A new day, a new beginning.
"Heading out of the city again, young master?" the familiar innkeeper asked casually.
"That's right. Cultivating in the desert is a little harder, but the benefits are greater too," Chen Cang replied with a smile, in excellent spirits.
"So that's why. No wonder you're already as strong as those veteran mercenaries in the city at such a young age. My son told me last night that when he grows up, he wants to be like you and have those mercenaries waiting on him hand and foot."
Many people had seen Chen Cang lead a large contingent from the Sand Mercenary Group out of the city earlier, so it was only natural for their imaginations to run wild.
"That's good. A goal gives you more motivation. With your heart set on something, you're bound to improve, day after day."
"Haha, may your words bring him good fortune. Oh, right, some mercenaries in the city have been saying that quite a few Snake-People have appeared along the desert's edge lately. Be careful out there, young master."
Chen Cang nodded in acknowledgment, waved, and left the inn with the Void Pegasus Beast.
Snake-People appearing?
Not much of a problem.
Even the queen of the Snake-People Tribe had come. Why worry about those small fry?
For low-ranking mercenaries and people scraping out a living along the desert's edge, however, it was a threat.
Chen Cang had yet to sort out his own affairs and could not concern himself with too much else. The only thing he could do was offer a brief warning when he ran into someone he knew.
For instance, the girl he had met twice before.
"Are you heading out of the city too?"
"Yes. Lots of mercenaries have gotten busy these past few days. Some bring back big hauls and need people to help with rough work, like pushing carts. We wait along the desert's edge and can earn quite a bit."
Chen Cang looked over the girl's small, frail body. No matter how he looked at her, she did not seem particularly strong.
"Don't underestimate me, young master. I'm already thirteen, and I'm just as strong as they are."
The girl raised her chin slightly and discreetly pointed toward the crowd in the line.
Chen Cang was genuinely surprised. He had thought she was ten at most, yet she was already thirteen.
He had read her memories during their first meeting, but he had only searched for the information he wanted rather than examining them in detail.
"Ha, my eyes failed me. Be careful once you leave the city. Snake-People have been appearing along the desert's edge lately."
After stepping through the city gates, Chen Cang parted ways with the crowd.
Upon reaching the area where the Green Lotus Core Flame lay, Chen Cang inspected the arrangements he had made the previous night.
Everything was intact. It seemed no one had touched them.
Before long, however, Chen Cang noticed something unusual a little over ten zhang away from the passage.
He approached and briefly inspected it. The sand here was noticeably softer, nowhere near as firmly packed as elsewhere. A casual scrape was enough to dig a small hole.
Well, it looked like Queen Medusa had already made her move.
She had been cautious, though. Rather than descending underground through the passage Chen Cang had opened, she had made a new one herself.
Thinking it over, if Queen Medusa reverted to her true form, doing something like this really would be effortless.
After filling in the small hole, Chen Cang entered through his own passage, once again leaving the Void Pegasus Beast to stand guard outside.
Once underground, Chen Cang spotted a new, much wider passage opening in the distant rock wall with a single sweep of his gaze.
There was no doubt about it. She really had been here!
He just didn't know whether she had entered the magma to investigate.
"Little snake, come out. I have a question for you."
He circulated his Dou Qi and threw a punch, breaking off a section of a hanging rock pillar and sending it crashing into the magma.
Disturbed by this polite knock at its door, the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake soon poked its heads out of the magma. The instant it saw Chen Cang, its teeth seemed to ache.
Not daring to attack rashly, the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake shrank its body and remained in the magma, staring at Chen Cang from afar.
As long as it stayed in the magma, it felt perfectly safe and had no fear of the human before it.
"All right, that's all I needed. Go play."
Chen Cang waved and turned to leave.
At the same time, a sequence of images from the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake's perspective appeared in his mind-
After Chen Cang left yesterday, the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake had submerged itself, swallowing magma to soothe its injuries.
An unknown amount of time later, a thunderous crash shattered the silence.
The Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake was enraged, but only when it swam into the shallower magma did it see that the newcomer was an enormous creature.
Just the section of tail extending inside was larger than its entire body at full size!
This was an existence it could not afford to provoke!
Realizing this, the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake could only bury itself in the magma and play dead, making as little noise as possible as it slowly sank into the depths.
Even so, it was discovered.
The enormous snake tail vanished in an instant, replaced by a voluptuous figure standing at the passage entrance. From above, she cast a glance toward where the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake was hiding.
