Come at me together, I'm in a hurry.

Looking at the Snake-People warriors armed with halberds surrounding them, the Four Royal Guards exuding the oppressive aura of the early Soul Formation stage, and the smiling Medusa.

Su Xiao was dumbfounded.

Wait, this wasn't right, was it?

Logically speaking, this part of the plot should have been Medusa refining the Green Lotus Heavenly Fire, only to be coincidentally bumped into by the male protagonist. Just a moment ago, he was still wondering why he hadn't seen Medusa, and in the blink of an eye, she had arrived with an army.

Furthermore... furthermore...

How did everyone know the Green Lotus Heavenly Fire was here?

Wasn't this supposed to be a highly secretive matter? Why did it feel like a public bus that anyone could just hop onto!

And to think he had racked his brains trying to stay hidden.

Looking at it now, he was nothing but a clown.

Su Xiao was completely baffled.

The System was even more bewildered.

How... how could this be?

Wait.

It suddenly remembered that it had shown Medusa the unedited, original Heavenly Dao plot. When it came to implanting rebirth memories, the System strictly adhered to the principle that the more changes made, the more flaws there would be. It would only make minor adjustments tailored to each female lead's personality.

But Queen Medusa was a special existence...

The original plot set by the Heavenly Dao was already explosive enough: the grudge of having her fire stolen, being forced into a physical relationship, and even having a child. Although Medusa gradually accepted the male protagonist later on and the two eventually got together.

But that process was absolutely not pleasant.

Now that Queen Medusa knew everything in advance, without the emotional bonds that developed later, her proud nature made it impossible for her to empathize with her future self.

She would inevitably prevent all of this from happening.

So that was it, so that was it.

Now everything made sense.

The System suddenly saw the light. Therefore, Medusa had directly used this opportunity to set a trap, intending to slaughter everyone who coveted the spiritual fire.

It could only be said that she truly lived up to her title as the second female lead of the original plot.

She had absolute boldness!

Although this was somewhat beyond the System's expectations, its goal was merely to prevent the Child of Destiny from growing and to reduce his providence. Now, Medusa clearly preferred to just kill everyone present.

"How will you break out of this situation, Child of Destiny?"

The System stared at the linen-clothed youth in the distance and sneered.

If the other party could still obtain the Green Lotus Heavenly Fire under these circumstances, then it might as well stop living and just smash its head against a block of tofu.

The System was right; Medusa was indeed setting a trap.

She let the most special existence in that little booklet parade around to attract everyone's attention, leading them right into this long-prepared trap.

However, there was one thing the System got wrong.

In Medusa's eyes, Ye Shu was nothing more than an insignificant minor character; the true threats were these Soul Formation cultivators.

"Since you covet the sacred fire of the Snake-People race, then leave your lives behind!"

Medusa's eyes gradually turned cold, and she gently raised her right hand.

Buzz!!!!

The golden light enveloping everyone instantly intensified. A terrifying oppressive might descended from the sky, pressing down on everyone's shoulders. A phantom image of a spiritual snake, hundreds of feet tall, spiraled upwards and entrenched itself at the top of the cavern, looking down at the crowd with a cold gaze.

"Shameless boasting! You are but one person. You think you can keep us here with just some useless grunts?" Mu Yunxi glared coldly. She was about to attack when she suddenly felt her body grow heavy, and the circulation of her spiritual energy became sluggish.

In contrast, all the Snake-People warriors present were greatly invigorated, their auras climbing steadily!

"This is!"

Mu Yunxi's expression changed. Her strength had been suppressed by at least a full thirty percent.

"It is the Snake-People race's Breath-Stealing Battle Formation."

Wu Tianxing, who had dealt with the Snake-People before, recognized it. "This formation will continuously absorb our spiritual energy and feed it back to the Snake-People warriors present."

Though he said this, his expression did not change much. Even if thirty percent of their strength was shaved off, the three people present were all at the peak of the Soul Formation stage. Even if Medusa was also at the peak of the Soul Formation stage, she could not keep them here.

The fire changing hands was only a matter of time.

"This world truly has countless heroes."

