Xiao Tian looked at Earth Demon Old Ghost, who had already lost all combat ability. The old man's Qi Sea was gone—snuffed out by Xiao Yi Xian's casual finger. His limbs were broken, his chest a collapsed ruin from Medusa's kick. He lay there, a breathing corpse, eyes still wide with disbelief. This was a Seven-Star Dou Zong, a power that had lorded over the Black-Corner Region for decades, now reduced to a heap of twitching flesh.
"Xian'er, seal this entire space. Cai Li has already dealt her justice. Now it is my turn."
Xiao Yi Xian's hands moved in a swift gesture. The air for a hundred meters in every direction thickened like honey, an invisible dome of absolute stillness descending upon them. The space was locked, every possible escape route severed. There would be no last-minute talismans, no spiritual remnants fleeing into the cracks between worlds. The old man's eyes flickered with his final despair—he knew that nothing could break through such a comprehensive spatial seal.
And then Xiao Tian raised his hand.
Three bolts of pure multi-colored lightning suddenly tore through the sealed space. They did not come from the sky. They were born directly from the void around Xiao Tian's palm, each one condensed to the extreme, each one carrying a different hue of the nine-colored spectrum. The moment they appeared, the sealed dome shuddered violently.
The air itself seemed to freeze. A soul-deep pressure swept through everyone present.
Xiao Yi Xian's eyes widened. Despite her Dou Zun cultivation, she instinctively took half a step back. The three colored lightning bolts were not ordinary. Their aura was pure, condensed, and carried a terrifying destructive will that made even her vast Dou Qi feel thin.
Medusa felt her breath catch. The snake scales hidden beneath her skin prickled. The Nine-Colored Sky Swallowing Python within her stirred uneasily. These three bolts of colored lightning carried a pressure far beyond anything she had felt from ordinary lightning techniques.
Wen Yan, the silent Eight-Star Dou Zong, also stepped back. His face had gone pale. He had seen countless lightning techniques, but never something like this—three bolts of pill-level colored lightning summoned with such ease, each one more condensed than the last.
Xiao Tian remained completely calm. With a simple motion of his fingers, the three colored lightning bolts elongated and twisted in the air, forming three razor-sharp spears of multi-colored light.
He flicked his wrist.
The three lightning spears shot forward at the same time.
There was no grand explosion. No earth-shaking roar. Only pure, concentrated destruction.
The first lightning spear pierced through Earth Demon Old Ghost's chest.
The second pierced through his Qi Sea residual.
The third pierced through his soul.
In an instant, the Seven-Star Dou Zong's body was completely annihilated. Flesh, bone, and soul were reduced to nothing under the three bolts of colored lightning. Even the residual energy was completely erased, leaving not a single trace behind.
The spatial seal that Xiao Yi Xian had erected trembled under the residual force of the three lightning spears before stabilizing again.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
The ground where Earth Demon Old Ghost had lain was now a smooth, blackened crater. The air around them was eerily quiet.
Xiao Yi Xian slowly exhaled. She looked at Xiao Tian, who was lowering his hand as if he had merely flicked away three insects, and a complicated light flashed in her eyes. Summoning three bolts of such pure colored lightning so casually… just how deep was her husband's foundation?
Medusa's legs felt slightly weak. She was a queen, a warrior, and yet the pressure from those three lightning spears had made even her bloodline tremble.
Wen Yan finally found his voice. It came out hoarse. "Colored lightning… three bolts at once…" He could not hide the shock in his tone.
Xiao Tian glanced back at them, his expression unreadable. "Let's go home."
He then led the others back to Heaven Punishing Divine Palace. Behind them, nothing remained but scorched earth and a massive, blackened crater in the ground.
When they returned, Qing Lin, Yun Yun, and the others immediately gathered around. They had received word of Medusa's danger earlier. One by one, they began inspecting her for injuries.
"Cai Li! Sister! Are you alright?"
Medusa was deeply moved by the genuine concern on the faces before her. "I'm fine. After taking the pill, I've fully recovered."
Once they confirmed she was unharmed and found no lingering abnormalities, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. And then the atmosphere shifted.
"Cai Li truly is well-endowed. Her generous chest would rank at least second among us," Ya Fei said with a mischievous smile.
Medusa was utterly bewildered by Ya Fei's words. Weren't they checking her for injuries? How had the topic changed so quickly?
Xiao Yi Xian rolled her eyes at Ya Fei. "You're subtly implying that you're number one, aren't you?"
