The pterosaur thought it could finally see the light of day again. It had already gotten used to its new living environment after spending so much time outside. However, Shao Xuan threw it back into this quiet underground secret room.
The pterosaur was traumatized by this underground secret room. It had woken up here. In other words, it was here that it was reborn. At the same time, it was also here that Shao Xuan controlled it. It could still vividly remember the fear it felt when every bone in its body lost control.
The pterosaur knew it could not resist so it had no choice but to accept its fate. It cried out a few times to vent its anger but immediately shut up when it saw Shao Xuan look over.
After placing some food and water in the secret room, Shao Xuan and Zheng Luo walked out. The stone door to the secret room was also closed.
"It's very smart," said Zheng Luo.
This was the truth. Even the patrolling warriors who were angered by the pterosaur had to admit this. The creature that looked like a bird was much smarter than most animals. It had a strong learning ability and knew how to avoid harm. It could see the situation clearly. Just like now, it did not want to be locked in this cramped underground secret room. However, it did not dare to resist so it could only stay inside obediently without any resistance.
"It's because it's smart and sensitive to danger that I put it in here. Also, when I left the tribe a while ago, it was indeed restless. I have to punish it. It won't be able to leave for the next few days, "said Shao Xuan.
Knowing that Shao Xuan had a plan, Zheng Luo did not say anything else. He was still very much looking forward to Shao Xuan controlling the corpse. Although Zheng Luo did not go to the desert, he heard from the people who came back about the abilities of the monsters. It was indeed terrifying. Without Shao Xuan, the people who entered the desert might not have made it out alive.
"What do you plan to do with the Gongjia family?" asked Zheng Luo as they walked towards the top of the Flaming River Castle.
"On the way here, they said that as long as Yanjiao accepts them, they would be willing to forge weapons for us. Gongjia Ren also said that forging was a part of their lives. They might not be willing to be idle. It's just a win-win situation. However, they also said that the core skills of forging will not be passed on to outsiders. "
Zheng Luo was a little disappointed to hear that the craftsmanship would not be taught to outsiders but he could understand. He thought about it, as long as the Gongjia family made things for Yanjiao, that would be enough.
Zheng Luo pointed at the knife in Shao Xuan's hand. "Can you mass-produce this kind of metal weapon?"
"With the materials we have now, we can only make about a hundred of them," Shao Xuan said, "We've already replenished them with new crystals. It will take time to make more."
Zheng Luo nodded. A hundred was a lot. It was better than he had expected. If these metal weapons were easier to use, new bronze would gradually be replaced.
However, truly being replaced was also a relatively long process. It was still too early to think about that now.
The material used to forge Shao Xuan's knife was produced from crystals. To distinguish it from other metal weapons, they called it crystal gold. However, the existence of crystal gold was not made public by the Yanjiao tribe. Not many people even knew about it.
After leaving the Flaming River Castle, Shao Xuan brought the six Gongjia members who had toured the trading point to the headquarters.
The Great Bridge of the Flaming River that looked like it was floating on the surface of the water shocked the six Gongjia members once again. They even thought that if there was such a bridge between the two continents, they could bypass the battlefield and travel between the two continents. However, on second thought, it was good that there was no bridge. Since they had already left the other side, they might not be able to return even if they died. There was no need to keep thinking about the bridge.
"Freshmen …" Gongjia Ren looked at the mountain in Yanjiao's headquarters. He could see the houses and people moving around on the mountain.
The six Gongjia members did not raise a high profile when they entered Yanjiao's headquarters. They did not want to attract too much attention for the time being. Perhaps it was because they were on the run that they had developed a habit of keeping a low profile.
Since the six Gongjia members agreed, Shao Xuan did not insist. He brought them to the place they wanted to visit the most — the forging room.
After the cauldron explosion last time, in order to forge the knife in Shao Xuan's hand, they temporarily built a casting room dedicated to forging crystal gold. Although there were new types of gold, the Flaming Horn tribe still mainly used new bronze. A casting room for bronze had to be built, so a new casting room for bronze had to be built.
Shao Xuan did not see it before he left. When he returned, he saw a new forging room that was about the same size as the previous one.
