Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 191 Delicious Mushrooms
Inside the verdant sacred tree, everyone, including Yun Hai, dropped their weapons and dispersed in unison.

Before long, a uniquely styled digging beetle emerged from the tree trunk.

The front half of this burrowing beetle was no different from the one that Cheng Lang and the others had just ridden.

However, its rear part resembles a centipede, not only being excessively long but also having an excessive number of legs.

"They don't seem to be planning to accept our surrender!" Yun Hai shouted, raising his hands high.

"Then there's no way!"

Cheng Lang, who was also raising his hands, said loudly with difficulty, "We can only defeat them and then make them consider accepting our surrender!"

"Great idea!"

Before Yun Ji could finish speaking, she was the first to rush out.

She was so fast that by the time everyone reacted, she had already jumped onto the steel centipede by stepping on its leg joints.

Almost simultaneously, a thorny dagger also sprang from her hand with incredible speed.

At the same time, more thorny spikes emerged from under the steel centipede's belly.

In the blink of an eye, Cheng Lang had already manipulated the invisible whip ropes to try to tie the steel legs together in pairs, while Yun Hai took out a small blood-red crossbow and fired an arrow at the steel centipede's lower jaw.

"Snapped!"

Yun Ji's thorny dagger broke in two as it tried to insert itself into the gap, and many more thorns were crushed by the centipede. Even Cheng Lang's invisible whip was easily broken.

But at that moment, the arrow that Yun Hai fired, which was only a foot long, accurately embedded itself in the gap of the steel centipede and exploded.

The explosion didn't break through the centipede's metal armor, but the thick smoke it produced blocked the view of the person inside the centipede from looking out.

At this moment, Yun Ji, who was only feigning an attack, seized this precious opportunity. Like an acrobat, she was bound by invisible whip ropes and suspended above the centipede's head. She forcefully threw out two petrified foam beads, and then let the invisible whip ropes pull her away to a distance.

Just as the expanding and hardening foam completely blocked the centipede's internal vision, Shenba had already run to the centipede's tail and dropped petrified foam beads onto the joints of the centipede's legs.

In the short time that followed, Yun Ji was suspended upside down by the whip rope and placed directly above the centipede. She opened a boat bottle and poured a large amount of fish oil onto the centipede, which was covered in thorns.

Just as Cheng Lang used the anchor point made by Yun Lan above his head to bring Yun Ji back, Gerta also took out their burrowing beetle again.

At the same time, Yavso drew his bow and shot a lit arrow.

"call!"

Just as the centipede was set ablaze, Shenba ran back and, at Cheng Lang's call, scurried away to the side.

“It’s my turn.”

As Yun Hai spoke, she took off a hair ornament from her head and threw it forcefully. Then she followed Cheng Lang and Yun Ji, who was caught by Cheng Lang, and dodged to the side.

"boom!"

A violent explosion once again engulfed the steel centipede's head, while Yun Lan piloted the burrowing beetle towards it, ramming its hard, cross-shaped horns into the centipede's center.

"Boom!"

With a dull thud, the burrowing beetle slammed its opponent directly into the tree trunk.

Under the threat of flames, impacts, and the loss of vision and some mobility, the hatch at the tail of the digging beetle finally opened, and several elf-like figures emerged from it.

However, before they could do anything to the steel centipede being scorched by flames, invisible whips tightened around their necks, simultaneously binding the hatch that had been jammed by thorns after it was opened.

At this moment, Yun Lan began to frantically strike the centipede's head with her horns.

In the blink of an eye, Yun Ji was the first to rush in, and then she saw the elf hanging from the ceiling by Cheng Lang's neck, swaying back and forth with the impact.

A little later, Cheng Lang and Yun Hai came in one after the other. The latter only covered one eye to take a look, and then picked out one of them. With a dagger flying, he peeled off the elven skin and pulled out the dwarf wearing only his underwear.

During this short delay, Yun Lan and the others, who had already put away the digging beetles, also rushed in.

"Can you drive?" Cheng Lang asked Yun Lan.

“Not a big problem”

Yun Lan ran into the "driver's cab" and took a look, then ran into the cab and pushed various control levers.

Before the tail hatch could be completely closed, the giant centipede burrowed its head into the tree trunk.

"It's powered by the sap of the sacred, verdant tree! Yafso! Come here quickly!"

Yun Lan exclaimed in surprise, and Ya Fu Suo quickly ran over as well.

Immediately afterwards, she let out a cheer and secured the borrowed bottle of tree sap to a device that resembled a faucet.

As the giant centipede crawled faster and faster inside the tree trunk, golden sap flowed from the tap.

