Chapter 152: Curse! The Tauren’s Secret
Can the Earth Elemental King break the seal?
The answer was certain. Even a newly-born elemental king had reached the Demon Overlord level, so it was obviously a piece of cake to break a Demon Emperor’s seal.
However, would the Earth Elemental King help Chen Rui break the seal?
The answer was impossible.
The Earth Elemental King had likely gone through some strange changes in his body. He considered all underground creatures to be enemies that must be killed. He was the most terrifying enemy in the underground at present.
Chen Rui couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He just escaped from the horrifying Demon Emperor, Broc. Now, he actually had to face the Earth Elemental King, a Demon Overlord enemy. If the Demon Realm had something like a lottery, he would definitely buy a few without hesitation. His chance of winning would probably be 100%.
In this underground world, there wasn’t a potential powerhouse that could turn around the situation like Christina. He only had Athena with him. In any case, he must ensure her safety. At the moment when their lips touched on the stone beam, Chen Rui had determined that Athena was his woman; a woman that he must protect for his entire life.
At present, the only way was to survive in this harsh environment before trying to find a way out.
Although Queen Medusa was cold and unreasonable, the taurens were bold and upright, and they had a good impression of him. However, the Tauren’s Den wasn’t absolutely safe. It might face attack from the “mutated” earth elementals and demon flies at any time. Besides, at the back of the earth elementas, there was still a horrifying king.
If this king ended his “meditation” and started acting personally, the taurens and medusas would definitely lose even if they joined forces.
At present, it was still necessary to gather all the forces that could be united to defend against the mutated earth elementals and demon flies. The vast majority of underground creatures had been eliminated. Other than the medusa and tauren, there was only one important force left, which was the earth elemental “rebel forces” led by Tag.
Chen Rui kept feeling that the Earth Elemental King’s situation was a bit weird. This Tag was one of the three elites that the king once trusted most. Thus, he must know more than Doug. Surely, the prerequisite was that he must first convince the Chief Tauren to accept the earth elemental “rebel forces”.
“Doug, let’s meet the Chief Tauren first and discuss how we can help you, okay?”
Doug had always been receiving hostility from his mutated comrades and other creatures. Therefore, when Chen Rui said that, his voice showed surprise, “Thank you so much!”
Chen Rui instructed Dodo to guard Athena well and not to let her be disturbed. Then, he stood up and brought Doug out of the cave.
The Chief Tauren was now standing before a pool in front of their den. Torre and several other taurens were also at the side. They seemed to be discussing something. Chen Rui asked Doug to wait there and walked forward by himself.
As shown in <Analytical Eyes>, except for the Chief Tauren and Torre, the rest of the taurens were all Demon King. It seemed those who were present were all important individuals. Although Torre’s strength was only Higher Demon-level, he had double halo’s power, so his status was quite high among the taurens.
When Torre saw Chen Rui, he said joyfully, “Chen Rui, you came at the right time!” We encountered a very difficult thing. Perhaps you can help us.”
A tauren next to him looked doubtful, “This guy is the friend who helped the taurens? He’s so weak, how can he solve our problem?”
This tauren had Demon King-level strength, so calling Chen Rui “weak” was reasonable, but there was an undisguised contempt in his tone.
The taurens were like that. They were always straightforward and didn’t like to beat around the bush.
“Barrie! You’re not allowed to underestimate my friend.” Torre’s cow face turned red as if he was greatly insulted.
Chen Rui saved Torre several times during the battle and guarded him as they moved forward to cast the halo buff on other taurens. Without Chen Rui, let alone Torre, even the casualties of the rest of the taurens would increase a lot. Besides, when this friend came to the Tauren’s Den, he started treating the wounded without saying a word. How could such a sincere friend be taken lightly by others?
“My friend, Chen Rui once used a magical power to make a tauren corpse that was about to become an undead rest in peace! This incident can be proven by a few taurens that were present.”
As soon as that was said, not only Barrie but also the Chief Tauren was taken aback. After asking Torre for the details of the situation at that time, Barrie came to Chen Rui and patted his chest strongly, “Tauren, Barrie asks for friend’s forgiveness.”
Chen Rui didn’t know that the taurens respect the deceased the most. His unintentional behavior for his previous experiment had actually won him the best impression. He immediately shook his head, “Friend! Say no more! I am willing to continue to help the taurens.”
All the tauren present showed their kindness toward him. The Chief Tauren glanced at the earth elemental, Doug who was standing still in the distance and thought of the magical power of this friend. He had a hopeful look in his eyes and said, “Chen Rui, we are indeed facing a huge problem now. I hope you can help us.” Chen Rui wanted to talk about the earth elemental, but now it wasn’t the right timing. He decided to see what was the taurens’ problem first, so he nodded without hesitation.
