\"Xiao Han!\"
A pleading cry fell on his ear before he felt someone kicking right in his ribs making an intense pain to shot through his body. His eyes already felt heavy as if rocks had been weighing down on them.
\"Wake up already! It'd be no fun if you kept sleeping,\" he heard an unfamiliar but mocking voice.
Zhang Han slowly opened his eyes and what came into his view were tall trees. It was a dense forest, sunlight only fell on the ground through the cracks. Outgrown roots, wildflowers, fallen leaves and a minty fragrance of grass greeted him. However, he could still distinctly discern the smell of death and fear hovering in the air around him.
He had seen forests that seemed serene, carried a melody without rhythm and played the music without the sound. And in the greens of every palate, one would find the verdant hues of nature's free dreams.
But at this moment, he couldn't even fathom how many people's blood had painted the dirt path ahead of him. Just how many people took their last breath right where he was?
\"Is he playing dead? Why isn't that kid moving?\" a man clothed in blue asked.
\"Maybe he is too scared and fainted again,\" replied his female companion in red.
\"It'd be a shame if he died just like that. I only took this task because I thought I'd be seeing an entertaining show,\" another voice chimed in.
\"Me too. I also want to see the fear in his eyes. I want him to run for his life. It'd be more fun when those wolves would tear his limbs apart,\" said the female from earlier.
Hearing their discussion, Lily's heart almost stopped as she looked in the direction of Zhang Han with fear and worry. She felt so helpless and useless at that moment. She couldn't even help him! Without realizing it, tears had started falling down her cheeks.
How useless and incapable she felt that she couldn't even help the same person who actually taught her to live. She always found him annoying when he tagged along with Yuan with the excuse of being under her care to learn some martial arts. But she later learned that his sole purpose to tag along was just to tease her.
He'd always find a way to make her smile without her even realizing it. It was his care and attention that actually pulled her completely out of the shadows of death. She was grateful to Ru and her Black Mist squad for saving her. But neither Ru nor Black Mist squad knew what a normal teenager would want in life, so none of them was able to break her walls completely.
If it wasn't for Ru to ask Lily to become a trainer for Yuan, she'd have never encountered this weird kid who always smiled at her kindly. But now when he needed her, her hands were tied, literally!
\"Xiao Han!\" she burst out in tears with a whisper.
Only then did Zhang Han sat up to look before him. Ten people clad in their different colors of jackets could be seen. It seemed that each color represented the rank of the person. However, he was really not interested in them. But when his eyes fell on that square cage made of metal, his eyes fumed with fiery rage.
Especially because the girl kneeling inside that cage looked really sad. Her tears made his rage to reach another level.
\"Oh, this high and might young master is finally up. I guess we won't be disappointed with the show now.\" He couldn't tell who said that but it was not like he cared. His eyes were stuck on that figure shaking inside the cage.
\"Don't be so impolite, little seven. This young master might start to cry otherwise.\" A roar of laughter ensued around.
\"Haha! Then he'll call for his mommy!\"
\"Hahaha!\"
Suddenly hearing that laughter all of them turned silent and looked at Zhang Han with incredulous looks in their eyes. Why was he suddenly laughing? Couldn't he see his death was imminent?
\"I think he's lost his brain.\" One of those men suggested.
\"Right. Seeing that he can't avoid death, he really lost it.\" Another agreed with him.
Zhang Han looked at their faces with a strange look. \"I guess you all have no brain like your master.\"
\"What did you say?!\" An angry roar came from the team leader at the front in black clothes who had been silent until now. \"Don't you dare say our master's name from your filthy mouth!\"
\"Shouldn't I be calling you all brainless? After all, you did me such a huge favor by actually leaving me here. Right in the middle of a forest. Do you know how much I love forests?\"
Zhang Han's words made everyone feel strange. What was this kid playing at?
\"Do you think we brought you here for fun? Or for camping? Kid, we brought you to your grave!\" The leader snickered.
Zhang Han slowly stood up from the ground. With a thud, everyone heard the chains on his hands falling on the ground. They looked at his dumbstruck while he rubbed his sore wrists and added, \"You did your job by bringing me to this playground. Now, it's my turn to make it your grave!\"
\"How-\" The leader's words were left in his mouth as Zhang Han's figure moved past like a flash of lightning while sliting the leader's throat with the tiny but sharp blade that had been implanted inside his ring.
Everyone pulled out their weapon to attack but his figure was like floating on air as he moved across the ten of them and easily dropped them all on the ground in an instant.
He touched the side of his ring and the blade vanished as if it wasn't there at all. Looking at the bodies lying at his feet, he clenched his fists. \"Do you really think a disciple of Jingshen Temple is that easy to mess with?\"