Then she ignored it.
The figure stood there quietly, studying her surroundings and sensing the energy. Only after a long while did she envelop herself in powerful energy and leap into the magma.
This was the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake's home, its own back garden, the place where it felt most confident.
Yet faced with the woman who had suddenly intruded, it did not dare make a single move. It could only watch from afar, trembling.
The closer one drew to the depths where the Green Lotus Core Flame lay, the denser the fire-attribute energy became. Such an obvious feature naturally could not escape Queen Medusa's senses, and it successfully piqued her curiosity.
Thus, she swiftly approached in that direction.
Until she saw that fiercely burning green lotus with her own eyes!
Even Queen Medusa froze at the sight. Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to her, excitement appeared on her face. She took a long, deep look at the green lotus before leaving even faster than she had arrived.
The images ended there.
"She discovered the Green Lotus Core Flame, but didn't immediately try to take it."
Returning to the surface through the passage, Chen Cang sank into thought.
From those limited images, he could roughly deduce what Medusa had been thinking.
Medusa had been surprised when she saw the Green Lotus Core Flame. She had not expected the thing Chen Cang had searched so painstakingly for to be such a wondrous treasure.
Soon afterward, she had remembered her tribe's secret method. This Green Lotus Core Flame had shown her hope of advancing to Dou Zong, hence her excitement.
As for why she had not taken it immediately, perhaps she was being cautious, perhaps she wanted to make more preparations, or perhaps she knew too little about the Green Lotus Core Flame and was eager to return and seek more information.
Of course, she certainly also knew that with Chen Cang's current strength, he would be utterly incapable of taking it anytime soon. That was why she had left with such confidence.
Viewed this way, Queen Medusa had no need to hurry.
But Chen Cang, who had set all of this in motion, did not have so much time to wait.
The more thoroughly Queen Medusa prepared, the less harm she would suffer when collecting the Green Lotus Core Flame, and the more troublesome things would become when Chen Cang put his plan into action.
"Hesitation leads to defeat. Looks like I'll have to force her to be more decisive!"
The following day.
Inside the temple of the Holy City at the center of the desert.
Queen Medusa was poring over her tribe's ancient texts, hoping to find more information about that green-lotus-shaped heavenly flame and the process of evolution.
Suddenly, Hua She'er arrived to report.
"Your Majesty, several significant events occurred last night in Stone Desert City, which you instructed me to keep an eye on."
Medusa did not look up, but nodded lightly to show that she was listening.
"First, a group of our tribespeople caused trouble along the desert's edge yesterday. Some used extremely vicious methods, bringing about numerous tragedies. While they were wreaking havoc, a mysterious expert discovered them and killed them all."
Queen Medusa's hands paused briefly before swiftly resuming their movements.
In Tagor, the fighting and killing between humans and Snake-People had long been a fact of life, with both sides responsible for countless tragedies.
Snake-People slaughtered humans and raped and abducted human women.
The humans were no different. They never showed mercy when they encountered Snake-People. Every year, large numbers of snake women were abducted and sent to various trading venues for the amusement of people with peculiar tastes.
This was a longstanding feud. Even if the leaders on both sides wished to turn things around, it could not be changed overnight.
"Second, a young man named Chen Cang in Stone Desert City posted numerous notices both inside and outside the city last night, inviting human experts to undertake a major venture. He also boldly declared that any Dou Ling willing to join would receive a fourth-rank Beast Strength Pill upon success, any Dou Wang expert would receive a fifth-rank Black Wind Ghost-Transforming Pill, and any Dou Huang expert would receive a sixth-rank Emperor's Extreme Pill."
"Word has already spread around Stone Desert City, but few believe it. Most regard it as a joke. After all, in the Jia Ma Empire, probably only Pill King Gu He could offer rewards like those. That Chen Cang is so young, he hardly looks like a high-ranking Alchemist. As for his background..."
"In two or three days at most, someone will have investigated him thoroughly. Then it will be clear whether he's merely playing to the crowd or truly has something to back his claims."
In Hua She'er's view, Her Majesty should have had no interest in something that sounded so obviously false. She was only reporting it as part of her duties.
Yet, to her surprise, after hearing the news, Queen Medusa even stopped reading the ancient texts.
"I have suddenly felt a stirring of insight. I may need to enter seclusion again for a few days. I leave the Holy City's affairs to you."
Before you continue