What if those people were still chasing him?

Several logical explanations stampeded the man's mind as he stared at the unconscious Dara, and just as he was about to refuse, he saw his wife's facial expression and understood why she wanted to save him;

"Damn it!"

He blurted before paddling away as fast as his muscle-tensed arms could row, whilst his wife went over to Dara and covered him in thick furs to keep him warm…

Then about six hours later, five figures stood at the banks of the river where the middle aged couple had just reeled Dara in, and the one in the lead cursed aloud;

"Damn it!"

"The village chief would be extremely pissed that we failed our simply mission…"

Ji Hai thought in fright as he remembered how scary his father usually became when he didn't get what he wanted which was a very rare occasion;

"We will all report to him that we found Ji Dai's corpse and also saw a lot of blood leading towards the edge of the cliff, and that Dara had fallen off the cliff after he was killed by the Obun Leader…

We will take the head of the Obun Leader home, and perhaps that would placate his anger a bit…

Does anyone has any objection to that!?" Ji Hai more like threatened than asked as the rest actually cowered with a nod of ascent, before Ji Lao spoke;

"But how would we manage to convince the village chief that we were able to kill an Obun Leader who is stronger than the five of us combined?"

"All of you, hit me in the face!"

Ji Hai ordered as the kids all froze in shock like they have heard the most incredulous statement ever…

In fact, if not for the fact that they had heard it themselves, and the expectant look on Ji Hai's face, they would have believed if someone said a dragon bowed to them much more than the statement Ji Hai just made;

"What are you waiting for!?"

"Get on with it and let us leave this place before it is too late!"

Ji Lao was the first person to punch Ji Hai in the face, and he might as well have simply caressed Ji Hai's face because Ji Hai felt nothing;

Smack! Crash!

Ji Hai landed a worse slap than the first to Ji Lao whose face instantly swelled up like that of a pig, before looking t two of his teeth on the floor through his bloodied, blurry eyes…

"Go soft on me, and you will suffer a much worse slap than his!"

Ji Hai looked at the remaining trio and growled at them as Ji Xie pulled his arm backwards, and swung his fist towards Ji Hai's chin with blatant ferocity;

Bang! Boom!

Ji Hai was sent flying about three feet away with a swollen cheek, and just as he stood up, he was greeted by Ji Kun's left cross which hit him on the other side of his chin, sending him tumbling head over heels for about another two feet…

He stood up but was sent off the ground about a foot into the air by Ji Me's uppercut, before the pig faced Ji Lao punched him squarely on the face, as he slammed back into the ground throwing up a mouthful of blood…

"That's great!"

Ji Hai managed to stand to his feet as he whipped out a short sword and gazed at the four kids in front of him and spoke with a venomous tone;

"You lot would serve as my stepping stone, to become the heir to the village chief position…"

Whoosh!

Ji Hai moved faster than these kids could comprehend as he sent a sword slash straight at Ji Lao's throat;

Fissshhh!

Blood sprayed like fountain into the air as Ji Lao clutched his throat and began to choke as life gradually ebbed from his body…

Seeing that he had killed his sidekick, the three boys scattered in three different directions as Ji Hai tactically went for the fastest amongst them Ji Kun, and after about a minute of aggressive chase, he stabbed the boy from the back and his sword came out of his chest as Ji Kun grabbed Ji Hai with his bloodied hand and managed to utter;

"You told us to strike you, why did you do this to us?"

"I will return to the village as the sole survivor of an attack by eleven Obuns and one Leader, and that would be more than enough to cement my place as the future heir to the village chief position…"

"Thus, you lot should count yourselves lucky to be sacrificed for a cause greater than you wildest imaginations…"

Swish!

Ji Hai pulled out his sword as he left Ji Kun to bleed to death…

He wasn't scared that he might survive, after all, in about an hour or so, all the monsters and beasts that roam these Dark Lands would all come out to feed, and one of the strongest bait to them was blood...

Thus, he was sure that in about two to three hours, even a strand of hair from the four won't be found…

He bolted for Ji Xie, and after about ten minutes of tracking, Ji Hai found him hiding behind a tree, as he simply stabbed his sword through the tree and pierced Ji Xie through the throat on the other side...

