Chapter 407 - Armour
Gongjia Heng lived on a hill not far from the river. The hill was visible from the riverbank since there were not many hills around.
Shao Xuan probed and asked a few questions along the way, Gongjia Heng answered his questions- unless they were about Xia secrets. Gongjia Heng didn’t mind the questions and especially loved talking about wares he had cast and forged before like large ceremonial cauldrons, spears, swords. He spoke with confidence and pride.
To the Xia people, they called themselves the second-best in casting and forging. No one in this world dared call themselves the best, and if anyone could be called the best, it would be one of the Xia people.
Just as Gongjia Heng was praising himself, he was still alert for his surroundings. Although his expressions and speech looked like he was relaxed, he was still able to react immediately when there was a slight movement near them.
A gigantic worm with many legs shot out of the grass, taller than the both of them even though it wasn’t standing. On its head were two antennae and two pincers gnashing at Shao Xuan and Gongjia Heng. There was a huge, half-rotten tree laying horizontally before it but it would not be able to stop this worm.
Before Shao Xuan moved, Gongjia Heng, who was still showing off some wares he had once made with a grin, suddenly leapt up. He brought down his arms like the wind, a powerful surge of power travelled from his arms into the bronze hammer and crashed down unto the worm’s head. There was a gust of wind from the impact.
The worm, still waving its pincers, suddenly had a dent about half a meter deep in its head. The exoskeleton wrapping its head was now cracked and an olive green liquid sprayed out.
“How did you know it’s more than a hundred years old?”
“Look at the top.” Gongjia Heng pointed at the scales. “Look at the patterns.”
There were patterns on the scales. Like a tree’s rings, they showed a crocodile’s age.
This was different from the crocodiles in the Drumming tribe. There were about a hundred pieces of bone on the crocodiles here. These bones on their backs had fused into the skin so it was more like a robust armour on its back. Previously, Shao Xuan could injure a crocodile’s snout with a sword but if he was aiming for the back, he might not make a dent. Perhaps he could injure a young crocodile but an old one more than a hundred years old would be difficult to hurt.