novelThe Mountain
| ← Ch.137 | Ch.139 → |
Chapter 137 - The Mountain
Translated by Sunyancai
Shao Xuan brought some dry meat with him, but Chacha prefered fresh meat more.
Catching enough prey to settle his stomach, Chacha once again flew with Shao Xuan.
Occasionally, a large bird would fly over this area, and while it fought with Chacha, Shao Xuan almost fell down several times.
If Chacha had been bigger, Shao Xuan could have stood on his back, but at this moment, Chacha was a little bit small.
Shao Xuan swerved around to escape the pecking of an awl-like beak. He clutched Chacha's claws with one hand and with the other, quickly took out the stone needles that had been prepared from the skin bag tied around his waist to attack the birds flying towards him.
The stone needles that had absorbed the special grass juice had a strong paralysing effect. Shao Xuan specifically aimed at the body parts which their heavy feathers didn't completely cover. As long as the needle could penetrate through the bird's skin, the juice would take effect and deter them away.
The birds that had attacked Shao Xuan felt dizzy after being shot. Disoriented, they slowed down. But now, this one was probably not as strong, so when it was shot on the neck, it flew up and down and then suddenly fell down. The moment it couldn't flap its wings to stop falling down, it hit an arched bridge of thorn branches.
Bang!
The violent impact made the already dizzy bird become even dizzier.
Furthermore, the tough thorns on the branches caused not a small amount of feathers to rip off.
After being hit with the needles and crashing into the "bridge", the bird had been scratched by the tough thorns.
Blood flowed freely from the wounds of the bird.
From within the thorns, creatures catching the scent of blood grew excited as they agilely weaved through the thorns to chase the scent.
In the air, Shao Xuan looked down and found shadows, from every direction, rapidly dashing through the thorns flocking to the struggling birds.
The creatures quickly surrounded the bird.
These creatures looked like monkeys, and the color of their fur was similar to that of the thorns. Most of them were as big as the two fists of an adult warrior and they were very nimble, not even dropping speed as they wove through the thorns.
This group of monkeys living in the thorns rushed towards the bird to bite it.
Suddenly, Shao Xuan found a mist of blood rise up from that place.
Splashes of blood sprinkled on the surrounding thorns. When the blood dries up, it will probably share the same color as the thorns.
A feather after another floated in the blood mist, and slowly fell down.
Some monkeys arrived late, so they could not squeeze into the monkey group to enjoy the meal. They were unwilling to leave, so they walked around, saw Chacha in the air, screamed, and waved their claws. It seemed that they wanted to catch the bird in the sky.
Shao Xuan and Chacha looked down and shivered with fear. It seemed that they were imagining what they might have encountered if they had fallen down. Chacha flapped his wings, hoping to fly out of this place quickly.
"Don't loosen your claws, buddy. If you do so, I will absolutely kick the bucket." Shao Xuan gently patted his claws.
A cry resounded.
Chacha seemed to agree as he sped up and flew towards the distant mountain.
On the way they encountered a few birds again, but fortunately, in spite of some danger, they finally flew past the thorns region.
At dusk, they landed in a tree, and both released a long sigh and felt relieved.
No wonder the ancestors stayed away from the "Severing Land". In addition to those tall, thick and sharp thorns, those monkeys would be able to quickly eat up a person. Even a senior totem warrior could not defeat such a great number of animals. Maybe there were other animals living in the thorns that hadn't been found by Shao Xuan from the air.
"You take a rest first, I will keep watch." Shao Xuan whispered to Chacha as he patted him.
When they flew past the thorns region, they arrived at a mountain similar to their hunting areas, but Shao Xuan still kept vigilant.
The night fell quietly.
Shao Xuan did not find a cave nearby, so he looked for a place in a tree and made some camouflage in the surrounding area with some branches. He also set up small traps, and sprinkled a powder that he brought with him. He planned to stay here for the night.
The sounds in the woods told Shao Xuan this place was the same as their hunting area.
He listened carefully and found sounds of different creatures mixing to form a unique sound with regional characteristics. So, as long as he listened to the sounds, he could make a preliminary judgment.
Shao Xuan carefully identified the sounds.
No, it was different.
The active creatures at night were very different from those in their hunting area.
So he had to be more careful, and could not apply the knowledge from their hunting area to make a judgement.
At midnight, Shao Xuan was awakened by the rustle of leaves. To stay vigilant, it was impossible for him to have a sound sleep. He had developed a habit of resting while keeping wary, so a little abnormal sound could wake him up.
When he listened carefully, he heard a sound like the wind blowing the branches with leaves. It seemed that the leaves were rustling.
But in fact, at this time, there was no wind.
None of the leaves near him were rustling.
The bough below his was vibrating, which was almost impossible to detect. The vibration showed that something was climbing up the tree along the bough near Shao Xuan, instead of the bough he stood on.
