Chapter 43: CH 43

Ai Li grabbed his mate who wanted to clean and process the carcass of the locust dragon cub and frowned. “The locust dragon cub’s meat is not delicious. Let’s go find some rice berries.” He knew that the cub lived with an adult female locust dragon. Although he did not know where the female locust dragon went, leaving the cub alone, it would be troublesome if the female locust dragon returned at this time.

Aqing was a little puzzled. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to eat locust dragon meat?” Otherwise, why did you so eagerly tell me to kill this lone locust dragon cub?

Ai Li raised his eyebrows, his tone a little impatient. “I don’t want to eat it anymore. Let’s go back to the tribe as soon as we finish picking rice berries. I’ve had enough of this lousy forest.” After saying that, he ignored Aqing and simply walked to the periphery of the forest where he’d seen several rice berries earlier.

Aqing rubbed his nose and felt a little helpless towards this mate of his that had so suddenly changed his mind. However, the meat of the locust dragon really did not taste very good. They’d almost stored enough prey for this winter, so he didn’t care too much about this locust dragon cub that he’d finally hunted after some efforts. It was the rice berries the male wanted to eat that was more important. He was also worried that something would happen to Ai Li if he walked alone in front so Aqing hurried after him.

Aze moved the backpack behind him to the front, bent down and said to Chen Qi in a low voice, “The locust dragon is angry. We must leave here at once.”

Although Chen Qi didn’t know the consequences of a docile locust dragon becoming angry, seeing Aze’s expression, he did not ask about it. He quickly climbed onto Aze’s back and the two rushed towards the periphery of the forest.

However, the two men had underestimated the speed of the locust dragon. The sounds of the trees collapsing from a distance now could be heard from right in front of them, blocking the direction they were headed towards. Aze looked solemn and did not dare to be careless. He turned around and headed for the depths of the forest, intending to avoid the locust dragon’s perception for the time being.

However, it was unknown if the angry locust dragon had already found the two of them, but the  sound of trees getting struck and collapsing was getting closer and closer. Aze dared not make too much noise and could only proceed cautiously.

Chen Qi was anxious, and assessed the situation behind him from time to time. Before long, a giant beast at least 3 meters tall appeared in his line of sight. Six huge eyes turned a bright blood red color upon discovering the beastmen weaving in and out of the forestry in front of it, the roar in its throat vocalized its bloodthirstiness.

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

“Aze, the locust dragon saw us.” Chen Qi patted Aze on the shoulder and whispered into his ear.

Aze’s expression turned solemn. No longer caring if he made too much noise and attracted other carnivorous dragons, he instantly accelerated, hoping to be able to stay out of the locust dragon’s attack range as soon as possible.

The angry locust dragon had already spotted the two of them, so things did not go as Aze wished for. With a roar, it rushed straight towards them. Some of the trees in its way were not even as tall as the locust dragon. They were instantly broken through and these collapsed trees did not hinder the locust dragon’s charge forward at all.

Seeing that the locust dragon’s huge body was about to hit them, Aze reached out his hand to grab Chen Qi’s arm, and with a hard pull, moved him from his back to his front. The backpack that was originally in front of him was, at some unknown point, untied and Aze slammed the full backpack into the locust dragon’s eyes. Embracing Chen Qi, he rolled on the ground, avoiding a direct hit, and took the opportunity while the locust dragon was unstable from the pain in its eyes to escape in a different direction.

The skin of the adult locust dragon was so thick that even the female beastmen’s extended fingernails couldn’t cause damage to it with a few strikes. The force of impact of a direct hit from it would be immense. Its feelers’ grip could easily crush the beastmen. Compounded by the fact that Aze had Chen Qi with him, he naturally would not choose to stop and fight with the creature.

The locust dragon that had failed its charge obviously became angrier. In spite of its large size, its turning speed was anything but slow. Aze stopped caring about the direction he was running in. He just wanted to get away from this angry locust dragon first.

Chen Qi was very tense. The feeling of danger approaching slowly calmed his mind. Since they’d started running away, he had been surveying the surroundings. “Aze, go that way.”

Looking in the direction of Chen Qi’s finger, Aze noticed one of the many brooks in the forest. Aze ran in the direction of the brook without saying anything.

Chen Qi chose this way because he’d noticed that the flow of water in the brook became more and more rapid as it flowed onward. He guessed that there should be a cliff or a waterfall ahead. Although the locust dragon’s speed was not affected by its huge body, considering its weight, if it suddenly fell from a high elevation, it would still be seriously injured. Chen Qi had seen Aze’s jumping ability. As long as the brook led to a place with a steep drop, the two men should be able to escape the locust dragon that was chasing them for some inexplicable reason.

After running along the brook for a while, they did find a small waterfall ahead. Aze’s eyes lit up with delight. As long as he jumped off this steep overhang, he could escape from the locust dragon.

