208: Chapter 208 (annotated)

Thirty miles is not a short distance in the Black Forest Land.

There are no roads here, only sprawling tree roots and man-eating toxic swamps.

Grey Bone ran desperately; even though his lungs felt like they were filled with cold wind, he gritted his teeth tightly, not daring to slow down by a single step.

Li Taiping walked very casually.

He did not use any movement skills; with each step he took, he was already three zhang away.

Those venomous insects and miasma lurking in the black soil would automatically disintegrate into ash as soon as they came within a foot of him.

Grey Bone caught a glimpse of this, and his heart beat even faster.

He swallowed hard and asked in a hoarse voice, "Outsider, what exactly is your rank?"

Li Taiping looked ahead: "Rank?"

"The Black Forest Land has its rules," Grey Bone said while panting. "Those who awaken Tide Mark are Hunters, and those who can borrow the power of the Tide Well are Priests. Above Priests are the Sky Slaves who fell from the sky, and the Tide Return Envoys who crawled out from the sea. Since you were able to crush the Tide Well's silence restriction just now, you must be of the royal family among the Tide Return Envoys."

Li Taiping laughed.

This place has quite an imaginative class division.

Calling outside Survivors Sky Slaves, and black tide monsters Tide Return Envoys.

"I am not royal," Li Taiping said indifferently, "I am just a passing Captain."

Grey Bone did not understand what a Captain was.

He only knew that the Black Tooth Tribe was just ahead.

The forest came to an end.

Ahead was a massive basin, surrounded by hundreds of thick animal bones erected around it.

Each bone was hung with shriveled skulls; when the wind blew, the skulls knocked against the bones, making hollow, clattering sounds.

In the center of the basin stood a sacrificial altar built of black stone.

In the middle of the altar was a black well with a diameter of over ten meters.

There was no sound of water, only thick black mist rolling out from the mouth of the well.

The mist carried an extremely heavy, foul stench, as if tens of thousands of corpses were fermenting inside.

The people of the Black Tooth Tribe surrounded the base of the altar, packed densely, numbering at least a thousand.

They were all kneeling on the ground, the Tide Mark on their foreheads shining with a gloomy light, chanting incantations that could not be understood.

On the altar stood a gaunt old man.

He was not wearing any clothes; his entire body was covered in black Tide Mark, and even the whites of his eyes had been dyed ink-black.

In his hand, he held a bone staff with a huge black crystal embedded at the top.

On the edge of the altar, over a dozen children were tied up.

The oldest was no more than ten, and the youngest was only five or six.

They were bound by black vines, their mouths stuffed with mud, their eyes filled with fearful tears.

One little girl with braided pigtails was struggling desperately, trying to break free from the vines.

Grey Bone's eyes instantly turned red, bloodshot veins spreading across his eyeballs.

"Sister!"

He let out a low roar, gripping the broken half of a blade, ready to rush out.

Li Taiping reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.

With just a press, Grey Bone felt as if he had been nailed to the spot, unable to take even half a step forward.

"What's the rush?" Li Taiping looked at the altar. "Even for dying, you have to wait in line."

Just then, the old man on the altar raised his bone staff.

"Tide Well, have mercy."

"Grant my Black Tooth Tribe the blood of immortality."

"Today, we offer the remnants of the Grey Bone Tribe to the well in exchange for the Abyss's gaze!"

The old man's voice was sharp and had strong penetrating power.

The thousands of Black Tooth tribesmen below shouted in unison, their voices shaking the surrounding leaves until they rustled down.

The old man waved his bone staff, pointing at the little girl with pigtails.

Two strong Black Tooth Tribe Hunters stepped forward, lifted the little girl from both sides, and dragged her toward the well.

The little girl struggled, emitting muffled cries.

Grey Bone was going crazy with anxiety, tears mixing with blood dripping down.

"Let her go!"

He shouted with all his might.

This shout seemed very abrupt amidst the fanatical sacrificial chanting.

The gazes of thousands of people swept over in unison.

The old man on the altar also turned his head, his ink-black eyes fixed on Grey Bone at the edge of the forest, and then his gaze fell on Li Taiping beside him.

The old man's nostrils twitched, and a glint of greed instantly erupted in the depths of his eyes.

"A clean scent without Tide Mark."

"A top-grade sacrifice!"

The old man laughed, slamming his bone staff heavily on the ground: "That useless Black Tooth Chief actually managed to find a Sky Slave! Capture him, and the Tide Well will surely bestow the highest grade of black tide blood!"

Below, hundreds of Black Tooth Tribe Hunters stood up simultaneously.

They drew their bone spears, the Tide Mark on their foreheads flickering, and they lunged toward Li Taiping like a pack of wolves that had smelled blood.

Grey Bone closed his eyes in despair.