He Lan Tianxia

Suddenly, the croaking of frogs intensified, growing more urgent with each chorus. The sound instantly stirred a restless, fervent excitement within those around them. Murong Junlan frowned, immediately hoisting Xiong Bao onto his back and ordering, "Soul-Sucking Blood-Draining Frog? Plug its ears."

"The vampire wolf frog is known for its ability to captivate people with its calls, then bites them when they're off guard to suck their blood until they bleed to death." Murong Junlan shared the knowledge he had learned from ancient books with everyone.

"Your Highness, do frogs have teeth?" Xiong Bao thought he had asked a very insightful question.

"Frogs have teeth but don't bite. The Soul-Sucking Vampire Frog has a pair of sharp teeth on each side, and you mustn't touch them."

"Ah!" Xiong Bao suddenly shuddered on Murong Junlan's back.

"Bear Baby, what's wrong?"

"Brother Prince, there are so many up there too." Xiong Bao's voice was a little trembling.

"Don't be afraid with your brother here." Murong Junlan teleported to Luo Xie and his sister's side. "Shanyu, it seems we have to join forces."

"Okay." Luo Xie agreed readily.

So, the four of them, back to back, slowly made their way forward. *Plop plop plop plop, croak croak croak croak…* The croaking of frogs rose and fell, and the ground was covered with a dense, mountain-like mass of them, especially their pairs of sharp teeth, which sent chills down one's spine. More and more vampire-sucking frogs appeared in the cave, gathering in droves, deliberately squatting on the ground to block their path, layer upon layer, their stench so strong it felt suffocating for a moment.

"Your Highness Murong, the road ahead is completely blocked; it seems we can't get in." Luo Xie frowned, looking somewhat at a loss.

"How about we back out first?" Even the usually bold Lorina seemed a little timid at this moment.

"Alright, you guys wait outside, I'll go alone." Murong Junlan was worried about his Yan'er; even if it meant facing mountains of knives and seas of fire, he was determined to fight his way in. With that, Murong Junlan was about to toss Xiong Bao onto Luo Xie's back.

"Your Highness, Xiong Bao wants to follow you." After saying that, the little guy used his hands and feet to hold onto Murong Junlan tightly and wouldn't let go.

“Be good, Xiong Bao, go to Brother Shanyu.”

"No," Xiong Bao pouted. "He always spanks my bottom, I don't want to play with him."

"You brat, I think you deserve a beating." Luo Xie slapped Xiong Bao's bottom again, and Xiong Bao took the opportunity to yell loudly.

"Who is so wicked?" Luo Xie covered his butt and turned around to glare at Xiong Bao, wanting to curse.

"It wasn't me. Oh, Brother Shanyu, look at your butt!" Xiong Bao exclaimed.

Luo Xie turned his head and saw what was going on. Behind him, a swarm of frogs rose up in layers, moving rhythmically with his movements. He immediately understood; it was the blood from the bite wound inflicted by the vampire wolf frogs earlier. Enraged, Luo Xie turned and slapped the frogs at his backside several times. The frogs scattered, some injured, some dead, but this only enraged the surrounding vampire wolf frogs. Waves of terrifying cries rose higher and higher. Despite being only the size of ping-pong balls, their overwhelming numbers could easily kill an ant.

"Your Highness, my head hurts." Xiong Bao held his head and shook it vigorously.

"Brother, I have a headache too." Luo Rina also pounded her forehead hard, trying to resist the pull of the soul-capturing voice, but it had no effect at all.

"I'm a little dizzy too." Luo Xie shook his head, finding a moment of peace.

"Concentrate and listen to my mantra: Focus your mind and calm your breath, look at your nose with your eyes, look at your heart with your nose, let your heart follow the Ren and Du meridians, flowing downwards and back and forth in a cycle." In his desperation, Murong Junlan had to improvise a mantra. Their minds calmed down, but the frogs were restless, hopping around in front of them, trying to disrupt their concentration. Murong Junlan repeated the mantra several more times, and it worked. But they couldn't just stand there motionless. How could they get out? How could they rescue the people?

"Shanyu, have you noticed that these vampire wolf frogs don't attack people unless they smell blood? Be careful," Murong Junlan warned Luo Xie.

“Since they’re all coming at me, I’ll distract them. You all go ahead,” Luo Xie suddenly said.

"No, that's too dangerous." Murong Junlan rejected Luo Xie's idea.

"It's settled then." Luo Xie leaped to the side, slashing his hand with a knife, blood gushing out immediately. He shouted, "Prince Murong, take them and hurry to rescue my queen!"

"Brother, I'll go with you." Luo Rina was still worried about her brother.

