Take It All

Just as Medusa's mind reeled and her thoughts went blank, Lin Hai finally lifted his gaze from the Ice Spirit Cold Spring and turned it toward her.

His gaze was calm and free of lust or greed, as though he were appraising a piece of... well, rather unusual art, with a detached, lofty scrutiny.

"The Ice-Ridge Cold Spring. Its quality is passable." He offered the faint praise as if this treasure, which the Snake-Person Tribe valued as dearly as their lives, were merely a decent pool of bathwater in his eyes.

Before his words had even faded, under Medusa's furious, incredulous stare, Lin Hai slowly raised his right hand and made a grasping motion toward the cold spring, barely a few yards across.

Whumm—

The space in the entire chamber seemed to twist ever so slightly!

The next moment, a scene Medusa would never forget unfolded before her!

The entire pool of icy-blue Ice-Ridge Cold Spring, along with the Cold Spring Jade Essence that had settled beneath it over countless years, seemed to be "scooped" up from the ground by an invisible giant hand!

The spring water floated in midair against all reason, gathering into a perfect sphere. It spun and compressed furiously, shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye!

In the blink of an eye, the cold spring, originally a few yards across, had dried up completely, leaving behind nothing but a bare pit.

All the Ice Spirit Cold Spring had been compressed and refined to the extreme, transformed into a deep-blue ice bead no bigger than a fist, yet radiating a fearsome chill ten times more intense than before!

The ice bead drifted down into Lin Hai's palm. Countless ice crystals formed in the air around it, crackling.

Medusa stared blankly at the dried-up spring, then at the ice bead in Lin Hai's hand, which contained the essence of the entire spring. Her mind was utterly blank.

The treasure her Snake-Person Tribe had guarded for generations, relying on it to suppress the turmoil in their bloodline and aid their cultivation... was just... gone?! Someone had taken the whole lot?! She hadn't even had a chance to react, let alone stop him!

An overwhelming sense of absurdity and helplessness rose in her heart, accompanied by a chill that seeped into her very bones.

In the face of absolute strength, all her pride and power seemed laughable and fragile.

Lin Hai weighed the ice bead in his hand, seeming reasonably satisfied, then casually put it away.

Only then did he turn his gaze back to Medusa, still immersed at the bottom of the dried-up spring, her face pale from extreme shock and the chill.

His gaze lingered for an instant on her breathtakingly beautiful face, now filled with horror. His tone remained as calm as if he were discussing the weather.

"Medusa, Queen of the Snake-Person Tribe."

"Consider submitting to me."

"I can lead your tribe out of this damned desert and give you territory with abundant water and grass, a place fit to live."

"I can also help you break through the Spirit Sect Realm with ease, and even... go further."

"Once you've made up your mind, come find me at the Xiao Clan in Wutan City."

With that, he didn't wait for Medusa's answer or even look at her again.

His figure flickered, then vanished without a sound from the cold chamber, like ink dissolving in water.

He had arrived abruptly and left just as decisively.

He left Medusa alone, submerged at the bottom of the now-barren, cold jade pit, the spring having lost all its chill.

Silence filled the chamber. Only the pounding of her heart echoed through the empty space.

Shock, humiliation, fury, and the irresistible temptation in his words... A tumult of extreme and conflicting emotions crashed over her like a raging tide, sending her exquisite features through a succession of expressions.

Leave the desert? A territory fit to live in?

Break through the Spirit Sect Realm? Even go further?

Every promise struck precisely at the deepest desires and vulnerabilities of her as queen!

They were dreams she might never achieve, even if she spent her entire life striving—and risked her life evolving!

Yet that mysterious, terrifying man had spoken so casually, so confidently...

Submit?

Or... continue struggling in this hopeless desert?

Medusa curled up at the bottom of the cold spring. Her purple serpentine tail stirred weakly. For the first time, she felt the true weight of... a choice, and the shock it brought.

Her eerie, slit-pupiled eyes were filled with confusion and turmoil unlike anything she had ever known.