Chapter 645 - Empty Threats Continued.
"Don't make me break your legs, human," Princess Na'im warned. She took out a piece of leather from her waist and tied Hao Xuan's hands to it before effortlessly throwing him over her shoulder.
"Sorry..." Hao Xuan whispered back and allowed her to do as she pleased.
It would be a lie to say that Hao Xuan didn't feel mistreated in this current situation but it was out of his control. Although he couldn't feel their exact realm, each of these barbarians was still extremely powerful judging from their auras alone.
Especially Princess Na'im herself, the blond-haired female named Orna who seemed to be second in command after her, and even Burak and another of his male followers.
Although it seemed like their auras were well hidden by some kind of a spell or treasure but if Hao Xuan had to guess, he would probably bet that they were at least equivalent to Profound Realm cultivators from the beast world.
There was nothing to support this notion other than a simple hunch. He had been stuck in the spirit realm for a long time himself and these guys were definitely stronger, despite the fact that he did not yet know what type of cultivation system they used themselves.
With Hao Xuan on her back, Princess Na'im led this group of a little over twenty individuals through the Endless Forest herself. Hao Xuan was too embarrassed to even look up so he pretended to be asleep throughout the journey, which lasted almost half an hour.
Their speed was extremely fast even though it looked like they were just running along casually without putting in too much effort. If Hao Xuan used 'Heavenly Blare' which gave him a huge burst of speed, he could probably match them but only for a handful of minutes at most.
It was a good thing he didn't try to escape because he wouldn't have gotten very far.
Feeling the pace dropping Hao Xuan glanced at the surroundings and saw that they had arrived near a wide-open grassland. The other barbarians split up at this point and went in different directions, leaving only Princess Na'im, Orna, Burak, and one other male barbarian who was called Isak to carry on by themselves (Authors notes).
Isak remained quiet for the most part, speaking only when spoken to and even then in the fewest words possible. He wasn't as muscular as Burak but didn't seem weak in any aspect. In fact, between him and Burak, Isak seemed more like royalty. His overall demeanor and how he carried himself spoke volumes.
All the others seemed to respect him as a powerful warrior, just a level below Princess Na'im herself.
They sprinted for several minutes, crossing a few hills covered in green and red grasses before coming to a stop. Hao Xuan looked up to see close to two dozen circular dwellings that looked remarkably similar to the Mongolian 'yurts' back from earth.
On the sides were four towers on which stood two barbarians each, and near the back was a closed-off area that housed several large animals that were grazing by themselves.
Hearing the sound of footsteps people came out of these yurts, creating quite a commotion.
Hao Xuan was quite surprised to see that there were a lot of 'relatively' normal-sized people here. Even some children and youngsters along with other normal-sized couples came out to greet them.
From the looks of it, those that could be actually labeled as 'barbarians' like Burak and Princess Na'im were barely 30-40% of the total. Most seemed quite ordinary when compared to them but they were still half a size larger than 'regular' humans.
Princess Na'im who could make even Burak settle down with just a few words was the most popular person here. She was like a hero returning from battle, getting cheers and cries of adoration from almost every single person, especially the children.
They ran up to her without an ounce of fear, pulling on her hands and clothes, asking questions non-stop. And since Hao Xuan was in quite a conspicuous position on her shoulder, he also became the hottest topic in the camp.
They ran behind her talking amongst themselves.
"Look! Look! Is that a human?"
"A human? Really?"
"I wanna see, I've never seen one before!"
"....it's kinda ugly..."
"Are all humans ugly?"
"Can we eat it?"
"Ew, why would you eat something so ugly?"
Their conversations kept getting translated automatically, bringing unnecessary pain to Hao Xuan who they were about. He had to hold himself back from yelling at them and pretended to be asleep.
Princess Na'im took out a few random rocks and pebbles she had picked up somewhere along the way and threw them in another direction, successfully distracting them.
She went up to a row of three old men and women that were being helped by some youngsters and lightly bowed in front of them.
"Please gather the elders, there is a lot we need to discuss."
All three of them nodded silently and turned around with the youngster's help to go back into one of the yurts.
Princess Na'im turned around to see Orna who was the only one still there.
"Go get some rest."
"But the huma-"
"I'll take care of it, don't worry about him," she said before entering one of the yurts near the center, along with Hao Xuan.
***
Authors Notes:
Isak is written with a capital "i", in case that wasn't clear.