C346 – Bi Luo
Posted on March 29, 2019 by AzureOrchid92
From the sea?
This was unimaginable to Shao Xuan, unless the slave owners were mermaids. But this seemed impossible, as they had been living in the desert for so many years. How could they have had a marine life? Even evolution has to be a process.
After hearing the blind old slave’s answer, Shao Xuan’s first reaction was to believe it. Then, his next reaction was not to believe it!
However, the other side had a serious expression, which made Shao Xuan feel helpless.
“What do you mean, from the sea?” Shao Xuan asked.
The blind old slave shook his head, “I’m not quite sure, but I have heard some of the older people say that the slave owners are from over there.”
Shao Xuan was still in doubt about this. After some thought, he asked for a map of the desert from the old slave. The map Su Gu had handed to Shao Xuan was not comprehensive. Shao Xuan hoped to be able to see a more complete picture of the area. After all, this place was one of the three major cities. Won’t they have a complete map?
Unfortunately, the old slave did not know much about maps. In his early years, his eyes had already been blind. A lot of the things he knew were remembered by listening to others, hence, pictures and such would be very difficult for him.
Although he did not have the knowledge, the old slave still had an idea of the approximate location of the maps. He went to the side of a stone shelf, then lifted his hand to gesture a range. “It should be in this area. You look for it.” His eyes could not see, but he clearly remembered which piece of record was placed where.
Shao Xuan carefully rummaged, until he finally turned out several map-like animal skin rolls.
“It’s been some years since no one had moved it. You should be careful,” said the old slave.
Indeed, these had aged long enough. Even if the animal skins were carefully protected in the earlier times, as usually, there were some caring for it, the quality of the animal skins were really not good. A little negligence and it was easily damaged.
The map painted on the skins was very simple and the proportion was also not a good representation. It only has the approximate location of the desert cities and some important places. Some of the edges painted dark, should be the sea.
Shao Xuan copied all of this down. Then, he put it back how he got it.
After turning over some more records to look at, Shao Xuan finally stopped.
Meanwhile, the blind old slave carried some of the records and put it in a sunny area to bask it in the sun. It’s to prevent it from decaying or getting mildew. Although he could not see, such things he have been doing for a long time has no difficulty. He could still feel where the sun was.
“If you don’t have anything else, get out of here as soon as possible.” The old slave said.
“Okay.” Shao Xuan also did not intend to stay. However, the current Snowfield City has a lot of issues, which might still change later. Therefore, Shao Xuan was going to leave later.
“Don’t wait until sunset. The defense in the palace will be tighter after sunset than during the day.” The blind old slave advised.
Shao Xuan’s expression changed. He really intended to wait for the sunset to act. He had not expected what the Snowfield City palace would usually do. Could it be that the Snowfield King was often assassinated during the night, so the night’s defense was strengthened?
No wonder the man and woman before came out fooling around during the day, not at night.
“I see.” Shao Xuan thanked old slave and watched him carefully moving the records with different materials.
When he was listening to the old man’s tone of speech, he could hear that he did not have a good opinion of the slave owners. He adored even more those who had been traitors in their history. For the records left by these former slave owners, he had cherished it very much. Reminiscing of this man’s gift of knowledge, he thought that, if he was in a more advanced era of peace, he may have a talent for learning.
It’s a pity.
“How did your eyes get blind?” After Shao Xuan had finished asking the question, he felt that it was impolite, just like revealing a scar.
Seeing the old slave speechless, Shao Xuan intended to change the subject, but he suddenly heard the old slave speak in a calm tone. “When I was very young, I already became a slave of the Snowfield King together with others. Once I averted my gaze from his hand, the king who was already in a bad mood, became angry. I accepted the punishment.”
The old slave still remembered. When the king stabbed his eyes then, he threw him over to the stone room, adding, “You don’t like to watch, then you’ll be enough here!”
The blind slave failed to see the words on their records, but he begged the others to read it to him and remembered all the records he had heard, then memorized it every day.
Shao Xuan thought of what he was hearing, feeling that it was really a pity.
Before leaving, Shao Xuan also intended to leave some herbal medicine to the old man. It might not cure his blindness, but some trauma might be treated.
The old slave refused.
“You need it more,” said the old slave.
“You…” Shao Xuan looked at the sick old man. If it continued like this, he could not say much about the pain caused by the injury, but the days he could persist would not be long.
“There’s not much time anyway.” The old slave looked at him and waved his hand. “You should go. By the way, you have to be careful of the Bi Luo.”
“What is a Bi Luo?” asked Shao Xuan.
“It is a kind of desert beast domesticated by the Snowfield City. It’s not big, and lurks in the palace during the day. Their sense of smell is very keen even if they had not seen you. If you were seen by it, you would rarely be able to flee,” said the old slave.
“I didn’t come across it after I sneaked inside the palace.” Shao Xuan said.
This beast was not clear to the old slave. After all, the scope of his activities was only around the stone chamber where the records were placed, and everything else he had just heard.
