Chapter 143 – Butterfly
Translated by Idontreallycare
On the protruding stone slab, behind the layer of threads, Shao Xuan indeed had found something interesting, a set of marks.
Carefully looking around once again, he couldn’t even find a trace of their feces.
Originally believing that by travelling this far, at the end of everything, he would be rewarded with treasures, it turned out that the nest of the white insect was completely empty.
Shao Xuan once more traced the steep incline further down and couldn’t find any more marks. Obviously this insect had not gone any deeper recently.
Finding the insect’s nest, and nothing else, Shao Xuan decided to go back up. He started to walk, then he ceased his movements and began to think. Walking to a nearby rock he moved behind it, removed all traces of his existence, and waited.
Although there was sunlight, the never ending stream of ice and rocks was not pleasant, and the temperature didn’t seem to get any warmer. On the contrary, as the sun started to set, the temperature plummeted rapidly.
However, for someone who was already accustomed to the climate at the peak of the mountain, this coldness was bearable.
As the sun left only a sliver of light, the insect returned.
As every step required it to tightly grasp onto the ice and rock, the noise the insect made was uncontrollable. Shao Xuan had been resting with his eyes closed, but upon hearing activity coming his way, he immediately opened his eyes to observe.
With the vantage point Shao Xuan had secured, his vision of the insect was unobstructed.
Although the sun had already set, the light of the two moons in the sky allowed Shao Xuan to clearly see everything going on.
Upon eating its fill and returning, the first thing the insect did was excrete waste.
One by one, transparent balls of ice came out of the insect’s rear end.
Finishing his business, the insect kicked each and every one of those balls down the cliff.
Shao Xuan was speechless. As expected, this insect had an obsession with cleanliness. It seemed to know not to defecate where it sleeps.
Finishing eating and defecating, the insect motionlessly lied down on its nest to rest.
Not even bothering to look, Shao Xuan leaned against the rock and fell asleep.
The next day, the insect had already left its nest before the sun appeared in the sky.
Following the insect, Shao Xuan ascended the mountain.
For the next few days, Shao Xuan did not venture back down, nor did he follow the insect. Instead, he proceeded to explore various locations on this ice layer. After familiarizing himself with the terrain, he proceeded to advance at an even quicker pace.
Some days later, Shao Xuan returned to his original location. He did not turn back, but because this ice layer was shaped like a ring, of course Shao Xuan would return to his original location. During this process, Shao Xuan had encountered more of those white insects; but he did not bother spending time on follow them.
After arriving back, looking around, Shao Xuan could not find any trace of the original insect.
Curious, Shao Xuan once again descended down the cliff. When he arrived at the insect’s nest, he was just in time to catch sight of the insect molting.
Casting off its skin, the thread the insect produced was transparent.
Perhaps after transforming, the insect was tired. Only after resting for a while did the insect start moving and kicking its skin out of its nest.
Shao Xuan wanted to get ahold of that skin, because in the tribe, they were lacking in materials, and so, trying to get that skin would be worth the effort.
Originally worried that the skin would get swept away by the fierce wind, unexpectedly, after being kicked out of the nest, it fell straight down onto the ice, making a loud noise.
Seeing the hole smashed by the skin, Shao Xuan became dazed.
With the skin being this heavy, the insect must be even heavier! Who would’ve known?
The insect was still resting in its nest, so Shao Xuan couldn’t just directly go down and take the skin. He had to wait for an opportunity.
And this opportunity would be during the next day.
Waiting for the sun to rise, while the insect had ascended up the mountain like a ghost, Shao Xuan went towards the skin to examine it. After last night, the skin had been covered in a blanket of snow.
Brushing the snow off, Shao Xuan picked up the skin. Weighing it in his hand, what he found was contrary to his expectations. But for a tribe of people who moves stones around, this amount of weight could be regarded as bearable.
The skin was so transparent, that when looking down, Shao Xuan could see even the wrinkles on his hand. When pulling with some strength, he found no damage.
As expected, this was something good.
Rolling up the skin, he tied it up and put it in his bag.
Looking around the nest, and not finding anymore remains, Shao Xuan returned back up the mountain.
Afterwards, Shao Xuan went to look for more of these insects. By following their footprints, he tracked their nests and acquired two more of these skins. From the other insects, he did not find any remains. Maybe they have not molted yet, or maybe they kicked their skin further away. The skins weren’t in the vicinity of the nests, and looking at the lines in the snow, Shao Xuan inferred that they rolled far away.
During the time Shao Xuan was scavenging, he found that these insects were turning more and more transparent. Originally snow white, they turned translucent, and with every passing day they grew even more transparent.
