When a jungle came into view, three strong barbarians, included Lek, stopped.
Jungle was one of the most terrible areas in the Demon-cloud Ridge, since it was full of damp and poisonous miasma, as well as all kinds of weird and terrible poisonous insects and beasts.
Generally, not only human practitioners, but also Voodoo-barbarians were unwilling to venture into it.
“Lek, should we continue to chase the murder in this jungle?”
A strong barbarian asked with anxiety in his eyes.
“Are you sure the murderer has entered this jungle by the trail he left?” Lek asked quickly.
“It shouldn't be wrong. I've been capturing this murderer's scent all the way. He's good at sneaking and hiding trail, but his unique scent can't escape from my nose,” another strong barbarian murmured.
His name was Shrizeo. He was proficient in tracking and assassinating. The martial art he had practiced enabled him to lock onto the unique odor of the enemy.
“Let’s go!”
Lek waved his hand and took the lead in rushing into the jungle without hesitation.
The dark jungle was like a huge and dangerous labyrinth, in which the fog was diffuse and it was extremely easy to lose one’s bearings.
There might be toads spouting poison in the low bushes. The beautiful flowers might instantly turn into big bloody mouths, devouring the creatures passing by. The vines, which were like big chains, might be actually the bodies of strange snakes and insects.
The environment here was really too weird and dangerous. A seemingly hard ground would instantly turn into a huge swamp. Once trapped in it, even a practitioner in Gang Spirit Realm would feel helpless upon the terrible power of swallowing.
Along the way, three strong barbarians of Lek’s team not only failed to lock onto the traces of Lin Xun at the first time, but they met several dangerous situations in succession. If they weren’t agile, they might not survive even.
This made them look so grave and vigilant. In their hearts, they all regretted breaking into the treacherous jungle.
“Lek, as this jungle is so mysterious, might the murderer have died from an accident already?” a strong barbarian asked.
“He’s alive!”
Shrizeo, instead of Lek, answered this question, with his eyes locking upon the distance, “His smell is still there, not far away, and we are almost catching up with him!”
There was a slight hesitation in Lek’s heart, but when he heard Shrizeo’s words, Lek was cheered and gritted his teeth, “Go ahead. We must not lose our branch’s sacred treasure again!”
A moment later.
Shrizeo suddenly stopped, making a gesture of warning other two barbarians beside him to keep silent, and looked at a huge old tree in the distance. They understood Shrizeo’s meaning immediately and grasped the weapons in their hands. The same cold shimmer appeared in their eyes.
When the three barbarians were only 33 meters away from the old tree, they abruptly rushed together to the back of the old tree from three directions.
“Kill!”
However, behind the old tree was nothing. Their powerful attacks came to nothing. There was only a bloody rag in the grass, which was apparently torn from the clothes.
Crap!
When the three barbarians were still in mid-air, their faces changed immediately as they were aware of the danger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Almost at the same time, arrows burst into the air in rapid succession and sounded like a bell for death.
Bending his knees in mid-air, Lek twisted his body sharply and curled up like a hedgehog so that he could change his direction at once.
Boom!
An arrow brushed past Lek’s body, and heavily pierced through the old tree, raising a piece of sawdust. Then it inserted into the ground, making a terrible roar.
When Lek fell to the ground, his forehead was covered with sweat. The moment when the arrows were fired was accurately calculated. It was the moment when they exposed themselves in mid-air. They were locked upon like live targets. If he hadn't escaped in time, the consequence would be unthinkable.
“Ah-!” suddenly, a scream arose.
Lek turned his head and saw an arrow insert into the right eye of Shrizeo, penetrate through Shrizeo’s whole head and brought out a string of thick blood and brains. The scene was disgusting and bloody.
Shrizeo fell to the ground with a big bang, dead.
Lek was so angered that his eyes seemed about to pop out; his hatred grown too much and he really wanted to skin and eat the murderer alive.
Before Lek took any action, another whistle came, which sent a chill down Lek’s spine and he flew aside to escape the attack subconsciously.
“Mooch, how are you?” Lek roared.
“I... I'm fine,” dozens of meters away, another strong barbarian was still in shock, and his face slightly paled.
Mooch retreated ceaselessly, as if there was a demon hiding in front of him and trying to choose someone to eat.
But when Mooch was over twenty meters away from the old tree, he did not notice that the ground beneath his feet was soft, and his whole body suddenly fell into the swamp.
The mud vortex produced a kind of terrible dragging force that prevented Mooch from struggling.
“Brother Lek, save me!” Mooch was so scared and cried hysterically.
“Damn it!”
Lek was furious, but he was forced back by a dense rain of arrows at the moment. “Hold on! Mooch!” Lek was trembling and roaring with rage. He kept rushing forward, but every time he was pushed back by sharp and ruthless arrows.
