Chapter 140 – The ice layer at the mountaintop
Translated by Sunyancai
After staying two days at the edge of the cliff, Shao Xuan has almost recovered, and his injuries on the arm also healed up. But Chacha’s ability to recover was lower than Shao Xuan’s, so it had taken him a dozen days to recover to full health.
What surprised Shao Xuan the most was that the giant eagle had stayed here for more than 10 days, and he did not have a nest here, he was also just passing by. Every day after catching prey to fill his stomach, it stood on a high rock to rest, instead of leaving immediately. In addition, it also gave some of its food to Chacha every day.
These days, Chacha’s fatigue had decreased and he had restored to a good state of mind. And he had enough food, so he just focused on patiently healing his wounds.
Shao Xuan would climb down the mountain to hunt, but without Chacha’s help, he had some trouble, because that giant eagle did not help him go down the mountain.
Besides food, Shao Xuan also found some herbs to apply on Chacha’s wounds. He had intended to see if the giant eagle needed his help, but only to find it stay away from him on purpose. Shao Xuan temporarily gave up this idea.
As soon as Chacha could fly again, the giant eagle did not intend to stay.
It would go with Chacha in that direction, and Shao Xuan did not know whether he should follow them or just return. Together with this giant eagle, Chacha should be much safer.
However, after Chacha flew up, it screamed towards Shao Xuan to tell him to hurry and catch up with them.
Shao Xuan smiled, and decided to follow them to see the legendary Eagle Mountain. He put away the tooth sword, ran for a distance, and then leaped to catch Chacha’s legs, who was flying towards him.
The giant eagle in the sky seemed to be very impatient, hovering several times, which marked it was urging them to leave.
“Let’s go!” Said Shao Xuan.
A scream was heard.
After screaming with joy, Chacha flapped his wings, and followed after the giant eagle.
This time, Chacha would not keep close to the trees in the woods, but maintain a certain distance to avoid being attacked again.
The giant eagle’s flying posture seemed even more unstable than ten days ago. It was more and more obvious that it had difficulty flying. But even so, for Chacha and Shao Xuan, it flew plenty fast, so Chacha could barely keep up with it.
During the day, they kept flying. In the evening, they found a place to rest. They brought their prey to a high cliff, and quietly ate it. In this area, there were many high mountains. Sometimes they encountered other creatures living in the high mountains. Usually the giant eagle fought with the prey while Shao Xuan and Chacha cheered for him nearby. If they tried helping him, it would just cause some trouble to him.
Every time the giant eagle fought with the other ferocious beasts, Shao Xuan found that it got more and more injuries. Its claws, beak, and feathers were in a worse condition than they were when Shao Xuan met it for the first time. Only the pair of eagle eyes kept their invincible sharpness.
Under the escort of the giant eagle, they avoided a lot of trouble, for the flying birds did not dare to provoke them on their way.
They had left the third holdout for about thirty days now, but they still did not see the destination.
However, judging from Chacha’s and that giant eagle’s behavior, Shao Xuan could perceive the changes in their minds. They were excited, and had sparkling eyes. Even the weather-beaten giant eagle showed his strong desire to arrive there without any more delay.
The destination was around the corner.
This day, these two eagles hurriedly continued on with their journey, and Shao Xuan observed the surrounding scene. In front of them, there was a long dragon-like mountain. This mountain was very high, which reminded Shao Xuan of the mountain in the second location. Most of the birds were obstructed by the high mountain.
Whenever they encountered such a mountain and they went over it, they would see a different scenery.
The top of the mountain was obstructed by clouds, so they could only see the vast land below the clouds that was covered by snow.
The giant eagle began to fly higher, followed by Chacha.
They planned to go over the mountain.
On their way over, they had climbed many mountains, this time though, it was much more difficult for them.
The higher they flew, the more difficult it became. It seemed that there was a force that pushed back any creature trying to fly higher.
After flying for a distance, Chacha felt tired and rested on a protruding rock.
“Chacha, you go on and follow him up, I’ll stop here.” Said Shao Xuan as he touched the feathers on Chacha’s head.
“Jiao~~~!”
Chacha avoided his hand, fluttered his wingsm and scratched the rock near him with his claws.
“Why are you so stubborn? I will wait here…” Said Shao Xuan. Thinking about it, he asked, “You will come back, won’t you?”
Chacha made a cry and continued to scratch the rock.
“But if it takes too long I will return by myself.” Shao Xuan planned to stay in this area, where the species were strange to him. He thought that perhaps he could discover some precious herbs from in the ancient volumes.
He had always stayed in the tribe, and it had been boring for him to follow the same route. He could seize this chance to visit this foreign place. He’d like to see the so-called Eagle Mountain, but Chacha was still too small to fly higher with him in this place.
The giant eagle above began to urge him.
Chacha still hesitated, and screamed to the eagle.
“Catch up with him!” Said Shao Xuan. It’s so rare to find such a thick thigh to latch onto, if he lost it, where would he find another one?
