1514 Trapped!
The enraged white pangolin breathed out flames and chased after Xia Fan, the ground rumbling as she followed him.
All beasts shared the innate desire to protect their children. Xia Fan and everyone had been watching from up on the mountaintop, something the monstrous pangolin obviously found to be unacceptable. The Ferocibeast had no idea that the laser was fired from far away; all she knew was that a group of humans were up on the mountain, secretly spying on her and her children. They had even caused a great explosion that gave the three children and herself quite the scare.
As such, Xia Fan had been forced to shoulder a guilt that could never be cleared, as the pangolin had already deemed this group of humans to harbor ill intent toward herself and her children. The white pangolin gave chase as if she had gone crazy, and despite her humongous size, the speed she possessed was stunning!
The most frightening aspect of the chase was naturally her white flames. Spewing from her mouth, the flames could reach nearly a hundred kilometers away, instantly leaving behind a burning wall of fire that cut off Xia Fan’s retreat. Xia Fan had no choice but to circle around the flames time and time again, making it impossible for him to fully display his advantage in speed.
—
!!
The very ground was rocking violently. Watching the monstrous pangolin chase Xia Fan farther and farther away, two warriors stood up from a distant mountain top. One was tall and the other was short, but both shared the same sinister smile.
“This time they are surely deadmeat. Getting hunted down by a planet tyrant must surely be a terrible experience,” the tall one remarked, pleased with himself. On his back was a shoulder-mounted laser cannon.
The short one was somewhat hesitant, frowning, “But Dragon Dou and that unknown middle-aged man will be embroiled in this.”
The tall one scoffed, “Don’t be silly. By the time they are dead, even if the people above were to launch an investigation, they would at most conclude that they ended up dead by the monster’s hands. What has that got to do with us?
“Big brother Moon Dongsheng did not want to threaten Dragon Dou’s life solely because he was afraid of the trouble it would cause. But if he dies by natural causes, then there’s no trouble at all. Big brother will not only not blame us, he will surely even reward us!”
The short one scratched his head, “Even so, that middle-aged stranger still ended up being caught up in all this.”
The tall man grew a little angry, finding the short one to be annoying. He unhappily retorted, “The man’s clothes bore no markings, so he’d at most be a servant from one of the Four Great Clans. Who’s going to care if he ends up dead? Let’s seize the moment and leave this place. We don’t want others to see us!”
With that, the tall and short warriors made to leave. Their plan had worked well, except that even in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that the sallow-faced middle-aged man was no servant from the Four Great Clans, but Hidden Water in disguise!
…
Xia Fan was in trouble.
Originally he would have had no trouble getting away from the white pangolin hunting him down with his speed. But the problem was that this Ferocibeast knew how to breathe fire and she was extremely smart. She would always create a wall of flames along Xia Fan’s route of escape, forcing Xia Fan to take detours.
The mountainous forest trail was already hard to travel along. Adding to the fact that Xia Fan was not alone, but had Traveling Buddha, Hidden Water and Dragon Dou with him, all of them ended up weighing down on Xia Fan’s speed.
After much effort, they finally made it near the Stargate. Xia Fan heaved a sigh of relief. All he had to do now was get through the Stargate and he would survive this encounter. No matter how powerful the Ferocibeast was, there was no way it could give chase across planets.
Nevertheless, something unexpected occurred at this moment. A single blast of white flames appeared in mid air, aimed directly toward the Stargate. It immediately set the structure to burning; the four warriors guarding said Stargate did not even have the time to dodge the flames before they found themselves burnt to crisps!
Xia Fan was stunned, as was everyone else. Did the pangolin’s white flames melt the Stargate into slag? Just what sort of frightening temperatures did it reach?! They would surely suffer if they were burnt by those flames!
“Goddammit, goddammit! MOMMY QUICK COME SAVE ME!” Dragon Dou cried shamelessly.
Instead, it was Hidden Water who remained calm even in their current predicament, shouting to Xia Fan, “Run in the three o’clock direction to your right; I know somewhere we can escape and survive!”
*Whoosh*
Xia Fan did not have the time to think, simply sprinting in a haste at his full speed. He could feel Bright Pearl in his bosom becoming anxious as well, prepared to protect Xia Fan from the monster’s attack at a critical juncture.
As a Frost Dragon, Pearl had the ability to resist fire. It was just that doing so would expose Pearl, and in order to keep her existence a secret, Xia Fan would probably end up having to kill both Dragon Dou and Hidden Water. Thus, unless he had absolutely no choice, he was not about to let Pearl reveal itself.
The state of affairs continued to worsen. The white pangolin had only recently given birth, yet it was acting completely unreasonably, still giving chase even when Xia Fan was thousands of kilometers away from the initial spot they had met at. To think the beast was still giving chase!
A single stream of white flames came after them, and Xia Fan had no choice but to give his complete focus to his circumstances, dodging and weaving as he continued sprinting.
After covering another hundred kilometers, Xia Fan spotted a mountain ahead. It was big and black, larger than all the other mountains. Its mass was actually made of metal, and was completely devoid of any signs of life.
