Chapter 487
Shock
What… Was going on?!
The row of people retreated back. The people in the carriage and traders watching from afar were confused. Were there hidden attackers there? Or did this bunch change their minds? Did they decide to retreat?
Eh, there’s still one person left standing!
Not just the traders, the riders charging ahead and people in the carriage could not believe their eyes.
What were the Flaming Horns planning?! Why did they all retreat? Why did they leave one person there?
“Shao Xuan of Flaming Horn!” yelled someone who recognised him.
“He’s Shao Xuan? The guy who threw Luzong in the air with one hand?” asked the girl.
“I heard this kid is close to ‘Golden Grain’ from the Ji family, aren’t you afraid you might anger ‘Golden Grain’ Ji Ju if we kill the guy?” asked a young person fiddling his sword.
The girl did not mind. “‘Golden Grain’ never interferes with politics. The old man only knows how to plant crops, he did not even know King City had mobilised troops. When he knows, it’ll be too late.”
“Shao Xuan of Flaming Horn. Is he really that powerful?” asked another.
The young man with the sword stared ahead, slashing his blade in an arc. A blade of grass, kicked up by the beast, was sliced in half. “On the contrary, I want to see how powerful he is!”
There were many people who saw what happened at the city gates within the army. They admit that Shao Xuan was strong. However, this was a different situation. Did this kid really think he could stop them alone? He had a death wish!
Shao Xuan slid his sword into the leather sheath on his back and then took out the bone ornament on his neck.
“Ancestor, it’s up to you now.”
On the day the tribe left the village, he could hear sounds coming from the ornament. Other people did not hear it. It sounded like flames flickering in the wind.
He felt anger from the four bone ornaments. Did ornaments have emotions? Maybe no, maybe yes. They were manifestations of their ancestors, they represented the wills of the ancestors.
He took this gamble only because he felt the anger seeping from the ornaments.
Tall war horses approached. The riders held long spears, glinting coldly in the sun. Shao Xuan could already smell the cloud of dust.
In the face of an unstoppable force, Shao Xuan, standing alone, looked tiny. Like a praying mantis trying to block a carriage. He was nothing.
Facing such a force, Shao Xuan stared straight ahead, calculating in his heart.
They were approaching.
Coming even closer.
The riders aimed their spears at Shao Xuan.
The ornaments grew louder.
Whoosh— Whoosh.
Only Shao Xuan could hear it. It sounded like wildfire spreading across a vast land.
Now!
Shao Xuan unleashed his totemic power and power of inheritance to their maximums in one moment. Every muscle shook. If one listened closely, one would hear thumps that sounded like the cry of war drums.
Within the carriage, Yi Zong had a sudden feeling. His eyes sprung open as he leapt up suddenly. The board in front of him overturned but he didn’t care.
The riders were about to thrust their spears in the next moment. However, within their cold eyes, their pupils constricted suddenly. Their eyeballs reflected columns of fire.
The columns of fire looked like flying dragons, dancing and twisting up in the air.
Unprecedented power exploded from Shao Xuan’s being.
A wave of heat swept across them, it felt like the air was burnt.
The riders seemed to be halted by an invisible hand, stopping them from moving any further. Some almost fell from their horses.
What kind of power was this?! It made them shake in their bones, their scalps were numb from the eerie sensation.
Whoosh.
Within the sudden burst of flames, a giant made of flames materialised in thin air, looking down at all of them.
Everything in this world seemed to be dyed a layer of red, fiery glow.
Shao Xuan stared ahead and took one step.
The enormous giant also lifted one leg. Mirroring Shao Xuan’s actions, it took one step forward.
Boom!
An extremely powerful blast left a huge crater, releasing a deafening boom.
The surface of the ground was peeled off, shattered into crumbs. Like a huge display of fireworks.
The hard rock underneath the layer of soil cracked under pressure, releasing even louder crackles and rumbles.
A crack that looked like it was about to separate the world in half extended from the crater forward. It looked like a vine, growing at an alarming speed and branching out. Pebbles and soil flew in the air with the blast.
