Royal City

The pitch-black figure retracted his Dou Qi wings and landed beside Yue Mei.

This was clearly a male Snake-Person; his physique was somewhat burly, and a thin garment was draped casually over his body. His arms were covered in strange black tattoos.

"Yue Mei, who were you fighting?" The moment the black-clad figure spoke, a fierce and menacing aura surged forward.

"A mysterious human expert, but he has already left. Mo Ba Si, weren't you supposed to be patrolling the Mo Snake Tribe? Why are you here?" Yue Mei frowned, clearly still reeling from the shock of the recent encounter.

"Her Majesty the Queen sensed large-scale energy fluctuations from the Royal City and specifically used a secret technique to order us leaders of the Eight Great Tribes to investigate. I just happened to be the closest, so I arrived first. Yan Ci and the others are still on their way. I didn't expect to find you in the middle of a battle." Mo Ba Si shook the two ferocious black snake tattoos on his chest as he spoke.

"What? Did you not receive Her Majesty the Queen's secret communication?" Mo Ba Si asked.

"Secret communication?" Yue Mei reached into her clothes and pulled out a small, ink-green snake only the length of a finger. However, the little snake, which should have been lying dormant for communication, had long since gone stiff and dead.

"Hmph, it was shaken to death during the battle just now." Yue Mei expressionlessly tossed the small green snake onto the ground.

"Shaken to death? Yue Mei, just who was it that managed to put you in such a sorry state?" Mo Ba Si asked, puzzled.

"We'll talk when we return to the Royal City. Let's go." Yue Mei clearly had no heart for further discussion; she unfurled her cyan Dou Qi wings and prepared to leave.

"Hmph, these human experts are truly arrogant. What do they take our Snake-People Tribe for? Coming and going as they please. Ever since our war with the Jia Ma Empire ended twenty years ago, no one has dared to provoke our Snake-People Tribe like this. Are the humans trying to start a war with us? We must return to the Royal City immediately and report this to Her Majesty the Queen." Mo Ba Si said, unfurling his own Dou Qi wings to follow.

The pitch-black veil of night was beginning to fade; dawn was approaching.

In a quiet patch of sand, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged, circulating the mysterious Flame Mantra to recover the Dou Qi he had consumed during the intense battle.

"Hoo." Xiao Yan opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.

He turned to Yao Lao, who was also sitting nearby regulating his breath, and said, "Teacher, I've changed my mind. I'm not going back to Mo City anymore. I'm going to the Snake-People Tribe's Royal City."

"The Snake-People Tribe's Royal City? Why go there? At a time like this, the Royal City must be swarming with Snake-People experts, and the security will be extremely tight." Yao Lao asked in confusion.

"Hehe, I'm going to find myself a Dou Zong thug. Since the Snake-People Tribe dared to provoke me, I'm going to give them an unforgettable lesson—by kidnapping their Queen Medusa." Xiao Yan smiled mysteriously.

"Xiao Yan, the more you talk, the more confused I get." Yao Lao frowned.

"Teacher, the leader of the Snake-People, Queen Medusa, is currently at the peak of the Dou Huang realm and is on the verge of breaking through to Dou Zong. The unique limitations of the Snake-People race mean that to cross the threshold into Dou Zong, they must either endure the passage of time or use extraordinary methods."

"As the ruler of the Snake-People, Queen Medusa would certainly not be content to wait for time to break that Dou Zong barrier. Besides, a Dou Zong who breaks through that way would have no potential; they might never reach the Dou Zun realm in their lifetime."

"Queen Medusa's true form is a Purple Nether Flame Snake. According to the ancient texts you gave me, Teacher, the evolution of the Purple Nether Flame Snake—as a descendant of the ancient overlord-class magical beast, the Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python—requires the use of a secret technique to temper the body within a Heavenly Flame. This allows the soul to evolve, shedding the original shell and using the power of the soul to condense a brand-new body." Xiao Yan explained patiently.

"The Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python, eh? Hehe, you have quite the ambition, kid. Not only did you kill one of their Da Dou Shi, but now you want to kidnap their Queen Medusa." Yao Lao said, speechless.

"But finding a Dou Zong thug is a good idea. That way, I won't have to rely on you to take action every time I run into danger."

Yao Lao then extended a finger and tapped Xiao Yan's forehead lightly. "Subduing Queen Medusa won't be easy; this race is notorious across the continent. This is a nameless Dou Technique I found in an ancient ruin. By planting it into a person's soul, you can make them willingly serve you."

"However, the conditions for using this method are extremely harsh, the success rate is too low, and because it is too vicious, it has been banned by the experts of the continent. Use it with caution. You can plant it in her body while she is tempering herself with the Heavenly Flame."

"Hehehe." The master and disciple looked at each other and began to cackle.

"It's nearly dawn now, the best time for infiltration. Plus, the Snake-People experts would never expect us to head straight for their Royal City. Teacher, let's go." Xiao Yan summoned his Purple Cloud Wings. With a sound of air being torn apart, Xiao Yan shot off in the direction of the Snake-People's Royal City as recorded on the map.

After flying for nearly an hour, Xiao Yan stopped in mid-air. Flapping his Dou Qi wings, he looked down at the heavily guarded, massive fortress below, where a large number of fully armed Snake-People were patrolling the walls.

"Teacher, this should be the Mei Snake Tribe of the Snake-People. The snake-woman Yue Mei, who we fought earlier, is the leader of this tribe." Xiao Yan said.

Xiao Yan looked up at the distant horizon, where over a dozen large, pitch-black birds were circling above the fortress, their sharp eyes scanning the sky and the interior of the walls.

"Those must be the flying magical beasts specifically raised by the Snake-People to guard against aerial enemies and monitor the situation within the city. Xiao Yan, be careful." Yao Lao reminded him from within the Storage Ring. Following this, wisps of bone-chilling white flames emerged from beneath Xiao Yan's robes, enveloping him.

Xiao Yan tightened his black robe and carefully bypassed the flock of pitch-black birds ahead.

Just as dawn was about to break, Xiao Yan finally arrived at a city constructed from numerous massive stones.

"Is this the Royal City of the Snake-People?" Xiao Yan hovered in the air, looking down at the massive city with a hint of shock. In the center of the city, a spacious and luxurious temple rose from the ground.

Even in his previous life, building walls dozens of meters high would have been a laborious task. In this world where power belongs to the individual, constructing such buildings likely required the labor of Dou King experts.

Inside the magnificent and luxurious temple below, a purple-clad figure leaned back against a purple crystal throne with a relaxed expression. Standing below the seat were four figures exuding fierce auras.

One was Xiao Yan's old acquaintance, Yue Mei; one was the Mo Snake Tribe leader, Mo Ba Si, who had arrived to support her; one was a burly man in red robes; and the last was an old man in grey robes.