Free Web NovelChapter 224: Chapter 224: Into the Scorpion’s Nest
Feng Yanshen appeared, his white robes flowing behind him. He had been walking toward them to discuss something, but he stopped dead when he saw Yue Yue’s state.
He heard her scream about the danger, and for a split second, his white eyes flashed with a strange, piercing light.
A vision had just flickered through his mind...a dark, cold trench, a flash of a black stinger, and Cang Yuze falling into the abyss with a look of shock on his face.
As the High Priest, Feng Yanshen possessed a faint, prophetic intuition, and the image he had just seen was a death omen.
He had rushed out specifically because of that vision, not expecting to find Yue Yue already in a state of total collapse over the same thing.
Han Soi was still trying to hold her, trying to calm her down so she wouldn’t harm herself or the cubs. "Yue Yue, breathe. Just breathe. You’re imagining things..." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"I am not imagining it!" she cried, her tears finally spilling over.
Feng Yanshen stepped forward. He reached out and placed a large, surprisingly cool hand over Yue Yue’s trembling ones. His touch was steadying, filled with the calm authority of a High Priest.
"Calm down," Feng Yanshen said, his voice smooth and resonant. "We will take you there. We will go find Cang Yuze."
Han Soi and Cang Yuzain both turned to him in disbelief. "Feng Yanshen? You can’t be serious! She’s pregnant!"
Feng Yanshen ignored them. He looked directly into Yue Yue’s misty eyes. He saw the raw, soul-deep certainty in her gaze.
He realized then that she may share a connection with his intuition, or perhaps her heart was simply so tied to the men around her that she could feel their life threads fraying.
He didn’t want Cang Yuze to die either...not just for the antidote, but because he knew his death would break Yue Yue’s heart.
"I will protect her," Feng Yanshen said to Han Soi, his eyes flashing with a dangerous light.
"And you will too. If she stays here and he dies, her grief will do more harm to the cubs than a trip to the trench will."
Yue Yue immediately gripped Feng Yanshen’s hand as if it were a lifeline. "Let’s go. Please. Something is going to happen. I can feel the danger closing in on him."
Feng Yanshen nodded. The decision was made.
Liling was sent back to her quarters, her face pale with worry as she watched them prepare.
There was no time for a slow journey. Feng Yanshen, Han Soi, and a confused but determined Cang Yuzain gathered their elite guards. Within minutes, the most advanced, high-speed underwater vessels were prepped.
They departed the palace at the highest possible speedway, the ships cutting through the dark water like silver needles. freewёbnoνel.com
Inside the lead ship, Yue Yue sat between Han Soi and Feng Yanshen. Han Soi held her hand tightly, his face set in a grim mask, while Feng Yanshen stared out at the passing dark currents, his mind focused on the vision of the scorpion.
The countdown in Yue Yue’s mind continued. Hold on, Yuze, she prayed silently. We’re coming.
On the other hand, the high-speed vessel of Cang Yuze descended deeper into the ocean, leaving the shimmering lights of the Sea Empire far behind.
As Cang Yuze and his elite team of guards reached the Great Trench, the scenery changed drastically.
The water here was no longer a clear, peaceful blue.
Instead, it was thick and murky, filled with dark clouds of old pollution that had settled at the bottom of the world over centuries.
Strange, mutated fish with multiple eyes and glowing teeth darted through the gloom, their movements jerky and unnatural. The pressure was immense, making the hull of the submarine creak under the weight of the dark sea.
Cang Yuze stood at the observation deck, his expression calm but his eyes sharp. He wore a specialized deep-sea combat suit that shimmered with a faint silver light. In his hand, he held a high-precision biological tracker.
"The readings are getting stronger," he said, his voice steady despite the ominous atmosphere outside. "The nest should be just beyond that ridge of black coral."
One of his guards stepped forward, looking uneasy. "Prince, the radiation and pollution levels in this sector are three times the safety limit. Even with our suits, staying here too long is dangerous. The mutations in the creatures here make them unpredictable."
Cang Yuze didn’t turn around. "I know. But the antidote for the Thousand Venom King Scorpion requires a fresh sample of the toxin’s ’core.’ If the venom is even an hour old, it loses the reactive properties needed to neutralize the poison in Xing Luoye’s blood. We don’t have the luxury of safety."
He watched the sonar screen as a cluster of heat signatures appeared. They were small, fast, and moving in a rhythmic, predatory pattern.
"There," Cang Yuze pointed toward a dark cavern opening at the base of the trench. "The nesting grounds. The King Scorpions thrive in this toxic environment. They feed on the mutated marrow of the deep-sea monsters."
The submarine slowed down, its external floodlights cutting through the darkness to reveal a horrifying sight.
The cavern walls were covered in a thick, sticky webbing, and hundreds of smaller scorpions crawled over the rocks.
But they weren’t what he was looking for. He needed the King, the one whose venom was potent enough to kill a high-level beastman in minutes.
"Prepare the extraction drones and the containment units," Cang Yuze ordered, his gaze fixed on the dark hole.
"I will go out personally to lure the King. You stay back and cover me with the pulse cannons."
The guards looked hesitant, but they knew better than to argue with the Third Prince when he was this determined.
Cang Yuze checked the seal on his oxygen mask and gripped his harvesting tool.
He knew the risks, but in his mind, he could only see Yue Yue’s worried face. He would bring back the cure, no matter how foul this darkness became.