Finally, when all of the insects had disappeared, Shao Xuan went looking in their nests and found that the white insect had turned into a cocoon.
In this state, the shells of the insects were also transparent and angular. If one was not paying attention, they might have mistaken them for blocks of ice.
Shao Xuan did not know how long the insects would be in their chrysalis state.
In the end, since he had memorized the locations of the nests, he decided to check on them every couple of days. For the rest of the time, Shao Xuan would slowly absorb the energy contained in the ice columns. Being in such a tranquil place, he felt himself becoming more peaceful, which was extremely suitable for absorbing energy.
The energy located in the ice column was quite ordinary as it wasn’t as pure or strong as that found in the fire crystal. For Shao Xuan, the energy from the fire crystal could only have a supporting effect, as it did not affect the totem in his consciousness, one of the other differences between him and the other tribe members.
However, after every absorption of the energy found in the ice, a sliver of energy could be found accumulating in the totem. It had been precisely this type of energy which had been the root cause for the change(s) in the totem.
The two moons in the sky gradually circled, and drifted closer and closer to one another, brightening up the sky.
On this day, the two moons eclipsed.
From the clouds and mist on the mountain top, Shao Xuan was looking at the moon.
During his time in the tribe, he would constantly hear the cries of beasts in the forest. During his time here, all was quiet.
Unable to hear any life, it was as if he had been cut off from the world.
From the first hunt of the year to today, half a year had passed in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, Shao Xuan felt activity from underneath him.
Recalling those cocoons, he decided to go down and see what was happening.
On this night, the light provided by the two eclipsed moons was comparable to daylight.
For both the wild and ferocious beasts, this night was truly peculiar.
And so, while descending down the mountain, Shao Xuan was unusually cautious.
Finally arriving at one of the nests, Shao Xuan saw an insect coming out of the nest that had grown comparably smaller than when it was a insect. This insect looked like a butterfly with two antennas and no wings.
Upon leaving its nest, it crawled to the protruding slab of rock. Suddenly emitting white light from within, the light molded into a growing pair of wings.
Becoming bigger, the wings blocked all view of the rock the insect was on.
Opening it’s bright fluorescent wings, the butterfly rested for a while, then jumped off the rock, flapped its wings, and flew far away.
Looking out into the distance, there was a speck of white light gradually growing smaller.
In the end, the insects had all turned into butterflies.
With no stars in the sky, these bright wings appeared to be countless lights in the night.
Although there were still icy winds blowing around, these butterflies seemed to not be affected and steadily flew onwards.
Shao Xuan stood and watched these specks of light become increasingly small, to the point of disappearing. Only then did Shao Xuan retract his eyes and shift them towards their nest.
The threads were still there.
If left alone, after a while, they would be covered in ice and snow.
Coming over, Shao Xuan pulled on the threads to find that they weren’t easily separated. After observing the previous skins, he found that they were extremely hard to pull, but after using his totem, it grew a lot easier.
Shao Xuan used the same method to obtain the other threads.
Originally, the threads were stuck so tightly onto the rock wall that they seemed to be a part of it, after using his totem power, all he needed to do was the use a bit of force to peel them off.
Contrasted by the insect’s skin, this thread was incomparably light, causing Shao Xuan to grow excited.
Inside the nest and cocoon, Shao Xuan did not find anything. Could it be that the butterflies had kicked everything off the cliff? Could it be that they ate them?
It wasn’t a big deal even if he couldn’t find anything. For Shao Xuan, obtaining the threads was the biggest harvest for tonight.
Going to a few locations, the amount of thread he acquired was not small. To the insects, these threads weren’t anything important, or else they would’ve taken it away with them. In a few locations, some threads had been nipped and blown away with the wind.
This task continued on for two days, and during this time, new giant eagles had appeared.
Just like when Chacha arrived, these eagles were extremely tired. It seemed like they weren’t in a good state, as if affected by the ravages of time and old age.
Since these eagles arrived, it let Shao Xuan know that perhaps Cha Cha would also arrive soon.
As the giant eagles once again assembled on this layer of ice, Shao Xuan could not move around freely. Staying in the location where he and Cha Cha had first landed, he then began to hide his presence.
And so, these days, Shao Xuan would either be biting on a piece of ice from the column or observing every passing eagle.
Currently eating, Shao Xuan realized something was amiss. Raising his head, the first thing he saw was a giant eagle flying down, landing directly in front of him.
The eagle’s head was not far away from him, and it could see Shao Xuan extremely well.
Suddenly, their eyes met.
