Long Chen disappeared, hiding himself. His aura also disappeared, making it so that no one could sense him here.
He waited in his exact place, waiting for the arrival of Obuta and the girl.
The girl stepped inside the forest, soon reaching the place where she had promised to meet Long Chen.
"Huh? So there you are!" She said, looking at Long Chen.
"You can see me?" Long Chen asked, surprised.
It was the first time he was seen by someone when he was in Shadow Transformation form, which stunned him.
It was only now that he realized that the girl didn't look through eyes because she didn't have eyes. That implied that the people from her species had a different method which they used to see..
His Shadow Transformation was able to trick eyes as well as the Spiritual Senses, but it failed to trick these people. It was strange.
He had thought they used Spiritual Sense to see as well, but apparently, it was different. And whichever method they used was something his Shadow Transformation failed to fool.
"Can Obuta also see me if he comes here?" Long Chen asked the girl, who nodded.
"Who are you?!" A man's voice filled the surroundings.
Long Chen didn't even have to look at the source of that voice to know who was speaking.
"I guess I already have my answer," he muttered, sighing.
It was clear that Obuta was also able to see him since he was standing right there.
"You! Little girl, what are you doing with a stranger! Step back! Let me deal with the intruder! I'm going to catch him and take him to the Elder. Maybe he's something tasty we can eat too!" Obuta let out, laughing as he looked at Long Chen.
His creepy laughter stabbed in the ears of Long Chen, who found it irritating. The laughter sounded like someone had started the engine of an extremely old car that seriously needed servicing.
"Can you shut your mouth? Your laughter is giving me a headache!" Long Chen snapped at Obuta.
Obuta ignored Long Chen as he continued laughing. "This insect talks too? I wonder how tasty you are going to be. I was getting bored after eating the same old thing every day!"
"Little girl, can you tell me if there's a way for you to contact people in your clan from here?"Long Chen asked the young girl, frowning.
"There's no way. Even our screams can't reach the place from this distance. The only way is to go back there," the girl replied.
"That's good. That makes things easier," Long Chen muttered. "Now I can make him shut up on my own."
He waved his hand, bringing out the Sword of Time from thin air.
Seeing an object appear out of thin air was shocking in itself, but that wasn't all. What happened right after made Obuta's laughter stop as his eyes opened wide.
He noticed that Long Chen had disappeared after bringing an object out of thin air. Even the young girl was stunned as she didn't know that it was possible.
She wondered where Long Chen went, even going as far as to think that he ran away because Obuta scared him.
"That person ran away?!" Obuta yelled, regaining his senses after the initial shock.
He turned to the little girl as he asked, "Tell me who he was?! Why did it look like you knew him?! Tell me everything!".
The young girl turned back to look at Obuta, believing that it was all over. Long Chen had betrayed her and ran away. She couldn't believe it.
However, as soon as she turned back, her lips opened ever so slightly as a hint of a smile returned on her face.
Seeing the little girl smile, Obuta was confused. Why was this girl smiling while looking at him?
"Why are you smiling like an idiot?" he asked the young girl. "Tell me how you know him! And where will I find him now?!"
"You'll find him right behind you." The answer came, but it wasn't the girl who had spoken. Instead, it was a man's voice that fell in Obuta's ears. It came from so close that it made a chill run down his spine.
A gloomy feeling enshrouded his body as he felt like he was in danger. It was all because the voice belonged to Long Chen, who was standing right behind him.
Long Chen's Sword was resting on the neck of Obuta.
"It's good to see that you finally stopped with that creepy laughter, but if you don't want my sword to impale your neck, hand over the World Traveling Stone!"
"World Traveling Stone? What's that?"
"The red stone which you took from the girl!" Long Chen stated firmly.
"Ahh, that toy? So she's working for you? I get it now! This was all a trap to call me here so you can take me hostage? Good! Very good! You think you can survive with this! You're crazy! Girl, just you wait!"
Hearing Long Chen's questions, Obuta learned half the things. He couldn't believe that their clan was betrayed like this.
"Are you really threatening the girl when your life is in danger? Answer me!"Long Chen reminded the man, who appeared to have forgotten his situation.
"What the heck can you do? At worst, you can kill me right? As if I'm scared of that. What else? Can you scare me with just that?" Obuta asked arrogantly, not giving a single thought about this.
He didn't look scared as he bravely stood in the face of death.
"You know, your words would have been more convincing if you weren't sweating in fear already. Moreover, you might be of a different species, but you also have a heart. I can feel it thumping in fear. No matter how brave you act, it's evident that you're scared, aren't you?" Long Chen asked, smiling.
He could see through the bluff of Obuta to realize that he was showing a false facade of bravery. In reality, he was truly scared.
"You're wrong! I'm not scared of death!" Obuta declared bravely, still holding on.
Just to give him a little push, Long Chen created a Qi Sword in his left hand.
"Really? You're not scared of death? You know, death comes with a lot of pain. Are you still not scared of death?!" Long Chen asked.
"I'm not scared of death, let alone pain!" Obuta retorted.
"Well, that's good. Now I can do it without worrying," Long Chen said, smirking.
Swiss~
He swung his sword, bringing it down and slicing the left hand of Obuta.