Lightning coiled tighter around the lizard's limbs. The air trembled.
The cultivator didn't wait.
He vanished again—this time with a sharper snap of air, a straight-line acceleration that bent the dust behind him into a spiraling funnel.
The lizard felt the shift—its wings reacting before thought.
WHRRRIP—!
A crescent of compressed wind tore from its right wing, razor-thin and silent. The blade of air curved like a hunting hawk, cutting upward—
CLANG!
The cultivator's glaive intercepted it mid-flight, but the impact knocked him a hair off-course—just enough.
Now.
The lizard's claws slammed into the shattered courtyard.
BOOOOM—!!
The ground convulsed.
A ring of earthen spikes exploded outward from beneath the cultivator's feet—jagged spears rising into a deadly forest.
But the man's body flickered—
He reappeared above the spikes, momentum continuing seamlessly into a downward strike.
The lizard growled.
Its wings snapped open.
HOOORRRAAASH—!!
A burst of rotating wind spiraled upward, a funnel sharp enough to tear iron. The vortex caught the descending cultivator mid-swing—slowing him, twisting the angle of his glaive, pulling him off-line by inches.
In that fraction of a second—
The lizard inhaled.
A cold white mist escaped from deep in its throat, crisp as winter lightning—tightening, shrinking into a single spherical ember of pale azure.
The cultivator's eyes narrowed.
Too late.
The lizard released it.
TCHNK!
The ember shattered into dozens—hundreds—of crystalline shards, each spike glittering like frozen thunder. They shot upward in a storm of ice-needles that screamed as they tore through the air.
The man spun his glaive, qi unfurling into a rotating barrier.
TINGTINGTINGTINGTING—!!
Ice shattered against his defense—but a few shards grazed his robes, trailing frost that hissed along his sleeves.
And then—
The lizard changed direction.
With a vicious twist, it lunged sideways, tail whipping around. Golden scales tore free from its appendage, glowing with condensed lightning.
Each scale became a projectile—sharp, curved, and humming with electricity.
They fired all at once.
SHHHRRR–KAK-KAK-KAK-KAK!!
The cultivator's eyes widened. His qi barrier tightened—
—but the golden scales hit harder than arrows, punching through the edges of his defense and carving sparks across his shoulder and ribs.
A streak of blood fell.
The lizard's pupils contracted in satisfaction.
It bleeds.
The man didn't fall. Didn't gasp. Didn't even blink.
He landed lightly on a shattered stone beam, raised his glaive with both hands, and exhaled once.
Then—
His aura expanded.
Sharp qi exploded outward like a ring of invisible blades, slicing through lingering dust and scattering fragments of ice and stone.
"You truly are dangerous," he said calmly. "Far too dangerous—but not to the level I expected."
His gaze chilled.
"But that only means I cannot let you live."
The lizard hissed back, wings rising again.
The air between them tightened—
—and they launched at the same moment.
---
Sky and earth collided.
Wind-blades screamed from the lizard's wings— Lightning rained in blue arcs— Its claws struck the ground, ripping up pillars of stone that fired like javelins—
The cultivator met everything.
His glaive spun in geometric precision, redirecting, splitting, and carving through the elemental barrage. He stepped along collapsing stone as if walking on flowing water, each movement exact, sharp, honed by decades of killing intent.
But the lizard did not retreat.
It dove downward, lightning building dangerously across its spine.
The cultivator sensed it— pivoted— drove his glaive upward—
And the lizard slammed both claws into the earth.
KRRRRRRRR—SHAAA!!!
A massive stone spike erupted beneath the cultivator—
A mistake.
He stepped aside—too early.
The lizard's wings snapped—
FOOOOM!!
A horizontal scythe of wind slammed the spike sideways mid-growth, turning it from vertical to diagonal—
—and it smashed into the cultivator's ribs like a battering ram.
Blood burst from his mouth as he flew across the courtyard.
The lizard didn't let him land.
The air turned cold around it, condensing into ice again— but this time into a single spear.
It launched it.
SHEEEWN—!!
The cultivator twisted in midair—just enough.
The spear impaled the stone behind him, freezing it solid in an instant.
He hit the ground, sliding—one knee down, one hand braced on his glaive.
Breathing sharply.
Bleeding.
Shaken.
The lizard hovered above him, lightning crawling along its wings and tail, forming arcs that danced across its scales like chains of golden fire.
Its growl rolled across the ruins—
The cultivator rose slowly.
His eyes brightened.
Not with anger.
With resolve.
"You," he whispered, tightening his grip, "are far beyond a normal spirit beast."
Qi surged around him—sharp, honed, controlled.
"But I don't see how you were able to kill one who was at the Sixth Layer."
"And that is why—"
He raised the glaive.
"—I will kill you here."
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
The lizard's wings spread.
The next clash would not be defensive.
It would be decisive.
The lizard's wings tore downward in a burst of lightning and wind. The cultivator blurred forward at the same moment, glaive sweeping in a clean, lethal arc.
KRAAANG—!!
Qi and lightning detonated between them. The shockwave shook the courtyard, ripping apart what little stone still stood.
The blow forced the lizard back—wings flaring, claws skidding across scorched earth—each step carving deep scars into the ground.
Strong…! The beast's eyes slit, golden and bright.
That strike carried more weight than before. Its injuries should have slowed him… but he's pushing harder. Need to kill it.
The cultivator didn't let up.
He stepped once— and the air cracked.
In a single breath, he was in front of the lizard again.
The beast snarled, wings rising for a counter-wind strike—
Then froze.
The man's eyes met its own.
Not by accident.
Not by surprise.
A perfect, unmistakable lock.
The stimulus struck the lizard's instincts like lightning.
A soul attack—its deadliest weapon—unleashed instantly.
WHUM—!!
The lizard let out a small "Huh," eyes flaring in shock.
The cultivator didn't move or strike.
He simply stood there.
Watching it.
Expression cold… and faintly disappointed.
"So," he said quietly, "this is the method."
His gaze sharpened.
"An invisible attack aimed to directly destroy the soul."
The lizard's claws tensed, unease crawling along its scales.
The man continued:
"That explains everything."
He began walking forward—slow, controlled—glaive lowered but ready.
"How a demon beast at the Third Layer killed so many Foundation Establishment cultivators…"
His tone dropped.
"…and how you struck a Sixth-Layer elder through his defenses."
The lizard's wings twitched, lightning snapping along the membranes.
What—? It's not affected by the soul attack, it thought. Did it block it?
The cultivator circled the beast, voice steady as a blade drawn across stone.
"I wondered," he said, "what allowed a mere Third-Layer beast to break into the inner grounds, kill the Shen elders, and slay a Sixth-Layer cultivator as if their defenses were nothing."
His footsteps were silent on the cracked courtyard.
"All your elemental affinities—wind, lightning, earth, ice, even that blue flame—were impressive…"
His eyes narrowed, sharp as the weapon in his hand.
"But none of them should have been enough."
The lizard snarled, but the man spoke over it, tone almost calm.
"Now it makes sense."
He lifted his free hand.
A faint shimmer appeared—a translucent glyph, like an inverted lotus with a burning core—floating just above his palm.
A soul-severing sigil.
"Your attack," he murmured, "would have killed me just now."