"No, you go with Prince Murong and rescue your sister-in-law." Luo Xie completely ignored Murong Junlan's cold expression, turned around quickly and took a few steps back. He was panicked. Besides distracting the vampire wolf frog, he could clearly feel a powerful, chilling pressure behind him. However, he still had a bit of a sly tongue and said with a wicked smile, "Your Highness, I'm giving you my sister too. Please."

Murong Junlan was too lazy to pay attention to this guy. He tossed Xiong Bao to Luo Rina, then swung his iron chain to protect the two of them. Actually, Murong Junlan didn't take these vampire wolf frogs seriously; he only limited his strength because of them. He swiftly used a few "Swish Turtle" moves to fling half of the frogs towards Luo Xie, making Luo Xie furious.

While Murong Junlan led Luo Rina and Xiong Bao in the fierce battle, Luo Xie was frantically covering their retreat. An hour later, they finally carved out a path through the blood frogs. Just as everyone was about to rest and catch their breath, Luo Xie suddenly let out a loud scream. Everyone turned around and saw that Murong Junlan couldn't help but burst out laughing. There, on each of Luo Xie's ankles, were five or six blood-sucking wolf frogs biting into them, a bizarre and comical sight.

"Brother Shanyu, your foot is bleeding! Your foot looks like a frog's foot!" Xiong Bao shouted.

"Brother, be careful!" Luo Rina's heart jumped into her throat when she saw Murong Junlan's thin rope swinging towards her.

"Don't move!" Murong Junlan shouted a warning as he saw Luo Xie trying to avoid the thin rope at his feet. For a moment, Luo Xie was at a loss, and just then, with a few rustling sounds, the blood frogs hanging from Luo Xie's feet flew off one by one, instantly shattering into pieces. Even so, Luo Xie was still terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat. He gave Murong Junlan a rather unfriendly glare.

"Stop the bleeding." Murong Junlan tossed Luo Xie a small bottle containing medicine for stopping bleeding from external injuries and continued walking forward.

"Hey, Prince Murong, since my wife isn't officially married to you, and I'm not officially married to either of us, you can't just monopolize her. How about we compete fairly?" Luo Xie followed along, limping, his mouth just asking for a beating.

With a "snap," the thin rope in Murong Junlan's hand had somehow swung over, sending the small bottle that had just been given to Luo Xie flying.

Luo Xie reacted swiftly, whipping his hand around the small bottle that was about to fall to the ground. A whirlwind immediately swept the bottle back into his hand, and he brazenly declared, "Hey, luckily I reacted quickly, otherwise His Highness's efforts would have been wasted." He then called out to Xiong Bao on Luo Rina's back, "Hey kid, get down and apply medicine to Brother Shanyu."

"No." Xiong Bao hugged Luo Rina tightly.

"Get down. Men and women shouldn't touch each other. My sister isn't married yet." After saying that, Luo Xie pulled and dragged Xiong Bao down, rolled up his injured leg, and let Xiong Bao apply medicine.

Xiong Bao looked pitifully at Luo Rina, then glanced at Murong Junlan in the distance. Seeing that no one paid attention to him, he pouted and started to cry.

"You haven't even applied the medicine, why are you crying? Pretending to be wronged. Ha... Brother Shanyu won't fall for that." He stretched out his leg towards Xiong Bao again, "Hurry up, you can't afford to delay the time to save my queen." Luo Xie deliberately put on a stern face. Xiong Bao had no choice but to pick up the medicine bottle, pouting, and deliberately rubbed the medicine on his little hands vigorously.

"You did this on purpose." Luo Xie raised his hand to strike. Xiong Bao threw the half-empty bottle of medicine on the ground and quickly ran to Murong Junlan's side, ignoring Luo Xie.

"You've learned to rely on yourself, huh? Good. I'll see if he can protect you for a while, but not forever." Luo Xie ignored the bottle, pulled up his trouser leg, and followed Murong Junlan.

The four of them walked forward together for a while. Strangely, at first, dozens of soul-devouring vampire frogs jumped around and blocked their way, but later they became quiet, so quiet that it was a little creepy.

"Frog—woof, frog—woof." The road ahead suddenly darkened, and two frog croaks came from the darkness, sounding like something falling into a jar.

"What the hell is this thing? Trying to scare me, Chanyu? I'm not one to be scared!" Luo Xie started yelling again.

"It seems like there's a pair of eyes watching us from ahead." Murong Junlan sensed a powerful pressure emanating from the darkness. No sooner had he spoken than a colossal creature flew overhead with a whoosh.

"Squat down." Murong Junlan forcefully pressed Luo Rina down before she could squat down. Before anyone could get a good look, the huge thing pounced over again, and everyone had no choice but to dodge left and right with Murong Junlan.

"I wondered what kind of broken thing it was, but it turned out to be a broken frog."

