Advancing to Sixth-Rank Alchemist, Xiao Yan's Wicked Plan

"Why should I?" Queen Medusa sneered, a cold glint flashing in her long, alluring eyes.

She hated being threatened, especially by someone as weak as an insect in her eyes—someone she could crush with a flick of her hand.

"Because you have no choice." Xiao Yan sneered back. "Go ahead and kill me if you can. We'll die together. But I hear the Old Sect Master of the Misty Cloud Sect has broken through to Dou Zong. Once war breaks out, I wonder how long the Snake-People Tribe will last."

"You dare threaten me?!" Queen Medusa's gaze turned colder. Her pale, slender fingers closed around Xiao Yan's throat and tightened bit by bit, flushing his face red. Even when it felt as though his windpipe was about to be crushed, Xiao Yan stared coldly at the most beautiful woman of the Snake-People Tribe, inches from his face.

"Hmph!" Medusa snorted and flung him to the ground.

Dust billowed up.

"Well done, lad..." Old Lord's amused voice came from the Storage Ring. "You've kept your wits despite that humiliation. Not bad, not bad..."

As Old Lord saw it, a few setbacks would do Xiao Yan good. Since Xiao Yan had not called for help, he had not intervened.

"Thank you, Master, but... there's no need." Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Heat and anger flickered in his eyes as he looked at Medusa's alluring figure. His fingers brushed a Storage Ring filled with Pills and Medicinal Materials. Certain things... had gone unused in the cave, but it was time to put them to use.

Besides, his Heavenly Flame was the Netherworld Poison Flame. Its poison was colorless and odorless, impossible to detect at a glance. In truth, it would build up inside anyone who swallowed it. If he triggered it, the result would be disastrous.

Threaten an Alchemist who possessed the Netherworld Poison Flame? Heh.

"..."

After giving Hai Bodong a few brief instructions, Xiao Yan told them to abandon their plans to go to the Black-Corner Region for now and return to the Imperial City instead. The Mittel Family was there, and with a Dou Wang expert protecting them, they would be safer.

As for Xiao Yan, once he had finished speaking, an impatient Queen Medusa seized him by the neck. Her Dou Qi wings beat behind her, and she rose into the sky, vanishing from sight.

"What a lad... loyal to the end." Hai Bodong swallowed. The moment he had seen Medusa, he had thought he was dead. He had never expected the boy to force her to spare him.

"Let's go. We'll return to Stone Desert City and tell Xiao Ding and the others." Hai Bodong drew a deep breath, his expression grave.

"Elder Hai, do you think Young Master Xiao Yan will come back alive?" Qing Lin asked, tears gathering in her eyes as she bit her lip.

That snake-woman had subdued and badly injured her Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake in an instant, forcing it to shrink back into a ball. It could no longer take form. Otherwise... Qing Lin would have fought to stop her, even at the cost of her life.

"Perhaps." Shame crossed Hai Bodong's face. As he left the Underground Cavern, he glanced into the distance with a troubled expression.

He could not bear to tell the girl the truth.

Once inside the Snake-People Tribe's territory, even a Dou Huang expert could not expect to escape unscathed, let alone a mere Da Dou Shi.

"If you want me to refine Pills, you'll have to give me Medicinal Materials."

Queen Medusa's Palace.

Xiao Yan idly toyed with his Storage Ring, a faint smile on his face.

"Of course. The Snake-People Tribe won't shortchange you there." Queen Medusa's snake tail swayed as she rose from the bed. She glanced at Xiao Yan, looking thoughtful.

The Snake-People Tribe needed Alchemists. Desperately.

She had threatened and intimidated him too much that day. Even if his cultivation advanced, sooner or later it would drive a wedge between him and the Snake-People Tribe.

So Queen Medusa softened her tone. She intended to win him over... through marriage.

Marriage would be best, of course. If the man had a wandering eye, she could simply have more snake-women entice him to stay. They were hardly in short supply.

She looked Xiao Yan over again. "You saw quite a few beauties among my people today. Did any catch your eye?"

Nearby, where she stood guard, Yue Mei's eyes lit with curiosity.

"If it were you, Your Majesty, I might consider it." Xiao Yan smiled and openly admired Medusa's graceful figure. Here in her palace, he could get a much closer look.

As though afraid he might run away, Medusa had deliberately lodged him in her own palace, where he ate and lived alongside her.

"How dare you!" Yue Mei's brows shot up. Weapon in hand, she rushed over, killing intent in her eyes.

Queen Medusa was their faith, the person they revered above all others. Humans were all the same—utterly disgusting!

"Commander Yue Mei." Queen Medusa waved a hand without so much as lifting her eyelids, signaling her to leave. She cast a complicated glance at Xiao Yan, whose expression remained calm. After a long silence, she said slowly, "That depends on how well you perform..."

"..."

Xiao Yan's lips curled. Only a fool would believe that.

He had willingly come to the Snake-People Tribe for two reasons. First, it had enough resources for him to refine Pills, raise his cultivation, and even spend lavishly. Second, he had come for Queen Medusa herself.

He was not taken in by Queen Medusa's suggestive, noncommittal words.

Did she really take me for an idiot?

Did she think a couple of sentences would have me head over heels?

The Storage Ring turned deftly between Xiao Yan's fingers. Still smiling, he nodded. "Naturally. I'll do my best to make the Transformation Pill I promised you as soon as possible, Your Majesty."

Half a year later.

In the Snake-People Tribe hinterland.

Dense Ink Green Dou Qi spread from a pavilion atop a sand dune. Its terrifying force rolled outward in waves. The Snake-People guards stationed nearby looked entirely unperturbed. They had clearly grown used to the Alchemist the tribe had "invited" here.

Inside the pavilion.

Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes. A smile flashed across them as he clenched his fist and felt the surging Dou Qi within him.

Seven-Star Dou Ling!

He had finally advanced.

Over the past six months, he had nearly eaten his way through the Snake-People Tribe's entire stock of resources. He took every precious Medicinal Material he could get his hands on and consumed it. Even Queen Medusa's eye had twitched at the sight.

Fortunately, he had also refined many fine Fourth- and Fifth-Rank Pills for the Snake-People Tribe. Yue Mei herself had benefited considerably. So even when Xiao Yan made outrageous demands, the tribe's many experts put up with them.

By now, he could be considered a Sixth-Rank Alchemist, and he had even begun to approach the threshold of Seventh-Rank. As he cultivated the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts to the Fourth Transformation, his control over soul power had soared. The so-called Seventh- and Eighth-Rank Alchemist realms posed no real barrier to him.

By his estimate, he would advance to Seventh-Rank before long, when his cultivation reached Dou Wang.

Now... he had enough strength to begin preparing for the Black-Corner Region.

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes. In truth, the Snake-People Tribe's confinement of him had long since become a formality. Almost all its top experts—apart from a few clan elders, the other ten commanders—had swallowed his Pills, some more than one. Considerable Netherworld Poison Flame remained in their bodies.

In other words, he could cripple the entire Snake-People Tribe in an instant if he wished.

But... there was still one person: Queen Medusa.

From beginning to end, she had never swallowed one of his Pills. She was waiting for the Transformation Pill.

And with his cultivation where it was now, he could begin preparing to refine it.