The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 237 Throat Lock
"So this is what your sea creatures' hands look like."

Ling Chengen looked at the scales covering his entire hand and wanted to touch them, but felt that it might be considered sexual harassment, so he reluctantly gave up the idea.

Shi Ruoan changed her hand back and smiled, "It doesn't look very good, but it works very well."

Ling Chengen shook his head: "No, in beast form, not many people's claws look good."

As she spoke, she suddenly stretched out her right hand, which turned into a furry tiger paw. She even flipped her palm upwards, revealing pink paw pads that looked very bouncy and easy to pinch.

Shi Ruoan's gaze was instantly drawn to her claws, but the transformation of the tiger claws only lasted a few seconds. By the time he wanted to see more clearly, she had already turned back into her fair and slender five fingers.

The two walked inside side by side, Shi Ruoan's mind still replaying the scene from just now.

As a true sea creature, before rescuing Shi Panxing, he had almost never actually dealt with orcs on land.

In the past, during the annual mirage festival, he would only stay on the surface of Amber Bay and would not come ashore.

Ling Chengen and his family were among the first relatively friendly land-dwelling beastmen he encountered after landing.

However, the two are not yet close enough to be able to touch each other's fur at will.

Before today, he had no curiosity about the orcs on land.

But now, he had a stronger urge to touch it himself.

That idea is just too rude.

Shi Ruoan could only suppress this restless thought and listen attentively to Ling Chengen's words.

The two tacitly maintained a suitable distance and did not get too close.

The two continued walking until they reached a more open area. Shi Ruoan immediately spotted Su Weihua sitting on a rock. She glanced around and asked, "Where is your other beast husband?"

"You mean Bai Qingyu?" Ling Chengen sighed softly. "I sent him to chase after Shi Lin's group. This beast tide is quite large. If there had been an advance warning, the group's losses would have been much smaller. He's faster on his own; bringing others would only be a burden."

"Aren't you worried about something happening to him?"

In Shi Ruoan's memory, the young clan chief of Shilin seemed to favor this beast husband, and the two were almost inseparable.

In contrast, the person currently by her side has a relatively low profile.

Ling Chengen raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't worry, he can handle it."

Bai Qingyu is not her subordinate.

He was the young clan leader of Hanshan, and he had no shortage of courage and ability.

While relaying messages to the front lines is somewhat dangerous and exhausting, he is more than capable of handling it.

Shi Ruoan was a little surprised: "You trust him a lot."

Ling Chengen replied matter-of-factly, "If I don't trust him, who can I trust?"

"really."

"When are you going back to the sea?" Ling Chengen asked.

"Before dark."

"Alright, is this place safe? Will other sea creatures find their way here?" Ling Chengen asked.

Shi Ruoan looked around and nodded: "This place is safe. Originally, I was planning to let you choose this place to stay after Mei Ji was brought ashore. But now that you're with the Shan Na people, even if they haven't seen Mei Ji, they should be able to guess something..."

Are you sure you want them to know our plans?

Ling Chengen shook his head and said, "Of course not."

"Su Weihua and I had to go into the sea to escape the ferocious beasts. But the sea is teeming with sea monsters, and we definitely couldn't get here on our own. That's why we asked them for help and told them about this safe location."

Shi Ruoan raised her eyes and said, "Then..."

"Do you know of any other safer places, similar to this one, where we can avoid the beasts and won't be bothered by other sea creatures? Ideally, you could take me and Su Weihua there before dark."

Shi Ruoan frowned and said, "You have a lot of demands..."

"So you can't find it?"

"Yes." Shi Ruoan could only respond helplessly after being interrupted. Looking at her young face, she said softly, "But it's a bit far from here. If I take you there, you'll have to soak in the water for a long time, and you might get hypothermia."

Unlike sea creatures, furry land-dwelling beastmen become very weak if they stay in the water for too long.

He dared not gamble with their lives.

