Chapter 58 – Meeting the Enemy
A few fast-moving black dots were seen advancing in the thin fog. Their silhouettes gradually appearing. The first was one wearing a purple robe, whose handsome face wore a ruthless expression – it was none other than Ye Yichen.
In his hands, he tightly held a young girl whose face, though pale, was beautiful – she was the princess of Mobei, Qin Yuyuan.
Why were they here?
Murong Xue frowned. Behind them, she saw 5 or 6 guards and a giant white plant chasing them. The plant was 3 meters apart from catching its prey. The plant’s roots were moving with impeccable speed all the while remaining in the soil. This caused it to leave trails of yellow soil behind as it moved.
Green stems appeared on the plant and at the tip of the stem, there was a flower bud with its pink petals curled tightly. It bobbled up and down, left and right as the stem was moving.
“What….is that?” Xun Feng was stunned. In the 10 years of following Ouyang Shaochen, crossing countless lands and mountains, meeting all sorts of peculiar animals and plants, he had never come across a plant which could run.
“Carnivorous flower!” Murong Xue replied grimly: The carnivorous flowers found in tropical forests all had a long stem with a single flower and did not move. It could only wait for prey to come knocking on death’s door – its flower. But this carnivorous flower in front of them not only had more than one flower bud but it could also chase its prey. Has the world gone mad?
Are carnivorous flowers capable of eating men too?
Xun Feng gazed ahead. He could see that the flower was fast approaching the last guard behind. Its petals suddenly snapped opened and swallowed the guard. Its petals quickly curled and closed tightly, the impact caused shattered bones to fly out and drop to the ground….
Xun Feng’s lips trembled. The plant had eaten a whole man without even spitting out the bones. If anyone were caught by it, he/she would be swallowed whole, leaving not even a corpse behind.
“Ouyang shizi, Murong Xue, this carnivorous plant is dangerous to deal with, let’s go!”
They would have helped if the plant was troubling someone else, but it was troubling Ye Yichen – who was not in good terms with Ouyang shizi, not to mention…ahem…a love rival. Oh well, they would have to deal with it themselves….
“It’s too late! That plant is moving too fast, we will never outrun it!” Murong Xue said. The carnivorous flower was closing in…
Murong Xue quickly took a step back and managed to dodge the flower bud. Using the dagger in her hand, she swiftly cut the stem with the flower. It dropped onto the floor and turned into a pool of black water……
The ones who witnessed it quickly did the same to defend themselves. In a flash, there was the frenzy of cutting flowers and stems all over in the scene…..
In the corner of her eye, a purple robe floated into view, Murong Xue gazed coldly at Ye Yichen: “Prince Jing, how did you guys provoke this carnivorous flower?”
Because of him, they got involved. They could have avoided the carnivorous flower and saved time and energy.
“I came to hunt and unintentionally met the flower. And that’s how we got chased by it….” Ye Yichen replied lightly, his long arm was grabbing Qin Yuyuan and held her closely to him to protect her.
“Oh really?” Murong Xue raised a brow at him, obviously not believing what he said.
Ye Yichen used his sword to severe the looming stems. Annoyed, he glanced at her and said, “What do you think happened then?”
“Carnivorous flowers have a protective trait. If you did not cross over to its territory and rob something from it, it wouldn’t have chased you! You aren’t here to hunt, are you? You’re here searching for something, am I right?” Murong Xue challenged.
Something that needed that plant to guard over was definitely nothing ordinary. But she wasn’t interested in finding out what it was; she was just keen in finding Di Yang grass. She had held hope in finding it but it was crushed indefinitely by all these happenings….
Ye Yichen’s eyes held a hue of gloom but it vaporized in an instant and disappeared without a trace. His face darkened and he said nothing: She was indeed clever!
After provoking the carnivorous flower and being chased by it, he ran in random direction until he saw her silhouette. By instinct, he ran towards her….
“AHH!!” a gruesome shout bore into their ears.
Ye Yichen jolted to his senses and turned his head towards the direction of the shout. One of his guards was being swallowed by the plant…….
“How many stems does this carnivorous flower have?! We will never finish cutting all of them. If we continue on like this, it’s either we get eaten or fall to exhaustion……” Xun Feng muttered.
Murong Xue started to think fast, they couldn’t just hope to kill it just by cutting its stems……
A stem loomed soundlessly in front of her and opened its petals, it was aiming for her…….
Murong Xue’s eyes flashed and she extended her arm, welcoming its petals……..
“Be careful!”
Ouyang Shaochen rushed over and grabbed her waist, pulling her aside to safety. The back of her hand lightly grazed the petals, forming a long cut, spilling out blood……..
“What are you doing?! Do you not want to live?!” Ouyang Shaochen’s face darkened. Quickly, he pulled out a small white porcelain bottle and opened it. He then carefully poured its powdered contents onto her fresh cut……
While fighting against the flower, he was also watching over her. If she were to be in any danger, he would rush over to her aid. But what he did not expect was that she had voluntarily approached the flower herself…….
“Carnivorous flowers fear cold, I have frostbite sickness in me which is cold, my blood can stop them!” Murong Xue smiled.
As soon as she said that, the flower started to wilt. It struggled frantically, its stems thrashing about, creating thrusts of wind. But even that couldn’t stop its awaiting fate. It was as if the whole plant was a deflating ball, at last, it turned into a puddle of black water……..
Ouyang Shaochen glanced at the black mess, his expression darkened even more.
“Even so, you shouldn’t bait yourself! What if it went wrong? We could have thought of other ways to stop it!”
“If there were other ways, Prince Jing would have used it earlier on, why would he be still running when he met us?” Murong Xue replied coldly.
Ye Yichen’s face turned downcast, he said nothing….
“Next time, don’t be so reckless.” Ouyang Shaochen frowned and took out a white handkerchief. He then carefully tied it around her wound, his gesture was so gentle it was as if he was holding a precious gem.
Ye Yichen felt an uncomfortable feeling surge in him.
He gazed down at Murong Xue and coldly said, “Murong Xue, you and I have yet to break off the engagement. You are my wife-to-be, how can you and Ouyang Shaochen flirt with one another in broad daylight? Do you not know that males and females shouldn’t be found associating with one another too much………”
Ouyang Shaochen threw a glare like daggers at Ye Yi Chen…………