"You can go in," the woman ultimately allowed the four Emperors to go in, hearing about their relationship with Dai Jinjing's disciple.
The doors of the Palace opened on their own, letting the four Emperors enter.
...
Zhu Chang heard the howling of the beast, which interested him a lot. Finally, after a long time, he had heard something which wasn't the whistling of grass.
He flew straight to the sources of that noise, soon finding the place.
He was able to see where the cry was coming from. There remained a huge field in front of him which was filled with spirits.
At the moment, there seemed to be at least a thousand Dark Spirits there, some of which seemed like humans. As for the others, they seemed like beasts. The majority of the Dark Spirits were the beast though. Only a rare few looked like himself.
" Are these the Dark Spirits they talked about? They don't look that threatening," Zhu Chang muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Whatever, anything is better than nothing. I can just enjoy with them now," he let out as he walked closer to the field.
Tuck~
"Huh?"
Zhu Chang walked to the field only to be stopped as he felt his body hit something.
He couldn't help but take a step back, confused.
"Is there an invisible barrier here?" He wondered, reaching out his hand.
Just as he expected, he was able to feel the barrier. "I was right. This is a pretty good barrier though. Even I didn't realize that there was one here!"
"I wonder why this barrier exists. Did they know I was coming? Did they really think this could stop me? A barrier like this is nothing for me."
Smirking, Zhu Chang clenched his fist. He took a step back, adjusting his body before punching the barrier, shattering the barrier.
....
"That's right. We keep them inside a barrier. They say it's to stop them from running away."
"Really. So how did you all capture the Dark Spirits in one place? How did you defeat them? Weren't they strong?"
Walking through the forest, Long Chen and the little girl talked with each other.
Long Chen asked her many questions to understand more about this place. He especially asked them about the Dark Spirits, where they're kept, how they're handled and the things related to that.
"I don't know. I wasn't born then. They have always been in our farms for as far as I know. It's only you who told me that they used to rule this Island at one time. I didn't even know that before," the girl answered.
"So you all eat those Dark Spirits as food?" Long Chen asked.
"We eat their spiritual energy, not them," the girl answered.
"Isn't that the same thing? Dark Spirits are only an accumulation of the Spirit Energy. You eat the Spirit Energy means you eat them," Blood Dragon Emperor chimed in. "There's no difference."
"What about your clan? How many people do you have there?" Long Chen asked the girl.
"We are fifty people," the girl answered.
"Only fifty?" Long Chen asked, surprised. With only fifty people, they took over the island? Moreover, how can a clan have so few people? That in itself was surprising, especially after they've been living here for so long apparently.
"Yes. One Patriarch, three from the second generation, twelve from the third generation, and thirty-four from our generation, the fourth generation," the girl explained.
"So most of them are youngsters like you? The person who stole from you, is he also from the fourth generation?" Long Chen asked.
"That's right. He's the eldest of us all. He always bullies me," the girl replied, becoming sad.
"Is that so? Why didn't you complain about that to your parents then? You could've let them help you, right?" Long Chen asked, stunned.
Unfortunately, the girl shook her head. "I couldn't have. I don't have parents to use their help."
"What about the other Elders? I'm sure someone would have helped you?"Long Chen asked.
The girl shook her head again. " It doesn't happen like that. No one helps another person."
"So your clan is like a wild place where you must fend for yourself?" Long Chen asked.
"Yes," the girl nodded.
"Do you hate them in that case?"Long Chen asked again. This time, the girl didn't reply.
"So you do?" Long Chen asked.
"They make me sad many times," the girl answered.
"Do you want to go to a different place, away from them?"
"Different place?"
"Yeah. A faraway place where you don't have your family. If you had the opportunity, would you accept that?"
"No."
"And why is that?"
"Because I want to stay with my clan. Even if I don't like them, I can't live without them. I want to stay with them forever," the girl replied.
"Good. You can always stay with them. I'll help you take out that Kobuta. He won't even disturb you in the future. But you just have to do one thing for us before that, to help us."
"What thing?"
"You will need to bring him out of the clan. I can't take your toy from him inside the clan since the family would interfere. You understand, right? Can you bring him out to an isolated place?"Long Chen asked.
The girl thought for a little, ultimately nodding her head. "I can do that."
"That's good. But before doing that, you need to make sure that no one knows about me. You must do it in a way that no one knows you brought Kobuta out."
"I'll do that."
"That's good. If you do that, most of the things next are a child's play after that," Long Chen let out, smiling.
Long Chen continued following the lady, ultimately exiting the forest.
Leaving the forest, he was able to see other poorly made housing structures in the distance. Instead of a clan mansion, it seems more like a collection of wooden huts that were made from the same wood that was found on the trees here.
The entire complex was surrounded by a wooden fence, through which no one could see.
The girl stopped at the exit of the forest.
"This is as far as you should go. If you go ahead, you'll be seen. Just stay here; I'll bring him!" She informed Long Chen before she left.
She approached the fence.
Long Chen watched the girl pass the fence before disappearing. He also stepped back a little as he started waiting for her to come out with the target.
The world-traveling stone was within his reach, and he wasn't going to have to stay here after that, which was what he wanted.