The Warriors gripped their weapons and tensed their bodies, staring at the cave entrance and waiting to strike.
Ye Xi had ignored the chief's protests, and insisted on standing together with them. He gripped his bow, pulling the string back as far he could.
The boulder was slowly moved aside, and blinding sunlight poured in. The long period in the darkness caused everyone to be momentarily dazzled.
The boulder was completely moved aside.
Outside the cave was the familiar clearing of yellow earth. The distant jungle swayed in the wind, and the sunlight created a mottled pattern of shadows on the ground. All was quiet and peaceful.
No creature came out to attack them.
The Warriors were not relaxed by this scene. Tightly gripping their weapons, they cautiously looked around and began to slowly advance in an arc.
Ye Xi kept his bow string taut as he slowly stepped out of the cave.
He warily inspected his surroundings, his ears taking in every noise.
The afternoon sun was still strong, and the group, standing in the clearing, was completely exposed to the blazing white rays.
The Warriors were fine, but Ye Xi, still an ordinary person, gradually began to sweat from the heat.
After standing in the clearing for some time and still seeing no sign of activity, they finally relaxed.
Plate put down his weapon and let out a breath of stale air. "They've finally withdrawn," he happily said.
The other Warriors were also happy.
Swoosh!
A black streak shot out of the cave.
Ye Xi focused and saw that it was Scaly. It was on the verge of rushing into the jungle, so he hurriedly caught it.
Scaly fiercely struggled in Ye Xi's hand, occasionally hissing and opening its mouth to bite Ye Xi.
Ye Xi frowned, pinching its head so that it couldn't bite him.
Plate smiled. "The little fellow is starving after the last few days. It's anxious to head into the jungle and hunt for its own food!"
Now that the beasts had withdrawn, they were so happy that they began to crack jokes.
Ye Xi tried to soothe Scaly and allay its worries.
The chief was still tense, and he continued to stare hard at the jungle.
"Plate, you look over there. Big River, you go to that side. And you…" The chief began to order the Warriors to inspect the jungle.
The Warriors all vanished into the brush.
After a little while, they all returned, safe and sound.
All of them had relaxed smiles on their faces.
They were happy to have endured this crisis. The tribe was already running out of food, and now, they could enter the jungle to hunt.
"Chief, there was no activity on my side."
"Chief, I didn't spot any savage creatures on my side either."
As reports that all was well came in, the chief's tense face gradually relaxed.
Only Ye Xi remained grave.
No… it was too quiet.
If he carefully listened, he couldn't even hear any bird cries.
Ye Xi placed his bow on his back and swiftly climbed a tree. Standing on top of it, he looked at the sky.
There were only a few birds circling in the sky.
Looking around, even with his vision, Ye Xi could not spot a single large creature.
Strange! Far too strange!
Ye Xi felt his hair stand on end.
He swiftly clambered down the tree and said to the chief, "I'm going up the mountain to look." He stuffed Scaly into the chief's hand, and before the chief could reply, he ran up Little Mud Mountain.
The trees flew past him as Ye Xi ran up the slope with all his strength.
It was like a voice in his heart was telling him, 'Faster! Faster!'
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Spurred on by an unknown danger, Ye Xi mounted the summit as quickly as he could.
He stood on a large rock at the summit and looked into the distance.
Fierce winds rustled his hair and torrid sunlight beat on his head.
The river and mountains were far in the distance.
Ye Xi turned to an extremely far spot in the distance on instinct.
An unending line of snowy and lofty mountains loomed there. This was the Snowspine Mountains, standing opposite the Blackspine Mountains.
It was a place that was considered the end of the world for this region.
Several seconds passed.
A black dot suddenly appeared on the summit of the Snowspine Mountains.
This black spot was extremely obvious, like a hole bored in a white sheet of paper.
But this black dot was only the beginning.
The black dot rapidly grew larger and darkened. Like an ant nest being upended, countless black objects began to spill down the Snowspine Mountains.
Ye Xi shivered.
He squinted at that place, and what he saw was a vast wave of black giant insects!
The endless wave of black insects silently spilled over the Snowspine Mountains like ink, surging toward this side in a scene that was both majestic and frightening.