At the same time, Yunhai also began to torture the captured dwarves.

"There's good news and bad news, which do you want to hear?" Yun Hai asked after knocking the prisoners unconscious.

"Any one will do!" Cheng Lang and the others shouted in unison.

"Bad news"

Yun Hai said in a childlike voice that was very different from his usual self, "Throughout the Elf Kingdom, the entire royal family and more than 90% of the ministers have been replaced by dwarves."

"And the good news?" Cheng Lang asked.

"The good news is that Marquis Shenqi is one of the few who was not replaced, but a large number of captains in his Green Hunters have been replaced."

"So that Shen..."

"He was ordered to hire rebels to overthrow the elven duchy, which had been usurped by the dwarves."

Yun Hai said, "This part is based on the information I have obtained."

"How do we overthrow it?" Yun Ji asked.

“Kill the sacred evergreen tree,” Yun Hai gave an unexpected answer.

What did you say?

"Kill the sacred, verdant tree"

Yun Hai repeated, "This is the most direct method, but it's uncertain whether there's a conspiracy involved."

"It's too complicated. Let's deal with the heart first," Cheng Lang suggested.

“Killing that heart is killing the Verdant Sacred Tree,” Yun Hai said.

"Why?" Yun Lan asked the question that everyone was concerned about.

"Why?" Yun Hai kicked the tongue that was constantly jumping around at her feet.

Immediately, the dwarf whose tongue she had just cut out replied, "After the Valkyrie killed Poseidon, the Verdant Tree also exhausted its power."

To save the Sacred Tree of the Green, the Valkyrie Lo transplanted a heart of Poseidon into it, allowing them to maintain a symbiotic relationship.

This both saved the sacred, verdant tree and continued to bleed Poseidon.

"So that's why the elves aren't accepted by the ship's heart?" Yun Ji asked.

"That's right"

Although the dwarf who had lost his tongue looked reluctant, he answered with unusual honesty, "This is the price that the elves must pay to revive the sacred tree of green."

"We'll have to wait a while before we can chat."

Yun Lan warned, "Another giant centipede is chasing us!"

"Open the hatch!"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he turned to look at Yun Ji and Ya Fu Suo.

The two girls immediately realized something. The former took out a boat bottle containing fish oil, while the latter, with a mischievous grin, took out a large bottle of spores—spores from the Water Forge, cultivated from the mushrooms growing on Poseidon's arm!
Before the hatch was fully opened, Yun Ji began pouring fish oil, while Gerta pulled a torch from her bag, lit it, and threw it out.

Once the fish oil was burning, Yavso waited until she had some distance to herself, then used her hand, which was glowing with a strong green light, to throw the glass bottle containing the spores away.

If the burning fish oil was just a minor, harmless nuisance, then the spores that exploded from the shattered glass bottle were a disaster.

Before Cheng Lang and the others could even completely close the hatch of the centipede they were riding, tiny, pure white mushrooms began to sprout wildly in the tunnel behind them.

As these mushrooms grew, the faucet inside the giant centipede that collected tree sap stopped flowing altogether. "What the hell is that?" Yun Hai asked in astonishment.

“Just some delicious mushrooms,” Yavso said smugly, hands on her hips.

"Good news! The bugs behind us have stopped!"

After giving a few reminders, Yun Lan pushed the control lever all the way up, and their steel centipede immediately sped up.

While they were busy on their journey, the dwarves disguised as elves in the royal palace of the Elf Kingdom panicked.

"what happens?"

"A large number of mushrooms have grown inside the verdant sacred tree!"

One of the elves shouted, "Those mushrooms are draining all our energy!"

"Heart! How is the heart now? Has the replacement not been completed yet?"

"Not yet! It seems to have weakened because of those damn mushrooms!"

No sooner had these words been spoken than the dwarves living in the heavenly palace clearly heard the heartbeat coming from above.

The dull heartbeat grew faster and louder, so much so that not only the people in the Elf King's palace could hear it clearly, but the elves on the ground could hear it just as clearly.

Even Cheng Lang and the others, who were traveling through the trunk of the verdant sacred tree, gradually heard the heartbeat as dense as a drumbeat!

"Is that Poseidon's heartbeat?"

Yun Lan asked loudly, "It seems we're getting closer and closer to that heart!"

"If you have the chance later, I suggest you all eat a Verdant Fruit; there might be an extra reward."

Yun Hai warned, "Perhaps after we kill Poseidon's heart, we will never see the Azure Fruit again."

"Is the Emerald Fruit delicious?" Shenba asked subconsciously.

“You’ll know soon.”

