Arriving at the Prison, Gu He Brought People!

Queen Medusa pondered slightly, then said indifferently, "If you want to know, there's no harm in telling you."

"Follow me."

With that, she walked straight out of the hall.

Xiao Yan found Medusa's lofty manner rather amusing, though he revealed none of it on his face.

"Qing Lin, you don't need to come with me. Rest here," Xiao Yan said, turning back to Qing Lin.

Qing Lin nodded obediently.

After leaving Qing Lin in the hall, Xiao Yan departed with Queen Medusa.

As they left the hall, Xiao Yan's gaze lingered on Medusa's swaying waist for a few seconds before he asked, "Your Majesty, where are we going?"

Queen Medusa's cool voice drifted back. "The prison. And watch where you're looking."

Xiao Yan's expression did not change. "Appreciating beauty is only human nature."

"Smooth-talking human." The corner of Queen Medusa's lips lifted, yet she did not feel any disgust.

Though they had only just met, unlike when she faced other humans, Queen Medusa did not instinctively feel repulsed by Xiao Yan. Instead, she even felt a slight urge to draw closer to him.

That feeling was not particularly strong.

Yet it was like a snowball. At first, it was only fist-sized, but as it slowly grew, even a small snowball could turn into a massive avalanche.

After walking for a while.

A cold, damp feeling washed over him as Xiao Yan followed Medusa into the Snake-People Tribe's prison.

The prison had an ordinary layout, with cells lining the passage from the entrance all the way to its depths.

Xiao Yan swept his gaze around. There were practically no humans imprisoned here; they were all snake-people.

He guessed that humans were likely executed outright, while snake-people were imprisoned and at least allowed to live.

From the entrance onward, Xiao Yan followed Queen Medusa deeper into the prison.

Gradually, some familiar voices reached his ears.

"Master, so you came to the Snake-People Tribe for the Heavenly Flames and got captured because of it? How could you be so irrational?" Nalan Yanran asked, utterly confused.

"Yanran... I..." Yun Yun had completely lost her usual master's bearing. Faced with her disciple's questions, her voice was weak.

"Master, who could possibly be worth risking your life to sneak into the Snake-People Tribe and steal the Heavenly Flames? Could it be Elder Gu He?" Nalan Yanran pressed on.

Yun Yun instinctively did not want Nalan Yanran to misunderstand her feelings and immediately refuted her. "No, not Gu He. No, there's no one. I just wanted the Heavenly Flames myself!"

Nalan Yanran did not believe her at all. "Stop lying, Master. You had us search for the Heavenly Flames and the Ice Spirit Cold Spring, and purchase ingredients for pills like the Blood Lotus Pill and Vein-Protecting Pill. You were clearly preparing them for someone else! Why can't you tell me? Is he your beloved?"

Having her thoughts exposed by her own disciple, Yun Yun shrank her head like a little girl and said in embarrassed irritation, "Yanran, don't be rude. How can you speculate about your master like that?"

Nalan Yanran also realized that she had been too forceful, and her voice immediately softened. "Sorry, Master. It's just that seeing you suddenly appear here was difficult for me to accept, so I..."

"In any case, don't ask about this again," Yun Yun said.

Master and disciple both fell silent.

Queen Medusa, who had been watching the drama from the side for a while, walked over at that moment and said blandly, "Sect Master Yun Yun, have you made up your mind?"

Yun Yun calmed herself and replied coolly, "Let me leave. Once I return to the Misty Cloud Sect, I will bring sufficient resources to exchange for my disciple and to remove the seal on me."

Medusa nodded. That was exactly what she wanted.

However, at that moment.

She suddenly sensed something and looked toward the direction beyond the Snake-People Holy City.

Over there, she could sense several powerful presences.

She glanced at Yun Yun without replying, then turned and left.

Xiao Yan stood at a distance. After hearing Yun Yun and Nalan Yanran's conversation, he did not approach any closer.

Though he did not know exactly how the two had been captured and brought to the Snake-People Tribe's prison, Yun Yun's status was clear. As long as she paid some resources, leaving should not be a problem.

