webnovelfull Chapter 281 Ancient Ancient
Chapter 281 Ancient Ancient
Chapter 281 Ancient Ancient
True friendship is revealed in times of adversity.
Although it might be a misperception, Leo did feel that his relationship with Daniel had become different from before.
Previously, the two had only a mutually beneficial relationship.
Leo needs to use Daniel's many skills to communicate with the Green-Eyed People and establish trade cooperation.
Daniel also needs to rely on Leo's connections to ensure the safety of his operations in the New World.
Leo firmly believed that there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
But at this moment, Leo felt that the mutual exploitation between the two had become less cold.
The most direct example is that Daniel no longer calls Leo "Mr. Gibson," but instead addresses him by his full name.
While this doesn't prove anything, it is indeed a change.
Right now, the two are traversing through the forest.
Daniel aspires to be a illustrator, and he says that his mind is always filled with drawings.
Despite being knocked unconscious, he confidently stated that he knew the way back.
Leo didn't let Daniel lead the way for nothing; he was responsible for ensuring their safety.
Leo possesses a special power, although he is not yet proficient in using it, but without this ability, the two of them would not have come this far.
Based on previous experience, as long as Leo is willing to invest, he is capable of dealing with most crises head-on.
Although the cost may be considerable.
“We can’t go to the tribes along the way,” Daniel said. “Although we can communicate with them and say that we are guests of Passamakodi, we can’t determine whether that tribe is within Passamakodi’s sphere of influence.”
It is said that there are three to five tribal confederations on this continent, and Passamacodi is just one of the chiefs.
Daniel may have a topographical map of the areas he will be passing through, but he probably doesn't have a map of the distribution of power.
Therefore, the safest course of action for the two was undoubtedly to return to the tribe in Passamakodi without being discovered by anyone.
The two have already traveled a long way, but Leo has no idea how much further they have to go.
"Soon," Daniel said with a smile, "It should arrive in the next day or two, maybe even this afternoon."
In Leo's memory, Daniel always had a very businesslike smile on his face.
His smile was devoid of emotion or feeling, which might have been the original purpose of Daniel's smile, making it difficult for the other person to understand.
But at this moment, Leo could sense the ease in Daniel's smile.
However, Leo was more concerned about a problem in Daniel's words:
"The area you're referring to is too large—a full two days' journey? If you truly knew your own location, you shouldn't have made such a mistake."
Leo shrugged and explained, "We were knocked unconscious for a while. I woke up earlier than you, but I was still unconscious for at least two hours. Two hours is enough time for those guys to ride deer a long way, so I couldn't pinpoint their exact location."
"But if that's the case, how did you determine beforehand that I could use sound to lure that terrifying three-headed beast over?"
"According to the legends of the Green-Eyed People, this monster's range is extremely large. I was just letting you try your luck, but I didn't expect it to work. Even so, there is still a margin of error of one to two days."
Upon hearing this, Leo offered no further explanation.
Daniel added, "But I'd prefer that we're almost there."
Why?
Daniel shrugged: "Because it's not just us looking for Passamacodi, Passamacodi is looking for us too. Their tribe has been attacked, so they'll naturally be on high alert in the surrounding area."
"And once they find us, they will send their mounts to pick us up, which will greatly reduce the time we spend on the road."
Leo realized that Daniel was considering far more than he had imagined.
It can only be said that he truly deserves the title of "know-it-all," while Leo is only proficient in business.
And as it turned out, Daniel was right.
Two hours later, the two were surrounded by three green-eyed people.
After communicating with them, Daniel confirmed that they were from Passamacodi.
But the green-eyed people remained vigilant. Two of them immediately restrained Leo and Daniel's hands, while the remaining one...
Then they started dancing in place.
Their dancing postures were very strange and bizarre, and the forest rustled as they danced.
It sounded like crying, yet also like roaring.
It wasn't until a sudden gust of wind swept through the forest that he dared to confirm it was a roar.
At that moment, Leo felt the ground beneath his feet soften.
