The Silver Lamb took one step forward.
Just one.
And that alone was enough for the Owl to freeze, feathers trembling.
Her mask tilted downward, and she muttered something inaudible—likely a curse—before turning sharply and sprinting toward the nearest exit.
There was no dignity in her escape.
No pride.
No pretense.
It was pure survival.
Shàng Guān Zhě fled like prey who had just realized the world contained a higher predator—one she had no right to challenge.
Lin Xue and Zhao Ming both stared, stunned.
They had never seen the Owl scared.
Never imagined she could run.
But she did.
Because even she knew:
staying would mean death.
Only the Crow remained.
She stood straight, arms relaxed at her sides. Her feathers spread like dark wings, shadow rippling across the arena floor. The Owl's departure didn't shake her. Her voice was calm.
"A hunter never flees."
The Silver Lamb approached her, each step soft, precise, strangely weightless—as if gravity forgot to apply to her.
"You're in my way," the Lamb said again, almost politely.
The Crow answered with silence.
She didn't flinch.
And so they walked toward each other.
Not rushing.
Not lunging.
Just walking.
But the intent behind each step was enough to shatter sanity.
A pressure rolled through the Tower like two storms colliding.
Lin Xue was pushed to her knees.
Zhao Ming's vision blurred.
The guards fainted instantly.
Even the stone under their feet cracked in spiderweb patterns.
Zhao Yuan, still struggling to stay conscious, forced his eyes open—only for the incoming wave of pressure to crush him fully.
Pin Sujin took one breath, roared, and then collapsed beside him.
Their bodies weren't hurt.
It was their minds. Their spirits.
Their cores too fragile to withstand what they were witnessing.
Because this wasn't just a fight.
This was authority.
The Crow raised a fist.
Not fast.
Not wild.
A clean, perfect punch meant to crush a mountain peak.
But when it reached the Silver Lamb—
It didn't connect.
It didn't even get close.
The moment her knuckles entered the Lamb's aura, something unseen happened.
The stars moved.
Not real stars—
but specks of shimmering silver light swirling lazily around the Lamb like a constellation drifting between worlds.
The Crow's punch simply… bent.
Redirected by a force beyond her understanding, as if the air itself refused to let her harm the Lamb.
Her fist slid sideways, harmlessly.
The Crow blinked.
The Lamb didn't strike back.
She raised a finger—just one—and lightly tapped the Crow's chest.
Silver light gathered at the point of contact, not bright, but deep.
Silent.
Infinite.
Then—
It expanded.
Not violently.
Not explosively.
Just a steady, irresistible wave.
The Crow's body lifted from the ground and flew backward in a perfectly straight line, carried not by impact, but by the will of the Silver Star.
She crashed into the Tower's far wall.
Stone shattered.
Dust erupted.
And a crater formed around her as if the Tower itself bowed under the Lamb's authority.
The Crow's limbs twitched.
Her breathing stilled.
Her mask cracked slightly.
For the first time since she appeared, the Crow struggled to stand.
The Silver Lamb lowered her hand and looked at her with the same calm expression she'd worn from the moment she arrived.
"You should rest," she said softly.
The Crow stared up, shaken—not with fear, but with the stunned silence of a hunter realizing she had misjudged her prey entirely.
The Lamb turned her back to her.
A gesture more humiliating than any strike.
The Crow didn't attack again.
Couldn't.
Even her pride had limits.
Across the arena, Lin Xue felt her flames dim in awe.
Zhao Ming felt his heartbeat slow, as if witnessing the edge of a realm he couldn't conceptualize.
The Silver Lamb had done nothing extravagant.
No flashy technique.
No overwhelming explosion of qi.
Just a step, a touch, a ripple of silver.
And the strongest Hunter present had been effortlessly pushed aside—
as if she were an unruly child.
No one spoke.
No one breathed.
The Tower belonged to the Silver Lamb now.
And every cultivator present understood one thing:
They had just witnessed a being only one step below Qiang Hao.
A true sovereign of the younger generation.
And Lin Xue, Zhao Ming, Zhao Yuan, Pin Sujin—
They were still climbing the first steps of that mountain.