Smack...
Seeing the marriage contract the Great Elder had tossed toward him, Su Tian reached out almost instinctively and caught it.
"This... this is a marriage contract... for me to marry... Queen Medusa?"
Even now, Su Tian found it hard to believe, as though he were lost in a dream.
He even wondered whether the Great Elder was joking with him.
She wanted him to marry Queen Medusa?
Anyone confronted with such a thing would probably find it utterly unreal.
Marrying Queen Medusa meant not only gaining immense power and status, but also having a wife whose strength stood at the level of a Peak Dou Emperor.
No one could resist such an enormous temptation.
At least, Su Tian's heart was already fluttering.
Am I fucking dreaming?
With a vacant expression, Su Tian blinked blankly at the Great Elder before him, muttering inwardly.
Smack!
Then, right before the Great Elder, Su Tian slapped himself across the face. A searing pain instantly flared up.
"Fuck! That hurts! I... I'm not dreaming!"
"What? Are you so displeased with my arrangement that you would threaten me by harming yourself?"
Watching Su Tian's changing expressions, the Great Elder narrowed her eyes and sneered. Her voice grated against his ears like something scraping across glass.
As she spoke, an icy aura spread from her body.
Su Tian instantly felt as though he had fallen into an ice cavern, a bone-piercing chill spreading through his hands and feet.
"No, no! You misunderstand, Great Elder! How could I possibly dare threaten you?"
The Great Elder's chilling presence snapped Su Tian back to his senses. He swallowed hard, an awkward smile instantly appearing on his face as he hastily waved his hands and explained, "Your arrangement was simply so unbelievable that I lost my composure for a moment. I've made a fool of myself before you!"
"Oh? Then you think my arrangement is rather good?"
Only after hearing his explanation did the Great Elder slowly withdraw the icy aura enveloping him. A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on her withered face.
Su Tian hurriedly nodded like a chick pecking at grain and answered with an obedient expression.
"It's excellent! As far as I'm concerned, your arrangement is something I wouldn't even dare dream of!"
Su Tian was not lying about that.
Given Queen Medusa's strength and status, countless people would fight tooth and nail for a chance to draw close to her beauty.
Yet over all these years, anyone who harbored improper desires toward Queen Medusa had invariably become a handful of yellow sand in the Tagor Desert.
Moreover, Queen Medusa's fame for beauty was matched by her infamy for ruthlessness, which spoke volumes about how vicious her methods were.
And yet, the Great Elder was now saying that Su Tian would marry this very Queen Medusa, whose mere name could strike terror into people's hearts?
Su Tian considered himself nothing more than an unremarkable One-Star Great Dou Master. Marrying Queen Medusa had never even crossed his mind. In fact, he had wanted nothing more than to flee as far from Temple City as possible.
But now, everything seemed to have gone beyond his expectations.
It was no wonder he had been so shocked and incredulous when the Great Elder told him.
Still wearing an awkward smile, Su Tian scratched his head, adopted an honest, simple expression, and grinned.
"I have absolutely no objections to your decision, Great Elder!"
"Then all is well. But if I discover that you harbor any other intentions, don't blame me for showing you no mercy."
The Great Elder nodded in satisfaction at his reaction. Her tone was mild, but carried a chill.
Seeing this, Su Tian hurriedly thumped his chest and solemnly pledged, "Although I don't know what virtue or ability I possess to earn your favor, please rest assured, Great Elder! I'll follow all your arrangements and certainly won't do anything rash!"
Faced with the threat in her words, Su Tian offered assurances outwardly, but inwardly curled his lip and grumbled.
Do you even know how to write the words 'kindness and righteousness'? Don't blame you for showing no mercy? Like hell I'd trust you! You rotten old hag!
"Very good. Your conduct pleases me greatly."
Naturally unaware of Su Tian's inward insults, the Great Elder smiled in satisfaction, nodding as she spoke.
"Before coming here today, I thought this would take some effort. It seems you're a reasonably sensible young fellow after all."
"You flatter me, Great Elder! Anyone would be desperate to agree to something like this. Why would I refuse?"
Su Tian hurriedly cupped his hands. His expression remained obedient and honest, while his tone was exceptionally respectful.
Seeing his behavior, the Great Elder could not help feeling a little more favorably toward him.
Su Tian, however, knew nothing of this.
In his view, rather than refusing her arrangement, he might as well go with the current and agree.
After all, marrying Queen Medusa was not something just anyone could accomplish. Moreover, once they tied the knot, he would no longer need to fear for his life, and his future life among the Snake-People Tribe would become much easier.
Even a commander as powerful as Mo Bass probably would not dare provoke Su Tian too openly in Queen Medusa's presence.
And with that, he would no longer need to worry about using up the medicinal ingredients required to refine pills while studying alchemy.
Having established themselves in the Tagor Desert for so many years, the Snake-People Tribe surely had substantial stores of medicinal ingredients.
With so many benefits before him, Su Tian naturally had no reason to refuse.
His only concern now was whether some unknown scheme lurked behind this marriage to Queen Medusa.
If anything went wrong, his life could very well be at risk.
At that thought, it was as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over his jubilant heart. His guard instantly rose.
If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time.
"However, there is still something I don't quite understand. Sorry for the trouble, Great Elder, but could you explain it to me?"
"Ask freely."
The Great Elder was clearly in an excellent mood. She nodded, signaling for Su Tian to continue.
After a brief pause to organize his thoughts, Su Tian cautiously asked, "What I'd like to know is whether your decision to have me marry Queen Medusa has anything to do with the bloodline within me."
