Chapter 3178: Chapter 3178: Cross Reference

Zen turned his head to glance coldly at the chieftain of the Elephant Man race. “You changed so quickly. Just now, you were intent on killing me, yet you say this is a 'misunderstanding'?”

The chieftain nervously looked away from Zen. “Ramsay,” he hissed, “apologize to him, quickly!”

Ramsay dumbfoundedly looked at Zen, who had suddenly grown as large as a hill. He had never experienced the era of the Wild Gods, so naturally, he didn't know it would take only a split second to enlarge a mosquito to the size as big as himself with a theurgy.

However, Zen's sudden transformation to a giant over ten thousand feet tall was shocking enough. Ramsay was fully convinced. Curling up his long trunk, Ramsay bowed and apologized sincerely.

Zen watched indifferently. Bending down, he reached out and gently scooped Elvinia into his arms. Then, he placed her on his right shoulder carefully.

Although Elvinia had heard of Wild Gods before, she hadn't actually seen Zen use this skill. Thus, she too was stunned at the sudden appearance of a ten thousand-foot tall Zen.

Sitting on Zen's shoulder, she turned to look at his massive head, which was as tall as a building. Dazed, she shook her head, rendered speechless.

Since the misunderstandings had been cleared out, the Elephant Men became polite to Zen.

The other Elephant Men began to deal with the black bulls that were killed by the lightning wood, while the chieftain of the Elephant Man race formally introduced himself to Zen. “I'm the chieftain of the Elephant Man race, Richie. You are not from any Other Shore race, right? However, the woman on your shoulder seems to be a human... ”

The Elephant Man race usually isolated themselves, which meant they rarely ever communicated with the outside world. However, as its chieftain, Richie had stayed on Stage Seventeen for a long time; naturally, he knew much more than the ordinary Elephant Men.

Richie had noticed the woman sitting on Zen's shoulder. He could see her features clearly. Almost immediately, he had realized that she was a creature from the Other Shore.

“You're right,” Zen answered. “She is a human from the Other Shore.”

As he spoke, Zen carefully observed the expression on the face of the chieftain.

He firmly believed that there were clues about the human race on Stage Seventeen of the Other Shore. The creatures from here might know something about it, so Zen deliberately claimed that Elvinia was a human from the Other Shore and waited to see how the chieftain would react.

However, to his disappointment, there was nothing suspicious in Richie's reaction. He just nodded and asked, “Sir, may I know why you have come here, to our territory?”

“I came here to look for the map of Stage Seventeen. I wonder if you Elephant Man race can offer me one. I can buy it with soul pills or Body-strengthening Jades,” Zen answered truthfully.

Richie, however, was not stupid. The moment Zen mentioned the map, he nodded in understanding. “Sir, are you here for the temple on Stage Seventeen?”

The Other Shore Key had only marked the location of the temple on a map, but there was no clue as to its direction. Zen was hoping to get his hands on another large map to use as a cross reference.

Even though Richie had read his mind, Zen remained calm.

“We don't have the overall map of the whole Stage Seventeen,” Richie said quickly. “However, we do have a map of the south part. I'll take you back to our tribe to get it.” Richie waved his hand cheerfully. “You don't have to pay for it. We're happy to assist you in any way!” 𝖗𝖆𐌽𝘰𝖇ÈⱾ

The chieftain was very generous.

After the Elephant Men turned over the black bulls, they used stone spears to pierce through their necks cleanly, and strung them. Working in pairs, they carried the eight black bulls forward.

Zen followed the team that had had a good harvest and walked south along the middle of the grassland.

The grassland in the south of the Other Shore seemed to be endless. The deeper they trudged into the grassland, the more green they saw in the distance, as though it went on infinitely.

Elvinia sat on Zen's shoulder, taking in the view as though she stood atop a moving mountain. This feeling was strange and novel.

She knew that her father, Fuxi and several other powerful beings could all become very huge, because they had once cultivated the Ancient God Cultivation Method. But to her knowledge, no one else had cultivated such a method afterwards. While she had long since suspected that Zen did not come from this era, the fact that he used the Wild God theurgy further solidified her suspicions.

After traveling through the grassland for half a day, they suddenly saw many low houses dotting the horizon.

Of course, these houses were only small in comparison to the massive Elephant Men. Their height was still more than ten thousand feet, after all, and they looked quite simple and crude.

Zen hadn't known the Elephant Man race for very long, but he was able to draw his own conclusions: the Elephant Man race was probably a native race born on the Other Shore.

If the creatures in the chaos had experienced a long-term development, even if they moved to the Other Shore, they would've been able to form a relatively developed civilization.

As for a native race like the Elephant Man race, they didn't have much contact with the outside world. Because they had always lived remotely, they weren't exposed to progress and were naturally still quite primitive. Therefore, their food, clothing, and weapons were quite simple. They were just impressive in their strength and huge bodies.

The group of Elephant Men led by Richie proudly returned to their tribe with their spoils. A large number of Elephant Men came out of the low houses to welcome them. Zen noticed that most of the Elephant Men that were left in the tribe were the old, the children, the sick, and the weak. Naturally, they relied on the young and strong to go out and hunt for food.

Many Elephant Men were surprised when they saw Zen. Even the children raced to hide inside their houses, peeking at Zen curiously from the slatted windows.

“Sir, please follow me,” Richie said. “I'll take you to fetch the map.”

Following closely behind Richie, Zen arrived at a house that sat in the center of the tribe. Although it was still modest, it was larger in scale compared to the other houses.

Upon entering the house, Zen saw an Elephant Man sitting cross-legged in the middle of the house. His body was covered in brightly colored paint, forming intricate patterns on his skin. The paint was evenly applied across his body and one could not even tell the original color of his skin.

“This is our high priest Murkub.” Richie gestured towards the painted Elephant Man.

Obviously, the position of the high priest was even higher than that of the chieftain. Richie bowed deeply to the painted Elephant Man. “High priest, this is our friend from another race. He wants to see the map of the south.”

Murkub looked at Zen up and down a few times. Because he had managed the affairs of the tribe with Richie since time immemorial, Murkub trusted Richie's judgment.

Without uttering a word, the high priest nodded and proceeded to take out a board from a wooden box, no questions asked.

Turning the board over, Zen saw it was an intricately carved map. Murkub then retreated to the side of the house to continue meditating.

“This is the south part of Stage Seventeen, and we are here.” Richie pointed at a location on the map, which was the center of the grassland.

Zen studied the map closely. He realized that more than half of the grassland was barricaded by fences made from lightning wood. 'It must not have been easy to build these fences, ' he pondered quietly.

It was unknown if they were built by the human race or by other creatures.

Every stage had its own secrets. Even though Zen was very curious about the fence, he decided against asking the chieftain about it, since it was their business. Instead, he focused on his goal to find the location of the temple.

With a flick of his hand, the map that was reflected by the Other Shore Key came into view. Zen proceeded to look for the temple on the map carved on the board while cross referencing with the map from the Other Shore Key.