The Land Of Poison

-Zhu Hong-

That night Zhu Hong had indeed dream with the land of poison. She was granted the insight of what to expect in the next territory, which was more dangerous that she expected, because what awaits them there was more than clouds of poisons and a ground full of holes.

As she wake up in the morning and the others did as well, she passed around a medicinal pill that will neutralize the poisons for the coming hours, because of all the territories, that one was the shortest. However that didn't meant it was the safest. She came closer to Yunlan and pass on the insight information Nuwa had granted in her dreams.

"Worms? Huge ones, huh... Ah... and here I thought I had already seen it all. Damn, I hate worms." Yunlan joked.

"Yunlan, this is serious..." Shen Wei said.

"Of course it is, my Wei..." Zhao said, giving his lover a light kiss on his cheek. Zhu Hong smiled as she watched the Fire Prince go red in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Zhu. We will deal with the worms as we encounter them. Luckily it will not be for too long and as long as we take care of each other, we will surpass this the same way as we did before. The question is, are you ready, Zhu? I know the last happenings had affect you quite dearly..." Zhu looked at the direction in which Da Qing was talking with Guo.

"I'm fine as long as he lives, worry not." Zhu whisper and Zhao arched an eyebrow.

"How strong is your link to him now?" Yunlan asked.

"The same as yours with Shen Wei, I guess." Shen blushed as Zhao gave him a more or less indecent look.

"Then it's quite strong indeed. Ah, young love, how wonderful... don't worry, your Earth Prince is strong too, I just hope you can have him when going back to our land, the same way I will have my Fire Prince heating my water every night." Zhao said.

"Yunlan!" Zhao laughed, taking Wei's hand and kissing it very softly, making both Wei and Zhu blush even more.

After all of them were ready, they go out of the stone. There was a purple cloud covering the ground, but with Zhu's medicine, they were immune to the poison for the next twelve hours, however, they needed to be careful as they walked, because the cloud of poison was covering the holes and Guo would had fall inside one of them if it wasn't for Chu's pulling him back just before he stumble in.

After that, Da Qing leaded the way, avoiding the holes he sensed in the ground and bordering those ones who were too big avoid. At all times, Da Qing keep his eyes closed, while holding Zhu's hand. There were relaying on their spiritual connection, so he could feel the things Zhu did that could risk their lives from the poison cloud. They soon find out that there were many kinds of creatures that lived under the ground cloud, but most of them were fairly small, not like the huge worms Zhu warned them.

"Hey Qing, just where are they? Did they leave?" Chu voiced, making Da look back in annoyance.

"Are you that eager to fight? The holes go too deep in the ground for me to sense all the way down, back off." Qing warned and so they walked in silence for around an hour, killing those other small creatures that dare to attack them. Then one small hound like creature, begin making a deep sound that resonate in the valley and then, another further away seems to answer back.

"Shen Wei!" But even before Yunlan yelled to him, he was already half releasing a fire arrow to kill it.

"Damn, they are coming up! Shen Wei, send fire inside the holes!" Qing yelled and the Fire Prince gather his energy to cast it away into the multiple holes, ignitiating them as deep as he could, but still, the things came out, even if they were half burned.

Soon they were surrounded by huge worms that looked more like upgraded snakes of gray color. Lin slashed several ones at the same time with wind blades and Guo sent away his sword to take down those that the Wind Prince didn't reach.

Nonetheless, more came from the nearby holes and Chu try to seal them with his strongest threads, but after a bit of resistance, they broke free as well. Then one worm spit some kind of dark substance, that Lin hurry up to send it away with his wind and they watched in horror as everything that came in contact with it pretty much melted like it would under a strong kind of acid.

"What the hell?!" Sang yelled, now scare to death.

"Damn, run, run, run!!!" Zhao yelled and they all did without a second thought.

However, there were too many holes around them, some of them too close to avoid as several more giants worms came out spitting out the lethal acid-like substance. Lin was forced to create waves after waves of cutting winds as they run, clearing the poison and slicing the coming worms, but they soon find out, that if the head of a worm coming up was sliced, the black liquid will burst like a fountain and burn the spot in their clothes in which it fell or their skin.

Shen Wei try to summon his shield, but the dark liquid, just like before with the red tentacles, could melt his shield as well. Then Qing created a wide earth tunnel, but it was broke as well and they still had several miles ahead of them. Zhao summon a huge water dragon that glided over them as they slashed and run. The thick water that make the dragon, keep the dark liquid from reaching them, so they run like hell under the water dragon protection until they came to a halt as the land simply ended in an endless cliff with the other side too far away to reach, even with Qing's earth magic.

