Chapter 144 – A foreign object
Translated by Sunyancai
That eagle was even bigger than that the one that had brought them here, and it looked like it had flown a long journey and was very tired. After he fell on the ice, he did not move any more, just gasped for air.
Originally, he was just randomly looking around and wasn’t trying to find Shao Xuan. And then he just stared at Shao Xuan as if Shao Xuan was a rarity.
Shao Xuan, who held a piece of ice and was about to nibble at it, just stopped when he found that he was being stared at by the giant eagle.
What the hell did the eagle want to do?
Shao Xuan did not see malice in the eye of the eagle, but he was still wondering what the eagle wanted.
The eagle stared at Shao Xuan for a while and then diverted his sight to the ice column next to Shao Xuan, and then looked at Shao Xuan.
Did he want to eat ice?
Shao Xuan took out his tooth sword and pried off a block of ice from the ice column. When he turned around, he found the eagle was staring at his tooth sword.
Shao Xuan thought for a short while, and then inserted tooth sword into the ice layer. He held up the ice block and showed it to the eagle.
Shao Xuan wanted to throw the ice block to the eagle along the ice layer. But the eagle directly opened his beak and then shook his curved beak, as if urging Shao Xuan to be quick.
Shao Xuan moved over towards the eagle, step by step. Even if the eagle didn’t show malice, Shao Xuan thought he still needs to be cautious when he faced a behemoth like this, especially in the situation that he did not carry his tooth sword.
When Shao Xuan was close to the eagle, he threw the ice block into the mouth of the eagle quickly, and trotted back immediately.
The eagle directly swallowed up the ice block without chewing it. And then, he opened his mouth once again.
Shao Xuan pried off another ice block and threw it into the mouth of the eagle. He went back and forth for more than ten times. Finally, the eagle quivered his wings and stood up from the ground.
When the eagle flapped his large wings and was about to fly up, plenty of ice particles dropped off from his body and some fell on Shao Xuan. Shao Xuan raised his hands to keep them away.
At that time, Shao Xuan thought of something. He thought this eagle didn’t seem to be unfamiliar with humans, unlike the eagle that brought them here. The reason he was stunned when he saw Shao Xuan may be because he did not expect to find a human in this place.
Could the eagle live in the mountain forest around their tribe’s hunting ground?
Suddenly, one thing attracted Shao Xuan’s sight. He could not help but go forward a few steps and stare at one claw of the eagle. A blurry pattern was drawn on it.
Even if Shao Xuan could not see it clearly, he was certain that the pattern was not from Flaming Horns tribe.
Relating it to the behavior of the eagle just now, Shao Xuan thought the eagle must have contact with humans. Like Chacha, there were too many humanized things in this eagle’s eyes. He must have contact with humans frequently, for he had acted in a way the other eagles did not.
The giant eagle walked with heavy steps towards a taller ice column and bit the ice block on it.
Shao Xuan followed and walked close to the eagle. He wanted to see the pattern on his claw clearly.
But the pattern was incomplete, because the outside layer of the claw had fallen off partly. Shao Xuan had to guess the missing part of the pattern.
Shao Xuan felt a thrill when he thought this pattern might be left by another tribe.
He had been in this world for so long and never seen a human from another tribe.
Shao Xuan drew on the ground with his tooth sword. The eagle next to him had finished eating and seemed much better than before, when he couldn’t even stand up.
He lowered his head and looked at Shao Xuan drawing on the ground. At first, he was quiet, but later, every once Shao Xuan drew a stroke, he made a sound and scratched the picture with his claw.
“Wrong? Let me try again…….”
But he just continued a few strokes, and the eagle scratched it again.
“Wrong again. Draw again.”
Shao Xuan drew and drew, while the eagle scratched and scratched. After a while, the ice in the surroundings was scratched into a mess. At this time, the eagle lost his patience. He stopped scratching, cried a sound towards Shao Xuan, and began to twitch his neck.
“Wait! What do you want!”
At the sight of such a situation, Shao Xuan hurriedly stepped back!
“Waooh~~.”
A pile of puke dropped in front of Shao Xuan. If Shao Xuan avoided it a little slower, this puke would have just fallen on his head.
In the puke, there were some pieces of meat from body parts of unknown animals.
Shao Xuan: “….”
He was wondering whether he needed to run, but a stone in the puke caught his sight.
It was a stone which was polished smoothly and was about palm-sized.
Shao Xuan ignored the revolting puke and ran fast to pull out the smooth stone from it.
When he picked up the stone, he wiped it by using the feather of the eagle, and then he looked at it carefully from the side.
The stone was black and flat, and a white pattern was drawn on it. Shao Xuan thought the white pattern might be the same as that on the claw of the eagle.
The pattern looked like an abstract cloud. The painting materials for the pattern were strange, the pattern could still stay clear, even in the belly of the eagle, the stone was not damaged at al.
Shao Xuan didn’t know why the eagle swallowed the stone, and also could spit it out spontaneously. What interested Shao Xuan was where the pattern and the stone came from?
The eagle looked at the stone gently.
