Chapter 693: Don't say starvation
After Shao Xuan went after the people who had left, the mood in the plantation became heavier.
They were too careless!
If they had been more careful, perhaps all of that would never have happened. At least those people wouldn’t have been able to leave so easily.
Ao was regretting it a lot now too.
Even though Shao Xuan had reminded them about how there were also others who were closely watching them and they were all cautious, they never thought those people would dare to come close after witnessing the bat leader’s attack. Who would’ve thought! These people were so daring! They were literally out of their minds! What if the bat leader changed its target and focused on them instead? Wasn’t the exploded flock of birds enough for a warning?
But what happened had already happened. This was extreme humiliation to them. Everyone saw the two bags of thousand grain gold get stolen. This was a slap across the Flaming Horn’s faces, a cruel slap. All of the Flaming Horns present were stunned by what happened.
Even though the two bags of thousand-grain gold were not even a tenth of their total harvest, this was a different case. If someone stole your prey, it was clearly a failure on your part, not to mention how important this thousand-grain gold was to them!
Perhaps the Flaming Horns were too arrogant after everything that happened- the Flaming River Trading Point, the king beast incident, and the Giant Bridge. They should’ve maintained their guard and vigilance.
How careless!
Even Ao had to admit that he was indeed not in the zone, especially just now when he hesitated in throwing out a spear at the trespasser. If he released his spear when Shao Xuan released it, perhaps the robbery would never have happened. At least they could’ve caught one or two of them.
He looked again at the sky. The bat leader was becoming even more brutal than before. It probably noticed what happened below, but it didn’t chase after those people. If it did chase after them, it had to abandon this important piece of land, so it chose to stay here.
It was not a tamed beast and unlike Cha Cha, it didn’t listen to anyone’s commands. This bat had a different goal in mind. It would get mad if someone stole his things under his watch, but it wouldn’t go after the people who stole the grains. It knew about tradeoffs, so he stayed here. This place was more important.
They relied on other forces too much. This wouldn’t work. Ao regretted as he sighed.
These people planned their timing too well. If they came a little earlier or later, they would’ve failed. Perhaps they also considered the bat leader’s mentality. Those people were also too crazy…
He initially thought that only the “Robbers” could do something like this. He never expected there to be others. The Robbers liked to come out in the night time, but these people were executing their mission at noon, under broad daylight, a time when everyone could see them.
Ao felt that compared to the robber’s incident from before, the incident that had just happened was a harder slap across their faces.
Of course, he knew that this was not the time to blame himself. It wasn’t the time to reflect either.
“Keep your spirits high! It’s not over yet!” Ao yelled.
So what if they were unhappy? They still had other matters to settle.
They’ll just take this as a lesson.
Ao didn’t think Shao Xuan could stop those people. Judging by how in sync those people were and how they behaved, he knew that they were experienced. With just Cha Cha, it wouldn’t be easy to stop all of them.
On the side of the Giant Bridge, Ta turned around and looked up into the sky. The seven figures flew above the forest not far away from them. They probably knew that people were keeping guard here, so they didn’t get close. Instead, they flew above the forest beside the Flaming River and continued upstream.
Even though they were quite far away, Ta could see what they were carrying with his sharp vision. He saw the familiar beast hide bags and the grains that fell from it occasionally. Anger welled up within him.
They stole the thousand-grain gold!
Ta also noticed Shao Xuan following those people. He was chasing after them.
He shifted his feet. He wanted to chase after those people personally, but then he looked again at those people on the other side of the bridge. He hesitated and waved his hands as he signalled the others beside him, “You guys, follow them!”
The people who came from other tribes on the other side couldn’t see clearly what was happening because they were far away. They were still discussing what had happened, but very soon, they saw what was happening.
People were riding on birds and travelling upstream on the other side where the Flaming Horn’s headquarters was. It looked like they were trying to cross the river.
The few individuals who stood in the back of the crowd thought, ‘Aren’t those the Chang Le’s? Judging by their looks, did they get something?’
The Chang Le’s were indeed impressive if they could steal something from the Flaming Horn’s headquarters. The Flaming Horns had to admit to this fact.
In the sky, after Wu He’s group of seven successfully stole the two giant bags of grains, they couldn’t fly up high because two of their birds suffered severe injuries and even had arrows stuck in their bodies. Two other birds couldn’t fly high because of how heavy the grains were. Flying high required greater energy. There was also another person among them who was severely injured. The bird who was carrying two people was even more tired than the others. Even though their entire mission didn’t take long, it burned up a lot of their energy.
Especially the seven long-winged birds. They were under immense stress. Even if the bat leader wasn’t a king beast, it was a bigger threat compared to the king stoneworm. The bat leader could fly. They finally accomplished their mission under such a huge mental burden. Now that they could finally relax, they felt extremely tired.
