The figure hovered in silence, robes drifting in the rising heat, the mid-stage aura around him sharp enough to press into the broken courtyard like a blade.
The lizard's wings twitched once, lightning rippling across its scales in a thin arc.
The newcomer's eyes lowered—not to the corpse, not to the ruined courtyard, but directly to the beast that had killed one of his own.
For a breath, neither moved.
The wind shifted, carrying the faint scent of scorched stone and charred qi. The figure's gaze swept the scene—Lin Canghua's fallen body, the shattered ground, the lingering residue of spiritual force—and his expression sharpened.
The lizard felt the weight of that attention settle onto its scales like a hand pressed against its spine.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
The beast stared back, gold eyes glowing as a thought flickered through its mind:
A mid-stage cultivator… it's energy isn't as strong as the one just now. It's the same as the other mid-stage—the fifth layer—but where did he come out from? I thought there was only one mid-stage here. I didn't see it earlier when I searched. Was it hiding? It must have used a spirit art. But why show itself only after I killed the sixth layer?
The lizard glanced upward. The formation barrier had been destroyed.
So it was it who broke it… That means it was outside the formation. That's why I didn't saw it—it wasn't here before. It must be the last remaining mid-stage cultivator in the city.
A low rumble crawled out of the lizard's chest. Its golden eyes narrowed as it crouched slightly, claws digging into the cracked stone.
The hovering cultivator raised one hand.
Qi surged.
The air tightened.
Lightning flickered across the lizard's shoulders as its instincts roared awake. Whatever this newcomer intended, he would not watch quietly like the last one—the hostility radiating from him was cold and clean as a blade being drawn.
The figure finally spoke, voice deep and controlled:
"Beast. Step away from the body."
Not a threat.
A command.
The lizard's tail slowly curled behind it, arcs of blue lightning crackling along its spine.
Its answer was simple—a growl, low, sharp, defiant.
The figure's eyes hardened.
The world snapped into motion—
but before either could strike, the lizard's mind sharpened, instincts focusing like a predator narrowing in on wounded prey.
Its gold eyes slit.
It wants the corpse. I won't allow it to touch my prey, the lizard thought. I'll kill it if it dear.
The man moved, reaching into the pouch at his side. Spiritual light coiled around his arm, condensing into the shape of a long, slender glaive—white-gold, etched with spiraling lines of qi that pulsed. A weapon built for reach, leverage, controlled strikes.
The moment the growl left the lizard's throat, the man vanished.
No sound.
No burst of light.
One heartbeat he hovered above the courtyard—
and the next, the air beside the lizard collapsed inward.
The beast twisted immediately—
CLANG!
A blade of pure qi slammed against its scales, hard enough to send cracks spiderwebbing through the ground beneath its feet. Sparks burst in a radiant arc, lightning flaring in a violent counter-surge.
The lizard flew back, wings flaring, claws carving deep trenches through the stone as it halted itself inches before striking the shattered wall.
The figure stood where the lizard had just crouched.
Expression still.
Eyes unreadable.
His blade pointed downward, humming with killing intent.
Fast… almost as fast as the sixth-layer… No—faster. I didn't even see it move.
The man flicked his wrist.
Again the air tightened—sharp, immaculate—nothing wasted, nothing overflowing. The precision of a mid-stage cultivator who had not only refined his qi, but disciplined it into something honed and surgical.
He wasn't here to test the beast.
He wasn't here to drive it away.
He was here to kill it.
And the lizard understood instantly.
A low thrum built across its body as arcs of lightning jumped from scale to scale—rising, coiling, building until the whole courtyard vibrated with electric pressure.
The man spoke again, his voice so quiet the distant wind nearly swallowed it:
"You're the one who attacked and killed the elders of the Shen Clan."
The lizard's wings snapped open.
"You will not leave this place alive."
The world blurred.
The cultivator vanished once more—
but this time, the lizard was ready.
Its wings beat once, a violent burst of wind exploding outward. Stone shards blasted in every direction as it launched upward—
And the man appeared above it.
Glaive descending.
The lizard's eyes widened—Too fast—!
BOOM—!!
A shockwave tore the sky as lightning and qi collided above the courtyard. Blue arcs spiraled outward like shattered stars; blade-force cut through the air in thin, spinning crescents.
Lightning roared from the lizard's throat as it slammed its tail forward. Lightning condensed along its golden scales, tightening until it glowed white—
The cultivator twisted in midair, redirecting the blow with a sweeping arc of his blade. The deflected lightning shot downward, carving a molten line through the courtyard and splitting a stone pillar cleanly in half.
Neither gained ground.
But both understood the truth.
The lizard was tired from the battle with the sixth layer.
Its wings still throbbed from earlier strikes.
Heat still smoldered across its chest where the sixth-layer cultivator had landed a blow.
The newcomer's aura pressed in relentlessly—sharp and steady. No wavering. No exhaustion. No hesitation.
This one… is more dangerous than the sixth layer. Not stronger… but I can feel it. I need to kill him quickly.
The man lowered his glaive slightly, qi spiraling around him in controlled, deliberate patterns.
"You attacked the estates of both the Shen and Lin clans," he said, voice calm in a way more lethal than shouting.
"And by hiding your presence, you slaughtered all the Foundation Establishment cultivators."
His gaze sharpened, cold and absolute.
"For that, beast—your fate is already sealed."
Lightning coiled around the lizard's limbs as its claws dug into the air.