The fox's jade spear and glaive shot forward.
They tore through the air, aimed straight at Lianhua's chest.
As they closed the distance, fractures spread across their surfaces. Hairline cracks spiderwebbed along jade and steel alike. The weapons began to vibrate violently, their hum rising into a shrill whine.
Then the cracks began to glow.
Lianhua's eyes narrowed.
Both weapons ignited at once.
A deafening detonation split the sky.
The shockwave swallowed everything.
Trees were flattened in an instant. Stone ruptured. The earth peeled back in layers as though scraped by an invisible hand. The air itself seemed to tear apart, shuddering under the force of the blast.
For a breathless span of time—
There was nothing but light and destruction.
When the dust finally began to settle—
The fox was still standing where it had been.
It had not moved.
Not even half a step.
Everything around it was gone.
The forest had been erased within a wide radius, reduced to splintered ruin and smoking craters. Defensive talismans and tools lay buried beneath rubble. Some had shattered completely. Others flickered weakly under collapsed debris. A few barely held—cracked, dim, but intact.
The fox remained in one piece.
Smoke drifted around its blood-streaked fur.
Across from it—
Suspended in midair—
Lianhua hovered calmly.
Untouched.
Not a single tear marked her robes.
Not a single strand of hair out of place.
The fox let out a short, breathless sound.
"Gichi…"
It shook its head faintly.
"You didn't really think I would fight you head-on."
Its gaze sharpened.
"Only an idiot would clash directly with a Golden Core while sitting at mid-stage Foundation Establishment."
Its tail flicked against the broken earth.
"You're hundreds of years old."
"And you assumed I'd do something that stupid?"
A faint grin tugged at its lips.
"Even restricted, fighting you head-on would be the peak of foolishness."
"It would be like handing my life to you on a golden plate."
"And I don't do that."
The smoke thinned completely.
Lianhua remained exactly where she had been.
Pristine.
The fox exhaled slowly.
"As expected."
"Even that couldn't scratch you."
Lianhua looked down at it, her expression composed.
"For a moment," she said, "I began to question your intelligence."
Her voice carried no mockery—only assessment.
"But you surprised me."
"To self-detonate your own weapons."
Her eyes swept across the devastated landscape.
"Still… your cleverness has limits."
She raised her hand slowly.
"You can see the result."
"It had no effect."
"Even if you destroy more tools, the outcome will not change."
Qi gathered at her fingertips, dense and controlled.
"This is nothing more than the final struggle of something about to die."
The fox chuckled.
Low. Steady.
"I know."
Its eyes gleamed faintly.
"I never expected that to harm you."
It tilted its head slightly.
"You should look below."
Beside the fox—
Floating in midair—
Was the blood-tracking talisman.
Five slender needles pierced through it, pinning it in place.
Soul-Severing Needles.
They held the talisman in a precise formation, their tips embedded at exact spiritual nodes.
The fox's gaze locked onto Lianhua's.
"This was the real target."
"You should have held it."
"Instead of letting it float beside you."
Its paw twitched.
The needles rotated.
With a sharp tearing sound, they twisted through the talisman's spiritual core.
Formation lines snapped like breaking strings.
The tracking seal ruptured.
The talisman shredded cleanly into fragments.
Spiritual light scattered—and died.
Silence fell over the ruined battlefield.
Lianhua glanced once at the drifting remnants of the talisman.
Then she looked back at the fox.
"If that was your goal," she said calmly, "then it seems I overestimated you."
Her hand remained raised, qi still condensing at her fingertips.
"The talisman is gone."
Her gaze did not waver.
"It changes nothing."
"As long as you remain within my sight, you cannot escape."
A faint pulse of Golden Core pressure rolled outward, heavy and absolute.
"And if your master is hiding, I will find it."
Her eyes turned cold.
"After I send you to join the destroyed talisman… I will send it with you."
The fox tilted its head.
"Hm."
It studied her face for a moment, as if measuring something.
"I thought you would've figured it out by now."
Its tail swayed lazily despite the devastation surrounding them.
"The explosion destroyed the anchor stakes."
"The disruption pins too."
A faint smile tugged at its lips.
"But it seems you're not as perceptive as I believed."
Lianhua's expression did not change.
"You don't need to find my master," the fox continued softly.
"Because it's already here."
A brief pause.
"It's been here the entire time."
The air behind the fox rippled.
Like the surface of disturbed water.
Space wavered.
Then—
A shape slowly emerged.
The lizard.
Still unconscious.
Still curled inward.
Encased within a faint, translucent barrier.
It had been standing there all along.
Hidden in plain sight.
The fox's eyes gleamed.
"It was never an illusion."
"I used an illusion to hide it."
A quiet chuckle slipped from its throat.
"And you didn't notice."
The distortion in the air faded completely.
The barrier around the lizard shimmered softly, steady and intact.
"The restrictions on you were already gone," the fox continued.
"What a shame."
It met her gaze directly.
"As I said from the beginning…"
"You've been played."
The wind stirred faintly across the ruined land.
"You're standing exactly where I wanted you to stand."
"Every action you've taken…"
Its smile widened, sharp and deliberate.
"…is because I wanted you to take it."
Silence followed.
Lianhua stared at the fox.
Her face remained unreadable.