"Halt!"

"This is the Village of Sang, state your business here!?"

Everyone heard the voice as Gong Yi responded;

"We are nomad experts form just outside the Jun Empire, and we received word that there is a certain village in need of help here, so we have come to render our help…"

Then the group heard what seemed to be a hushed conversation between the youth who just spoke and the rest of his group, and after about five minutes, ten young boys about the same age as Xiao Gui [16] all stepped out from the bush with their arrows aimed at the group whilst one of them stepped forward and asked;

"How can you prove that you are not one of those rogue mercenary groups who have come to rip us off again?"

"Because there would be no need for us to come in this way if we wanted to rob you; any two amongst us here can flatten your entire tribe and take whatever we want…" Elder Fu with a slight grin;

"Hmph! Anyone can make such bold claims-"

"-But many of them do not have the ability to back it up right?"

Elder Fu's voice drifted over from behind the group as the frightened boys jumped and turned around to see Elder Fu who was about 5 meters from them earlier now standing behind their group with a dagger pointed at the throat of one of their teammates…

"Alright you have made your point, now let him go…"

The leading youth quickly blurted with a frightened expression whilst Elder Fu looked over to Min Hong who then nodded his head before he then let the kid go…

The youth who was let go saw his legs turn to jelly as he fell to his knees before falling unconsciously to the ground due to the shock he had been put through…

"Alright, lead us to your tribe leader, we still need more information about what is going on here…"

Min Hong requested as the boy signaled two of his teammates to carry their unconscious partner as they led the way into their tribe, and when the group entered the village, they were all taken aback…

Contrary to expectations, and from first glance, this village seems to be anything but poor...

Their entire village looked seems to be fenced with solid concrete and metal bars, and their entrance was made up of a huge wall standing about 20 meters in height with some youth patrolling to and fro atop it with bows and arrows…

It also had two 3 meter wide and thick pillars which held their massive 15 meter tall iron gates which then had 5 meter long pikes atop it which seemed to be put there to impale any beast which tried to leap over their gates…

The youths escorting Min Hong's group then showed a unique hand sign to the patrols to confirm their identity before the gates were opened…

But the moment the gates opened, a gust of wind carrying fine sand and dust rolled out of the village and after the breeze blew past them, Min Hong's group was even more taken aback by what was within these gates…

There were several structures and buildings within this village which looked sturdy, urban and grand with most of them being at least two stories tall…

These buildings were standing on either sides of the wide road which led from the gates deep into the village itself…

The roads were paved with concrete bricks as far as the eyes could see, and everything about this village radiated wealth, and this came as a shock to Min Hong's group but they were able to keep a composed surface…

The first strange thing they noticed was that the doors and windows of almost every building in sight were shut, and the entire place looked deserted;

"That explains the gut of dust that came out of the gates…"

Gong Yi took note as he muttered whilst the rest of the group also nodded as they had also reached a similar train of thought…

But Min Hong on the other hand, could also sense another strange phenomenon, like some sort of mysterious and repulsive aura covering the village and it was giving him some sort of bloodthirsty vibe, as if two sworn enemies had just come in contact with one another…

Though it was faint, it was still there and Min Hong could pick up on it and he simply chucked it up to his oversensitive spirit sense…

They moved deeper and deeper into the village before the boy leading the group then instructed one of his team member to go announce the presence of Min Hong's group to their Tribe Leader and Elders…

Then after walking some distance into the village, they arrived at the village square, and beyond that square was a massive mansion in the distance that closed the entire road…

This mansion wasn't considered massive because of its height as it was only three stories tall, but its width instead; it looked like five mansions stacked together side by side with the one at its center being three stories tall…

It also had a massive fence and see through gates that demarcated it from the rest of the village, and at the moment, there were about twelve figures waiting within the vast compound of this mansion, and ten of them were men except for the youth who was sent to announce their arrival, and a lady who stood beside a round man in the middle…

The lady and the round man were adorned with all sort of precious gems and the group could tell that they were probably the Leader of the tribe and his wife; another four men stood two each on either side of this round man and the lady whilst five guards stood behind each of them…

"Welcome to our humble village, venerable ladies and gentlemen…

This is the village of Sang; the home of the Sang Tribe…"

The short round man walked over with broad smiles as he welcomed Min Hong's group over;

"Greetings Tribe Leader, Lady and Elders…"

Elder Fu responded with a slight bow to the group in front of him whilst the rest of the group also followed suit, except Min Hong who had a forced smile etched on his face;

Something about this village and these men is irking him, and he didn't know why this was happening...