The snow-white slopes of the Snowspine Mountains had been completely engulfed in black.
This was… an insect flood!
An intense chill ran down his spine, and Ye Xi immediately felt like he couldn't move.
Run!
Ye Xi's mind returned, and he began to crazily run down the mountain!
It was said that it was easier to get up the mountain than come down, and in truth, one couldn't run very fast down a mountain because it was easy to fall.
But Ye Xi didn't care!
His heart rapidly beat against his chest! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Hurry!
As he was running so fast, it was no surprise at all that he tripped and fell, rolling down the mountain slope. But Ye Xi seemed to not feel any pain, getting up and continuing to run, falling and getting back up again and again.
By the time Ye Xi got to the bottom of the mountain, his body was covered in dirt and wounds.
At the base of the mountain, the tribe members were already outside, soaking in the sunlight.
The searing rays of the sun that they usually loathed seemed warm and intimate after so many days in the cave.
After so many days in fear, the danger was finally gone. Warm smiles were on all of their faces.
"Hurry back into the cave!!!" Ye Xi madly roared.
The crowd was taken aback, and nobody moved.
Seeing Ye Xi's miserable condition, Awl was shocked, and smiled as he asked, "How did you end up like this? What's…"
Ye Xi's heart was on fire with panic. The insect flood was moving with incredible speed, and he had wasted enough time running down the mountain. "Danger! Everyone, hurry into the cave!"
Nobody moved, all of them staring in confusion at him.
Ye Xi bellowed, "As the shaman's disciple, I order all of you to enter the cave at once! Hurry!!!"
No one had ever seen Ye Xi this distraught before, and they were all frightened. However, Ye Xi's words had always been right before.
So everyone immediately began to head into the cave.
Ye Xi exhorted the crowd while nervously glancing at the jungle.
The chief, Courage, and Plate were the last to enter.
The chief and Plate pushed the rock over the entrance. As the chief pushed, he asked Ye Xi, "What's coming that has you so nervous?"
Crssh. Crssh.
The jungle answered.
Savage black insects of enormous size suddenly appeared in the brush, and began to crawl in their direction.
There were many people still standing near the entrance, and they all saw these insects. A woman immediately screamed.
Courage was struck dumb.
Ye Xi saw this and immediately rushed forward to help the chief push the stone. His face turned red as he angrily roared at Courage, "Hurry and help!"
Although the chief and Plate couldn't see because they were pushing the rock, they immediately could tell that something was wrong from the reactions of Ye Xi and Courage, and pushed harder.
Those in the back joined in, spurred by their fear.
Courage also came around and began to push the boulder.
With so many people working together, the boulder was pushed into position much faster than usual, firmly blocking the cave entrance before the insects could reach it.
Huff! Huff!
Ye Xi leaned against the boulder and panted.
He hadn't stopped exerting himself this entire time. Only now did he have some time to rest.
The chief had been focused on pushing the boulder, so he had not been able to tell what was going on outside. However, from Courage's reaction, he could see that it was undoubtedly something terrifying, so he hurriedly asked, "What was it? What did you see?"
Courage took in a deep breath, and his usually composed voice was trembling. "So… so many giant insects. The jungle was covered in them."
He still felt a bottomless fear from the sight.
It was fortunate that Ye Xi had promptly reported it. He found it impossible to imagine what would have happened to the tribe otherwise.
The chief's eyes flew open. "You're talking about an insect flood?!"
Ye Xi said in a soft voice, "From the summit, I could see something coming across the Snowspine Mountains, so numerous that they were like water, completely engulfing the mountains."
Courage's voice was still trembling, even after he tried his best to remain calm. "I saw just now… each insect in the jungle was the size of a Thickhorn Rhino."
These words sent a chill through everyone's bodies.
A flood of insects like this would be unstoppable. It was no wonder all the fiendbeasts had disappeared.
The fierce creatures of the western side had undoubtedly fled to the eastern side out of fear of them! But then those insects had come over to the east, frightening them so badly that they had all disappeared in a single night.
The chief's chest heaved up and down. The divination had been inauspicious, and he had always believed that this pointed to the savage creatures from the last few days. But the omen really pointed to the insect flood!