Rows of wooden huts stood all around, crude and rough-hewn, much like the men of this place. Yang Kai gazed into the distance and spotted fences of logs and stones standing not far away. This appeared to be a settlement — and by the looks of it, a primitive and ancient one at that.
It was from beyond those fences that those heart-rending, spine-chilling roars of beasts were emanating.
Many villagers stood atop the fence wall. Some hurled massive boulders down below, while others wielded bows, drawing their strings and loosing arrows.
The chaos of battle raged, and the air was thick with the stench of blood — enough to make one gag.
Then Yang Kai's eyes narrowed sharply.
He saw a leopard the size of three zhang — massive and powerfully built — spiraling up onto a section of the fence like a whirlwind. It clamped its enormous jaws down on a villager's head. That villager was built like an iron tower, broad and mighty, and he struggled with everything he had, but how could he possibly contend with such a creature?
After only a brief thrash, the leopard bit clean through his skull. Blood erupted from his severed neck like a fountain, spewing high into the air under the blazing sun, blindingly vivid.
The villagers around the fence roared in shock and fury, swarming toward the leopard, and at the same time a dozen or more arrows hissed through the air, every single one embedding itself in the beast's body.
Wounded and howling, the leopard staggered, its footing unsure. A villager tackled it off the fence wall, and both tumbled down together — what became of them afterward, no one could say.
This upheaval had torn a gap in the fence's defenses in an instant, and the remaining villagers scrambled in a panic, all of them shouting desperately.
"Quick, quick, quick!" Ah Hu grabbed Yang Kai and sprinted to the base of the fence. With a heave of his arm, he flung Yang Kai up onto the wall and called to a sturdy woman standing there, "Ah Hua, A-Niu is yours!"
The woman called Ah Hua glanced down at A-Niu — that was Yang Kai's name in this place — her thick brows knitting slightly with a hint of disdain. She was just about to say something, but Ah Hu had already turned and was charging toward the village gate.
"Fine. Better than nothing," Ah Hua muttered impatiently. She thrust a hand toward Yang Kai and said with curt authority, "Arrows!"
Yang Kai blinked, stunned. Truthfully, ever since he had entered this Secret Realm, his mind had been in a daze. He still hadn't fully recovered his bearings. The dizzying cascade of events had left him completely unable to sort out his current situation.
All he knew was that he had inexplicably appeared in this primitive, ancient village. He had inexplicably been given the name A-Niu. And he had been inexplicably dragged into a brutal battle.
He had ventured into quite a few Secret Realms before, but never had the situation been this complicated.
Deep down, he sensed that this particular Secret Realm was something out of the ordinary. He silently resolved to give it his full attention — there might be unexpected gains to be had.
As for whether these villagers were real or some kind of illusion, that was a question for another time.
Things had a way of sorting themselves out. There was always a solution.
"Arrows! Are you deaf?!" Seeing that Yang Kai was still spacing out, Ah Hua snapped furiously, her eyes blazing crimson like Ah Hu's, shot through with blood vessels, the rage and hatred in her gaze almost tangible, nearly congealing in the air.
That fury wasn't directed at Yang Kai — it was the helpless wrath of watching villager after villager die at the jaws of beasts, their bodies left without a trace, while being powerless to take revenge.
Her shout finally jolted Yang Kai back to himself. He hurriedly looked left and right, spotting a pile of wooden arrows by his feet, carved from some unknown type of timber. Each one was a full zhang long and as thick as an infant's arm — a terrifying sight.
He picked one up and let out a surprised grunt. The wooden arrow was incredibly heavy, no less weighty than arrows forged from fine iron.
It was hard to imagine how an ordinary person with no Yuan Qi could handle such things.
"Your job is to get these arrows into my hands!" Ah Hua fixed Yang Kai with a stern gaze and barked, "Understood?"
"Understood!" Yang Kai nodded obediently and took the opportunity to size up the woman called Ah Hua.
The villagers here tended to look rough and weathered beyond their years, but this Ah Hua was different — her features were clean and striking, her figure explosive. Beast-hide garments wrapped her chest, revealing a deep valley of cleavage. Her waist was slender and alluring, her belly flat, her hips round and pert.
Hmm. If she weren't quite so tall, she would have been an impressive beauty.
But in an environment governed by survival of the fittest, delicate, petite beauties simply couldn't exist. Without strength, mortals were doomed no matter what.
Ah Hua, in her own way, possessed a different kind of beauty altogether.
Arrow in hand, Ah Hua immediately drew her bow. The massive bow frame bent into a perfect full moon under her pull, the sight making Yang Kai's eyelids twitch.
This enormous bow was built to launch arrows a full zhang long and as thick as an infant's arm — one could only imagine how colossal the weapon itself must be. Yet in Ah Hua's hands it was light as nothing, handled with casual ease.
Hummm…
As the resonant hum rang out, the arrow spun forward with devastating force. Yang Kai clearly saw the air in front of the arrowhead compress and detonate in a visible shockwave.
The power of this single shot was terrifying beyond measure.
A giant beast lunging through midair took the arrow straight through its eye socket. The zhang-long shaft punched clean through its skull, trailing a spray of hot blood, and the colossal creature crashed to the ground. It struggled weakly a few times and then went still.