Zi Yan? Completely ignored.
That little one was already a veteran of Heart Flame Body Tempering. For her, this wasn't a trial at all—just another meal, another chance to absorb energy and inch closer to growing up.
Han Yue caught Xiao Jietian's encouraging gaze.
Strength flooded her heart.
Is this… the power of love?
Su Qian surveyed the ten seated figures. Satisfied that no immediate crisis threatened them, he raised his hand.
Ten light shields descended, settling upon their heads.
The shields dissolved.
And the Origin Heart Flames—fragments of the Fallen Heart Flame itself—transformed into streams of crimson light that pierced downward from their crowns, drilling into their bodies.
Ten faces flushed crimson, like charcoal freshly stoked.
Wisps of white smoke curled upward from their brows.
Su Qian observed them for a long moment. Then, satisfied there were no major complications, he addressed the two attending elders.
"Watch them closely. Intervene immediately if problems arise." His gaze swept across the ten straining figures. "These are all promising prospects."
"Yes, Great Elder."
One elder studied the seated contestants. "I wonder how many will succeed this time. Last year, only four managed to endure. I hope this year's yield is higher."
Su Qian sighed softly. "That depends entirely on their perseverance… and their respective fortunes."
He had deliberately omitted one detail: those who failed were typically bedridden for two to three months.
No need to scare them beforehand.
Xiao Jietian ignored their conversation entirely.
He walked directly to the edge of the deep cave and gazed downward into its depths.
The two elders recognized him and offered no obstruction. Su Qian joined him at the precipice.
"Shall we descend to the final layer and observe?" Su Qian asked.
Xiao Jietian nodded.
They passed through the energy shield, Su Qian opening a gap just wide enough for one person.
"A few days ago, it broke through several layers of seals," Su Qian said grimly. "We expended considerable manpower to repair them. Since then, it has been inexplicably quiet. If I couldn't still sense its presence, I would have assumed it had escaped."
Xiao Jietian surveyed the dark red magma world stretching before them.
"The calm before the storm?"
"Precisely." Su Qian's brow was deeply furrowed. "I suspect it is gathering strength. In the past, it acted impulsively—recklessly. Lately, its intelligence appears to have increased significantly."
Xiao Jietian considered this.
The Fallen Heart Flame accumulates energy, then erupts with several times its normal power. Perhaps it has discovered an external energy source.
They investigated thoroughly. Found nothing unusual.
They withdrew.
At the seal's edge, Xiao Jietian paused.
A flicker of crimson—so brief, so subtle that Su Qian didn't notice—detached from his hand and adhered to an inconspicuous corner of the energy shield.
Then he returned to the body tempering chamber.
He glanced at Han Yue. Her condition was stable, her expression strained but controlled.
He found an empty spot, sat down, and began to cultivate.
A day passed.
Then—
Xiao Jietian's eyes snapped open.
His expression changed.
Medusa.
He could feel it—a tremor through the connection he shared with her. Faint, but unmistakable.
Danger.
Life-or-death crisis.
He rose in a single, fluid motion.
The two elders and Su Qian turned toward him, startled by his abrupt movement.
"Young friend Xiao?" Su Qian's brow furrowed. "What's wrong?"
No answer.
A spatial gate materialized before Xiao Jietian—a one-time teleportation array. His fingers moved rapidly across its surface, inputting coordinates.
Su Qian's eyes widened. "Xiao Jietian, the body tempering—"
"There's no time."
His voice was calm. Absolute.
The Dou Qi around him erupted.
Four-Star Dou Emperor.
Five-Star.
Six-Star.
Seven-Star.
His Five Elements Thunder Dragon God Body—unsealed.
Ten minutes earlier.
Medusa had just finished annihilating a faction that had dared oppose Boundless Heavenly Hall. Their storehouse had been thoroughly looted, their resistance crushed without mercy.
She was en route back to headquarters when a sudden, primal sense of danger seized her heart.
She halted in the void.
The space before her was empty. Silent.
But she knew.
"...Who's there? Show yourself."
The air rippled.
An old man stepped forth from the void. His hair was the colour of dried blood, hanging in lank strands around a face like weathered bark. His eyes burned with a faint, ghostly light.
"Are you from Boundless Heavenly Hall?"
Medusa's pupils contracted.
Seven-Star Dou Zong.
She was a Two-Star Dou Zong.
"I asked you a question, little girl." The old man's voice was like ice scraping against stone. "Are you from Boundless Heavenly Hall?"
"What's it to you?"
He smiled—a thin, unpleasant expression.
"I am here on behalf of a favour owed. A simple test." His gaze swept over her, lingering. "Nothing personal."
Medusa's golden-red rapier materialized in her grip.
"Whether it's personal or not," she said coolly, "you'll find I'm not so easy to test."
