Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Flowers with Human Faces

The glowing spot wasn’t far from them. Lan Ying reached it with a flick of his tail.

It wasn’t the light of a pearl, but a glowing house.

Yu An moved closer for a look. It resembled a miniature stone house, with something unknown inside emitting a faint red glow.

Seeing her interest, Lan Ying was about to pick it up for her to get a closer look when the stone house’s door suddenly opened.

A powerful suction force surged out from within. It formed a small vortex outside, sucking in the small pearls on the ground.

It didn’t have much of an effect on Yu An and Lan Ying, only gently ruffling their hair.

"How magical," Yu An said, her interest piqued. "What in the world is this?"

The stone house was embedded in a large rock, making it impossible to pick up. Lan Ying volunteered to try and lift the rock, but even with all his might, he couldn’t budge it an inch.

"Hah," Lan Ying panted. "An’an, there’s something strange about this rock. I can’t even lift it."

Yu An poked the door of the stone house, but there was no reaction. She leaned in to inspect it closely. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she thought she saw a scene through the little house’s window.

There were mountains, rivers, flowers, trees, and... people?

The flowers were very strange, capturing all of Yu An’s attention. The blossoms had noses and eyes, looking just like human faces!

She jumped in fright. She blinked, but when she looked again, it was pitch-black inside with nothing to be seen.

"Lan Ying, come take a look..."

Lan Ying glanced over. "There’s nothing there, An’an. Are you sure you saw that?"

He didn’t see anything, let alone the human face flowers Yu An mentioned.

Seeing her lips turn pale with fear, Lan Ying hurriedly comforted her. "You must have imagined it. How could such things exist in this world? An’an, it’s getting late. We should head back."

Still shaken, Yu An nodded. As Lan Ying held her in his arms and swam back, she couldn’t resist looking back one more time.

As they moved farther away, the red light slowly dimmed until it vanished from her sight.

The serpent Zaizai hatched on the day they left the Merfolk Clan. Chun Nuan, who was watching over it, was the first to notice the egg stirring.

She quickly called for Yu An, who halted their journey. The entire group gathered around the serpent egg to watch it hatch.

The little one was exceptionally slow. They waited from day until night, and by the time Da Hu and the other two were dozing off, only a faint crack had appeared on the eggshell.

"Female Mother," Da Hu mumbled, slumping into Yu An’s arms and rubbing his eyes. "I want to go to sleep. I don’t want to watch my little serpent brother hatch anymore. He’s so slow!"

Xiao Yu and Xiao Hu felt the same way.

Yu An handed them over to Feng Xuan and Lan Yin. "Go on," she said. "When you wake up tomorrow, you should be able to meet your little brother."

That’s right, the Little Serpent was also a male Zaizai.

The little one was taking its sweet time. By midnight, Yu An had had enough and directly handed over the duty of watching the Zaizai to its very own Beast Father, Mo Yan.

"Call me when the Zaizai comes out," Yu An said with a huge yawn. "I’m dead tired. I’m going to sleep."

Mo Yan smiled helplessly. "Alright, go get some rest. I’ll be here."

Han Li was just about to offer to take Yu An to rest, but Ao Wu beat him to it, scooping her up and running off.

"Hey, you..."

Han Li muttered a few curses under his breath and quickly chased after them.

Mo Yan watched them disappear from sight, then turned back to wholeheartedly watch over the Zaizai.

"Hatch quickly, so your big brothers can play with you. Your Beast Father still has to compete for favor," he murmured, his gaze on the serpent egg growing ever more affectionate.

Da Hu was lively and energetic. Xiao Yu was only playful with those he was close to. Xiao Hu was sleepy all day, but when he wasn’t drowsy, he was actually quite active.

The newly hatched serpent Zaizai, however, seemed a bit dazed. After breaking out of its shell, it tilted its head to look at Mo Yan, coiled around his hand, and went still.

