When Shao Xuan and the other two returned to the Flaming River Trading Point, it was already empty. Those who wanted to escape had already left. Those who didn't want to leave had been brought to a corner by the Yanjiao people.
The patrols who were counting the people in the trading point almost attacked Shao Xuan and the other two as thieves.
"Grand Elder and the others are back!"
Kun Tu shouted excitedly as he ran towards the Flaming River Castle.
Duo Kang heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that Shao Xuan was back. No matter what happened next, with Shao Xuan around, he would feel more at ease. However, when they saw the state of Shao Xuan and the other two, Duo Kang and Zheng Luo were shocked.
"How did you end up like this?" Zheng Luo asked hurriedly.
"Don't mention it, it's all because of that king stoneworm." Tower slumped in his chair, exhausted. He took a few gulps of water from the person beside him.
This was the first time he was so close to a king beast. As expected, the fearsome beasts he hunted in the grassland, even the most troublesome ones, paled in comparison to a king beast. They were on a completely different level.
The three of them were covered in greyish white powder. Not only that, some parts of their bodies and clothes were greyish white too. However, those parts had already turned to stone.
Seeing Tower shake off a layer of hard stone on his arm, Duo Kang and the others' hearts skipped a beat.
There was already a piece of flesh on Ta Shou's forearm that had turned into stone. Fortunately, the area that was petrified was not too deep, and the injury was not too serious. However, when they saw that piece of flesh that was dripping with blood after shaking off the stone fragments, everyone present felt uneasy. If even the team leader couldn't avoid this kind of injury, how long could they last?
Among Shao Xuan and the other two, Tower's injury was the most serious.
While Tower was applying medicine, Ao also told everyone about the process of their chase and the conclusions and guesses they had made.
Not long after they crossed the Flaming River, they sensed the king stoneworm's location. The underground tunnel led directly to the surface. However, there was a king stoneworm outside the cave. Ta and Ao did not know what to do. Should they retreat or charge out?
At that time, Ta and Ao were more inclined to rush out directly, but they were stopped by Shao Xuan.
"Fortunately, Xuan stopped us at that time. Otherwise, if we had rushed out at that time, we might not have been able to return safely." Ao sighed.
Because they were not familiar with the king stoneworm, they did not have a clear understanding of the king beast. Even though they knew that the king beast was strong, Ao and Ta had thought that they could escape if they tried. They were confident in their speed. Besides, the king stoneworm was not near the entrance of the cave. At least they could follow its movements. As long as the king beast did not notice them, they could leave.
It was only when Shao Xuan stopped them and found another opportunity to escape that they realized how naive they were.
Even if the king stoneworm did not pay attention to them, it could still turn them into stone.
"So that means we can't even get close to the king stoneworm?" Zheng Luo frowned.
If they couldn't even get close, how could they fight?
Were they going to be turned into stone like the forest?
"Don't move first. I'll rest for a while before we go take a look," Shao Xuan said.
Since Shao Xuan had spoken, the others did not object. Guigou even told Shao Xuan about the original plan.
"Xuan, you said that as long as we are there, the fireseed will be there. There are quite a few Yanjiao people in the trading point now. If we all work together, the fireseed's aura will be quite strong. Do you think it will be enough to deter the king stoneworm? "Guigou asked.
"Please don't!" Shao Xuan did not even bother to drink his water.
"What?" Guigou did not understand what Shao Xuan meant.
The others looked at Shao Xuan in confusion. Guigou was right. Wasn't the fire seed just a deterrent to fearsome beasts?
Shao Xuan thought for a moment. "There's something like a fire seed on the king stoneworm's body."
"How is that possible?!" Everyone gasped.
They always thought that fearsome beasts were afraid of fire seeds.
King beasts were still beasts. How could they have fire seeds? Even if they did, why didn't they sense it?
"It does have it, but it's different from the tribesmen's fire seed. It's more like a fire seed unique to beasts. I felt it on the bat leader too. The difference was that the fire seed on the bat leader was not as strong as the one on the king stoneworm," Shao Xuan said.
