138: Queen Medusa Evolution

The Tagor Desert, eternally scorching and desolate.

Before the chaotic pain had completely receded, Mo Yuhan fell heavily onto the scorching sand, his nostrils instantly filled with the familiar, dry scent of sulfur and dust.

Excruciating pain surged through his limbs and bones like a tide, especially the hollow emptiness in his right shoulder and the burning pain in his chest, which almost tore apart his remaining consciousness.

He struggled to open his eyes, his vision filled with spinning golden stars and the blinding sun.

As Mo Yuhan's feet touched the familiar, hot, and soft sand, a blast of hot air, mixed with blood, gunpowder, and dense fire-attribute energy, rushed into his lungs.

Violent coughing triggered tearing pain throughout his body, and a strong taste of rust welled up in his throat.

He staggered a step, almost falling, but was steadied by arms reaching out from his left and right.

On his left was Instructor Ruo Lin; her light blue instructor's robe was already tattered, stained with dust and dried dark red blood, and her gentle face was as pale as paper, with uncleaned bloodstains still at the corners of her mouth, but the arm supporting him was exceptionally firm.

She gasped for breath, her vigilant gaze quickly scanning their surroundings, her voice hoarse and low: “Yu Han, hold on… Is this… the outskirts of that oasis from before?”

On his right, cold and slightly trembling fingers gripped his arm tightly.

Ah Yin's condition was even worse; her emerald-like eyes were dull, and her once vibrant blue long hair now clung dryly to her sweaty temples and neck, with multiple tears in her thin clothing, and her exposed skin was covered in fine scratches, marks left from the previous battle.

She leaned almost the entire weight of her body on Mo Yuhan, each breath seeming exceptionally difficult, yet she stubbornly refused to let go, only repeating in a low voice: “Yu Han… Where is this?”

Mo Yuhan suppressed the churning blood and the needle-like stinging pain in his sea of consciousness, struggling to raise his eyes and look.

The scene before him was both familiar and strange.

It was still the crescent-shaped Oasis, but the lake, which in his memory was as clear as a sapphire, now had a chaotic edge, and near the area where they had fought, the water was turbid, with charred plant debris floating on it.

By the lake, a massive, bottomless lava pit, over a hundred zhang in diameter, gaped open menacingly; its edges were encrusted with reddish-orange, glassy lava, and wisps of white steam still rose, emitting scorching heat waves.

Around the pit, the originally lush vegetation had been completely incinerated, leaving only large patches of charred black and ash, like ugly scars branded upon the greenery. The air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur, plant ash, and an impossibly thick scent of blood.

This was precisely the battlefield where he and Yue Mei had fought to the death, and from which he had ultimately been swept away, tearing through space with the Reincarnation Grass.

Less than a month had passed, yet the destructive traces left by that brutal battle were still shocking to behold.

“Cough… It’s here.”

Mo Yuhan’s voice was terribly hoarse; he subconsciously pressed his remaining left hand to his chest.

There, a deep purple flame flickered beneath his torn clothes, subtly rising and falling like a living thing, transmitting the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's residual fierce aura, and also throbbing with pain.

It was the power unleashed by this flame at the last moment in Douluo Continent, a fusion of his fifth Spirit Ability and the Xuan Huang Purple Flame, that had torn open the terrifying chasm blocking Tang Hao.

“The Reincarnation Grass… is still here…”

Ah Yin's gaze fell on Mo Yuhan's tightly clasped left hand.

The small three-leafed grass, shimmering with dreamlike silver light, though stained with dust and Mo Yuhan's dried blood, still emanated an endless spatial fluctuation, their only solace on this journey.

The heart of the Tagor Desert; the scorching, distorted air was like an invisible furnace, each breath bringing the painful sensation of sand rubbing against the throat.

Mo Yuhan lay in the shade of a massive sand dune; the hot sand burned his skin through his torn clothes, but he seemed oblivious.

His obsidian-like eyes, now burning with the exhaustion of surviving a catastrophe, but even deeper was an ingrained vigilance, fixed intensely on the terrifying energy churning the heavens and earth a few miles away.

That was the direction of the Snake-People Tribe's holy city.

The sky was no longer a monotonous dull yellow.

Violent energy currents, like a boiling paint bucket, dyed the sky into a chaotic canvas. Green wind blades tore through the sky, leaving sharp hisses.

Earth-yellow giant fists, carrying the weight of mountains, caused the earth to groan with each impact.

Blazing white flames fell like a meteor shower, igniting patches of sand dunes; icy blue cold air collided with scorching hot waves, steaming up white mist that covered the sky.

Pitch-black poisonous mist rolled and spread, carrying a heart-palpitating corrosive aura…

Just then—

BOOM!!!

A muffled, extreme roar, as if the heart of the earth was violently beating, suddenly came from the center of the Oasis, the other end of the Crescent Lake, in the direction of the Snake-People holy city's palace.

Accompanying the thunderous sound, an indescribable, terrifying pressure, like an awakened ancient fierce beast, descended with a crash.

This pressure was scorching, domineering, and filled with destructive energy fluctuations, far exceeding even the Douluo aura previously emitted by Yue Mei.

It was not directed at a single individual, but rather swept across the entire Oasis area like an invisible tsunami.

The air instantly became thick and scorching, the sand underfoot trembled uneasily, and even the white steam rising from the distant lava pit seemed to solidify for a moment.

A massive melee transformed that area into a forbidden zone for life. The roar of clashing energies, even from a great distance, still rumbled like distant thunder across the sand sea, causing the sand dune beneath Mo Yuhan to slide down in rustles.

Beside Mo Yuhan, Instructor Ruo Lin's face was ashen, her light blue instructor's robe charred and torn in many places, her aura unstable.

She braced herself, forming hand seals, and a thin yet tough light-blue water barrier enveloped the three of them, laboriously isolating them from the violent energy aftermath and deadly high temperatures outside.

Each time a violent energy impact struck, the water barrier fluctuated intensely, Ruo Lin's brows furrowed deeper, and new streaks of blood seeped from the corners of her mouth.

Ah Yin huddled on Mo Yuhan's other side, her emerald-like eyes having lost their usual luster, leaving only deep apprehension and worry.

Having narrowly escaped from Douluo Continent and forcefully arrived in this completely alien, scorching hell, her Soul Power was almost depleted, and the Blue Silver Emperor's origin was severely damaged; she was now as fragile as a small blade of grass that could be broken by the wind and sand at any moment.

Her originally simple dress was covered in sand and dried blood, and her exposed skin was covered in tiny spatial cutting wounds.

Only the Blue Silver Emperor's main body, carefully protected in her embrace, with only a few leaves remaining, still emitted an extremely faint blue-gold halo, like a flickering candle in the wind, maintaining her last bit of spirit.

“Yu Han…” Ah Yin’s voice trembled with the weakness of one who had survived a catastrophe, like a mosquito’s buzz, “Where… are we…? What… are those…?”

Her gaze turned towards the distant sky, where energy raged, filled with worry about the unknown forces.

Mo Yuhan gently patted Ah Yin's cold hand, his action comforting, but his voice was dry and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing.

“The Tagor Desert… the Snake-People Tribe’s territory. Those… are the Snake-People Tribe and humans fighting.”

He explained simply, his gaze never leaving the core of the battlefield. In the center of the chaotic energy storm, he could vaguely discern several blurry but powerful figures colliding and separating at high speed.