But he himself is falling into ruin.
This was no illusion; looking down, he could see that his ankles were completely sunk into the ground.
Then, his vision went completely black.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself in an open space.
Leo was familiar with this place because it was here that the group of oriental people had kidnapped him and Daniel.
They finally returned to their tribe in Passamakodi.
Ahead, Yu Shang had already erected a huge wooden figure using tree branches, with flames burning fiercely inside its hollowed-out body.
Dozens of tribal women, wearing feathered headdresses, are performing a dance in perfect unison.
These dances are the same as the one that man danced in the forest.
Leo immediately realized that he and Daniel had been teleported back to the tribe by some special force.
These dances are precisely the conditions that activate that power.
But if that's all there is to it, why don't they stop dancing?
Leo looked around, puzzled.
I did not see Passamacodi.
Instead, more and more green-eyed people surrounded the area, completely blocking the open space.
At that moment, an elderly woman stepped out from the crowd.
People with green eyes are generally not tall, but she was noticeably shorter, seemingly less than four and a half feet.
She hunched over, making her appear even shorter.
Holding a wooden staff that was twice her height, with a ring at the top and nine yellowed bones threaded through it, she stood in front of Leo and Daniel. Suddenly, she raised the staff and slammed it hard into the ground.
"Thump!"
This is the dull thud made by the base of a wooden stake hitting the hard ground.
The woman raised it again and then lowered it.
"Thump!"
"Whoosh!"
This time, there was the added sound of bones on the wooden rings colliding with each other.
The woman tapped the ground for the third time.
"Thump!"
"Whoosh!"
"boom!"
Everyone around followed the woman's rhythm and began to stomp their feet. The loud and imposing footsteps sent a chill down Leo's spine.
the fourth time.
This time, there was no further comment.
However, Leo discovered that everyone had started dancing.
Do not!
It's not just people!
The livestock in the enclosure behind, the shadows of the trees on the ground, and of course, the trees themselves.
They danced, they sang, they gathered together.
Everything grew ever larger, while Leo himself gradually became smaller.
five.
Standing before Leo, the majestic Willow Man's flames, rising and falling in rhythm with the movement, suddenly burst forth.
The twisted flames, like evil spirits yearning to break free from hell, frantically stretched their bodies out of the wooden cage.
The unrestrained, frenzied flames were first as red as the blazing sun, then as yellow as mud, then as blue as morning dew, until they turned into a cold blue like frost.
Blue flames rapidly engulfed the entire wooden giant, and the irregular wooden branches extending from its head, enveloped in the blue flames, transformed into a crown.
Leo's pupils contracted.
An extreme fear surged through his veins.
The burning giant suddenly moved.
He strode forward, trampling everything in his path, and stretched out his large hand, wrapped in blue flames, toward Leo.
Flames engulfed Leo, and despair nearly overwhelmed him.
He felt his life was threatened and instinctively began to save himself.
He only had one way to save himself.
Sign a covenant with the great being.
He quickly mobilized the extraordinary energy within the group and wrote the contract on his pupils.
The price: ten years of life.
Do not!
Twenty years!
Damn it! Fuck!
Who cares, just survive first!
Just as he had done with his power last time, the name of the great being danced wildly on the contract.
Just as the name was about to be finalized, cracks appeared in the contract that was about to be completed.
Ok?
What happened?
Leo remembered that in the past, when contracts were established, these energy-based agreements would always turn into dust and dissipate.
But why did it suddenly turn out like this this time?
The cracks continued to deepen!
deepen!
Until it stands upright, splitting in two in the middle, a pair of irregularly shaped serrated teeth that can interlock, separating to both sides as if...
The contract was torn up by something!
A chilling sensation swept over Leo in an instant, and he seemed frozen in place.
Leo knew it was all over.
Nothing could stop that giant hand from getting any closer.
But at that moment, everything came to a stop.
Willow stick figures burning in the daytime, a forest dancing wildly, a crowd in a frenzy of excitement.
The images, the sounds, everything—everything stopped.
