In his previous life, under relentless pursuit from the Demon Domain, Yan Zhen had no choice but to break through directly to Mystic Master and forcibly refine the Great Crimson Heaven Flame. With all three Extreme Flames gathered, he could unleash the Emperor-Grade Mystic Technique recorded in the Emperor Flame Technique—power enough to repel the forces of the Demon Domain.
Refining the third Extreme Flame carried immense risk on its own. He should have made extensive preparations, but Yan Zhen had been forced into it like a duck onto a perch. Sure enough, it backfired spectacularly, sending him into a rampage.
It was both a trial and an opportunity. If Yan Zhen could endure it, his strength would soar. And so Master Chen Xi refrained from suppressing him.
At the time, Yan Zhen was still the Little Child Emperor. Even in his berserk state, he harbored no wicked desires—only his battle instincts surging to the fore.
He craved combat. He yearned to kill. He was like a ferocious beast…
Just then, the Demon Domain pursuers split into two groups: Infant Spirit and An Zi in one, Jiu Youyue and Mang Huang in the other. The latter tracked them up the second passage along the Magma Lake.
Master Chen Xi released her disciple from the Fire Refining Starry Sky, letting him fight to his heart’s content.
Facing a Mystic Ancestor and a Mystic Lord, Yan Zhen should have stood no chance. But Jiu Youyue, whom he had saved twice, refused to lift a hand against him. Instead, she pondered how to help him escape. Mang Huang, that Mystic Lord, dismissed Yan Zhen—a fledgling Mystic Master—as beneath notice.
Clinging to the last shreds of his reason, Yan Zhen channeled the explosive energy threatening to tear him apart into that Emperor-Grade Mystic Technique. With one strike, he obliterated Mang Huang, then collapsed into unconsciousness.
Jiu Youyue rescued him and carried him to a secluded spot. Sensing his Mystic Power roiling wildly within, on the verge of Qi Deviation and self-destruction at any moment, she recalled his tender care for her in the Demonic Dragon Mountain Range—and their reunion in the palace, where he saved her yet again. She resolved to offer her body, using dual cultivation to calm the rampaging Mystic Power surging through him.
Yet Jiu Youyue’s dual cultivation merely stabilized his Mystic Power without taming the three Extreme Flames. It treated the symptoms, not the cause. After their session, Yan Zhen regained his senses, if only temporarily.
Summoned by Master Chen Xi upon her departure, he returned to the Fire Refining Starry Sky.
It was then that the Myriad Snake Queen completed her Bloodline Evolution, breaking through to Mystic Ancestor. The commotion drew the attention of master and disciple alike.
The sight of the Myriad Snake Queen’s flawless, naked form stirred something in Yan Zhen, freshly awakened to carnal desires. He could no longer remain indifferent. Lust overwhelmed him, his gaze locked hungrily on her.
But one matter at a time. Though grateful for Yan Zhen’s aid, the Myriad Snake Queen recoiled in disgust at this lecherous stare that sought to claim and violate her.
“If you keep staring, This Queen will gouge out your eyeballs.”
Her imperious tone ignited Yan Zhen’s temper.
“Stinky woman! If not for me saving you twice, you’d be dead already. What right do you have to talk to me like that?”
Proud by nature, and flushed with triumph from her fresh breakthrough to new heights of power, the Myriad Snake Queen could not abide such insolence. She struck out at once, intent on teaching him a lesson he would not forget.
Even without her full strength, how could a Mystic Master’s defenses withstand a Mystic Ancestor’s might?
As crisis loomed, Yan Zhen’s Extreme Flames flared anew, driving him back into berserk fury.
Master Chen Xi did not intervene.
To her, the Myriad Snake Queen’s assault lacked killing intent. It was perfect practice for Yan Zhen—a chance to vent his “battle lust.”
What she never anticipated was Yan Zhen drawing on the Fire Refining Starry Sky’s power through his three Extreme Flames. In one move, he pinned the Myriad Snake Queen down.
But pinning her was not enough. Ablaze with both rage and desire, Yan Zhen pounced. He tore away her garments, parted her slender legs, and thrust straight in.
Master Chen Xi was stunned. She wanted to stop him, but her disciple’s bestial ferocity unnerved her inexplicably. She beat a hasty retreat.
In the end, the Myriad Snake Queen had brought it on herself—not just repaying kindness with enmity, but acting so arrogantly on someone else’s turf.
Arrogance came at a price.
Yan Zhen ravaged her for a full day and night. When it ended, she lay utterly spent: every orifice stretched wide, her body a canvas of fingerprints, bite marks, and sticky white stains. Her eyes stared vacantly, her tongue lolled out, and her legs twitched spasmodically, refusing to close.
Yan Zhen, too, fell unconscious once more.
When he awoke, remorse flooded him. He sought to apologize to the Myriad Snake Queen, but she recovered first and departed the Fire Refining Starry Sky for the City of Water.
Yan Zhen, who had planned to claim the Great Crimson Heaven Flame and leave the desert behind, had no choice but to pursue her…
Afterward, the Myriad Snake Queen met Yan Zhen once more. She declared their debts settled, their paths forever severed.
Truth be told, she felt something for him. But as ruler of the City of Water, she had to consider her people’s welfare.
Yan Zhen said only, “I will come to propose marriage,” before leaving.
Later, the Myriad Snake Queen discovered her pregnancy. The child inherited scant Snake God Bloodline. Per ancestral law, the Three Snake God Priests demanded she abort it. But she insisted on carrying to term.
That child was Yan Yan.
Born alongside three-colored flames, she was named “Yan” in the royal genealogy as “Cai Yan.” Yet the Myriad Snake Queen called her daughter “Yan Yan.”
In time, the Myriad Snake Queen’s two elder sisters returned to the City of Water and staged a coup to seize the throne.
Her unmarried pregnancy—and defiance in birthing Yan Yan, whose Snake God Bloodline ran thin—cost her the Three Snake God Priests’ support. The old Eight Serpent Generals had perished or been maimed in the city’s defense. Half the new ones lacked true loyalty. She teetered on the brink of ruin.
At this dire juncture, Yan Zhen arrived as promised to propose marriage. Amid encircling foes, he shielded mother and daughter. Then, tirelessly, he passed the Three Snake God Priests’ trials.
At last, the Myriad Snake Queen’s heart yielded. She acknowledged Yan Zhen as her husband and followed him to Jialan Holy Land with Yan Yan.
They weathered countless trials together thereafter, forging a true bond as husband and wife.
After her rebirth, the Myriad Snake Queen had fixated on that berserk episode with Yan Zhen.
It was their fateful entanglement—the beautiful turning point that bound them.
No matter how Yun Xiu or Jiu Youyue taunted her to her face, she refused to go all the way with Yan Zhen.
She wanted to soothe his raging Extreme Flames with her Primordial Yin, just as in their past life.
She never dreamed someone would cut in.
And the interloper was none other than her revered Master Chen Xi!
“…”
By now, the surrounding stone walls had descended. The Cold Pool’s waters had evaporated completely, leaving a sunken pit that rose anew as a vast stone bed.
Master Chen Xi’s Spiritual Power conjured gossamer curtains around the bed, veiling its occupants. Pillows and bedding appeared, cradling Yan Zhen in perfect comfort as he slumbered peacefully.
The Myriad Snake Queen glanced at her sleeping husband, then lifted her eyes to Master Chen Xi, now fully dressed. She could not hold back her question.
“Master Chen Xi… what exactly happened here?”