"Oh hell... now what?" Wang asked as she looked down to the endless purple cloud several miles down, as new worms came out of their holes. Lin keep his cutting wind, while Zhao's dragon coiled around them, creating a water shield.

"Yunlan, take them back to the stone. I will summon the Phoenix that will help me cross to the other side." Shen offered.

"Alright, but I will stay with you. As soon as Lin's wind die out, they will come at you and your fire is not enough to stop the acid... beside, summoning the Phoenix will drain your fire magic in record time, you need a backup." Yunlan said.

"Heaven's fire will harm you... stay inside the stone too."

"Ah, Shen Wei, you will become an easy target without the water shield and it will disappear in the moment I cross dimensions." Zhao argue.

"Hey! We know you guys love each other to a point of offering your lives for each other, but I can't seriously do this all day! Soon, the water dragon too will be dissolved, just look at how much dark water it has right now." Lin said and true enough, there were several large spot in clear dragons that had darkened, as it took the acid.

"Come on Yunlan, please trust me. I will be fine." Zhao accented and sent in all the members of the group and took the goddess stone in his hand. Then the worms came closer as they spit more liquid over the dragon.

"My Wei... sorry, but we do this together." Zhao said, as he gave the stone to Wei.

"Yunlan..."

"Let's go!" Zhao said as he took Wei's hand and begin running toward the border of the cliff. Just in the moment his dragon exploded, sending the acid back to the worms, halting them. Then they jumped and fell freely over the deep void. Shen immediately summon the Phoenix, letting go of the stone to grab Yunlan in his arms as they fell.

Hearing the Phoenix cry as it go down from the heavens, Shen summon a very thick layer of green fire and make a bubble around them as they fell over the live white fire of the guardian beast, that dived further down the cliff to catch the stone that floated as it became brighter with the protective power of the goddess. Seen that Wei's healing fire was keeping them safe from the heaven's fire of which the Phoenix was made, Yunlan smiled. It was extremely hot, but a bit of cooling was no big deal for a Water Prince, especially when he was already used to cool down his way too hot lover.

"That was too reckless Yunlan... bring us in before my healing fire gets overwhelmed." Shen said, as he keep Zhao tightly held. Then Yunlan kiss him, as he use another hint of star magic to bring them inside the stone, held by the Phoenix, which already knew its destination before going back to the heavens. So, when they appear back inside, the others watched as the lovers were trying their best to melt together, surrounded by a sphere of green fire.

"It seems they can't get away from each other even in dangerous situations like this one... I kind of envy them..." Wang said, blushing a little.

"My Wang, I promise we will have our chance." Sang protested.

"Yeah, right..." Wang sighed, however, the one at her side, looked at the pair of lovers in a heated kiss with some disgust.

"Hey, get back to your water bubble! We can see you both just fine!" Lin yelled, annoyed, but Yunlan simply laughed, passing an arm over Wei's shoulder.

"You are just jealous that you don't have anyone to kiss." Zhao joked, as Shen undo his fire.

"That's right, so just get down of your high horse." Da Qing added.

"As if kissing in such a journey is what matters the most. Why will I be jealous of a bunch of fools (straight ones) and gay ones at that too." Lin said and if Yunlan had not retrain Shen Wei, the Wind Prince would had been burn down to ashes in the spot, not to mention, cut by deadly threads all over.

"Don't mind his word, my Wei, nor you Chu Shuzhi. There is nothing to be ashamed of loving someone, not matter the gender." Zhao said calmly coming closer to Lin who swallow hard as he saw pure rage in their leader eyes.

"Just take in mind that eventually this pair of men, will be in charge of all Clans, including yours. So, I advise you to be more careful with your words next time. Now, please all of you, tend your burns and have some rest. The next territory will be the hardest." Zhao said, then moved back to take Wei's hand and guide him to their water bubble.

Confrontations were inevitable in a journey of leaders from all Clans with different points of view, Zhao knew, but the human poison of the heart was even more dangerous than that of any other creature in the world and he was well aware of it.

AN: Thanks for reading and my apologies for not update a story from Guardian last weekend. I just became hooked with The Untamed drama. Ah, what a drama! So well done with lots of teasing and amazing scenes of the main characters. So, I couldn't help myself but to write for that fandom too. The Untamed: Heartbeats and The Untamed: The Way Of Feelings are out for those who also like this drama. Thanks for patiently waiting for this update. Things will get harder from here on, but I assure you a happy Weilan ending. Take care until next time. 💞😙😍😁💖💖💖💖