the ground, simultaneously helping them stabilize and重新混入 (merge back into) the ranks behind.

Close behind the giant pigs was a nearly five-meter-long rock python.

Unlike the beast forms of most beastmen, rock python beastmen developed hard outer shells covering their beast forms from birth. These rock-like layers gave them stronger defensive capabilities than other beastmen.

The other rock python beastmen didn't crawl as fast as the giant pigs ran. They weren't in a hurry, following closely behind the massive rock python,始终保持 (constantly maintaining) an offensive posture.

Giant pig beastmen from the Da Yan Tribe. Rock python beastmen from the Liang Shi Tribe.

Before them was nearly half of the Sanghuo Tribe's combat strength.

Hu Xiao's eardrums roared, the noise almost preventing him from thinking.

He had anticipated the Sanghuo Tribe might pursue them. That's why, throughout their escape, he had deliberately led the group on迂回 (circuitous) routes, aiming to waste the Sanghuo Tribe's time.

After all, their group had no fixed territory and could flee anywhere. But the Sanghuo Tribe was different; they couldn't chase too far outward.

But he never imagined the pursuing force would be this massive.

Especially those two beastmen whose beast forms were a full size larger than the others.

The leader of the Sanghuo Tribe, Chief of the Da Yan Tribe, Zhu Qi.

The elder of the Sanghuo Tribe, Chief of the Liang Shi Tribe, Yan Lu.

No!

Hu Xiao jolted.

If it were just chasing escaped slaves, the Sanghuo Tribe's leader and elder wouldn't appear together.

Hu Xiao turned his gaze towards Black Mountain's midslope. The Sanghuo Tribe was targeting the Black Mountain Tribe!

Hu Xiao withdrew his gaze, quickly scanning the threshing ground. With such a major event happening, why hadn't Qi Bai appeared yet?

Seeing Hu Xiao迟迟没有动作 (remain motionless for so long), several beastmen said anxiously: "Hu Xiao, the Sanghuo Tribe is here. Let's flee quickly!"

In just a few short minutes, most of the slaves in the dormitory area had gathered below the stone houses, all looking up at Hu Xiao uniformly.

If it were according to Hu Xiao's nature, in a situation like this, he would definitely choose to flee.

He might even seize the opportunity when both sides were too busy to care about them to plunder sufficient supplies from the Black Mountain Tribe before escaping.

But at this moment, he hesitated.

Hu Xiao didn't want to yield to Qi Bai. But right now, his mind held only one answer.

Hu Xiao's chest heaved剧烈地 (violently). When he spoke again, he had already下定決心 (made his decision).

"Escape?" Hu Xiao said sharply. "Escape where?! In such a cold winter, without food, without shelter, if we keep fleeing, we'll only freeze to death in the wild."

A beastman慌乱地 (panicked) said: "Then... what should we do?"

Hu Xiao stared at the Black Mountain tribespeople rushing towards the Sanghuo Tribe, gritting his teeth, squeezing out a single word from between them: "Fight!"

Fight? Fight what? Fight who?

The faces of everyone below the stone house were blank.

"Fight who??" Hu Xiao's voice rose. "Who gives you food to eat? Who gives you houses to live in?"

"Could it be you still want to return to the Sanghuo Tribe as slaves?!"

In the crowd, Qiu Bai's eyes suddenly widened. He waved his arms and shouted loudly: "Black Mountain Tribe! No more slaves!!"

Qiu Bai's cry was like a switch, awakening the slaves' suppressed memories of oppression and, simultaneously, awakening the fighting blood flowing in their veins.

"Black Mountain Tribe!" "No more slaves!"

"Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!"

Hu Xiao wiped away the blood trickling from his bitten lip with his hand, thinking恶狠狠地 (viciously), *No wonder Qi Bai helped me conceal the fake token business. He was waiting for me here all along!*

The north, the north...

Great Beast God, is the north you guided me to truly the Black Mountain Tribe?

Although everyone in the tribe saw the Sanghuo Tribe's队伍 (ranks), the distance between the two sides was actually still quite far.

If it weren't for the beastmen on patrol in the watchtower spotting the Sanghuo Tribe early, they might truly have been caught off guard.

Qiu Bai, leading the beastman workers, still lagged far behind the Black Mountain warriors, while the Sanghuo Tribe had already seen the Black Mountain tribespeople charging towards them.

However, a small team of less than fifty people, and all of them horse-form beastmen not skilled in combat—such a force was根本不放在眼里 (beneath the notice) of the Sanghuo Tribe.

Zhu Qi, running at the very front of the ranks, didn't even consider slowing down.

Charge. Charge straight through. Trample these beastmen who dared block their path underfoot.

Just imagining these beastmen being trampled to pulp made Zhu Qi tremble with excitement.

Just as Zhu Qi predicted, when the distance between the two sides was less than two hundred meters, the horse-form beastmen who had been charging towards them turned and began to flee, as if frightened.

"Lu lu!" Zhu Qi threw his head back and roared.

Haha, these cowardly ants果然惧怕 (indeed feared) the mighty giant pig warriors.