Mo Yan called out to him several times, and the Little Serpent, seemingly annoyed, twitched just enough to show it was still alive.

Other than that, its biggest movement was upon seeing Yu An. It transferred itself from its Beast Father’s wrist to its Female Mother’s, and then whispered, "Female Mother."

"A-and then?"

Yu An was a little flustered. She gazed at the serpent Zaizai and asked, "Little Serpent, are you feeling unwell? Let your Female Mother take a look."

"No."

The serpent Zaizai shook its head slightly. "I’m not unwell. Moving is just too much trouble. I want to hang on Female Mother’s hand for the rest of my life."

Yu An’s mouth twitched. ’This little guy was just born, and he already knows the phrase "the rest of my life"!’

’Alright, she figured it out. Just like Xiao Hu always wanting to sleep, this serpent Zaizai was simply too lazy to move.’

Mo Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s good. An’an, is the Zaizai heavy? How about you let him hang on my..."

Hearing this, the Little Serpent tightened its coil. "I want to be with Female Mother!"

"Alright, alright," Mo Yan said helplessly. "Loosen up a little. You’re squeezing too tightly."

Only then did the Little Serpent relax its grip a little.

The Treasure Pearl Sea wasn’t too far from the Imperial City. They encountered several ambushes on the way. After capturing and questioning a few of the attackers, they discovered they had all seen the kill order at the Ghost Market and were hoping to make a small fortune.

Yu An couldn’t help but complain, "Who in the world did I offend? Spending one hundred thousand gold coins on my life... isn’t that a bit much!"

"Nonsense," Ao Wu said from the driver’s seat, disagreeing. "An’an, you’re priceless. I’m going to find out who it is that underestimates you so!"

Yu An sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Is that really the point?"

’Well, yes, it was,’ she thought. ’After all, an ordinary person couldn’t possibly produce one hundred thousand gold coins.’

Their previous disguises were now useless. The people Yu An captured said the kill order had been updated with new information, specifically mentioning their cart as an identifying feature.

So, Yu An decided to drop the pretense entirely. She made a high-profile entrance into the Imperial City with her whole retinue of Beast Husbands and Zaizai.

The Imperial City was more majestic than any city they had passed through. The walls were high and imposing, soldiers stood guard at the gates, and everyone entering or leaving had to undergo a strict inspection.

The line to enter the city was very long. Just as Yu An was about to lead her group to get in line, a party of people suddenly emerged from within the city.

The one in the lead was a middle-aged female. She seemed to be in disbelief when she saw Yu An, staring for several moments before leading her people over.

"Princess Yu An, the Beast Emperor has sent this servant to escort you back to the palace."

Yu An recognized her. She was one of the Beast Emperor’s personal attendants, named Qiuyue.

Qiuyue was very respectful, and it’s hard to turn away a smiling face. Besides, Yu An didn’t want to wait in line, and she had to see the Beast Emperor after entering the city anyway.

So, she nodded. "Let’s go."

Qiuyue gestured for them to proceed. She tried to keep her gaze forward, but when she saw the three Zaizai following closely behind Yu An, she couldn’t help but steal another glance.

’Wait, not just three,’ she realized. ’The Ink Serpent on Yu An’s wrist is a Beastman cub too.’

After their party left, the Beastmen who remained erupted into a flurry of discussion.

"Heavens! That beautiful young female is actually Princess Yu An!"

"I’m from out of town. Wasn’t Princess Yu An supposed to be ugly and vicious? That female looked so incredibly gentle!"

"Even us locals had no idea! Princess Yu An used to be a barren female with no Fertility whatsoever. But I think I just heard those three cute Zaizai call her Female Mother."

"Could there be something magical about the exiled land? To actually allow a barren female to give birth to three Zaizai at once!"

"Don’t spread nonsense. There’s nothing special about the exiled land. I’m from the Northern Tiger Clan, and I heard that Princess Yu An is the Beast God Envoy..."