Green Lotus Core Flame Obtained

As for helping Hai Bodong recover his Dou Qi? Sorry, Jiang Xing was here to take things, not trade for them.

Watching the two of them walk through the air, Hai Bodong was shocked, yet even more grateful for his own cleverness just now.

Two Dou Zongs—even the entire Jia Ma Empire could not produce anyone capable of opposing them.

How could someone like him, merely a Dou Ling, possibly afford to offend them? Even before being sealed, he would probably have been nothing more than an ant in their eyes.

The Heavenly Flame was not far from Shi Mo City. After arriving east of Shi Mo City with Ji Feng and searching with Hai Bodong's map, they found the location of the Heavenly Flame.

Jiang Xing struck the pile of yellow sand directly ahead. The sand heap collapsed inward, revealing an opening.

The entrance was over two meters wide. It was pitch-black inside, and faint geothermal heat could be felt rising from the hole.

This tunnel had clearly been dug by someone. Had they arrived too late? Had Medusa, the Queen, already taken the Heavenly Flame?

Yellow flames rose from his hand. He used Dou Qi to control them, attaching the flames to the walls of the tunnel and illuminating the passage that had originally been shrouded in darkness.

They walked into the tunnel. As they went deeper, Jiang Xing felt the scorching heat around him growing increasingly intense.

The two did not pause, and before long, they reached the end.

Before them lay a vast expanse of magma, radiating heat.

Jiang Xing was already a Dou Zong and possessed a fire attribute, so the magma naturally could not harm him.

As for Ji Feng, a Five-Star Dou Venerate, there was even less need to mention it. Soaking in magma was no different from taking a bath for him.

The two entered the magma. Jiang Xing sensed the surroundings, then swept toward the direction where the fire attribute was most concentrated.

As he neared the bottom of the magma, Jiang Xing also sensed the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake.

He was somewhat puzzled. Why had this Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake not come to attack him like it had in the original story?

If the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake could hear Jiang Xing's thoughts and speak, it would definitely have been unable to resist answering: It attacked Xiao Yan in the original story because he was weak. But now, one of you is a Dou Zong and the other is a Dou Venerate. That's right, I may have many heads, but I'm not stupid. Forget attacking you—if I showed even the slightest intention to attack, I'm afraid even nine heads wouldn't be enough for you to chop off...

Since the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake was not taking the initiative to attack, Jiang Xing had no interest in playing with such small fry.

Upon reaching the bottom of the magma, Jiang Xing felt that the fire attribute had become even denser and more violent.

He swept his gaze around and spotted a lotus platform in the distance.

A cluster of azure flames burned atop the lotus platform. The violent fire-attribute energy was emanating from that flame.

The Green Lotus Core Flame, ranked nineteenth among the Heavenly Flames, was the first Heavenly Flame Xiao Yan subdued in the original story.

Beside the lotus platform lay a scorched Snake Scale. Judging from its color and aura, it clearly did not belong to the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake. It could only be Medusa, the Queen's.

Looking at the Green Lotus Core Flame, Jiang Xing found himself unable to understand it.

Medusa, the Queen, had already come here, yet she had left such a fine Heavenly Flame behind instead of taking it?

Unable to figure it out, Jiang Xing stopped thinking about it. He was not a stubborn person; constantly draining himself over it was not right.

Jiang Xing used the Jade Dagger to sever the lotus platform's roots and stored it in a specially made container.

Although the Fire Lotus Seeds and lotus platform were useless to Jiang Xing now, they would be of considerable help to Xiao Yan in the early stages.

Therefore, Jiang Xing certainly could not leave them for Xiao Yan. He stored every last one in his Storage Ring.

With the Green Lotus Core Flame in hand, it was time to go meet Medusa, the Queen.

