Return to Stone Desert

As Xiao Jie's voice fell, he threw out a punch. The massive, flaming fist, carrying terrifying heat, surged rapidly toward Queen Medusa. Wherever the flaming fist passed, the burning flames and horrific fire-attribute energy caused the void around it to twist abnormally, even becoming covered in spiderweb-like cracks. Since the ability to affect space is something only a Dou Ancestor can wield, this punch had reached the power level of a Dou Ancestor!

The Mystic Yellow Lotus Heart Flame, formed from the fusion of three Heavenly Flames, added to the Earth-tier intermediate Heaven-Burning Fist, pushed the power of this Dou Technique beyond the Earth-tier level!

Looking at the flaming fist rushing toward her, Queen Medusa's pupils constricted. The dense mass of small snakes on her head all turned toward the flaming fist, simultaneously spitting out colorful beams of energy to strike the giant energy fist formed by the Heaven-Burning Fist. From Queen Medusa's own mouth and eyes, a colorful beam of energy also shot out, striking the Heaven-Burning Fist at an even faster speed. Immediately following, the energy beams from her snake-hair arrived as well. As the massive energies collided, the Heaven-Burning Fist paused slightly, and its speed toward Queen Medusa dropped once more.

Seeing this, Queen Medusa once again unleashed the signature Dou Technique of the Snake-People, Myriad Serpent Devour. Countless small energy snakes emerged from the void, rapidly surrounding the Heaven-Burning Fist. One after another, the small energy snakes rushed toward the fist like moths to a flame. The collision of the two distinct energies produced a sizzling sound, causing the Heaven-Burning Fist's forward momentum to drop again, while its volume shrank by nearly a third.

Seeing this, Xiao Jie's expression remained unchanged. He opened his mouth slightly and uttered a single word.

"Explode!"

Queen Medusa's expression changed drastically. She dodged, attempting to escape the blast radius of the Heaven-Burning Fist, but it was a moment too late. The moment Xiao Jie spoke, the remaining energy of the Heaven-Burning Fist was instantly detonated.

The explosion produced by the massive energy caused Queen Medusa, who hadn't escaped very far, to stall. Struck by the shockwave of the explosion, she plummeted straight down into a sand dune in the distance, instantly blasting the dune into a massive crater.

After the Heaven-Burning Fist exploded, Xiao Jie activated Lightning Flash Thunder Sound to blink to the side of Hai Bodong and Shi Jian. Grabbing their shoulders, he surged rapidly toward the direction of the Jia Ma Empire. Under the effect of Lightning Flash Thunder Sound, the three of them turned into a streak of purple light, disappearing before the two Snake-People Dou Kings could even react.

Xiao Jie carried Hai Bodong and Shi Jian as a purple streak of light, charging out from the depths of the desert. On the way, they collided head-on with a Snake-People Dou King coming to provide support, but Xiao Jie had no intention of entangling with him. After brushing past him at high speed, he vanished into the horizon.

The Snake-People Dou King was so startled he came to a dead stop. Looking back, he saw no trace of anyone, and he muttered to himself.

"How could this human Dou Emperor be so fast? Oh no, Her Majesty..."

With that, he accelerated again, rushing toward the Snake-People Holy City in the depths of the Tager Desert.

Back at the crater in the sand dune, a slender, fair arm suddenly reached out from the sand. The next moment, the entire crater exploded again, and a purple figure shot into the sky. Queen Medusa was trembling with rage. Having exited her combat state, her slender phoenix eyes surged with terrifying fury. Though she did not say a word, one could fully feel her monstrous anger.

From birth until now, she had never been toyed with and then beaten so miserably, and by a human whose cultivation was lower than hers at that. Although her injuries were not serious, this was a complete trampling of her dignity, something she could not tolerate. Taking a deep breath to calm her mood, she parted her alluring red lips and spoke.

"Investigate! I want to know everything about this person."

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

Xiao Jie was currently flying back toward Shi-Mo City. His aura had already receded to the four-star Dou Emperor level, and a sense of weakness washed over him—the aftereffect of triggering the Heavenly Fire Three-Mysterious Transformation. Sensing that Queen Medusa was not pursuing him, he voluntarily exited the state of the Heavenly Fire Three-Mysterious Transformation.

He took out medicinal pills for recovering Dou Qi and healing from his storage ring, consumed them, and flew alongside Hai Bodong and Shi Jian toward Shi-Mo City.

"Brother Xiao, I truly did not expect you to be so powerful. To actually beat Queen Medusa until she was in such a sorry state with only a four-star Dou Emperor cultivation... I have never seen her look so miserable!" Shi Jian said with a hint of excitement.

"This was indeed thrilling, but Brother Shi, you must be more careful. The Shi-Mo City you guard is adjacent to the Snake-People tribes. If Medusa attacks the Jia Ma Empire regardless of the consequences because of this, your city will bear the brunt of it. You should increase your defenses and keep an eye on the movements of the Snake-People tribes to avoid a sneak attack."

Hai Bodong spoke with a grave expression; he was clearly thinking further ahead than Shi Jian.

"Well said. Queen Medusa suffered a setback in our exchange, and given her temperament, she likely won't let this go. However, Brother Shi, you need not worry too much. The Jia Ma Empire openly possesses three Dou Emperor-level powerhouses. Jia Xingtian of the Imperial family is a peak Dou Emperor, just like Medusa. With me and Brother Hai, that makes five Dou Emperor-level powerhouses. The Snake-People tribes only openly have Queen Medusa at the peak Dou Emperor level, plus their Great Commander and Great Elder who are Dou Emperors; the rest are merely Dou Kings. In terms of quantity, the Snake-People cannot compare to the Jia Ma Empire. In terms of quality, with Jia Xingtian and myself, we have two peak Dou Emperor-level combatants. If she were to lead the entire tribe to attack the Jia Ma Empire out of a moment of anger, she would be unworthy of her position as the Queen of the Snake-People."

Xiao Jie added. He was not overly worried. Although Queen Medusa had suffered a setback, as the leader of a race, she could not act on impulse. If she were a person who acted on impulse, she might not have reached her position as Queen. One must know that the Snake-People tribes still hid several peak Dou Emperor-level Supreme Elders, though no one knew of them. However, there was one thing Xiao Jie did not tell Shi Jian: all of this was predicated on the assumption that neither Medusa nor the Snake-People tribes had a Dou Ancestor. If Queen Medusa or one of those Supreme Elders were to break through to the Dou Ancestor level, the Snake-People would launch a massive invasion against other nations. They had been wanting to find a new place to thrive for a long time, and Medusa was no exception.

"Brother Xiao's words are extremely reasonable. Not to mention our Jia Ma Empire, other nations are also eyeing the Snake-People covetously. After all, their female slaves are quite popular. If they were to attack the Jia Ma Empire regardless of the consequences, it would be self-destruction!"

Shi Jian had been worried when he heard Hai Bodong, but after hearing Xiao Jie's analysis, he let go of that concern. However, as a city lord, he would not let his guard down just because the probability was low. What if Medusa went mad? His Shi-Mo City would be the first to suffer, so he nodded and voiced his own perspective.