The air in the subterranean heart of the Tager Desert didn't just carry heat; it carried the weight of a dying sun. As Xiao Chen stepped off the obsidian ledge and plummeted toward the Green Lotus Core Flame, the world became a kaleidoscope of blinding emerald and searing white.
"Human! If you falter for even a millisecond, we both perish!" Queen Medusa's voice echoed, not through the air, but directly through the soul-link Chen had established.
"Focus on your bloodline, Queen!" Chen roared back, his voice straining against the roar of the magma. "Leave the stability to me!"
The Eye of the Storm
Chen landed in the center of the giant green petals. The surface of the Lotus felt like standing on a sun. His boots had long since turned to ash, and his 4x-Multiplied Skin was beginning to char, turning a metallic black.
[Warning: External Temperature 3,500°C]
[4x Constitution is failing to mitigate damage.]
[Solution: Initiate 8x Breakthrough immediately to survive the environment.]
"System, do it! Feed the Green Lotus essence directly into my Dantian!"
At that moment, Medusa let out a piercing, celestial scream. She abandoned her human form, shifting into her true self—a massive, shimmering snake that glowed with a frantic purple light. She dove into the heart of the Green Flame, the heat immediately beginning to strip away her rainbow scales, revealing the raw, pulsing divinity beneath.
Chen slammed his palms onto the base of the Lotus. "Green Wood Flame! OVERCLOCK!"
A torrent of emerald-green life energy erupted from Chen, acting as a buffer between the destructive Core Flame and the Queen's fragile evolution. Wood nurtures Fire. The Green Lotus, sensing the "Life Essence" of Chen's Wood-attribute Qi, stopped trying to incinerate everything in its path and began to flow in a rhythmic, controlled spiral.
The Agony of the 8x Multiplier
But the price for controlling a Heavenly Flame was steep. As Chen acted as the conduit, the residual energy of the Green Lotus began to pour into his own meridians.
[Commencing Third Doubling Sequence: 8x Multiplier Initialized.]
It didn't feel like a breakthrough; it felt like being unmade and remade by a god's hammer.
The Bone Forging: Chen's skeleton vibrated so violently that his teeth shattered and regrew in seconds. His bones didn't just get denser; they turned a shimmering, translucent jade-gold. They were no longer human bone; they were 'Spirit-Jade Bones,' capable of withstanding the pressure of a deep-sea trench.
The Meridian Expansion: His 4x meridians, already wide, were ripped open and reconstructed into eight-lane highways of light. The flow of Qi became so intense that his blood turned into a golden, viscous liquid that hummed with kinetic energy.
The Neural Ascension: His brain felt like it was expanding beyond his skull. His 8x Soul Perception exploded outward, bypassing the Spirit Realm and touching the Earth Realm. He could see the molecular vibrations of the magma; he could feel the rotation of the planet itself.
"AARRRRGGGGHHHH!"
Chen's scream was lost in the roar of the volcano. His body was a battleground. On one side, the Green Lotus was trying to turn him to ash; on the other, the System was forcing his cells to evolve at a geometric rate.
The Union of Flames
In the middle of this agony, Chen felt a cold, smooth presence. Medusa, in her snake form, had wrapped her tail around his waist—not to crush him, but to share her cold-attribute Qi to keep his heart from exploding.
"Little human... hold on..." her voice drifted into his mind, softened by the shared pain.
"I've got you... your majesty," Chen gasped.
With his 8x Soul, Chen performed a feat of alchemy that would be impossible for any human master. He reached into the very "Atom" of the Green Lotus Core Flame. He grabbed the "Destructive Intent" and the "Life Intent" and braided them together with Medusa's purple soul-fire.
BOOM!
A pillar of rainbow light, wrapped in emerald vines of fire, shot through the ceiling of the cavern. It tore through miles of sand, erupting into the desert sky like a spear of the gods.
The Birth of the Python and the God
When the light faded, the magma lake had cooled into a solid, black glass. The Green Lotus was gone—its physical form consumed.
In the center of the crater sat Xiao Chen.
He was no longer the boy who had entered the desert. He had grown nearly half a foot taller. His muscles were lean and corded like steel cables, and his skin had a faint, iridescent sheen. His eyes were no longer just emerald; they had golden, vertical slits—a side effect of the deep soul-link with Medusa during the breakthrough.
[Status Update]
Host: Xiao Chen
Realm: 9-Star Da Dou Master (Peak)
Strength: 8x Baseline (Equivalent to a 3-Star Dou Wang/King)
Soul: Earth Realm (Initial)
New Ability: [Heavenly Green Armor] - Your Qi Armor is now fused with the Green Lotus essence, making it virtually indestructible to anyone below the Dou Zun realm.
Chen looked down at his lap. There, a small, seven-colored snake was curled up, its scales shimmering like diamonds. It looked up at him with intelligent, weary eyes and let out a tiny, affectionate hiss.
"You did it, Queen," Chen whispered, his voice vibrating with the power of the 8x Multiplier. "You're a Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python now."
He reached out and touched his own chest. He felt his heart beating—not like a human heart, but like a drum of war. He stood up, and the very air around him cracked from the pressure of his presence.
"8x stats..." Chen gripped his fist, and a shockwave of air shattered the nearby obsidian pillars. "I don't think I need to 'walk' back to the Jia Ma Empire. I think I'll just... fly."
He took a step, and the ground beneath him disintegrated. He didn't use wings; he simply used the raw, 8x-multiplied force of his legs to launch himself through the hole in the ceiling.
He was coming home. And the Misty Cloud Sect had no idea that a monster was about to knock on their door.