To conserve their energy and to ensure they could work well as a team, the seven birds didn’t fly too high. Of course, they were comparing the height to how high they usually flew. Even if they weren’t flying high, the fierce beasts on land could not reach them. They were flying above the forest, but they still kept a distance above the trees. This could save their energy and avoid all the threats on the trees. This was the level many experienced birds liked. Cha Cha also flew at this height often. As long as they flew faster, the people on the ground wouldn’t be able to shoot them, unless their skills were highly polished.
The reason they chose to fly upstream towards the Flaming River was there were fewer people there!
They definitely wouldn’t head in the Flaming River’s direction. What laid ahead there was a forest full of fearsome beasts, but they still had to cross the river. Different tribes were spread across the land on the other side of the river. At least this was the information Wu He discovered during his time here. He even knew that there were more tribes downstream who were familiar with the Flaming Horns. If they fly in that direction, they would be targeted by many people, but it was different upstream. If they cross the river and travel upstream, there would be less tribes so they wouldn’t be targeted as much. This was the best way for them to escape.
“We’re already out of the Flaming Horn’s territory. If we go further we will arrive at the forest full of fearsome beasts. Let’s cross the river!” Wu He said.
The others did not object. They gestured their long-winged birds to change direction and prepared to cross the river.
“After we cross the river, let’s part ways…” Wu He’s eyelids jerked quickly and uncontrollably as he said this.
“What’s wrong?” the others saw his reaction and looked around anxiously.
They didn’t see any other strange flying creatures around them, nor did they see the bat leader. At first, they expected to see the giant mountain eagle, but it wasn’t here either.
The brat was still tightly following them from below.
“Is there something wrong?” Wu He asked.
“Besides that brat who’s still following us, I don’t sense any other threat,” the others replied in confirmation after scanning the area once more.
“It’s all good then.”
Wu He felt that he was thinking too much due to the anxiety. He didn’t underestimate Shao Xuan because he knew that someone who could take on the position of the Grand Elder in the Flaming Horn tribe who can bait the king beast must have his unique skill. However, the only reason Wu He put him into consideration was that Shao Xuan couldn’t fly.
Even the king beast that was causing trouble outside the trading point couldn’t do anything to them now! They were too far up in the sky.
Without the help of that great mountain eagle, what can this Grand Elder do? He was not a threat at all.
Wu He looked down at the person under them. He was not planning to give up. He looked over at the Flaming River that was getting close and his smile grew wider. He was almost there, and there wasn’t a bridge there. Without the eagle’s help, what could he do? There were a lot of fierce giant fishes in the river.
How can you follow us now?
They were getting closer to the river. The seven long winged birds no longer focused on what was below. Among the seven people, Wu He was the only one who was still watching the person running after them.
Just as the seven birds flew above the river, the person who passed through the woods also jumped out and propelled himself from a tree.
Seeing this scene, Wu He couldn’t help but laugh.
You think you can fly just because you jump high? Can you even reach the sky?!
However, not long after, Wu He stopped smiling. This was no longer funny.
Whoosh-
The sound of a breeze swept across them.
A fiery energy was released from Shao Xuan’s body. The energy surged upward within his body and with the wind’s assistance, he dashed into the air.
A flame body stretched out instantly and transformed into the shape of a giant. The strong suppressive energy welled from its body and repelled everything around it. The strong air current that was swirling around gave the flames a human shape. This strange look made the giant even scarier than it already was. The flames were like the fur of a fierce beast fluttering in the wind.
The seven Chang Le’s were closest to the giant, so they could feel its strong energy clearly. They had never felt a force as suppressive as this. This powerful strength could crush anyone easily.
They were flying at the Flame Giant’s eye level, but they couldn’t see its eye. There was a vague outline, and even though it had no eyes, Wu He’s group of seven felt like the giant was looking straight at them!
Wu He felt the bones creaking in his body. The facial expressions of the other six were all changing. Fear, terror, panic, helplessness. Their hands were trembling and they felt like they would die the next moment. The seven long-winged birds suddenly forgot to flap their wings. Everything was beyond their control. This obstacle was unexpected.
During that moment of hesitation, the Flame Giant moved. He lifted his hands and slapped it down like a fly swatter.
The fiery air current was so powerful that they didn’t even have the chance to react. They could only watch helplessly as the giant hand slapped down on them.
The people who were watching from the other side of the bridge all inhaled deeply when they saw this. Their eyes and mouths opened wide in shock as their jaws dropped.
What the heck is that?!!
All of a sudden, a flame giant appeared out of nowhere and slapped the people in the air down with his bare hands.
They were slapped to the ground, just like that…