Taming Medusa

Kui Xing's strength was something she knew all too well.

Though he was inferior to her, he was still genuinely at the Dou Huang Peak.

Otherwise, he would never have become the Snake People Clan's High Commander.

Yet before Shen Wen, he had not even managed a proper resistance before being beaten into a near-fatal state in the most brutal, humiliating manner possible!

Throughout the entire process,

Shen Wen had relied solely on that inconceivably powerful physique and the strange lightning coiling around him!

If he attacks me again...

The moment that thought arose, Medusa's heart turned ice-cold.

She knew that even if she used every trump card she possessed,

the best possible outcome would likely be mutual destruction with Shen Wen. More likely, she would be ruthlessly crushed just like Kui Xing.

And if she, the strongest member of the Snake People Clan, fell,

what awaited the Snake People Clan would be the merciless division and slaughter by the surrounding human empires!

As Medusa's thoughts raced, a mad notion even flashed through her mind: gathering every bit of the clan's strength, including the Four Elders, who were also at the Dou Huang Peak,

and paying any price necessary to keep Shen Wen here forever.

Shen Wen seemed to see through her thoughts. "Put away those unrealistic ideas.

Leaving aside whether you even have the ability to keep me, even if you somehow succeeded..."

He paused. His voice was not loud, yet it boomed like thunder:

"Do you really think the Pill Pagoda would stand by and do nothing if I died in the Tagor Desert?"

"Back then, the three human empires of Jia Ma Empire, Chu Yun Empire, and Mu Lan Empire joined forces

and managed to suppress your Snake People Clan in the depths of this harsh desert.

Do you think the combined strength of those three can compare to the Pill Pagoda of the Central Continent...?"

"Or do you think that, with my talent and age, I am the sort of insignificant figure the Pill Pagoda can sacrifice at will?"

Those three sentences struck deeper than the last!

They were like a basin of Ice Water Mixture

poured over Medusa's head, instantly extinguishing the mad flames that had just risen in her heart, leaving behind only bone-piercing cold and despair.

The words "Pill Pagoda" alone were enough to suppress everything.

It was far beyond comparison with these surrounding human empires.

A Seventh-Grade Alchemist so young had value beyond measure. He was absolutely one of the Pill Pagoda's future core figures.

If he died here,

the Pill Pagoda's wrath was something not even Medusa, much less the entire Snake People Clan bound together, could withstand!

That would be a true... calamity of clan extermination!

Everything she had done—fighting for the Heavenly Flames, yearning to evolve, striving to reach Dou Zong...

Was it not all for the sake of leading her people toward a better living environment and freeing them from this endless desert?

If a moment of impulse and resentment brought ruin upon her people,

what meaning would all her previous efforts and sacrifices have?

The immense helplessness and the cruelty of reality were like two invisible hands ruthlessly kneading Medusa's heart.

The color drained entirely from her stunning face, leaving only a bleak, deathly pallor.

Even her straight back seemed to hunch slightly at that moment, revealing an indescribable weariness.

She took a deep breath.

Forcibly suppressing her turbulent blood and the bitterness threatening to spill from her eyes, she said with difficulty, "...Fine. Human, you win. The Heavenly Flames here... This Queen... I will yield them to you."

After saying that, she seemed to have exhausted all her strength and no longer looked at Shen Wen.

Nor did she look at the heavily injured and unconscious Kui Xing. She turned to leave.

There was even a trace of desolation and loneliness in her retreating figure.

"Wait."

Shen Wen's voice rang out again, causing Medusa to freeze abruptly.

She spun around, the suppressed fury in her eyes nearly bursting forth. "Shen Wen! What more do you want?!

I have already yielded the Heavenly Flames. Do you truly intend to wipe us out?!"

However,

Shen Wen's next words left her rooted to the spot once more, and her fury was replaced by immense astonishment.

"Could it be," Shen Wen said as he looked at her with deep eyes, "that you do not want to Purify Bloodline, break through your shackles, and truly enter the realm of Dou Zong?"

That single sentence instantly struck the deepest, most fervently desired goal in Medusa's Inner Heart!

Hope and despair, granting and taking away...

This back-and-forth tugging made Medusa feel as though an invisible hand were repeatedly squeezing her heart, sometimes plunging it into the abyss and sometimes tossing it into the clouds.

She stared blankly at the absurdly young human man before her, whose strength was equally absurd.

Those Light Purple Eyes were filled with emotions more complicated than ever before.

Anger, unwillingness, wariness, shock, and even a trace of curiosity that she herself could not understand.

She had roamed the Tagor Desert for many years and encountered countless experts and geniuses, both human and Demonic Beast.

Yet she had never met anyone like Shen Wen.

He had combined dominance, forcefulness, scheming, unfathomable strength, and background so perfectly.

Without even expending much effort, he had firmly seized the lifeline of both her and the entire Snake People Clan in his palm.

For the first time in front of a man,

Medusa felt helplessness and a suffocating pressure like a python coiling around her.

"...What exactly do you want?"

There was a dryness in Medusa's voice that even she did not notice. The look she gave Shen Wen was complex to the extreme.

A smile that could be considered "kind" appeared on Shen Wen's face.

But in Medusa's eyes, that smile made her feel exceptionally uncomfortable and disgusted.

"Then, Her Majesty the Queen, please accompany us for the time being. Once we have found the Heavenly Flames, we can discuss the fate of your Snake People Clan."

"Fine!"

Medusa had given up. She was weaker now, and it could be said that the fate of the Snake People Clan was already completely in Shen Wen's hands.

"A Recovery Pill. Have your subordinate take it."

Shen Wen casually tossed out a bottle of pills, which landed in Medusa's jade-like hand. Looking at the medicine, Medusa's pretty face was filled with complicated emotions.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Nothing. Do you want to watch your subordinate die?" Shen Wen smiled faintly.

Medusa sighed inwardly.

After all, he was the Snake People Clan's High Commander.

She could not simply watch him die.

She came to Kui Xing, who was already little more than a pile of mangled flesh, and fed him the medicine. The effects of a Fifth-Grade Pill were quite good.

A moment later,

Kui Xing woke up and saw the person who had severely injured him speaking with his Queen.

Kui Xing even noticed that his Queen's expression seemed somewhat ingratiating.

His fury instantly surged to the heavens.

But the next moment, his Queen shot him a glance filled with warning.

An invisible humiliation spread through Kui Xing's heart.

Medusa said calmly, "Return to the Holy City first. I will remain here for the time being. After returning, do not alert the Four Elders."

Kui Xing did not understand, but the Queen's orders were absolute. He could only nod helplessly. "Yes!"

Before leaving, he could only glare fiercely at Shen Wen. Yet the instant his eyes met Shen Wen's, Kui Xing recalled the ordeal of being casually flung about.

Phantom pain coursed through his entire body, and he hurriedly left.