Before Medusa could react further, they were pulling her toward her palace. Her clothes were still torn and covered in dust.
As for Xiao Tian, they had long since ignored him. With his strength and thick skin, he would never be in any real trouble—especially with Xiao Yi Xian by his side.
As they walked away, Xiao Tian sent a brief soul transmission to Medusa. Then he exited the Pure Heaven Divine Realm and returned to the bottom of the Heavenly Flame Training Pagoda.
The Grand Elder and the two other elders, who had been puzzled by Xiao Tian's sudden disappearance, saw him reappear. "Xiao Tian, where did you go? What is the meaning of your methods?"
"I had some business to attend to earlier. I had to step away for a moment. Also, I've already informed the people from Heaven Punishing Divine Palace to come. They should be arriving soon."
Xiao Tian smoothly changed the subject.
"Do we need to send someone to receive them?" Su Qian asked, still thinking about how abruptly Xiao Tian had vanished and reappeared.
"There's no need. They will appear when the moment is right," Xiao Tian replied with a smile.
The few of them then chatted idly for a while.
This time, Xiao Tian planned to deploy three Dou Zongs: Wen Yan, Jin Mo, and Medusa. At present, the high-end combat power of Heaven Punishing Divine Palace consisted of Xiao Yi Xian, a One-Star Dou Zun; Wen Yan, an Eight-Star Dou Zong; Medusa, a Two-Star Dou Zong; and Jin Mo, a One-Star Dou Zong. Yun Yun stood at Half-Step Dou Zong. Hai Bodong was a Seven-Star Dou Huang, and Bai Ya had grown to a strength equivalent to an Eight-Star Dou Huang.
---
Two or three hours later, in Xiao Tian's palace within the Purple Cloud Palace, a woman in a tight red dress stepped inside. The dress exposed a generous expanse of fair skin at her waist, revealing a slender form like a water serpent—so narrow it seemed a single hand could encircle it. She moved with light, graceful steps, swaying gently like a crimson flower in full bloom.
Under the lamplight, her beautiful, bewitching face was illuminated. Queen Medusa.
She walked directly to the table in Xiao Tian's private quarters and sat down, wondering what he wanted from her. *Surely he's not planning to try something with me? What nerve!* she murmured inwardly. Yet the blush spreading across her cheeks and the faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips seemed to betray another sentiment altogether.
After a moment's thought, she took out a sound transmission stone and sent a message.
Xiao Tian, seeing that Han Yue and Xiao Yu were stable, received a message through his own transmission stone. He found a secluded spot and returned to the Pure Heaven Divine Realm.
When he arrived, Medusa was already seated in his palace. The soul transmission he had sent her earlier had been to ask her to meet him here.
Xiao Tian materialized opposite her, gazing at the breathtaking, queenly figure before him. "Have you gathered the medicinal ingredients for your Soul Fusion Pill?"
"?" Medusa had conjured a hundred possibilities in her mind. Never, in any of them, had she imagined those would be his first words.
"What? Now that you have powerful subordinates, you find me a burden? You want to be rid of me as quickly as possible?" Her brows furrowed. A strange, inexplicable anger flared in her chest, and a cold gleam flashed in her eyes as she stared intently at Xiao Tian.
Seeing her reaction, Xiao Tian immediately understood she had misunderstood. He reached across the table and took her jade-like hand in his. "How could you think that? I would never drive you away. You may stay here as long as you wish. There will always be a place here for you."
Medusa realized her emotions had flared too intensely, and that she had misjudged him. "Then why did you ask that?"
"I was simply concerned about you," Xiao Tian said with a gentle smile, his thumb tracing idly over her slender hand.
Hearing those words, Medusa understood that he truly was worried about her. The corners of her mouth fought desperately not to lift. She forgot to withdraw her hand, simply letting him hold it. But being who she was—proud, stubborn—how could she possibly let him see her happiness?
"I think you're merely concerned about that little one inside me, aren't you?"
"But I haven't yet gathered enough ingredients. However…" Medusa paused, wanting to tell him that she was fine as she was now. That there was no need to erase the little one's soul. Living and cultivating alongside the other women, she had experienced so much warmth. Her heart was no longer that of the cold Queen Medusa of the past.
"If you haven't gathered enough, then don't. I've recently found a solution—one that will benefit both of your souls."
At Xiao Tian's words, Medusa shot to her feet, her eyes blazing with intensity.