"This is damn witchcraft!" Amidst Dennis's shouts, the three finally reached the place where the tribespeople were.

Shen Lan and Xia Chuan directly blocked the front, extending their long arms to pull the four people closest to them behind. They then nimbly dodged two stone arrows shooting straight at their chests, and raised their hands to catch two more arrows flying towards the back.

Although the arrowheads of these stone arrows were not made of metal and were not as exquisitely crafted as those of later generations, they were still very finely polished by current standards. Xia Chuan swept a glance and felt that compared to the stone arrows commonly used by the tribespeople behind, the damage would probably be a bit higher.

Although Dennis also followed, his combat power was obviously incomparable to Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, so he did not rush recklessly to the front, but went straight to the back to check on the wounded, and pulled the few tribespeople behind the trees to avoid injury.

However, whether it was Xia Chuan, Shen Lan or Dennis in the back, they couldn't help but glance again at that barrier-like darkness.

Looking at that darkness from a closer distance felt even more bizarre--

There were four or five tribespeople on this side holding torches, distributed in different positions from front to back. Theoretically, the firelight should have illuminated a brighter area, with the diffused range being circular. But in fact, the left, right and back were all very natural, only the darkness in front remained unaffected by the firelight, standing there abruptly.

There was almost no transition between the bright area they were in and that darkness, or the transition was extremely short. An extremely clear dividing line could almost be seen on the ground.

Beyond that dividing line, it was truly as dark as ink.

The three were all aware that these stone arrows could not have been automatically generated by that darkness. There must be people behind it, and judging from the precision of the stone arrows, those people seemed to be completely unrestrained by that darkness and could directly see the positions of each person on this side.

Linking this with the previous beasts, it was obvious that they had been ambushing for a long time.

They suddenly thought of what they had heard Laura say before, that the chief and the inhabitants of the tribe suspected that those beasts had already been tamed and turned into hunting tools, and the ones who tamed them were most likely that tribe that had been coveting the fruits of others' labor all day long.

Now it seemed that this guess had also come true.

But they didn't expect that tribe to have such an unimaginable trick. Thinking this, Xia Chuan raised his hand to block two more stone arrows. He quickly lowered his body, picked up the stone arrows that had fallen to the ground, and at the same time pushed the few tribespeople who had been pulled behind him back a few steps. Regardless of whether the other party could understand or not, he gestured a simple sign and said, "Get out of the way!"

But just in the time it took for him to turn around, several stone balls flew over, with tricky angles and precise aim.

With an "ah" scream, two of the tribespeople Xia Chuan was driving away were hit in the head by the stone balls, clutching their heads as they were knocked to the ground. The surface of those stone balls was rough and they were not light. Being directly hit on the head like this was truly not a minor injury.

One of them was probably hit near the temple and immediately curled up on the ground with his eyes rolled back. The other had a layer of skin scraped off, and blood quickly seeped out from the skin, turning from blood spots to blood beads in the blink of an eye, growing larger and larger, flowing down half his face.

The other two ran out a few steps before reacting, and hurriedly retreated back. Seeing the injuries of their companions, their faces were instantly filled with a grim anger.

Although Xia Chuan and the others had not lived in this tribe for a long time, they could see from many daily things that every person in this tribe was very loyal, treated people sincerely, and when they were good, they almost wanted to give their heart and soul, so straightforward that it was sometimes a bit reckless.

This was certainly a good thing in normal times, but it was a bit bad in the current situation.

Because when those tribespeople discovered that more of their companions were injured, the first thing they thought of was not to find a place to avoid it, but to directly rush to the front to avenge their companions and relieve the hatred in their hearts.

After Xia Chuan lowered his body to pick up the stone arrows, he simply scooped up those few stone balls as well, and without a second word, raised his hand and threw the stone arrows and stone balls one by one into that darkness.

His strength was extremely great, and except for Shen Lan, there was probably no second opponent present. Moreover, his throwing technique was also great. Whether it was the posture of pulling his arm back, the angle, or the movement of his wrist, they were all very professional.

But in the current situation, it was not useful to just have professional movements and great strength.

Because after those stone arrows and stone balls drew an extremely beautiful curve, they disappeared straight into the darkness, leaving no trace at all.

This feeling was extremely uncomfortable. All the attacks thrown out had no response, and it was impossible to know who those stone arrows and stone balls were going towards, where they landed, and whether they hit any targets. It was like punching cotton, with the other party being completely unaffected.

At the same time, Shen Lan, who had just blocked a few stone arrows and raised his hand to catch a stone ball, frowned and turned his head to Xia Chuan, saying, "Something's wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Xia Chuan saw that his expression was serious and irritated, and asked while blocking a stone spear.

It seemed that since seeing this darkness, the only thing they had been saying was "something's wrong". Xia Chuan really couldn't imagine how this situation could get any more wrong.

"The sound!" Shen Lan replied, "When you threw those stone arrows and stone balls, I could hear the sound of the wind as they passed through the air, but once they entered that darkness, those wind sounds abruptly stopped, and after that, I couldn't hear any sounds at all, as if the sounds they brought out were all eaten by that darkness."