This suspicion had already existed in Su Tian's mind.
The marriage contract the Great Elder had brought this time had only made him more certain of it.
Whether it was sparing his life or having him marry Queen Medusa, the same was true.
The key to all of it was probably inseparable from the bloodline within him.
What exactly is the emperor clan bloodline?
A sudden spark flashed through Su Tian's mind. Could the emperor clan bloodline also be a type of Dou Di bloodline? Only it was ultimately swallowed up by the Soul Clan, vanishing into the long river of history?
Although he did not know the correct answer, Su Tian felt this idea might be close to the truth.
At his question, the ugly smile gradually faded from the Great Elder's withered face. She gave him a penetrating look, as though trying to see straight through his heart.
Under her gaze, Su Tian barely dared breathe. He could only maintain a respectful posture and wait for her to speak.
After a long while, the Great Elder looked away from him and clasped her hands behind her back. Her profound gaze seemed to pierce the void and look into the past, while a note of timeworn weariness entered her voice.
"Let me ask you this. Do you know where the bloodline within you truly comes from?"
"I... do not. Please enlighten me, Great Elder!"
Rather than answering his question, the Great Elder had asked one of her own. Su Tian froze briefly before hurriedly lowering his head and replying respectfully.
His answer did not seem to surprise her.
After all, if Su Tian truly was an orphan as he claimed, he naturally would know nothing of these ancient secrets or the bloodline within him.
Had the Great Elder not once read a relevant account in an ancient book, she probably would not have discovered the peculiarity of his bloodline either.
"In ancient times, the world belonged to the Dou Di. Their descendants benefited from their protection, and the power within their veins was known as the Dou Di bloodline. It granted them astonishing talent from birth. However, this blessing also had its drawbacks."
"As generation after generation passed, the Dou Di bloodline would gradually thin, eventually becoming an ordinary bloodline, its bearers lost among the masses. Unless another supreme Dou Di emerged within the clan!"
The Great Elder seemed to have sunk into some memory. Her eyes grew slightly distant as she slowly recounted the tale in her hoarse voice.
Su Tian wore a shocked expression as he listened, but inwardly remained perfectly calm.
After all, he had already learned these secrets about the Dou Di in great detail from the novel.
So this so-called emperor clan bloodline really is the Dou Di bloodline of ancient times!
At that thought, excitement surged through Su Tian. He had never imagined that he would awaken a Dou Di bloodline right from the start. Wouldn't that mean he could cheat his way forward, with leveling up merely a matter of time?
Unaware of his thoughts, the Great Elder gazed absently toward the distant horizon and continued her account.
"Even so, countless people still envy the Dou Di bloodline. Even I long for the Snake-People Tribe to possess such a heaven-defying bloodline power. Sadly, successive Queens Medusa have striven endlessly toward that goal, yet none have reached that lofty height."
Hearing this, Su Tian rubbed his nose.
He knew perfectly well why no Dou Di had appeared on the Dou Qi Continent for countless years.
But naturally, he could not reveal those secrets. Doing so would undoubtedly invite trouble upon himself.
Su Tian composed himself and watched the Great Elder, continuing to listen.
Her next words, however, made his heart lurch and his pupils abruptly contract.
"But now, I see that hope in you. For what you possess is not a Dou Di bloodline, but the even more terrifying and heaven-defying emperor clan bloodline! It is a supreme bloodline whose power need never be feared to dwindle with time!"
"A supreme... bloodline?!"
Su Tian swallowed hard almost instinctively, his heart hammering wildly. It felt as though an earth-shattering secret about the emperor clan bloodline was about to unfold before him.
The Great Elder had actually called the emperor clan bloodline a supreme bloodline.
From those words alone, Su Tian could sense that, in terms of standing, the emperor clan bloodline he possessed was probably above even the Dou Di bloodline.
Once that thought took root in his mind, it refused to leave.
A possibility that set his blood boiling suddenly arose within him. Could this so-called emperor clan bloodline have no risk of depletion at all, allowing it to improve its descendants' innate talent generation after generation?
If that was true, Su Tian could not imagine what kind of race could possess such an outrageously heaven-defying bloodline.
While other Dou God Clans worried over their descendants' Dou Di bloodlines, those bearing the emperor clan bloodline had no such concerns. All they needed to do was keep cultivating diligently.
If things continued that way, barring any mishaps, descendants of the emperor clan bloodline would inevitably reach the pinnacle.
At that thought, Su Tian felt his blood boil, and a powerful surge of heroic pride welled up in his heart. It was as though he stood in that ancient era, filled with pride and glory at possessing the emperor clan bloodline.
Then the Great Elder's voice rang out, drawing his attention back to reality.
"Of course, if that were all, it probably would not merit being called a supreme bloodline."
The Great Elder paused and took a deep breath. It seemed that even she found what she was about to say profoundly shocking.
"The most terrifying thing about the emperor clan bloodline is that it seems capable of exerting a degree of suppression over other Dou Di bloodlines!"
"Bloodline suppression?!"
At those words, Su Tian felt as though his entire being had frozen.
That was a special bloodline only a Dou Di could create!
With a wave of the hand, a Dou Di could overturn heaven and earth and reverse day and night. The Dou Di bloodline they created likewise bestowed boundless blessings upon their descendants.
Yet now, someone was suddenly telling Su Tian that the bloodline within him could suppress a Dou Di bloodline to some degree.
Anyone hearing such a thing for the first time would probably find it utterly absurd.
But a faint voice seemed to rise within Su Tian's heart, telling him that all of this might truly be real!
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