Xiao Xue had already been taken away by the other elders to recuperate.
They all tacitly agreed to temporarily conceal the fact that Xiao Xue might be pregnant.
As for the abnormalities in her body, the elders stated that it was still not clear.
They would only know the specific reason after a few months, when they conducted a "re-examination."
Xiao Xue was somewhat suspicious of this explanation, but she found it difficult to say anything.
After all, the final interpretation rights of the Serpent People's secret techniques belonged to them.
Meanwhile, at the Serpent People's temple.
"It will take some time to confirm… how long will that be?" Medusa couldn't help but ask.
"Given the unique nature of the Seven-Colored Sky Swallowing Python's bloodline, three to five years is normal," the Great Elder said indifferently.
"The Prince Consort's situation is special, so the timing might vary, but it shouldn't be less than a year, and at most two years."
After all, this matter concerning the soul was likely unprecedented, with no records even in ancient texts.
The Great Elder and the others could only make a rough estimation based on the strength of the life aura and their past experiences.
—In one to two years, a new life with the Medusa bloodline would be born.
Hearing this, Medusa sighed in relief once again.
Thankfully, if the time had been confirmed in just a month or two, she would truly have gone to the ice plains and jumped into the Ice Spirit Lake.
She currently had no maternal instincts whatsoever.
Medusa could go to the battlefield and kill enemies, and she had no problem managing an empire.
But asking Medusa to take care of a child now was like asking a female CEO to be a housewife—it wasn't her field.
The current Medusa was far from being an all-rounder, a strong woman who could manage court affairs and also take care of a nursery.
—She needed a Xiao Xiao to train her.
"This matter concerns the continuation of our Serpent People, so even if there's only a slight possibility, we must begin nourishing it with secret techniques from now on."
Pausing, the Great Elder looked at Medusa and continued, "After all, more than a year has passed since then."
"If we delay too long and miss the best opportunity, it will be an irreparable loss for our Serpent People."
Although it couldn't be completely confirmed yet, a certain matter was already almost certain.
Medusa was not affected by the Sky Swallowing Python's soul;
Now, the elders had used the Serpent People's secret techniques to detect a life aura that even Xiao Xue couldn't perceive.
One must know that Xiao Xue's soul power surpassed that of most Dou Zongs.
She couldn't detect any abnormality, yet the Serpent People's Dou Huangs perceived it with their secret techniques.
—The symptoms were very similar to previous generations of Medusas; it required secret technique baptism to be discovered; the mysteriously disappeared Sky Swallowing Python soul… one coincidence is a coincidence, but too many coincidences might not be.
All signs indicated that the probability of the Medusa bloodline was already over ninety-eight percent.
For Longevity Brother, a ninety-eight percent probability meant a narrow escape from death.
For the Serpent People elders, a ninety-eight percent probability meant it was a sure thing.
Fertility is good!
Therefore, the elders were already eager to begin the subsequent arrangements:
The "nourishment" mentioned by the Great Elder was a special secret technique of the Serpent People, or rather, the Medusa lineage.
The Medusa bloodline was exceptionally powerful, so even while the infant was still in the mother's womb, it required nourishment from countless spiritual elixirs and miraculous medicines.
This way, the infant's strength after birth would be even more formidable, and its potential incredibly terrifying.
The Great Elder and the others naturally wanted to use advanced secret techniques to nourish this generation's Medusa bloodline.
After all, this generation's Medusa was the evolved Sky Swallowing Python, whose upper limit far exceeded that of the Purple Nether Rock Serpent.
And Xiao Xue's condition was also very good.
Not to mention her soul power, her physical strength was comparable to a sixth-tier magical beast, completely on par with Medusa during her Dou Huang stage.
Therefore, the nourishing secret technique could definitely be used.
If advanced secret techniques could be used for nourishment, the new Medusa bloodline would likely possess extremely strong talent.
As long as it received proper cultivation, breaking through to Dou Sheng in the future would not be difficult.
However, that advanced secret technique required a seventh-grade medicinal pill, the Heavenly Soul Blood Bone Pill, as the main medicinal primer… the current Serpent People simply couldn't acquire a seventh-grade medicinal pill.
The medicinal ingredients for refining a seventh-grade medicinal pill were priceless and unavailable on the market.
Within a year, the Serpent People simply couldn't gather them, even with the power of the alliance.
Moreover, even if they gathered enough ingredients, there was no alchemist capable of refining seventh-grade medicinal pills in the Northwest Continent.
Although Xiao Xue was already seventh-grade, the elders wouldn't even consider her.
Firstly, Xiao Xue had only just reached sixth-grade a little over a year ago.
Although a teenage sixth-grade alchemist could be said to have heaven-defying talent, breaking through to seventh-grade now was unheard of.
Secondly, even if Xiao Xue reached seventh-grade, the elders wouldn't let her take the risk.
After all, seventh-grade medicinal pills were accompanied by pill tribulations, and accidental destruction of the pill and death were common occurrences.
Therefore, the elders naturally wouldn't let Xiao Xue take the risk of refining a seventh-grade medicinal pill.
—Just a layman's stereotype.
While pill lightning was terrifying, the number of alchemists killed by pill lightning was not as high as rumored.
Alchemists capable of refining pills that could attract pill lightning were sought after by many who wished to befriend them.
Even if one's own strength was insufficient, finding a few powerful individuals to help block the pill lightning was incredibly easy.
Only those alchemists who refined pills alone might accidentally die under the pill tribulation, but they were a minority after all.
Moreover, the pill lightning of a seventh-grade medicinal pill was probably only as powerful as a single strike from a mid-stage Dou Zong, which Medusa could even withstand.
The identity of an alchemist represented endless connections.
However, Xiao Yan in the original work only knew how to fight all day long.
As an alchemist, he basically produced and sold everything himself, completely failing to utilize the advantages of this identity.
Like Xiao Xue now, she never concealed her identity as an alchemist from beginning to end.
During her Dou Shi period, she quickly gained the support of the Jia Ma Imperial Family and the Alchemist Guild.
Now, she had even become the leader of the alliance.
Under Xiao Xue's influence, the Xiao family developed much faster than when Xiao Yan kept his alchemist identity a secret.
How to maximize one's advantages is also an art.
Since they couldn't get the Heavenly Soul Blood Bone Pill, the Great Elder could only settle for the next best thing.
She had Medusa use the alliance's power to start collecting the medicinal ingredients for the Serpent Marrow Bone Shedding Pill.
The Serpent Marrow Bone Shedding Pill, a sixth-grade medicinal pill, was the main medicinal primer for the intermediate nourishing secret technique.
Xiao Xue was already a sixth-grade alchemist when she was in the Serpent People one year ago, so refining the Serpent Marrow Bone Shedding Pill should not be a problem.
Even if Xiao Xue couldn't do it, there was still a sixth-grade advanced alchemist in the Jia Ma Empire, Pill King Gu He.
Gu He's alchemy skills had also improved slightly, reaching the peak of sixth-grade.
It was believed that with the current relationship between the Serpent People and Gu He, inviting him to refine a pill would not be difficult.
Ultimately, Medusa and the Great Elder's discussion concluded with Medusa agreeing to take good care of Xiao Xue and starting to collect medicinal ingredients.
Due to the special nature of Xiao Xue's situation, it was estimated that the birth of the Medusa bloodline was only two years away.
Therefore, the medicinal pill for nourishment had to be obtained at the latest within one year.
After bidding farewell to the Great Elder, Medusa returned to her sleeping quarters, her mind heavy with worry.
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