“Maybe the Bi Lou is left near the king’s bedroom,” replied the old slave, “but it’s still better to be careful.”
“Yes, I know. You can rest assured.” Shao Xuan thanked him again and then left the stone room.
After Shao Xuan left, the old slave sat alone quietly. Although he was unable to see, he could feel the direction where the window was. At that time, he just kept staring out of the window.
He was from generations of slaves. His ancestors became the king’s close guard, until his generation, when he was assigned here early on, guarding the small stone chamber. He remembered an old man who used to read the records to him and told him before he died: One day, this system today will be replaced by another system.
During this time, he could not go out, but could feel the changes inside the palace of Snowfield City. He could glean from the conversation of others about their speculations on a lot of things. He also had a kind of intuition that Snowfield City would be in much danger!
He had just said to Shao Xuan that he did “not have much time”, but he was not only speaking of himself, but also insinuating the whole city.
While the old slave was meditating, on the other side, Shao Xuan, who had left the stone room, quietly looked around. There were not many people around. Probably because there were no slave owners in the area, so he did not see anyone other than some of the guards on routine patrol.
Earlier, Shao Xuan had entered from the main entrance of the palace. As for where he would leave, he intended to run to the back door or the other side doors.
The palace was surrounded by high, thick walls, the inside and outside were guarded. Shao Xuan knew it would not be easy to get out. He could only look at the other possible exits.
Just as he was sneaking around, Shao Xuan suddenly had a sense of crisis that he was being stared at.
Was he discovered?!
He took a quick look around and set his sights in one place.
There was a tree there. On a branch hung an oval thing that was not much larger than his fist. At this point, the oval thing on the branch was stretching out, rolling out until its body elongated and its shrinked wings unfolded. Its nose, which had unrolled, was almost as long as the rest of its body, unfolding, lengthening, then pointing directly to the direction where Shao Xuan was located.
Bi Luo!
Shao Xuan thought of the creature that the blind old slave had said.
“You should avoid being stared at. If they are staring, you can rarely escape once you are targeted by them.” This was the old slave’s assessment of the Bi Luo.
Even though going through a dark passage was bad, Shao Xuan did not waste time and moved his legs to run.
He wanted to kill the Bi Luo first, but he had noticed that there were other similar stares around him, suggesting that there was not a shortage of hidden Bi Luos in the vicinity. They had locked their attention on him!
The Bi Luos in the palace were not all near the king’s rooms. Some of them looked for a place to sleep with less people and was quiet. Earlier, they had been feeling peaceful until they met Shao Xuan, which they recognized as someone not from the city.
Eeek—
A sharp, whistle-like sound emitted from the long nose of the Bi Luo.
It was like a signal and soon, the other Bi Luos around him were also making noises, flying in the direction Shao Xuan was fleeing.
The guards around the area heard the sounds. They all went to the place where the Bi Luo was, shouting, “There’s an invasion!”
But Shao Xuan’s speed was also fast. He already knew where the nearest door was and went straight to that side.
There were no other slave owners living around here. Just the several beasts raised by the king and the young masters were kept around.
At this time, a Snowfield young master was watching the slaves to help him train a beast. He heard someone was invading, which seemed to be only one person. Immediately, his blood boiled, thinking of the meritorious opportunity!
“Go! Go get the intruder!”
The other slaves followed the order with bitterness in their hearts. To catch the intruder was the guards’ job. Why should you, a young master, mix in! But their master ordered, so these slaves could not stand idly by, and could only bite their teeth and follow him.
Shao Xuan was like a sharp knife, splitting the encirclement in front of him. While still listening to the movements behind him, he had glimpsed a large stone nearly the same height as a person, with an engraving of the words “Beast Garden” above.
Shao Xuan didn’t care if it was a beast garden or a human garden. His hands just picked up that almost a person high stone, turned and threw it out!
Since the young master was chasing with his beast, some of the guards did not dare to lean too close for fear of being mistakenly injured by the beast. The rampaging beast roared, seeming to want to flatten everything. However, before it could act out, a stone came flying towards its head. Its nose was smashed, suddenly giving it a nosebleed. Its footsteps became a bit staggered, until it stumbled at something under its feet. Its two front legs heavily knelt down, its front body continued to rush down until it hit a row of structures.
Bang Bang!
The structures here were not the fortified walls of the Colosseum. In an instant, it fell under the fierce collision of the beast.
The other slaves who saw this scene had their eyes alight full of disbelief. Unexpectedly… The intruder could just lift up such a big stone and throw it as a ball!
Although there was no shortage of strong men among the slaves, it was not this exaggerated. Compared to this person, they were still short of lifting a stone to throw at the beast just now.
The young slave master, who had fallen from atop the beast, also did not bother with his wounds, shouting, “Tie that man to me. I want him to be my slave.”
There were many arrows and spears flying around, but with the speed of Shao Xuan, coupled with the chaos that had just been made, it was not enough. When the guards of the other palaces had come, he was already near the back door of the palace.