Chapter 204 - Captured Camp

Before reaching the cave's inner sanctum, Xionmao was already waiting for her at the cavern entrance. The panda stated his reason for his wait. It was for her to unlock his ability to speak the human language since she had received the title, the Chief Guardian. He positioned a finger behind the back of his right ear.

"Put your mark here and I can speak again," he said through telepathy. Thus, she kept his name but only added the surname Lei to add him to her newfound family. "You will now be called Uncle Lei Xionmao." And her multi-petaled, rainbow-colored flower mark appeared behind his ear, but it didn't keep the colors afterward, the same as the rest. Only the spirit guardians and other Chief Guardians from the other worlds were the particular few who could see the special colors.

"Thank you," Xionmao said.

"I've been wondering why you can't speak before when you're a spirit guardian and one of the strongest who didn't lose your essence and sanity while the power chain is eating the others? Also, why is this cave still in good shape when the Sacred River and Great Forest turned into something… you know?"

"Aren't you in a hurry to go to the Platannians camp?" he said in a baritone voice as she looked her way.

Her eyes grew enormous, and she slapped her forehead. "Sorry, I forgot. My curiosity got the better of me. Tell me your story while we run."

"Let's go." He took his human form, but he took his mask away, leaving a fair skin with a black circle around his left eye. He grabbed a white linen and a fruit and gave her the items. "Eat the fruit. We need to hurry." 

Xinyi recognized the fruit and went red as she ate, recalling what happened when she took two of this fruit. [Note: This happened in Chapter 80 and the result in Chapter 81.] And zoomed away, running beside Xionmao.

"What's this cloth for?" She said, eyeing the shining linen and especially the embroidered mark — her personal mark.

"That's yours. You were wrapped in that cloth when you came into this world. Keep it and see if you find something unusual when you meet someone to where we're heading. You might meet one of your relatives there."

"Really?" This was amazing and stirring news for her. She always wished to meet her biological family and to meet one now was super exciting. 

However, Xionmao doused her excitement before she knew it. "But don't think you'll get along well because that person could be one of your enemies now."

She frowned. "Oh! That's bad. I hope I can persuade that person. By the way, how did you know this. I mean about me having a blood-related person in that camp?" 

"The mark in the cloth. If that mark shines brightly, that means the person you're facing is your relative."

"Nice to know. Thank you." Her enthusiasm to see the person grew instead. Then shifted the topic before Xionmao would warn her again. "Is that black skin around your eye the reason you had the mask on?"

"No, my panda face was under the mask. I don't want anyone to see it." His white teeth shone as he smiled. "About your earlier question. You see, every spirit being uses part of his essence to speak the human language, but not that much. But for this cave, the late Sorceress locked my ability to speak and a part of my powers to preserve my essence from depleting so I can still protect this chief spirit landform of Chiji.

"And about your other question, this cave is actually affected, but you can't see the difference because you haven't seen its original beauty before the power chain thinned out. Thanks to the special herbs and stones in here or it might have been as dead as the others."

"I see. No wonder." 

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When she reached the camp, Xian Lang was on his way to the kneeling crowd and saw Xinyi and Xionmao appear at Ming's side. Then the couple looked at each other with love in their eyes as Ming held her hand, standing side by side. This scene erased his anxiousness away. 

Xinyi also saw her father, but wasn't sure if it was really him because he had grown old. Most of all, she was still four years old the last time she laid eyes on him. The unfortunate truth was she could hardly recall his face. But she assumed it was him with his posture, elaborate clothes, and the King's crest on his left b.r.e.a.s.t. She saw Ming wear a cloth with that symbol on too. 

Xian Lang then ordered Valiez to capture the kneeling men. Without hesitation, Valiez pulled the men using his vines and placed them in a living plant cage. This struck fear to the rest in the camp and scurried to the sides, away from Valiez's creeping branches. 

However, when they thought they were safe, Lofey, Tyriece and the spirit guardian gang captured them. Unknowingly, the group entered the camp in time before the prince raised his shield. In silence, they laid traps, mostly Ah Lam, and captured the scattered Bernavoles' traders and placed them in Tyriece's marked prison — in his domain. The same way when he imprisoned Ah Lam once. [You can find this in Chapter 142.]

The camp went into chaos again. Ah Lam had no mercy and zapped her steel webs and encased these guys like mummies in no time, not giving them a chance to fight. And leaving Shenkai to carry these prisoners with her crawling roots and throw them with the rest in Tyriece's cage.

Those Platannians(disguised Bernavoles' traders) who possessed powers fought with all their might and even used the Wag stones against them, thinking these Chiangdas would lose their strengths with it. But only to lose their willpower when they saw Nianshi and Meirga turned into gigantic dragons, breathing out hellish flames.

After an hour or so, they made the Platannians their prisoners, aside from the prince who had not reappeared after he vanished.

Xian Lang stood in the middle of the smoking camp and shouted, "Come out, Prince. Look what I've got. Your people will perish if you won't bring Madame Lei out now."

Yet, no prince nor Madame Lei emerged.

[If you are not reading this in Web novel dot com, please read it there to support the author JoanB.]