If he rashly involved himself, he might disrupt the plans that followed.

Therefore, while Yun Yun was not in danger, he had no intention of showing himself and revealing his identity.

It seemed, however, that matters would not go as smoothly as he had expected.

Medusa had sensed those presences, and naturally, so had he.

Among those auras, four belonged to Dou Lings and three to high-level Dou Wangs, none of whom were worth worrying about. But there was also one expert whose life aura was weak, though the pressure he emitted was faintly no weaker than Medusa's.

"What a coincidence." Xiao Yan scratched his head, then flashed forward and followed her.

Outside the Snake-People Holy City, in midair.

Several humans radiating powerful auras hovered in the sky.

Counting carefully, there were eight of them in total: four Dou Lings, three Dou Wangs, and one Dou Emperor.

Opposing them was only Yue Mei, one of the Snake-People Tribe's eight great leaders. She was merely a fifth-tier expert, equivalent to a human Dou Wang, and the pressure on her was immense.

Yue Mei's expression gradually turned solemn as she considered how to stall for time until the other leaders and Her Majesty arrived.

"Lion King, Elder Feng, make your move. Take her down first!" Gu He ordered decisively.

A burly middle-aged man and a lean elderly man immediately stepped forward from the air.

Two of the Jia Ma Empire's Ten Great Experts: Lion King Yan Shi and Windwalker Feng Li.

Yue Mei's eyes narrowed. She had not expected these two to be the ones who came.

Two high-level Dou Wangs—though she was stronger than opponents of the same rank, she could not fight two alone.

"Attack!" Lion King Yan Shi shouted.

Feng Li nodded slightly and struck swiftly. His powerful Dou Qi transformed into an energy attack that fiercely shot toward Yue Mei.

Yan Shi followed close behind, throwing a fist wrapped in violent energy toward Yue Mei.

Yue Mei's expression grew grave. She mobilized all the energy in her body, forming two green streams of light that condensed into enormous green snakes and charged toward Feng Li and Yan Shi's attacks.

Boom—!

After the attacks collided with a tremendous explosion, a gigantic trench dozens of meters long and several meters deep slowly emerged in the sand.

Dou Wang experts.

They already possessed destructive power strong enough to alter the terrain.

But compared to Dou Emperor experts capable of drawing upon the power of heaven and earth, they still fell far short.

When Queen Medusa's crushing aura suddenly descended.

Yan Shi and Feng Li froze in place, cold sweat instantly breaking out across their bodies.

"Humans, you trespassed into my Snake-People Tribe's territory and even attacked one of my tribe's leaders. Are you here seeking death?" Medusa's frost-filled voice slowly sounded behind Yan Shi and Feng Li.

Immediately afterward, Medusa directly fired two bolts of energy.

The two Dou Wang experts, who had been imposing just moments ago, did not even have time to react before they were struck. Their bodies flew back over a hundred meters, crashing into the sand pits as they spat blood wildly.

Seeing this, Gu He immediately looked toward the Dou Emperor expert he had brought.

"Jia Lao, please act. Once I obtain the Heavenly Flames and advance in my alchemy, I will definitely offer you a Break-Ancestor Pill!" Gu He said urgently.

Jia Xingtian sighed softly as the aura of a peak Dou Emperor slowly spread from his body. "Sigh, offending Queen Medusa for the Break-Ancestor Pill you promised... I wonder whether this is good or bad."

Snake-People Holy City.

On top of the city wall, Xiao Yan watched the show leisurely.

Because Yun Yun had been captured, Gu He, unable to find her, had invited Jia Xingtian?

And because Jia Xingtian was a peak Dou Emperor with the strength to contend against Medusa, instead of focusing on a trade as in the original story, they planned to settle this through force?

Xiao Yan stroked his chin and muttered, "Gu He has been a Sixth-Rank Alchemist for so long. He should have quite a few good things, right? In the original story, he even mentioned trading a Humanoid Transformation Pill. I wonder if he really has one."