He rarely said such a long sentence. Usually when something happened, he only needed to point out a few keywords and Xia Chuan would understand his meaning with tacit understanding. But this time, if he didn't describe it, Xia Chuan really wouldn't understand what he meant.

What did it mean that the darkness swallowed the sound?

Xia Chuan frowned tightly, and while fending off attacks, he focused most of his attention on the sounds entering his ears. He listened carefully for a while and finally understood what Shen Lan meant.

When he wasn't paying attention, he didn't notice, but as soon as he did, it seemed even more bizarre - there seemed to be no sound at all in that darkness, neither human voices nor the sounds of attack. Whatever noise should have been there under normal circumstances, not a bit of it could be heard from where the darkness was.

All the sounds started from the dividing line between the darkness and the light, only beginning from there.

"What's going on?!" Xia Chuan instinctively raised his hand again and counterattacked with a few stone arrows.

This time, he took aim at the direction the two stone arrows had come from, and threw them back there again, but still couldn't get any feedback. He couldn't hear if the stone arrows had hit anyone, nor could he hear if anyone cried out in pain from being injured.

In that instant, Xia Chuan felt as if they weren't fighting against other humans, but against a piece of darkness and void.

What could you hit when attacking the void? When would it end?

Xia Chuan felt that this behavior was somewhat absurd. However, he couldn't just leave, because while they couldn't attack the darkness and void, it could attack them.

He wasn't stupid or reckless. After trying twice, he no longer threw the stone arrows and balls back. Besides giving the other side more weapons, it was simply useless.

And Shen Lan obviously had the same idea as him.

It's just that the two of them couldn't represent everyone. After all, the ones who really made up the majority here, or rather, the ones the other side really wanted to attack, were the tribespeople beside Xia Chuan and Shen Lan.

It's just that with Xia Chuan and Shen Lan's participation, the other side's attacks encountered obstacles. Some of the stone arrows that should have hit were forcibly blocked by the two, and some were directly caught. Many of the stone balls were deflected by them, and the javelins were directly intercepted...

The other side had quite a variety of weapons. In addition to these, there were things like stone axes that flew out horizontally while spinning. That was farther away from Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, and the two couldn't take care of it. So a tribesman who had his back to the darkness and was bending over to help the wounded was directly hit in the neck and passed out immediately.

In just a few minutes, two of the tribespeople on Xia Chuan's side had already passed out, two were seriously injured and couldn't continue fighting, seven had external wounds with broken skin and bleeding, and the rest who were unharmed were all being protected by Xia Chuan and Shen Lan during the attack.

As for the casualties on the other side, it was impossible to count. Perhaps there were seriously injured, perhaps there were only minor flesh wounds, or perhaps not even a single hair was lost.

This completely unequal battle made Xia Chuan and Shen Lan feel extremely irritated.

If it were under normal circumstances, the more difficult the opponent, the more interested Shen Lan would be, and the more he would want to teach the opponent a lesson. But he just had a strong desire to win, not really charging ahead brainlessly.

At least in the current situation, his thoughts were the same as Xia Chuan's. They both felt that there was no need to continue this battle. While the losses were still controllable, retreating directly back up the slope was the right thing to do.

But obviously, the tribespeople didn't think so.

With each additional person injured, their fighting spirit rose another notch with anger, and you could almost see the raging flames burning on top of their heads.

In the rear, Dennis, seeing more and more casualties, to the point where he could barely take care of them, also became very anxious. He finally couldn't help but poke his head out from behind the tree and shouted directly in the direction of Xia Chuan and the others, "What are you still fighting for?! Hurry up and go back!"

As he shouted, he also took action, getting up and directly grabbing two tribesmen, dragging them behind the tree.

Unfortunately, although he was a head taller than those two tribesmen, his strength was no match for theirs. The two tribesmen broke free without a word, glaring angrily at somewhere in the darkness ahead, not even shifting a bit of attention to Dennis. They raised their hands, drew their bows fully, and shot the stone arrows in their hands one by one.

Xia Chuan and Shen Lan had tried it themselves twice before, and both felt that attacking aimlessly was simply giving the other side more weapons at a huge loss. So when they turned around and saw the tribespeople beside them still shooting arrows and throwing spears at the opposite side, they were very helpless and wanted to raise their hands to stop them.

But soon, the hands they had raised to block the tribespeople fell back down.

Because they found that the reality seemed to be somewhat different from what they had thought.

They discovered that when the tribespeople beside them were shooting arrows and throwing spears, they didn't seem to be doing it aimlessly. Generally, when people are unsure of the other side's location, they will use two methods -

One is to shoot wildly regardless, from left to right or from right to left, directly shooting a row in turn.

The other is to do as Xia Chuan did before, remember the location where the other side's stone arrows came from, find a certain point, and then stare at that point and attack.

But the tribespeople beside them were obviously not doing either.

Xia Chuan found that each of their arrows seemed to have a purpose. Sometimes they would immediately change direction to shoot at another place after shooting one arrow, sometimes they would focus on one spot and shoot two or even three arrows in a row. And the way they changed directions was not in any order from left to right or right to left, but typically shooting here and there, with no discernible pattern.

