bookbashuk Chapter 75: Sudden Change
Chapter 75: Sudden Change
"Pfft!"
The hard scales shattered, and the thick flesh burst open!
On the sea surface, a small patch of dark ripples instantly spread out.
The steel arrows, each over ten feet long, pierced the giant fish's body and became deeply embedded in its bones.
Crimson blood, like a burst dam, gushed out from the gruesome wound, its sweet, metallic scent spreading rapidly.
"hold head high--"
The giant sea creature was suddenly struck by a devastating blow and immediately unleashed a deafening roar.
Its mountain-like body instantly lost all its structure, thrashing and thrashing wildly in agony.
Every struggle felt like the sky was falling and the earth was splitting apart.
The waves were violently torn apart, sending up towering columns of water.
The entire magnificent ship trembled violently under the violent pull, its hull groaning, and its sturdy sails and rigging roared under the strain.
"Stay calm!!!"
"Your Majesty, be careful!!"
Everyone was tossed about by the giant wave, and the deck beneath their feet creaked and groaned as if it would be torn apart by the brute force at any moment.
The giant fish roared silently in extreme pain.
Although the enormous, mournful cry had no physical sound waves, it shook the entire sea in another way.
Then, it seemed to have identified what was hurting it.
The giant fish turned around and charged towards the fleet.
The snow-white waves and the dark, inky seawater crashed and merged together, surging towards the crowd as if the world were upside down.
At the bow of the ship, in the eye of the storm, Ying Zheng remained indifferent.
He stood firmly at the bow of the ship, his figure as upright as a pine tree, remaining completely still no matter how the ship rocked and tilted.
The towering waves roared behind him, but they could not shake Ying Zheng in the slightest.
His deep gaze swept over the churning sea of blood, and he raised his palm again, his voice piercing through the wind and waves.
"put!"
At a command, the second and third rows of giant crossbows, which had been ready to fire, burst forth simultaneously.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh—!"
Several cold glints pierced into the giant fish's relatively weak points in its head and neck, as well as its soft belly and flanks.
Each arrow contains the power to pierce through gold and split rocks.
Each arrow pierces the bone, reaching deep into the internal organs!
Despite the severe damage, the giant fish became even more enraged and rammed into a multi-story ship on its left front side.
"Bang--!"
Under the enormous impact, the ship's hull broke apart with a crash, and the armored soldiers and giant crossbows on board sank to the bottom of the sea.
Ying Zheng's expression remained unchanged. He raised his hand again and gave the order.
"put!"
"call out--"
Second crossbow, third crossbow, fourth crossbow...
Several streaks of cold light pierced the air and struck the giant fish with a deafening roar.
Under the relentless onslaught, the giant fish's tumultuous, turbulent momentum finally began to visibly falter.
Its massive body was no longer able to stir up towering waves; it could only pound the sea surface heavily and weakly.
The rolling blood covered nearly half of the sea, turning the clear ocean into a crimson red, and the stench of blood filled the air.
The giant fish that had just dominated the deep sea and blocked the sea route could now lie stiffly on the blood waves, devoid of any life.
The wind gradually subsided, and the waves gradually calmed.
Above the blood-red sea of waves, the mangled remains of the giant fish lay like a hidden reef across the water.
"Is he...dead?!"
The soldiers looked at each other, seemingly unable to believe it, and the atmosphere gradually became heavy.
But this deathly silence lasted only a moment.
Li Si reacted extremely quickly, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.
Seizing the moment to declare victory, he faced the First Emperor and shouted with all his might.
"Where the might of Heaven extends, even divine beings are annihilated! May Your Majesty live ten thousand years, and may the Great Qin Dynasty prosper forever!"
The shout was like a pebble thrown into a pool, instantly creating ripples.
On the deck, thousands of heavily armored soldiers, as if drawn by an invisible force, all knelt down and bowed in worship toward the figure at the bow of the ship.
"Long live Your Majesty!"
A deafening roar erupted.
"Ten thousand years—!"
"Ten thousand years—!!"
"Ten thousand years—!!!"
The sound soared into the sky, as if it would tear through the clouds and completely drown out the still-suppressing roar of the waves.
Ying Zheng lowered his eyes, looking down at the sea of blood and mangled bodies.
The death of the giant fish seemed to prove that the Qin Dynasty's bows and crossbows were still sharp, and that the Qin Dynasty's power could still quell evil spirits and pacify the borders.
The sun was gradually setting in the sky.
The crimson-gold afterglow spilled onto the shimmering, blood-red sea.
Ying Zheng had been standing silently at the bow of the ship for a long time, his gaze fixed on the dead behemoth, a glint of light in his eyes.
No one knows what was churning in the emperor's heart at that moment.
Behind him, only Zhao Gao and Zou Yun stood by his side.
The air seemed to freeze, with only the distant exclamations of Feng Zhixue and others about the remains of the giant fish, and the clamor of Li Si directing his armored soldiers to bind and drag the massive object.