Then without as much as sparing the fallen Ji Xie a single glance, he went after Ji Me, the slowest amongst them all, and he found him after tracking him down for about another ten minutes;

"Please Ji Hai, I promise not to tell anyone… In fact, I swear on my parent not to ever return to the village again!"

Ji Me knelt to the ground and pleaded for his dear life, as Ji Hai gave a defeated sigh and muttered;

"Alright, let's go, you must first help me bury those three, then you are to flee from the village as far as possible!"

Ji Hai said as he turned his back and took a step forward, whilst Ji Me also stood up to follow him, only to freeze in his step the moment he stood up…

Fissshh!

Blood spilled from his slit throat, and sprayed all over Ji Hai who stood there and let it bathe him…

"Hmph! I am not stupid enough to cut a viper's tail and then release it back into the wild!" Then he turned around and left…

About ten minutes later, Ji Hai arrived at the cliff, and cut off the Obun Leader's head, placed it in his back pouch, and then gritted his teeth before slashing himself in the eye, with his short sword;

Argghh!

Ji Hai cried out as he blinded one of his eyes, but he didn't stop there; he also slashed himself in the chest, arms and one of his thighs, leaving glaring cuts all over them, before tying pieces of clothes on his wound as he made his way out of the jungle…

He had spent 45 minutes already and had only about a quarter of an hour left before the jungle starts crawling with danger at every turn, nook and cranny…

"Unh?"

"Where am I?"

Dara woke up to find himself in a strange room…

The walls here were made of black clay, and managed to keep the little heat within the room from dissipating into away…

The roof was made from tree trunks, branch and leaves, whilst the floor was just like the normal ground outside, all together making it look like someone just dumped the entire building in a part of the dark lands…

Dara found himself laying atop a makeshift bed made from simply stacking tree trunks and branches atop each other and finally lots of leaves…

A thick fur was then laid on this makeshift bed to give it a bit of a cushioning effect, and that was all…

No windows here, and only a single entrance without a door that led to a dimly lit room…

Then he saw some sort of eerie black smoke like substance coming out of the ground, billowing all over him and seemingly entering the pores of his body…

~Ha!~

Dara screamed in fright as he jumped off the bed and ran out the entrance bumping straight into the middle aged man who was rushing in after hearing his screams;

"Ow!"

"Watch it young turd!"

The middle aged man grabbed his stomach in pain, as Dara saw the man who look as malnourished as the word malnourished could get, and in fact seemed to be hanging between the life and death…

Then behind the man through the little entrance, he could make out the image of a lady who looked much better than the man; apparently, the man might have been going hungry so that the lady could eat…

But of everything that was going through his mind, the only thing that came out of his mouth was;

"Humans!"

"You are both humans!"

He blurted in shock as his eye widened to their full extents;

"Keep it down boy or you will attract the hungry monsters and beasts roaming this lands…"

The man hushed Dara and truthfully, just as Dara kept quiet, they heard a rustling from the other side of the wall of the room they were currently standing in, followed by the growl of a beast Dara had never heard in his life...

Then the smoke rising up the ground billowed with huge gusts and formed the shape of a tiger looking beast that was about 6 feet tall, and hideous looking, with a bony, severely malnourish body, and finally six inch long claws…

~Hmm!~

Dara screamed in fear, but the man was faster and quickly covered his mouth with his hand as he muffled his screams, but the beast walking outside paused for a bit, and after a while, it moved past the house…

After confirming that the beast had left, the man then released Min Hong and growled silently with a venomous gaze;

"Are you trying to get us all killed!?"

"If you feel like being eaten by famished beasts and monsters, I don't mind kicking you out of the house!"

Dara held his own mouth by himself and shook his head vigorously…

Who was he kidding!?

If that beast that just walked past was any way as large and violent looking as the smoky image he just saw within the room, then he would gladly allow these middle aged couple cut him into pieces and eat him up, than to face such a beast…

At least, if he died that way, he would still rest easy knowing he had sacrificed his life to ensure that two human beings might live on…

He looked to the lady and despite her smile, was drenched in cold sweat, and it was then that everything dawned on him as he asked;

"Where are we!?" He whispered as softly as he could muster…