Night fell over the Star Dou Great Forest. Several miles away from the valley, a small squad of more than ten Bu Borisin was quickly returning along the forest path. Every member of the squad was covered in blood, and some even had pieces of flesh still clinging to their weapons, yet they looked remarkably relaxed, clearly not taking the battle that had just taken to heart.
The captain of the Borisin was walking at the front, was tall and had a broad-bladed battle sword on his shoulder. In his other hand, he held a branch that was no more than a foot long. The branch had a faint golden-green sheen on its surface. Even though it had been separated from its original place of growth, the few tender leaves on the branch did not show any signs of withering. Instead, they swayed gently as the group moved forward, constantly emitting a rich life force.
Captain Borisin glanced down at the branch in his hand, his smile widening. This time, following the clues they had obtained, they found the village. They had expected the natives to put up a fierce resistance, but when they arrived, apart from a few who hadn't managed to escape, the rest of the villagers had vanished. They found the item in the village's medicine hut with almost no effort.
His deputy, however, remained vigilant. He glanced back at the forest that had been swallowed by darkness, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Captain, I still feel something is wrong. There's so little left in that village. The food, medicine, and even some clothing in the houses were taken beforehand. It doesn't look like a hasty escape. Those people must have known we were coming."
The captain didn't pause for a moment. Hearing this, he merely scoffed and casually waved the branch in his hand. "So what if they know? Our goal was never to kill all those natives, but to find this thing. Now that we have it, even if those people had received advance warning, they can only hide in the forest and eke out a living. Did you really expect a bunch of natives who haven't even left the Star Sea to come back and cause us trouble?"
The deputy frowned, not immediately refuting. What he was truly worried about wasn't the villagers, but the eeriness of the journey. In the past, when they were active in the vicinity, the forest at night was never so deathly silent; at least they could hear the low growls of Soul Beast and the chirping of insects in the distance. But since half an hour ago, it was as if something had completely suppressed the surroundings; apart from the sound of them stepping on dry branches and fallen leaves, they couldn't hear any other sounds.
This anomaly intensified the deputy's unease, but the captain clearly didn't take his worries to heart. Since arriving in this world, they had encountered many so-called Soul Master and witnessed some powerful Soul Beast, but few could truly pose a threat to them. As long as the Abundance power within their bodies was still circulating, most injuries could be quickly healed, and the attacks that the natives were so proud of were, in his view, not even worth mentioning.
Half an hour later, the trees ahead gradually thinned out, and the familiar entrance to the valley finally came into view. The captain's smile became even wider, and he was about to call the people guarding the valley entrance to come and help, but he soon found that the positions on both sides responsible for guarding were empty. Not to mention a person, even the lights that were usually hung on the trees were not turned on.
The smile on his face vanished instantly, and he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Where have all the men gone? I told you to guard the camp, and you all dared to abandon your posts! Wait till I get inside, and I'll teach these bastards a lesson!"
The deputy didn't follow suit and got angry. His gaze swept across both sides of the valley entrance and he quickly noticed several faint drag marks on the ground. However, the soil nearby had clearly been disturbed, and the bloodstains had been neatly covered up. If he hadn't been constantly on guard, he wouldn't have noticed these details at all.
"Captain, don't go in yet." The deputy hurried forward, his voice lowered. "The guards couldn't have all left at the same time, and there's no fire in the camp. Even if everyone else is resting, it shouldn't be this quiet. I suspect something's happened here. We should send two people in to check."
The captain turned and glared at him, his anger, already fueled by the guard's negligence, intensifying. "When did you become such a coward? There are dozens of soldiers stationed here. Even if some natives manage to sneak in, they'll only be throwing their lives away. We've only been gone for a few hours; do you think someone could possibly take over the entire camp?"
After speaking, he didn't give his deputy a chance to dissuade him further, and led the team directly through the valley entrance. The other Borisin clearly had more confidence in their own strength, and simply gripped their weapons and followed. In their view, their deputy's worries were unnecessary; there weren't many enemies on this continent that they could take seriously, and it was even less likely that one would happen to appear in such a remote valley.
