Xiao Yan silently asked within his sea of consciousness, "Teacher, what do you mean? Is there something special about her?"
Yao Lao's voice carried a trace of gravity.
"I hadn't noticed her at first, but when I happened to look into her eyes, I actually felt a faint spell of dizziness. Only then did I realize something was unusual about her."
After a pause, Yao Lao said, each word deliberate, "She may possess the legendary... Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!"
Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils?
Xiao Yan raised his brows slightly. What were those?
Yao Lao explained:
"I've told you before that the current Three Great Magical Beast Clans of the Central Plains are the Primordial Void Dragon Clan, the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan, and the Nine Netherworld Python Clan.
But what I never told you was that a thousand years ago, the Three Great Magical Beast Clans of the Central Plains were the Primordial Void Dragon Clan, the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan, and the Medusa Clan!
The Nine Netherworld Python Clan didn't even rank among them!"
Shocked, Xiao Yan asked, "Teacher, do you mean the Medusa Clan in the Tagor Desert of the Jia Ma Empire? Their ancestors were that powerful?"
Yao Lao chuckled. "Precisely. In fact, both the Nine Netherworld Python Clan and the Medusa Clan trace their ancestral bloodlines back to the Ancient Heavenly Snake.
But snakes are lustful by nature, and after several generations, the Ancient Heavenly Snake's bloodline gradually became diluted.
The purest branch of that bloodline was the Medusa Clan.
And the reason the Medusa Clan was so powerful was that they could reliably pass down two supremely powerful mutated bloodlines.
One was the heaven swallowing python bloodline, and the other was the triple jade-green snake flower pupils bloodline.
The heaven swallowing python bloodline was relatively easy to bring forth.
Every Queen Medusa could awaken the heaven swallowing python bloodline, provided she tempered her body with heavenly flames and purified her bloodline.
It began with seven colors at birth and reached nine colors at maturity.
The heaven swallowing python bloodline guaranteed the Medusa Clan's greatest fighting strength.
But individual fighting strength alone wasn't enough to make them the third great magical beast clan, capable of standing against the dragons and phoenixes.
The very foundation that allowed the Medusa Clan to contend with the Dragon and Phoenix Clans was these Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.
Besides their exceptionally powerful illusion abilities, the greatest strength of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils was their ability to command every snake under heaven!
Against any snake, they could seize control of its will across two major ranks!
Someone with Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils at the Dou Zong level could even control snakes at the Dou Sheng level!
It was precisely through this ability to command every snake under heaven that the Medusa Clan could rely on its many subordinate snake clans to contend with the Dragon and Phoenix Clans.
Back then, the Nine Netherworld Python Clan was one of the Medusa Clan's subordinate clans.
To draw a comparison with human society, the Heaven Swallowing Python was the general of the snake clans, commanding their martial might, while the bearer of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils was their true sovereign!"
This was the first time Xiao Yan had heard any of this history.
After his shock came bewilderment.
"Teacher, then why did the Medusa Clan eventually decline into nothing more than a tiny Snake-People Tribe in the Jia Ma Empire?"
Yao Lao sighed.
"A thousand years ago, for some unknown reason, the Medusa Clan suddenly stopped producing anyone with Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.
Without the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, the Medusa Clan's control over its subordinate snake clans weakened drastically.
Led by the Nine Netherworld Python Clan, the snake clans launched a rebellion to overthrow the Medusa Clan's rule.
The Medusa Clan suffered defeat after defeat, retreating all the way to the Northwest Continent, yet the Nine Netherworld Python Clan still refused to let them go!
In the end, the Nine Netherworld Python Clan also seized the Medusa Clan's heavenly flames, leaving them unable even to continue passing down the heaven swallowing python bloodline. Only when they could no longer find the scattered handful of survivors did they return to the Central Plains.
After returning to the Central Plains, the Nine Netherworld Python Clan declared that they had slaughtered every last member of the Medusa Clan.
This present-day Medusa tribe was presumably rebuilt by the few survivors from back then as their descendants multiplied."
