Subduing the Green Lotus Core Flame, Searching for Qing Lin

Deep within the magma, a different scene unfolded. The fiery red faded, replaced by a vast expanse of cyan. This change in the surroundings stemmed from a massive cluster of cyan light, within which a cyan lotus swayed, radiating a terrifyingly high temperature.

Upon seeing that cluster of cyan light, joy appeared in the eyes of Gu Shenge. He rushed toward the cyan lotus, and as he drew closer, the temperature rose sharply, forcing Gu Shenge to increase his output of Dou Qi to keep his protective barrier from shattering.

A moment later, Gu Shenge arrived before the cyan lotus, his gaze fixed upon it.

The cyan lotus had eight petals, each one appearing as if carved from the finest cyan jade. It was flawlessly natural, crystal clear, and breathtakingly beautiful.

Inside the lotus sat a small pedestal, two or three feet in size, riddled with holes. Within each hole lay an Earth Fire Lotus Seed, condensed from pure fire-attribute energy.

The roots of the Earth Fire Green Lotus were a stem over ten meters long, covered in tiny tentacles that greedily absorbed the fire-attribute energy from the magma. It swayed within the endless magma, floating and shifting position with the flow of the molten rock.

Gu Shenge looked into a fist-sized hole at the center of the lotus pedestal. A cluster of cyan flames radiated a terrifying heat, constantly shifting shape—at times condensing into a lotus, at others transforming into a cyan snake coiling upon the pedestal, appearing quite docile.

Yet, as Gu Shenge approached, the Green Lotus Core Flame reacted like an enraged mother cat. Its fur stood on end; it was no longer docile, transforming into a two-headed cyan snake that circled the cyan lotus. The scorching cyan flames burned fiercely, searing both body and soul.

"Little one, you're quite fierce."

Seeing the Green Lotus Core Flame change in this manner, Gu Shenge knew it possessed a faint, rudimentary intelligence. He did not take it by force, but instead released his soul power to suppress the Green Lotus Core Flame.

His soul was surrounded by the Nine Sun Emperor Characters, naturally imbued with a trace of the Sun Emperor's majesty, which gave his soul power a natural and absolute suppression over fire-attribute lifeforms.

Sure enough, the Green Lotus Core Flame felt the trace of the supreme, holy, and magnificent Sun Emperor's majesty contained within Gu Shenge's soul power. It was instantly terrified, shrinking back into the hole of the lotus pedestal, not daring to show its head.

Seeing this, Gu Shenge revealed a satisfied smile. A white jade dagger appeared in his hand, and following the instructions from the original work, he severed the Earth Fire Green Lotus from its roots, leaving the stem behind so that in a thousand years, another Green Lotus Core Flame might be born.

Holding the Earth Fire Green Lotus, he turned and left the area.

Outside, Medusa felt a bit anxious as Gu Shenge had not emerged for a long time, but the Marriage Contract showed no signs of disturbance, proving he was unharmed.

After a long while, the magma lake suddenly began to boil, as if a volcano were about to erupt, with something about to burst forth from the bottom of the lake.

The next second, like a volcanic eruption, a massive amount of magma surged into the sky. A figure ignored the rain of magma, holding a cyan lotus, and flew out of the scorching, boiling magma rain, landing beside Medusa.

"My dear wife, your husband has returned."

Gu Shenge said to Medusa with a smile. Seeing him return safely, the Snake-Person Queen inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but she stepped back a few paces, looking at the cyan lotus in his hand with wariness.

Although Medusa had reached the Dou Zong realm, the cold bloodline within her made her unwilling to get close to such an extreme fire-attribute wonder of the world as a Heavenly Flame.

Seeing his wife retreat, Gu Shenge realized she did not like the Heavenly Flame, so he stored it in his system space and comforted Medusa.

"Don't be afraid. Once we return, I will refine it, and then I'll give you a sub-flame to play with."

Upon hearing this, a flash of annoyance crossed Medusa's beautiful eyes, and she immediately retorted to Gu Shenge, "This Queen is not afraid of it; I simply do not like it."

"Yes, yes, my dear wife is not afraid of it, she just doesn't like it."

Gu Shenge hummed in agreement as if coaxing a child, which only made her more annoyed. She snorted coldly, turned, and flew away.

Seeing this, Gu Shenge shook his head helplessly and followed behind his wife as she flew out of the magma cavern.

Shimo City.

As a major city of the Jia Ma Empire located in the Tagor Desert, its military strength was more robust than other places, and with its large number of mercenaries, it could be considered a city of mercenaries.

"Take a look, take a look! High-quality golden sore medicine! Any knife wound or burn, just apply it, and it will surely heal!"

"Cactus fruit! Sweet and juicy cactus fruit, only one silver coin per catty!"

"The Sand Mercenary Group is recruiting! All mercenaries are welcome to join; our leader is a Great Dou Shi expert!"

"The Mo Tie Mercenary Group is recruiting! All who come are brothers!"

Various shouts rang out in the streets. The people coming and going were all mercenaries from the Mercenary Union, living lives of licking blood from the edge of a blade. Their attire was also incredibly revealing, rivaling that of the Snake-People, making for a rugged and wild local culture.

Two figures descended from the sky and landed on the street, instantly attracting everyone's attention.

They looked at the golden Dou Qi wings that had not yet dissipated behind Gu Shenge and all showed expressions of shock. It was actually a Dou Wang expert!

A Dou Wang expert had descended upon Shimo City!

As for Medusa, they automatically ignored her; after all, there were no Dou Zong experts in the Jia Ma Empire, so how could one possibly appear in Shimo City?

Brought to Shimo City by Gu Shenge, Medusa was somewhat puzzled. She looked at the humans around her, a trace of disgust appearing in her beautiful eyes.

"Why did you come here?"

Gu Shenge held her hand and explained softly to Medusa, "My Green Snake Three-Flower Pupils sensed a faint, familiar aura. I suspect there is another Green Snake Three-Flower Pupil in this city."

"Really!"

Hearing this, Medusa was inwardly startled. Another Green Snake Three-Flower Pupil! She hurriedly asked Gu Shenge.

"Then can you sense the specific location of that Green Snake Three-Flower Pupil?"

Gu Shenge nodded. He was not speaking empty words; as a fellow possessor of the Green Snake Three-Flower Pupils, with his powerful soul perception, he could indeed sense the presence of Qing Lin. It was an aura of the same origin as his—or more accurately, the same origin as the Green Snake Three-Flower Pupils—though it was very faint, perhaps because she had not yet awakened.

Following this trace of aura, the couple arrived at the source.

A group of people was gathered together, and from within came a burst of angry cursing, along with the gossip of onlookers and undisguised mockery.

"Little demoness, why were you standing so close to me? You made me drop my newly bought high-quality porcelain! Pay me back, now!"

"What a jinx. She causes trouble wherever she goes. In my opinion, we should just throw her out of the city."

"That's right, a half-breed. Seeing her every day is an eyesore, though that little figure of hers is actually quite nice. Why don't you hand her over to me to deal with?"

"Are you looking for death! This little demoness is from the Mo Tie Mercenary Group; aren't you afraid those guys from Mo Tie will come looking for trouble with you?"

"I'm from the Sand Mercenary Group, I'm not afraid of those pieces of trash from Mo Tie."

Hearing the discussions of these people, Gu Shenge frowned. He walked into the crowd with Medusa, and those who were still gossiping were forcibly pushed apart by an irresistible force, revealing a path for the couple.

~

PS: Qing Lin will serve as the protagonist's maid first; we'll see how things go after raising her for a while.