Once Ye Xi was out of the cave, he looked up at the sun and saw that it really was getting late.
Based on his fuzzy impressions and conjectures, he judged that the Titanoboa cave probably wasn't very far from the Mud Mountain Tribe.
The five Warriors held up the Titanoboa at different positions. When they came out of the cave, Plate, who had been holding up the tail, ran out from underneath the snake and squatted down in front of Ye Xi. "Ye Xi, get on. I'll carry you."
He wasn't even injured. Was he so delicate that he needed to be carried?
"It's fine. I can walk on my own."
Courage, who was holding up the head, advised, "Ye Xi, let Plate carry you. We need to get back to the tribe before sunset. We're going to be moving very quickly. You won't be able to keep up."
It turned out that they were afraid that he would be too slow. Ye Xi replied, "I feel like I've gotten a lot faster after eating that miracle flower."
Plate hesitated. "But even if you're faster, to keep up with a Totem Warrior is still..."
Ye Xi knew what Plate meant. After some thought, he said, "Let's try this. I'll go on my own for a bit, and if I can't keep up, Plate can carry me."
In the end, Ye Xi was the shaman's disciple, not an ordinary member of the tribe. If Ye Xi was stubborn, they could not ignore his will and force him to be carried, so they could only adopt Ye Xi's suggestion.
In any case, once they started running, Ye Xi would understand just how hard it was.
Carrying the giant boa, the five Warriors began to run through the forest.
They moved with extreme speed. From the sky, their bodies were covered by the giant snake's body, so it seemed like the Titanoboa had come back to life, moving through the jungle like a black lightning bolt.
Initially, Plate and the others had been worried that Ye Xi couldn't keep up, and intentionally slowed down, but then they saw that Ye Xi's breathing was steady and he was completely capable of following.
The Warriors were all startled.
A miracle flower could boost a normal person's speed to such an incredible level!
And Ye Xi adapted to it so quickly! Other than at the start, when he slipped on a patch of moss on a tree root, he had no accidents on the journey.
This was due to Ye Xi's own ability. Though he had eaten the miracle flower, gaining improved vision and speed, he still needed some time for his body to adapt. That Ye Xi was able to shrink this time down to so little won him the praise of the Warriors.
Gradually, they began to pick up speed, and though Ye Xi began to breathe a little harder, he still kept up!
They weren't going as fast as they could, but they were still using eighty percent of their strength. Ye Xi was an ordinary person who had yet to go through the provisional Warrior trials, so the fact that he could keep up was simply a miracle.
Mud Mountain Tribe.
The people working in the clearing suddenly saw the shaman slowly walk out of the cave, a smile in his eyes as he looked toward the jungle.
"Shaman!" The tribe members jumped to their feet in fright. Why had their shaman come out of the cave?
The chief walked up to the shaman and asked, "Shaman, what's wrong?" There had to be something in the jungle for the shaman to be staring at.
"They've returned."
"They returned? Who returned?" The chief's mind turned, and then his eyes shone as he thought of something. In a louder voice, he asked, "Are you talking about Ye Xi? Did they bring Ye Xi back?"
The shaman smiled and nodded.
The surrounding tribe members turned around at this news, and soon, the entire tribe was in an uproar.
"Really?!"
"They found Ye Xi?! Wonderful!"
"Truly worthy of being the shaman's disciple! Even after being missing in the jungle for three days, he's still able to make it back safely!"
Ever since Ye Xi had solved the water shortage, he had won the unanimous love and respect of the Mud Mountain Tribe. The news of his capture had left all of them worried and grief-stricken. Now that they heard that he was safely returning, they rejoiced.
One of the tribe members noted, "Ye Xi might be injured. I still have some ground three-seven root. I'll go and get it."
The other tribe members immediately grew worried. "You might be right! Ancestors, please make it so that his injuries aren't too serious."
Several seconds later, a signal that sounded like a bird cry came from the sentry post, and a little while after that, Plate and the others appeared.
"They really came back!"
"And they don't seem injured! Great!"
"Wow! They even came back with such a huge snake!"
"They not only brought Ye Xi back, they also hunted such a large snake?"
Sweat caked Ye Xi's forehead, he was panting for breath, and his heart was madly thumping. The blood that had been rapidly pumped through his body during his run was still going.
The clearing was packed with people. It seemed like practically everyone had come out of the cave, and upon second look, Ye Xi saw that even the shaman had come out, smiling at him while clutching his cane.
The chief strode forward, patted Ye Xi on the shoulder, and began to look him over. "Very good! You're not injured. But how did you get so white?"
He had changed so much that he almost doubted that it was actually Ye Xi.
Ye Xi wiped away some sweat and smiled. "It was a blessing amid misfortune."
Ye Xi went up to the shaman. "Shaman, I've made all of you worry." If not for the shaman performing divinations and telling the Warriors where to find him, he might have ended up sealed in the cave by that giant rock.
The shaman nodded. "It's fine as long as you're back. You suffered a rather bad fright this time around, but if my guess is right, you also encountered some good fortune."
Ye Xi: "Yes."
Ye Xi explained to the chief, the shaman, and the rest of the tribe what he had encountered, including the apes, the Titanoboa, and the miracle flower.
When it came to the giant snake, everyone gasped and glanced at the boa's corpse. This massive boa was able to exert such terrifying power! They could not imagine how an ordinary person like Ye Xi could have the courage to stab it.
And when the story came to the snake using the rock to block the entrance, their hearts tensed as they worried over Ye Xi.
Then, when they heard about how the giant boa died and Ye Xi ate the miracle flower, they couldn't help but be happy for him.
Ye Xi's tale of twists and turns made their hearts toss and turn, their moods go from worried to happy.
And as the tribe members clicked their tongues or sighed in praise, Ye Xi unwrapped the bundle of snake skin on his back.
Three white eggs appeared.
"These are eggs we brought back from the snake cave. I suspect that they are the eggs of the giant boa, but they seem too small. Shaman, could you take a look?"
The shaman emotionally sighed. "You truly went through a lot of danger." Taking up an egg, he declared, "This truly is an egg of the giant boa."
Ye Xi was delighted to hear this.
Someone softly said, "Wow, it really is a giant boa egg. But it's so small! You could eat it in one bite."
The shaman chuckled. "Ye Xi, the giant boa egg is nothing good to eat. I'm afraid that you've carried them back for nothing." He picked up an egg and viewed it under the light of the sun.
"This one has gone bad. You can't eat it."
"It's bad?" Ye Xi took another egg and examined it.
Under the light of the sun, he could vaguely make out a clump inside the egg.
"What about this one?" Ye Xi offered the egg to the shaman.
The shaman took the snake egg and inspected it. "Mm, this egg is still alive. You can eat it."
Ye Xi took back the egg. "I don't plan to eat it."
If he wanted to eat it, there would have been no reason to carry them all the way back from the snake cave.
The shaman curiously looked at him.
Ye Xi explained, "I plan to hatch the egg and see if I can't raise it into a pet."
The tribe members glanced at each other in surprise. Raise a giant boa?
The shaman considered this for a few moments. "Perhaps. Some creatures will listen to orders if they're raised from a young age. This is the case for the bears of the Yellow Bear Tribe. But some creatures are simply untameable. If your giant boa…"
Ye Xi understood what the shaman was trying to say and replied, "If it won't obey, I'll kill it."
The shaman slowly nodded. "A giant boa needs a lot of food. You will need to put a lot of attention into raising it."
He had been allowed to raise it. Ye Xi hastily replied, "I understand."