Jia Ma Royal Family and Misty Cloud Sect Join Forces

Jia Ma Imperial City, Imperial Palace.

A woman clad in luxurious brocade robes sat upon the throne. She was tall and graceful, with exquisite features and an icy, regal bearing.

Beneath that cold beauty lay a measure of majesty. Every inch of her exuded a mature, alluring charm, and every glance from her beautiful eyes seemed naturally seductive.

That was Yao Ye, the Elder Princess of the Jia Ma Empire and its heir.

"How is it? Is there any news of Elder Jia?"

Yao Ye sat upright on the throne, appearing calm on the surface. Yet where the kneeling ministers below could not see, her hands clenched tightly within her brocade robes were damp with sweat. Clearly, she was nowhere near as composed as she appeared.

Jia Xingtian was her great-grandfather. She knew that Gu He had called him away to help seize a Heavenly Flame.

At first, she had not been worried. Her great-grandfather was already at the peak of the Dou Emperor realm. Even if he could not win, Medusa, the Queen of the Snake-People Tribe, would not be able to stop him if he wished to flee.

But several days had passed, and Jia Xingtian had yet to return. Seizing a Heavenly Flame should not have taken this long, should it?

Thus, she hurriedly sent people to gather information.

A minister below said in a trembling voice, "Elder Princess, Elder Jia... he... he was killed in the Snake-People Tribe."

Boom.

The minister's words struck Yao Ye like a heavy blow to the head. Her eyes filled with grief, as though her entire world had turned gray.

"You may leave first!"

Sensing that the Elder Princess was in a bad state, the minister who had received the order did not dare linger, afraid that her fury might spill over onto him.

After the minister left, Yao Ye was the only one remaining in the great hall.

The young woman could no longer hold it in. She wrapped her arms around her knees, and tears poured down like a torrential rain.

All her usual majesty had completely faded away. She looked like nothing more than a helpless little girl overwhelmed by grief.

Who knew how much time passed before Yao Ye finally raised her head again and wiped the tearstains from her face? The sorrow in her eyes had already been replaced by endless rage.

"Snake-People Tribe! I want you all dead!"

Yao Ye's voice was filled with boundless hatred.

Before long, the news spread, causing a tremendous uproar throughout the Jia Ma Empire.

Misty Cloud Sect.

Naturally, the Misty Cloud Sect received the news as well. The Misty Cloud Sect's Great Elder, Yun Leng, hurriedly awakened the former Sect Master, Yun Shan.

When Yun Shan learned from Yun Leng that his disciple had actually been killed, it felt as if five thunderbolts had struck him at once.

He had raised Yun Yun since childhood. In Yun Shan's heart, he had long regarded Yun Yun as his own daughter.

Now that he had heard Yun Yun was killed among the Snake-People Tribe, Yun Shan was consumed by both grief and fury.

If he had not feared being besieged by the Snake-People Tribe's experts, Yun Shan would have rushed over to kill them already.

After calming down slightly, Yun Shan directly crushed the Jade Slip used to summon the Hall of Souls Protector.

Yun Shan had contacted the Hall of Souls Protector before, but the request the protector made had been somewhat difficult for him to accept, so he had not agreed.

Now that his disciple had been killed, he could no longer care about such things for the sake of revenge.

After discussing the matter, the Misty Cloud Sect decided to send someone to contact the royal family and seek an alliance to attack the Snake-People Tribe.

Yao Ye, who had sworn to destroy the Snake-People Tribe and avenge her great-grandfather, agreed without hesitation.

The Misty Cloud Sect and the royal family had never gotten along, but things were different now. The Misty Cloud Sect's Sect Master and the royal family's guardian, Jia Xingtian, had both been killed. Both were among the highest-ranking figures of their respective factions, and the Snake-People Tribe was responsible for both deaths.

On that basis alone, no matter how great their past conflicts had been, the Misty Cloud Sect and the royal family would temporarily set them aside and choose to join forces.

Back in the Snake-People Tribe, Jiang Xing had no idea that the Misty Cloud Sect and the royal family had joined forces to prepare an attack on the Snake-People Tribe.

Of course, even if Jiang Xing had known, he probably would not have cared.

The trifling Misty Cloud Sect and royal family would not even require Lin Shan to act. Ji Feng alone could crush them with ease.

It had been two days since he last fed the Seven-Colored Tiny Snake. The Amethyst Accompanying Source he had fed it last time had already been completely absorbed, so Jiang Xing took out another bottle for it.

"It has already absorbed so much Amethyst Accompanying Source. Why hasn't the Queen woken up yet?"

Ever since the Seven-Colored Tiny Snake began following him, Jiang Xing had fed it a bottle of Amethyst Accompanying Source every two or three days. The supply he had brought from home was almost gone, yet Medusa still showed no signs of waking.

Jiang Xing found this rather absurd. In the original work, Xiao Yan needed to consume Amethyst Accompanying Source himself, so the amount he gave the Seven-Colored Tiny Snake was certainly nowhere near as much as Jiang Xing had fed it.

The Seven-Colored Tiny Snake Xiao Yan fed allowed Medusa to awaken before long. Why would Medusa refuse to wake up when he was the one feeding it?

In the original work, Xiao Yan had been unable to absorb the energy of the Fire Lotus Seed, so the Seven-Colored Tiny Snake absorbed it and Medusa awakened.

But now, Jiang Xing was directly feeding it Fire Lotus Seeds, and Medusa still would not wake up!

Although Medusa's appearance after evolving into the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python was quite pretty as well.

But who wanted to look at a snake every day? Jiang Xing felt that he still preferred Medusa in her human form.

After returning to the Snake-People Tribe, Jiang Xing had nothing much to do. He planned to spend several days adjusting himself to peak condition before absorbing the Heavenly Flame.

At the same time, he instructed Ji Feng to head to the Black-Corner Region and seize Han Feng's Sea Heart Flame. While he was at it, Ji Feng was to visit every auction house in the Black-Corner Region and use threats and inducements to make them reserve all maps slated for auction for him.

Jiang Xing had not forgotten that the third fragment of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame map had been auctioned off in Black Seal City of the Black-Corner Region. But to be safe, he had Ji Feng visit every auction house in the Black-Corner Region.

Ji Feng did not disappoint Jiang Xing. In just two days, he settled the matter of the map fragment and brought back the fifteenth-ranked Sea Heart Flame.

Thus, Jiang Xing now possessed three Heavenly Flames: the fourteenth-ranked Fallen Heart Flame, the fifteenth-ranked Sea Heart Flame, and the eleventh-ranked Bone Chilling Flame.

The Fallen Heart Flame and Sea Heart Flame were close in rank. Although the Fallen Heart Flame ranked slightly higher, Jiang Xing still decided to absorb it first.

There was no other reason—it could aid cultivation, so the sooner he absorbed it, the better.

The Fallen Heart Flame ranked fourteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. Born from the heart, it tempered qi and refined bones. Known as a "cultivation cheat," it could accelerate cultivation. Once one successfully refined the Fallen Heart Flame, a Heart Flame would continuously arise within the body. This Heart Flame required no control whatsoever, yet it constantly tempered the Dou Qi within the body, keeping the cultivator in a perpetual state of cultivation. That was why it was called a cultivation cheat.

Jiang Xing was quite interested in a Heavenly Flame that could cultivate automatically.

With Jiang Xing's current strength, absorbing the Fallen Heart Flame would not be difficult. The difficult part was fusing the Green Lotus Core Flame with the Fallen Heart Flame.

That was why Jiang Xing spent several days adjusting his condition instead of absorbing it immediately.