When he saw the bat leader in the Thousand Grain Gold field, he already felt something strange. Now that he saw the king beast, he finally understood what it was.
It was a fire seed unique to beasts. Unlike the tribesmen, the fire seed on the beasts' bodies was unique to them. It did not look like a primitive fire seed either. Instead, it was fused into their blood.
Moreover, based on the analysis of the fire seed on the bat leader and the king stoneworm, if Shao Xuan guessed correctly, the fire seed on the king stoneworm's body was formed by the two beasts themselves!
Was the king beast's ability to condense fire seeds?
Why were king beasts superior to other fearsome beasts?
If fire seeds could exist on humans, why couldn't they exist on other beasts?
In the past, Shao Xuan had been close to the bat leader and the king stoneworm. He had even fought the salt king before. But at that time, he did not sense anything different from the three beasts.
After bringing Zheng Luo and the others across the sea and fusing with Yanjiao's fire seed, his strength increased by a lot. Especially the light shield around his totemic flames. It was another special power that existed in Shao Xuan's body. He was getting better at using it.
Shao Xuan also knew that the reason why he was not strongly rejected by other tribes' fire seeds and could sense things that others could not was because of the special power within him. He didn't know what that power was, but what he sensed was real.
There was indeed a fire seed in the king stoneworm's body. It was a fire seed that belonged to beasts. Fire seeds could disperse and gather. Only fearsome beasts that could condense fire seeds could become "kings". The fire seed in the bat leader's body was not obvious. It was just a trend. At most, it could only be considered a half-king. It was above fearsome beasts and below king beasts. If it could condense the fire seed in its body one day, it would become a true "king".
Ao and the others did not know why Shao Xuan said this, but Shao Xuan did not look like he was joking. In this aspect, they also believed that Shao Xuan would not speak without any evidence.
"If there really is a 'fire seed' in the king stoneworm's body, won't we anger it if we release our fire seed energy?" Duo Kang asked.
Fire seeds usually repelled each other, so it was definitely not a good idea to anger the King Beetle because of this.
"But if the king stoneworm comes towards us, we can only fight it," Duo Kang was worried. It was not a question of whether they should avoid it or not. They had no choice.
"I'll go take a look first." Shao Xuan had recovered. He did not shake off the layer of stone powder on his body. Instead, he left the trading point and headed towards the king stoneworm.
Zheng Luo and Guigou followed closely behind Shao Xuan. One reason was to help Shao Xuan if necessary. The other reason was to see what the king stoneworm looked like.
Shao Xuan approached the king stoneworm. He did not tell them everything in the trading point. When he sensed the strange fire seed energy in the king stoneworm, he also sensed the king stoneworm's mentality.
Just like the totemic flame in Shao Xuan's mind, it would change according to the warrior's mentality and emotions. The king stoneworm did not have a totemic flame, but it had a similar fire seed energy. As the energy fluctuated, the king stoneworm expressed its thoughts and emotions.
If it were anyone else, even if they sensed the fire seed energy in the king stoneworm, they might not be able to escape unscathed because the fire seed would reject them. However, Shao Xuan's other energy was different. When Shao Xuan left the cave with Ta and Ao, he paused for a moment because he sensed this change. At the same time, he was not repelled by it.
In order to leave quietly, the three of them did their best to conceal their totemic power and Yanjiao's fire seed energy. Although it would slow them down, it was safer.
When the king stoneworm stood up, it might not have sensed their energy. Perhaps it was Shao Xuan's other power. This was because Shao Xuan did not feel any rejection from the king stoneworm. On the contrary, the king stoneworm seemed to be excited for a moment. However, after Shao Xuan completely blocked out the power and left, the king stoneworm did not notice it anymore.
To verify his guess, Shao Xuan told Zheng Luo and Guigou to stay away while he approached the king stoneworm.
He did not stand in the direction of the Flaming River Trading Point. Instead, he hid somewhere else. This way, if the king stoneworm made a move and he escaped, the king stoneworm would not chase him in the direction of the trading point.
Shao Xuan stood behind a tree that was still green. He looked towards the source of the rumbling sound. There, the king stoneworm was still wriggling aimlessly. Compared to when Shao Xuan and the rest left, the greyish-white stone forest had expanded.
