Chapter 24: The Condition
Su Xiao’s primary task now was to obtain the compass from Old Bal.
In the Red Soil Region, one could barely survive the first few days, but the final days were a different story.
Su Xiao had already sensed that, starting from the second day, Reincarnation Paradise had gradually increased the survival difficulty.
Old Bal’s tribe had food and fresh water, but this wasn’t a place for long-term habitation. Staying here for the first five days of the survival trial should be fine, but the difficulty in the Red Soil Region would become terrifyingly high in the last five days.
Following Old Bal into the tribe, Su Xiao noticed that there were very few able-bodied men. It wasn’t hard to guess—they had all gone to the front lines to fight the insect race.
Before long, a tall stone house came into view.
This stone house was located at the center of the tribe, standing out conspicuously among the many low, squat stone dwellings.
A wooden plaque was tied to the stone house, carved with a vine.
This vine was depicted with wild, grasping tendrils, as if it were alive and ready to devour anyone who came near.
Su Xiao’s eyes flickered. The small tribe he had wiped out also had such a vine. That tribe had used it as a totem, but Old Bal’s tribe was different—the vine seemed to be merely some kind of emblem.
“Come in and sit.”
Old Bal walked into the stone house. There was no furniture inside; the walls were lined with animal skulls, and the center of the room was covered with fur pelts.
Old Bal sat cross-legged on the fur. Su Xiao sat opposite him, while Bubu Wang kept his distance from the pelt—the black-and-white patterned fur made him uneasy.
Once seated, Old Bal spoke: “You want to leave the Red Soil Region, don’t you?”
Su Xiao nodded. That was obvious.
“Alright, let’s negotiate a condition.”
Old Bal placed the compass in front of him.
“This is the only way to leave the Red Soil Region. Without it, you can’t get out.”
“Oh?”
Su Xiao didn’t press further. Old Bal would explain on his own.
“I don’t know how you got into the Red Soil Region, but I can show you a map.”
Old Bal stood up and pulled a piece of animal hide from a clay jar behind him.
He spread the hide in front of Su Xiao, revealing a crude map drawn with charcoal.
Though rough, it was a map of the Devouring Island.
The structure of Devouring Island was interesting. The island wasn’t a single continuous landmass. The Red Soil Region was at the very center, surrounded by a ring of cliffs.
The cliffs spanned dozens of meters in width and were bottomless, making it difficult to leave the Red Soil Region.
However, despite the cliffs surrounding the Red Soil Region, there were ways to leave.
On the front and back sides of the Red Soil Region, there were two natural stone bridges connecting to the normal areas. One of these bridges was half-destroyed, leaving only one intact.
“The compass points to that stone bridge. So if you want to leave quickly, you’ll need it. If you follow the cliffs, it’ll take at least ten days. But with the compass, it’s at most a day’s journey from here to the bridge.”
While Su Xiao couldn’t fully trust Old Bal’s words, they were fairly credible.
Su Xiao had indeed seen the cliffs. He had traveled along them for a long time, but the obstacles along the way were too numerous, forcing him to give up.
Not to mention the terrain near the cliffs, the creatures lurking there alone were deadly.
“What’s this?”
Su Xiao pointed to a ring of forest at the edge of Devouring Island.
“This is the Black Forest—a forbidden zone within forbidden zones. If you don’t want to die, don’t go there.”
Now Su Xiao fully understood the layout of Devouring Island.
The outermost ring of Devouring Island was a forest—the Black Forest—which covered the largest area.
Inside the Black Forest was the normal area, the safest and most resource-rich region.
Further inward was the ring of cliffs, with the Red Soil Region on the other side.
If one looked at Devouring Island from above, it would resemble a target: the red bullseye was the Red Soil Region, the green ring around it was the normal area, and the outermost black ring was the Black Forest.
After understanding the situation on Devouring Island, Su Xiao was even more eager to leave the Red Soil Region.
“State your condition.”
Since it was a transaction, he might as well get straight to the point.
Old Bal gestured for the few natives in the stone house to leave first.
“Bai Ye, you’ve encountered the ‘Blood Vine Warriors,’ haven’t you?”
“Blood Vine Warriors?”
“Yes. You have their blood scent on you. Don’t deny it—their blood has a very distinct smell.”
Su Xiao’s hand moved closer to his blade hilt, a smile on his face as he looked at Old Bal.
“I might have seen them. Killed a few dozen.”
Old Bal shot to his feet, but at that moment, a blade pressed against his throat.
“You killed them? Did you kill Bari too? Excellent!”
Old Bal raised his hand to show he meant no harm, but the excitement on his face was unmistakable.
“Bari? Never heard of him.”
“A Yamanman who used blow darts.”
“That guy.”
Su Xiao nodded. There was no need to hide it now. If things went south, he could just fight his way out.
“I sincerely thank you.”
Old Bal seemed overjoyed to learn that group of natives had been wiped out.
“My ‘dear’ brother, you’re finally dead.”
Old Bal paced around the stone house, his delight plain to see.
“It seems I helped you eliminate a rival. No thanks?”
Old Bal stopped pacing and sat back down opposite Su Xiao.
“No thanks.”
“Expected.”
Old Bal looked Su Xiao up and down.
“You killed them at night, didn’t you?”
“Hmm?”
Su Xiao looked at Old Bal with confusion.
“Don’t be puzzled. If it had been daytime, under the sun, you would have been the one dead.”
Old Bal had personally seen Su Xiao fight on the battlefield, yet he still said this.
“Daytime? Sun?”
Su Xiao murmured to himself but didn’t press further.
“By the way, when you killed Bari and the others, did you find anything in their tribe? Like a transparent crystal or a black seed?”
Su Xiao guessed the transparent crystal was a Soul Crystal, but he had no idea what the black seed could be.
“No.”
Even if he had found something, he wouldn’t say.
“What a shame. Let’s continue discussing the compass.”
Old Bal pondered for a few minutes before speaking: “I can give you the compass, but you need to do something for me.”
This was an expected outcome.
“What is it?”
Su Xiao was already prepared to take it by force. Only Old Bal was in the stone house.
“It’s like this: three days from now, we’ll go to war with the insect race. This kind of war is common, but the scale is significant. We’re mobilizing 15,000 troops.”
The Yamanman tribe had a total of 50,000 combatants, so mobilizing 15,000 was quite substantial.
“After the battle starts, I need you to do something—go to the insect race’s nest and steal something.”
“Impossible.”
Su Xiao refused outright. The insect race was no pushover, especially in their own lair.
“Don’t refuse so quickly.”
Old Bal chuckled lightly, as if he had anticipated Su Xiao’s refusal.
“I’ll go with you.”
Clearly, what Old Bal wanted to do wasn’t for the tribe’s benefit—it was something shady, otherwise he wouldn’t seek help from an outsider like Su Xiao.