The six Gongjia members discussed this with Shao Xuan. They hoped that Yanjiao could build a forging room for each of them. The Gongjia family's craftsmen would only gather together unless they were called by their masters to teach them skills or when they needed to work together. Most of the time, they liked to stay in their own place and study.
Since they started learning how to forge, they spent more time in the forging room than in their bedrooms at home. They could not ask for too much in Yanjiao. Hence, they discussed with Shao Xuan whether he could build six forging rooms for each of them. As for the houses, they did not need to build another one. They only needed to build a small house next to the forging room. They could make do with everything else, including living quarters. However, they could not make do with the forging room. Years of obsessive-compulsive disorder would not change in a short period of time.
This was not a difficult task for Yanjiao. After all, this place was big enough. The forging rooms were built according to the design that the six of them were used to. With the six of them personally watching over the forging room, Shao Xuan did not have to stay there all the time.
After making arrangements for the six Gongjia members, Shao Xuan returned to the mountain. He held a small meeting at the top of the mountain and briefly told the others about his trip. He also told them about the ancient corpse he brought back.
Like Zheng Luo, the others also hoped that Shao Xuan would be able to control a monster.
That night, Shao Xuan stayed at the headquarters and did not go to the Flaming River Trading Point.
At night, in the secret underground chamber of the Flaming River Castle.
The pterosaur, who was locked in the secret chamber, finished the beast meat that Shao Xuan had left for him. It was bored so it used its sharp claws to scratch the ground. Then, it looked at the long wooden box that Shao Xuan had placed on the stone table.
It flapped its wings and flew up to the stone table. Because the wooden box was damaged during the process of being transported here, there were gaps of varying sizes even when it was closed.
After circling the wooden box, the pterosaur found a slightly bigger gap on the side and squeezed in. If it had just woken up not long ago, it would have been able to squeeze in. However, now that it had grown fatter, it was harder to squeeze in. It was stuck there.
Using its mouth and claws, the pterosaur widened the gap and squeezed in with much difficulty.
It did not like the smell inside but it did not feel any signs of life. If it was a corpse that had just died not long ago, it would still eat it when it was hungry. However, the corpse in front of it had been dead for who knows how long. It did not have any appetite at all. Moreover, it had been spoiled during its time in the wild. It did not like the corpse in front of it at all.
Instead, it stepped on the corpse and walked back and forth curiously. It pecked at the stones and bones that seemed to have been separated for a long time. After pecking an ornament into pieces, it stepped on the corpse's chest and walked up to the human face. The shriveled face no longer had its original appearance. The protruding cheekbones were more prominent, the eyes were sunken, and all the hair had fallen out.
The pterosaur walked on the human face for a while and rummaged through the coffin-like wooden box. It did not find anything that interested it, so it came out from inside.
It thought that Shao Xuan would punish it severely. However, it did not expect that it would only be locked up here. There were no other creatures, so there was nothing to worry about. After circling the secret room again, the pterosaur flew back to the cage to sleep. It was active during the day. Its ability to move at night was not as strong as during the day, so it used it to rest.
The next day, Shao Xuan went to the trading point from the headquarters. When he opened the door to the secret room, the pterosaur was still sleeping in the cage. It only woke up when it heard the noise. When it saw the food in Shao Xuan's hands, it was completely awake. At this time, it was not afraid of Shao Xuan anymore. With a flap of its wings, the pterosaur glided from the cage to Shao Xuan.
Looking around, Shao Xuan found that the secret room was not messed up except for the dragon feces. He threw the meat in his hand to the pterosaur and let it eat it.
There were scratches and bite marks on the wooden box on the stone table. When he opened the lid, Shao Xuan saw the ornaments that had been bitten. There were also some footprints on the ancient corpse. Shao Xuan had sensed these last night and knew what the pterosaur had done last night. It was also because he knew that it did not destroy the ancient corpse that Shao Xuan brought it food.
While the pterosaur was gnawing on the food, Shao Xuan planned to try to control the ancient corpse.
