Snake-People Tribe.
All the members of the Snake-People Tribe had been withdrawn together by Queen Medusa.
Queen Medusa had smelled an unusual scent. It wasn't just the Snake-People Tribe, the whole atmosphere of the Jia Ma Empire had changed.
She was dressed in a dignified, red battle armor, her voluptuous body hidden underneath the battle skirt, much like a ripe peach, exuded a subdued allure. Her three thousand strands of blue-black hair casually draped from her fragrant shoulders, flowing down below her slim waist. A pair of slender, snow-white legs was impossible to overlook. Medusa's beauty had almost reached a bewitching level; a pair of narrow, pale purple eyes stared at the distance, her sense of crisis growing ever stronger.
With her current strength, there was unlikely anyone within the Jia Ma Empire that could pose a threat to her.
Even when she was only a Dou Huang, she had not feared foreign enemies, let alone now.
Five-Star Dou Zong!
In a short amount of time, Queen Medusa's strength had skyrocketed to that of a Five-Star Dou Zong. Before Xu Ran left, he had provided Queen Medusa with enough cultivation resources. Using these things left by Xu Ran, her cultivation speed had increased more than tenfold, quickly breaking through bottlenecks. With her current pace of cultivation, given some time, she was confident she could break through to Dou Zun within at most one year.
Yet, she now felt a threat to her life.
This kind of aura had not appeared since she had first felt it from Xu Ran, so why now?
Could it be that Xu Ran had returned?
That was impossible. If it were Xu Ran, he would never exude such a strong killing intent. Even if she could no longer win Xu Ran's favor, he would never do such a thing.
The oppressive force was so strong, it definitely wasn't the Jia Ma Empire's powerhouse.
Perhaps, it was an enemy of Xu Ran.
Xu Ran was powerful, and naturally, so were his enemies.
"Queen, what has happened?" Yue Mei stood beside Queen Medusa, her own strength also reaching the level of Mid Dou Huang, second only to Queen Medusa among the Snake-People Tribe.
Besides, because of her special relationship with Xu Ran, Queen Medusa did not treat Yue Mei as a subordinate.
"An enemy! Very strong," Queen Medusa's beautiful eyes tightened, she said slowly.
"Even you are no match for them?" Yue Mei was greatly surprised. How fast Queen Medusa's strength had risen these days was clear for all the higher-ups of the Snake-People Tribe to see. Although Yue Mei had also received many good things from Xu Ran's hand, her talent couldn't be compared to that of Queen Medusa, but her current speed of cultivation was also quite astonishing compared to others.
"They might have reached the level of Dou Zun, maybe even stronger," Queen Medusa said gravely, her hand gripping so tightly it turned pale.
If they truly encountered an enemy of that level, even if it were only a Dou Zun, they couldn't escape.
At this realm, the gap between each level of cultivation was enormous.
A Dou Zun had an overwhelming advantage over a Dou Zong. Moreover, she estimated that the enemy's strength was more than that of a Dou Zun.
"Haha. It seems you do have some insight, Xu Ran's woman isn't too foolish," a shadowy figure flickered from the distance and appeared in front of Queen Medusa and Yue Mei almost instantaneously.
"Who are you?"
The sudden appearance of the black-robed powerhouse exuded an eerie murderous aura. That sensation of a powerful being made Queen Medusa and her companions' breath catch in their throats.
"Me? Hun Miesheng!"
In that distant era, Hun Miesheng had once blood-washed dozens of sects overnight. That night, rivers of blood flowed, and corpses were strewn everywhere. Five peak Dou Shengs, each at the two-star level, fell embarrassingly under his hands.
That night established the notorious name of the Lord of the Soul Hall and made the Soul Hall the undisputed overlord of Zhongzhou in the open. Even the Pill Tower dared not easily oppose it. The infamy he possessed once reached the point where the entire Zhongzhou trembled at the sound of his name. Although he later disappeared from the public eye due to extended seclusion, his notoriety never waned.
Hun Miesheng was definitely a person of great importance on the Continent.
Relying on the invincible power based on the Soul Hall, Hun Miesheng straightforwardly formed the strongest force in the open on the Continent, deterring the Gu Clan and other ancient families from opposing the Hun Clan.
Over the years, under the direction of Hun Tiandi, the Soul Hall was collecting souls. Although gathering souls seemed to be the main mission of the Soul Hall and was done very secretly, the major powers in Zhongzhou were not fooled. However, they did not stop the Soul Hall and instead relaxed their vigilance a bit.
In reality, the Soul Hall's primary mission was to secretly cultivate the great array that enveloped Zhongzhou.
By masking their sinister oppression with the superficial intent of collecting souls, the Soul Hall clandestinely plotted the Spirit-Devouring Extinction Array. It could be said that if the Son of Destiny had not appeared, the finalization of Hun Tiandi's plan to break through to Dou Di was just a matter of time.
Now Hun Tiandi indeed had the qualifications to disregard the Gu Clan.
Hun Miesheng, as the left and right hand of Hun Tiandi, completing his evil plan, was highly valued by Hun Tiandi. Originally, after Hun Miesheng was first defeated by Xiao Yan, Void-Swallowing Flame spent a great price to refine a new body for him, and also increased Hun Miesheng's strength to a Seven-Star Dou Sheng.
One of Hun Miesheng's trump cards was a sub-flame of the Void-Swallowing Flame, which, coupled with his own strength, allowed him to disregard other powerful beings, except for the Continent's top old immortals.
"Hun Miesheng? You're a powerhouse from the Soul Hall?" Queen Medusa said in horror, meanwhile feeling more resolute inside.
"So you know about the Soul Hall? You must have heard it from Xu Ran's mouth, it seems Xu Ran cares a lot about you," Hun Miesheng's voice was filled with malice.
Queen Medusa's beauty, even by his standards, was exceptional. But he was past the age for such things; strength was what he pursued. Women?
But this was Xu Ran's woman, which made it different!
Killing her outright would be such a waste, unable to inflict the greatest damage on Xu Ran. The content of what Xiao Yan had suggested earlier now sparked a different kind of thinking in him.
Since establishing the Soul Hall, this was the first time he felt so suffocated.
A Dou Sheng and a Semi-Saint, for the Hun Clan, their deaths were insignificant. But for him, Hun Miesheng, these were his core supporters! With the deaths of his two most capable subordinates, he was left with only a group of Dou Zun, greatly reducing his strength and his influence within the Hun Clan. But most of all, it was the sense of humiliation.
"Queen Medusa? If you kneel down now and apologize to the Soul Hall on behalf of Xu Ran, I might just spare your life," Hun Miesheng said playfully.