There was a sizzling sound in the cave, like the sound of rocks rubbing against each other.
The ground under his feet trembled with these sizzling sounds. White frost quickly spread out from the pit where the fire crystals were dug out. It was like an unstoppable tide, spreading to the surroundings with great force.
The Fox and Shen chiefs no longer had any other thoughts, they just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. They were panicking, their faces pale. Perhaps they had realized what was beneath them. They regretted it even more than the Flaming Horns. Why did they have to dig so deep into the ground?
If they had found out earlier that there was an irresistible giant beast below, they would have been extremely careful. Even if it was snowing outside, they would have taken the fire crystals that they had dug out and returned to the tribe through the night. They would have given up the salt mine and everything here, and never come back again!
But now, it was too late to regret.
They had already opened the door to violence under the wind and snow.
"Run! Get out of here!" shouted the Fox chief. He was no longer calm. Instead, he was filled with panic and despair that even he didn't want to believe.
The other Fox and Shen people in the cave did not know what was going on. They just felt their hearts skip a beat. It was a sense of oppression and fear. For a moment, their legs turned to jelly.
Hearing the Fox chief's words, chaos broke out in the cave. Some pushed aside the rocks blocking the entrance and rushed out. Others huddled against the walls.
Those who were lying in the cave, those who were sleeping or those who did not have time to react were trampled to the ground by the people rushing out. They wailed in pain but no one spared them a glance. Even if they wanted to help, they could not. At this time, even the slowest person would have realized that something strange had happened in the cave. After all, they had lived in the mountains and forests for a long time, so they had a basic ability to predict danger.
The stronger ones forcefully pushed the people in front of them aside and squeezed their way out. Due to the limited width of the cave entrance, it was fine when nothing happened. Now that something had happened, everyone wanted to rush out. If they were careless, they would be blocked, and people would be squeezed out of shape.
The Fox chief ran out from the depths of the cave. He stepped on the heads of the people blocking the entrance and rushed out. The others realised this was possible too. They followed suit. Some jumped too high and hit the ceiling, bleeding. They did not even wipe the blood off, continuing to rush forward. Some pushed aside the people in front of them.
The cave became more chaotic.
The more anxious the people were, the more they felt there was danger. Didn't they see the chief running out?
Crack crack crack —
In the lower layer of the salt cave, the white frost continued to spread out quickly. Some people who were stuck at the back felt that the temperature around them had dropped sharply. The water vapor that they exhaled was instantly condensed. Their skin was frozen into a block without any warmth. Fortunately, they had moved away from the pit and were not close to the fire crystals. Compared to those who were directly frozen, they were in a much better situation.
These changes were not limited to the Fox's cave. In the Shen cave, more than five hundred people were brought here by the Fox and Fox tribes. There were still some before but they were killed by the Yanjiao people who came to the mines. There were Fox and Shen people in this cave too. They were guarding the deeper parts of the cave. There was still salt to be mined. They were guarding the cave to prevent outsiders from taking it away. At the same time, they were keeping an eye on them to prevent them from digging too. There were more than a thousand people in the cave.
When they discovered the frost in the lower layer of the cave, those guards felt something was wrong. Feeling the power that made their scalps numb, the ground under their feet trembled differently than usual, and hearing the 'chi chi' sound from the rocks, they immediately fled outside and left this cold place.
Similar changes were happening in the other three caves. The Yanjiao cave was already covered in white frost.
Seeing this, Shao Xuan and the three chiefs hurriedly moved out of the way.
The change was too sudden and too fast. The ground beneath their feet was covered in a layer of frost. There was no place for them to hide in the cave. They had to step on the frost.
Luckily, this only happened in the lower levels of the cave. Although the upper levels were cold too, it was much better.
Zheng Luo moved his feet with difficulty and led the warriors from the lower level up.
The coldness from the soles of his feet shot up his legs. His blood vessels felt like they were filled with ice.
"Should we escape?" Zheng Luo asked Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan shook his head reflexively, then snapped out of it. "I don't know what that is but I feel like running out like this isn't a good idea."
"Then stay in the cave for now. Duo Kang, tell the warriors to be quiet and hide their auras. Just like when we were hiding in the forest. Don't show any murderous intent!" Zheng Luo said in a low voice.
After the initial panic, Zheng Luo had calmed down a little, but his voice was still trembling. It was his first time facing such a situation and he didn't know what to do. But since Shao Xuan said so, he did as he was told.
The Taihe and Mountain Wind chiefs were the same. They didn't dare to doubt Shao Xuan now. They didn't know what to do either. They would do whatever they saw Yanjiao.
