Chapter 349

Falling Into The Sea

The third chain was unlocked. And now, it all depended on Sapphire the Beetle to survive it.

Shao Xuan thought the results would be quick, but after the third lock was unlocked, Sapphire the Beetle stayed asleep, being completely unresponsive to the outside world as if it went into hibernation.

Shao Xuan was worried and wanted to wait for his beetle to awake, but he heard the Golden Armours approaching.

These golden armour soldiers were still hot on his heels after all this time, Shao Xuan was a bit impressed by their persistence.

It had been ten days, apart from looking for food and taking short rests, the Golden Armours spent the rest of the time chasing him. Not only the soldiers but also the camel-like and horse-like riding beasts. They had great endurance, tolerating heat and cold, and could withstand long journeys. As for the people from Shaqi City and Sky Wheel City who had been closely following the Golden Armours, they were left far behind.

Sapphire the Beetle was still asleep, Shao Xuan wasn’t going to carry it with him. The people behind were hunting him but not the beetle. Thus, Shao Xuan lifted Sapphire the Beetle and placed it on a sand dune, then hid it by covering it with the surrounding sand.

The snilknoses’ target was Shao Xuan. As for any organism other than Shao Xuan, they did not care and ignored them all.

The troop chasing closely after Shao Xuan stirred up a cloud of dust. The silknoses screeched sharply, flapping their wings and pointing their long noses at Shao Xuan.

When the dust dissipated, the place was restored exactly as it was. Strong wind blew sand from the dunes to other sites, leaving no trace of a troop’s passing.

Shao Xuan felt like he was at a dead end.

To the left, it was the jurisdiction area of Shaqi City; to the right, was Sky Wheel City. He could see cereus plants growing around here.

Shao Xuan did not know how he arrived here. It was already too late when he realised he’d run into a dead end. He shouldn’t have been so careless during the journey! The desert was vast. In order to break this stalemate, he should have led the golden-armoured soldiers to a detour around the desert and find a chance to run away. But as soon as he started to run, he felt as if he couldn’t control himself, and just ran straight ahead.

There were birds flying in the sky, they weren’t wild desert birds- they were domesticated birds from the Sky Wheel City, with people on their backs.

The Sky Wheel City did not engage in any large-scale war with other cities, it only had some small conflicts with the Shaqi City. However, being affected by the tense situation in the desert, there was a patrol team on duty every day. And this troop Shao Xuan saw was one of the patrol teams from the Sky Wheel City.

Theoretically, a normal person would turn left facing such a situation, but Shao Xuan ran straight ahead.

At the moment, Shao Xuan felt as if his legs were not his own, merely barrelling ahead. Nothing else was in his mind, until the moment he jumped- Shao Xuan only came to realize that, he had already jumped…

“Oh no…”

He leapt from the top, then fell into the blue sea, and sank to the bottom.

Shao Xuan felt as if someone was dragging him down, his body was sinking deeper and deeper.

The temperature of the sea was much lower compared to the desert outside. Suddenly coming into contact with the seawater from running on hot sand, the sudden temperature difference made him shiver with cold. The deeper he sank, the colder it got. He wanted to swim up, but couldn’t.

He felt a current flowing around him.

The flowing water made him go numb. He knew what this water flow indicated. He held his breath and stopped his movements.

A giant figure was approaching. The light cast from the sea surface above enabled Shao Xuan to see the stripes on its body and the sharp teeth protruding out of its huge mouth. Shao Xuan was nothing compared to one tooth.

The giant beast had no claw but the fin-like limbs did not diminish its might. Those who were timid would be scared to death from one look in its eyes. But it did not seem to be interested in such a small person like Shao Xuan. It swam near him but did not leave.

What worried Shao Xuan more was, when he stopped paddling, he went down faster. Despite his great ability to hold his breath, it would be impossible for him to hold his breath continuously and stay there forever.

If this continued, he would not leave alive.

In the meantime, outside the waters, at the edge of the cliff, the Golden Armours who were chasing after Shao Xuan gathered. Looking down at the bottomless blue ocean, they did not follow him. They were not crazy enough to follow him to his death.

The riding beasts seemed to feel the formidable force beneath the sea, scraping their hooves on the ground.

Pacifying the riding beasts, the leader ordered the soldiers to spread out and watch to see if Shao Xuan resurfaced.

And the people of Sky Wheel City were shocked by Shao Xuan’s action. How could he just jump off the cliff?! It was suicide!

The beast in the sea seemed to notice that there were many people moving above the cliff. It was displeased, so it jumped out of the water, did a flip and roared. Its roars shook the ground so much, rocks almost fell off the cliff.

Even the Golden Armours, who were not afraid of death, took a few steps back on their riding beasts while the people of Sky Wheel City lurking nearby went even further, retreating a hundred meters. They lived here, they knew exactly what was under there. It was a mighty creature, far stronger than the giant beasts in the desert.

...

The Golden Armours ordered by the lord to kill Shao Xuan, had stayed on the cliff for two days. Since they did not see him resurface, they inferred that Shao Xuan must have been swallowed by the beast in the sea. This was sort of an indirect completion of the lord’s order, wasn’t it?

On the third day, the leader of the golden armour soldiers commanded with a wave of his hand, “We shall return!” Since they had accomplished the mission, it was time to go back.

As for the people from Sky Wheel City, they had intended to rob the soldiers’ armours. But in the end, they chickened out- and with their hesitation, the troops had already marched far ahead.

“Forget it, let’s wait for the next time.” One of them said. There were not many people in this group, not much more than the golden-armoured soldiers. If they fought with the Golden Army, they would surely lose.

“What do you think? Did the guy get eaten or did he sink to the bottom?” Someone asked.

“Whatever. He’s just a madman.”

The people of Sky Wheel City turned and walked back, this long journey was quite peaceful, and their return trip was smooth too. But the Golden Armours were less fortunate, blocked by a flood of insects on the way back to their city.

Looking around, the sand was greatly covered by large swathes of black beetles.

Boom!

On a dune, there was a movement in the yellow sand.

A blue beetle came out of the sand slowly, and with the emergence of this beetle, the calm tide of black beetles surged like big waves.

…