While Shao Xuan was wondering about the whereabouts of Chacha, the shaman was thinking about the same problem on the other side of the sea at the Flaming Horn tribe.
After Shao Xuan disappeared in the desert, Chacha immediately left after bringing Tuo and the gang back to the tribe. It was heard that Chacha was in the desert and last seen at the Hui tribe. However, it never came back to the Fearsome Beast Forest since then.
The shaman had sent out people to look for Chacha, but it came to nothing. At first, the shaman wanted to send his people to talk to the people in the Hui tribe. However, the people in the Hui Tribe had visited them before he sent his people out from the Fearsome Beast Forest. They mentioned that Chacha went to their tribe not long ago and took some of the beasts with him when he left the tribe.
Those that left with Chacha included the one that fought with Chacha and the two eagles that had travelled to the desert with Chacha. The people from the Hui tribe thought they would have gone back to the Flaming Horn tribe, but they were wrong.
Chacha was different from the other beasts, it had never been marked before. However, it did listen to Shao Xuan and it only listened to him. It didn’t even listen to Old Ke. No one knew where it was and where it took those beasts to.
At the same time, a group of seven eagles was flying up a high mountain.
They were flying through the clouds and over the frost. When they were tired, they would grasp on the wall of the mountain using their claws. After taking a short rest, they would shake off the ice on their wings and continue on their journey.
The smallest eagle that was falling behind the line had difficulty in following the troop. It was falling further and further behind. In the end, it couldn’t fly anymore. It chose to rest on the mountains, letting out a feeble cry.。
Upon hearing the cry, other eagles who were flying stopped by a mountain as well. All of them screeched to call out to the eagle left behind. However, none of them flew back to help it. One of them had the intention to help, but it was stopped by the biggest eagle in the troop. It was almost beaten up by the eagle. Thus, he could only encourage that eagle instead of giving a helping hand.
All of the eagles stopped by the mountains to encourage the one left behind to catch up.
Chacha was watching them from the side. It didn’t offer any encouragement to that eagle. Shortly after, it curled its claws and snatched a stone that was covered with snow from the side of the mountain. Just when the other eagles thought it would help the smallest eagle, it threw the stone at that eagle.
The other eagles were speechless.
The stone fell just right on the smallest eagle’s head. The smallest eagle was stunned as the snow grains flew into its eyes. Fortunately, it was just a tiny pebble covered in a lot of snow. Thus, it wasn’t injured, but it stung.
Chacha didn’t wait for long before it threw a second stone towards that smallest eagle. The smallest eagle dodged the stone this time.
The youngest eagle was angered by Chacha’s action. The feathers on his neck were kinds of fried and the ice on his feathers was swishing off.
“Ah——” The youngest eagle screeched. Then, it came after Chacha, fluttering its wings.
Chacha threw the third stone before it continued on its journey. The other eagles saw this and quickly followed.
After a long journey, the seven eagles finally reached the mountain top and stepped onto the ice field. All of them were exhausted, without the strength to scream.
After a short rest, Chacha got up and walked forwards slowly. It was hungry and wanted to have some ice.
It was the second time Chacha came here. Previously, an eagle it didn’t know brought it and Shao Xuan here. The mere thought of Shao Xuan made it furious. It bit off a piece of ice from an icicle and threw it on the ground. Damn it, Shao Xuan went missing again!
The fog in the ice field on the mountain top was thick, but a few huge black figures could be seen from the surroundings.
Two of the largest eagles were standing on the ground, both of them were more than ten metres tall. One of them was fifteen metres tall. However, both of them were still kids. The seven eagles did not dare mess around even though they were nosy. It was because all the huge eagles from this area could kill them with a single swipe even though they were old. It was fortunate enough to be able to fly here with energy left. Thus, it was best to keep quiet if they wanted to stay alive.
Every great mountain eagle must pass the test at Eagle Mountain to grow. The trip to Eagle Mountain would be a test period for the eagle and they would experience something similar to the snake moulting its skin.
Two of the eagles that came here for the first time stayed beside the largest eagle in the troop and watched around with curiosity. Chacha didn’t go near them. Instead, it chose to rest on an icicle while thinking, “I would scare Shao Xuan to death when I get out of here.”
…
On the other side, Shao Xuan looked at the bird in front of him and turned around to ask Gongjia Heng. “Will this Hammer bird throw me off the river halfway through the trip?”
“It won’t. I promise!” said Gongjia Heng. Then, he glared at the bird named Hammer, “Did you hear him? Finish this job well and I’ll give you a reward when it’s over! Otherwise, I’ll roast you today!”
The hammer bird cried softly.
“Did you hear that? It promised so you don’t have to worry. It won’t throw you off halfway.” Gongjia Heng patted Shao Xuan’s shoulder. “Young man, be bold and trust the bird.”
“Alright, fine,” said Shao Xuan.