The Chief Tauren pointed at the pool in front and said, “This is the fountain of life, also the most important source of life for the taurens. The tauren’s food is mainly oat and wheat plants. In the underground environment, we need to rely on the fountain of life to farm and accelerate growth; more importantly, the tauren’s children must receive a special baptism through the fountain of life to obtain strength and even mutated power. However, the fountain of life is slowly drying up. Once it’s completely dry, even if the demon flies and the earth elementals stopped attacking, we can only face destruction.”
Fountain of life! Chen Rui was taken aback. Doesn’t the Medusa’s Lair also have a fountain of life? The fountain of life in the Medusa’s Lair allows medusas to bear their next generation directly. Do these two fountain of life share the same properties?
When he asked that question, he got the affirmative answer from the Chief Tauren. There were a total of four fountain of life in the underground world that possessed magical effect. They were distributed near the lairs of the elemental, tauren, medusa and troll.
Now that the trolls were wiped out, that fountain of life dried up as well. Now, only the taurens’ and medusas’ fountain of life were left.
That was a very important clue. Chen Rui quickly thought: Is the purpose of the earth elementals and the demonic flies to eliminate taurens and medusas? Or is it to occupy the fountain of life? Or both? What is the role of the fountain of life for the earth elementals and demonic flies?
Even if it’s useful, it must be related to the “mutation” of the Earth Elemental King. Otherwise, they wouldn’t wait for centuries to begin occupying the fountain of life.
“Respected King, please forgive me for being blunt. Although tauren is brave and warlike, the situation isn’t good for us. There are way too many demon flies and earth elementals. According to the information I got from the earth elemental, our opponent actually has an Elemental King. To avoid more casualties among the taurens, I have a suggestion, which is to leave this underground world and look for a new shelter above the ground. As far as I know, many taurens seem to live somewhere in the mountains and there is no need for a fountain of life. In addition, the tauren’s construction and smithing skills are the best in the Demon Realm. In this underground world, you cannot truly manifest your excellent talents.”
Chen Rui’s idea sounded good, but in reality, 99% of it was for himself. At least he could let the Chief Tauren to try breaking the seal. If it succeeded, then he could leave this dangerous place with the taurens.
The Chief Tauren shook his head, “Friend, your analysis makes sense and we are eager for living on the ground. Yet, you don’t understand that we are different from other tauren tribes. We aren’t allowed to go to the world above. Many, many years ago, our ancestors came underground for unknown reasons. From our ancestor’s bloodline inheritance, we accepted a huge amount of knowledge and power, but also inherited a unique curse. Unless we can find the only treasure that can lift the curse, we will all die if we go above the ground directly.”
Curse? It was the first time that Chen Rui heard such secret, so he asked, “If you found this treasure, all of you can go to the ground?”
“Yes, as long as the curse is lifted, we will truly regain freedom to go to the ground. As for the role of the fountain of life… farming is second and the baptism of babies can be replaced by the construction of tauren’s temple, provided that there is a tauren priest.” As the Chief Tauren said, his eyes looked at Torre, “We already have a priest. Certainly, his strength needs to be further enhanced.”
“What kind of treasure is that? I have a certain power on the ground, so I wish to help you, my friend.”
“Thank you for your kindness, friend.” The Chief Tauren replied, “The treasure is called the Eye of Sauron. It was once a secret treasure of the Taurens. However, even in the inherited memory from our ancestors, it has been lost for a long time.”
Chen Rui was taken aback: The Eye of Sauron! This name is too familiar! One of the two treasures Paglio asked him to find in the Silent Night Wetland is the Eye of Sauron. This treasure turns out to be the secret treasure of the taurens. Not only can it dispel the <Lock of Light and Dark> on the poison dragon, but it can also lift the curse on the taurens that lives underground of Mountain Xilang!
The Chief Tauren noticed Chen Rui’s weird expression and said with surprise, “Do you have any information of the Eye of Sauron? My friend, if you can help us lift the curse, then you will be the benefactor of this tauren tribe. We are willing to be your vassal tribe that works for you with our strength and skill, and we will never betray you.”
Chen Rui’s eyes lit up: The taurens are powerful and proficient in construction and smithing. If I can get them to serve me, it’ll be a redoubled power. As long as the Eye of Sauron can be retrieved from the Silent Night Wetland, I can kill two birds with one stone. It’s just that I don’t know if there’s a conflict between the dispel of the <Lock of Light and Dark> and the lifting of the curse. Most importantly, I can’t leave this underground world.
“I do have information of the Eye of Sauron. It should be a fist-sized red crystal that looks a bit like an eye, am I right?”
The Chief Tauren looked surprised and all the doubts in his heart was gone, “Yes! That’s the treasure!”
Chen Rui knew the appearance of the Eye of Sauron from Paglio. He confirmed that it was the same treasure, so he thought and said, “As far as I know, this treasure is part of a secret treasure in the Dark Shadow Empire. It’s far away from here, and the place is extremely dangerous. For my friends, I’m willing to look for it, but please do me a favor before that.”
Tauren quickly asked, “What is it?”
“Remove the seal to the ground!”