CHAPTER 2234  THE MUDDY LAKES

The Crown Princess's dissatisfaction was understandable, but at the same time it wasn't exactly something she would have been able to do anyway.

"You sure you want to try that now?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was no stranger to her small tantrums and knew that this was just temporary.

"I know, I know." Crown Princess Shang let out a sigh.

"At least we're off to a good start." Lin Mu said. "No reason in slowing down I suppose?" he asked.

"I don't so why not." Ziran said, still feeling relatively energetic.

"Same for me." Daoist Chu agreed.

"Very well, onwards to the next swarm!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as the group flew towards the nearest swarm. This was of course to the east, and also the direction that Crown Princess Shang had gone towards. owns this.

"Oh, before we cause too much chaos, we need to take the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." Crown Princess Shang reminded. "We can't have them our their parts getting damaged." She added.

"Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We'll do a proper surveillance of the area first." He said.

With how far the group was it took them about an hour and a half to reach the outer edge of the area. They also saw the changes with the desolate ground becoming 'softer' and more moist.

Even the air was saturated with moisture, as a humid head surrounded them.

"We're definitely near a lot of water." Daoist Chu said feeling the moisture in the air.

"There's quite a lot of water bodies here." Crown Princess Shang said pointing in the distance. "From puddles to lakes, there's everything spread here." ~SHUA~

Lin Mu and the others spread their immortal senses and felt the area in deeper detail finding the slivers of Baleful energies mixed in the ground.

"This is different…" Lin Mu could tell this was not the Baleful Energies they had encountered before.

"Murkwater Qi." Lady Kang recognized. "This'll be a bit problematic." She said looking at the ground.

"Yeah, we really shouldn't step on the moist ground." Crown Princess Shang stated. "The Murkwater Qi is extremely sticky and will try to suck you in." "Like a Swamp?" Lin Mu raised his brows.

"Worse. It will also infiltrate your body and contaminate your meridians. Even if you manage to leave it, the contamination will last a long time." Crown Princess Shang explained.

"That… Makes things complex." Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering how they were supposed to get the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus now. "Wait are the Toad Plant Hybrid Chimeric beasts not affected by it?" he asked.

"No." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "It's the opposite, they're thriving in it. They don't seem to be using it themselves though so that's good enough. But still, fighting them will mean that we will have to come in contact with the Murkwater Qi." She added.

"We should be able to defend against it though right?" Lin Mu asked. "It's not something that'll break through our defenses right away, will it?" "Of course we can resist it. But it can get harder the greater its concentration becomes." Crown Princess Shang explained.

"That's still a way then." Lin Mu said. "As long as we can resist it for a minute, I should be able to get the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." He said after thinking for a bit.

Lin Mu had managed to resist Death Qi for a reasonable amount of time, thus he didn't think that the Murkwater Qi would be worse than that.

Not to mention, he had another trump card under his sleeve that was perfect to play here.

"There, that's where the lakes start." Crown Princess Shang pointed out.

The group looked over and saw the fast expanse of lakes and ponds intermingling with what looked like the remnants of an old meadow. Whatever trees and plants that existed there originally had been morphed into horrible shadows of their past.

All that was left of tree were their twisted and corrode trunks that seemed to have taken on a grainy texture under the influence of the Murkwater Qi and other baleful energies that were dispersed in the area.

The plants on the other hand had joined the 'water' of the lakes and ponds that was more accurately describe as Sludge.

And between all these lakes and ponds were the Death Qi boundaries that seem to never leave an area untainted. Just like before, some of the boundaries were thick and some thin, dividing the muddy bodies into several segments.

And in them, they could actually spot some color for the first time. There were a bunch of leaves and flowers seemingly floating on top of the mud.

They looked rather unassuming and one might assume it was just some common duckweed. "Are those the…" Qiao De watched the unassuming weeds.

"Yeah… the Toad plant hybrid Chimeric Beasts." Crown Princess Shang confirmed.

"They'll definitely trick the others into thinking there are actually normal plants here." Qiao De said, feeling wary. "Yeah, if one doesn't have an expertise in them they'll be tricked." Crown Princess Shang nodded.

"They even have the Wood Elemental Qi within them." Ziran noticed. "Their disguise is almost perfect." He couldn't help but be a bit impressed.

"Yeah, if not for the fact that I knew these kinds of water weeds cannot grow in such conditions, I would've been tricked too." Crown Princess Shang stated. "Besides, the only reason I even ended up getting close was because I spotted a lotus. Unlike rest of the fake plants, Lotuses certainly have a better chance of growing here." She added.

"And when you got close you noticed what kind of Lotus it was." Lady Kang could easily guess the rest.

"Correct." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "I was tempted to take them, but as soon as I got close the Toad Plant Hybrid Chimeric beasts started attacking." She narrated her experience in a bit more detail.

One the group had heard them, they knew how these foes would be fighting them.

Every plant that they saw floating on the surface was actually part of the Toads. The stems and branches were actually vines that grew from the bodies of the toads, and the flowers were actually the mouths attached to these vines.

Of course when they were dormant, one would not think these were flesh eating flowers. Only when they were ready to strike out would they transform.

"Where is the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus though?" Daoist Chu asked unable to spot any of them. "Yeah, shouldn't they be eye catching?" Lin Mu asked, not seeing anything peculiar that stood out.

"The Dazzling Mud Lotus can hide in the 'mud' at times and 'bloom' when they feel comfortable." Crown Princess Shang explained. "My earlier conflict with the Toad Plant Chimeric beasts might have alarmed them into hiding." She reckoned.

"Hmm… and we need the other parts of the lotus too right?" Lin Mu asked. "Roots, stems and seedpods." "All parts of it are valuable, but the flowers themselves and the seedpods have the highest value." Crown Princess Shang explained.

"On the off chance you do not find the flowers, you can still bring us the roots." Lady Kang stated. "Those are still valuable."

"Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.

"Though… How deep do you think these lakes are?" Daoist Chu wondered.

"Let me take a look." Ziran said and used his Immortal sense to probe the nearest one.

But as soon as he did that a trilling sound was heard.

~TRRRRRRRR~

The sound got loud all of a sudden and the surface of the muddy lake burst open.

~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~

"Dammit." Ziran stepped back, dodging the vine that was tipped with thorns that could easily rip through flesh. "They're faster to react than before." Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "They seem to be recognizing our Immortal senses faster too."

~SHING~

Lin Mu swung out Afternoon Pine, and sent a Metal Qi infused slash that split the vines into tiny chunks.

~SKEEEEEEE~

A shrill screech was heard coming from the mud, before it started to bulge up.

~SPLASH~

In the next second a large Toad the size of a horse carriage could be seen. It had brown skin similar to the mud along with tons of warts on its body. But these warts seem to 'bud' into vines that grew into the flowers and leaves.

It looked rather gnarly just from the surface appearance but there was more to it.

~TRRRRRRRRR~

Especially when it opened its mouth to let out a cry, one could see the hundreds if not thousands of wiggling vines inside them. Each vine terminated in a sharp tooth, and could move independently as needed.

One didn't need much to imagine how easy it would be to get chopped into pieces by the Toad Plant hybrid while being swallowed by it.

It was an unpleasant thought and certainly would not be on ones list of ways to die.

"It's worse than you described it as." Qiao De scowled.