The Third Chain

After Shao Xuan escaped from the Snow Plains City, he recalled the maps that he had seen in the stone room. He did not plan to go to any of the cities in the desert. None were now peaceful. Plus, the slave masters would never treat tribesmen nicely- even for Su Lun, he functioned on his own agenda.

Thus, Shao Xuan’s current route did not lead to any city managed by the slave masters. He tried to stay away from trouble.

Shao Xuan’s initial plan was to go to the coast and have a look. His planned route would lead to the nearest sea from Snow Plains City. However, when he noticed there were people chasing behind, he could only put aside his plan and run.

There were two hundred Golden Armours chasing after him. To deal with them, he had to beat them up one by one. But the Golden Armours did not act separately, probably knowing their own weaknesses, they were moving as a whole group, which made Shao Xuan hardly find a chance to take action.

What was more, he could feel that the golden-armoured soldiers were like fearless martyrs and would keep hunting him until they accomplished their mission.

If only there was a way to deal with those silknoses, at least the soldiers would not be so close to his heel. But these silknoses were smart, they stayed close to the soldiers. When they sensed any threat, they would slip in between the troops to hide.

This was tough, really tough.

Ever since he entered the desert, this was his first time being hunted so ruthlessly. He ran fast, but the silknoses were always able to locate him accurately. He made a dummy and dressed it in his clothes, then applied other smells to his body. But no matter how hard he tried, he still could not get rid of the silknoses.

No wonder the blind old slave said, one could hardly escape once being noticed by the silknoses.

Unable to think of any good solution for now, Shao Xuan could only use his advantage in speed as a temporary solution.

Shao Xuan thought of taking these Golden Armours to other cities so that they fight and kill each other. However, before he led them over, he encountered two troops from Shaqi City and Sky Wheel City fighting fiercely. To his surprise, the three troops met and instead of fighting against each other, they joined up to chase after Shao Xuan.

This worried Shao Xuan even more.

Two troops which had been fighting fiercely had stopped to join the Golden Army in chasing after him! They thought that if the Snow Plains City could send the Golden Army to hunt down a person, he must be special.

How was he special? Maybe he stole something precious from the Snow Plains City?

Both sides wanted to take advantage of this situation. The people from Shaqi City and Sky Wheel City stopped fighting and tried to catch the man who might be carrying a treasure, so that they could go back to the Lord for a reward.

Stepping on the hot sand under his feet, Shao Xuan came to the shade on the back of a dune for a rest. He didn't have much time.

Shh---Shh---

A great amount of sand streamed down from the dune.

Shao Xuan took a cautious peek. He had been keeping his breathing as silent as he could, and even when he was resting, he did not make much noise. Unfortunately, he sometimes could not detect desert beasts. They hid very well under the sand, and during the course of his escape, he nearly stepped on some snakes and scorpions hidden in the sand.

Currently, the creature climbing out of the dunes was not a small beast, it was a big one.

Shao Xuan retreated once he felt a movement in the sand.

Pff---

The giant beast snorted, two sand arrows flew out from its nostrils and pierced into the nearby sand.

Shao Xuan felt a sense of familiarity as he looked at the beast.

The beast, who had just been sleeping in the sand dunes, was displeased and screamed sharply like the howling sandstorm when it felt the presence of a person. But as soon as it saw Shao Xuan, the howling abruptly stopped.

“……” The horned lizard stopped in the middle of a howl.

“……” Shao Xuan said nothing.

Shao Xuan would want to greet it with “What’s up. Long time no see,” but this was not the time.

This giant beast was the horned lizard he had met at the fighting pit, but there were no more red stains around its eyes, probably washed away by the sand.

In the chaos of the Beast Battle City, there were many unowned beasts ran away from the fighting pit and the horned lizard that competed against Shao Xuan was one of them. Shao Xuan did not expect to meet it here.

Shao Xuan was worried that the horned lizard would want to take revenge, but the horned lizard was actually more worried than him. The fear it felt at the fighting pit still remained clear in its mind. For these giant beasts, they did not only remember a person by his appearance, but also by his aura and surrounding energy wave.

A person and a beast remained petrified in place and guarded against each other, until a blue beetle crawled out from the underground to break the tension.

The horned lizard turned and ran away. Shao Xuan was relieved, he placed his attention on Sapphire the Beetle.

Ever since the beetle was enslaved, even when it was rolling dung balls, its armour was as bright as jewels. But now, it looked more dishevelled than Shao Xuan. It probably encountered something under the sand, it had a dent on its back. If it was any deeper, its life would be in danger. Now, even though the beetle’s injuries were not life-threatening, they were still hurting it badly. Its wings were damaged and could not fly anymore.

Although they spent most of their time on the ground and under the sand, they could fly out to avoid danger in a critical situation. But now, if the beetle encountered another desert beast, it did not need to be large, just a fierce one could pose a great threat to the beetle.

Shao Xuan knew that Sapphire the Beetle was leading many other beetles, but they could not keep up with its speed and fell far behind.

Shao Xuan was not sure of how big its beetle army had grown, but if it was of the previous size, it would be not able to resist the Golden Guard of two hundred and two other troops from the two cities.

Carefully looking at the wounds on Sapphire the Beetle, Shao Xuan did not know what to do. If it were a wolf or a lion, he would know how to handle it, but he had no idea how to deal with an insect’s injury.

“What should we do with your wounds?” Shao Xuan looked at the wounds on its back and sighed.

Sapphire the Beetle dug the ground in place and climbed to Shao Xuan's face. It did not know how to express and could only circle around him.

But Shao Xuan could sense a little of its thought.

“Unlock again?” Shao Xuan was worried. How long had the second chain been unlocked? If the third chain was unlocked, could Sapphire the Beetle survive it? If it couldn’t control the power unleashed, it would die.

But looking at its injuries, and its careful but eager face, Shao Xuan decided to grant its wish.

If the third chain was unlocked, and the wounds on it could heal, it was worth it.

Just as when Caesar was so badly hurt, Shao Xuan had performed the craft of engraving and branding on Caesar and he was fully healed. It would probably have the same effect if he unshackled Sapphire the Beetle.

But this was risky. It could be easily killed.

A blue flame emerged on his hand, Shap Xuan concentrated his energy so he could control the power of unshackling.