The Farce Ends, and the Spoils Are Plentiful

He let out a long breath and cupped his hands. "I can join the Divine Court and refine pills for it, but I'm only a sixth-tier alchemist. Don't make things too difficult for me."

"Of course."

Meng Chen nodded, and Gu He also tossed a drop of his blood essence to Meng Chen.

Qing Yanjing's spiritual sense withdrew from the void and returned to Meng Chen's side. She asked softly, "The formation has used up quite a bit of power. Should we put it away first?"

"Wait a little longer." Meng Chen turned his head toward the figure diagonally behind the stone platform.

Medusa had not left. She stood beside the lava wall, her violet eyes half-lidded as she watched Meng Chen subdue the Gold and Silver Elders and arrange matters with Gu He from beginning to end.

Only after seeing him finally dismiss all the irrelevant people did she drawl, "Finished?"

Her voice was not loud, yet everyone in the hall heard her clearly.

Hai Bodong had been regulating his breath and treating his wounds. Upon hearing that, he opened his eyes and warily shifted half a step closer to Meng Chen. The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King lay on the ground, flicking its tail as several low rumbles rolled from its throat.

Yun Yun had been leaning against the stone wall ever since she sheathed her Green Edge Sword. Now, she slightly raised her eyelids as well.

Meng Chen turned to face Medusa directly, utterly calm. "If Your Majesty has something to say, just say it."

Medusa did not answer at once. She walked over step by step, her violet gown trailing across the golden patterns left on the ground. Her pace was neither fast nor slow, but every step carried an invisible pressure.

She stopped five paces from Meng Chen. Her violet eyes studied him for a long while before she finally asked softly.

"Who exactly are you?"

That question had been lodged in her heart ever since the formation was activated.

A mere young man had used a single grand formation to trap Battle Emperor-level experts to death!

He had even forcibly extracted a Heavenly Flame and driven Han Feng to his knees.

Across the entire Northwestern Continent, she had never heard of anyone with such abilities!

Meng Chen met Medusa's gaze and fell silent for a moment, as though considering how much he should reveal.

At last, he spoke in an indifferent tone, as if he were discussing something unrelated to himself. "Divine Court. Lesser Divine King."

"Divine Court?" Medusa's brows rose slightly. "Never heard of it."

"You will sooner or later." Meng Chen did not linger on the subject. He changed the topic. "Your Majesty came tonight for the Green Lotus Core Flame, but the Heavenly Flame is gone now. Staying here is pointless."

Medusa stared at him, a dangerous gleam flashing through her violet eyes. "You're making decisions for me now?"

"I'm merely stating a fact."

Silence hung between them for a moment, broken only by the occasional gurgle of bubbling underground lava behind them.

Medusa suddenly smiled. It was not a broad smile, and the curve of her lips was even rather beautiful, but Meng Chen saw it clearly.

The layer of violet battle aura in her eyes had never dispersed. If she wished, that smile could turn into a serpent's poisonous fangs at any moment!

"You know quite a lot about Heavenly Flames," she said unhurriedly. "You know I wanted it, and you know why I wanted it."

Meng Chen did not respond. Medusa waited for a while, but seeing that he had no intention of taking the bait, she continued on her own. "Fine, I won't force you. The Heavenly Flame is gone, so staying here would only be a waste of effort."

She turned around, the hem of her gown sweeping the floor as her violet battle aura flowed back into her body like water. When she reached the opening of the hall, she tilted her head slightly. Her profile was half-lit and half-shadowed by the firelight. "But let me remind you... this Tagore Desert is not the territory of your Divine Court."

"Next time we meet, I hope you'll still be this bold."

As soon as she finished speaking, she leaped away. Her violet figure vanished into the darkness beyond the entrance, and she never looked back.

Once Medusa left, the pressure in the hall eased considerably. Hai Bodong exhaled a long stream of white breath, ice chips pattering down from his shoulders.

"The Lesser Divine King really has some nerve! You talked back to Medusa face-to-face and still walked away unharmed. Even I didn't have that kind of courage back then."

Meng Chen ignored the teasing and turned toward the other side of the stone wall. Yun Yun leaned against the rock face, the Green Edge Sword hanging at her waist, her expression calm.

She had barely moved since earlier and had not taken part in a single exchange, like a passerby invited merely to watch the spectacle.

Now that Medusa had left, Han Feng had been crippled, and everything had been settled, she finally straightened up and brushed the dust from her sleeves. Her gaze rested on Meng Chen's face one last time.

That gaze was not cold, but it was certainly not warm either.

She merely looked at him. After the time of two breaths, she withdrew her eyes, called to Gu He, and turned toward the passageway without even offering a farewell.

Hai Bodong watched her back disappear around the bend and smacked his lips. "That girl Yun Yun, her temperament is still so..."

"Let her go," Meng Chen cut him off.

He looked at Han Feng, who resembled a beaten dog. The Small Pagoda trembled slightly and drew Han Feng inside, while the Storage Ring fell into Meng Chen's hand.

Meng Chen lowered his head to examine the Storage Ring in his palm. Qing Yanjing had already erased Han Feng's soul imprint, allowing him to see everything inside clearly.

Medicinal ingredients, pill formulas, scrolls, battle skills, and several bottles of high-grade pills filled it to the brim.

He casually looked through a few items, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly before he tucked the Storage Ring into his robes.

"Aunt Qing."

"Yes?"

"Withdraw the formation's power. Pull our people out. If we stay here too long, the ground will scorch our feet."

Qing Yanjing said nothing, but the golden patterns around her began to dim bit by bit, starting from their edges.

The light receded layer by layer, drilling back into the ground like a retreating tide, growing fainter and fainter.

Within the lava hall, the red glow of the magma brightened once more. Heat surged upward at once, making Hai Bodong suck in cold breaths as his face twisted into a grimace.

The Gold and Silver Elders hung their heads and stood obediently to one side.

Fan Ling had shrunk into a ball of blood mist against the base of the wall. None of the three dared cast even a glance toward Meng Chen.

Gu He quietly withdrew with his own people. Before leaving, he looked back at the young man atop the stone platform, his eyes carrying an indescribable emotion.

He said nothing more. He merely cupped his hands, then led his guards back to the surface along the path they had taken.

The lava hall now fell completely silent, without the slightest sound.

Meng Chen stood at the edge of the stone platform. Beneath his feet, lava churned and bubbled; above him, the golden patterns on the dome slowly dimmed. He lowered his head and looked at his right palm.

The dark-blue Heart-Sea Flame rested obediently in his hand. Qing Yanjing had bound it tightly with the formation's power, like a wild beast chained in iron, unable to break free at all.

"Aunt Qing," he suddenly said, "this flame has a much fiercer temper than I expected."

"Yes. Han Feng nurtured it for more than a decade, so it bears a deep imprint of him. If you want to refine it, you must first wash away that old imprint. That will take at least half a month."

"No hurry." Meng Chen clenched his fist, forcing the searing sensation back into the depths of his meridians. "I'll still have use for this flame later."