Douluo Continent: Gourmet Prisoner

"I just wanted to eat something good before I die, why can't even this small wish be granted!" Hyotei roared angrily, his long green hair flying wildly in the gale, and the chilling aura around him surged and churned, almost freezing the entire frozen ground with hideous cracks.

But after the roar, that overwhelming anger turned into a bone-chilling helplessness and grievance. She curled up in the depths of the ice cave, hugging her knees. Her crystal tears fell onto the ice surface, instantly freezing into tiny, sharp ice crystals. Then she burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Shi Yu and his group had just arrived at the cave entrance.

The cave entrance was half-covered by a thick layer of ice, and the dark depths seemed to harbor a silent behemoth, silently exhaling a bone-chilling cold.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm clung to the icicles, cautiously peering inside. Its round body instinctively shrank back, and its voice, tinged with both timidity and curiosity, said, "What a huge, dark cave!"

Shi Yu raised his hand and patted its head, his gaze sweeping over the faint claw marks on the rock wall at the cave entrance, a playful smile curving his lips: "Come on, there should be some good food inside the cave too."

Huo Yutong followed with a smile, "Then we have to be careful, lest we run into something that looks nice but hides sharp thorns."

Zhu Lu gripped the soul tool at her waist, her eyes scanning the cave's surroundings warily, her brows furrowing slightly: "The aura inside is very strange; there's an extremely powerful soul beast's pressure."

As they talked, they followed the faint sounds coming from the depths of the cave and slowly walked in.

The further you go in, the colder it gets. The air itself seems to be frozen into transparent ice threads, which wrap around your limbs and bones, making your bones ache.

Deep within the cave, it seemed, a pair of cold eyes were silently watching their arrival from the boundless darkness.

"Something's not right, is it?" Shi Yu stopped in his tracks, looked around, and asked, his voice full of confusion, "Why is there absolutely nothing edible in this cave?"

As he spoke, he walked to the rock wall and squatted down, his fingertips brushing across a bare rock face. His eyes darkened. "Someone or a soul beast has been here. Look at the marks on the ground. It's clear that plants once grew here, but now only traces of them being uprooted remain."

"So, we're not the only ones here?" Zhu Lu gripped the soul tool tighter, her voice filled with even more vigilance.

Before the words were finished, a green figure suddenly burst out of the darkness, as fast as lightning, and pounced straight on Shi Yu, who was walking at the front.

It was a giant scorpion, entirely emerald green and covered with a hard carapace, its pincers gleaming with a cold light—it was Hyotei!

"Humans, you shouldn't be here!" The Ice Emperor's icy voice rang out, and a powerful pressure swept across the cave, causing the temperature inside to drop even further.

"Hey? Bingbing? What are you doing here!" Tianmeng Bingcan's voice suddenly rang out, full of surprise.

Hyotei's movements abruptly halted, its pincers frozen in mid-air, as it looked incredulously in the direction of the sound: "Wait, that voice... Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm?"

"It's me, Bingbing!" Tianmeng Ice Silk jumped up excitedly. "I didn't expect you to remember my voice. I knew you cared about me!"

Upon hearing this, Hyotei seemed to have all her ferocity drained away instantly, and she excitedly lunged at the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm—but naturally, she missed and only passed through a transparent energy body.

"Bingbing, I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic, I'm so touched!" Tianmeng Bingcan's voice was full of joy.

Hyotei stared blankly at her pincers, her voice filled with astonishment: "Why... can't I touch you?"

"Because I sacrificed myself for Xiaoyutong, becoming her wisdom soul ring." Tianmeng Bingcan's voice carried a hint of pride. "Right now, I'm just an energy body. Bingbing, you're too enthusiastic, trying to give me a hug right away."

"Damn it! Why did you have to sacrifice yourself!" Hyotei roared angrily, his emerald green carapace glowing red.

"I knew Bingbing, you've always had me in your heart!" Tianmeng Bingcan misunderstood, her voice growing even more aggrieved. "I had no choice! A million-year tribulation of lightning hangs over my head. I wanted to stay with you forever, but this was the only path I could choose!"