The sound gradually came closer. Shao Xuan comforted Chacha. With his right hand holding a knife, he held his breath. At the same time, he used his special vision to look at the surroundings.
The branches were blocking his sight, but Shao Xuan could still penetrate the leaves to observe the surroundings.
He looked in the direction where the sound came from.
Is that a... snake?
In terms of its bones, it looked like a snake, but its outline was somewhat blurry, and its body surface was covered with a lot of long, thin, and dense things like bones. This was some kind of creature that Shao Xuan had never seen. Judging from its general shape, he tried to identify the creature coming up the tree.
The snake's body was much thicker than that of Shao Xuan so it could easily swallow him, which terrified him.
Fortunately, it did not climb to the bough where Shao Xuan stood on, but climbed along a branch to another tree.
After the strange snake left, the sound also gradually faded away. Chacha no longer felt anxious.
Shao Xuan held the stone knife firmly, and carefully let his breath out.
He did not know whether this trip was worthwhile. But his nature of an adventurous spirit from the previous life, and Chacha's desire of going to that place made him decide to take this trip.
Perhaps there was more danger ahead, but they could not go back. Shao Xuan would try to go further.
He might die and not return to the tribe. There was enough food left in the tribe, and Caesar accompanied Old Ke so his life would not be tougher than the time when he worked as a stoneware maker.
Thinking about this, Shao Xuan screamed within his heart.
Is he going to die? How can it be?
Holding his knife, Shao Xuan closed his eyes to take a rest, for he had to move on tomorrow.
During the night, Shao Xuan woke up several times, and also saw a few nocturnal animals that were indeed different from those in the woods near the thorn region.
The next few days, Shao Xuan quietly ran through the woods while Chacha flew in the air.
Shao Xuan just followed Chacha, for he could attain the correct position.
This trip was aimed to find the place that Chacha desired to go, rather than hunt. Unless they had to get their most basic food necessities, neither Shao Xuan, nor Chacha, would take extra actions so that they could preserve their energy. Moreover, they had to guard against danger at any time. How could they spare some time and energy for other things?
Since Shao Xuan decided to take Chacha here, he had become energetic and went hunting every day. He ate a lot, and then hurried to move forward. He even flew while holding Shao Xuan. After all, travelling through the mountain was slower than flying in the air.
Sometimes, when they encountered some flying birds, Chacha would first try to avoid them, and if he failed, he would fight with them. If he was defeated, he would escape. If he failed to get rid of them, he would turn to Shao Xuan.
Enduring all kinds of difficulties, they kept moving forward for six days.
At this time, the hunting group had waited at the third location, but they did not see Shao Xuan so they just returned.
Shao Xuan never imagined that where Chacha wanted to go was so far!
They had been travelling for more than ten days, but still could not see the end. And during these days, several times, they were almost eaten by those bizarre ferocious beasts in the forest.
They suffered from a lot of injuries. When they got serious injuries, they would find a cave to rest properly for two days. And they could not become impatient, and just wait for the wound to heal up, and maintain a good physical condition to continue moving forward.
Sneaking in the dangerous woods made Shao Xuan more sensitive to the potential danger. At the same time, he became more skilled in hiding himself and his presence.
Holding the ragged tooth sword, Shao Xuan moved his arm. To escape the bladed teeth beast, he had broken his arm's bone, but this injury was not serious, so he would be much better after resting for a night.
His stone swords had all broken. He made a few rough stone swords on the way, but they also broke in fight with some ferocious beasts. Now, only the tooth sword made by Old Ke was left. But it was in a bad condition, so it probably could only be used for a short time.
In front of them, there was a cliff. Before Shao Xuan even made a gesture, Chacha flew down.
Shao Xuan inserted the tooth sword into the animal skin bag around his waist, and grabbed Chacha's claws with his uninjured arm.
Chacha flew down with Shao Xuan from the cliff.
Ahead of them, there was still a piece of endless huge jungle.
But the trees in this jungle seemed to be higher than those in the previous one.
After flying for some distance, Shao Xuan asked Chacha to find a place to put him down. Chacha did not respond to him. He did not see any threatening birds in the surrounding area so he continued to fly. He thought flying was faster.
"Well, then fly a little higher, I always feel that this place ..."
Before Shao Xuan finished, the "branch" at the top of a huge tree suddenly bent, and then shot like a spring towards Chacha that intended to fly over it.
The moment the "branch" shot out, the foliage on its body quickly shrunk. All the "leaves" stuck close together to the "branch", and the "branch" also fell down. The "leaves" looked like scales.
It was a snake!
This strange snake reminded Shao Xuan of the creature they encountered the first night they entered the mountain.
| ← Ch. 137 | Ch. 139 → |