Beginning Beyond The Horizon

As far as the eye can see, there are only rocky hills of different colors, red and orange. The trail is also uncomfortable to walk on due to the rocks and cobbles. The stones range from soft to hard, making walking difficult. People who are new to the competition drink up their water wells quickly, thinking that there will be water along the way. 

"It's too hot." 

"Sir, do you know if there is any water well ahead?" 

"Does anyone know how far it is to reach Scattered Forest?" 

First-timers asked other participants, but their questions fell on deaf ears as the competition began from the moment participants started leaving New Moon Port.

Along the way, many people could no longer bear the extreme weather and turned around and walked back to New Moon Port. 

Yul looked back and saw that many of the participants had given up. As time passed, more and more people seemed to be walking in the opposite direction, while fewer and fewer people were walking forward. 

After walking for a long time, there were less than three hundred people who still didn't give up and continued walking towards Scattered Forest. 

"Hey...hey..." U-ri wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Let's take a break and eat. I need to rest my feet." 

Abrafo said, "Me too, damn...this weather is so uncomfortable. Why does the weather get worse the closer we get to Scattered Forest." 

Yul pointed to three boulders and said, "Let's go there to rest. It looks like there are shade." 

Hajime said, "This feels like Skeleton Desert all over again." 

Michio glanced around quickly. "Do you think there are giant crabs lurking behind these boulders?" 

Hajime said, "I hope not." 

The five Tanzanies were eating and resting on the roadside when they saw Bong and Hai walking towards them. 

Abrafo said quickly, "Hey...hey...that's the man who fought with me that night." He stood up and waved to Bong. "Brother, over here." 

Hai stopped and asked, "Brothers, do you still have water? We drank all the water, and three people in our team decided not to continue, so we gave them half of the water to walk back to New Moon Port." 

Yul stood up, grabbed the water bag, and walked towards Hai. "Here," Yul said, handing the water bag to Hai. 

Bong continued walking, not even looking back. Abrafo followed quickly, and he reached out and grabbed Bong's shoulder. 

In anger, Bong quickly turned around and punched Abrafo in the face, but Abrafo grabbed Bong's hand. 

Abrafo let go of Bong's fist and said, "Hey... I just wanted to be nice. I was just asking if you wanted some water." 

Bong said madly, "Who needs your help? I didn't ask for your help, so don't help because I won't appreciate it no matter what you do." 

Abrafo said, "You are a strange person, I thought I had a bad temper, but wow... your temper is ten times worse than mine." 

Bong gritted his teeth and said, "I don't care what you think. When people don't ask you for help, it means they don't need your help, so...mind your own business." Bong turned around and slowly began walking away from Abrafo. 

Hai returned the water bag to Yul. "Thank you," he said. 

Yul said, "Take it... we still have some water left." 

Hai smiled and thanked Yul, and he quickly caught up with Bong. "Would you like some water?" he asked. 

"No," Bong said madly, and kept walking. 

Abrafo walked up to the four Tanzanies and said, "I don't get it. I don't understand. No matter how hard I try to befriend that lunatic, he still hates me." 

Hajime said, "Maybe you pissed him off first." 

Michio added, "Or he just doesn't like you." 

Abrafo was taken aback. "I'm a handsome and capable man, and whoever doesn't like me is their loss, not mine." 

Yul sat next to Hajime and said, "U-ri may not last long. I saw his shoes are torn." 

Hajime asked, "What suggestions do you have?" 

Yul said, "I don't want you to take the wolf out, but in this weather condition we need it. I'm worried that if you do, others will gang up on us in Scattered Forest, but sooner or later we would fight each other, so getting the wolf or the eagle out was no longer a big deal now." 

Hajime said, "In that case, let's fly over and save our energy for the battle ahead. There's no need to walk or ride on the back of a wolf."

Yul nodded, and he took out the map from inside his robe, which still showed them the direction to Scattered Forest. 

Yul said, "After we finished our meal, we rode on the backs of the eagles. The faster we arrived, the more time we had to plan and rest before entering Scattered Forest." 

Abrafo said, "I agree with that." 

The five Tanzanies finished their meal quickly. Hajime took out two wooden eagle statues and threw them to the ground.

Appearing in front of the five Tanzanies, two big eagles flapped their wings. 

Yul and Hajime climbed the first eagle, while Abrafo, U-ri, and Michio climbed the second eagle. The eagle flapped its wings and soared into the sky, over the people walking below. The people below watched two large eagles flying above their heads, leaving the others behind and heading towards Scattered Forest. 

Abrafo looked down and saw that Bong and Hai were far behind another large group of people. 

Abrafo shouted, "Hajime! Can we take that brother who hates me with us. He looks like he's about to pass out!" 

Michio asked, "Abrafo, do you still insist on being friends with that man?" 

Abrafo said, "I know, but since he hates me so much, I want to leave a good impression on him. I don't want him to stab me in the back in Scattered Forest or the Phoenix Chamber." 

The people below looked at the two large eagles flying overhead. When the high-pitched calls of the two eagles fell from the sky, people on the road ran away for fear of being eaten by the two eagles. The two eagles soon fell behind Bong and Hai.

The first eagle grabbed Hai and soon flew over the people. Bong was running for the boulder, when the second eagle swooped down to grab Bong. 

The eagle rose quickly as Bong screamed, "Let me go!"