The riders, together with their horses, flew into the air together with the cloud of pebbles and dust. No one could hide. People collapsed, horses fell, their cries of agony swallowed by the rumbling of the lands. It felt like the world would be tipped upside-down.
As the ground shook, even grass with deep roots looked like they were forcefully pulled out of the soil. With the vibrations, the grass turned to pulp and disappeared.
Pieces of rock from the blast flew towards the King City’s army.
The army panicked in the face of rocks flying at high speed. The giant beast pulling the carriage roared, its enormous torso shaking. Two of its front limbs almost knelt as the ground shook.
Thud!
A piece of rock as big as a human’s head hit the side of the carriage, forming a dent. The carriage almost shattered. If it wasn’t made of metal, it might not have survived this hit.
The guy holding the sword almost dropped it. HE stared at the flame giant. He had been thinking of personally fighting the kid at war, now…
Some fabric wrapping around the carriage was torn off in the shockwaves of the wind, fluttering.
“That was powerful!”
The people in the carriage leapt out. Under the protection of guards, they quickly retreated as they dodged the rocks. They could hear pebbles whizzing past their ears and thuds of huge rocks falling.
At the back, the Fox chief shuddered as he clutched the edge of the carriage. His eyes widened as if his eyeballs were going to fall out of his head. He was filled with disbelief.
Was this how Flaming Horn escaped from the jaws of the king beast? With this power?!
So that was why they could leave the salt flats safely. So that was why the king beast couldn’t stop them and why no dead bodies were found.
On his furious face, the smirk he had contorted. No! He must take what he deserved! But in the face of such power, he did not even have the courage to charge into battle!
“REtreat!!” roared the leader of the troops. They could not attack like that. All they could do was to retreat! No one could move in this situation. If they rushed forward, they would die!
All the horses lucky enough to still be standing neighed in panic, their riders unable to calm these horses. They clung to the horses’ necks in fear to prevent being thrown off. Just like that, they left the battlefield. Instinctively, all the warhorses galloped away from danger, far away. Some horses tripped over cracks in the ground, some collapsed after being hit by flying rocks, others were knocked to the ground by other horses.
The traders watching from afar all hid far away behind their wagons and carriages. No rocks flew here. However, they could barely open their eyes with all the dust and pebbles. They could not imagine the blast over there!
Everyone was in disbelief as if that was just a dream. Their hearts raced, both legs shaking.
Shao Xuan felt the totemic power racing in his body. He thought about unleashing his power one more time. He could sustain one more step. However, as he saw the troops retreating quickly, a second step would not create a major effect. That would be a waste of energy. He stopped for a while. He would only react after seeing their response. If they charged again, he would take another step.
Behind him, the Flaming Horn warriors who had been to the salt mines were mentally prepared, while the rest could not close their mouths. They had planned to fight to their deaths, yet now? It felt like one Elder was enough to protect them all. It had created a larger effect than if all of them charged into battle too. The land was very crackled, some parts had large chunks torn off and they could see half-bodies of worms wriggling in the soil.
“That… that… that…”
Zheng Cheng stuttered for a while but could not say anything. Duo Kang and the rest were the same. They had felt the power facing the king beast before but at the time, they were blasted away like these horses, then knocked unconscious. They hadn’t witnessed this with their eyes before.
If in the past they were sceptical about his abilities to bring them back to the homeland, this time, everyone was confident.
On the other side, in the King City’s troops, the ones who escaped the rocks were re-forming their ranks after everything stopped.
The people who used to be seated in the largest carriage were all standing on the ground, looking pathetic. Their exquisite clothing was covered in dust and grass bits. Green grass pulp and wet mud splattered on their clothes.
It didn’t matter if they were cautious of Flaming Horn before this. Everyone had fear and sombre concern in their eyes. They previously thought the rumours had demonized Flaming Horn. Perhaps the rumours underestimate them.
If they were a little closer to the riders in front, they wouldn’t have escaped unscathed.
A breeze blew away the dust on the ground.
The ground was cracked, littered with large rocks and small pebbles as if the ground had just been chopped with a knife. There were people and horses struggling in the cracks. Some were already unconscious.
On one side, there was one person. On the other side, a large army. Both sides looked at each other.
There was an eerie silence.