Another beastman beside Zhu Qi strained to open his small, black bean-like eyes wide.

What was behind those beastmen?

But before he could see clearly, a "whoosh" sound.

Something flew out from behind those horse-form beastmen, arriving before him in the blink of an eye. A feather drifted slowly down past his right eye.

But, something seemed wrong.

"Luuuuu!!!!"

The next moment, intense pain shot from his left eye straight into his brain. A wooden arrow had actually pierced his left eye.

"Well done!"

Tu Ya, sitting backwards on Ma Shu's back, cheered for She Li, who had fired that arrow.

As she spoke, the arrow in Tu Ya's hand also flew out.

Although Tu Ya's arrow didn't hit the giant pig beastman's eye, its sufficient force lodged it firmly into the giant pig's cheek, successfully slowing its pace.

Tu Ya patted her伴侣's (partner's) neck and shouted: "Ma Shu, can you get closer? It's still a bit far. Closer, my wooden arrows will be more powerful."

The white horse's mane flowed散开 (loose), flying in the wind like a banner.

Hearing this, Ma Shu immediately adjusted his running pace, maintaining a closer, yet safe, distance from the pursuing Sanghuo Tribe behind them.

Along with Tu Ya and She Li, forty-eight other sub-beastmen were responsible for shooting.

They were all sub-beastmen working on the threshing ground. Upon hearing the enemy invasion horn, they immediately grabbed their horn bows and bone knives to form the vanguard.

Many of them weren't even each other's partners. But now, everyone was beyond caring about that.

All the sub-beastmen sat反坐 (backwards) on the horsebacks, tightly binding themselves to the saddles with grass ropes.

Quivers filled with wooden arrows hung nearby. These arrows were all the ones from the threshing ground, now全部配发 (all issued) to them.

At this moment, everyone's expressions were郑重 (solemn). After training for over half a year, they were now facing not stationary targets, but enemies intent on attacking them.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

Nock, draw, shoot, grab another arrow, continue shooting. The sub-beastman warriors coordinated with the beastman warriors,就像无数次驱赶羊群一样 (just like the countless times they herded sheep), disrupting the Sanghuo Tribe's advancing formation one by one.

The sub-beastmen's arrows weren't shot randomly. The giant pig beastmen's hides had raised hard shells. To maximize the wooden arrows' effectiveness, the best shooting positions they could find were the giant pigs' eyes and the parts of their faces without the raised shells.

However, because they were now very close to the giant pigs, even the occasional stray shot didn't matter. Relying on powerful force, the arrows could still pierce flesh.

Hu Xue discovered that shooting arrows into the凹陷处 (hollows) of the giant pigs' front legs could make them fall directly.

By now, Zhu Qi had finally看清 (seen clearly) the people on the horseback.

Sub-beastmen. They were sub-beastmen! What were those things in the sub-beastmen's hands? How dare they mock him like this!

"Lu!"

The rage in Zhu Qi's heart could no longer be contained. He changed his mind. He would charge forward. He would personally bite these sub-beastmen to pieces.

However, those forward-running horse-form beastmen seemed to have eyes on their backs. No matter how the giant pigs chased, they always maintained the same distance.

She Li snorted coldly. These giant pig beastmen were so笨重 (clumsy). Trying to overtake the horse-form beastmen, the best runners in the Black Mountain Tribe, was simply做梦 (a pipe dream).

Ma Ling, while running, even flicked his tail in agreement with his伴侣 (partner). Clearly, even Ma Ling, who had just recently recovered from his injuries, still had游刃有余 (plenty of energy to spare) and wasn't even exerting his full strength.

One by one, giant pig beastmen were hit by arrows,扑通 (thumping) to their knees. The massive ranks behind随即压了上来 (immediately pressed forward).

The scene of trampling Black Mountain tribespeople that Zhu Qi had imagined did not happen. Instead, his own ranks suffered heavy losses.

In less than half an hour of engagement, the Sanghuo Tribe had already lost nearly a hundred giant pig warriors.

Even Zhu Qi's face had two wooden arrows sticking out. But he seemed not to feel the pain, or perhaps the pain only made the暴虐情绪 (violent emotions) within him more intense.

Zhu Qi showed no intention of retreating whatsoever.

Because those long sticks the sub-beastmen used for shooting were limited. By now, most people's quivers were empty. Without weapons, he wanted to see what these ants who only knew how to run away could possibly do.

Yan Lu had already ordered the rock python beastmen to slow down when the giant pig ranks first showed signs of骚乱 (disarray).

Yan Lu raised his high body upright. He didn't share Zhu Qi's impulsiveness because, just ahead of the horse-form beastmen, the Black Mountain Tribe's beastman warriors had already assembled.

At the very front of the ranks, a massive white wolf微微压低 (slightly lowered) its body.

Yan Lu met the wolf's冰凉的 (icy) gaze and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Even though the other side's numbers were far fewer than the Sanghuo Tribe's, a强烈念头 (strong urge) to flee suddenly surged within him.