The weapons that needed to be brought along were heavy, especially Heng’s hammer. Hammer the Bird had kept protesting the heavy load. They had to travel a few times, back and forth, so the load would not be too heavy.
Previously, Gongjia Heng also made the bird cross twice to bring his items over. The hammer bird brought Gongjia Heng went over for the first time before coming back for his other stuff.
This time, Gongjia Heng planned to ask Hammer to bring Shao Xuan the first time. Then, come back for the stuff. After that, it had to come back for the third time to bring himself across.
“There must be at least a person present to look after our stuff. Otherwise, the stuff would be stolen by the monkeys on the other side. Shao Xuan, you go first,” said Gongjia Heng. The other side of the river had many annoying monkeys, they had stolen Gongjia Heng’s things before.
“Alright.” Shao Xuan took his stuff. His stuff wasn’t as heavy as Heng’s stuff, thus it could be brought over with him.
Shao Xuan jumped on Hammer’s back and the bird flew towards the other side of the river.
Shao Xuan looked out across the vast expanse on the bird’s back. It was a good idea to travel by bird.
At this point, he had no idea that Chacha had disappeared. The people from his tribe were panicking.
Shao Xuan saw a small island on the river. When he looked closely, it was not a small island, but a huge beast with only a small part of its head protruding from the river’s surface. It stared at the sky coldly with its protruding eyes.
Shao Xuan could feel Hammer the Bird trembling after noticing the beast in the river. It flapped its wings harder than before and flew higher with a higher speed, almost by reflex. It was trying its best to avoid the beast. Shao Xuan could feel that the bird was frightened by the beast even though they were in the sky.
The beast that was still staring at the sky suddenly revealed itself from the river and showed its narrow snout and its two big nostrils. It was massive.
It was the giant beast that made every crocodile disappear from the surroundings. It was the king of this river. The giant bastard, age unknown.
Shao Xuan had heard from Gongjia Heng that Gongjia Heng had travelled across the river on the bird’s back before. During that time, they had almost arrived on the other side of the river when Gongjia Heng looked down and felt a sense of uneasiness. Due to the uneasiness, Gongjia Heng told the bird to fly higher and faster.
Hammer was flying low that time, due to the heavy load it was carrying. When Gongjia Heng noticed something was off, he forced himself to throw one of his bags into the river. That bag had contained a few well-built weapons. Although he was reluctant, his action did ease the bird’s burden and made it fly higher.
The giant beast had suddenly shot out from the river and revealed half of its body. Its mouth was similar to a giant trap filled with death and blood, waiting for the prey to fall in.
The bird sped up and flew higher,a close escape from the jaws of the beast. If Gongjia Heng hadn’t thrown the baggage off earlier, they would have fallen into its mouth at that moment.
The baggage that had been thrown off by Gongjia Heng was swallowed by the huge beast. Some of his best weapons disappeared into its belly just like that.
That was when Gongjia Heng decided it was his enemy.
Shao Xuan finally understood the reason why Gongjia Heng would rather travel back and forth a few times instead of bringing everything at once. If the bags were too heavy, they wouldn’t have been able to respond quickly in case of danger. It was the lesson learned from that time. That incident had affected Hammer deeply too, which was why it trembled when it saw the giant beast.
Fortunately, the giant beast eyeballed the distance from itself to them and estimated it could not reach them at this distance. Thus, it didn’t come at them.
When they finally reached the other side safely, Shao Xuan vigilantly surveyed his surroundings. Fortunately, there weren’t any threats around. However, Shao Xuan didn’t let down his guard.
When the hammer bird finally travelled two more times to bring over Gongjia Heng and all the stuff, they heaved a sigh of relief.
However, the respite was only temporary.
As promised, Gongjia Heng hunted a beast for Hammer the Bird as a reward. He didn’t expect the bird to continue with them because the bird was always found near the river. It would go back to its flock as soon as it finished its task. This bird was big but it wasn’t suitable to be involved in individual combat. They were gregarious birds that survived in the mountains in groups.
“Alright, Shao Xuan. We have to speed up in front. That is an area full of annoying monkeys and there are too many of them. It’s kind of difficult to fight them. If we do not travel fast enough, we will definitely suffer losses,” Gongjia Heng instructed Shao Xuan as a person who had gone there before. It was a reminder to Shao Xuan.
“Follow up and try not to lose me! I won’t help you if the monkeys catch you.” Gongjia Heng tried to scare Shao Xuan before speeding up in front with his stuff.
There had been a lot of movement in their surroundings ever since they left the riverbank. They also heard leaves rustling.
“They’re here! We need to get out of here! Now!” shouted Gongjia Heng.
The sound of a tree trunk breaking could be heard. Gongjia Heng’s sentence had just ended when he saw Shao Xuan sprint past him, then getting further and further away.
‘What the hell! What kind of monster is he? Why is he running so fast? The monkeys are staring at me! Can he come back and help me carry a bag?’ cursed Gongjia Heng to himself.