205: Chapter 205 He's a pretty good person.

Li Taiping raised his foot.

With one step, he appeared behind the youth.

The youth had only run a few dozen feet when his collar tightened, and he was hoisted into the air.

Her feet left the ground, and her expression shifted; like a beast caught by the throat, she immediately began to struggle.

A bone knife stabbed out in a backhand strike; the tip was fast and the angle vicious, aimed straight for Li Taiping's wrist.

But Li Taiping didn't even look; he extended two fingers and pinched the blade.

*Crack.*

The bone knife snapped.

Half the blade fell into the black soil with a soft thud, and a wisp of black smoke rose up.

The youth's pupils constricted.

That bone knife was left to him by his father, polished from the bones of beasts from the Black Forest Land, capable of slitting the throats of giant monsters.

But in the hands of this outsider...

The youth's throat bobbed.

"Outsider!"

His voice was raspy, as if he hadn't drunk water in a long time, or as if his throat were filled with grit.

"Are you from the heavens, or from the Black Sea?"

Li Taiping lowered his gaze.

His gaze fell on the youth's forehead, where there was a black Tidal Pattern; the lines were faint, like a brand left by some kind of pollution.

"You know of the sea?"

The youth pursed his lips tightly.

Li Taiping let go, and the youth immediately retreated upon hitting the ground.

His back pressed against a tree trunk, shoulders tense, one hand clutching the broken knife while the other reached for his waist.

There was a sharpened beast tooth there.

Li Taiping asked indifferently, "What place is this?"

The youth stared at him. "I don't know."

The answer was curt.

Li Taiping wasn't angry; perhaps this dungeon was also a real world, and the creatures here were living people, but he knew nothing for now.

He raised his hand, and the black tide remnant key emerged.

The key was dark all over, the character for 'Tide' on its surface deeply etched; the moment it appeared, the tiny bubbles in the surrounding black soil stopped, and even the black mist in the crevices of the tree bark receded.

The youth's face changed instantly.

He looked terrified, nearly falling to his knees.

"Tide Key..." His lips turned pale. "Are you a Tide Return Envoy?"

Li Taiping narrowed his eyes. "What is a Tide Return Envoy?"

The youth grew even more frightened, his fingers beginning to tremble, unable to even hold the beast tooth steady.

"You're not?"

A massive wave of shock rose in the youth's heart. He wasn't? Could someone kill a Tide Return Envoy? This...?

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of a horn suddenly echoed from deep within the woods.

*Wooo—*

The sound was low and heavy, making the leaves tremble.

The last bit of color drained from the youth's face.

"The people of the Black Tooth Tribe are here."

Li Taiping looked in the direction of the sound.

"Enemies?"

The youth grit his teeth.

"They worship the black tide and capture living people to feed the Tide Well."

When he mentioned the "Tide Well," hatred simmered in his eyes.

The hatred was heavy, but it was suppressed by sheer terror.

Li Taiping asked, "Are you also someone they want to catch?"

The youth didn't speak, but his knuckles turned white from gripping so hard; the jagged edge of the broken knife cut into his palm, and blood dripped through his fingers.

Li Taiping understood instantly.

A classic opening.

An unfamiliar map, a youth from a remnant people, and an evil tribe.

Was the next step for someone to jump out and shout, "Leave the women and the food behind"?

Unfortunately, there were no women here—at least none he could see yet—otherwise, the procedure would be even more standard.

The shadows of the trees began to sway.

There was no wind in the Black Forest Land, yet those trees were moving; someone was moving behind them.

*Crack.*

*Crack.*

Dry branches were snapped underfoot as over a dozen figures emerged from the forest.

They were tall, draped in black beast skins, their faces smeared with black mud, and all of them had Tide Mark on their foreheads.

For some, the Tide Mark were faint; for others, they had already spread to the corners of their eyes, making it look from a distance as if half their faces had been soaked in black water.

The leader was even taller, with shoulders as wide as door planks and a string of beast teeth hanging around his neck.

With every step, the beast teeth clattered against his chest, making a clicking sound.

He carried a stone axe on his shoulder; the blade was thick and stained with fresh blood that dripped down the edge.

"Grey Bone."

"Run."

"Why aren't you running anymore?"

The youth, Grey Bone, clenched his jaw.

"Black Tooth Chief."

"You have already taken the last of our tribe's food."

Black Tooth Chief laughed, startling a few black insects out of the crevices in the tree bark.

"Food?"

He tapped his shoulder with the handle of his axe.

"Grey Bone, haven't you understood yet?"

"What the Tide Well wants isn't food."

"It's lives."

Grey Bone's eyes turned red.

"My little sister is only seven years old!"

Black Tooth Chief licked his teeth.

"What about seven years old?"

"Her blood is tender."

"The Tide Well likes it."

Grey Bone suddenly lunged forward a step.

But in the next moment, he stopped again.

The dozen or so people behind Black Tooth Chief all looked up at once.

Their Tide Mark flickered with light.

Grey Bone's chest felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer; he let out a muffled groan and stumbled back.

Li Taiping took a look.

black tide blessing? Was it the same black tide he knew?

Only then did Black Tooth Chief turn his gaze to Li Taiping, his nostrils flaring.

"An outsider?"

A tall, thin man beside him stepped forward and sniffed forcefully.

"Chief."

"He doesn't have the scent of the Black Forest Land on him."

"No stench of the Grey Bone Tribe."

"And no bloody smell of a Sky Slave."

As he said this, his eyes lit up.

"He's clean."

"The Priest will surely like him."

Black Tooth Chief's expression changed.

It was greedy, yet tinged with awe.

"A clean outsider... what a fine prize."

He raised his stone axe and pointed it at Li Taiping.

"Kneel."

"Bind your own hands."

"I might not chop off your legs."

His voice wasn't loud, but the people of the Black Tooth Tribe all laughed; some slapped their beast skins, while others drummed on the trees with bone spears, creating a thumping sound.

Grey Bone's face paled, and he lowered his voice.

"Run, quickly."

"They have the black tide's blessing."

"Black Tooth Chief is the strongest hunter of the Black Tooth Tribe."

"He was bitten by the Tide Well and survived."

Li Taiping glanced at him.

"You're actually quite kind; you're a good person."