Half a year later.
Medusa and Xiao Xue were still cultivating in the underground world.
Meanwhile, the alliance between the Jia Ma Empire and the Snake-People Empire had successfully conquered the Chu Yun Empire.
The Chu Yun Empire's top-tier battle power—its Dou Kings and Dou Huangs—had been wiped out by Medusa and Xiao Xue.
The remaining strongest individuals were merely Dou Lings.
Even though poison masters had a certain advantage over ordinary Dou Qi cultivators, it wasn't enough to bridge the enormous gap in cultivation levels.
Moreover, the Snake-People race already possessed a certain degree of understanding and research into poisons.
In fact, every leader among the Snake-People was skilled in the use of poison.
Therefore, with the alliance's full military deployment, the border fortresses of the Chu Yun Empire were easily torn apart by the alliance's experts.
Jia Xingtian and Yun Yun, representing the Jia Ma Imperial Family and the Cloud Mist Sect respectively, were in charge of the overall situation.
Hai Bodong, leading several Dou Kings from the alliance and the allied army, fought all the way to the Chu Yun Imperial Capital.
The Chu Yun Emperor, being very decisive, immediately chose to surrender and was subsequently transformed into a sand sculpture with a wave of Jia Xingtian's hand, who had arrived shortly after.
The principle of nipping evil in the bud applies everywhere.
Especially since, with the nation already annihilated, Jia Xingtian, as a member of the imperial family, naturally wouldn't leave behind remnants of a hostile imperial family.
Then, the alliance began to discuss how to divide the Chu Yun Empire.
The benefits of destroying an empire were undoubtedly immense.
Although the Jia Ma Empire and the Snake-People Empire were allied, their internal structures were not monolithic.
On the Jia Ma Empire's side alone, the Jia Ma Imperial Family and the Cloud Mist Sect were not united, let alone with the Snake-People Empire.
However, with Medusa, a Dou Zong powerhouse, the alliance naturally wouldn't shortchange the Snake-People side.
After all, Medusa's contribution to easily taking down the Chu Yun Empire and eliminating its high-end combat power was undeniable.
So, in the end, the territory of the Chu Yun Empire was split 50/50 between the Snake-People race and the Jia Ma Imperial Family.
What the Snake-People wanted, naturally, was mostly mountains and forests.
The central urban areas still belonged to the Jia Ma Empire.
Therefore, both sides were satisfied with this outcome.
Tagore Desert.
The alliance between Jia Ma and the Snake-People directly sent troops to the northern Chu Yun Empire.
Thus, the territories of both the Jia Ma Empire and the Snake-People Empire were unaffected by the war.
And places like the desert were undoubtedly a sacred land for fire and earth attribute Dou Qi cultivators.
So, for the past six months, Xiao Yan had been diligently cultivating in the desert.
To be precise, he was still in the former stronghold of the Snake-People race.
After he passed by the Snake-People's former stronghold and was discovered by the remaining Snake-People, he became an honored guest of the Snake-People race.
Although the Snake-People had relocated from the desert, not all of them had moved out in a short period of time.
The eight major tribes and some items in the underground palace still required a considerable amount of time for relocation and settlement.
Moreover, the four peak Dou Huang elders of the Snake-People race, who were inconvenient to appear in public, still remained in their underground palace.
After Xiao Yan entered the former territory of the Snake-People and his identity was confirmed, he naturally received generous treatment from the Snake-People.
The four elders of the Snake-People race had a clear goal from the start—to first stabilize this human.
And after receiving Medusa's message of "danger averted," the elders felt a great weight lifted from their hearts, feeling much more at ease.
The four elders hadn't expected Medusa to accomplish the previous "indirect rescue of the clan" so quickly.
To be honest, they initially didn't have high hopes for this plan.
After all, Medusa was completely clueless when it came to emotions.
Instead of hoping for Medusa to indirectly save the clan, it would have been better for her to disappear, quickly cultivate to Dou Zun, and then lead her clansmen to escape.
However, to the elders' surprise, Medusa actually managed to win over that human alchemist.
Medusa was worried at the time that revealing her current relationship with Xiao Xue would cause the elders to overthink.
After all, her life was currently in Xiao Xue's hands.
If Xiao Xue were displeased one day and activated the Bone Chilling Flame within her, she would be burned into nothingness.
Therefore, she only sent a message saying "danger averted" and did not offer much explanation.
Thus, she didn't know what strange things the four elders had imagined.
After a brief moment of surprise, the four elders felt a sense of relief, like survivors after a disaster.
Since Medusa had already won over that human alchemist, Xiao Yan naturally transformed from a "devil of doom" into a relative of the Snake-People race.
Therefore, for Xiao Yan to cultivate in the desert, the Snake-People naturally provided some support under the elders' instructions.
