Battle Through The Heavens : I Am The Thunder Emperor

Chapter 144: The Evolving Medusa: She Wu Maru

"Young man, are you here looking for the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame?"

A cold, mysterious, and raspy voice echoed through the cave, making Mo Yu and Qing Lin pause in surprise.

The cave had only Mo Yu and Qing Lin inside, and its layout was completely visible—there were no hidden spots where someone could be hiding. So where was this voice coming from?

"Who's there!?" Mo Yu's expression turned serious as he cautiously scanned the surroundings. The voice didn't sound human, which made him wonder if it could be the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King lurking in the shadows.

But how could a dignified sixth-tier magical beast stoop to hiding and playing tricks on two humans who hadn't even reached the Dou Ling level?

If it wasn't the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King, then perhaps there was another secret hidden within this cave?

"Hehe, young human, I'm not the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King, nor do I belong to him. You don't need to worry. The Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame was taken by the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King a month ago. But if you want to get it back, perhaps I can help you…"

The mysterious voice spoke again, making Mo Yu's brow furrow.

The Black Lizard Demon Serpent King was a sixth-tier magical beast, and with the backing of the powerful Lizard Clan, even the Yunlan Sect wouldn't easily provoke it. Yet this mysterious voice claimed it could help him reclaim the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame from such a formidable being?

Was the voice truly confident, or was it just trying to deceive him?

After pondering for a moment, Mo Yu replied in a steady tone, "I haven't seen your true form yet, senior. May I have the honor of meeting you?"

Whether the offer was genuine or not, Mo Yu decided it was worth seeing who this mysterious voice belonged to. With Zi Huo by his side and the Rock Snake Lizard Beast guarding the entrance, Mo Yu was confident he could escape unless the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King itself appeared.

"Look to your right," the voice instructed after a brief silence.

Mo Yu hesitated but then turned to look at the right side of the cave. He saw nothing but a smooth, black stone wall.

"Something's off!"

Mo Yu extended his soul sense to examine the stone wall and found that it differed from the other walls in the cave—it seemed hollow behind it.

Understanding this, Mo Yu stepped closer to the wall and carefully inspected it. His face grew determined as thirty lightning marks on his right arm began to glow like starlight.

As he activated his Thunderstorm Body, Mo Yu's physical strength surged, making him as powerful as a rampaging beast. His right fist, carrying terrifying force, slammed into the stone wall.

"Boom!"

With a thunderous crash, the smooth stone wall shattered like brittle wood, completely obliterated by Mo Yu's mighty punch.

As the wall crumbled, a chilling sensation enveloped Mo Yu, making him shiver involuntarily.

He summoned the Vermilion Bird Skyfire to dispel the cold.

"This is supposed to be the territory of the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame, so why is it so cold?" Mo Yu muttered, frowning as he continued to explore the area.

Inside the newly revealed chamber, there were no signs of life—only the pervasive cold and a suffocating sense of death.

After three minutes of cautious exploration, Mo Yu finally reached the end of the chamber.

There, he found a massive black stone pillar several meters wide. The pillar was covered in strange inscriptions that occasionally emitted a faint, cold light, like countless serpent eyes staring out from the darkness, sending shivers down one's spine.

Mo Yu's gaze quickly scanned the pillar and then focused on its center.

There, a terrifying light orb flickered. Upon closer inspection, he could see a transparent, human-like soul trapped within it, eyes tightly shut.

The soul appeared to belong to a middle-aged man, dressed in a black, mystical robe. Though he looked older, his features were still refined and handsome, suggesting that he had once been as striking as Mo Yu in his youth.

However, the aura emanating from the soul gave Mo Yu a strange feeling, as if this being was a mix of a human and a magical beast.

As Mo Yu drew closer, he saw more clearly that the light orb encasing the soul was bound by a thick, black chain, preventing any movement.

A particularly large black chain was wrapped around the soul's neck, more intricate than the others, with countless eerie symbols engraved on it.

Seeing the soul bound so tightly, Mo Yu felt a bit relieved. While he didn't know whether this being was a friend or foe, the chains clearly restrained it, reducing the potential threat.

As Mo Yu watched, the soul slowly opened its eyes, revealing a pair of eerie, snake-like pupils—cold and emotionless, exuding a chilling aura of death.

Just one glance from those eyes sent a deep sense of oppression spreading from Mo Yu's heart!

"This soul… it might be as powerful as Yao Lao!" The thought raced through Mo Yu's mind, filling him with shock.

Yao Lao was a top-tier expert at the Dou Zun level, renowned across the continent. Yet the soul before Mo Yu had once been at the same level as Yao Lao!?

Despite his illustrious past, Mo Yu was currently only a low-level Dou Shi, and the presence of a Dou Zun-level soul made him more cautious.

"Young human, you've arrived," the soul spoke, its refined and handsome face contrasting with its cold, eerie eyes, which glimmered with a faint, unsettling light.

When the soul noticed the Vermilion Bird Skyfire burning on Mo Yu's body, it paused, its voice raspy and slightly astonished.

"What a strange lightning… It holds flames that are no less powerful than a strange fire. Once it grows, it might rival the top fifteen fires on the Strange Fire Ranking. You, boy, are not simple…" The soul's voice held a tone of admiration mixed with something unspoken.

Mo Yu was taken aback. This was the first time he had encountered someone who could see through the Vermilion Bird Skyfire so easily, confirming the soul's formidable power.

"May I ask how I should address you, senior?" Mo Yu asked respectfully, his mind racing with thoughts.

The middle-aged soul ignored Mo Yu's politeness, its eerie eyes staring at him for a moment before speaking in a cold, raspy tone.

"My name is She Wu Maru."

Hearing the name, Mo Yu quickly searched his memory but found no information on it.