This enormous frog was covered in mottled tiger skin, its body as big as a large bucket, its belly bulging like a large lantern; its eyes were exaggerated and protruding, so ugly that it was unbearable to look at, and even made one feel like vomiting.

"Hey, you ugly freak, how are you going to get a wife if you're this ugly?" Luo Xie was such a smart aleck.

"Oh no, it's pouncing!" Xiong Bao poked its head out from under Murong Junlan's arms.

Murong Junlan dodged with Xiong Bao, and then they heard Luo Rina's voice.

"Brother, be careful." As soon as Luo Rina finished speaking, the Ugly Frog pounced on Luo Xie.

"Damn it, you dare mess with me? You deserve a beating!" Luo Xie slashed at the giant frog several times, still not satisfied, and kicked wildly with his right foot, scattering blood and flesh everywhere from the small pile of remains of the little vampire wolf frog. At this moment, Luo Xie finally saw clearly that this big frog did not have those sharp teeth, which meant that this was not a soul-devouring vampire wolf frog.

"I thought you were a family, but it turns out you're just a cuckoo in a nest. It seems you're all show and no substance." The big frog didn't move an inch, not even twitching its eyelids, completely ignoring Loye.

"Fine, I'll chop you up and use you to make a dish, that'll save some money on groceries." Luo Xie couldn't understand why he couldn't stop talking today. Maybe it was because Murong Junlan was thinking about his wife, and he just felt uncomfortable. What angered him the most was that Murong Junlan ignored him completely, and that absent-minded look of missing his woman was really upsetting.

Sometimes animals are just like people. If you don't provoke them, they ignore you; but if you do, they'll come after you. The big frog was doing the same thing, relentlessly pursuing Luo Xie, its belly bulging as it pounced on him. Luo Xie, already seething with anger, took it out on the frog. While Luo Xie and the frog were locked in their battle, Murong Junlan didn't just stand by watching. Instead, he led Xiong Bao and Luo Rina into the cave. Luo Rina, worried about her brother Luo Xie, would turn back every few steps, loudly reminding him to be careful.

"How dare you ignore me?" Luo Xie's anger flared even more fiercely. "Want to leave? Not so easy!" He decided to abandon the giant frog and rush ahead of them, but the giant frog wouldn't have it, stubbornly sticking to him. Luo Xie got angry and unleashed several powerful punches, forcing the giant frog to retreat. Feeling triumphant, Luo Xie suddenly darted ahead. Murong Junlan was stunned by Luo Xie's actions, and then he was bewildered by another of Luo Xie's moves. Luo Xie, who had just darted forward, suddenly pounced on him with lightning speed. What was wrong with this guy? Murong Junlan hurriedly pulled the little bear in his arms aside and tossed it to Luo Rina, then braced himself to catch the punch.

At this moment, Luo Rina also noticed Luo Xie's unusual behavior. She shouted at Luo Xie, "Brother, what are you doing?"

With a "thud," Luo Xie bumped directly into Murong Junlan, or rather, Luo Xie hugged Murong Junlan. Murong Junlan pushed Luo Xie away in disgust, brushed off his wrinkled clothes, and said rudely, "Please have some self-respect."

At this moment, Luo Xie felt as if he had swallowed a dead fly, but he had nowhere to vent his anger, so he just exploded. He originally wanted to explain the reason, which was because he saw... but he shouted out, "Is he that precious? It's your blessing that I, Luo Xie, am willing to hug a man."

"Oh dear, what kind of insult is that?" Murong Junlan clenched his fists and immediately started fighting with Luo Xie. Seeing that Murong Junlan was serious, Luo Xie had no choice but to deal with it; he had no choice but to, as Murong Junlan's fists were already hitting his face.

"Damn it, you actually hit me?" Luo Xie retorted, not to be outdone, and the two of them made quite a racket. Seeing Murong Junlan's monkey-like fist about to strike his face, Luo Xie had nowhere to dodge. He thought to himself, "This guy's trying to ruin my reputation today, constantly slapping me in the face." Since he couldn't escape, he could only complain to fate. "Heavens, why is my luck so bad today?" But he was still indignant, so Luo Xie shouted, "Hey!"

Murong Junlan's punch wasn't frightened by the loud roar, but it suddenly stopped. Why? The giant frog pounced. It pounced directly at their faces.

"What's this guy doing getting involved?" Luo Xie wondered, but at this moment he was genuinely grateful to the big frog for saving him from Murong Junlan's devastating sealing punch. He really wanted to hug the big frog to express his gratitude, but the big frog simply kicked him in the face with a cold thigh and then dashed away gracefully.

The two of them turned to look at the giant frog, and what they saw next left them speechless. The frog opened its mouth wide and, in a flash, swallowed a snake whole. Wait a minute, what kind of scene is this? It's always snakes eating frogs, why is a frog eating a snake? Let me process this.