Caesar had already escaped beyond the tribal grounds when Lang Ga found Shao Xuan.
A part of the patrolling team went after Caesar, but because Caesar was so fast, the distance between them slowly grew until they lost him. They weren’t going on a hunt and they didn’t have enough equipment on them, so it wasn’t wise to follow behind Caesar like this. So should they follow or not?
This group of people hesitated for some time.
Luckily, Lang Ga and Shao Xuan caught up to them. They asked Shao Xuan, “How about we prepare some equipment before we go after him?” They could only follow him persistently if they had enough equipment. Without the equipment, they couldn’t even protect their own lives in the forest, much less track Caesar.
“No, you guys head back to patrolling. I’ll just follow him alone,” Shao Xuan said.
“How can you do this alone?” Lang Ga disagreed.
The others were also not in favour of his decision.
Shao Xuan pointed up. When Lang Ga and the others looked up, an eagle was there.
Seeing Cha Cha, Lang Ga and the others finally felt at ease. Tracking was easier done in the sky, and it was much faster and safer too.
Without any more discussions, Lang Ga and the others went back to their patrolling duty while Shao Xuan departed on Cha Cha’s back. They flew and searched for any tracks Caesar left behind.
Some trees in the forest were either bumped, slanted, or fell to the ground. These were all tracks Caesar left behind. Following these clues, they could definitely find him. According to what Lang Ga and the others had said, Caesar was already not sane when he ran out. Usually, when he went out to hunt, he would greet the soldiers who were on patrol and play a simple bumping game. Even when he was a little frustrated and tortured himself during the past few days, he also stopped by for a while whenever he saw any soldiers on patrol. Then he would go bump into trees in places where there were no people. However, this time it seemed as if he dashed forward and disregarded everything around him.
Caesar’s condition was indeed not great today, and Shao Xuan was also quite worried about this. If it was indeed the repulsive reaction caused by the True Eye’s late rejection, this side effect was indeed very severe. It was literally making the wolf go crazy.
But then, even if he found Caesar, what should he do?
Extract the right eye that was already perfectly in place?
That would hurt even more compared to when he lost his right eye, but compared to losing his life, this pain was not as significant. However, Shao Xuan was more worried that both of his eyes were affected. After all, Caesar was not merely scratching his right eye, but both his eyes.
Did he have to take out both of his eyes?
As he thought about this, Shao Xuan regretted what he had done.
These reactions were already beyond what the Jing shaman had mentioned about the repulsive reactions, and Shao Xuan had never anticipated any of this.
After a long sigh, the veins on his arms bulged as he clenched his fists tightly. Shao Xuan looked below in the forest. No matter what, he had to make sure Caesar was living normally again, even if he had to remove both of Caesar’s eyes. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t hunt anymore. Shao Xuan could hunt more to feed him. He could still afford to pet a wolf.
As he went further into the woods, the trees became denser, and there were also more towering ancient trees. From above, Caesar’s tracks were no longer as obvious as before. Cha Cha could no longer discern where Caesar went, so it was harder to track his route.
Luckily, Shao Xuan was the one who marked Caesar when he was younger. Although this connection wasn’t as strong as the one he had with Sapphire the beetle, as long as they weren’t too far away from each other, Shao Xuan could still sense where he was.
“Head in that direction,” Shao Xuan pointed in one direction and gestured for Cha Cha to fly there.
Even though Caesar grew manic and might’ve even lost his ability to think properly, he still chose a familiar route. It wasn’t the route the hunting team took, but the one he used whenever he went out to hunt alone. Shao Xuan had followed him a couple of times, so he still had some impression, and Cha Cha also followed Caesar out to hunt quite frequently, so he was even more familiar with this route. Shao Xuan was pointing exactly at Caesar’s personal hunting route.
Cha Cha called out, indicating that he understood where Caesar went.
The sun was slowly setting as the day faded into night.
It was close to sunset. As the night approached, it would become harder for them to track Caesar’s traces. After all, Cha Cha’s senses were not as sharp compared to daytime.
They still hadn’t seen Caesar, but Shao Xuan felt that he was getting close. Caesar was still running, so they couldn’t catch up to him.
It was nighttime. It hadn’t been too long since the full moon, so the moon was still quite large. The moonlight was enough to illuminate the night. The bugs flapped their wings in the dark and spiralled up towards the light source.
Even from above, Shao Xuan could see what was happening down below in the forest. Even if it was pitch black, Shao Xuan could still see clearly with his special vision. However, Shao Xuan didn’t need to use these other methods. He could sense where Caesar was.
“Keep flying in that direction. We’re getting close.”
Cha Cha slowed down a lot after the night descended upon them. He was used to travelling in the daytime. He was clear which fierce beasts appeared in the daytime, but he wasn;t so sure about the nighttime, so he tried to be as careful as he could. He could not afford to be careless, or else Shao Xuan and he might both suffer a setback.
“Awoo—”
The sound of a wolf’s cry came from far away. It wasn’t a roar of excitement like the way Caesar usually roared. It was more like a meaningless cry, as if he was trying to suppress something. After this roar, the forest suddenly became silent.
