Chapter Thirty-Five: Blazing Inferno Sweeping Across the Plains

  The horse gallops like a swift Lu, the bowstring sounds like thunder and lightning.

  Only Chen Xu was seen standing on the mountain cliff, rubbing his waist and swinging his hips, forming a horse stance. He bent his bow and set an arrow in place, with the bow resembling a full moon and the arrow like a shooting star. Before he could even finish speaking, his fingers relaxed ever so slightly, and the arrow carrying all his hopes shot out with a whooshing sound, rapidly flying downwards along a mountain crevice as wide as a person.

  The rocket had enough accuracy and power, no doubt it hit the target. However, after waiting for half a day, Chen Xu's excited expression gradually faded away because there was not even a slight reaction from below, let alone an explosion, not even a wisp of smoke. Only then did he realize something was wrong.

  His arrow missed!

  "How did this happen?"

  His face suddenly changed, Chen Xu rubbed his temples and immediately knelt down at the crack, circulating his inner breath, pouring it into his eyes, and carefully looking downwards.

  As a result, the situation below was exactly the same as when he had investigated before. The withered grass was deep and only needed a few sparks to form a prairie fire, no different from before.

  "Was it shot too quickly, and the strong wind extinguished the flame?"

  He stretched his hand into the mountain crack, simply shook it, Chen Xu's expression changed, and suddenly a strong force came, almost blowing his arm back up.

  In this strange terrain, a magnificent updraft was generated in the mountain crevice, which is what people call a "through hall wind". The force was so great that it seemed to be able to lift his arm.

  "No wonder, with such a strong updraft, not to mention my simple homemade rocket, even the torches of later generations would probably be blown out directly, let alone my rapid-fire rockets shot from a longbow. The updraft plus air resistance, it's only natural that they'd be extinguished!"

  He blinked his eyes, stood up, and Chen Xu quickly understood the reason behind it. However, this matter was of great importance, and he couldn't let it be ruined by some minor difficulties. He still needed to think of a way.

  After turning a few steps between the cliffs, Chen Xu's eyes lit up and he had an idea. He directly set off to sneak into the thicket, found some larger dry wood, and then put it on the bonfire to roast.

  This is not all, when the dry wood burns to more than half, he takes the remaining part of the sheep's leg and puts it on the fire to roast, and applies the dripping oil to the other side of the dry wood that has not been burned.

  After preparing more than a dozen pieces of dry firewood, he only felt satisfied after using up the sheep's legs. He carefully moved these half-burned dry woods to the edge of the cliff and threw them all down the cliff, falling freely into the thatched grass below the mountain seam.

  "When the time comes, I hope there will still be burning wood left, otherwise I can only sneak into the valley myself to set fire secretly, but this way, things will inevitably become much more troublesome."

  Chen Xu's eyes were fixed intently on the pile of dry firewood in free fall, and to his surprise, as it fell, it was caught in an updraft and momentarily suspended in mid-air, motionless. Meanwhile, the flames on the wood, despite being coated with oil, were rapidly extinguished by the swift movement of the air.

  In less than a few breaths of time, Chen Xu noticed that the seven or eight pieces of wood on the periphery had been used up, and the flames on top had completely disappeared, not even leaving a spark.

  "Is it not?"

  Just as he was secretly sweating, the wind direction in the mountains suddenly changed, and the wood in mid-air spun a few times before resuming its descent.

  Perhaps it was a turn of fortune, but this time it went much more smoothly. Before long, the firewood had all fallen into the thatch below.

  It was just that Chen Xue couldn't be certain if there were still any burning embers left, this kind of situation really had to rely on luck, after all, the mountain winds here were much stronger than he had expected.

  A moment later, a faint wisp of blue smoke emerged from the clump of wormwood grass. Although this mist was light and indistinct, to Chen Xu's eyes it seemed as clear as a beacon shining across thousands of miles.

  This was what he had been expecting all along, and at the moment when the green smoke floated out, even with his current composure, he couldn't help but let out a cheer, jumping up from where he stood and spinning around in circles several times.

  He knew it was done.

  The valley below is like a powder keg, lacking only a spark. This tiny flame may be very small, but a single spark can start a prairie fire. He hasn't forgotten this famous saying that has influenced generations of people. Using it here is most appropriate.

  After the surprise, Chen Xu approached the mountain seam again, watching carefully. Sure enough, a wisp of blue smoke first floated and then burst forth from the fog, and a new flame emerged, like a newborn chick, curiously observing this world as it poked its head out of the grass.

  As time went on, the smoke grew thicker and the flames matured rapidly. Soon, a towering inferno of yellowish-green flames erupted, shooting up rapidly against the backdrop of the smoke.

  Gradually, the heat wave swept across the sky, and even on the cliff where Chen Xu was standing, he could feel a faint scorching breath from below.

  Under the scorching flames, the airflow on the mountain seam suddenly changed direction. The heavy air flow began to be heated and gradually rose upwards, while the light air flow was squeezed out and cooled in the upper air, re-descending to the other side of the mountain seam.

