The sky filled with colossal bodies.
The ice serpents moved faster—sleeker—snapping forward with maws exhaling killing frost. The air around the Golden Core cultivator began to crystallize as they closed in.
He observed the incoming storm calmly.
"…Dual elemental manifestation?"
The first ice serpent reached him.
Its jaws clamped down.
Frost detonated outward, attempting to freeze his demonic qi in place.
Simultaneously, three earth serpents coiled upward from below, crushing toward his limbs.
Another ice serpent lunged from behind, aiming for his head.
The assault was relentless.
Layered.
Precise.
The battlefield became a vortex of stone, frost, and lightning.
The cultivator's demonic aura flared violently.
Black energy collided with freezing mist.
Frost crept across his sleeve—
Then shattered as his qi surged outward.
But the ice slowed him.
Just slightly.
Lightning pulsed through the stone coils, amplifying the constriction force.
The earth beneath them froze solid.
For the first time—
His movement stalled for a fraction of a second.
Little White roared, pouring everything into the technique.
Blood leaked from the corner of his maw.
The energy cost was immense.
But the serpents tightened.
Frost crawled higher along the cultivator's arm.
At the crater's edge, the fox watched from behind layered protection, eyes calculating.
*He's stronger… but not invincible.*
Above—
Demonic chains lashed outward again—
But the ice serpents froze portions of them mid-formation, slowing their extension.
The earth serpents constricted harder.
Lightning detonated in violent bursts along the coils.
Thunder rolled across the sky.
For a razor-thin moment—
The Golden Core cultivator was fully bound.
Stone crushing.
Ice freezing.
Lightning striking.
Little White's killing intent surged like a storm front.
The sky roared with frost and thunder.
Stone screeched.
Ice cracked and reformed.
For one fleeting heartbeat—
He was restrained.
But the fox did not let hope bloom.
*We can't win.*
Her gaze was sharp.
Cold.
*Not against a Golden Core.*
*Not head-on.*
No matter how monstrous Little White's talent was—
Realm disparity remained absolute.
They needed distance.
Immediately.
She transmitted sharply.
**"Get ready."**
Precise.
Urgent.
**"Prepare to withdraw. I'll create a distraction."**
She moved before the final word faded.
A flash—
She appeared beside the lizard with no wasted motion.
Her sleeve flicked outward.
A corpse puppet—Foundation Establishment Seventh Layer—shot from her storage pouch like a spear of death.
It rocketed toward the storm's center.
Toward the Golden Core who was tearing through serpent coils.
Her voice remained calm.
"Now."
"We create distance."
Little White did not argue.
No pride.
No hesitation.
He shrank midair.
Massive draconic frame compressing rapidly into a smaller form.
Lightning dimmed but did not vanish.
He darted toward her shoulder.
The instant he made contact—
His invisibility activated.
It expanded outward in layered distortion.
Wrapped around her.
Wrapped around the child.
Presence blurred.
Aura suppressed.
They vanished.
The fox turned instantly.
And flew.
Full speed.
No backward glance.
No wasted breath.
Only escape.
Above—
The corpse puppet reached the epicenter.
Its body began to swell unnaturally.
Cracks of unstable qi burst through its flesh.
The Golden Core cultivator sensed it immediately.
His eyes snapped toward it.
"Self—"
BOOOOOOM!!!
The sky detonated.
A blinding sphere of violent energy erupted outward as the Foundation Establishment core destabilized and collapsed inward upon itself.
Stone serpents disintegrated.
Ice vaporized instantly.
Lightning scattered in wild arcs.
The explosion tore through sky and earth alike.
Shockwaves flattened distant trees.
The ground split for miles in jagged fractures.
A towering column of smoke and fire swallowed the Golden Core cultivator whole.
Silence followed.
Then wind howled through the devastation.
Far beyond the expanding blast radius—
Invisible.
Silent.
The fox flew without slowing.
Breathing controlled.
Heart steady.
*Distance first.*
*Survival first.*
Behind them, the echo of the explosion rolled across the land like fading thunder.
Whether it had truly injured the Golden Core—
Remained unknown.
The smoke thinned.
Slowly.
Like a veil drawn back by unseen hands.
The crater remained—earth scorched black, stone reduced to jagged ruin, the air still trembling with the aftershock of violent qi.
At its center—
The Golden Core cultivator hovered.
Unmoving.
Untouched.
His robes were pristine.
His hair undisturbed.
No scorch marks. No torn fabric. No sign that a self-destructing Foundation Establishment puppet and a storm of elemental serpents had ever reached him.
A grin spread across his face.
Wide.
Amused.
"Little beasts," he murmured softly.
Not enemies.
Not threats.
Pets.
His gaze shifted toward the direction the fox and lizard had fled.
Though they were invisible.
Though they were already distant.
He knew.
His perception did not rely on sight.
"You have my interest."
No anger.
No irritation.
Interest.
That was worse.
He vanished.
No sound.
No distortion of wind.
One moment he was there—
The next—
He stood directly before them.
Space bent.
Folded.
Yielded.
The fox's eyes widened.
Little White's lightning flared instinctively.
But the cultivator raised a hand—
Palm outward.
Not to strike.
A calming gesture.
"Relax," he said lightly.
"I no longer have interest in killing you."
The fox's thoughts sharpened instantly.
*Lie.*
*Golden Core demonic cultivators do not abandon prey without reason.*
He continued smoothly.
"As long as you hand over the Ghost Flag."
His gaze flicked, subtle but precise.
Then returned.
"And the child."
The words landed like blades.
The fox's expression did not change.
Inside—
*He saw it.*
*He traced it.*
The Ghost Flag.
The artifact from the village.
And the child.
He wanted both.
"Submit," he said calmly.
"And I will let you live."
A pause.
His grin returned.
"Not only that."
His aura remained restrained.
No killing intent surged.
He was negotiating.
Or pretending to.