Lek could only watch Mooch sink in the mud vortex, howling in despair and disappear at last.
“Come out! Human murderer! Come out!”
Lek roared like a wild animal. He went bananas.
In less than a minute, two of his companions died one after another, while the enemy had not yet appeared, which made Lek almost mad.
However, despite the roar of Lek, the jungle restored to silence; arrows disappeared, and the enemy seemed to have been gone.
A moment later, Lek was panting with a livid face, and fell into despair.
Without even seeing the enemy, two of his companions were killed, and their task of recapturing the sacred treasure was tantamount to a complete failure...
This result was unacceptable to Lek.
“I should report this to Quill Flamen as soon as possible. Only by contacting more elite fighters can we have a chance to change the situation. The murderer... must die!!!” Lek gritted his teeth and a touch of decided fierceness crossed his eyes.
He even didn’t want to think why the enemy didn't kill him this time...
Lin Xun was on the run.
When he was ready to kill Lek at one stroke, a strong feeling of danger raised in his heart. Without hesitation, he gave up his attack and turned away.
In the foggy jungle, Lin Xun was running fast, casting a shadow that plotted a tortuous and erratic track.
Without looking back, Lin Xun knew that an enemy was chasing him; like a shadow to him, the feeling of danger never disappeared for a short moment.
Lin Xun knew that he met a real overmatch this time.
He recalled Shi Yu’s analysis of this assessment before they came to Demon-cloud Ridge.
For both the empire and the Voodoo-barbarian Tribe, the Demon-cloud Ridge was actually a “Training Ground”, where the young overmatches of the two parties could know more about their opponents through real bloody battles.
This also meant that 237 trainees from the Bloodthirsty Camp would likely encounter strong barbarians of young generation. When it came to combat effectiveness, strong barbarians were definitely competitive with trainees from the Bloodthirsty Camp!
Was the fellow who was tracking him a barbarian elite?
Lin Xun was not sure.
But he knew that he was already at a disadvantage before the new fight begun.
After entering the temporary camp where the Voodoo-barbarians stationed, although he won a fierce battle, he had never stopped to rest. He ran all the way, luring Lek’s team into the jungle.
According to Lin Xun's plan, he intended to kill all the opponents in one stroke, and then he would come back to that temporary camp to wipe out Quill Flamen and others.
But now the plan was disrupted.
Lin Xun took a deep breath and reckoned his combat effectiveness, nearly half of which had been consumed. Even worst, Lin had got a lot of injuries.
In the past, such power consumption and injuries of body were nothing to him, but if Lin met a real overmatch in this state, he would obviously suffer more.
“I have to get rid of this guy as soon as possible; otherwise, if I run away like this all the way, the situation will get worse and worse for me...”
Lin Xun took a deep breath, and ran away with all his strength, abandoning all the distracting thoughts.
…
Deep in the jungle, a thin and agile figure strode forward. Each step of him was more than 30 meters. Although he seemed slow, in fact his speed was amazing.
This was an extremely handsome young man with bronze skin. He had a Roman nose, deep eyes, long dashing eyebrows and blade-like thin lips.
Especially his eyes were like a pair of whirlpools, in which occasionally appeared a cold light in strange blue.
If Quill Flamen was here, he would recognize this young barbarian – Shrizi, one of the outstanding figures of the younger generation of Water Barbarian Branch. He was a talent leader in the ninth level of Barbarian Slave.
Shrizi carried a plain bronze dagger in his hand. He was like a tough and agile cheetah, moving forward in the jungle constantly.
Suddenly, a bright light crossed Shrizi’s pupils, and he lift up his thin lips, “God's blessing.”
As he spoke, he swooped like lightning. A series of explosive sounds arose in the air because of his fast speed.
After just a few breaths, Shrizi caught up. On the road ahead, Shrizi’s target appeared.
It was a handsome young man, who was fighting with a Horned Blood Python, which was as wide as a bucket.
When the Shrizi arrived, the young man had already stabbed his saber into the head of the python and killed it thoroughly.
“'Bad luck today.”
The boy turned his head and sighed when he saw Shrizi in the distance.
This guy, of course, was Lin Xun.
He had bad luck today. He ran into a Horned Blood Python when he was running away. He couldn't even avoid it so he had to fight against it with his saber.
But such a delay gave Lin’s enemy a change to catch up with him.
“My name is Shrizi. I come from Water Barbarian Branch.”
Seeing Lin Xun, Shrizi did not assault Lin at once. Instead, he smiled and showed his even and white teeth. He introduced himself, “The only purpose of my trip to Demon-cloud Ridge is to kill as many trainees from the Bloodthirsty Camp as possible.”
Shrizi’s voice was flat, with a hint of daunting and disdainful coldness.