While Shao Xuan was talking to him, he suddenly felt a gust of wind behind him. Then he turned around, and found a big eagle claw coming at him.
Shao Xuan did not take out his tooth sword because it did not pose any threat to him.
Standing on the ground, the giant eagle was nearly ten meters high, so its claws were naturally much larger than those Chacha. It was easy for it to grab Shao Xuan.
After clutching Shao Xuan, the giant eagle flew up immediately. Chacha glanced at it, and quickly kept up with them.
The giant eagle was used to hold prey, so it didn’t reduce its strength, which made Shao Xuan feel like his internal organs were being squeezed out and his bones being broken. If he had not been a strong totem warrior, but an ordinary man, this hold would have killed him.
But the eagle was full of good intentions. This period of time of being together made the giant eagle no longer keep away from Shao Xuan. It found Chacha had great difficulty in flying with Shao Xuan, so it offered a hand. But it did not know there were many creatures much more vulnerable than its prey.
Though without Shao Xuan, Chacha’s burden was lifted, it still could not fly fast due to the increasing pressure. It seemed that there was an invisible big hand pressing him down with increased force when he rose a little.
Chacha had such a feeling, and so did the giant eagle. Shao Xuan’s weight was a piece of cake for the giant eagle, but it had to resist the pressure from below to higher.
The mountain they saw was covered by snow and ice. Neither green plants, nor the top, could be seen. When they looked up, they could only see layers of clouds.
The cold air poured into their lungs. In the beginning, Shao Xuan could stand it, for it was as cold as the winter in the tribe. But as they continued to rise, Shao Xuan found that even a totem warrior could not withstand such bitter cold.
His animal skin coat began to be covered with white frost, and the range of frosting was expanding.
In addition to his animal skin coat, his hair, the feathers of the giant eagle and Chacha were also being frozen.
Above them there was some light, but the golden sunshine at this time could not make them feel warm.
If it was at night, it probably would be colder. Therefore, they had to reach before it got dark.
Shao Xuan circulated the power of the totem in his body, so that the warm flow would make his whole body warm. But once he stopped mobilizing the power, he would feel the bitter cold again.
When Shao Xuan felt he was almost frozen into a popsicle, he finally saw the top of the mountain.
This pleased the frozen Shao Xuan and the exhausted Chacha. Chacha began flapping his wings energetically.
Close.
Closer.
They ascended slowly, and then went over the clouds around the top. Looking at the scene in front of him, Shao Xuan’s pupils contracted slightly.
He originally thought that after he went over the top and descended, he would get to the other side of the mountain. But in fact, when they arrived at the top, they saw a flat ground.
Bang!
The giant eagle landed on the ice layer at the top of the mountain.
Having been thrown away, Shao Xuan rolled over on the frozen ground before he stopped.
The ground was covered with thick snow, and the snow was as hard as stone.
Behind them was a cloud layer. He felt that he rode on the clouds, and stepped into paradise. But when he looked at the front, the clouds blocked everything, so he could not see what was in the front.
However, Shao Xuan could feel that in these clouds, there were other living creatures.
After the giant eagle let Shao Xuan go, it took a rest and then moved forward.
Chacha hurried to keep up with it.
The cold fog permeated the air. Shao Xuan walked near them.
When he turned around, he could only see the fog. The place they had landed in disappeared into the fog,
On the ground, there were some prominent crystal-like icicles, which could be seen every few tens of meters.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Shao Xuan looked around, and heard the same sound coming from all directions. Some sounds were near, and some were far from him.
But Shao Xuan did not dare to be distracted. He closely followed the giant eagle with Chacha.
Da~ da~
Behind them, the sound of footsteps came. It was the sound of an eagle’s footsteps.
A gust of cold wind blowing from the back made Shao Xuan shiver.
With the sound of footsteps getting closer, Shao Xuan turned his head to look. What he saw made him gasp.
Because of the fog, Shao Xuan did not see it clearly. He could only see a huge black figure in the fog. Compared with the giant eagle, Chacha was as small as a kid. But compared with this big guy, the giant eagle was as small as a kid.
Was this also… a giant mountain eagle?
Shao Xuan looked at it with his special vision, although it was still blocked by fog, he could vaguely see the eagle’s skeleton.
He took a deep cold breath.
Shao Xuan suddenly felt that he really had a narrow horizon. The size of the giant eagle could be imagined according to its name. The one that he had seen before was not typical of its kind. It was unknown whether there were bigger giant eagles.
Among these big guys, Shao Xuan felt tense, as if he fell into a monster den.
Looking at the large eagle and the small one in front of him, Shao Xuan quickly kept up with them. Anyway, he had better follow them at the moment.
The giant eagle led the small Chacha out of this land surrounded by clouds and fog. When they came to a protruding crystal-shaped icicle, the giant eagle lowered its head to bite the icicle. It pecked off a piece, then gave it a bite. He swallowed it and then continued to peck another.
Chacha had a look and also pecked the icicle.
Listening to the cracking sound, Shao Xuan then understood how the sound coming from all directions was produced.