Chapter 532
Disbelief
Upon hearing the name, even the two shamans couldn’t stay calm, needless to mention Zheng Luo, who was standing right in front of Robber Seven.
When Robber Seven mentioned it, Zheng Luo couldn’t even hide the shock and excitement from his eyes.
Meanwhile, the one who was talking was no less surprised.
Robber Seven expected them to have a confused expression rather than a surprised look. But it seemed as if they already knew about this.
Didn’t they say that besides the people in Rock Hill City, no one else knew about this?
Even those slave masters who had been arrogant for many years didn’t know about it. Besides the Shi Family from Rock Hill City, nobody else did. Not even the tribes outside the desert.
How did the Flaming Horns find out about this?
Robber Seven was a little worried.
Shao Xuan did not expect Robber Seven to give them such an answer either.
If it were not for the trust he had for the Flaming Horns, he would’ve thought there was a spy amongst them.
Shao Xuan learned about the green-faced fanged beast from Gongjia Heng. Where did the Shi Family of Rock Hill City hear about this?
If they’d known about this for so long, why didn’t they send people over to look for it sooner?
“The Shi family hasn’t found the green-faced fanged beast yet?”
Robber Seven had also just recovered from the shock. In his thoughts, he realized that he didn’t hide anything from them and couldn’t get in an advantageous position. The Flaming Horns knew more than what he expected. Now, the only thing he could do was use more information to negotiate.
“Actually, the Shi Family had been sending people over to search for it, but they haven’t found it. Out of all the desert cities, Rock Hill City was the one that sent out the most slaves. But because there were others in the desert, Rock Hill City didn’t want it to seem like a big deal.” Robber Seven said.
Shao Xuan suddenly remembered. A long time ago, when he just met Shi Shu, it was at a slave gathering point. But Rock Hill City must’ve had more slave gathering points. He used to think that they kept their slaves in many locations merely to spread out their team. But they might’ve been searching for the green-faced fanged beast all along.
In the past, before the Flaming Horns came to Fearsome Beast Forest, there were fewer people here. No one would’ve noticed whether people went into the forest or not. But when the Flaming Horns came, it happened to be when Rock Hill City planned to conquer the entire desert, so they had no time to care about this forest. Besides, the forest was so big that even if the Flaming Horns wanted to go for a hunt, they couldn’t cover the entire area, much less notice other people’s tracks.
Unlike back then, the situation was clear now. They could no longer act as recklessly as before.
But Shao Xuan felt that Rock Hill City might’ve been a little too anxious this time.
“What does the green-faced fanged beast look like?” Zheng Luo and Ao were breathing shallow, fast breaths at this point. Since they heard that they could forge high-quality weapons from this beast, they had kept this beast stuck in their mind. But unfortunately, they never found it. If they could find out more details about this beast, perhaps it could make their search much easier.
Robber Seven kept a composed expression, but he was already making calculations in his mind.
It turns out that the Flaming Horns didn’t know what the beast looked like.
“Instead of working so hard to find it myself, why not just tell them and let them think hard about it. I’ll wait till they find it and then steal it from them!” Robber Seven thought.
It was said that people forgot about pain as soon as their scars healed. He was now tied up, yet he already started thinking about his next theft.
“I’ve seen a picture and I still remember it, but my hands are tied. How can I draw it for you in this condition?” Robber Seven moved his chin downwards, gesturing for his ropes to be untied. The rope was so tough that the more he struggled, the tighter it became. With his movements restricted, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
Zheng Luo looked over at the two shamans, who both nodded, and he proceeded to loosen the ropes that were tied around Robber Seven.
Shao Xuan took out a leaf that was half an arm’s-width and handed it over with animal fir brushes and paint. All these were prepared in advance. He had already planned to get some useful information out of Robber Seven, but he never expected this robber to reveal such information to them so easily. He didn’t even think about hiding anything from them, and even brought them a surprise.
As they loosened his hands, Robber Seven also gestured for Zheng Luo to loosen the ropes on his legs.
He couldn’t draw well in an uncomfortable posture.
After some thought, Zheng Luo redid the ropes on both his legs, except now in a 大 shape, but he was not tied to a wooden pole. He let him sit on the ground.
“Draw attentively!” Ao’s patience was already reaching its limits. He felt that robbers were too cunning and couldn’t be trusted. If it weren’t for the shaman’s promise to spare his life, he would’ve ended his life with his axe. As their captive, how dare he still speak so stubbornly!
Robber Seven completely ignored the murderous Ao because he knew that the two elders had more authority in the house. But he couldn’t understand why the Flaming Horns had two shamans. Regardless, since the two shamans promised to release him, he knew that as long as the information he gave them was beneficial, the two elders would do as they promised, so he didn’t need to worry about it.
Rotating his wrists, Robber Seven grimaced in reaction to the pain. He could still hear his bones creaking from the injury he suffered the previous night. It was too heavy a hit.
With a fractured bone in one arm, he could only try his best to draw with his other.
Enduring the pain, Robber Seven held up the brush, dipped it in paint, and recalled the painting he had seen before. He then began to draw seriously, trying his best to recreate an exact copy of the original. In order for him to escape and for the Flaming Horns to help him search for what he needed, he had no intention to trick them. He was still hoping for the Flaming Horns to find it first so that he could steal it from them and bring it back to Rock Hill City to exchange for better things.