This only made the quiet corner seem even more eerie.
"Master Zou..."
Suddenly, Ying Zheng spoke.
He didn't turn around, his back to the two of them, his voice so calm it was as if he were just talking about the weather.
"Your subject is here."
Zou Yun's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately bowed in response.
He subconsciously assumed that Ying Zheng wanted to inquire about the outcome of their trip to Penglai Immortal Mountain in search of the elixir of immortality.
Zou Yun quickly organized the prepared remarks in his mind.
However, Ying Zheng's next words were like a bolt from the blue, instantly shattering all his thoughts.
All that could be heard was the voice from behind, spoken in an extremely soft, almost whispered tone.
"Master Zou, I should kill you."
The sound was light and airy.
Like a feather brushing past, it was so faint that only Zou Yun and Zhao Gao, who were right next to it, could barely catch it.
The voice, however, was as heavy as a mountain, each syllable so heavy that it could freeze the soul of anyone who heard it.
A chilling killing intent suddenly pierced Zou Yun's mind.
His blood seemed to flow backward instantly, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
Zou Yun almost instinctively and quickly looked around—
Cold sweat instantly soaked through my inner shirt!
He was horrified to discover that, without his knowledge, the spot where he, Ying Zheng, and Zhao Gao were standing had been silently surrounded by countless powerful crossbows that gleamed with a cold, eerie light.
The crossbowmen were hidden behind the ship's side and masts, holding their bows drawn but not firing, and even the giant crossbows on other warships were cocked again.
The arrow is pointing directly at Zou Yun!
Unbeknownst to anyone on this bustling deck, which had just witnessed a great feat, a deadly trap had been quietly set.
Zou Yun suddenly turned his head and looked at Zhao Gao beside him.
Ying Zheng's most capable assistant and most trusted confidant was also deathly pale and his eyes were wide open.
Large beads of cold sweat were uncontrollably pouring from Zhao Gao's forehead.
Zou Yun's heart sank.
Even Zhao Gao didn't know beforehand!
This emperor, a figure of unparalleled power, had silently deceived everyone, meticulously orchestrating this scheme for himself.
"What do we do?!"
"Take him hostage? He's so close, with my supernatural powers I have a chance!"
The thought had barely formed when it was immediately suppressed by an even deeper chill.
"No, Ying Zheng dared to get so close and attack me. Did he really not prepare himself for... mutual destruction?"
The instinct for survival drives the brain to come up with the next solution.
"Escape! Jump into the sea immediately!"
"Although I can't swim, freezing a piece of ice shouldn't be a problem. As for the crossbow bolts to shoot the big fish, I'll use stealth to hide myself."
In a split second, Zou Yun conceived a seemingly feasible escape route in his mind.
"but......"
Zou Yun glanced subconsciously at Feng Zhixue and the others who were excitedly watching from a distance.
"Damn it! What are they going to do?"
Hesitation and indecision gripped him like cold vines.
"Damn! Maybe we should take a gamble and wait for the body to disintegrate and we'll be reborn."
"But what if I'm sunk into the sea? If I sink to the bottom... even if I'm resurrected, I'll still drown. Forever and never to return!"
One solution after another appeared in Zou Yun's mind, but he rejected them one by one.
Every seemingly possible chance of survival comes with a fatal flaw or an unbearable cost.
Perhaps in this world, there are others who, in the same desperate situation as him, can find a glimmer of hope in the impossible and stage a miraculous comeback.
But that didn't include Zou Yun; at least at this moment, he really couldn't think of anything, no matter how hard he tried.
I was careless...
Zou Yun stared blankly at the tall figure that overlapped with the setting sun.
The crimson afterglow cast a sacred yet cold halo over Ying Zheng's silhouette.
The halo was so dazzling that Zou Yun momentarily forgot to breathe, and didn't know how to respond to this sudden declaration of death.
There was a time when he utterly despised Ying Zheng's fanatical obsession with immortality.
Today, that contempt is all the more shocking.
The emperor before us, after shooting down the giant fish that symbolized obstacles, seemed to have also pierced through the illusion of his own desires.
Those eyes, once slightly clouded and eroded by the years and the dream of immortality, now once again shone with the sharp, domineering light that Zou Yun had when they first met.
That true, cold-blooded, and rational emperor.
It seems that at this moment, amidst the embers of blood and fire, one breaks free from the shackles of immortality.
"Master Zou?"
Ying Zheng's voice rang out again, still as calm and unwavering as ever.
He slowly turned around, his face, deeply outlined by the setting sun, expressionless, as if wearing a perfect mask.
At this moment, no one can see what's going on.
What kind of turbulent emotions were churning within the heart of this emperor who had just achieved an astonishing turnaround?
Just as no one could have predicted, he had succumbed to the temptation of immortality several times.
Yet, at this moment when victory and twilight intertwine, he makes the coldest, most resolute, and most rational decision.