Chapter 57 – Intuition (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

Outside the cave, Mai, Lang Ga and the others were waiting. According to the traditions in hunting groups, if anyone had an accident inside, the others would wait outside for a whole day, after which, they would continue hunting.

Every year, they would lose some of their comrades, but the hunting mission had to be carried on. Everybody was the same.

“Ah-Xuan should be fine, right?” Lang Ga walked back and forth at the exit of the cave, looking anxious. He wanted to go inside to search for him, but without knowing the correct path, he would be of no help even if he went inside. He hadn’t even memorized the route near the entrance and exit, let alone all those complicated forked paths, and turns inside. He wasn’t as knowledgeable about the tunnels and caves, as those old warriors like Mai. Now, since all the experienced ones had their hands tied, he had no other option but to wait there.

“Hum. Ah-Xuan is a lucky boy. He could kill a Thorn Black Wind, so he could probably come out from the mountain.” Ang added.

The others also echoed with the same theory, but some experienced warriors had a different opinion. Unlike young warriors like Lang Ga, they had gone through much more than the young ones ever had. And even if they had not experienced it in person, they had heard the stories.

The situation in the mountain was much trickier than meeting a Thorn Black Wind. Killing a Thorn Black Wind was more of a lucky shot, let alone that the Thorn Black Wind had much lower fighting ability in a cold area, which led to the fact that it was killed by Shao Xuan. However, it was a different situation inside.

When ancestors were establishing the hunting route, they had sacrificed many people’s lives to finally find a proper way to go through. However, Shao Xuan was nothing but a newly-awakened boy, who was attending the hunting mission for the first time. Regarding capability, he was not better than anyone in the hunting group.

Even though they were comforting Lang Ga, and the other young warriors, that Ah-Xuan was a lucky boy, deep down in their hearts, those experienced warriors were thinking about why that kid was so unlucky… Earlier he had just survived from the Thorn Black Wind, however, just in the blink of an eye, he was accidently trapped in the mountain, nowhere to be found.

New people joined, while some people would leave, or even die, depending on their fortune. Even the ancestors could not run away from their destiny, how could Ah-Xuan survive again? From the day that this route was established, no one ever came out after being left behind. It was just a pity that this time, a talented boy was lost here. They wished to see him walk on the Path of Glory when they returned, but nobody expected that he would be resting in the mountain forever. Well…

In the meantime, Shao Xuan was in a dilemma, not knowing which way to choose.

There were three forking paths, and only one of them would lead him to the outside, from where he was dragged along. And no one knew where the other two paths led to. One misstep, he probably won’t be able to come out alive.

Shao Xuan took a deep breath to ease his anxious nerves.

Recalling his limited experiences, Shao Xuan remembered that at the very night that they were awakened, the Shaman had said to them when he was giving the “lecture” … “The power of the flame will guide you. Just like in ancient times, our ancestors used fire to light up the night.”

Intuition…

The intuition brought by the flame…

Shao Xuan stimulated the totemic power in his body, and the flame wrapping on the flaming horns totem suddenly grew brighter in his mind.

Shao Xuan glared at the three paths in silence.

After a while, Shao Xuan lifted his foot and walked into the path in the middle.

It was very quiet in the cave, no eyeless spider or any other kinds of worms could be seen. Shao Xuan walked down along the path, but soon enough…

Damn it!!

What intuition?

What “The power of the flame will guide you”?

Everything was fake!!

The Shaman was just an old quack!

If he were not afraid of waking that king stone worm, Shao Xuan would probably curse out loud.

He had confirmed that the path he went along now was not the same as the path through which he was dragged in, even if he didn’t remember which path it was, he still remembered the exact number of times his body was smacked against the wall.

When he was dragged all the way in by that insect, his body was smacked against the wall, every time there was a turn. However, now Shao Xuan was passing through more turns than before! Also, the surroundings felt totally alien to him, and he didn’t have any familiar feelings!So, was his intuition on strike?

Shao Xuan rubbed his head leaning against the wall.

Why did he have such bad luck?

He had done nothing evil in the tribe, instead, he had helped those weak kids back in the orphan cave. Why did bad things always happened to him?

Unless…

Shao Xuan thought about the ritual ceremony in the Snow Festival. When others were praying, he was thinking about the changes on his body. Also, he did not join the crowd to sing the Song of Hunting, but faked it like he was really singing. Maybe, he had to face the consequences of his prior unjust actions now?

So the totem and flame that the Shaman had been talking about, which were supposed to be the guardians of the warriors, chose not to protect him?

That was bullshit!

If it could really protect, then wouldn’t that mean the ancestors in Lang Ga’s stories shouldn’t have died in here.