Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

The two-headed fire spirit serpent perked up and immediately swung its massive body forward, its posture humble.

Su Baichen, who had just flown out of the lotus platform, was surprised to see that the giant snake was still waiting obediently outside.

"Oh ho." He chuckled, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You're quite trustworthy, you didn't take the opportunity to slip away, and you're still here waiting for us?"

Upon hearing this, the two-headed fire spirit snake immediately nodded its two heads like it was pounding garlic, its expression devout, but deep in its eyes there was still a trace of fear that was hard to hide.

It carefully lowered its massive body, using its smooth scales to press against the surface of the lava lake, forming a smooth "staircase" to indicate that Su Baichen and Queen Medusa could step onto its body and be carried away from this scorching underground world.

Su Baichen was slightly taken aback upon seeing this. With his current Dou Zun cultivation level, it would be a simple matter for him to tear through space and return to the ground with Queen Medusa.

But since the two-headed fire serpent was so perceptive and provided such attentive service, he couldn't bear to refuse its kindness. He glanced at Queen Medusa, giving her an inquiring look. Queen Medusa's red lips parted slightly, her aloof face expressionless, but she didn't object, only nodding slightly.

And so, the two landed lightly on the broad back of the two-headed fire serpent. Feeling the weight on its back, the fire serpent immediately and carefully swayed its body, riding the boiling magma around it, like the most skilled sailor cutting through the waves, steadily speeding upwards.

It is extremely fast, yet its body is exceptionally stable, striving to provide the best possible experience for its "passengers".

Only after the two-headed fire serpent carried the two of them through the lava lake, back into the huge hole in the desert, and finally safely brought them to the surface along the winding passage, did Su Baichen lightly leap off the serpent's back and step onto the scorching sand.

"You little snake, you're quite worldly-wise," Su Baichen said, patting off non-existent dust from his body. His tone was teasing. "Such attentive service, sending us straight back to the ground. Not bad, not bad at all."

Upon hearing this, the two-headed fire spirit snake humbly shook its two large heads, hissing, while its four eyes stared expectantly at Su Baichen, filled with undisguised anticipation—the promised "reward".

However, Su Baichen just smiled and looked at it, his hands behind his back, showing no intention of taking anything out.

Time passed slowly, and the two-headed fire spirit snake stared at Su Baichen, their anxiety growing stronger.

It dared not urge it, but the anticipation for the future made it feel as if a hundred claws were scratching at its heart.

Just like that, you left?

Wouldn't it be a waste of time?

Aren't the strongest humans the ones who value their promises the most?

Could it be... that this sir is going to break his promise?

The thought of this possibility filled the two-headed fire spirit snake with immense resentment.

(The two-headed fire serpent's inner monologue: "This serpent is suffering... I worked so hard as a guide, drilling through lava and enduring high temperatures, only to encounter a heartless client who wanted to freeload off my labor? Where's the promised payment? Waaah, why is this serpent's life so miserable...")

Chapter 33 The Shy Queen Medusa

Queen Medusa, standing nearby, shook her head helplessly.

Having spent some time with Su Baichen, she had already figured out his eccentric nature and knew that he was deliberately teasing the two-headed fire spirit snake again.

Although the snake was enormous, its intelligence was only that of a seven or eight-year-old child, and it could not withstand his teasing.

"Oh, young master, stop teasing it." Queen Medusa sighed softly, her voice carrying a hint of helpless laughter: "Although it has intelligence, it is not high. With its current intelligence, it is at most the mental capacity of a seven or eight-year-old child. Your thoughts are probably just confusing you."

Upon hearing this, Su Baichen began to examine the two-headed fire spirit snake more closely.

"Uh, I just got carried away and forgot that you are different from humans."

Then, both of its heads drooped, and its four large snake eyes were filled with grievance and confusion. Its eagerness to perform and its helplessness after being tricked just now did not seem to be an act.

He touched his nose, a hint of embarrassment flashing through his mind, and coughed lightly a few times to cover it up:

"Cough-cough-!"

"These two jade bottles..." He flipped his wrist, and two warm jade bottles appeared in his palm. "One of them contains a drop of the essence blood of a seventh-order serpentine magical beast. It will greatly benefit your breakthrough to the seventh order when you reach the sixth order. If you are lucky, it may even cause a beneficial evolution in your bloodline."

"The other one contains three fire lotus seeds, which contain extremely pure and vast fire energy that can assist your cultivation and accelerate your cultivation speed."

As he spoke, he flicked his fingertips, and a wisp of pure battle qi enveloped the two jade bottles, which he then gently sent to the two-headed fire spirit snake.

Su Baichen then continued, "I will first seal them with my battle qi to prevent the spiritual energy from leaking out. When you need them, you can simply use some force to break the jade bottle."

