Zhulong watched in spite as Weng convulsed on the ground with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, while blood spurted out of the gaping hole in his chest to form a small puddle of blood on the ground.
He leaned his face toward him.
"I'd tell you to go to hell but I don't want to see you there. Anyways that's the only place you'll end up brother." Zhulong murmured darkly, even though he knew he couldn't hear him as he was in a dying state.
The others ran toward him while they watched in dread as his body immediately stopped convulsing and it immediately became stiff as his eyes shut close.
A dark smile crept to Zhulong's lips but it disappeared as quickly as it came. Weng was gradually succumbing to the cold hands of death but he couldn't feel a flicker of remorse or empathy, rather he felt thrilled.
With his heightened senses, he could no longer hear the beating heart of Weng and his golden eyes glinted sadistically.
Ying gradually knelt beside him and swiftly rolled his sleeves up to reveal his wrist with slightly frantic movements.
"He's not dead...yet." Ying said calmly before taking out his dagger, then slicing his wrist with it and hovering his slit wrist above Weng's slightly parted mouth, for the blood to trickle out of the wound into it.
They all watched in suspense as the blood encompassed the insides of Weng's slightly parted mouth. Ying's slit flesh stitched back together in a second as he rolled his sleeves down before scrutinizing Weng.
For a lengthened moment they watched with intent. Zhulong could only wish inwardly that it wouldn't work. A little amount of blood wouldn't be able to do as much as to revive him from the dead, would it?
Suddenly, he could hear the faint throbbing of Weng's heart beneath his ribcage and the soft rising and falling of his chest, although his eyes were still closed as the gaping hole in his chest surfaced with flesh stitching over it, but the thick black web like veins manifesting on his neck and lower cheekbones were still strongly visible and it felt as though they were extending.
"What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?" Gai queried as he switched his gaze from Weng to Ying.
Zhulong clenched his teeth hard as Weng miraculously survived, although it wasn't a miracle since they were powerful creatures, so a little hole in the chest wouldn't be enough to completely snuff the life out of them, although the poison from the strange creature lurking beneath the waters made the recovery incomplete, as Weng was still unconscious.
"He's poisoned. He needs treatment." Ying replied stiffly as he grabbed Weng's shoulders to haul him up, before his eyes stopped at the water that rippled softly.
"We need to leave, it can still sense us." Lei warned, emancipating on the 'it' as his eyes glanced at the water with elevated rippling.
"We can't risk another person getting poisoned, it'd be a dead weight, we should leave now." Xuan said firmly as he coiled his fists tightly around the hilt of his sword.
Ying swiftly lifted Weng up as he supported him onto his back with effortless movements as he knelt on the floor, he was about to get up on his feet so they could dispatch, until a tentacle abruptly protracted from within the dark waters, and before they could process what had ensued, the elongated tentacle twisted around Azure's neck before it yanked her towards the water with inhumane speed which could barely be detected.
"Azure!" Xuan yelled in dread as the others watched in shock.
Azure choked on her screams as she futilely tried to entangle the tentacle curled around her neck.
Zhulong's golden eyes dilated as he watched the sight before him. Without a second's thought, he sped towards her with inhumane speed as she was being dragged away midair toward the water.
He was only a finger tip away from catching hold of her but it was too late, as she was been immersed into the water with a heavy splash, but Zhulong didn't spare another bloody second as he immediately dived into the water after her.
He could feel the eeriness encompassing the waters as he immersed himself into it, it felt as though he had gone through a whole different dimension as the outside world immediately fell quiet and numb.
The water was dark like an endless depth of darkness, although he could see in the darkness and his eyes caught sight of the creature residing underneath the deepest depth of the dark waters with it's long tentacle protruding from within it.
He swam with a rapid pace towards Azure who was being pulled deeper into the darkest depths of the water with limbs flailing as she struggled to free herself.
He proceeded with bullet speed toward her and in a blink of an eye, he wound his arm around her slender waist in an attempt to pull her upwards as she gagged in the water with beads of bubbles erupting from her mouth, but the tentacle was tightly coiled around her neck which made it harder to breathe.
His jaws ticked hard as he fiercely slashed the tentacles to release her. Black blood diffused into the water as the tentacles split in two, releasing her in the process before retracting back to the creature that resided in the deepest depth of the waters.
She was freed from the creature but she had gone stiff with only a single bubble escaping from her mouth and not anymore. Panic hit him, knowing she had been in the water for far too long unlike him who was a vampire with a modified system, she had a human system even though she harnessed powers.
He shot upward through the waters with her in his arms with immense speed in an attempt to get air into her lungs and get the water out.
He immersed her out of the water onto the dry ground and he could hear the patters of feet scurrying towards them as they emerged from the water but he didn't care to look as his eyes were fixated on Azure who was unconscious.
Her black long hair clung to her face and scalp and her dress clung to her body as she was soaked in water as well as he was. He could hear the faint throbbing of her heart beneath her ribcage, and her shallow breathing which was clogged with water in her lungs.
First aid first!
He hovered his hands with interlocked fingers above her chest and without wasting another second, he pummeled his hands against her chest in an attempt to denote CPR on her.
"What are you doing? Get away from her!" He heard Xuan's voice as he extended his hand to push his away, but with a swift and hard movement, he whacked his hand away enough to make him hiss in pain, he was sure he heard his bone snap but the fucker deserved it apparently.
"Fuck off!" Zhulong hissed beneath his breath between gritted teeth as he continued applying CPR on her.
Water spurted out of her mouth and she coughed as her eyes shot wide open as she gasped and took in heavy huffs of air into her constricted lungs.
"Let's go." Ying said abruptly as he sprouted up his feet with Weng on his back and moving toward the water to swim across it.
"It's too weak to attack now that it's injured, we could cross over the river safely." Gai remarked as his gaze stopped on the still water. Phoenix whined about crossing over the river in hopes of gaining Xuan's attention but she caught the wrong attention of Lei instead who offered her a back ride to swim across, although she couldn't refuse since she couldn't swim.
Zhulong gently lifted Azure up with his hand resting on the small of her back while Xuan watched with hard icy silvery eyes piercing at him darkly, although it wasn't the right time for an argument so he stayed tight lipped.
"Thank you." Azure said in a small voice as she slowly regained her composure while she moved strands of hair sticking to her face behind.
"Hop on." Zhulong said firmly without replying. She stared at him in slight confusion with fluttering lashes at him.
"It's fine." She said.
"I didn't ask for your opinion. Hop on." Zhulong emancipated firmly again, not giving her a choice.
She swallowed softly before meekly moving towards his back as he crouched down for her to get on. She wound her small arms around his strong neck and when she was positioned comfortably, he stood up and moved towards the water along with the rest of them.
"I guess it's just me and you." Gai remarked to Xuan who was burning holes into Zhulong's back.
Xuan didn't reply and rather moved away from him toward the water and Gai scoffed with an amused chuckle as he shook his head softly.
"Love rivals." Gai muttered beneath his breath.