Because Ling Chengen, Su Weihua, and he were not wood-type warriors, nor did they possess healing abilities.

If anything were to happen to either of them, he might be helpless.

“I’ll have the Gu Juzhang clan guard Mei Ji; that should be the same,” Shi Ruoan said.

Ling Chengen shook his head and said, "It's better for Mei Ji to remain in our hands."

She had no intention of letting Maggie return unharmed.

To achieve their initial goal of pitting the eldest prince and Hypola against each other, they must prevent Meg from interfering.

Even if we don't kill her, we must at least deprive her of the ability to devise strategies.

The Ancient Giant Octopus Clan was dissatisfied with the fact that after Hypola came to power, she helped the Hyman Snake Clan and deprived the Ancient Giant Octopus Clan of their original interests and status. The two sides seemed to have a huge and irreconcilable conflict.

Ultimately, the conflict between the two sides lies in the unequal distribution of benefits and the infringement of each other's rights.

If Mei Ji is truly as clever as rumored, she would surely use bribes after being captured, along with the eldest prince and other special privileges, to lure them into turning against her at any time.

At that time, their situation and Shi Ruoan's situation will become very awkward. The real bargaining chips are in the hands of others. Shi Ruoan may be betrayed, or even caught red-handed when leaving the sea eye and thrown directly into the underwater ice prison.

At that point, let alone the group of subordinates from the Sea Sacrifice Temple who rescued him, Shi Panxing might never be able to return to the far north sea, and would be forced to wander abroad as a lone commander.

Can Ling Chengen allow this to happen?

That is definitely not possible.

She meticulously planned all of this for Shi Ruoan, not to benefit someone else.

Ling Chengen asked, "How long will it take to get from here to the place you mentioned?"

"If I only bring you, it will probably take about two beasts."

"Carrying you and your beast mate, it might take three to four beast hours." This is because the two of them can't dive deep, need to catch their breath frequently, and need to avoid the sea monsters' lairs along the way; their weight will also significantly slow him down…

Therefore, it's still a conservative estimate to say there are three or four beasts.

If something unexpected happens, such as bumping into a sea monster foraging for food on the road...

It will only take longer to resolve.

The water temperature in the far north is colder than that in other places. Most of the Shanna tribe can only stay in the water for four or five beast times at most. Orcs who live on land for a long time can only stay in the water for a shorter time.

Two beasts are the maximum; any longer and it might damage the body's foundation.

Ling Chengen estimated the time; from the coast to this cave, excluding the battle with the inferior sea beasts, it only took them about half a beast hour.

But when she got ashore, she could clearly feel that she was feeling unwell.

Having two beasts is already considered quite a long time.

If it goes on for too long, she and Su Weihua definitely won't be able to hold on.

She stood there thinking for a while, then looked up and said, "Take me with you."

Shi Ruo looked steadily into her eyes: "Are you sure?"

Ling Chengen nodded: "I can handle Mei Ji by myself. I remember she doesn't have any special abilities, right?"

"Yes, but she is a member of the Baman snake clan, skilled in using snake venom, and even a trace amount can be fatal."

Shi Ruoan frowned, but he couldn't keep an eye on Mei Ji forever.

He had actually considered killing Maggie...

However, Megi is a crucial hostage in the exchange for the Sea Sacrifice Temple's divine servant, and her life cannot be compromised before she sees the Sea Sacrifice Temple's divine servant.

Before he could react, Ling Chengen had already turned around and gone to talk to Su Weihua.

Her decisiveness far exceeded Shi Ruoan's expectations.

Half an hour later, Shi Ruoan still left with Ling Chengen.

Shi Ruoan entered the water and looked back at Ling Chengen, who had plunged into the water and was floating in the sea. Just as he was about to reach out and pull him into his arms, Ling Chengen swam up behind him like a dog paddler and directly wrapped his arms around his neck.

Shi Ruoan's body stiffened, and she grabbed the arm that was choking her with her right hand, saying with a mix of laughter and tears, "Don't choke me, I can't breathe."

