Chapter 200

Lu's confirmation received, the burly beastman let out a loud roar and charged out faster than he had arrived.

Just as Sha gripped his bone knife ready to follow, Lu stopped him.

Lu tapped his fingers lightly on his leg, looking at the (collapsed) Mu Gu Ren and Wa on the ground: "Deal with these two first."

"Yes."

The morning sky was still gloomy. The beastmen were advancing through the forest.

Their progress wasn't particularly fast because each beastman carried heavy goods tied to their bodies. The sub-beastmen also remained in human form, carrying slightly smaller hide packs on their backs to lighten the load on the beastmen.

Just then, a grey fox quickly caught up from the rear of the group.

Hou Yan, who was always watching the back, hurried to meet him: "Why are you back early?"

Hu Qiao transformed into human form and said rapidly: "Chief, there are beastmen tracking us from behind."

Hearing Hu Qiao's words, Hou Yan and Niu Shuo, who had rushed over, immediately tensed up.

Their early departure was meant to avoid unnecessary trouble, but trouble had clearly followed them.

The beast forms of the Black Mountain Tribe's beastmen varied, but they maintained the Silver Moon Tribe's wolf clan travel pattern. The group had both scouts probing ahead and a rearguard.

This time, leaving the trading day, Hou Yan had specifically expanded the rearguard's size to try to erase the trading team's trail.

"I sneaked close and heard their conversation. They want to find us, steal our salt, and make us slaves," Hu Qiao said anxiously. "We didn't handle our passing traces well enough, so they followed us."

Niu Shuo shook his head. The tribe's method of covering their tracks wasn't the problem; the problem was the distance.

It was only half a day's journey from the trading day to here. If the other side was determined to find them, sending out beastmen with keen senses of smell would eventually find their trail.

Running away was impossible.

Their carts were hidden a day's journey from the trading day. Once the carts moved, their whereabouts would be even more exposed. But having the trading team abandon the many carts they brought was also impossible.

It must be remembered that for this trip, all the bone wheels in the tribe had been brought along. That was all the Black Mountain Tribe's assets from over a year.

Tun Quan waved his arm: "Chief! They want to rob our goods! We must protect the tribe's goods! Fight! Fight them!"

Sub-beastman Shu You, carrying a hide pack, bared his teeth: "Fight! We traded for this. No one can take it away!"

Hu Qiao's eyes widened, excitement impossible to hide within them.

Other tribespeople still in beast form stomped feet and swished tails, strongly expressing) their support.

They had finally) gotten to the trading day, only to have it ruined by the Sanghuo Tribe like this. Everyone held pent-up anger. Now they actually dared target them? They would show these people the might of Black Mountain warriors now.

On the winding mountain path.

Zhu Kuan, responsible for overseeing the slaves, viciously whipped a canine-form beastman prostrate on the ground) with a vine: "Faster! If they escape, none of you will live!"

The canine-form beastman practically buried his nose in the dirt, just to find the slightest clue of that group's trail.

"Woof."

An older-looking canine-form beastman suddenly barked several times towards a direction.

Zhu Kuan immediately (put away the vine) and trotted to report this to the burly beastman in the middle of the group: "Biao, they found the direction."

Zhu Biao was currently holding a struggling slave in his arms. The slave's screams drew lewd laughter) from a group of beastmen around them.

Hearing Zhu Kuan's reply, Zhu Biao threw the slave in his hands aside. He waved at the beastmen around him: "Keep chasing."

Zhu Kuan's expression was hesitant: "Shouldn't we wait for Elder Lu's people to catch up?"

Zhu Biao—the beastman who had earlier reported to Lu in the main tent—clicked his tongue disdainfully: "That Lu with the weird accent? Could their combat power compare to our Da Yan beastman warriors?"

"No way!" the surrounding beastmen shouted in support.

"But..."

The Sanghuo Tribe was a large tribe composed of three tribes. In principle, they should fight together.

But this pursuing force of nearly three hundred people, aside from the few dozen slave beastmen with black dog beast forms at the front, consisted entirely of their Da Yan beastmen.

The Liang Shi Tribe, which had the most people at the trading day, had not caught up yet.

Zhu Biao pushed Zhu Kuan away: "It's just a trading team of a few dozen people. We can handle it ourselves."

"(Instead), Elder Lu was responsible for this trading day. They lost such a large batch of salt. It was our Da Yan warriors who brought this salt back to the tribe."

"Hahaha, I want to see what face he has left to look down on me!"

"Charge!"

The valley between two steep cliffs seemed unusually quiet. The black dog slaves driven to walk at the very front tucked their tails, already sensing they were very close to the group they were chasing. But they couldn't retreat.

