Chapter 143
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.
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.