Wind tore past them as the fox pushed her speed to its absolute limit.
Invisible.
Aura suppressed.
Trajectory locked toward demonic territory.
Her thoughts raced just as fast as her wings.
*To think I would encounter two Golden Core cultivators within twenty-four hours…*
Her jaw tightened.
*If Little White wasn't yet awakened and layer the concealment—his invisibility woven over my suppression of divine sense—we might not have slipped past the first pursuit at all.*
His ability wasn't simple visual distortion.
It bent perception itself.
Sight blurred.
Presence thinned.
Spiritual probing slid past as though grasping at mist.
It was more than hiding.
It was misdirection.
Their only real advantage.
*We just need distance.*
But the thought shattered instantly.
The air beside her folded.
Not behind.
Not ahead.
Beside.
A figure emerged as though stepping through an unseen doorway in the sky itself.
Dark purple hair streamed behind him. His demonic aura was steady, contained, vast.
He matched her speed effortlessly.
"That's a nice little trick you've got there," he said conversationally.
His eyes gleamed faintly as they locked directly onto her invisible form.
"But do you really think you could escape?"
His smile deepened.
"Perhaps if I were at Foundation Establishment… it might have worked."
The fox's pupils narrowed.
He could see them.
Not with sight—
With perception.
Golden Core divine sense pierced through layered concealment like sunlight through fog.
The gap between realms was absolute.
Before she could adjust trajectory—
He moved his hand.
A simple motion.
Unhurried.
The sky darkened instantly.
Black light radiated outward in a widening circle. Runes ignited in midair—complex, ancient, precise.
A sealing technique.
Space itself thickened.
Wind resistance multiplied violently.
The air turned heavy—
Viscous—
Like flying through submerged stone.
Little White felt it at once.
Pressure closing from all sides.
His invisibility still held—
But the surrounding space constricted around them.
*Binding technique,* he realized sharply.
The child remained hidden within the layered concealment, silent and unaware of how close the danger truly was.
The fox gritted her teeth.
Lightning crackled brighter along her wings.
She forced more power into her flight—
But the technique expanded faster.
A spherical formation began to take shape.
Escape vectors narrowed.
Cut off.
The cultivator's voice echoed calmly beside her.
"You should have handed her over."
His fingers curled slightly.
The sealing array began to contract.
And the sky around them began to close.
Pressure thickened.
Space tightened.
Black runic lines sealed inward from all directions.
The lizard's golden eyes sharpened.
*Can't let it complete.*
Lightning surged violently across his small, concealed body.
He twisted free from the child's loosened hold—
Careful. Controlled. Not harming her.
And in that same instant—
He expanded.
White scales burst outward.
Limbs elongated.
Muscle and bone stretched to their original proportions.
Wings tore through the invisible distortion as he resumed his true size.
Concealment shattered.
Visibility snapped back into place.
No more subtlety.
The sky ignited with blue-white arcs.
The fox's invisibility flickered but held around the child as she secured her mid-flight with one arm.
Little White's maw began to glow.
Deep blue.
Lightning condensed at terrifying density between his fangs.
The air ionized instantly.
Static exploded outward in violent pulses.
The Golden Core cultivator's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Interesting."
Little White's chest expanded—
And he roared.
A thunderous, sky-splitting roar that turned sound into force.
A sonic wave infused with hyper-compressed lightning erupted forward—
A beam-like torrent that tore straight into the forming sealing array.
BOOM.
The heavens detonated in blinding blue light.
Runes shattered on impact.
Black sealing lines fractured like glass struck by a hammer.
Lightning carved a blazing tunnel through the binding sphere—
Ripping open a temporary breach.
The shockwave rippled outward for miles.
Clouds split apart.
Air spiraled violently in expanding rings.
The fox did not hesitate.
She angled her wings and shot through the opening instantly—
Child secured.
Speed pushed beyond prior limits.
Behind them—
The Golden Core cultivator raised an arm as the lightning wave collided with him.
His demonic aura flared defensively, forming a dense barrier.
The blast struck.
Not enough to truly injure—
But enough to disrupt.
His position shifted half a meter backward.
His sleeve tore slightly.
The fractured sealing technique trembled violently.
Then partially collapsed.
Residual lightning crackled through the sky, snapping in wild arcs.
Smoke drifted in the air.
The cultivator lowered his arm slowly.
His expression was no longer amused.
His eyes gleamed with cold, analytical interest.
"A mutated lightning constitution…"
His aura darkened, deepening into something far more oppressive.
Below them, the sky still crackled from the aftershock.
Ahead—
The fox and the white-scaled lizard shot forward at maximum speed.
Distance widened.
For now.
But the Golden Core cultivator did not panic.
Did not rage.
Did not shout.
He simply stepped forward—
And vanished.
Space folded once more.
Resuming pursuit.