Favorability Skyrockets

The five of them left the Scorching Underground World with the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake and returned to the desert surface, where Blinding Sand filled the skies.

The blazing sunlight poured down, completely different from the stifling heat underground.

Medusa gently swayed her snake tail, her tone taut. "Shen Wen, the matter of the Heavenly Flame is settled. Can we talk about the matter between us now?"

What she had on her mind was naturally Shen Wen's earlier promise to help her Purify Bloodline and Breakthrough Dou Ancestor.

Shen Wen merely smiled easily at her words and asked instead, "What, Your Majesty the Queen? Are you already in such a hurry to send your guests away?

Aren't you going to invite us to visit your Snake People Holy City?

I would also like to experience the customs of the Snake People Clan."

Medusa's expression tightened, and her jade hand slowly clenched within her sleeve.

Inviting humans—especially humans with such sensitive identities—into the Snake People Clan Core Territory was a major taboo within the clan.

Yet faced with Shen Wen's seemingly casual but utterly unrefusable gaze.

And thinking of the Snake People Clan's future, as well as her own promise.

She realized that she had no room to refuse.

This man was so gentle toward Cao Ying, yet so domineering toward her. Whatever he did, he left no room for refusal!

"...Fine." Medusa suppressed the complicated emotions in her heart, her voice cool. "This Queen invites you all to the Holy City for a talk."

Shen Wen nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Xiao Ding, who was waiting respectfully at the side, and instructed, "Xiao Ding, everything that happened here, including any information regarding the Heavenly Flame and the Snake People Clan, must be sealed off. It must not be leaked."

"Rest assured, sir. Xiao Ding understands!" Xiao Ding hurriedly bowed in response, his heart solemn as he understood the gravity of the matter.

The Flying Boat steadily made its way toward the Snake People Holy City.

Inside the cabin, Cao Ying had already changed back into her own dress, but the scene of their "frank encounter" underground still lingered in her mind.

Whenever she saw Shen Wen, her bewitching cheeks could not help flushing red.

Shen Wen naturally took in her appearance, amusement gleaming in his eyes. He deliberately leaned closer and whispered, "Is my wife reminiscing about what happened underground?"

The two of them seemed to have already tacitly accepted the forms of address husband and wife, though Cao Ying still felt embarrassed whenever she addressed Shen Wen.

"You!" Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Cao Ying instantly bristled and glared at him fiercely, though the tips of her ears were red enough to bleed. "Don't think about it! Don't mention it! That... that was an accident!"

"An accident?" Shen Wen raised a brow, his smile turning more teasing. "Your husband risked being burned by the Heavenly Flame to save you from danger.

With such a great contribution, you think one word, 'accident,' is enough to dismiss it?

Shouldn't there be some substantial reward?"

Cao Ying choked in anger and embarrassment. "A reward? You... you already saw... saw everything!"

The last few words were practically squeezed through her teeth.

Shen Wen spread his hands with an innocent expression. "You can't blame me for that. The Heavenly Flame was too overbearing and burned your clothes.

I did not even have time to close my eyes."

That was complete nonsense. The situation had been so urgent that how could he have thought to close his eyes?

What if he closed them and Cao Ying was burned to ashes by the Green Lotus Core Flame?

Cao Ying was so angry at his shameless manner that her teeth itched, but when she remembered that he truly had saved her and helped her successfully refine the Heavenly Flame, her heart softened again.

She bit her lip, struggled for a moment, then asked in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Then... what reward do you want?"

The amusement in Shen Wen's eyes deepened. Pointing at his cheek, he said, "Simple. Just give me a kiss."

Cao Ying's face instantly turned crimson, her beautiful eyes widening.

After experiencing something so embarrassing, he wanted her to kiss him of her own accord now?

But as she looked at Shen Wen's expectant, smiling gaze.

Her heart pounded like a drum, and as if possessed, she rose slightly onto her toes, closed her eyes, and leaned toward his cheek.

However, just as her delicate red lips were about to touch Shen Wen's cheek, he suddenly turned his head.

The soft, warm, moist sensation landed precisely on his lips.

Cao Ying abruptly opened her eyes and met Shen Wen's teasing gaze. She instantly realized that she had been tricked!

"Shen Wen! You hooligan!"

Overcome with embarrassment and anger, she slapped Shen Wen's solid shoulder, then covered her face and rushed out of the cabin like a startled rabbit.

This scene.

Was witnessed in full by Medusa, who was outside teaching Qing Lin how to simply control the power within her body, as well as Dan Chen and Qing Lin, who were focused on cultivation.

Watching Cao Ying flee with a flushed face, all three of them showed some confusion.

Medusa frowned slightly, finding it difficult to understand this sort of flirting between humans.

Dan Chen's little face reddened slightly, as though she understood something, and she quietly lowered her head.

Qing Lin blinked her large eyes and looked blankly in the direction Cao Ying had vanished, then at Shen Wen in the cabin, who wore a broad smile. She softly asked Medusa,

"Your Majesty the Queen, what happened to Sister Ying?"

Medusa calmly withdrew her gaze without answering. Her face was full of concern for the Snake People Clan's future. Where would she find the time to worry about such matters?

She was only helping Qing Lin cultivate because Shen Wen seemed to value Qing Lin, and Qing Lin might be able to put in a good word for her later.

This was the sort of thing even she did not really understand.

She could not be bothered to answer Qing Lin's confusion and merely said coolly, "Stop worrying about so much and cultivate properly. Don't let your young master decide he no longer wants you!"

Qing Lin was instantly startled. To her, being abandoned by her young master would be a catastrophe. She nodded vigorously. "I'll cultivate properly!"

Under Medusa's guidance, the Flying Boat traveled deeper into the Tagor Desert and eventually arrived at the core of the Snake People Clan.

The Holy City.

The Flying Boat had only just approached the outskirts of the Holy City and had yet to land.

When four incomparably powerful auras surged skyward from the four directions of the Holy City like slumbering beasts suddenly awakening!

The vast pressure descended like invisible mountains, carrying the Snake People Clan's unique Yin Cold and murderous aura as it crashed down upon the Flying Boat!

They were none other than the Four Peak Dou Huang Elders of the Snake People Clan!

This pressure was not directed at anyone in particular. It was more like a warning and deterrent, proclaiming that the dignity of the Snake People Holy City could not be violated.

Yet before the pressure could fully descend—

"Hmph!"

A crisp but frosty snort rang out from the Flying Boat.

The next moment, a slender figure in red had already appeared before the Flying Boat.

Cao Ying's beautiful face was frosty, and the shyness she had shown before Shen Wen had long been replaced by sharpness.

Facing the four streams of pressure that were enough to suffocate ordinary Dou Emperors.

She lightly raised her jade hand, and a wisp of seemingly weak yet destructively powerful Green Flame flickered from her fingertips.

Then, the Green Flame swelled in the wind, transforming into a Cyan Fire Lotus Phantom that hovered above her head.

The fire lotus slowly rotated, releasing a scorching, violent aura no weaker than the combined pressure of the Four Elders. It completely blocked, burned away, and dispersed the Yin Cold aura that enveloped them!

The Green Lotus Core Flame!

Cao Ying stood proudly in the air, her dress fluttering in the Heatwave. Her bewitching face was filled with confidence and dominance as her cool voice echoed across the desert:

"Snake People Clan, is this how you treat your guests?"