As the group ventured deeper, the ease on their faces gradually faded. The tents in the camp were still there, but the campfire had long since gone out. Broken weapons and arrow-torn wooden stakes lay scattered on the ground, yet they couldn't find a single one of their companions. Most strangely, despite the lingering smell of blood in the air, not a single corpse could be found nearby.
The second-in-command finally stopped, his right hand already gripping the weapon at his waist. His gaze quickly swept across the surrounding mountain walls. "There was a battle here, and it couldn't have been long ago. The fact that they didn't directly destroy the camp and disposed of all the bodies suggests they probably didn't leave at all."
The captain finally realized the problem, but before he could speak, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out from above the valley. The moment the sound pierced the deathly silence of the night, almost all the Borisin looked up at the same time, and then they heard a muffled and dense rumble coming from the hillsides on both sides.
Large numbers of giant trees, already cut down, tumbled down from the mountaintop, mixed with boulders several meters high. The valley was not wide to begin with, and with more than ten Borisin all in the center of the camp, there was simply not enough space to spread out. Just as the few on the outermost edge were about to take cover, a giant tree, as thick as two people could hug, swept across, instantly knocking two Borisin away. Then, several boulders crashed down, pressing them directly into the ground.
Chaos erupted in an instant. Although the bodies of the Borisin were far stronger than those of ordinary people, the impact of such a massive boulder rolling down a hillside tens of meters high was still enough to severely injure them. Some tried to withstand the impact with their Abundance strength, but they were knocked over before they could even stand up. The sound of bones breaking mixed with the roar of the boulder, and the entire camp was completely blocked by rolling logs and rubble in the blink of an eye.
The captain roared, his inner strength suddenly erupting. He swung his broadsword forward, forcefully cleaving away the oncoming boulder. The rubble exploded in mid-air. Just as he was about to call the rest of the men to break through to the valley entrance, a chilling sensation suddenly rose from the back of his neck.
It wasn't that they heard a sound or saw an enemy; it was an instinct honed through countless battles, frantically issuing a warning.
Without any hesitation, the captain abruptly turned to the side. In that instant, a bluish-green meteor tore through the night, hurtling straight down from the mountain peak hundreds of meters away. Where the arrow passed, a clear white streak was left in the air; its speed was so great that his eyes could not even fully follow it.
Damn it!
The captain's expression changed drastically. He stomped hard on the ground and desperately tried to dodge to the side. But the distance between them was too close, and the arrow seemed to have locked onto his movement. No matter how he changed position, the arrowhead remained firmly aimed at his body.
The bluish-green arrow grazed his chest before piercing his left arm. The terrifying force instantly tore through his armor, the arrow almost completely penetrating his arm. The subsequent momentum propelled him backward several meters, his feet carving deep furrows in the ground, until he crashed into a wooden stake behind him and barely came to a stop.
The captain gritted his teeth, gripped the arrow piercing his arm, and his Abundance power surged towards the wound. But the power that would normally heal flesh quickly was met with an invisible barrier as soon as it approached the wound. A bluish-green light spread outwards along the wound, and all the newly formed flesh disintegrated as soon as it appeared.
His expression finally changed completely.
Only at this moment did he understand what those people in the camp had encountered.
On both sides of the valley, figures slowly appeared on the previously deserted mountaintops. Qian Renxue stood at the highest point on the left, her six pure white wings unfurling in the night, while several Spirit Hall Soul Master behind her sealed off both ends of the valley. On the other side, atop an ancient tree, Lin Yuan calmly lowered the Imperial Bow, the azure starlight still slowly flowing between the bowstrings, but his gaze did not fall on the Borisin who were pinned down by the boulders.
From beginning to end, he had only one goal in mind.
The pale gold branch that Captain Bu Borisin held tightly in his right hand.
Lin Yuan nocked his bow again, his voice coming from above the valley, calm and devoid of emotion. "Put down what you're holding, and I can make your death quicker. If you want to use it to heal your injuries, I don't mind seeing how many of my arrows you can withstand."
Captain Borisin looked up at the boy in the ancient tree, then glanced at the still-unraveling wound on his left arm. The smugness he had felt from successfully capturing their target had vanished. He finally realized that the villagers hadn't run away out of fear of them at all.
From the moment they left the camp, it had become a hunting ground waiting for them to walk into.