Chapter 680 King Beast Fire Seed (1/2)

The patrol team clearing the crowd almost attacked them, mistaking them for opportunistic thieves.

“Grand Elder and the rest are back!” yelled Kun Tu excitedly as he ran towards the Flaming River Castle.

Duo Kang heaved a sigh of relief, now that Shao Xuan had returned. No matter what happened, he felt more at peace with Shao Xuan around. Duo Kang, Zheng Luo and the rest were shocked to see the three men’s states.

“What happened to you all?” asked Zheng Luo hurriedly.

“Let’s not talk about it. It’s all because of that king stoneworm.” Ta collapsed into a chair, chugging down water handed to him.

This was his first time in such close proximity to a king beast. The worst fearsome beasts he met in the forest were far from this king beast.

All three had a layer of dust on them. There were even patches of grey-white skin, and their clothes had turned grey too. These parts had all turned to stone.

Everyone’s chests tightened when they saw Ta shaking off a layer of stone from his arm.

A patch of skin on his arm had turned to stone. At least it was not a large patch and had not extended into his flesh. The wound was not serious but they were deeply uncomfortable watching blood flow from the places he shook off stone chips. If their hunt leader was injured, how long could they stand?

Ta had the most severe injuries out of the rest.

While Ta applied herbal medicine, Ao explained everything they learned and the conclusions they came to.

They had sensed the king stoneworm’s location not long after reaching Flaming River. That tunnel had directly broken through the surface but they were faced with a dilemma: with the king stoneworm right outside the hole, should they retreat back or exit the hole?

Ta and Ao wanted to rush out but Shao Xuan stopped them.

“Thank goodness Ah Xuan stopped us. If we had rushed out then, we might not have returned in one piece,” sighed Ao.

They were not familiar with the king stoneworm, hence they did not have a grasp of its abilities. While they knew that it was powerful, Ao and Ta were confident in their abilities to escape. Plus the king stoneworm was not directly outside the hole. If it did not notice them, they would be able to leave quickly.

After Shao Xuan stopped them, they found another opportunity to escape. That was when they realised how naive they were.

Even if the king stoneworm did not notice them, it could still turn them into stone.

“You mean we can’t even get close to the king stoneworm?” Zheng Luo furrowed his brows.

If they could not even approach the worm, how could they fight it?

Would they all turn to stone, like the trees in the forest?

No one objected. Gui He told him their initial plan.

“Ah Xuan, you mentioned we have the fire seed aura with us. We have quite many Flaming Horns in the trading area. If we all group together, we must produce a reasonable fire seed aura already. Do you think it’ll at least intimidate the king stoneworm?” asked Gui He.

“Please don’t!” cried Shao Xuan immediately without even drinking his water.

“What?” Gui He did not understand.

They all looked at him quizzically. Gui He made sense. Wouldn’t the fire seed intimidate the king beast?

Shao Xuan thought for a moment. “There is something like a fire seed on the king stoneworm.”

“How is that possible?!” The crowd gasped.

The king beast was a beast. How could it have a fire seed? Then why hadn’t they sensed it?

“Yes, but it’s different from a tribe fire seed. More like animals have another kind of fire seed. I sensed it on the bat leader too. But the fire seed aura on the bat leader was definitely not as powerful as the king stoneworm,” explained Shao Xuan.

He had already noticed this during their encounter with the bat leader at the Thousand Grain Gold field. He finally understood what it was when he met the king beast.

The unique fire seed aura on the animals was different from a tribe’s fire seed. The fire seed belonged to themselves and it was not in its primitive form, rather merged into their blood.

Based on his analysis of the bat leader and king stoneworm, Shao Xuan guessed that the unique fire seed aura was shaped by the animal themselves!

Did the ability of concentrating a fire seed’s energy the reason for the formation of a king beast?

Why were king beasts so much more powerful than other fearsome beasts?

Who said fire seeds could not live within animals? That it was only restricted to humans?

No one had known about it. Even past Shao Xuan had been in close contact with the bat leader, the king stoneworm and even fought the salt beast. However, he had not been able to tell the difference.

After bringing Zheng Luo and the rest across the ocean and merging with the fire seed, his abilities improved a lot- especially the shell of light around the totemic flames in his mind. He was more experienced in wielding the other special power in his body.

Shao Xuan also knew that he could withstand strong repulsion from other tribal fire seeds and sense things other people could not likely due to this special power. He did not know what it was but it was real.

There was indeed a fire seed within the king stoneworm. It was the king belonging to animals. This fire seed could disperse and concentrate. Any fearsome beast who could concentrate this power became ‘kings’. The bat leader did not have an obvious fire seed aura, rather a faint similar kind. That was why it was counted only as a half-king, ranked above fearsome beasts but beneath a king beast. If it could truly solidify the fire seed energy within it one day, that would be the day it became ‘king’.

Although Ao and the rest did not understand why Shao Xuan would say that, he did not look like he was joking. And he would not speak recklessly on this subject either.

“If there really is a ‘fire seed’ within the king stoneworm, then with us radiating our own fire seed aura, will it provoke the king stoneworm?” asked Duo Kang,