It was as if time had stood still.
Leo was completely confused about the situation; he didn't understand what was happening.
Suddenly, he felt himself falling.
He went deep into the ground.
And one can almost feel how the countless lice-like, twisted tree roots that have taken root in this land are greedily stretching into the soil.
Leo is still falling.
He reached the depths of the earth, where even tree roots and forests could not reach.
Leo, however, felt that this might be the source of the forest, or even the source of life itself.
An ancient atmosphere wafted over me.
The more Leo fell, the stronger this aura became.
Until he reached the depths of the earth.
He sensed that there was some kind of substance ahead of him, which was neither soil nor rock.
It is dirtier than soil and harder than rock.
And it was incredibly huge.
Leo expanded his senses in order to be able to see the whole thing.
No matter how much he expanded his perception, it still couldn't encompass what lay ahead of him.
Until a certain critical point, Leo finally learned what it was.
He took a deep breath—assuming he was still breathing at that moment.
It was a huge, tightly closed eye.
It lies buried deep underground, sleeping at the ancient end.
And he himself must be even more ancient than the ancient.
Leo felt his thoughts racing and becoming increasingly chaotic; even though he had encountered great beings many times, he had never felt this way before.
However, this time, he felt his soul collapsing simply from sensing what was in front of him.
Just then, that eyelid twitched suddenly.
Leo felt the earth trembling.
He immediately discovered in despair that the eye had opened a crack.
what!
Hahahaha!
Leo couldn't help but smile at the mere sight of the eyeball wrapped under his eyelids.
Despair vanished.
The fear vanished.
The desire has vanished.
He just wanted to laugh.
Ha ha ha ha--·
laugh.
Haha!
Leo suddenly opened his eyes and saw a canopy made of tree branches, and a familiar but haggard face.
"Haha, Daniel, what's wrong?" Leo asked, puzzled.
"I was just about to ask you what's wrong," Daniel said. "You've been laughing the whole time; you must be having a wonderful dream."
A sweet dream?
Was everything that just happened a dream?
If he had a pleasant dream: "So, you... you had a pleasant dream too?"
"I did have a dream, but it was a nightmare."
"Nightmare? Haha, what kind of nightmare? You sensed that eye too?"
"Eye?"
Daniel frowned and stared at Leo for a moment, then shook his head.
"I don't know, I don't remember what my dream was like, but when I woke up, a deep fear lingered in my heart, as if I had been sealed in an ice cave all day."
"Haha," but why is it that only I, the fucking idiot, remember this damn dream!
"You dreamt about your old flame?" Daniel forced a smile through his panicked expression. "Otherwise, there's no way to explain why you're laughing so happily."
Happy? Leo asked, puzzled. Am I happy?
He experienced it for himself, and indeed, deep within his soul, he found an emotion that oscillated between madness and pleasure.
So he was probably happy.
"What happened, haha, Daniel, tell me!"
"I don't remember very clearly, I only remember hearing a terrifying rhythm and seeing willow people burning with blue flames."
I smelled an exquisite fragrance.
fragrance?
Leo couldn't recall: "And then?"
"Wake up here," Daniel replied.
"Haha," Leo couldn't contain his delight, "What exactly happened?"
Daniel said, "Pasamakodi came back and told me that his men had confirmed that we had not betrayed them and that we were unaware of the attack on the tribe by the Easterners."
"So I suspect that the illusion I perceived yesterday was some kind of supernatural power used by the green-eyed people, which can interrogate our souls without our knowledge."
It turned out to be the case.
But what about those huge eyes?
Haha!
So happy!
I'm so happy I could die!
Leo sat up and found that there were no green-eyed people around, and no one was guarding the door.
So, after their suspicions were cleared, they regained their right to move freely within the tribe?
Leo got up from the mat and walked towards the door.
When he stepped out of the room, he was immediately astonished by the sight before him:
Most of the buildings in the village have collapsed, and even the surrounding trees have fallen over or had their roots exposed.
Just like—
We just had an earthquake!