Just as he was about to inquire further, the soul's next words left Mo Yu stunned.

"She Wu Maru is the name I adopted to mimic humans. But I have another name—Medusa!"

Upon hearing the name "Medusa," Mo Yu's expression changed. No wonder the soul's aura felt off—it wasn't human; it was a serpent!

If Mo Yu remembered correctly, "Medusa" was the name given to the leader of the Snake People Tribe in the Jia Ma Empire.

But as far as Mo Yu knew, every leader of the Snake People Tribe was female, hence the widespread fame of the Medusa Queen throughout the Jia Ma Empire and the Northwest Continent. Yet the soul before him was clearly male.

"What, surprised that I'm male?" The ethereal soul's handsome face took on a nostalgic look as it sighed and said, "Indeed, I am Medusa, but I was not the leader of the Snake People Tribe. My mother was the Medusa Queen of the Jia Ma Empire, and she gave birth to me and my sister. Though I was strong enough to inherit the position, I was bound by the tribe's laws, so I relinquished it to my sister and left our homeland to roam the continent. That was several hundred years ago."

"A Medusa from hundreds of years ago?" Mo Yu mused, finally understanding.

This soul belonged to a powerful warrior of the Snake People Tribe from centuries past. Bound by the tribe's law that only a female Medusa could inherit the throne, he had given up his power and wandered the continent.

Mo Yu hadn't expected that this seemingly cold man was once a selfless leader who put his people before his own ambitions.

"How did you end up like this, senior?" Mo Yu asked, gesturing to the massive black pillar and the chains binding She Wu Maru.

At the same time, Mo Yu grew more curious about how this Medusa had reached the Dou Zun level. As far as he knew, each Medusa Queen had only reached the peak of the Dou Huang level, with few managing to break through to Dou Zong.

Cai Lin was an exception, but she only succeeded in breaking the barrier after evolving into the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, eventually becoming one of the continent's most powerful beings.

Yet the Medusa before him had not only surpassed Dou Zong but had reached the Dou Zun level—a feat that ranked him among the few most accomplished Medusas in history.

Hearing Mo Yu's question, the soul of She Wu Maru showed a hint of nostalgia as it began to speak in its cold, raspy voice.

"It's a long story. After I left the tribe, I traveled across the continent and eventually stumbled upon a great opportunity."

As he spoke, a rare smile of joy appeared on She Wu Maru's usually cold face, indicating how significant this opportunity had been in his life.

"In the eastern part of the continent, I came across the Xuanhuang Flame, which ranks twenty-third on the Strange Fire Ranking. Although my Snake People Tribe has a cold attribute that conflicts with strange fire, every Medusa knows a secret: Medusas can use the power of strange fire to complete their evolution!"

Hearing this, Mo Yu's brow furrowed. He knew the secret of Medusa's evolution, and he was aware that Cai Lin would soon use the Green Lotus Core Flame to transform into the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python.

But Mo Yu hadn't expected that this Medusa before him had also completed an evolution—no wonder his soul took on a human-like form instead of a serpentine one.

It also explained why Qing Lin had sensed a strong bloodline connection deep within the cave—it wasn't the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King; it was She Wu Maru!

Unaware of Mo Yu's thoughts, the soul continued speaking.

"Although the Xuanhuang Flame is ranked lowest on the Strange Fire list, a strange fire is still a strange fire. With its help, I successfully evolved into the ancient bloodline of the Snake People Tribe: the Seven-Winged Purple-Gold Serpent!"

Hearing this, Mo Yu's eyebrows furrowed as he recalled something.

In the original story, Yao Lao had mentioned that Medusa's evolution could take various forms. Besides the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, there was also the Seven-Winged Purple-Gold Serpent.

Though the Seven-Winged Purple-Gold Serpent was slightly weaker than the Heaven Swallowing Python, it was still an incredibly powerful bloodline. That She Wu Maru had reached the Dou Zun level made sense now.

"After evolving, you must have become nearly invincible on the continent, senior. How did you end up in this state?" Mo Yu asked, increasingly curious about the events that led to this Dou Zun-level expert being trapped in the territory of a mere sixth-tier magical beast.

Upon hearing Mo Yu's question, She Wu Maru's expression darkened, and his raspy voice took on a bitter tone.

"After evolving into the Seven-Winged Purple-Gold Serpent, my cultivation skyrocketed. Within a few decades, I reached the Dou Zun realm, and my pride grew with my power. But my arrogance led me to provoke a powerful race known as the Spirit Clan."

As he spoke, She Wu Maru's face revealed a hint of fear, which made Mo Yu rub his chin thoughtfully.

The Spirit Clan was one of the eight ancient clans of the Dou Qi Continent. Although their strength had waned, and they were considered the weakest of the eight, they still had many Dou Sheng and Half-Saint experts.

That She Wu Maru had dared to provoke the Spirit Clan explained his current predicament. The depths of Zhongzhou were indeed unfathomable.

"Back then, the Spirit Clan sent several experts to hunt me down. To survive, I had to self-detonate the Xuanhuang Flame and destroy my physical body, narrowly escaping death. I intended to return to the Snake People Tribe in the Jia Ma Empire to recover, but while passing through the Mulan Empire, I was discovered by the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King, who also possessed a trace of snake bloodline. To obtain the Snake People Tribe's evolution secret, that lizard bastard not only trapped my soul but also imprisoned me here, using the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame to suppress me…"

As he spoke, She Wu Maru's handsome face twisted in anger, his hatred surging like a storm. After a moment, he calmed down and turned his gaze to Mo Yu, his voice cold and raspy as usual.

"So, how about it? Release me, and I'll help you eliminate the Black Lizard Demon Serpent King. Then you can have the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame."

(End of Chapter)

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