At that time, the pterosaur was still alive, so Shao Xuan did not make a move right away. Instead, he waited until the pterosaur had failed to resist. That was to increase the success rate. Now, Shao Xuan did not need to wait. It was even easier to enslave an inanimate object.
However, with the failure on the way back, Shao Xuan was more careful this time. He did not need to worry about robbers jumping out from the surroundings, so he could concentrate more.
Raising his hand, Shao Xuan drew out the power of the Yanjiao Fire Seed in his body. Similar to the pterosaur, he used the power of the Yanjiao Fire Seed to try to control it. Similarly, he did not completely separate the power of the Yanjiao Fire Seed from the other power in his body. He allowed them to be drawn out at the same time. This way, the success rate would be higher.
With the appearance of the totem pattern, Shao Xuan raised his hand and a flame appeared. He reached his hand above the ancient corpse and slowly pressed it down.
He did not know how long this ancient corpse had been stored, but the bones were very active. Otherwise, the people of Rock Hill City would not have brought it along. A corpse without any activity was useless to the people of Rock Hill City. They would have thrown it away long ago. However, since the people of Rock Hill City kept it, it proved that it had a higher value.
Because of this, Shao Xuan planned to try a few more times.
However, Shao Xuan soon realized that the situation was the same as before. The power of the fire seed could not penetrate deeply. The last time when Shao Xuan enslaved the pterosaur, he did not encounter any resistance. The flame carried the power of the fire seed and directly penetrated the pterosaur's skin and muscles, seeping into every bone. However, this time, Shao Xuan felt a repulsion.
On the way back, when Shao Xuan failed, he also encountered a repulsion. However, because he had to take care of the surrounding situation, he could not continue.
Shao Xuan did not stop. Instead, he increased the active power in his body and the flame in his hand grew bigger.
The pterosaur had already abandoned its food and retreated to the corner when the flame appeared in Shao Xuan's hand. Now, it even tightened its wings, similar to how it was when it was frozen.
Shao Xuan increased the power of the flame. When the flame penetrated the flesh, he could feel a clear resistance. It felt like he was going against a current. However, this was not the case. Every time the flame was about to penetrate the bones, it was as if it had encountered a hard shield and was strongly repelled. The more power the flame penetrated, the stronger the repelling force.
After Shao Xuan increased the power of the flame, the feeling became clearer.
There was no mistaking it. With such a strong repelling force, Shao Xuan's plan could not be carried out. It was no wonder that the people from Rock Hill City had not succeeded.
Dead creatures could not resist. They had no consciousness and could not control their own bodies. However, this ancient corpse was actually repelling the power of Yanjiao's fire seed!
How was this possible?!
However, everything in front of him was real. Unless … this ancient corpse was actually alive!
However, it did not have any signs of life.
This confused Shao Xuan because he could not explain it.
Shao Xuan retracted his hand and thought for a moment.
After a while, Shao Xuan raised his hand again. This time, he used another type of power in his body. He did not use the power of Yanjiao's fire seed.
The uniqueness of this ancient corpse was that even though it was dead, the reaction of its bones was similar to that of a living person. The reason why living people were not suitable for this type of controlled enslavement was because of the repelling force of the main body. Not to mention the wanderer slaves, when the other tribesmen were alive, they had the power of the fire seed in their bodies. Even tribesmen who did not merge with the fire seed had the power of totems in their bodies. Totems were another form of the fire seed's power. Totems originated from the fire seed.
The fire seed's repelling force would cause it to repel the power of other tribes' fire seeds. This was why Shao Xuan encountered resistance every time he tried to make a move.
Therefore, Shao Xuan decided to withdraw the power of Yanjiao's fire seed and use another type of power in his body to try. The reason why Shao Xuan was not strongly repelled by the other tribes' fire seeds was because of this power.
This time, a white flame appeared in Shao Xuan's hand, and he pressed his hand down.
As Shao Xuan's hand approached, the white flame began to extend downwards, seeping into the ancient corpse's dark, dry skin and flesh.
He didn't encounter any obstacles like the previous one, which was like going against the wind!
Shao Xuan's heart calmed down a little. It seemed that he had made the right choice.
The flame that seeped into the skin and flesh continued to seep in, touching the ancient corpse's bones. Then, the strong repelling force disappeared, as if a solid shield had been removed.
