Deep within the Tager Desert, in a cavern, Qing Lin anxiously waited. Unbeknownst to her, Xiao Se had been gone for nearly an hour and still had not returned.
Half an hour earlier, the magma had erupted violently, but it soon returned to calm. Otherwise, her fragile and delicate body would have been swallowed by the magma.
Suddenly, a powerful and unfamiliar aura surged into Qing Lin's heart. This aura carried a hint of killing aura, indicating that its owner had killed many people—many, indeed.
Feeling the rapid approach of this terrifying aura, Qing Lin was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions and helplessness, leading to despair.
With only the third level of Dou DIsciple cultivation, she could hardly move in this magma world. If she were to return the way she came, she might run into the owner of this aura, which would be akin to walking into a trap. Moreover, she had a premonition that this powerful aura's owner had likely already detected her presence.
"Big Brother, please come back soon!"
In her desperation, Qing Lin silently prayed that Xiao Se would return first so that they could hide within the Sea Protection Shield. Even the owner of this aura would not be able to detect them.
In the tunnel.
Within the pitch-black, smooth passage, Medusa moved swiftly. Her palace was not far from here, so it took her less than half an hour to reach the location where the aura of the Heavenly Flame had vanished.
The passage was so winding that she was certain the Heavenly Flame was still inside, even if someone had obtained it.
Suddenly, Medusa's body slightly paused as she sensed a familiar aura, murmuring, "This is from a snake-people person… No, not quite. It seems to be a half-snake-people person."
With that, Medusa's body was enveloped in red light, and the surrounding space distorted bizarrely before she vanished from the dark passage.
On the other side, in the subterranean magma world, Xiao Se, having obtained the Heavenly Flame, was making his way back by holding the tail of the Two-Headed Flame Spirit Serpent.
As the Heavenly Flame could not be stored in the space ring, storage belt, or the wishful treasure pouch, he had placed it into the system warehouse instead of carrying it.
"Brother, we'll be able to get out in less than half an incense stick's time," Hong Kui's soft voice suddenly rang in his mind, filled with joy. Clearly, she was very pleased with how smoothly Xiao Se had obtained the Heavenly Flame.
Just as her voice finished, both Xiao Se and Hong Kui's faces grew solemn.
Xiao Se saw a red dot approaching Qing Lin at an unbelievable speed through his perspective vision, almost as if it were space jumping. Hong Kui sensed it through her spiritual power.
"Brother, something is wrong. A very strong aura is rapidly approaching Qing Lin," Hong Kui, in the Magic Sword, warned urgently.
"I sensed it too. Hong Kui, quickly take me up," Xiao Se transmitted to Long Kui.
"Leave it to me, Brother!" With those words, Hong Kui emerged from Xiao Se's right hand DemonSword pattern, quickly wrapping around his waist, and flew towards the exit, leaving the Two-Headed Flame Spirit Serpent far behind.
At this moment, both parties were racing to see who could reach Qing Lin first.-
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In the cavern, a delicate, soft voice suddenly echoed.
"Little girl, what are you doing here?"
With the voice came a sudden distortion in the space ahead of Qing Lin in the passage.
Seeing this, Qing Lin's green eyes widened in shock, instinctively stepping back, but she tripped over a protruding rock and fell to the ground, her delicate face filled with fear.
Under Qing Lin's terrified gaze, a graceful figure slowly emerged from the distorted space in the cavern.
The suddenly appearing beautiful woman wore a red dress. Beneath the dress was a nearly perfect, voluptuous figure, slender and graceful, like a ripe peach. She exuded a faint charm. Below the dress was a purple snake-people tail emitting a subtle fragrance, swaying freely in the air, supported by the woman's dou qi wings.
This woman was the epitome of enchantment, her seductive aura mixed with a touch of regal elegance.
At this moment, even Qing Lin could guess her identity: Medusa, the Queen of the snake-people .
"This is…" Medusa looked at Qing Lin, who was sitting on the ground in fright, her expression indifferent. Her eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and when she noticed the three small green dots in Qing Lin's green eyes, her surprise quickly turned into shock.
"No wonder you have survived as a half-snake-people. Your eyes are quite extraordinary. But unfortunately, they are still too immature," Medusa murmured softly. Ignoring the restraint of Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils on snake-people monsters, she slowly approached Qing Lin. With a wave of her hand, she enveloped Qing Lin in red dou qi, causing her body to automatically rise and float gently in front of Queen Medusa.
"Little girl, tell me, who brought you here? Where did that person go?" Medusa asked coldly.
As a peak Dou Huang level expert, Medusa could see through Qing Lin's cultivation level at a glance. With such negligible strength, even with the highly unusual pupils Qing Lin could not have traversed the winding passage to get here.
"I don't know." Although Qing Lin was terrified, she could not betray Xiao Se, who was the only one who had truly treated her well and considered her family.
Seeing Qing Lin's stubborn appearance, Medusa's brows furrowed slightly, and she spoke again, "Little girl, my patience is limited. If not for the fact that you carry half of my race's blood, you would already be dead."
"I… I don't know what you're talking about," Qing Lin said, her green eyes lowered. A trace of despair and reluctance passed through her eyes. It was hard for her to accept dying so soon after finding someone who had genuinely cared for her.
Under the magma, Xiao Se and Hong Kui quietly watched everything unfold. Ultimately, he had arrived too late. In terms of strength, Hong Kui might be on par with Medusa, but Medusa not only had a shorter distance to cover but also seemed to master some kind of spatial teleportation technique, allowing her to appear directly in front of Qing Lin.
Although Medusa was his former life's goddess, he could not feel happy in this situation.
Taking out the Demon Sword and looking at Hong Kui, Hong Kui understood immediately. She lightly nodded and transformed into a red light, merging with Xiao Se.
Xiao Se chose not to launch a surprise attack. If he did, even though Hong Kui's abilities might not be enough to kill Medusa, heavily injuring her was still likely. However, this would mean a bitter enmity with Medusa and might also endanger Qing Lin.
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Pls Check out My Friend SenatusAlpha's fic - Q&A System in Douluo