After they flew for a while, Shao Xuan jumped down from the eagle’s back. He could feel that Caesar was nearby, but he couldn’t locate his exact position from the sky. The towering ancient trees were too dense, so he could only descend to search for him.
Cha Cha continued to keep watch in the sky. He would alert Shao Xuan if he saw a threat coming. However, many of the nocturnal beasts that were hiding in the dark couldn’t be seen from above, so Shao Xuan had to stay alert.
In the forest, Shao Xuan smelled a bloody stench, and from the smell of the blood, he could tell that it was still fresh. He followed the scent to its origin and heard some chewing sounds nearby. Shao Xuan’s heart skipped a beat as he sped up.
The branches above him had covered most of the moonlight, but the light that came through the interconnected branches was enough to reveal the situation there.
There was a carcass on the ground, but judging by the beast’s exterior, it wasn’t Caesar. Shao Xuan heaved out a sigh of relief. The fearsome beast that had died was not large. It was a predator that hunted in the night. It was skilled in persistent hunting, and it was very fast too.
Around the dead beast, there were other nocturnal beasts that were chewing its meat. Carcasses like these would become skeletons very soon in the forest. Within thirty days, there wouldn’t even be bones left.
Shao Xuan wanted to check the beast’s injuries to see if it was killed by Caesar. He found tracks of a wolf paws nearby, and there were only three fearsome beasts eating its meat, but there were other nocturnal beasts that had smelled the blood and were coming. Now, Shao Xuan’s main goal was to look for Caesar. He didn’t want to cause any conflicts with these nocturnal beasts.
Thus, Shao Xuan left quietly and went around that place. He continued to follow his intuition and walked in one direction.
The bloody stench was still in the air, but it was getting lighter. Shao Xuan no longer saw any trees that were bumped.
He was getting close.
Very close.
Shao Cuan carefully approached him. He didn’t know whether Caesar was clear-headed right now. If he had indeed gone crazy, he might even attack him, so Shao Xuan had to stay vigilant. He even brought some poisonous needles dripping with sedatives just in case Caesar actually went crazy and couldn’t control himself. He would then put Caear to sleep and bring him back. He couldn’t leave him here. A fearsome beast that was not clear-headed could not survive long in the forest. There were too many smart predators in the forest, and Caesar might accidentally get in their way. Shao Xuan did not want to bring back a wolf’s skeleton.
A low roar came from nearby. It wasn’t loud and sounded like the creature was struggling in pain.
This sound belonged to Caesar. Shao Xuan could tell.
At least he’s still alive.
Shao Xuan kept walking closer. As he went closer, the stench of blood became clearer. Even though it was not strong, Shao Xuan could smell it. Some nocturnal beasts were already attracted to this smell. They were just slowly creeping in on him. They didn’t dare to ambush right away. It was as if they were hesitant and watchful.
Shao Xuan observed from up close. The figure that was lying in front of him, whose back was facing him, was Caesar.
He wanted to call out to him, but seeing the tension around them, Shao Xuan simply lifted a finger to his mouth and blew out a tune.
The sound of the whistle blended in with the sounds of the birds and bugs chirping. It wasn’t obvious and wouldn’t catch the attention of any nocturnal beasts. It was a tune Shao Xuan blew often, and so Caesar was familiar with the sound.
After Shao Xuan blew the tune, the figure that was lying on the ground perked up. He slowly stood on all fours and turned around to look in Shao Xuan’s direction.
Shao Xuan was standing on an ancient tree nearby. Caesar looked up after he turned around.
The moonlight shone down on Caesar and the ghostly green colour reflected through his eyes. He couldn’t tell what his eyes were saying, but Shao Xuan could sense that Caesar was still breathing fine. Even though he ran for so long and so far, and even fought with other fearsome beasts, he had quite a lot of injuries on his body. He was even growling, but there was not at all any signs of irritation.
Shao Xuan wasn’t sure if Caesar was fully recovered and conscious, so he blew his tune again. His tune was mixed with some commands that he taught Caesar when he trained him a long time ago. It meant ‘come here’.
Caesar took two steps towards Shao Xuan, and then halted. He lowered his head and lifted a paw. At first, he thought that Caesar wanted to scratch his eyes with his paw, but he hesitated for a while and then set it back down. He then turned his head to look at Shao Xuan.
Two green, glowing eyes could be seen amidst the darkness.
Shao Xuan had already prepared three needles injected with anaesthetic herbal extracts and held it in his hand behind his back. Caesar was still not in perfect condition. He was planning on knocking him out and bringing him back.
However, right when Shao Xuan was prepared to take action, he stopped.
Shao Xuan was shocked when he looked at Caesar.
In the dark, above the two ghostly green eyes, there was another green luminous spot.
What was that...
Shao Xuan looked surprisingly at Caesar. As Caesar lifted his foot to approach Shao Xuan, he could see it even clearer.
Caesar’s head was bleeding and some flesh was revealed because he bumped his head recklessly into different things. His forehead was bleeding and there wasn’t a single piece of perfect skin on his forehead. However, between the blood and flesh, there was a clear vertically oriented eye!
A third eye!
How was this possible?!