As he left the magma, Jiang Xing once again sensed the Dou Ling-level Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake. This reminded him of Qing Lin, who possessed the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

The Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils could be called the nemesis of all snake-type Magic Beasts. Aside from the extremely few snake-type Magic Beasts with pure ancient bloodlines, they could be forcibly controlled.

Once the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils matured, the eyes could form a space of their own. Anything controlled could be stored within it, and the strength of living creatures could also be gradually absorbed.

It could be said that as long as she had enough snake-type Magic Beasts to control, breaking through to Dou Saint would only be a matter of time.

In the original story, Qing Lin's strength rose from below Dou Zhe to the level of a newly advanced Dou Venerate in less than ten years. After refining the soul of the Nine-Headed Sky Serpent, she broke through to Six-Star Dou Venerate. During the two years after the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame emerged, Qing Lin's cultivation broke through to One-Star Dou Saint.

Jiang Xing believed that if he caught more and stronger snake-type Magic Beasts for her, her strength could rise even faster.

With such heaven-defying talent, Jiang Xing could not let her slip away.

He had originally planned to head straight to the Snake-People Tribe, but immediately changed his mind and flew toward Shi Mo City.

After arriving in Shi Mo City, he asked a passerby for the location of the Mo Tie Mercenary Group.

Jiang Xing and Ji Feng headed in the direction pointed out by the passerby, arriving at the Mo Tie Mercenary Group headquarters before long.

It was a sizable courtyard. Above it, a flag swayed in the wind, bearing the large words "Mo Tie Mercenary Group."

Several burly men stood guard outside the courtyard, weapons in hand.

Seeing Jiang Xing and Ji Feng standing at the entrance of the Mo Tie Mercenary Group, one of the men shouted.

"This is the Mo Tie Mercenary Group. Unauthorized people are not allowed to approach."

Jiang Xing did not want to play the game of pretending to be weak before these guards. He directly controlled his Dou Qi and pressed it down upon them.

The men only felt a suffocating pressure descend upon them.

The men were terrified. Such strength was at least at the Dou Ling level. They wanted to beg for mercy, but the pressure rendered them utterly unable to move.

Thus, under the watchful eyes of those men, Jiang Xing walked into the courtyard.

Only after Jiang Xing had entered the courtyard did the men finally feel the pressure on their bodies completely fade.

Several burly men did not dare delay and hurried off to notify the captain.

After entering the courtyard, Jiang Xing spread out his Soul Strength, enveloping the entire compound.

Before long, Jiang Xing arrived at a side courtyard. The first thing he saw was a petite little girl in an elegant light-green outfit, sitting on a small stool and washing clothes.

Looking closely at her exposed wrist, he saw a patch of blue snake scales growing abruptly across her fair skin.

At that moment, the sleeve she had rolled up slipped down. She stood and rolled it back up, only to see two strangers standing before her.

The two strangers were staring at her arm, and Qing Lin immediately panicked and let the sleeve she had just rolled up fall back down.

Even though the sleeve had already covered the blue snake scales, the little girl still desperately tried to tug it lower, her tiny body trembling without stop.

"I was washing clothes just now, so I rolled up my sleeves. I-I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to scare you."

The timid voice came from the little girl's mouth, and Jiang Xing could even hear the faintest hint of tears in it.

Seeing Qing Lin's timid appearance, like a frightened little rabbit, Jiang Xing could not help but feel a trace of pity.

Qing Lin had been born from a relationship between her mother and a snake-person. Both humans and snake-people regarded her as a curse.

From birth until now, she had grown up amid people's scornful looks and mockery, which was why she was so deeply insecure.

Jiang Xing slowly approached Qing Lin and asked softly.

"Your name is Qing Lin?"

Hearing this person call her name, Qing Lin timidly raised her head and looked at Jiang Xing's face.

That face had a pair of deep brown eyes, and a gentle warmth shone from them. A friendly smile rested on his handsome features.

She did not sense the slightest disgust or disdain from him. Instead, she felt a warmth unlike anything she had ever known.