Yun Hai absentmindedly kept everyone in suspense, while frowning, as if the current situation was not what she had expected.

Gradually, the heartbeat turned into a roaring noise like a waterfall, and Yafso also took off the boat bottle. From the faucet that seemed to be made of gold, not a single drop of sap could flow.

Meanwhile, behind them, the white mushrooms were growing upwards at an astonishing speed, chasing after them.

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Yun Lan spoke up, "I didn't want to talk about this, but the spores that Yafuso threw out seem to be too effective, and those greedy mushrooms have already caught up."

"If you don't think of something, we might turn into chunks of meat in mushroom sauce soon."

As she spoke, Yun Lan opened the hatch behind her again, letting everyone see what was happening behind her.

"Yafu."

"do not ask me!"

"I don't know what to do!" Yavso said in a panic.

"Well done"

Cheng Lang shook his head helplessly and threw the few remaining petrified foam beads in his pocket outside.

As the foam expanded, the mushrooms were indeed blocked for a short while, but just by looking at the new mushrooms that gradually grew at the edges, it was clear that this was just a temporary fix.

"fish oil!"

Before Cheng Lang could finish speaking, Yun Ji unscrewed the bottle and poured out a large amount of fish oil again.

"fire!"

Following Cheng Lang's command, Gerta immediately threw out the second torch that had already been lit.

"call!"

As flames appeared, everyone smelled a rich aroma of mushrooms.

"It can only hold them off for a while."

Cheng Lang shook his head helplessly, "Yun Lan, can you go a little faster?"

"That's already the fastest speed!" Yun Lan shouted in response amidst the rumbling noise.

"Then think about it."

Before Cheng Lang could finish speaking, he found himself seemingly weightless.

"We've broken through the sacred tree! Jump down now!"

Before Yun Lan could finish speaking, all the metal hatches on the side of the centipede had already opened. The group reacted quickly and jumped out of the beetle.

It was only at this moment that they noticed that they were surrounded by a sea of ​​clouds, and within this sea of ​​clouds was the lush canopy of the sacred tree.

But right in the center of this canopy lies a huge heart, bound by a large number of chains!
"How can this heart be so big?"

As Cheng Lang sighed, he didn't forget to use invisible whips to entangle the branches that were everywhere, and used the other end to wrap around the waists of the others.

At the same time, he even had the leisure to pick fruits from the surrounding area and throw them in front of everyone.

After catching the green fruit, which was only the size of an egg, Cheng Lang finally had time to look around the heart.

At this moment, a large number of mixed-race sailors and even various dwarves had gathered on those huge branches and chains that could be regarded as streets.

They even saw some "mechs" similar to those used by Vanhart!

What these people are doing right now is trying to break those huge chains.

Then look at that heart, which is bigger than a ship. One half of it remains blood red, while the other half has turned into green with golden threads!
And right above this heart, a huge spear was stuck straight up and down!

"Kill them!"

Just then, a dwarf in mech armor pointed at them and gave an order, while simultaneously firing a barrage of steel arrows.

"Mr. Big Cat, don't let me down."

As Cheng Lang muttered to himself, he took out the black cat pendant that Princess Wuying had given him before he went ashore.

"mua~!"

Cheng Lang kissed the pendant hard, then threw it toward the giant heart.

Before it even landed, the black cat doll pendant had already transformed into the appearance of Lord Night God.

However, the haughty cat, which even had a small crown on its head, bristled the moment it saw the heart, reacting swiftly and with a look of terror as it clung to the nearest branch.

"Go, Cat Lady! Kill those dwarfs!" Yafso said, taking a big bite of the emerald fruit in her hand.

Sure enough, the fruit was just as Yun Lan had described, disgusting like eating raw fatty meat.

"If you manage to get back alive this time, I'm going to turn you all into claw gloves!"

The great cat Night Demon let out a roar, then dodged the arrows that couldn't catch him and pounced on the dwarves.

"It's time for us to get started."

As Yunhai spoke, it spread its wings and swam toward the top of the heart.

Seeing this, Cheng Lang quickly broke the ropes binding the other party and Yun Ji.

"Captain! Me! I'm going too!"

Having already eaten the fruit, Yafso held the Night Raven Messenger necklace she had received in her mouth and, as she wished, grew a pair of wings.

The captain helped me put this necklace on before.

Seeing this, Cheng Lang quickly broke the whip rope, then ate the unpalatable green fruit in a few bites, and also held the pendant in his mouth, flying over with Yun Lan and Shenba one after the other.

As for Gerta, he had already hidden behind a branch and pulled out a gunpowder barrel that he had kept all the way from his backpack.

(End of this chapter)