Because the people from the lower levels had joined in, there was almost no passage in the upper levels. Zheng Luo and the rest had to squeeze through the crowd.
But with the three chiefs holding the line, no one dared to mess around. When they saw them, they would make space for them to move around.
When they reached the entrance, Shao Xuan pushed aside the stone blocking the entrance. They would clear the snow around the entrance every once in a while. Although it wasn't long now and the snow was half a person's height, it didn't stop them from looking into the distance. It was just that they couldn't see too far.
"Someone went out over there," said Zheng Luo when he heard the commotion. He could already hear someone from Fox's side screaming.
"Should we go out and take a look?" asked Taihe's leader. Although they were afraid and worried, they were also curious.
"Wait!" Shao Xuan stopped them. "Listen."
Psst —
The stone acted as a medium to transmit the sound. It sounded like something was moving under their feet.
The cave was completely silent. Everyone else had been warned, and now they were filled with a sense of crisis. They held their breaths and held their breath. Therefore, the hissing sound in the cave was very clear, and it made the hair on their backs stand up.
"It's a big guy! Are we really not going out? The upper levels aren't as sturdy as the lower levels. What if it collapses? "said Mountain Wind's leader.
Zheng Luo and the others looked at Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan was under a lot of pressure. His choice would determine the fate of almost three thousand people.
Intuition. Trust your intuition.
"Stay in the cave," said Shao Xuan again.
"Then stay in the cave!" Zheng Luo gestured to Duo Kang.
Duo Kang gulped and squeezed into the cave to tell the other Yanjiao about Zheng Luo's decision. The person who didn't even hesitate when facing the beasts in the forest was trembling now.
Taihe and Mountain Wind's leaders looked at each other, their eyes conflicted. The upper levels of the cave really weren't that sturdy, especially near the entrance. Otherwise, it wouldn't have collapsed so easily. It couldn't even withstand the attack of a giant beast, much less a king beast. It would probably collapse with one blow. If the cave collapsed, these people would all be buried. But if they ran away before the giant beast came out, maybe there was still a chance?
Who would want to stay here and face a king beast? To wait for death?! Even if the cave didn't collapse, they would freeze to death!
"We …"
The Mountain Wind chief had just said two words when the Taihe chief said to the person next to him, "We'll do the same as the Flaming Horns. We'll go in and inform everyone. We'll do whatever the Flaming Horns do!"
Mountain Wind's words were stuck in his throat. He wanted to say that they should run but now …
Hesitation, still hesitation!
"Chief!" The people around Mountain Wind's chief, Lanmu, were already urging them to leave. They were divided into two factions. Some agreed with Taihe and Flaming Horn's decision while others thought that since the Fox people had already escaped, they should escape too.
"We should …"
Before Lanmu could finish, the sizzling grew louder and the ground shook more violently.
"It's coming out!" whispered Shao Xuan.
It's coming out? What do we do? We were planning to run! Lanmu panicked.
There was a loud boom. The ground shook, even the snow walls outside the cave shook. The road that had been cleared was once again covered by the snow that had fallen from the sky. Now, they couldn't see the situation outside. The cave entrance was pitch-black.
Screech —
A long, coarse sound of salt being swept up by the wind and scraping against the rocks resounded between heaven and earth. At first, it sounded a little hoarse, but it was also sharp, as if it was real, scraping against the nerves in people's heads, causing goosebumps to appear all over their bodies. An uncontrollable feeling of trembling rose up from their bones, and even their hair wanted to stand on end.
The sound waves spread and seeped into the cave. The warriors with lower strength had blood flowing out of their ears. They were in a daze for a while before coming back to their senses. However, their hearing was affected for a while. They could not hear the whispers of the people next to them. They could only read their lips.
Amidst the long howl, the sound waves were like a fierce gale, blowing away almost all the snow in the salt mine.
The ten-meter-high layer of snow shattered into snowballs of different sizes. It was as if time had reversed. They flew into the air and were swept away by the wind.
Half of the snow that had covered the cave entrance disappeared in an instant.
Shao Xuan reached out and pushed away the snow that was blocking the cave entrance. A gust of cold wind blew into the cave through the gap. At this time, he did not mind the cold. Including the three chiefs, the people closest to the cave were all leaning against the rocks or standing on their tiptoes to see the situation in the distance.
The snow at the cave entrance fell from ten meters to less than two meters.
A white, python-like beast rushed up from a part of the salt mine. When it leaped into the air, it swung its body and wantonly stirred up the snowstorm. It seemed that this kind of weather was not a difficult environment for it. On the contrary, this kind of weather made it very happy. It was so happy that it jumped up.
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