This was the fate of slaves. Whether hunting or fighting other tribes, they always had to charge at the very front. They had to block the enemy's first wave of attacks for their masters behind them.

Only by attacking with all their might did they have a chance to live. Otherwise, only death awaited them.

Zhu Kuan, closely following the black dogs, also sensed danger. He looked around but found nothing.

The black dog slaves passed through the valley (smoothly). But before Zhu Kuan could relax, a chill rising from the soles of his feet suddenly swept through his entire body).

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh whoosh!"

Arrows descended like a sudden storm, (whistling through the air) from above the valley.

"What is that?"

Before this Sanghuo beastman could react to what was falling from the sky, the fletched arrows shot straight into his chest.

The beastman touched the arrow shaft deeply embedded in his body, staring dully) at the glaring blood on his palm: "Aaaaaah!"

As the arrow rain poured down, screams rose one after another. More simply fell without even having time to scream.

The already somewhat (disorganized) ranks instantly (descended into chaos. Some scurried around covering their heads, some moaned in pain, and some beastmen, thinking they had encountered the Beast God's wrath, actually stood rooted to the spot.

No matter their reaction, the Black Mountain tribespeople ambushed on the mountaintop wouldn't relax for a moment.

They either lay prone on the ground reloading hand crossbows or hid behind large trees, arms (spread) drawing bamboo bowstrings. Everyone was concentrating intensely).

This time, they hadn't just brought the horn bows (improved) by Qi Bai, but also the hand crossbows Hou Su and Ci Yi had worked overtime to produce).

Half a year of training had made every Black Mountain tribesperson master the skill of shooting. Even if some tribespeople's aim wasn't great, it didn't matter. Killing the chaotic crowd in the valley didn't require aiming. The dense arrow rain was aim enough. They only needed to imbue the arrows with enough force to pierce flesh.

In just a short time, nearly half of the large force in the valley had fallen. The sprayed blood made the valley look like a crimson river.

Only then did Zhu Biao finally see the figures hidden behind the tree shadows. Where was the Beast God's wrath? It was clearly those fleeing beastmen up to no good!

Zhu Biao's eyes blazed with anger). He roared: "Transform into beast forms!"

Before the sound faded, a black giant pig appeared out of thin air.

The giant pig was covered in thick, hard shell protrusions. Two lumps of warts) hung in the middle of its pig face, squeezing its already small eyes. Blackened, short, thick tusks pushed up the flesh on its snout, making it look exceptionally ferocious).

But the ugly appearance had obvious advantages. With the hard shell protrusions on the pigskin, these strange arrows could only penetrate a small way. Some wooden arrows even snapped directly.

"Lu!"

Zhu Biao shook his fat, strong body and charged angrily) towards the cliff from which the arrows came.

Behind him, a few beastmen who had regained their senses also howled), transformed into beast forms, and followed Zhu Biao's charge angrily).

However, what awaited them were boulders rolling down from the mountain.

"Clang!"

Zhu Biao dodged the boulder flying towards his face, but the beastman behind him wasn't so lucky.

The rolling stone hit the beastman's face squarely. The moment the rock shattered, his head immediately caved in.  His body ran forward two steps from inertia, stalled for a moment), then fell down the steep slope with even greater force.

The massive body landed with a rumbling sound), knocking away) several giant pig beastmen climbing the mountain behind him. Only after his head hit the ground again did the completely dead beastman transform back into human form. His body was heavily trampled) by the beastmen behind.

Shu You deftly tucked the hand crossbow behind his back, leaned on a tree trunk, and quickly stood up.

Shu You's hands were already a bloody mess from moving stones and shooting arrows. The tree trunk he had just leaned on even bore a bright red handprint). But he seemed to feel no pain, quickly running behind a large rock prepared earlier, gritting his teeth as he pushed the rock down the mountain.

Even if the Sanghuo tribespeople hadn't discovered their position, the archers couldn't hold out much longer because they hadn't brought many arrows. Under such intense attack, they couldn't have lasted long anyway. So they had long had a second plan ready.

Just as Zhu Biao dodged arrows and rolling stones, charged up the mountainside, and thought he could finally trample the Black Mountain tribespeople underfoot...

Muscle-bound yaks and horses, brown bears and honey badgers with bulging shoulders and backs, robust, armor-plated rhinos—beastmen of different beast forms counterattacked head-on with even greater momentum.

Zhu Biao was stunned by this earth-shaking momentum. He looked at the sparse ranks) behind him, his small eyes suddenly constricting). An inexplicable emotion rose in his heart.

This was a fear he had never felt before, even while following the Da Yan Tribe conquering in all directions.

In the valley, Zhu Kuan, who had fortunately the arrow rain behind the black dog slaves, used the black dog beast forms as cover for himself. He reached out and pulled an arrow from a fallen beastman.

