Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Xiao Se woke from cultivation.
He opened his clairvoyant sight and glanced at Xiao Yixian, who was in her room fusing the soul bones. Then he looked toward another room, where the little kitten was diligently cultivating her Dou Qi. A gentle smile appeared on his face as he murmured, "Looks like Xiao Yixian will need another two days to finish refining the soul bones. As for the little kitten, her cultivation speed is pretty good. Following my method—training Dou Qi first, then refining the soul power in her body—she broke through to third stage Dou Qi in just one night. There's still more than half a month before Canaan Academy's enrollment; she should make it in time."
Softening his steps, he quietly walked out of the wooden cabin. He took out his cooking utensils and was just about to start on breakfast when he caught sight of a stunning figure standing on a massive boulder nearby.
The breeze blew toward him, lifting three thousand strands of green silk beneath the jeweled crown. Her dress fluttered lightly, tracing out the flawless lines of a woman's curves.
She wore a red robe and a crown on her head, quietly watching the distant horizon. Her bewitching, breathtaking beauty was like a snow lotus blooming atop the Tianshan Mountains—noble, spotless, untouchable.
Right now, Queen Medusa's brows were slightly furrowed, her elegant violet eyes tinged with a faint sadness, as though some heavy matter weighed on her mind.
Sensing Xiao Se's approach behind her, Queen Medusa didn't turn around. She slid him a glance from the corner of her eye, then withdrew her gaze as if he no longer existed.
"Don't tell me she actually stood out here all night…" Xiao Se rubbed his chin as that thought flashed past. He took a long robe from his ring, tapped his toes against the ground, and easily leaped onto the boulder.
"A girl standing outside all night like this—you're not afraid of catching a chill?" He gently draped the robe over her fragrant shoulders with a smile.
Queen Medusa shot him a look, tightened the robe around her shoulders, and said coolly, "Is this how you coax girls, then trick them into falling for you?"
"Uh…" Xiao Se's mouth twitched. He laughed awkwardly. "I just wanted to remind you to take care of your body. After all, your body is the foundation of revo— cough, I mean, the basis of maintaining your strength. You still have the responsibility of leading the snake-people out of the desert, remember?"
"This queen is a Dou Zong. I don't catch colds," Queen Medusa said impatiently.
"Oh." Xiao Se nodded slowly. After a brief silence, he suddenly said, "You look troubled. Want to talk about it? Maybe I can help."
At his words, Queen Medusa's body gave the faintest tremor. She sighed softly, then turned to face him with a solemn expression. "This queen does indeed have something to ask of you. If you can help me… as long as it doesn't harm the interests of the snake-people tribe, I can agree to any condition—including my body."
If it had been in the past, Xiao Se would've been thrilled and definitely taken the chance to tease Queen Medusa a few times.
But right now, he couldn't laugh at all.
Seeing the determination in her eyes, Xiao Se understood—she was truly making a request, to the point of even offering her own body as payment.
And for someone as proud as Queen Medusa to willingly degrade herself like this, abandon her dignity, and beg someone so humbly… Xiao Se already had a vague guess in his heart.
"There's no need for your body." He exhaled lightly. "I admit you're very beautiful. Other than Long Kui, Dong'er, and Xue'er, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. If I said I felt nothing toward you, that would be a lie. But… feelings aren't some business transaction, and they're definitely not a commodity."
He paused, clasped his hands behind his back, and turned to look toward the sky. His voice grew steady and firm.
"The kind of woman I, Xiao Se, like… her heart is like a clear mirror, her eyes like the stars. Even after seeing all the ugliness of the world, she can still remain kind at heart, graceful, and composed."
(PS: This line is borrowed from the anime "Wanjie Shen Zhu," where the protagonist Ye Chen says it to one of the heroines, Mu Qingxue. The author's a single dog, don't roast him—he just borrowed it a bit.)
"Whether it's Long Kui, Dong'er, Xiao Yixian, Zhuqing, Xiao Yu, Yafei, or even Qinglin, who has already gone to train at the Heavenly Snake Mansion—every one of them is kind at heart. That's why I've always treated them sincerely."
"Even you, Queen Medusa, I've treated with sincerity. If, in your eyes, I'm just some lecher who forgets everything at the sight of beauty, then you're underestimating me."
When he finished speaking, Queen Medusa was already completely stunned. Her beautiful eyes were wide as she stared at him, astonished. She realized that she was starting to lose sight of who he really was—or perhaps, from the very beginning, she had never truly understood him.
Feeling he'd shown off enough, Xiao Se cleared his throat, turned back to her, and smiled. "Alright, go on. What do you want me to do?"
Queen Medusa nodded gravely. "Over the past year, although I spent most of my time being suppressed by the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python and falling into slumber, I wasn't completely unaware of the outside world. In fact, I was constantly observing you in secret. When you were refining the origin flame of the Ice-Fire Dragon King to fuse it into a new strange flame, I happened to overhear the conversation between that woman named Bibi Dong, Long Kui, and that girl Zhuqing."
"From that otherworldly powerhouse Bibi Dong, I learned everything that happened between you and her. You treated her very well, even changing her fate. Hearing what you did for her… even I couldn't help but be moved."
"That's why I want to ask you for a favor."
Xiao Se nodded lightly and gestured for her to continue.
"I have a younger sister. She and I are identical twins. Originally, the snake-people tribe should have had two Dou Huang. But because of the rotten rule that 'the snake-people can only have one Queen Medusa,' we were forced into killing each other."
"My sister was very kind. To protect me, she willingly gave up the position of Queen Medusa, then used a spatial teleportation forbidden technique to leave. But that kind of technique is far beyond what a Dou Huang can bear. She barely survived, but lost all her memories as a result."
"You've lost precious memories before—you know what that means. From then on, my sister lived a life of constant wandering."
"But the snake-people didn't let her go. Practically the entire tribe was mobilized to hunt her down. If… if I had only made up my mind sooner and defied fate, then she wouldn't have…"
By this point—even someone as proud as Queen Medusa was speaking through tears.
For the first time, Xiao Se saw Queen Medusa cry.
Crystal-clear tears slid down her flawless face, adding a strange and tragic beauty to that peerless countenance.
"What happened to her afterward?" Xiao Se gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
Queen Medusa let out a long, painful sigh. "She disappeared. From what I've learned, during her time fleeing through the desert, she was captured by human traffickers. The last person who saw her was Hai Bodong. According to him, a mysterious black-robed man killed the traffickers and took her away. Because Hai Bodong had accepted my commission, yet still let my sister vanish right before his eyes, I attacked him in fury. That's the real story behind why he was sealed."
(End of Chapter)
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