Chapter 95 - Snek (1/2)
Hao Xuan got dressed and went downstairs. Everyone was already in the courtyard in their uniforms standing in a perfect formation.
”Damn it, I wanted to eat first,” he muttered under his breath after seeing them. Even after eating till he was about to explode just the night before, he was already so hungry that it was hurting a little.
”Is this because of the physique? Well, it has 'devouring' in the name so I guess this should be expected huh?” he said with a sigh. The old lady had already given him the ultimatum to leave as soon as possible so delaying his stay wasn't a good idea at this point.
”Greetings Captain!” 112 was standing next to Kuo waiting for Hao Xuan to come down.
”Hello, could you please pass this to the princess?” he smiled and handed him the Kimono which he washed and folded before coming out.
”Of course sir,” 112 stored it and then led them outside. ”Is there anywhere specific I can drop you?” he asked while patting the giant centipede.
”Is there somewhere around here with a lot of beasts?” Hao Xuan asked after a moment of contemplation.
”Haha, of course, sir. Dozens of places all around us. I'll take you to one closer to the entrance of the Quarry.” Everyone got up on the centipede and it entered one of the hundreds of other tunnels in the gorge and disappeared in an instant.
About 40 minutes later they came out from the side of a cliff. Apparently, there was a waterfall nearby as well. The splashing water was so loud that it could be heard it from quite a distance away.
”This is a famous watering hole. Beasts from all around come here,” he said while pointing towards the right side of the cliff. The Mad Saints got down and the centipede slowly turned to go back the way it came from when 112 gave them a warning with a serious look.
”Please don't go swimming in the water. No one knows how deep it is and there are some extremely powerful creatures down there. Two spirit realm cultivators of our clan disappeared down there a few years ago.” Kuo and company were slightly taken aback by that. Spirit realm cultivators were considered to be overlords under normal circumstances and it wasn't easy to kill one.
”Got it, thank you. Tell the princess we'll be in touch,” Kuo nodded in response and waved as he once again disappeared into the dark tunnel.
”Still as creepy as ever. I feel like there's something in the darkness,” Mason said with quivering shoulders.
”There is,” Hao Xuan mumbled, turned around and started walking towards the waterfall.
”E-Eh? Captain, did you say something?” Aria asked from behind. The newbies were always following Hao Xuan around like lost kittens. He told them to knock it off but Kuo said it was either them or Him and Maddy, so he chose them.
”No, let's go,” he waved from the front and the rest followed after.
It had been a very long time since he last saw the sun and the outside world in general. Every single place in this world seemed like a piece of paradise when compared to Earth. There was greenery as far as the eye could see. Massive trees towering over everything.
Engrossed in the moment, he slowly walked at his own pace while the rest followed without making a sound. It took a bit more than 10 minutes for them to reach the waterfall. It was absolutely massive and went down for more than a 100 meters.
It wasn't a normal waterfall but looked man-made. Two large rivers were coming from north-east and east and were being emptied into an extremely large hole in the ground.
As Hao Xuan looked down, the end wasn't visible because of a layer of dense mist a few dozen meters down the hole and from their perspective, it just looked like a giant mouth swallowing millions of gallons of water every second.
”Woah, that looks deep,” Luke said as he peered down into the abyss while holding onto a nearby tree.
”I'll give you 500 points if you jump down,” Mason said from the back. He was afraid of heights so even going near the edge was impossible for him.
”I'll give you 5,000 if you do,” Luke grinned back.
”Hmph. That's easy to say when you won't have to pay in the end. Ain't no way anyone's surviving whatever the hell is down there,” he said with quivering legs.
While they were bantering around, a voice interjected. ”I'll go,” Hao Xuan said while looking down. Zhurong who was usually asleep was wide awake at this point and was also looking down with an intrigued look.
”Eh? Captain, please don't joke around like that,” Luke said with a laugh.
”I'm serious, I'll go. ”
”.....”
”.....”
”Wha- Captain, NO! You just got back, we can't lose you again!” Mason shouted dramatically like a middle-aged woman.
”Just stay here, I want to check something out, I'll be back soon. When I tug the rope twice, pull me up,” he didn't wait for them to reply and jumped straight down with a rope tied around his waist. They didn't even realize when he had taken it out let alone tied it around one of the trees behind them.
”Ahhhhh! Lieutenant! Captain jumped down! He jumped down!” Mason started screaming at the top of his lungs.
_______________________
A few minutes ago, while Mason and Luke were talking, Zhurong was also communicating with Hao Xuan telepathically.
”Master, there's something good down there!”
”Something good?” Hao Xuan frowned.
”Yes, I can feel it, young, very young! And they're alone, its the perfect time!” Zhurong said in his usual childish voice.
”Young? What is it? A treasure?”
”No, something even better! Divine blood!” he said ecstatically.
”Divine Blood? What're you talking about? Explain properly.”