Hai Bodong folded his wings and held the unconscious Ling Ying securely in one hand. Within a few strides, he caught up with Medusa. The Ice Emperor moved with astonishing speed, cold air briefly congealing beneath his feet without leaving so much as a trace of ice.
After a brief dash, they finally reached Fan Tian's side and faced off against the girl in blue in the distant sky. The air seemed to hold a string stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.
"Ice Emperor, well done." Fan Tian glanced at the limp body in Hai Bodong's hand and let out a long, heavy breath.
At a time like this, a living bargaining chip was far more useful than a corpse.
"And you, Little Medusa. You did very well."
Fan Tian carefully took Zi Yan into his arms, his gaze settling on Medusa's exquisitely beautiful, icy face. Truthfully, he had expected Medusa to flee outright-after all, they had known each other for only a few short days and had never so much as touched fingertips. Talking about loyalty was a joke.
This queen of the Snake-People Tribe was renowned for her ruthless cruelty and merciless betrayals. Her willingness to intervene was already a welcome surprise.
Yet Medusa's face was now covered in frost, her phoenix eyes filled with a coldness that kept others a thousand miles away. She would not even look him in the eye.
"I only intervened because you saved me and the Third Elder." Her voice sounded like shards of ice striking the ground, crisp yet chilling to the bone. "From now on, neither of us owes the other anything."
With that, she raised her chin slightly, her proud curves all the more breathtaking beneath the moonlight. Her tone carried unquestionable authority. "And another