It was unimpeded!
The high activity of the ancient corpse's bones allowed them to quickly absorb the power of the flame that seeped in.
Shao Xuan used his special vision to check. Just like the pterosaur, the ancient corpse's bones seemed to have been dyed white by the flame that seeped into it.
However, there was no blood flow. The white color only existed in the bones and did not seep into the blood vessels and meridians. This was different from the pterosaur.
That's right, an ancient corpse was not like the pterosaur. After all, it was a lifeless body. Naturally, there was no blood flow. The blood vessels and meridians were all damaged. The monsters controlled by Rock Hill City were the same.
Did he succeed?
Shao Xuan retracted his hand and extinguished the flame in his hand. Then, he used his mind.
The ancient corpse on the stone table did not respond.
Shao Xuan frowned. This was not right. Didn't he succeed just now? Why couldn't he control it?
He tried a few more times, but the result was the same.
He could affect the power that seeped into the bones, but he could not control the ancient corpse like he did the pterosaur!
When Shao Xuan tried to control the pterosaur, he also used the same method on other dead beasts. According to his past experience, he should have succeeded by now, but he could not control it!
After much effort, he finally managed to seep the power into the bones, but he could not control it. Shao Xuan still could not figure out the reason. He was troubled.
Just as Shao Xuan was pondering the reason, Zheng Luo came down to call him. It was Gongjia Ren. He wanted to ask about the forging of crystal gold.
Gongjia Ren and the rest had only come into contact with bronze wares. In fact, there were a small number of Gongjia family members who had come into contact with other types of metal wares. Naturally, they knew that there was more than one type of metal wares but they had never come into contact with them before. That was why they were very interested in new types of metal wares. Before their own forging room was completed, they could not wait to interact with the Yanjiao craftsmen who had participated in the forging of crystal gold. They asked many questions in high spirits but the Yanjiao craftsmen could not answer them. Gongjia Ren could not resist the temptation. Coincidentally, Duo Kang had brought his hunting results from the headquarters to the trading point, so he followed along.
Thinking about the Gongjia family's persistence, Shao Xuan thought about it and decided to explain everything to them. He would definitely stay here for a few more days because of the ancient corpse. This time, he had to explain everything to prevent Gongjia Ren from coming over to ask again.
He ordered the Yanjiao warriors to stand guard outside the secret chamber in case anything happened inside. Shao Xuan went to look for Gongjia Ren first.
The stone door closed. Other than the ancient corpse on the stone table, there was only the pterosaur huddled in the corner of the room.
After Shao Xuan left, the pterosaur cautiously crawled towards the stone table from the corner. It was frightened by the flames on Shao Xuan's hand but after Shao Xuan left, it became bolder and flew to the stone table to take a look at this strange person.
Other than a similar aura to the pterosaur, there was nothing different about the ancient corpse from last night.
Losing interest, the pterosaur glided down from the stone table and continued to eat the food it had not finished.
As it chewed, the pterosaur suddenly paused, as if uncertain. Its body stiffened as it sensed carefully, then it quickly threw the food away and huddled in the corner again. It folded its wings and carefully peered at the stone table.
Thin red lines appeared on the shriveled body of the ancient corpse on the stone table. They intersected like tree branches and gradually spread to every part of its body, growing denser and denser. Those were where the blood vessels and meridians were located. They were also carriers of energy. Shao Xuan did not think this would happen but now it did.
The shriveled and stiff body emitted a faint crackling sound. If one looked closely, they would notice that the skin and flesh on the shriveled parts were changing. However, the changes were not drastic and were not obvious.
The sunken parts of the ancient corpse's eyes moved, as if something was rolling underneath.
The arms on both sides of the corpse trembled slightly, its fingers moving up and down. At first, it was only one or two fingers but soon, the third, fifth and eventually the entire wrist was twisting.
Whoosh!
The ancient corpse suddenly sat up, scaring the pterosaur that was cowering in the corner.
If Shao Xuan was here, he would definitely be surprised. Not only because of the ancient corpse's behavior, but also because the person who sat up had no heartbeat!
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