Chapter 664: Sincerity
Even though Shao Xuan was a special person and saved his son, as the shaman of the Jing tribe, he shouldn’t have been so careless! How could he let down his guard?!
Even if he knew Shao Xuan wasn’t that type of person, this matter was related to the fire seed, so he shouldn’t act on his personal opinion.
The Jing shaman was suddenly silent. Although his facial expression was subtle, he was already growing anxious inside. His eyes closely followed the person under the quagmire. If he dared to make any wrong move, the shaman would immediately take action.
Miu had just recovered from the previous shock. Even though his eyes were still a little blurry when he looked at things, it wasn’t a huge bother. He didn’t want to suffer the same fate, but he couldn’t hold back his ever-increasing curiosity. If Shao Xuan didn’t enter the quagmire, he wouldn’t look at him again, but now that Shao Xuan was under the quagmire, Miu wanted to find out what an outsider like him could do underneath their quagmire. Hopefully Shao Xuan wouldn’t need anyone to rescue him if he was lost under the quagmire.
Luckily, Shao Xuan did not look over this time. Miu breathed out a sigh of relief. Shao Xuan’s eyes were too scary.
Meanwhile, Shao Xuan had poured all of his attention to his surroundings. The shaman’s third eye was the only eye that could remain open under the quagmire and not be affected by the muddy water.
But Shao Xuan couldn’t. The Jing shaman’s third eye was special. There was no way he could compare. The muddy water might damage his eyes, so Shao Xuan kept his eyes shut after the force dragged him to the bottom of the quagmire.
Luckily, Shao Xuan could still see through his special vision even with his eyes closed. He could see through his eyelids. No one else knew about this.
After he sank to the bottom of the quagmire, Shao Xuan did not start to walk right away. Instead, he stood where he was and observed everything around him.
Under the quagmire, the pressure from the mud all around him was twice as strong compared to normal water bodies such as rivers or lakes. This was the pressure he experienced under the still unmoving mud. If he lifted his legs to walk, it would greatly exhaust his physical energy. This was why the Jing shaman had to rest on the shore after he walked his first round under the quagmire.
The ground eyes around Shao Xuan appeared as small luminous spots in his special vision. Some were bright while some were dimmer. They were all ground eyes. These luminous spots were actually the ground eye stones within the creature’s body. Normal ground eye stones were greyish and dim in his special vision, while higher quality ground eye stones and Universal Eyes appeared brighter, especially the Universal Eyes. They were bright and striking to the eye. Just now when the Universal Eye passed by in front of Shao Xuan, his eyes saw a trail of faded light behind it.
Judging by this principle, Shao Xuan only needed to look for the brightest light.
Shao Xuan didn’t know what the True Eye looked like, but he already knew how bright the Universal Eyes were. Now all he needed to do was look for a light that was even brighter than the two Universal Eyes and then catch it.
Even though he wasn’t sure if the True Eye could be used on Caesar, Shao Xuan had to give it a try. Caesar was still following the hunting team out to hunt like before, but he was a lot more restricted in his movements, especially when the forest was full of dangers and other fierce beasts. His reaction was a lot slower when it came to these situations. Seeing Caesar’s injuries, Old Ke wanted to let Caesar take on other tasks, such as pulling carts in the Flaming River Trading Point, but Caesar was not willing to change his job. To him, pulling carts was only a side job. He preferred to hunt more. Now, even if he was hungry, he would go out and hunt for himself. He would even bring some food back for Old Ke.
If Shao Xuan could help that poor guy get a new eye, even if he couldn’t fully recover and return to his full potential, he would be a lot better off than he was now. Then this trip would be worth it.
Beside the quagmire, after Shao Xuan went into the quagmire, everyone noticed that he had stopped moving and the rope that was attached to his body also stayed on the same spot.
“Don’t tell me he got stuck in the mud under the quagmire and couldn’t move…” someone said with a low voice.
“Nonsense, how strong could the pressure be under the quagmire? There’s no way it can possibly stop us! We’re the Flaming Horns! Our Grand Elder is merely going down there for a walk. How complicated could that be?” Duo Li rebuked immediately.
But even they were not sure why Shao Xuan stopped moving after he went under.
“Oh! It’s moving! It’s moving!” someone suddenly shouted.
The crowd looked over when they heard the exclamation. The rope that was attached to Shao Xuan’s body had indeed started to move. That meant that Shao Xuan started to walk under the quagmire, and also proved that Duo Li’s word’s were true.
Although the Jing people didn’t say anything more, they still didn’t believe what Duo Li said.
Merely going down to the quagmire for a walk? Was it that simple? If it was indeed so simple, there wouldn’t even be so many strict rules around the centre quagmire. Other people weren’t sure, but many elders in the Jing tribe knew that when they first dug the centre quagmire, they planned for this to be a second barrier. In the case of an emergency, the Jing people would all retreat to the centre quagmire. Many beasts had been swallowed by this quagmire, and all of these beasts had been engulfed by the quagmire. Not even their bones were left behind.
Shao Xuan also noticed that his initially sharp senses became blurred after he reached the bottom. If it were not for his special vision, he wouldn’t have been able to see through everything under the quagmire. He might actually get lost without it.