Ling Chengen was thick-skinned. He apologized verbally, but his expression showed no remorse whatsoever. He moved his hands to the side and grabbed Ling Chengen's shoulders.

Su Weihua stood on the shore, watching her with most of her body submerged in the cold water, and asked, "Is there any firewood in the space container? Once we get ashore, we must start a fire as soon as possible and have some warm soup."

Ling Chengen smiled and pulled a fiery red crystal from his collar: "I got some Crimson Origin Stones near Huangyan Beast City last time. I still have quite a few here. It's still useful to carry them with me."

Shi Ruoan smiled, remembering the origin of the stone. She looked back at the shore and said to Su Weihua, "Don't worry, I will bring her back safely. I won't let her get sick or injured."

Su Weihua didn't give him a friendly look, so his assurances were completely useless.

He knew Ling Chengen's personality all too well; he was completely uncontrollable.

And the future is ever-changing.

"Take good care of her," Su Weihua said curtly.

Then, he stood on the rock and watched the two of them slowly dive into the cobalt blue water and swim towards the sea cave below.

Looking from the shore into the water, Ling Chengen was hanging behind Shi Ruoan. Their overlapping bodies resembled a long, slender fish. Shi Ruoan's long, flowing tail fin would brush against Ling Chengen's feet when it swayed.

Perhaps because he had encountered it too many times, Ling Chengen slowly bent his legs back, and then suddenly looked back.

Su Weihua's gaze met hers directly, and she looked somewhat dazed from the shock.

Then he saw her smile underwater, and suddenly raise her right hand to him, giving him a thumbs up.

Before leaving the underwater blue hole, she waved her arms freely as a final farewell.

……

Shi Ruoan felt a hand suddenly pull away from her shoulder, and when she turned around, she saw her waving to the people on the shore.

Before emerging from the blue hole, he suddenly said, "Hold on tight, we need to speed up."

Because all the Shanna people had entered this blue cave, many sea beasts chased after them. However, due to the narrow entrance, they were unable to squeeze in. So, they could only angrily ram their bodies against the rocks, but the rocks here were extremely hard and formed an entire mountain, making them impossible to move.

Some of the sea creatures, finding they couldn't catch these small prey, had no choice but to give up and go hunting elsewhere.

However, some of them were quite persistent and continued to linger near the cave entrance.

I don't think they'll leave anytime soon.

Upon hearing Shi Ruoan's voice, Ling Chengen immediately wrapped his arms around Shi Ruoan's shoulders, leaned his head against Shi Ruoan's left shoulder, and looked at the situation outside the Blue Cave.

Sure enough, a large shadow slowly swam across the cave entrance from above.

She puffed out her cheeks and gestured in front of Shi Ruoan. Shi Ruoan, trying to decipher the gestures, finally said with a headache, "I don't understand..."

"Hold on tight, let's rush out."

The sea monsters couldn't keep up with him at all, and he was confident that even with the humanoid accessory on him.

Shi Ruo'an paused briefly at the cave entrance, waved her hands in front of her, and then suddenly swung her long, powerful fish tail like an arrow released from a bow. She left only a white afterimage in the water and carried Ling Cheng'en directly out of the dense sea beasts.

Ling Chengen was startled by his speed.

She really underestimated the speed of the merfolk.

At this speed, even a torpedo can't catch up.

Before the sea monsters could even react, they had already left the area where the sea monsters were active.

Fearing being thrown off, she could only place her arms across his shoulders and chest, locking his body in place with both arms. Similarly, to avoid the impact of the water on his head, she could only press her forehead against the back of his neck.

Because the two were standing too close together, Shi Ruoan felt extremely uncomfortable.

But he knew very well that Ling Chengen was probably not used to this swimming speed, coupled with his fear of seawater.

But in order to prevent her from soaking in the water for too long, he could only let her hang on him in this position.