Medusa's Evolution, an Open-Air "Battle"

Xiao Yan arrived on the small island.

This was the place Medusa had prepared for her evolution, surrounded by dense bamboo groves.

Passing through the bamboo forest, his view suddenly opened up, revealing a circular pool with a sunken center.

The pool was filled with precious Ice Spirit Cold Spring, enough to make even Xiao Yan feel tempted.

Directly above the pool, Medusa floated in midair. Her soul-stirring beautiful eyes glanced faintly at Xiao Yan. "You said you had something to do. Now that you're here, have you finished?"

Xiao Yan heard the faint note of reproach in Medusa's tone. Smiling carelessly, he took a Jade Bottle from his Storage Ring.

He opened the Jade Bottle, removed the crimson pill within, and tossed it to Medusa. "This is a Tier 6 Medicinal Pill I only finished refining recently. It should increase the chances of you awakening a higher-grade bloodline during your evolution. As for its name... let's call it the Myriad Beast Pill."

Medusa caught the pill. After hearing Xiao Yan's introduction, her gaze shifted slightly.

The corners of her rosy, alluring lips curled up faintly as she slowly walked toward Xiao Yan.

As Medusa drew closer, his sense of smell reacted first. Her body fragrance, utterly different from Yun Yun's, reached Xiao Yan's nose first, causing a brief daze to flash through his eyes. It was practically a highly concentrated aphrodisiac.

Then came sight: features so exquisite they seemed unreal; lips smooth and tender like rose jelly; a small, delicate nose with a faint blush at its tip, like a tiny cherry that made one want to hold it in one's mouth and savor it.

Last came the sensation against his skin. As Medusa approached, the warmth radiating from her body naturally brushed over him.

Medusa continued closing in until she was less than ten centimeters away. She extended both hands as though she intended to wrap them around his head.

Xiao Yan swallowed. Just as he was about to tell Medusa to mind her boundaries, he discovered that she had merely taken out a black strip of cloth and tied it over his eyes.

"Hmph. Don't expect things that could never happen." Medusa snorted softly, her warm breath sweeping past Xiao Yan's earlobe and raising goosebumps all over his body.

Xiao Yan nodded, then immediately used his soul power to isolate Yao Lao within the Storage Ring.

If he could not enjoy such a blessing, then his teacher certainly would not be allowed to enjoy it either.

Nearby, after confirming that Xiao Yan could no longer see, Medusa's cheeks flushed slightly. She untied the straps on her shoulders, and her purple brocade robe lingered briefly at her chest before sliding down.

At that moment, her near-perfect jade-like body was completely exposed to the air.

She rubbed her arm somewhat awkwardly and said to Xiao Yan, "Summon the Heavenly Flame."

Xiao Yan did as told. With the aid of his soul power, he accurately suspended the flame above the center of the pool.

Hesitation flashed through Medusa's eyes before they became resolute.

She swallowed the pill Xiao Yan had given her, her hands swiftly forming seals.

The next instant, the natural energy across the entire island began to gather as Medusa was enveloped in dazzling light.

The light carried the roars of lions, the howls of tigers, the bellows of bears, and the cries of other fierce beasts.

At a certain moment, the light abruptly contracted into a ball before rapidly exploding outward.

When the radiance faded, the massive purple snake that had appeared during Medusa's battle with Xiao Yan emerged once more.

When members of the Snake-People Tribe were young, they used a secret technique to implant the soul of a snake-type magical beast into their bodies, slowly merging with it until the two could no longer be distinguished.

After the fusion was complete, it became impossible to say whether they were human or magical beast.

After circling in the sky for a moment, the enormous purple snake plunged fearlessly into the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.

Xiao Yan controlled the flames, doing everything he could to cooperate with Medusa's evolution.

Medusa's alluring voice rang out repeatedly from within the flames. "Lower the power a little. The flames are too intense."

Black lines appeared across Xiao Yan's forehead, but he still complied.

He controlled the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame as easily as moving an arm. Within the fire, Medusa's body gradually burned away.

Yet under the operation of the secret technique, the gathered natural energy was also gradually evolving her bloodline and cultivation.

The Myriad Beast Spirit Flame seemed to sense something in the unseen, and the magical beast power contained within it began helping to nourish her bloodline and raise its upper limit.

As essences of heaven and earth, even low-grade Heavenly Flames might only possess power comparable to a Dou Wang expert, yet the origin and traits they contained stood at an extremely high level.

With the Heavenly Flame actively nourishing her, Medusa's evolution suddenly gained an unexpected boon.

Medusa rolled about within the flames, her flesh being replaced bit by bit, her soul ascending little by little.

The natural energy brought by the secret technique was just enough for her evolution.

But after the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame began helping her, the Heavenly Flame, secret technique, and heaven and earth suddenly resonated with one another.

The natural energy gathering from all directions abruptly increased.

Fivefold, tenfold, fiftyfold... a hundredfold!

The gathered natural energy nearly doubled with every passing second.

Standing at the edge and controlling the flames, Xiao Yan could feel the dense natural energy rushing past him and converging toward Medusa at the heart of the fire.

Under the infusion of this immense natural energy, Medusa's evolution accelerated at a rate visible to the naked eye.

If one looked down from a sufficiently lofty vantage point, one could even discover that the natural energy throughout the Tagor Great Desert, and even the surrounding nations, was madly converging toward this place at this very instant.

Medusa had practically siphoned away the natural energy of every surrounding region!

Xiao Yan could not see it, but his soul perception could sense that Medusa was receiving an immense stroke of fortune within the flames.

No one knew how much time passed.

A few minutes? Several hours?

Xiao Yan only knew that, at a certain moment, all the natural energy suddenly dispersed, and Medusa's aura within the flames abruptly vanished as well.

He hurriedly withdrew the flames, removed the blindfold, and rushed over.

As the firelight faded, a patch of ashes was the first thing that entered his sight.

Xiao Yan's pupils contracted, but he soon sensed an aura amid the ashes that was frantically building toward rebirth after destruction. It merely seemed to lack something, remaining unable to break through.

He brushed aside the ashes, revealing a handsome little snake over two meters long.

The little snake was weak all over. Its sparkling eyes stared at Xiao Yan as though it had found some priceless treasure.

It flicked out its forked tongue, then somehow found the strength to bite down on Xiao Yan's wrist.

Its fangs possessed unknown strength, easily piercing Xiao Yan's terrifying physical defenses like a knife slicing through tofu. The fangs sank deeply into his flesh.

Xiao Yan instinctively tried to shake her off, but the scene he had imagined, where venom was injected into him, never came. Instead, he felt that Medusa, in snake form, had begun sucking his blood like a vampire.

After drinking his blood, the little snake gradually began to grow. Following a faint flash of light, Medusa transformed back into human form. Unlike before, this time even her legs had fully emerged—long and full, white as snow, with skin as tender as tofu.

Medusa's eyes were unfocused as she stretched out her head and tilted it slightly.

At this moment, the queen of the Snake-People Tribe was indescribably adorable.

Xiao Yan's breathing gradually became heavier. The faces of Xiao Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian, and even Yun Yun flashed through his mind. His awareness briefly returned, and he immediately turned his head away.

A nearly imperceptible trace of displeasure flashed through Medusa's hazy eyes as she forcefully pressed her lips to his.

Xiao Yan's eyes instantly turned blood-red, and all thoughts of restraint vanished.

On this small island, beneath Medusa's purple barrier, an earth-shaking battle began.

Before Xiao Yan's consciousness completely slipped away, a trace of relief flashed through his mind.

Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and isolated Yao Lao's soul.