"Who cares if you stay with me or not!" Hyotei roared in exasperation, slamming her pincers into the ground, leaving a deep icy gash. "Since you're going to die anyway, why don't you go back to the far north and become my food! That way, I can use your soul power to survive my tribulation and have time to figure out how to eat those strange fish!"

"Huh?"

The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm seemed to have been struck by lightning; the entire silkworm froze, and after a long while, it listlessly floated to a corner of the cave, curled into a small, transparent ball, and became completely withdrawn.

Shi Yu got up from the ground, brushed the ice shards off his clothes, and looked at Hyotei: "You've already seen the pufferfish whale?"

"You mean those things?" Hyotei raised his pincers sullenly and pointed to a corner deep in the cave.

Shi Yu and the others looked in the direction and saw a pile of blackened pufferfish carcasses in the corner, clearly poisoned.

"I can feel how delicious they are." Hyotei's voice carried a hint of resentment. "At first, they would immediately turn to poison as soon as I got close. Later, I suppressed my aura and finally managed to get close to them with great difficulty."

"But as soon as I caught them, those guys instantly became poisoned and couldn't be eaten." She paused, her tone revealing a hint of obsession. "At first, I didn't care about their toxins and thought I would just swallow them raw, but my soul beast instincts gave me a frantic warning. That sense of danger was telling me that I couldn't withstand it."

"Later, I threw the poisoned corpses out, waiting for other soul beasts to come and eat them, you know?" Ice Emperor's voice suddenly rose, her eyes flashing with fanaticism. "I watched those soul beasts, clearly terrified by instinct, yet lured by that aroma, unable to move, and finally, one by one, they rushed forward to devour it without hesitation—even death couldn't stop them, what an exquisite delicacy it was!"

"Even I am prepared." Her voice was low and resolute. "If I cannot survive the heavenly tribulation, then before I die, I must taste this pufferfish whale!"

"Xiao Shiyu, is this pufferfish whale... really that weird?" The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm floated out from the corner.

"Juvenile pufferfish live in shallow waters, while adults inhabit the deep sea," Shi Yu explained. "Because of the water pressure difference between the deep sea and the shallow waters, their bodies, which are originally six meters long, are compressed to fifty to sixty centimeters."

During the compression process, all the waste and toxins inside them are compressed into the venom sac.

These toxins are deadly, affecting the texture of the fish, but their deliciousness is equally deadly—even knowing they will die from eating them, countless spirit beasts and humans are willing to risk everything for this taste.

"As long as they feel threatened, their venom sacs will rupture instantly, and their bodies will quickly become poisoned," Shi Yu continued. "So, to get close to them, you must first learn to conceal your presence, but to truly capture them, you must master the technique of acupressure anesthesia."

"Is it the technique you taught me and Xiaoyutong a while ago?" Zhu Lu couldn't help but ask when she heard the familiar words.

"That's right." Shi Yu nodded.

He paused, his gaze shifting to Huo Yutong beside him, a meaningful smile playing on his lips: "Of course, these aren't the most difficult parts. The most difficult part is retrieving the poison sac—that's the test I've prepared for little Yutong."

"A test for me?" Huo Yutong was slightly taken aback and pointed to the tip of her nose.

"Yes, it's a test for you." Shi Yu nodded. "Cooking pufferfish and whales isn't difficult for me, but it's a different story for you."

"The location of the venom sac is different for each pufferfish whale, but they have one thing in common - there can be no error even a millimeter when removing the venom sac. Even the slightest mistake will cause them to become poisoned immediately."

He looked into Huo Yutong's clear eyes and said, "Your Golden Eye Martial Soul can help you see every detail of the poison sac and blood vessels. Next, it will be a test of your hand skills."

Before Huo Yutong could respond, Bingdi, who was standing next to her, suddenly seemed to be injected with adrenaline and pounced over. Her huge pincers gripped Shi Yu's arm tightly, and her emerald eyes flashed with an almost pleading light.

"Humans! You mean you can catch pufferfish whales and even cook them?!"

"That's right." Shi Yu's arm ached from being gripped so tightly, and he sighed helplessly. "So, could you get off me first?"

Upon hearing Shi Yu's affirmative reply, Hyotei trembled with excitement, her grip loosening slightly as she jumped off him, her voice filled with urgent pleading: "Please! After you've finished cooking, you must let me have a taste! I'll do anything!"