“There’s a cave under the mountain that is so deep that it appears endless. We need only go in and we can escape from the pangolin!” Hidden Water yelled at him.
Xia Fan accelerated, headed toward the foot of that metal mountain. As he neared it, there was indeed a very small cave opening that was no more than three to four meters in diameter. There was no way the huge pangolin would be able to follow them inside.
Xia Fan ran like his life depended on it, while the white pangolin let out a furious bellow when she realized Xia Fan was trying to get into the cave. She then opened her mouth and attempted to breathe her white flames with all her might.
*BOOM*
The fearsome flames quickened in speed; Xia Fan could feel the rising temperatures coming in fast behind him.
The cave was a straight line, without a single bend or curve. Xia Fan had no way of dodging the flames that were catching up aside from increasing his speed even further.
Upon realizing how critical the situation had gotten, Traveling Buddha suddenly stood up and shouted, “LET ME GO! I’LL BLOCK HER!”
Xia Fan was dumbfounded. Though Traveling Buddha had the protection of his Battle Buddha’s Golden Light, they had no idea if that was enough to block the intense white flames coming out from the Ferocibeast’s mouth. He had no desire to risk the life of his brother to find out.
Still, Traveling Buddha did not give Xia Fan the chance to reconsider his idea. He immediately broke free from Xia Fan’s left hand and covered his entire body in golden light the moment he landed on his ground, becoming the obstacle to the path of the incoming white flames.
*ROAR*
The flames clashed against Traveling Buddha’s Golden Light, and the mountain rocked.
Hidden Water was astonished. She could not imagine that there could be such a brave man in the entire universe, willing to forsake his own life just to protect his friend!
She looked in Traveling Buddha’s direction, only to see his body bask in that shining golden light, looking like the descent of the Holy Buddha himself. He was enveloped in such might, so fearless and dignified!
Hidden Water felt her heart beat wildly. Her eyes widened and she could hear a voice in her heart shouting, this man by the name of Traveling Buddha is a true hero!
The intense white flames ruined the metal passage, turning the metal into red hot liquefied magma that was now rolling down the passage.
Xia Fan retreated in a hurry after grabbing Traveling Buddha once, and continued to accelerate once again.
No one knew how long they ran for, but Xia Fan finally let loose a sigh of relief after the flames were no longer chasing after them.
“Holy f*ck! I was scared to death back there. That was way too scary. That Ferocibeast is simply too terrifying!” Dragon Dou plopped his butt down heavily on the ground, his entire body still shivering, nearly pissing himself.
As for Hidden Water, she took out a handkerchief and made to wipe the sweat off Traveling Buddha’s forehead, though Traveling Buddha was looking at her with this strange stare, almost as if warning her not to take another step closer.
Only then did Hidden Water realize that she was still in disguise as a middle-aged man with an ugly sallow face. Her attempt at trying to wipe the sweat off Traveling Buddha’s forehead with what was obviously a woman’s handkerchief and kind eyes despite how she looked would obviously be unacceptable to Traveling Buddha. After all, it was not as if he swung that way, and even if he did, there was no way Traveling Buddha would find her disguise to be attractive!
Hidden Water hurriedly took off her disguise. It was a set of thin false skin that seemed as clear as a cicada’s wings, revealing her true self.
Strictly speaking, Hidden Water was actually quite the looker. There were no obvious flaws with her face and figure, the only problem being the fact that any descendent of the Hidden Clan would not have any expression on their face, and Hidden Water had quite the icy disposition, which was not Xia Fan’s type. Xia Fan preferred a lady who was more on the cheery side.
Hidden Water was currently somewhat flustered. She wanted to help Traveling Buddha wipe his sweat off but the man had rejected her. She then looked through her spatial ring for some medical salve in a hurry, wanting to treat the burns on his body, and only then did Traveling Buddha accept her aid. However, Traveling Buddha tossed the salve to Dragon Dou, so that the latter could put himself to use and help the former apply it to his wounds.
—
After some time and sensing no movement, Xia Fan decided to go take a look. After some time, he returned, though the smile on his face had turned into a grimace.
“How is it? Did the beast leave?” Dragon Dou asked, fear still lingering in his heart.
Xia Fan shrugged, “I have no idea if she has left or not, but what I do know is that the entrance we came in by has been blocked.”
Dragon Dou shivered, almost dropping the bottle of salve in the process as he moaned, “How did this happen!?”
Xia Fan answered, “Those white flames of hers were so intense that the entire passageway was melted and sealed. It’s now a solid lump of metal.”
“Can we dig ourselves out?” Traveling Buddha asked him.
Xia Fan replied, “You should know how fast I can go, right? I reckon the blockage of this passageway to be several kilometers long. You couldn’t possibly want to dig yourself through several kilometers of metal, right?”
They were in a rather prickly situation. This mountain and the cave they were in were all made of metal. The moment their passage was melted shut, there was truly no good way to get out!
Xia Fan stared ahead of them, and then asked Hidden Water, “Do you know where this cave leads?”