At last, Xiao Yan understood the Medusa Clan's history.
But then he asked, "Teacher, if the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils had died out, why have they appeared in this girl?"
Yao Lao shook his head with a wry smile.
"I'm no immortal. How could I possibly be all-knowing and all-powerful? I don't know why the triple jade-green snake flower pupils bloodline has reappeared after dying out for so many years!"
Then Yao Lao chuckled again. "Perhaps it's your luck! After all, you even ran into someone with a woeful poison body. What's so strange about encountering the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils too?"
The moment he heard the word "luck," Xiao Yan's expression turned extremely grim.
Based on his understanding of the Cultivation World, luck might be an illusion, but fortune and fate could very well be real!
He had long suspected that something was wrong with this body of his.
Previously, however, he had only suspected something was amiss with this body's romantic luck.
It was so abundant that it bordered on absurd!
But upon closer examination now, there might be something wrong with this body's entire fate and overarching fortune!
Meeting Yao Lao in the ring could be called luck.
Going out and picking up someone with a woeful poison body could also be called luck.
His entanglement with Yun Yun, the Jia Ma Empire's greatest genius in a thousand years, could also be called pure coincidence.
Yet he had barely taken another two steps before encountering the almost unparalleled Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!
This was far too much of a coincidence!
From his experience in the Cultivation World in his previous life, coincidences on this scale invariably meant there was a scheme behind them!
The only question now was whether some mysterious mighty being was pulling the strings, or whether the fortune of the Heavenly Dao was pushing him into the game!
But whoever was behind it, a scheme that used a Dou Zun soul body, a woeful poison body, and Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils as its groundwork was bound to be a grand scheme without equal!
The mere thought of being caught in such a grand scheme made Xiao Yan feel as though he were stark naked, without the slightest sense of security!
No!
I had to strengthen myself quickly and stockpile trump cards!
Especially trump cards!
Strength was solid, straightforward fighting power, something displayed in the open and easily accounted for by others.
Trump cards that no one could anticipate were the true treasures for winning through surprise!
At present, he had only two things that could truly count as unknown trump cards capable of catching others off guard.
One was his method of refining flames, and the other was his soul cultivation method.
He had to build his trump cards around those two advantages.
Hmm, as for heavenly flames, I used to think collecting three to five and raising the Flame Mantra's grade would more or less be enough.
But now, to face the dangers ahead, I might have to start gathering heavenly flames on every front!
If I could collect all twenty-three kinds of heavenly flames, they would surely become an extraordinarily powerful trump card!
Of course, gathering heavenly flames might very well put him at odds with that mighty flame being.
But there was no helping it. Heavenly flames were something he needed as well.
Collecting three or collecting twenty-three would offend that being either way, so I might as well offend them to the bitter end! To stockpile trump cards, I couldn't afford to worry about so much!
Then there was his soul cultivation method.
According to Yao Lao, the members of this world's Soul Clan all existed in the form of condensed soul bodies.
If he wanted to rapidly strengthen his soul power, the best method was to hunt members of the Soul Clan and absorb their soul bodies!
Yao Lao had once said through gritted teeth that most members of the Soul Clan were utterly unforgivable villains who delighted in imprisoning people's souls.
If that was truly the case, once he reached the Central Plains, he would have to hunt the Soul Clan to rapidly strengthen his soul power.
Good!
That would be the tentative plan!
On the surface, I would cultivate diligently and advance quickly.
In secret, I would do everything possible to gather heavenly flames, improve the Flame Mantra, and build up a reserve of heavenly flames.
At the same time, I would secretly hunt the Soul Clan and strengthen my soul power.
Then I would stay hidden in the shadows as much as possible and see what the ultimate conspiracy really was!
With his thoughts in turmoil, Xiao Yan had lost all desire to drink.
All he wanted now was to return and start cultivating immediately.
But however urgent that was, since these Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils had already been delivered right into his hands, he would naturally have to take them in.
Fixing his gaze on the girl, Xiao Yan studied her closely.
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