When the king stoneworm had its back to him, Shao Xuan suppressed the totemic power in his body and tried not to release the Flaming Horn's fire seed energy. At the same time, he tried to activate another type of energy in his body.
Shao Xuan discovered this when he was practising controlling the ancestral bone ornaments. The two powers in his body did not repel each other. It could even be said that this special power was assisting the Yanjiao's totemic power. Back then, he was able to achieve a different awakening than others. He was able to successfully carve and awaken the ancestral bone ornaments. He was able to absorb fire crystals before fusing with the fire seed. These were all because of this special power.
Being able to master this power was a great improvement for himself.
Putting away his other emotions, Shao Xuan slowly activated the other power.
In his sea of consciousness, the totemic flames did not change much. However, the light shield outside started to brighten. Every time it flashed, it would become brighter by a bit.
Guigou and Zheng Luo did not understand what Shao Xuan was doing. They could only see Shao Xuan standing behind a tree. He did not move and his eyes were closed. They did not know what he was thinking. Why did he close his eyes instead of looking at the king stoneworm?
But soon, they realized that the rumbling in their ears had stopped abruptly. They looked over. In the stone forest, the wriggling king stoneworm's upper body was slightly raised.
Its massive body did not have feet, only rings of wrinkles on its body. It did not seem to have any hard armor, nor did it have any intimidating spikes. It did not even seem to have any offensive power. However, such a massive beast was able to make countless people and beasts tremble in fear. They did not even have the courage to fight back.
When it turned to look over, Guigou and Zheng Luo did not even see where its eyes were. They did not know how it "saw".
It only raised its upper body slightly. Its head was already taller than the tallest tree in the forest.
In the distant sky, the long-winged bird that had finally escaped Chacha's pursuit stopped. Wu He looked over at the king stoneworm. Even though he could not see it clearly, he could still see the silhouette beyond the forest.
"What's going on?" Wu He did not understand.
Why did the king stoneworm suddenly stop? It even looked around.
His heart was itching again.
Wu He looked around and did not see the eagle again. He patted the long-winged bird. "Let's go."
"Coo —" The long-winged bird cooed softly, obviously unwilling. They had just escaped and now they had to go back? The eagle was still around. It would be killed!
"Let's go. Be careful. Something must have happened!" Wu He's instincts told him that something was wrong.
Could it be that the king beast was finally heading towards Yanjiao?
Thinking about it this way, Wu He was even more unwilling to miss this good show.
No matter how unwilling the long-winged bird was, it would not disobey its master's orders. It could only slowly and carefully fly over.
In the stone forest, the king stoneworm turned its round head and scanned its surroundings. Finally, it confirmed Shao Xuan's location.
Rumble —
The sound of its enormous body crashing into the stone forest rang out again. This time, it was more urgent than before. The king stoneworm moved even faster.
Guigou and Zheng Luo, who were hiding in the dark, saw the king stoneworm moving towards Shao Xuan. They were anxious and even whistled a few times to warn him.
Shao Xuan did not open his eyes but raised a hand to signal to Guigou and Zheng Luo. He knew that the king stoneworm was coming his way.
The greyish white was expanding towards Shao Xuan. When the greyish white approached, Shao Xuan moved too. He did not run towards the Flaming River Trading Point. Instead, he ran in the opposite direction. That way, even if something happened, it would not affect the trading point.
As Shao Xuan left, the king stoneworm followed. It sped up again. Although it was huge and surrounded by trees and rocks, nothing could stop it. Shao Xuan had to avoid obstacles when he ran but the king stoneworm ran in a straight line. Rocks blocked rocks and crushed trees.
"What is he trying to do?!" Wu He was confused when he saw what was happening below.
He could recognise that the person running in front of the king stoneworm was the one who summoned the giant mountain eagle. He was a Yanjiao tribesman. What he did not understand was that the Yanjiao tribesman had clearly left. Why did he come back? And why was the king stoneworm following him?
Was he trying to lure the king stoneworm away?!
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