After a good night's sleep, the next morning, the hunting group packed up their things and started to walk through the cave.
Shao Xuan had a good night's sleep, and did not dream of anything horrible.
"Everyone, follow us closely, especially Xuan and Mao. It's your first time to walk, so you have to be extra careful. If you get lost, you may never come out again." Mai said seriously.
He was not trying to scare them, but was telling the truth. Even the first few generations of ancestors who opened up this hunting route had to pay a heavy price before they finally found the correct path. In this huge maze, it was unknown how many people had entered and never came out.
"Yes, don't worry. We will be careful." Shao Xuan said.
Mao also nodded. In the hunting group, he had always obeyed the rules, and he knew that it was right to listen to the older warriors.
It was getting darker as they walked deeper into the cave. Every few people in the hunting group held a torch.
As they walked away from the entrance of the cave, there was only the light from the torches. It was not bright, but it was enough to see the path under their feet.
Just like what Mai had told Shao Xuan, in the cave, the deeper they walked, the more they would find that there were many intersecting paths. Sometimes, they would find two or three entrances after a turn, but the hunting group had been walking on only one of them.
Even if there were many paths that connected to the outside world, people who did not know the way would get lost soon after entering the cave. Maybe they would return to the original place after several turns.
Probably because there were many paths connected to the outside world, the cave was not suffocating, but there was always some faint wind, and the rhythmic sound of some large animal breathing.
For the time being, they did not see any aggressive creatures in the cave, but it was said that there were some insects and spiders living in the cave.
The paths in the cave were not only winding, but also sometimes high and sometimes low. Sometimes they would slide down, and sometimes they had to climb steep slopes. They had to be careful not to fall behind. In the hunting group, the ones who were most familiar with the path were basically those experienced warriors. The younger ones, like Lang Ga, might not be able to remember such a complicated path.
It was not that no one had ever thought of leaving a mark on the cave wall, but every time they left, those marks would disappear. All kinds of incidents made the hunting group believe that there must be a king stoneworm in the mountain, just as the ancestors had guessed. It was just that no one had ever seen it before.
Therefore, later hunting groups stopped leaving marks on the cave wall, and tried not to make too much noise when they passed through the cave. They were afraid of disturbing the giant creature in the mountain.
In the tribe, stoneworms did look harmless, but the king stoneworm was different. Otherwise, how could it have the word "king" in the name?
Just like the previous hunting team, Shao Xuan and Mao walked in the middle of the team, so that they could better protect them.
Shao Xuan used his special ability to observe other places in the cave. Sometimes they would see some larger insects, but those insects did not attack the hunting group, and the hunting group would not provoke them. For one thing, they did not know how many such insects were in the cave. It would be troublesome if they attracted a large group of them. Another thing was, they did not want to make too much noise. If they accidentally disturbed the big guy in the mountain, it would be a real disaster.
If the cave was a straight line, it would not take long for them to get out of the mountain. But the hunting group spent almost half a day in the mountain before they heard Mai say, "Almost at the exit."
They turned a corner and walked out. There were two entrances in front of them, one of which led to the exit. But at the moment, there were spiders blocking the entrances.
They were a kind of eyeless spiders. Probably because they lived in the dark cave for a long time, their eyes gradually deteriorated. Their torsos were relatively small, but their legs were very long, and they could directly cover the entrance like a cover.
Mai and two other warriors, who were walking in the front, were holding torches and spears to scare the spiders blocking the entrances. The spiders could feel the heat of the flames, and when the torches were swaying, they would flinch.
There were only two eyeless spiders on the path leading to the outside of the cave. Compared to them, there were more spiders on the other side. What's more, because of the swaying torches, the spiders on both sides of the path started to move. They waved their chelicerae and opened their fangs at the people who were holding the torches, as if they were warning the people in the hunting group.
"Don't worry about them. Let's go!" On the other side, Mai had already chased away the eyeless spiders that were blocking the tunnel entrance. He called for the team members behind him to hurry up and catch up. Based on his experience, eyeless spiders rarely stubbornly fought with humans. Their food was other insects in the cave, so as long as they were careful not to provoke them, they could still successfully avoid them by taking a step back.