After watching for a while, he looked up and happened to meet Shen Lan's eyes.

Shen Lan's eyes obviously held the same doubts as him, and what the two of them were thinking probably wasn't much different.

"I feel like..." Shen Lan said to Xia Chuan speculatively, "They don't seem to be aimless?"

Xia Chuan nodded, apparently agreeing with his view.

The way these tribespeople shot arrows was obviously not that kind of aimless shooting, nor was it like gambling and staring at one spot. The way they shot arrows seemed a bit special in this situation, but in normal circumstances, it couldn't be more ordinary.

Because that was the most common way of shooting arrows - aim at one and shoot it, change if you hit it, shoot a few more times if you don't.

"What's going on?" Xia Chuan frowned, his gaze going back and forth between the tribespeople and that piece of darkness several times, his expression full of surprise and doubt. The wind blowing through the forest grew stronger and stronger, unfortunately in the opposite direction of their path, which was actually in favor of those hidden in the darkness.

Along with the wind, a few rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance, rolling and booming.

The weather here seemed determined to be capricious and uncooperative to the end. After days of overcast skies, it finally reacted as it should at the most inopportune moment, and it began to rain.

Whether it was Shen Lan, Xia Chuan, or Dennis, they could all hear the sound of heavy rain rapidly sweeping over from the thundering sky in the distance, as if a curtain had been pulled up in an instant. The forest they were confronting was no exception. The dense downpour was not something the branches and leaves could withstand. Rainwater carrying the scent of grass, wood, and earth quickly penetrated the forest canopy and poured down.

The rain, following the direction of the wind, was not only heavy and difficult to resist but also slanted, directly hitting Xia Chuan and the others in the face, quickly making it difficult for them to keep their eyes open.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight like this?! Let's go back! Drag them back!" Dennis shouted at them from behind a tree.

The heavy rain hitting the branches and leaves was like the most intense drumbeat, extremely noisy, and had become the biggest barrier. Shen Lan's ears were so disturbed by the sound that they hurt. The sound of stone arrows piercing the air and the wind generated by stone balls, which he could originally hear, were all drowned out by the sound of rain and could no longer be heard clearly.

For others, not being able to hear clearly still meant they could use their eyes to see. But for Shen Lan, not being able to hear meant he could rest, as his eyes were not of much use.

He and Xia Chuan each made a prophecy before going to bed. One said, "It will definitely rain tonight or tomorrow," and the other said, "I always feel something will happen tonight." How lucky, the words of the crows came true as a pair, and both of them were right.

This is really damn deadly!

With the rain coming down, the two felt even more that stopping the fight was the wisest choice. Everyone was so miserable, what was there left to fight for?

Shen Lan and Xia Chuan grabbed their tribesmen beside them without further ado and pushed them in the direction they had come from. Their intention couldn't be more obvious. This time, these ancestors finally gave them some face and were no longer so recklessly charging to their deaths.

They neatly shot off the stone arrows in their hands, then casually threw a few stone balls. With their anger not yet dissipated and a look of reluctance on their faces, they grabbed their bows and followed Xia Chuan and the others, planning to retreat under the cover of the trees.

But just as they were about to leave the forest in groups of three or two, bringing the wounded with them, those at the very back only felt something dart past their hands out of the corner of their eyes. Due to the torches being extinguished and the lack of daylight, they couldn't see any details at all.

As a result, the next second, they heard a few miserable screams.

Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, who were in the middle of the crowd, abruptly looked in the direction where the screams came from. Shen Lan couldn't see clearly, but Xia Chuan's eyesight was exceptionally good. He distinguished a few extremely fast figures in the darkness.

"The beasts from before!" Xia Chuan blurted out.

Shen Lan's brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.

In such an environment, it was naturally not suitable to continue attacking with weapons like stone balls and stone arrows. Although these weapons were extremely advanced in this primitive environment, objectively speaking, they were still not considered refined and were still clumsily difficult to fight with.

So Xia Chuan and the others on their side gave up the fight and retreated first with a good understanding of their own abilities.

But they had almost forgotten that in addition to these clumsy weapons, the other side had also tamed a group of extremely agile and cunning beasts. Even on a rainy day, their attacking power would not be greatly reduced, and they could still distinguish the location of targets based on smell and other movements. In such an environment, they were simply a great killing weapon.

Now it was too late for them to retreat even if they wanted to.

By the time Shen Lan and Xia Chuan realized this, they had already taken action and were fighting with the group of beasts.

As they were about to leave, they unknowingly shifted their position in the entanglement. By the time they reacted, they had already reached the edge of the darkness and were about to disappear into it along with the beasts.

"Be careful!" Xia Chuan immediately called out to remind Shen Lan as soon as he noticed. He then fiercely twisted the head of the beast under his knee, lifted the corpse, and threw it into the darkness.

He let go of that beast and reached out to grab Shen Lan, pulling him towards himself.

Those loyal tribesmen obviously couldn't just sit back and watch the two of them fight with the beasts while they retreated. So they also picked up their weapons and rejoined the battle.

Only this time, Xia Chuan watched with his own eyes as they charged into the darkness with a look of indignation on their faces, without even blinking.