However, the eagle could not speak, and Shao Xuan could not understand the eagles’ language. Shao Xuan could only guess the eagle’s meaning from his body movements. Yes, he spit out the stone to show the correct pattern to Shao Xuan when he saw Shao Xuan drew it wrong time and time again.
The stone was very nice. It must be cut from superior natural stones.
The superior stone and the special painting materials were used for the pattern, so the pattern must be very important for the painter. It might be a totem. Shao Xuan could feel the painter’s admiration for the pattern when he saw the stone.
He did not know whether the eagle lived in a human tribe like Chacha. Probably because the pattern could not be carved, it was drawn on the claw.
Shao Xuan hadn’t seen this pattern in mountain caves near his tribe. But maybe he could find some relevant information in the animal skins that the ancestors left.
He must draw the same pattern for the Shaman when he returns to the tribe.
Thinking of it, Shao Xuan gave the stone back to the eagle. But the eagle lowered his head and pushed the stone back to Shao Xuan with his beak.
“You want to give it to me?” Shao Xuan asked in a low voice. There were other eagles walking back and forth, and Shao Xuan did not want to disturb them.
The eagle cried a sound and turned around his head. He walked towards the ice column he was eating and leaned against it. His eyes were clear and bright, and his breath was energetic. He was not hurt seriously, and there was no bone fracture in him. He was just very tired and could not stand straight.
Leaning against the ice column, he could bite the ice column easily.
Shao Xuan smiled and shook his head. He must have flown a long way, and experienced many hardships.
Shao Xuan had a look at the stone and put it carefully into the bag made of animal skins. He will show it to the Shaman when he returns. It would be great if they could find some related information from the scrolls.
At first, Shao Xuan planned to find another stone and draw the totem of his tribe on it, he would give the stone to the eagle for exchange. But after thinking over it, he gave up on it. Even if there were other tribes, he could not be certain if his tribe had bred enmity with these tribes. Therefore, he could not act rashly.
There were many giant mountain eagles flying here and there. Some eagles flew here alone, and others flew here in groups.
But because of the eagle standing next to Shao Xuan, the other eagles did not fly over here to grab the area, and they even ignored the existence of Shao Xuan.
The eagles around became more and more quiet, and even the eagle that stood next to Shao Xuan was the same. Except for eating, he didn’t do anything, and just stood next to the ice column quietly. It seemed that he did not want to make contact with the world. Occasionally Shao Xuan spoke with him, but he just made a low sound.
When the mist became thin, Shao Xuan knew it was time for the eagles to leave.
There was now sunshine at the ice region, and the mist had dissipated completely. Familiar songs of eagles rang out again.
Whoosh~~
Whoosh~~
One after another, large and vigorous figures appeared in the sky above. Those eagles sang in a loud voice to express their excited emotions, as if celebrating their new lives.
“Jiao~~!”
The eagle standing next to Shao Xuan screamed towards Shao Xuan, and started to fly.
“Good luck to you!” Shao Xuan waved his hands towards the eagle.
“Jiao~~!”
Another eagle scream. But this scream was not coming from the eagle next to Shao Xuan, but from the sky.
Shao Xuan put his fingers into his mouth and whistled.
A silhouette separated himself from the flying eagle group and flew towards Shao Xuan.
They had not met for such a long time, and Shao Xuan did not even recognize Chacha.
Chacha was not so tall the last time they saw each other. Now, his had grown double, and he was three meters tall.
The eagles in the ice region started to fly towards the chasm, while Shao Xuan and Chacha needed to return to their tribe.
Another nearby scream came from the sky. It was from the eagle that had brought them here. His body had also grown twice, and his beak had become sharp again, his claws also became sharp, and his wings became strong. He didn’t look old any more. On the contrary, he was full of youthfull energy.
That eagle cried another sound towards Shao Xuan and Chacha, and flew far away. After a short while, he disappeared in the sky.
“We should go back!” Shao Xuan patted Chacha, who now was fluttering his wings on purpose to show them to Shao Xuan. Then they walked to the sharp declining slope.
Now, Shao Xuan didn’t need to grab Chacha’s claw to fly. He could directly jump on Chacha’s back. But before he did that, he needed to fetch something.
“Wait! I need to get something.”
Shao Xuan walked downwards along the sharp declining slope and stopped at a site. Then, he dug the soil by using his tooth sword. Chacha helped him with digging using his claws
Chacha could only dig very shallowly when he used his claws before. Now, he could grasp a big block of stone easily with his claws. It was much more easier for him to scratch ice block, just like scratching some bean curd.
Soon, the skin of the white bugs and the collected silk that Shao Xuan had buried were all dug out by Shao Xuan.
The skins and silk were intact and in good condition.
“They are very important, can you carry them?” Asked Shao Xuan, who held up the three rolls of skins.
“Jiao~~~”
“Ok. Let’s try.”
Shao Xuan, who carried the three scrolls of skins and silk clusters, jumped unto Chacha’s back.
“Take off!”
“Jiao~~~”
After releasing a scream, Chacha jumped down.
Shao Xuan turned around to see the mountain peak again.
The mountain peak was shrouded in clouds and mist.
Ten million years later, the ice region in the mountain peak still went through the cycle of greeting the new and seeing the old leave, day after day. Eagles come with poor and old bodies, but leave as new lives.