Standing on a reef, Master Mochen gently stroked his beard and said with a smile, "The Queen of the Snake-People truly lives up to her reputation. Seeing you today, you possess both boldness and cunning. Even this old man was schemed against. I truly admire you."

Medusa glanced at him but did not speak.

This person was not in that little booklet, and Feng Mengli from the Yunxiao Sect had not appeared either.

The people from the Zixia Peak, who shouldn't have been here, had appeared instead.

This proved that the little booklet could not be entirely trusted.

Seeing the battle momentum of the Snake-People rising higher and higher, Wu Tianxing suddenly clapped his hands and laughed aloud, looking left and right at the crowd: "Originally, everyone came here to snatch this spiritual fire. Rather than fighting to the bitter end, how about we join forces to take the fire first, and then discuss the matter of distribution?"

His original intention wasn't to take the fire anyway.

It was to prevent Medusa from using the Green Lotus Heavenly Fire to break through to the Void Return stage, thereby stopping the expansion of the Snake-People race.

Mu Yunxi frowned but still nodded.

"Fine, but the strange fire belongs to me."

Seeing Mu Yunxi agree, Wu Tianxing looked toward Master Mochen again.

"What do you think?"

Master Mochen gently stroked his beard, his gaze sweeping over the fiercely burning Green Lotus Heavenly Fire in the distance, and then over Ye Shu on the reef. He smiled and said, "Since our lives are at risk, this old man naturally agrees. As for any fire, I'm afraid this old man doesn't have the fortune to enjoy it."

Hearing this, Wu Tianxing nodded.

"Then it is settled."

With a few exchanges, the three of them finalized the ownership of the Green Lotus Heavenly Fire, completely ignoring the Snake-People, Ye Shu, Bingxuanzi, and the others present.

In their eyes, Medusa's performance.

Was merely delaying the time it would take for them to retrieve the fire.

If there had only been one or two Soul Formation cultivators here, they might have truly lost their lives. It was just a pity... with three Soul Formation cultivators joining forces, there were few factions in the entire Taiwu Dynasty that could stop them!

"Tsk........."

Ye Shu, who had been left out in the cold, shook his head.

"Old man, why does it seem like this group of people doesn't take you seriously at all? Is your title as a martial arts fanatic just empty boasting?"

"Are you actually capable or not?"

Bingxuanzi stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze indifferent.

"Among everyone present, none are my match."

"You're bragging. Didn't you lose to Medusa then?" Ye Shu was somewhat skeptical.

"Losing is losing, and being unable to win is being unable to win."

Bingxuanzi's expression remained indifferent: "Those are two different concepts."

After saying that, he took out the unsealing pill that Ye Shu had refined for him from his robes and swallowed it in one gulp.

In an instant, the winds and clouds surged between heaven and earth.

An incredibly deep and profoundly Yin cold energy quietly spread out. Bingxuanzi, with his hands behind his back, slowly stepped off the reef. With every step he took, an ice-blue ripple spread out from beneath his feet, freezing the boiling magma into solid ice.

In the blink of an eye, heavy snow like goose feathers began to fall within the cavern.

He was suddenly heard chanting in the air:

"Leaving my hometown with a sword in youth, returning at thirty with bones already cold.

Treading all over Taiwu without a rival, refining the ice and snow into a Soul Formation core.

Meeting a jade hand during a sandstorm tribulation, yielding the golden throne by half an inch in our battle pact.

Win or lose, I do not betray my lifelong promises, still facing the snowy skies all alone."

His voice was not loud, yet it echoed throughout the entire venue.

Bingxuanzi slowly turned around, his hands still behind his back. Huge ice dragons formed of cold energy, hundreds of feet long, gracefully meandered around the cavern, transforming the entire cave into a world of ice and snow.

"This is... the peak of the Soul Formation stage! Wasn't he sealed?"

Everyone's expressions changed simultaneously.

No one could have imagined that Bingxuanzi, who had seemed so utterly unremarkable just moments ago, would suddenly reveal himself to be an expert of the exact same realm as them.

Hovering in midair with his hemp robes fluttering in the wind, Bingxuanzi looked down upon the crowd with an imperious gaze. His voice was flat and indifferent.

"Come at me all at once. I'm in a hurry."