Evolution Successful

A chilling pressure spread from Medusa, silencing every voice of opposition. "This is the Snake-People Clan's only chance to leave this desert!"

As her words fell, the entire royal city sank into deathly silence.

Hua She'er opened her mouth, but in the end, she could not say anything. She silently lowered her head.

The Snake-People below also shut their mouths, and no one dared utter another word.

Medusa withdrew her gaze, turned to Lin Yu and the other two, and made an inviting gesture. She then led them through the long corridor of the temple and into the palace.

The moment they entered the main hall, a snake-woman who looked exactly like Medusa hurried over.

Her features were identical to Medusa's, but she lacked the queen's majesty between her brows. Instead, she carried the liveliness and worry of a young girl.

She grabbed Medusa's arm and said anxiously, "Sister, are you really going to evolve using a Heavenly Flame? One wrong move, and you'll be reduced to ashes!"

Before her younger sister, Medusa rarely softened. A trace of unusual gentleness appeared in her sharp vertical pupils.

She raised a hand and gently patted Die's hand. Her voice was softer than usual as well. "This is our only chance to leave this desert."

Die's eyes reddened slightly. She suddenly released Medusa's arm, hurried over to Lin Yu, and grabbed his sleeve. Looking up at him with pale violet eyes identical to her sister's, she pleaded, her voice trembling. "Big brother, let me undergo the Heavenly Flame's tempering instead, okay? Sister... Sister is the queen of the Snake-People Clan. Nothing can happen to her. If someone has to take the risk, let it be me."

Medusa's expression changed drastically. She strode forward, pulled Die behind her, then turned to Lin Yu and said solemnly, "Master, you already agreed to help me. Let me do it." There was urgency in her voice, as though she feared Lin Yu would change his mind at the last moment.

Lin Yu looked at Die, sheltered behind her sister, then at Medusa's resolute expression. He could not help but sigh at the bond between the two sisters.

He said gently, "If you wish to step into the Battle Venerable realm, or even the Dou Saint realm, evolution is the best choice. Since I have already promised you, you should go first. If you succeed, your younger sister can undergo it as well."

Knowing Lin Yu would not change his mind, Die could only look at Medusa worriedly. Her voice choked with emotion. "Sister, you have to succeed!"

Medusa gently patted Die's delicate hand, a comforting smile rising on her lips. "I will."

After settling Han Shanshan and Du Ning'an in a side hall to rest, Lin Yu entered a secret chamber with Medusa.

A dazzling violet light suddenly erupted around Medusa. Within that light, her graceful figure rapidly stretched and transformed.

When the light faded, a massive violet serpent several zhang long was already floating in the air inside the secret chamber.

Lin Yu slowly spread open his right hand, and an unusual flame rose from his palm.

With a flick of his finger, the Bone Prison Lotus Heart Flame transformed into a hair-thin multicolored thread of fire and silently drifted toward Medusa's true form.

The instant the flame touched her dark violet scales, Medusa's entire body stiffened. Then a miserable scream, so piercing it seemed to tear her apart, burst from her mouth.

Heavenly Flame tempering was both refinement and destruction.

Medusa rolled violently through the flames, her tail lashing madly at the surrounding stone walls and leaving behind deep cracks.

Yet this struggle lasted only a moment before she forcibly suppressed it.

She clenched her teeth and allowed the flames to burn her inch by inch. Though her violet-red snake eyes were filled with agony, there was never the slightest hint of retreat.

The Heavenly Flame scorched her scales black and curled them up, stripping them of their original violet-black luster. One by one, they fell weakly from the enormous body of the violet serpent.

Once the scales fell away, bright red blood gushed from the exposed wounds.

Yet the instant that blood touched the air, it was burned into wisps of crimson mist by the terrifying heat of the Bone Prison Lotus Heart Flame. It soon evaporated into nothingness, leaving behind not even the faintest trace.

The entire secret chamber was filled with a pungent, charred stench.

Lin Yu stood quietly to one side, his gaze never leaving the enormous serpent struggling and writhing in the flames. He could not help but feel a trace of admiration.

He had to admit, this woman was truly somewhat obsessive and insane.

Ordinary experts, no matter how firm their resolve, would inevitably waver or retreat for a moment when faced with the tempering of a Heavenly Flame. Yet from beginning to end, no matter how miserably Medusa screamed or how fiercely she struggled, she never uttered a single word of "stop."

For the future of her people, for the sake of breaking free from the shackles of her bloodline, she truly dared to gamble her life on an illusory possibility.

Such resolve, such responsibility, moved even him.

No one knew how much time passed before Queen Medusa's enormous snake body finally stopped struggling.

She lay motionless in the center of the secret chamber, allowing the Bone Prison Lotus Heart Flame to continue burning and licking across her body.

Her body was utterly devoid of life, as though she had truly become a charred corpse beneath the Heavenly Flame's tempering.

Just then, the sky outside the secret chamber suddenly darkened.

Rolling black clouds gathered, churning and piling above the royal city as the rumble of thunder sounded from deep within them.

Silver lightning darted wildly through the clouds like silver serpents, blanketing the entire city in a suffocating heavenly pressure.

The Snake-People in the royal city all looked up at the sky, their eyes filled with shock and fear.

Boom!

A massive silver bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, pierced directly through the palace roof, and struck the multicolored flames enveloping Medusa.

Lightning and fire collided violently. The blinding radiance made even Lin Yu narrow his eyes slightly.

A faint cracking sound rang out, exceptionally clear in the silent secret chamber.

Under Lin Yu's gaze, fine cracks suddenly appeared across the surface of the rigid, charred serpent corpse lying limply on the ground.

Immediately after, the blackened outer layer slowly peeled away bit by bit, like a snake shedding its skin in winter, or rotting wood flaking apart.

What emerged beneath that charred skin was no longer the previous violet-black scales, but streaks of dazzling, brilliant seven-colored light.

With a thunderous explosion, the giant serpent's corpse abruptly burst apart. Black scales shot in every direction, while the charred shell was completely reduced to powder in the blast.

At the same time, a vast and terrifying aura suddenly bloomed from the center of the explosion. Like an ancient ferocious beast that had slept for ten thousand years suddenly awakening, it rapidly enveloped the entire city at an astonishing speed.

"Her Majesty succeeded?" Sensing a faintly familiar trace within that aura, the Snake-People throughout the city were overwhelmed with ecstatic joy. Their cheers rang through the heavens like a tidal wave.