However, an accident happened at this moment. Shao Xuan, who was protected in the middle, suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. He became alert and looked around at the eyeless spiders waving their chelicerae. No, it was not them!
Shao Xuan raised his head and saw a black whip rolling down like lightning. Shao Xuan only had time to block it with his saber, but his whole body was wrapped tightly and pulled up.
All this happened in a flash. Most of the warriors in the hunting group were busy guarding against the eyeless spiders. They did not expect that there was another one above their heads, but it did not seem to be an eyeless spider. Those who had noticed it were still a step too late and couldn't stop it.
"Xuan!"
"Mai, Xuan was dragged away!"
"Why is there a hole above? It was not there last time! "
"What was that?!"
At this moment, the warriors did not have time to retreat. They blocked the approaching eyeless spiders and stabbed a few of them. However, Shao Xuan was dragged away from above, so it was difficult to climb up. Mai asked the others to deal with the approaching eyeless spiders, while he climbed up the cave wall. Not long after, Mai came back with a gloomy face.
The creature that dragged Shao Xuan away was too fast. When Mai caught up with it, it was already gone, and he could not hear Shao Xuan's shouts. Moreover, not long after climbing up, there were forks that led up, down, or even straight up. After several attempts, Mai could only return without success.
Inside the mountain, those creatures that had lived in the dark for many years knew much more about the cave than they did.
Mai was still worried about the others in the hunting group, so he had to go back first. After all, he was the leader of this hunting group, and he had to be responsible for the other thirty warriors.
Mai punched the cave wall angrily, and then went back to deal with the increasing number of eyeless spiders with the others.
The situation was getting worse for them. The warriors in the hunting group had to rush out from the forks. They were not far from the cave, and the eyeless spiders would not chase them outside, because they did not like light.
It was common for a hunting group to lose someone. This time it was Shao Xuan, and there would be others in the future. However, Lang Ga and the others were younger and less rational. They wanted to keep looking for him, but they were pulled away by the others. Some of the older warriors were already used to this kind of parting.
Many warriors sighed in their hearts. Why was Xuan so unlucky? It was his first hunting trip, and he encountered everything.
Not long after, the warriors in the hunting group saw the light, and the eyeless spiders that were chasing them also stopped.
On the other side, Shao Xuan was not feeling well after being dragged away.
The thing that dragged him away was a kind of insect that lived in the cave. It was a little smaller than the eyeless spiders, but its strength and speed were not inferior to the eyeless spiders.
The thing that caught Shao Xuan was the insect's long antennae. There was a hook-like sawtooth structure at the tip of the antennae. If Shao Xuan had not reacted fast enough and blocked the sawtooth with his stone knife, he would have been cut when he was caught. The sawtooth at the tip of the antennae made a clattering sound when it cut the stone knife.
Shao Xuan struggled hard, but he only loosened a little bit, and still could not get rid of it. When he was about to turn a corner, Shao Xuan directly hit the stone wall at the corner, and almost threw up the food he had eaten in the morning.
After he endured the pain and loosened his grip a little, Shao Xuan pulled out the tooth knife with the broken tip, and fiercely chopped at the antennae.
Bang!
The antennae that caught Shao Xuan was cut off, and the insect that lost one of its antennae also jumped around in pain. Shao Xuan, who was thrown off, rolled on the ground and fell into a passage on the side. The passage was downward, and Shao Xuan did not have time to stand still, and slid down the slope again.
He did not know how long he had slid, and when he finally stood still, Shao Xuan felt dizzy. He had hit the wall several times, and was dragged along the way, and now he was in pain all over.
Gasping for breath, Shao Xuan still wanted to go back the way he came. The longer he stayed here, the more dangerous it would be.
Just when he was about to climb up the steep slope, Shao Xuan heard a whistling sound from the passage behind him. It sounded like wind, but with a rhythm.
+++++
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