2007 Stone Statue

Han Sen didn’t like doing it, but he still ran inside the valley. The speed of the rabbit shoes quickly brought him beneath the little valley’s tree.

Han Sen leaped atop the tree, using the Dongxuan Aura to look inside the hole. He noticed that it was quite spacious within and that most of the tree was hollow.

However, there was no lifeforce or treasure to be seen.

Han Sen did not want to give up on this pursuit, though. If the Eating Rat could give the Stone Cow a pebble every day, there had to be more of them somewhere. Han Sen used his Ghost Teeth Knife to carve out the entrance of the hole.

He widened it enough for him to fit through, then stuck his head inside.

The tree was even more hollow than he thought. Its trunk was hollow all the way down to the ground, where a rocky cave appeared.

With no hesitation, Han Sen wormed his way into the tree through the hole and started climbing down. Quickly, he descended into the cave.

Han Sen lowered himself into the cave, which led off through a crooked tunnel. Not long after, the tunnel opened up and Han Sen discovered a big natural cave beyond it. It was the size of an air-raid shelter.

Han Sen moved in to get a better look. There were no signs of living creatures about, but he did detect the remnants of the Eating Rat’s presence.

Darkness did not affect Han Sen. He used the Dongxuan Aura to scan the whole cave.

The cave seemed ordinary, with nothing unusual about it. The only way out was back up through the hole in the tree.

At the center of the cave was a little pool of water with a giant stalactite hanging above it. Liquid was slowly dripping off the end of the stalactite into the pond below.

Han Sen looked at the pool, and there he saw the little stones that the rat had given to the cow each and every day. They were as small as a finger each, and they were grey. They were sitting at the bottom of the pool.

Han Sen estimated there to be around a hundred of them. There didn’t seem to be anything indicating they were something special.

Han Sen brought out Spell in her lady mode. She walked over to the pool to retrieve the stones for him. Nothing dangerous happened to her while she did so. Spell reached into the pond and grabbed one of the pebbles.

“Xenogeneic Gene Discovered.” A voice sounded in Han Sen’s head.

“These stones are xenogeneic genes?” Han Sen picked up one and noticed that it felt really cold, like a wet stone.

There was nothing specific about the announcement, though. He didn’t know what sort of xenogeneic gene it was. Han Sen collected every single stone he could find and put them in his pocket.

There were 128. He took each and every one.

Before he left, he searched the pond for anything else. He found another rock that seemed quite unusual.

Han Sen touched it and lifted the moss that had grown on it. When the moss fell away, he could see that it was a one- foot-tall human statue.

The statue was green and black, so he couldn’t tell what its original color might have been. But it was of a man sitting.

Han Sen wasn’t in the mood to examine it for long. He looked around the pond, but there was nothing else to see. He decided to go back the way he had come.

When Han Sen exited the tree hole, the Stone Cow was waiting outside. It looked at him angrily. Behind the Stone Cow, all the little Stone Cows had gathered, too.

Han Sen knew he had been down there for too long, which had given the cows time to return.

Pang!

The Stone Cow stomped the ground, and two shockwaves suddenly exploded outward. They raced towards Han Sen. Han Sen jumped out of the tree hole. It’d be dangerous if he got petrified within.

But even as he exited the hole, he knew he wouldn’t have time to get out of the shockwave’s radius. He was still petrified.

The group of smaller Stone Cows were not affected. They all turned into giant rocks, then launched themselves at Han Sen.

Han Sen removed his petrification, then spawned his Xuan Jade Wings behind his ears. They flapped, and all of a sudden, Han Sen was soaring away from the gourd-shaped valley.

The Stone Cow furiously tried to chase after Han Sen, but luckily, it couldn’t fly. Although it looked strong, this was its greatest weakness; it was a Marquise xenogeneic that did not know how to fly.

But it couldn’t have caught up with Han Sen regardless. It would have been far slower than the Xuan Jade Wings.

Han Sen had Spell summon her sniper rifle. He instructed her to shoot the smaller Stone Cows. She began to pick them off one by one with the Turtle spell, slowing them down.

Han Sen did not shoot the primary Stone Cow, though. He had the smaller ones targeted first. The horde was eventually all slowed, and Han Sen was able to shake off their pursuit.

Perhaps the Stone Cow could smell the little stones Han Sen was now carrying, and that was why it chased him doggedly without looking back. Regardless, Han Sen lured the Stone Cow a long ways away. He eventually drew it far from the smaller Stone Cows.

Han Sen could not kill it with the small Stone Cows to protect it. If it was on its own, he might have a chance. The Stone Cow was strong, but there was certainly a weakness to it.

The xenogeneics Han Sen passed all ran off when they noticed the Stone Cow coming their way. No one stopped its passage.

Han Sen must have run a hundred miles, and even so, the Stone Cow kept following him. It was like Han Sen had murdered the cow’s wife or something.

Eventually, it seemed to realize that its herd was gone. It hesitated, wondering if it should continue chasing Han Sen, and it slowed down a touch.

Han Sen, seeing that, shook the little stones in his pocket. The Stone Cow bellowed and resumed the chase. Han Sen had planned to kill the cow then and there if he could not entice it to continue. Now there was no need.

“What creature created these xenogeneic genes? The Stone Cow really seems to want them badly.” Han Sen was surprised. The Stone Cow chased Han Sen for three hundred miles. When Han Sen decided that they were out of range of the smaller Stone Cows, Han Sen turned and shot the Stone Cow with a Turtle spell.

“Have you enjoyed chasing me for so long? Good. Now it is time you pay.” Han Sen stopped running, and he kept firing at the Stone Cow with the sniper rifle.

The Stone Cow was very strong, but now it was also very slow. The shockwaves couldn’t block the bullets, either.

Soon, the Stone Cow fell to the same fate it had before. It could walk no faster than a turtle.

Han Sen immediately grabbed his blade, and with his knife and sword powers, he slashed the Stone Cow.