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The locust dragon giving chase either figured out their plan or lost its patience and it suddenly extended its feelers from the corners of its mouth. Originally, the feelers intended to just catch the two beastmen that were incessantly scurrying away. However, seeing that Aze had already started to jump off the edge of the waterfall, the locust dragon was furious and changed from catching to swatting. The feelers whipped across Aze’s back. His fur clothing was instantly shredded and two slashes appeared over his skin. Aze gasped with pain, and due to the impact from the feelers, the two men lost their balance mid-air. Aze could only hold Chen Qi firmly in his arms and covered Chen Qi’s head with his hands. As they fell, Aze turned his body to shield Chen Qi from the impact and slammed into the cold, deep water under the waterfall.

Although Chen Qi had psychologically prepared himself, he still choked on a mouthful of water. He felt that he was firmly imprisoned and sinking deeper in the water. He raised his head and found that Aze had his eyes closed tightly, with no movements to head to the surface at all. Chen Qi also tasted the faint metallic tang of blood in the water from the accidental mouthful.

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

Chen Qi felt a little anxious and patted Aze on the arm, motioning for him to let him go. However, Aze didn’t budge and still firmly locked Chen Qi in his arms. If things went on like this, rather than being killed by the locust dragon, they would drown instead. Chen Qi’s swimming abilities were not so great either. Fortunately, he was not muddle-headed in this kind of situation. After calming down, he pulled out one of his arms and put the other arm around Aze’s waist. He kicked the water hard with both feet and slowly swam towards the surface.

After breaking the surface of the water, Chen Qi felt that his chest was going to explode. After several gulps of relieved breaths, he looked at Aze. Aze’s eyes, which had been closed tightly the whole time, were now open. He looked pale and a little dazed. Chen Qi was a little worried. He reached out his hand and patted Aze’s arm, which had always been protecting the back of his head. “Aze, you can let go.”

Aze relaxed when he heard those words.

Only then did Chen Qi look up to see the situation at the top of the waterfall. The locust dragon was no longer visible, but its roar could still be heard. Chen Qi dared not be careless and took Aze to the shore.

Chen Qi always felt that Aze was powerful and omnipotent. He had never considered that the other man could not swim. Several times, Aze choked on water and almost made him sink.

“I’m sorry.” It was uncertain if it was caused by choking on water or if the wound was soaked for too long, regardless Aze was very weak and almost exhausted his energy by just speaking.

Chen Qi stroked the other’s wet hair. After comforting him for a little while, only then did he begin to examine his injuries.

As soon as he tore open the fur clothing from Aze’s back, Chen Qi let out a gasp. Two deep wounds almost struck across the entire back’s length. When they fell in the water, Chen Qi had thrown away the backpack because it was too heavy. Fortunately, he kept the dragon-horn knife in his pocket. Chen Qi used the dragon-horn knife to cut off a corner of his shirt and dipped the cloth in some water to clean the wound. There were several willow trees on the bank. He’d heard from people in passing before that willow leaves had anti-inflammatory effects. Chen Qi took a handful of willow leaves, stuffed them directly into the mouth and chewed them up. After chewing, he applied them to Aze’s wound. He repeated this until the whole back was practically covered with a thick layer of willow leaves before he stopped. Then he took off his shirt and tore it into strips to use as bandages.

“Aze, can you walk?” Chen Qi asked softly. Aze had been very quiet since they made it to the bank. He raised his head slightly upon hearing Chen Qi’s words before nodding gently and struggling to get up. In this forest, Chen Qi naturally couldn’t carry an adult on his back and walk level on the ground like Aze could and they couldn’t continue to stay where they were, in case the locust dragon found its way down the waterfall, which, considering Aze’s current condition, would be the end of both their lives.

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

Chen Qi supported Aze, carefully protecting the other’s injured back and preventing the various surrounding weeds and branches from touching Aze’s wound. The two men slowly moved away from the small body of water.

The roar of the locust dragon came from a distance. Ai Li, who by now was far away from the corpse of the locust dragon cub, stiffened, and Aqing’s expression turned solemn. He moved the backpack that was full of rice berries to his front. He’d traded for this useful hide backpack from the people from the Rock-Mountain Tribe at the gathering.

“The locust dragon appears to have found the cub’s corpse. We have to leave.” Aqing took the hide-wrapped bundle from Ai Li’s hand and squatted down, motioning for the other to climb on his back.

Ai Li looked at his mate’s anxious expression and was a bit absent-minded. The distant painful memories returned vividly to his mind again. “That locust cub killed my son.”

Although a difficult topic had started, Ai Li, contrary to expectations, became more light-hearted. Ai Li looked straight into his mate’s confused eyes and continued, “I had told you that I had a mate before. After the tribe was destroyed, my mate and I, as well as our son escaped. But when we got to the outer edge of the forest, we met that locust dragon cub. The cub is very recognizable. One of its eyes was light blue. I recognized it at a glance. It had chased my son, which then attracted a hyena-drake. Both my mate and son were eaten by the hyena-drake.

Aqing’s heart ached and he took hold of Ai Li’s ice-cold hand which had been clenched until it was white. “Adult locust dragons are not easy to deal with. Let’s go back to the tribe. Our son hasn’t seen you for a few days and should be missing you.”

Ai Li looked up at the man who looked at him with a fond look, then slightly lowered his eyes, and nodded gently, “En.”

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