Spear? Zhu Kuan had seen tribes that used spears as weapons before.

The arrowhead, stained with fresh blood, gleamed with a frightening cold light. Zhu Kuan gripped the arrowhead forcefully but found he couldn't bend it with his strength. His palm was instead cut by the arrowhead's barbs, blood flowing out slowly.

No... this wasn't a spear! No tribe's spears could be shot this fast and be this hard.

Zhu Kuan stumbled to his feet. He could no longer care if more arrows would fly down from above.

He had to return to the trading day quickly. Lu's reinforcements must be on the way. He had to bring the reinforcements here. Otherwise, their warriors would all die here.

But the Black Mountain Tribe wouldn't give him such a chance.

Over a dozen agile grey wolves appeared like ghosts on both sides of the valley.

From the moment this battle began, the Black Mountain Tribe had only one goal.

That was to not let a single beastman leave this valley.

Find suitable terrain for battle, coordinate arrow volleys and rolling stone barrages to launch a surprise attack, and finally have the Black Mountain Tribe's well-trained beastman warriors clean up the remnants.

Even though Qi Bai and Lang Ze weren't here, the tactics and combat skills they usually taught the tribespeople allowed this battle, with its disparity in numbers, to be won with a one-sided advantage in a short time.

Shu You led nineteen other sub-beastmen to (clear the battlefield) in the valley piled with corpses.

They had a precise count of how many arrows with iron arrowheads and fletching they brought. They needed to find all these arrows in the shortest time possible. Other wooden arrows, as long as they weren't broken and still recognizable, had to be all taken away. Not a single trace could be left.

Fortunately, beastmen turned back into human form after death. Otherwise, searching through the massive forms of giant pigs would have been much more troublesome.

A sub-beastman turned over the corpse of a black dog beastman, picking up an arrowhead from underneath him. She frowned resentfully): "They are slaves of the Sanghuo Tribe. Why would they desperately protect these Sanghuo people?"

She had also been a slave, so she couldn't understand these black dog beastmen's thinking. If she encountered masters like this, she would definitely resist. At the very least, she wouldn't be willing to use her life to save these so-called masters at such a time.

Shu You also shook his head uncomprehendingly. Yeah, what was the point? If these people didn't resist, they might have even saved them.

Shu You and the others overlooked an important factor: Shu You and the others, after being influenced by the Black Mountain Tribe, had long since developed their own independent thinking.

But slaves like the black dog beastmen, under long-term abuse and mental oppression, had their psyches twisted). Their lives were worthless. Only protecting their masters was their only way out.

Moreover, these slaves believed from the bottom of their hearts that the Sanghuo Tribe, which had defeated them, was the most powerful tribe in the world. This was still Sanghuo Tribe territory. The Black Mountain Tribe people would eventually become slaves like them.

So they couldn't resist. Only by attacking alongside the Sanghuo Tribe was there a path to survival.

"Ah... Mmph."

A scream interrupted the conversation. No wonder Shu You and the others felt resentful. Because at the end of the battle, when those giant pigs had little fighting power left, it was these black dog beastmen who became even more ferocious.

Hu Qiao had been bitten on the hind leg by two of these black dog beastmen.

Lang Ji deftly plugged Hu Qiao's wound with cotton while expressionlessly stuffing a piece of hide into Hu Qiao's mouth.

*What are you yelling for? Afraid you won't attract the Sanghuo Tribe's people?*

Aside from Hu Qiao, one other person was badly injured in this battle: Tun Quan.

If Hu Qiao was ambushed, Tun Quan was completely injured because he charged too fiercely. He was the first warrior to confront head-on) the largest Zhu Biao. That he was still lying there in one piece already showed Tun Quan hadn't slacked off in his training at all.

At this moment, Tun Quan's abdomen was wrapped in a circle of hide bandages. But even though medicine had been applied, blood still seeped through the bandage underneath.

Ma Ling wiped the cold sweat from Tun Quan's forehead: "No good. The herbs we brought can't treat a wound like this. We need Priest Yang Luo's healing art."

Looking at the blood-stained hide bandage, Lang Ji (intuited) that Yang Luo couldn't heal such a wound.

He looked up, staring straight at Hou Yan: "Chief, they can't afford delay. Give me some food and a cart. I'll take these two and go ahead."

Ma Ling immediately added: "You can't do it alone. I'll go with you. We two will pull the cart day and night. We can definitely return to the tribe at the fastest speed."

By the time Hu Qiao was tied to Lang Ji's back, he was already somewhat (dazed).

His thoughts were chaotic).

This is the back of the beastman liked by the sub-beastman I like. The sub-beastman I like hasn't ridden on it, but I get to first. Where's the logic in that...