The two-headed fire spirit snake's previous aggrieved mood vanished instantly. Its thick, long tail excitedly rose and swayed from side to side, slapping the ground and causing it to tremble slightly. It was clearly extremely satisfied with this generous reward.

It brought its two heads close to the jade bottle enveloped in a ball of fighting spirit, sniffed it carefully, and made a cheerful "hissing" sound.

Then, as if it suddenly remembered something, it paused, raised its two huge heads, first looked at Su Baichen who was smiling, and then turned to the peerless Medusa Queen beside it. A thoughtful expression appeared in its four snake eyes.

It tilted its two heads, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly its eyes lit up. All the images in its mind began to replay, gradually connecting into a possibility. A white line was drawn through its entire thought, as if it had figured out a key point.

Then, to the two men's slightly surprised gazes, the enormous creature awkwardly lowered its two heads and nodded slightly in their direction, as if performing a somewhat imperfect salute.

"Hiss!" (Goodbye, sir!)

"Hiss—!" (May you...!)

It let out two muffled hisses, and without waiting for a response, it used the tip of its tail to curl up the two orbs of light, twisted its body, and with a "plop," it burrowed back into the sand, kicking up a cloud of dust, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Hey! What was that guy muttering about before he left? I don't understand Parseltongue!"

Su Baichen was taken aback by its sudden bow, scratched his head, and subconsciously turned to look at the only snake-man present: "Hey, did you understand?"

But after he asked the question, there was complete silence around him. Queen Medusa stood there, seemingly lost in thought.

Two suspicious blushes appeared on her usually cold and aloof face. Her charming peach blossom eyes sparkled with a mixture of shyness and joy, and a faint smile played on her lips. She exuded a girlish shyness, completely different from her usual decisive, noble, and graceful queen image.

"Holy crap, where did my big, murderous queen go?" Su Baichen stared in disbelief, muttering to herself, "How did she turn into a lovesick young girl in the blink of an eye? The contrast is too much!"

He leaned closer and waved his hand in front of Queen Medusa's eyes: "Hey! Wake up! What are you thinking about so intently? Daydreaming? Which lover are you thinking about?"

Queen Medusa was startled awake by the waving hand in front of her. She snapped back to her senses and looked up to meet Su Baichen's face, which was close to hers, filled with a mixture of inquiry and amusement. As if her thoughts had been exposed, her cheeks flushed even redder, almost as if they were about to bleed. Her eyes darted around in a panic, and her breathing became rapid.

"Hey, what's going on with you? I'm asking you a question." Su Baichen, however, was oblivious to her strange reaction. Seeing her unusual reaction, he became even more curious and asked her directly.

"Huh? W-what is it? I didn't hear you clearly, say it again..." Queen Medusa subconsciously took a half step back, her voice trembling slightly, trying to get away with it.

Upon hearing this, Su Baichen had no choice but to repeat himself helplessly: "I said, what exactly did that two-headed fire spirit snake say when it hissed and snarled at the end? You should have understood by now, right?"

"After all, your snake-people are half snake and half human. You should be able to understand the snake language of that two-headed fire spirit snake."

"This...this...how could I possibly understand that! It's just nonsense!" Queen Medusa's voice suddenly rose as if a cat had its tail stepped on, but she quickly regained her composure and said rapidly, "There are still many matters in the tribe that need to be dealt with, so I must take my leave!"

"Yes, that's right. I still have a lot of things to take care of in the clan, so I'll be going now."

Before she finished speaking, her battle aura surged, and she transformed into a streak of light, rushing towards the direction of the Snake-Man Clan's Holy City as if fleeing in panic. Her back view looked somewhat hurried and embarrassed.

Su Baichen stood there, watching the graceful figure disappear rapidly into the horizon, scratching his chin in bewilderment: "How strange. I just asked the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Serpent what it said, why is she blushing like that? She ran faster than a rabbit shot with an arrow..."

He was curious about what the two-headed fire serpent had said before it left that could elicit such a reaction from Queen Medusa.

But then I thought, what earth-shattering words could a little snake that has just begun to develop intelligence possibly utter?

Most of them are just childish expressions of gratitude; it's better not to know them.

He shrugged and put the little incident behind him, completely unaware that a pebble had been thrown into the lake of Her Majesty's heart, and ripples were spreading outwards.

And in the ears of the departing Queen, the clumsy yet sincere hiss of the two-headed fire serpent still seemed to echo—the words Su Baichen had failed to understand—"Goodbye, sir and madam!" and "May you…!"

Chapter 34 The Fallen Xiao Family

The Gama Empire, the Xiao family.

The night was as dark as ink, and the family council hall was brightly lit, yet it could not dispel the heaviness and oppression that permeated every corner.