And in Xiao Yan and Yao Lao's view, this was due to the alliance of the two empires.
This alliance, in fact, could be said to have been facilitated by his sister and Medusa.
So, the master and disciple didn't find the Snake-People's hospitality strange at all.
Most people who stay in the desert for a long time need to leave the desert periodically to replenish food, water, and other supplies.
Even if food wasn't a strict necessity, as one could absorb energy from heaven and earth, water was absolutely essential.
Moreover, extreme environments in the desert, such as sandstorms, also greatly affected cultivators.
And with a stable cultivation environment among the Snake-People, Xiao Yan naturally accepted the goodwill extended by the Snake-People.
After six months of diligent cultivation in the desert, Xiao Yan had now reached the three-star Dou Master realm.
He was preparing to attempt to refine the Green Lotus Core Flame.
Logically, for a mere Dou Master to attempt to refine an abnormal flame that could half-burn a peak sixth-tier magical beast to death was undoubtedly courting death.
In the original novel, Xiao Yan was able to refine the Green Lotus Core Flame because most of its energy had been consumed.
Otherwise, with just one fifth-grade Blood Lotus Pill and a small bottle of Ice Spirit Cold Spring, he would have been utterly incapable of suppressing the Green Lotus Core Flame.
And without refining an abnormal flame, Xiao Yan would find it difficult to grow relying solely on the mid-grade Yellow-tier Flame Mantra.
Yao Lao also found a few fire-attribute magical beasts in the desert and obtained some beast flames for Xiao Yan to refine.
However, after devouring two beast flames, Xiao Yan's Flame Mantra had only barely reached high-grade Yellow-tier.
To rely on devouring beast flames to develop would take an unknown amount of time.
So, Xiao Yan and Yao Lao discussed it and decided to seek wealth in danger, refining the Green Lotus Core Flame they possessed.
In the original novel, Yao Lao first prepared the fifth-grade Blood Lotus Pill and Ice Spirit Cold Spring.
Then, the master and disciple encountered the Green Lotus Core Flame.
At that time, although Yao Lao could also refine sixth-grade pills, he had no other medicinal ingredients on hand.
Coincidentally, the energy of the Green Lotus Core Flame had also been consumed quite a bit, far from its peak state.
So, Xiao Yan went ahead with the fifth-grade Blood Lotus Pill.
This time, in order to ensure Xiao Yan could refine the Green Lotus Core Flame alive, Yao Lao also put in some effort, preparing to refine a Green Lotus Pill for Xiao Yan.
The Green Lotus Pill and the Earth Spirit Pill were both sixth-grade pills, and both had the effect of assisting in the refinement of abnormal flames.
However, for refining the Green Lotus Core Flame, the Green Lotus Pill was clearly superior.
The other medicinal ingredients required for refining the Green Lotus Pill were the same as those for the Blood Lotus Pill.
The only difference was that the Blood Lotus Pill used Blood Lotus Essence, while the Green Lotus Pill used Earth Fire Lotus Seeds.
Xiao Yan had already traded for the other medicinal ingredients and a sixth-tier water-attribute magic core with the Alchemist Guild before he went out for training.
After all, before he and Xiao Xue went out for training, Xiao Xue was already a fifth-grade alchemist.
And in the Jia Ma Empire, the vice-president of the Alchemist Guild was only a fourth-grade alchemist.
Therefore, the Xiao family's influence and say in the Alchemist Guild were far beyond what they were in the original novel.
Of course, perhaps there was also an intention to curry favor with the Xiao family.
After learning that Xiao Yan was Xiao Xue's elder brother, Xiao Yan easily traded for the medicinal ingredients and magic core he needed from the Alchemist Guild without much effort.
This time, Xiao Yan did not find the Blood Lotus Essence in Qingshan Town, and as a result, a blessing in disguise, he kept the medicinal ingredients and magic core.
Thus, Yao Lao successfully refined a sixth-grade Green Lotus Pill using an Earth Fire Lotus Seed, keeping it as a backup.
Yao Lao also had a stock of Spirit-Gathering Pills.
As for the Ice Spirit Cold Spring, Xiao Yan obtained a large amount from the Snake-People race, enough to fill a swimming pool.
These were all brought back by Medusa from the Northern Cold Land earlier, intended for use during her evolution with the help of the abnormal flame.
Now that Medusa had successfully evolved, these Ice Spirit Cold Springs were useless.
The elders of the Snake-People race made a favor of it and gave them to Xiao Yan for him to refine the abnormal flame.
Xiao Yan naturally accepted these free gifts without ceremony.
With so much Ice Spirit Cold Spring to suppress the Green Lotus Core Flame, his success rate of refining it could increase by another ten or twenty percent.
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