The fox stepped forward calmly, her robe shifting lightly in the night breeze.
She glanced at the collapsed body.
Then at the head on the ground.
Her expression tightened slightly.
"…You could have just knocked it down."
Her turquoise eyes flicked toward the lizard.
"You didn't need to tear the head off."
The lizard's ears twitched once.
It did not respond.
It had calculated the fastest termination point.
Sever the spine and control nexus.
Efficient.
The fox sighed softly and crouched beside the corpse puppet's body.
"It's fourth layer," she muttered, examining the reinforced joints and talisman nails embedded along the spine.
"Well refined, too."
Her fingers traced one of the embedded control seals.
"The structure is intact."
She looked at the severed head.
"I can still reattach it."
Her tone shifted—practical now.
"As long as the core channels aren't completely destroyed."
She glanced back at the lizard.
"Next time, don't overdo it."
A brief pause.
"Disable. Don't dismantle."
The lizard stared at her blankly.
Across from them—
The man finally found his voice.
"You think… you can just take it?"
His earlier arrogance was gone.
Now there was disbelief.
And anger.
The fox stood slowly, brushing dust from her sleeve.
She looked at him as if the answer were obvious.
"You refined it."
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"But you're about to die."
A small smile touched her lips.
"So yes."
"I'll be taking it."
The night air grew heavier.
The formation beneath his feet flickered weakly.
And for the first time—
The man understood something very clearly.
He was no longer fighting to win.
He was fighting to survive.
His face twisted.
"You think you've already won?"
His voice dropped, thick with fury.
Fine.
If refinement failed—
If control failed—
Then he would crush her directly.
He bit down hard on his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood into his palm.
His aura surged violently.
Yin energy spiraled upward like a black tornado.
"Nether Coffin Devouring Art."
The air darkened instantly.
A massive spectral coffin manifested behind him—half-transparent, covered in writhing faces and nailed shut with phantom spikes.
The temperature plummeted.
"I was saving this for a breakthrough," he growled.
"But you forced my hand."
He slammed his palm forward.
The spectral coffin split open—
And an overwhelming suction force erupted from within it.
Not wind.
Not gravity.
Spiritual drag.
It pulled at qi.
Pulled at flesh.
Pulled at souls.
The ground cracked as debris lifted and spiraled inward.
The fox's robe snapped violently in the pull.
Her turquoise eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Soul-devouring containment."
The man's face contorted with strain.
"It seals your body—"
The suction intensified.
"—and strips your spirit from within!"
The coffin's interior was pitch black, like a void that swallowed light.
Even the faint residual lightning around the lizard flickered under the pull.
The man's voice rose, almost manic now.
"Once you're trapped inside—your cultivation, your soul, everything becomes mine!"
The pressure increased again.
Crushing.
Binding.
Trying to anchor her in place.
The fox planted one foot slightly back.
Not resisting wildly—
But stabilizing.
Her aura condensed instead of flaring outward.
The lizard's ears twitched sharply.
The suction was not purely physical.
It targeted spiritual resonance.
Its maw glowed faintly again—
But it hesitated.
The fox lifted one hand slightly.
A silent signal.
Wait.
She looked straight at the man through the spiraling darkness.
"…A technique like this."
Her voice remained calm despite the pressure.
"At seventh layer."
Her eyes gleamed faintly.
"You're burning your foundation."
The man's veins bulged along his neck.
"I don't need it after tonight!"
The coffin's shadow expanded—
Nearly swallowing her entirely.
The village trembled under the weight of the technique.
The suction from the shattered coffin continued collapsing inward when the lizard's ears twitched again. The distortion in the air no longer felt chaotic. It felt visible. Clear. Structured.
So this is what it means to see.
Not with eyes.
With everything.
The pull was not everywhere. It had direction. It had a center. Before, it would have attacked the source instinctively—fast and direct. Now it traced the pressure lines, the anchor beneath the man's feet, the way the technique rooted itself into the earth to stabilize.
I don't have to strike blindly anymore.
Its claws dug into the ground.
Stone cracked beneath the pressure as its body lowered slightly, lightning flickering once before settling. It did not release the lightning. It did not release flame.
It chose.
The earth answered.
The ground began to tremble—subtle at first, then violently as the soil beneath the formation shifted and compressed. The man's eyes widened just as the surface ruptured.
A massive serpent of stone and packed earth burst upward, scales formed from compressed rock, its body coiling as it rose high above the rooftops. Empty eyes locked onto the man.
Before he could react, a second serpent tore out from the left side of the village street—longer, thicker, snapping upward in a spiral.
Then a third erupted from behind him, sealing his escape.
They loomed above him, massive heads lowering slowly.
The lizard stood unmoving, claws still embedded in fractured stone.
Now I can aim.
No wasted movement.
No excess power.
Only strike where it matters.
The serpents tightened their coils, shadows swallowing the man completely as the trembling earth settled into controlled dominance.
The man's breath grew ragged as he stared up at the three stone heads hanging above him. Their bodies coiled and shifted with grinding weight, fragments falling from their scales. The formation beneath his feet cracked further under pressure.
He forced his hands into another seal, veins bulging at his temples. Yin energy surged outward in a desperate burst, forming a dark barrier around his body.
"You think earth constructs can suppress me?" he snarled.
The first serpent struck.
Its head crashed into the barrier with crushing force. The impact rippled through the village like a thunderclap. The barrier held—but cracks spidered across its surface.
The second serpent lunged from the side, jaws clamping down around the barrier sphere. Stone ground against condensed yin energy, sparks flashing where the forces collided.
The man roared and pushed more power outward, trying to expand his aura and blast them away.
The third serpent moved differently.
It did not bite.
It coiled.
Its massive body wrapped around the entire sphere of dark energy and began to tighten.
The ground beneath the man sank under the combined pressure.
From a distance, the fox watched calmly, robe swaying lightly in the settling wind.
"Don't crush the dantian," she said evenly. "I want it intact."
The lizard did not look at her.
Pressure here.
Resistance here.
The barrier was thickest at the front where he projected power. Thinner below, where his focus wavered under strain.
The first serpent struck again, directly at the fractured section.
The barrier shattered.
Stone jaws broke through, followed by coils that slammed inward. The man staggered back, coughing blood as the remaining yin energy scattered wildly.
He tried to leap upward.
The second serpent snapped its jaws shut around his leg midair and dragged him down.
The third serpent's coil tightened across his torso, pinning both arms to his sides with crushing force.
Bones cracked.
The man screamed, struggling to gather qi for another technique.
Too slow.
The first serpent lowered its head until its stone maw hovered inches from his face.
The lizard's golden eyes remained blank as it watched.
He is contained.
The serpents held him suspended above the broken formation, his body restrained from every angle, aura unstable and bleeding out into the night.
The fox stepped forward slowly, turquoise eyes cold and calculating.
"This is where you decide," she said softly. "Do you have anything else worth offering?"