However, with each stroke, the facial expressions of the two chiefs on the side grew sterner with dissatisfaction.
“Okay, I’m done!” Robber Seven looked at his masterpiece, nodded in satisfaction, and was ready to negotiate with them. But as soon as he lifted his head, he saw the hardened expressions of the two who were standing beside him.
Whoosh—
The two chiefs moved almost simultaneously, one with an axe and the other with a blade, and both were ready to attack.
“Wait!” Robber Seven shouted quickly. He was heavily wounded, and couldn’t escape their attack, but still, he couldn’t understand why these two reacted in such a way.
The tip of the knife and the axe leaned against both sides of Robber Seven’s neck, as if ready to behead him the next moment. Even the calmest robber would not be able to calm down under such a murderous threat. “You Flaming Horns aren’t keeping your promises! How will you even face your totems if you break your promises?!”
“You say we don’t keep our promises? Why don’t you take a look at what you scribbled! How dare you try to fool us!” Ao flared his nostrils, breathing noisily and exhaling hot breaths like a mad bull.
“When did I do that?” Robber Seven was also getting angry. He painted exactly as he had remembered.
“The painting I saw was like this. I swear it by the name of “Robber”!”
Robber Seven stiffened his neck and expressed his dissatisfaction with their treatment. I drew so well, and yet they accused me of fooling them! They don’t even know how to appreciate it! No wonder people said that the Flaming Horns were vulgar and uncivilized like the small tribes who lived along the borders.
The two chiefs on the side were red with fury as they looked at each other. The shaman on the side coughed awkwardly, as if hinting the two chiefs to put down their weapons. He then looked at the painting Shao Xuan brought over.
It seemed like Ao still had something to say, but after he caught the shaman’s serious glance, he calmed down and understood the situation. He blinked his eyes rapidly as he calmed himself down.
Shao Xuan still knew enough about Ao to know that he would only blink rapidly when he knew he did something wrong.
Shao Xuan also knew what the shaman meant. Indeed, when Robber Seven said that he didn’t have any intent to trick them, Shao Xuan believed him. Even though the drawing he painted was composed with only a few simple lines, he knew that it was the best he could do. It was because most of them were not skilled artists, so what’s more to say of a drawing that was passed down from thousands of years ago?
There could only be one way for Rock Hill City to know about the green-faced fanged beast. This information had been passed down from generation to generation from those who knew about it thousands of years ago. Therefore, those who could draw out this picture were people from thousands of years ago. With this, it was enough to prove that Robber Seven was trustworthy.
Both Ao and Zheng Luo understood it at this point. Years ago, if they were put in the same situation as Robber Seven, they probably would’ve drawn a similar drawing, or even worse. It was because Shao Xuan taught them all types of drawing skills later on that helped them improve. But because they had improved, they looked down on other paintings.
When they were suddenly presented with such a simple drawing, they couldn’t take it and had high expectations. That’s why they were so disappointed when they saw Robber Seven’s final drawing.
As they calmed down and took a closer look at Robber Seven’s drawing, they noticed that the creature looked like a deer or maybe a goat. So this was the green-faced fanged beast.
Ao dismissively took a glance at the painting and said to Robber Seven, “Tell us more about what you know. Your painting is not telling us much.”
The robber’s face was already swollen, but now his eyes glared angrily from his overwhelming anger.
How dare you insult my drawing!
However, he had to keep his head down because he was still being held captive, and he still hoped for them to fulfill their promise and release him. All he could do now was to take a deep breath, calm down his emotions, and tell them whatever he knew.
However, Shao Xuan and the others already knew about everything Robber Seven told them. The green-faced fanged beast was small in size, with a green face and thick skin. It had hooves but no horns, and its sharp fangs grew upward. It had an aggressive nature, and was herbivorous. There was nothing more to know about it.
“That’s all you know?” Ao looked in the robber’s direction.
“That’s all.” Sensing the murderous vibe rising in the air, he knew they were unsatisfied and quickly added, “The people who told us about it really only said this much, but they told us one more thing. If you really encountered the green-faced fanged beast, you would naturally be sure.”
“Was it the Shi family of Rock Hill City who showed you this drawing?” Shao Xuan asked.
“No.” It was clear that Robber Seven didn’t want to talk about this issue. This was a secret amongst the robbers. Even a timid thief had his principles. Some things could be revealed but some things had to be kept secret even under death threats.
“What has Rock Hill City promised you?” Shao Xuan asked again.
“As long as we found the green-faced fanged beast, we could bring it back to them in exchange for anything we want.” This information could still be told.
“It seems, you robbers have kept a close connection with Rock Hill City, otherwise it would be impossible to dispatch so many of you at once.” Shao Xuan said.
Robber Seven was silent again.
After another round of questioning, the few people from the Flaming Horn tribe reluctantly believed his words, and let him go as they had promised. They covered his eyes, and released him when they were outside the forest.
They thought that he couldn’t walk anymore after such injuries, but as soon as he landed, he escaped at the speed of a bird and disappeared in front of them.
“I told you he was faking it!” Ao remarked angrily. “Shao Xuan!”
“What?”
“Next time we see him, we beat him to death!”
“Alright.”