The old man's smile thinned.
"So spirited." His voice dropped. "It has been a long time since I encountered someone so... lively."
His fingers curled.
"Unfortunately, spirited girls tend to break easily."
Black Dou Qi erupted from his palm.
Five streams of chilling energy shot toward her—not probing, not testing. Genuine attack.
"Serpent's Slash!"
Golden-red sword energy met black frost.
BOOM—
Both attacks dissipated.
But Medusa's body trembled violently. A muffled groan escaped her lips. She retreated three steps in the void, her rapier trembling in her grip.
The old man hadn't moved an inch.
"Is this your so-called strength?" Medusa wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her voice was steady. "Unimpressive."
His eyes narrowed.
"You talk too much."
She struck first this time.
"Seven-Coloured Venom!"
A stream of iridescent poison shot from her palm—corrosive, deadly, capable of melting through steel and flesh alike. The very air sizzled in its wake.
The old man's ten fingers flickered.
"Thousand Illusory Profound Ice Thorns!"
Black ice cones erupted from his fingertips in a relentless barrage. Each venom stream was met, pierced, shattered. The poison dissolved harmlessly in the void.
The remaining ice cones hurtled toward her.
Clang—clang—clang—
Her rapier became a blur of gold-red light. Each strike shattered an incoming ice cone—but each impact drove her back another step. Her arms grew numb. Her breathing ragged.
Black frost crept along the blade, seeking her fingers.
She shattered the last cone and gasped.
"You're durable." The old man sounded almost admiring. "But durability has limits."
He moved.
His form blurred—not speed, but something else. Ghost-like. Impossible to track.
"Serpent's Embrace!"
A massive fire serpent erupted from Medusa's palms, coiling toward the old man with fangs bared. It was her strongest attack—a technique that had annihilated countless enemies.
The old man extended one palm.
Black frost gathered.
And the serpent shattered like glass.
His palm struck her chest.
Medusa flew backward, crashing through trees, through rock, through the forest floor. She carved a trench twenty metres long before she finally stopped.
Blood dripped from her lips.
Two-Star against Seven-Star.
The gap is too wide.
The old man descended slowly, like a vulture circling dying prey.
"You have potential," he said. "A magical beast that has achieved human form—rare. Valuable."
He studied her with cold, calculating eyes.
"How about this: become my mount. I will spare your life."
Medusa pushed herself upright.
Her robes were torn. Her body was covered in wounds, each rimed with black frost that refused to melt. Her breathing was laboured.
But her gaze—
Her gaze was absolute murder.
"You want me," she said slowly, "to be your mount?"
"Yes."
Her lips curved.
It was not a smile.
"Seven-Coloured Heaven-Swallowing Python—true form."
The light was blinding.
Gold. Red. Violet. Azure. Emerald. Silver. Obsidian.
Seven colours, blazing like a newborn sun.
When the light faded, the woman was gone.
In her place stood a serpent of impossible majesty—towering, immense, scales shimmering with iridescent radiance. Its eyes were slit-pupilled, ancient, burning with cold fire.
The old man's expression shifted.
"...A Seven-Coloured Heaven-Swallowing Python."
For the first time, genuine surprise entered his voice.
"Extraordinary. Truly extraordinary." His eyes gleamed with avarice. "I want you even more now."
The serpent spoke—Medusa's voice, but deeper. Older. Resonant with primal power.
"You will want nothing soon."
She struck.
The forest became a battlefield.
Black frost met seven-coloured venom. Ancient power clashed against ancient power. Trees were uprooted, reduced to splinters. The ground itself was scarred and scorched.
But the gap in cultivation was too vast.
Every exchange, the serpent was driven back. Every clash, new wounds opened across her magnificent scales. Black frost crept inward, slow but inexorable.
One more exchange, Medusa thought. One more opening. One more—
His palm found her.
She crashed through the treeline, through a hillside, through a stream that boiled and evaporated on contact. Her massive form lay crumpled against a shattered cliff face.
The old man landed before her.
"You fought well," he said. "Better than expected. But this is the end."
Black frost gathered at his fingertips.
"I'll break your limbs first. Then we'll discuss the terms of your service."
Is this how it ends?
Medusa's vision was fading. Her body screamed. The frost was spreading, numbing, claiming her.
Xiao Jietian...
You owe me. You still owe me...
The old man's hand descended.
And then—
CRACK.
Space itself tore open.
A figure stepped through the rift.
Lightning wreathed his form. Four colours—azure, crimson, emerald, gold—coiled around him like living serpents. His gaze swept across the ravaged battlefield, across the fallen serpent, across the old man frozen mid-strike.
And his voice—
His voice was very, very quiet.
"You."
A pause.
"I'm going to enjoy this."