  Because the air flow above the flame rises, resulting in a decrease in pressure, and on the other side, the falling air flow rushes over, is heated by the flame again, and rushes up into the air.

  Thus, a circulating air passage similar to a blower is formed, and a continuously rotating airflow mass is generated above the mountain gap.

  Under the influence of this air mass, the mountain fire that was not particularly prosperous at the foot of the mountain suddenly showed a prairie fire trend and rushed directly to the inner valley.

  Chen Xu only heard a dull "hmm" sound, and when he looked again, the fire dragon had already rushed out of the mountain crevice, quickly occupying the inner valley's territory, forcing its way towards where the apes were.

  Before long, the valley was filled with the terrified cries of the apemen. Apparently, these alert creatures had quickly discovered the abnormality around them. But this was not a beast attack, nor any other threat, but rather the most wonderful and intense way that nature has to release its power: fire!

  Chen Xu believed that with their current wisdom, there was no other way but to escape. Soon, the valley would become an ocean of fire, and everything was already doomed!

  He let out a soft sigh, and saw the flames gradually forming a raging inferno. The apes in the mountain rocks all started running around frantically. Chen Xu understood that it was time to proceed with the next step. He thought to himself that it wouldn't take much time for these apes to flee to the other end of the mountain crevice, and when they did, he would have his chance.

  He didn't linger, and casually extinguished the fire on the edge of the mountain cliff. He grabbed the low-hanging vines and, with his powerful arms, quickly swung towards the direction of the valley mouth.

  A moment later, Chen Xu's figure flashed and disappeared in the dense forest at the mouth of the mountain valley, appearing beside Ape No. 1.

  After asking a few simple questions, Chen Xu learned that the leader of the Ape-man team had not sent anyone to inform him about the hunting team's intelligence. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was already near dusk. He understood that perhaps it wouldn't be long before the hunting team returned. Before that, he must first capture the people in the valley.

  At this time, the flames in the valley had thoroughly burned up, and the soaring firelight was so conspicuous in the forest at sunset that from time to time, the voice of the uneasy roar of the overlord of the forest came out, with some voices near and far, but it was clear that these guys were scared!

  In the midst of the raging flames, a terrifying smoke rose into the air, like a black dragon covering the sky and sun, swirling in this uniquely endowed valley. The dense ash was like the scales on the black dragon's body, constantly rolling and overflowing, engulfing everything that could be touched.

  In just a moment, the heat in the valley had accumulated to a terrifying degree, and even Chen Xu and others standing at the entrance of the valley could feel the scorching heat rushing towards them.

  It can be imagined what kind of feeling those apemen in the valley had!

  "Good grief, it seems like they've overdone it. They can't be so stupid that they can't even run away, right? After all, they have a wise one among them!"

  A curse, Chen Xu shouted, and the crowd of apes emerged from the dense forest, came to the mountain valley mouth on both sides of the mountain seam, and waited in array. At this time, all the apes were holding long rattans in their hands, just waiting for someone to come out, and then they would rush up and tie them up, which was the plan.

  As for the threat of beasts after nightfall, with this boundless firelight, Chen Xu believed that even those saber-toothed tigers wouldn't dare to approach at this critical moment. So, at this moment, those terrifying overlords of the jungle probably hid early, and at least now they were safe, having enough time to deal with the apemen in the valley.

  The fire seems to be burning a bit too big, Chen Xu can't help but worry that if this group of apes goes crazy and doesn't rush out, but instead runs around in circles inside the valley, it will be a huge mess.

  But now, it seems he has no other choice but to hope that those apes are not so foolish after all! As the saying goes, "Man proposes, God disposes", he did not expect that things would turn out this way, forming such a terrifying whirlpool of events, everything seemed to have gone beyond his expectations from the very beginning.

  "What's going on?"

  In the midst of anxiety, Chen Xu only felt a black shadow flashing before his eyes, and in the original ten or so meters long mountain seam, a black shadow had slipped in. He could clearly see that behind the black shadow, there were many other black shadows.

  At this time, these dark shadows were all dejected and fearful, as if even walking was a bit of a struggle. From their curly hair, Chen Xuan quickly recognized their identities - they were the apemen he had been waiting for!

  "Grandma's, it's finally out!"

  "Everyone pay attention, hold the two ends of the crack, one comes out and grabs one, three warriors grab one, after grabbing, quickly drag to the back, let others tie it up, then come back to continue, alternate on both sides, no mistakes can occur."

  Xun Su quickly repeated the order, and after everyone understood, Chen Xu and Yuan Ren 1 chose three strong warriors, holding bamboo spears and stone tools, to guard the side of the crack.

  As they were getting ready, the black shadow in the stone crevice also approached the exit. Apparently, at this time, the black shadow was in a state of panic, with an extremely terrifying heat wave behind it, and had lost its judgment of the surrounding environment, and did not notice Chen Xiang's existence at all.

  As soon as he saw the exit, the black shadow let out an excited howl and rushed out of the mountain crevice, only to be met not only with the cool breeze but also a pair of sturdy arms.