Abrafo leaned over and saw Bong struggling to free himself. "Hey!" Abrafo shouted. "If you don't want to fall to your death, you'd better stay still." 

Bong raised his head and saw Abrafo smiling down at him. "Let me go. I can walk. I don't need your help," he shouted angrily at Abrafo. 

Abrafo said, "Stop screaming and save your energy. Don't let my good intentions go to waste." He saw Bong struggling, which amused him. "If you want to fall to death, keep struggling. From this height, you probably won't be able to survive the fall. Your body won't look good once it hits the ground." 

The eagles soared above the sky, passing through hundreds of people below, who were muttering because they had never seen anything like it. 

Gang, who was following Lixin and others, looked at Shik the three guards and asked, "Who are those people?" 

Shik said, "Your Highness, we don't know." 

Gang said, "Those people on those eagles will be our most difficult opponents." He looked at Shik. "Be prepared." 

"Yes, Your Highness," Shik answered. 

Lixin walked in front with four people, and many people walked behind. Lixin didn't want to rush to Scattered Forest because he wanted to conserve his energy as much as possible. Watching the two eagles flying over their heads and flying forward, Lixin raised his head and smirked. 

Jin sighed and said, "Lord Lixin, I believe that is Sir Yul and his people." 

Heng said, "No matter how skilled the other participants are, Sir Yul and his men are still our toughest opponents." 

Feng said, "My Lord, if Sir Yul and the others really find the pure phoenix eggs before us, what should we do?" 

Shi said, "Feng, why do you have to say such things to hurt our morale?" 

Feng said, "I am being reasonable." 

"I agree with Feng's point of view," Lixin said. He paused for a moment. "Do as we say in Margior." He looked at Jin. "When the time comes, your mission is to capture the hostage." 

Jin nodded and said, "Yes, my Lord." 

Shi said, "My Lord, I have collected everything I could about Scattered Forest. Our chance of finding the entrance to Phoenix Chamber is better than others." 

Lixin said, "We have never been to Scattered Forest, so we don't know what will happen inside. When we get to Stone Valley, we will have a good rest before continuing." 

In the early afternoon, when the two large eagles landed on a hilltop overlooking a lush, dark valley. The five Tanzanies dismounted from the eagles and stood looking at the black mist that curled in the dark valley. Looking towards the dark valley and the endless towering mountains made the five Tanzanies feel uneasy. 

"I bet that's Scattered Forest in front of us," Abrafo said, looking at the dark, dense forest below. 

Michio looked at Hajime and asked, "Do you think your eagle can take us over that mountain range?" 

Hajime said, "I don't know." 

Yul said, "The black fog is too thick... it is easy to get lost when we go in." He looked at the other three people beside him. "That valley down there doesn't worry me." He pointed to the towering mountains. "What worries me is what's hidden behind those towering mountains." Yul turned to look at Hajime only to find that Hajime was still talking to the two eagles. 

U-ri sighed and said, "We need to plan carefully before we go in. Let's rest for the night." 

Hajime smiled and said, "Off you go." The two eagles flapped their wings and flew away.

Yul walked up to Hajime and asked, "What tasks did you assign to them?" 

Hajime said, "I asked them to bring Lixin and his men here." 

Yul said, "This is a competition. You shouldn't be too nice to your opponent." 

Hajime said, "I know. I learned from U-ri that we should keep our friends close, but also our enemies." He chuckled. "I'm just kidding. We should not forget the kindness others have shown us. If we have the opportunity, we should repay it." He looked at Yul. "I read this from Michio's collection of books. I wanted to repay the kindness of the sumptuous dinner Lixin prepared for us a few days ago. Besides...we haven't entered Scattered Forest yet, so I still consider them friends." 

On the dirt road, Lixin and his party slowly walked down the road, and Gang and his party caught up with them. 

Gang said, "Lord Lixin, I thought you were much ahead of us." 

Lixin smiled and said, "Your Highness, in this weather, we can't walk so fast." 

Shik said, "Your Highness, the two eagles are back." 

Gang said, "Don't attack, hide." 

Gang and his men quickly hid behind some boulders. 

Lixin and his men knew that the two eagles belonged to Hajime. They had ridden those eagles before, but Lixin couldn't figure out why Hajime's eagle flew back to them. 

The eagles landed a few yards away from Lixin and his four men. 

Jin looked at Lixin and said, "My Lord, could it be that Hajime sent his eagles to pick us up?" 

Lixin said, "Maybe." Lixin walked towards the eagles, but his hand was held by Jin. 

"Let me go first," Jin said. 

Heng said, "My Lord, for your safety, let's let Jin go first."

Jin walked up to the eagles and said, "Did your master send you to pick us up?" Jin grabbed the feathers of the nearest eagle to him and pulled himself onto the eagle, but the eagle didn't move and didn't attack. Jin was now convinced that Hajime had sent his eagles to pick them up. "Sir, Hajime has sent them to pick us up." 

Lixin looked at his men and said, "Then let's go."

Gang and his men watched Lixin and Lixin's men climb on the backs of two giant eagles and flew towards Scattered Forest. 

Gang gritted his teeth and said, "It turns out there are powerful people behind Lixin." 

Shik said, "Your Highness, if that's the case, Lord Lixin must have hired others to fight for him." 

Gang said angrily, "If I find evidence of Lixin cheating at any time, I will not let him go easily." He sneered.