The hall, which once symbolized the family's glory and power, now resembled an airtight iron coffin, imprisoning everyone's breath.

From elders to core deacons, all the high-ranking members of the Xiao family were present. No one spoke, and even eye contact was tinged with an indescribable fear and avoidance.

A deathly silence hung in the air, broken only by the occasional crackling of the lamp flames, which kept everyone on edge.

A few days ago, the news that struck like a bolt from the blue completely shattered the Xiao family's backbone—the old patriarch, Xiao Lin, the Dou Wang powerhouse who had supported the Xiao family for decades, died unexpectedly in battle while exploring a snake-people's ruin in the Tagor Desert.

When the news reached them, the Xiao family was devastated.

Having lost its pillar of support, the Xiao family's status in the empire plummeted. The forces that had previously fawned over them suddenly turned a blind eye, and many even secretly took advantage of their misfortune.

Open and covert attacks, shrinking industry, and a sharp decline in family power.

In the end, if it weren't for Nalan Jie, the former patriarch of the Nalan family and a close friend of the late patriarch, who stepped in with a strong stance to protect the family at the last moment, the Xiao family would probably have been torn apart and divided up by the covetous rivals.

Today, a message secretly sent by Nalan Jie has completely shattered the remaining confidence of the family.

The contents of the letter sent chills down the spines of everyone in the know: Old Master Xiao Lin may not have died at the hands of the Snake-People, but rather... he was betrayed and plotted against by those around him!

Nalan Jie's letter was earnest and sorrowful. He knew his old friend too well; Xiao Lin was experienced and powerful, and although he was old, he was by no means a reckless person.

During that exploration, none of the snake-people they encountered were Dou Huang level experts. Even if Xiao Lin was no match for them, if he was determined to escape, there was no way he would be left behind.

Moreover, when Nalan Jie first examined Xiao Lin's body, he couldn't find any clear fatal wounds! He had doubts and wanted to investigate further, but he encountered various "unexplained" obstacles that prevented him from getting close to the body again.

When he finally found an opportunity to examine it again, a fatal wound appeared "just in time" on Xiao Lin's body, and the subtle abnormalities that Nalan Jie had vaguely noticed earlier had been completely erased!

This is clearly someone who has a guilty conscience and is trying to cover it up!

Nalan Jie, being a man of great stature, immediately realized that there must be something fishy about his old friend's death, and that there was most likely a traitor within the ranks who had orchestrated this insidious murder.

He used all his connections to secretly investigate, determined to find the real culprit. However, just as the investigation was beginning to make progress, a high-ranking close friend of his secretly warned him to stop immediately, otherwise, the Nalan family would also be drawn into the vortex and face the danger of collapse.

For the sake of his family's survival, Nalan Jie, a man of strong character, could only compromise with resentment in the end.

At the end of his letter, he tearfully warned the Xiao family: the mastermind behind the scenes possesses astonishing power and harbors deep malice towards the Xiao family.

The recent strange decline in the Xiao family's power is probably not only due to the targeting by the Xiao family's usual enemies, but also due to an invisible hand stirring things up.

He advised the Xiao family to make plans as soon as possible, because perhaps... leaving Jiama Holy City was the only way to survive.

This letter, like a poisoned dagger, pierced through the last shred of hope for the Xiao family.

"Young Clan Leader, what... what should we do now?" Elder Xiao Shan, with his white hair and beard, broke the suffocating silence with a dry, hoarse voice. His cloudy gaze fell on the young man in the main seat.

That was Xiao Lin's son, Xiao Zhan. His father's sudden death had unexpectedly placed a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Because his cultivation level has not yet reached the standard to support a large clan, he is still only the "young clan leader" and has not been able to officially succeed as the clan leader.

Fortunately, among the younger generation of the Xiao family, there is no one who can surpass him for the time being, and it is only a matter of time before he succeeds to the throne. But at this moment, the identity of "young clan leader" seems so heavy and awkward.

Xiao Zhan slowly raised his head, his face revealing unconcealed exhaustion and sorrow, his eyes sunken and his lips chapped.

He glanced around at every elder and clan elder present. Their faces showed anger, fear, confusion, and a hint of something else... a scrutiny of his abilities.

He took a deep breath, as if using all his strength, before squeezing out a sound from his throat: "Sigh... what else can we do? We have no choice but to leave."

Before he finished speaking, a commotion broke out in the hall.

"Leave? Young clan leader, are we going to abandon our ancestral heritage and flee the capital like stray dogs?" A hot-tempered deacon couldn't help but growl.

Xiao Zhan did not answer directly, but continued, his voice low but carrying an undeniable determination: "Leave here, go somewhere, a remote town far from the center of imperial power, far from the gaze of all forces. Wutan City... perhaps that's an option."