He had been standing under the quagmire for a while now and also got used to the pressure of the mud. He had a general understanding of the environment, but now he needed fresh air, so he started walking towards the stone stairs not far away from him.
There were stone stairs built under the quagmire. It would guide people on the bottom up to the surface.
The Jing shaman was just about to ask the other Flaming Horns to pull the rope to remind Shao Xuan about the direction to return, but he saw the rope that was attached to Shao Xuan suddenly drift toward the stairs even without anyone pulling on the rope.
Seeing this, the Jing shaman immediately opened his three eyes widely and looked underneath. Shao Xuan was walking towards the stone stairs without any hesitation. His steps were steady, like he firmly believed there was a staircase there.
How could this be possible?!
The Jing shaman couldn’t comprehend. Shao Xuan didn’t even have the third eye. How was he able to find the staircase under the quagmire? Even though he had pointed the stairs out for Shao Xuan before he entered the quagmire, everyone in the Jing tribe knew that being able to tell the direction from above didn’t mean he couldn’t tell the direction when he was underneath. For most people, after they entered the quagmire, their memory would be messed up and they wouldn’t be able to find the right direction.
Seeing Shao Xuan emerge from under the quagmire, the other Flaming Horns all relaxed. Wei didn’t smile but kept a tightened expression, while Duo Li looked excitedly at all the Jing people around him. His eyes were telling them, ‘See? Did I lie?’
Shao Xuan wiped away the mud on his face and said to Wei and the others, “Throw me a rope. I want to tie it on my hands.”
The Jing shaman looked at Shao Xuan with surprise, “You want to catch it yourself?!”
“Yup. I suspected a Universal Eye passing right by me, the one you said made that noise. If I really can’t find the True Eye, I’ll just catch a Universal Eye first.” Shao Xuan caught the rope that the others threw over. This was the type the Jing people often used to tie around their hands. With this rope around their hands, even if the ground eye was spinning at a high speed when they were catching it, it wouldn’t directly hurt their hands. So this rope was acting as a glove.
The Jing shaman opened his mouth to speak. He wasn’t sad because Shao Xuan was about to catch these Universal Eyes. He promised to let Shao Xuan down. He didn’t value the Universal Eyes too much. He was just shocked that Shao Xuan didn’t lose his sense of direction under the quagmire. Not only was he walking with ease, he even planned to catch a Universal Eye.
“Alright then. Be careful.” The Jing shaman spoke no more. He thought that Shao Xuan only noticed the Universal Eye from hearing its sound. If that was the case, he could continue watching him on the shore. If Shao Xuan caught a Universal Eye, even if he couldn’t find any True Eyes, he wouldn’t be mad. Having results was better than having nothing. If Shao Xuan couldn’t catch the Universal Eye, then the shaman would have to catch it by himself after his break and gift it to them afterwards.
The Jing shaman thought that this wasn’t such a bad idea, so he sat on the side and watched. Shao Xuan inhaled deeply before entering the quagmire once again. The Jing shaman felt that it was impossible for Shao Xuan to catch the True Eye. No, he might not even be able to notice it if it was beside him. The True Eye would never make such a sound, so he was the only one who could catch it!
After making sure that Shao Xuan was fine by himself under the quagmire, the other Flaming Horns started to joke around, and even chatted with the Jing tribe regarding who would get first place this year. As they chatted, they also took the opportunity to promote the Flaming River Trading Point. They told the Jing people that if they needed any goods such as food or beast hide, they could go there and trade using their ground eye stones.
Shao Xuan was already copying the shaman’s movements under the quagmire. Shao Xuan knew that the shaman of the Jing tribe had a lot of experience, so it was safer to follow his trail under the quagmire. This route was definitely the best for searching ground eyes.
The pressure of the mud under the quagmire made Shao Xuan feel like he was walking against a strong wind. The only thing that was different was that even if he stopped walking, he wouldn’t be blown away. If he was tired, he could also rest. He only couldn’t breathe in any fresh air so he felt a little stuffy. Once in a while, he had to look for the staircase to catch his breath.
The round moon was in the centre of the sky. As Shao Xuan walked in the quagmire, he noticed that more ground eyes started appearing in the centre quagmire. Some of these ground eyes drilled in from the exterior of the quagmire, while others came out from underneath. Everywhere, the ground eyes were coming and gathering here. On this day, the Jing fire seed had an unusually strong attraction. The ground eyes were like moths attracted to fire. All of them were coming into this quagmire.
In Shao Xuan’s special Vision, the luminous spots were increasing, and there was another universal eye now. The night was still long, so more universal eyes might appear. The Jing shaman already said that all the ground eyes would become especially active that night, but he wasn’t sure if he could find a True Eye.
The Jing shaman opened his third eye and saw Shao Xuan walk past a Universal Eye that was right beside him. He couldn’t help but laugh. Sure enough, Shao Xuan was merely judging by the noise.
However, he was surprised to see a few rapidly spinning Universal Eyes pass by Shao Xuan multiple times, but Shao Xuan stayed still as before. The Jing shaman was confused. It was normal if he didn’t react for the first few times, but even on the third, fourth, and fifth time? What was the brat thinking?