As the battle dragged on, the leader found herself slipping further and further into a disadvantage. Every move she made felt sluggish, each strike less certain than the last. Her subordinates, the ones she had so carefully positioned to be fodder for her enemy, were beginning to fall — slaughtered under the relentless assault of that purplish aura that surrounded her opponent.
The attacks they launched were nothing more than futile gestures. They barely made a dent. Her enemy’s armor absorbed everything, turning each strike into nothing but wasted energy.
Her heart pounded in her chest. Panic clawed at her mind. These were not supposed to be the conditions of her victory. She had expected to unleash her ultimate move, to catch the woman off guard and bring her to heel.
But ti, cruel and unforgiving, was slipping away. Her subordinates, once a shield for her, had all perished — each one eting a swift, brutal end not at her opponent’s hands, but by soone else entirely.
The woman had already dispatched the other forces she had left behind, those she’d counted on to deal with the other "weakling." And now that, too, had failed.
Her face twisted in frustration. The predator had beco prey. The realization darkened her mood further. But there was no room for hesitation now.
Her eyes flicked toward the remnants of her forces, their blood staining the earth beneath them, and she made a decision. She would complete her mission, no matter the cost. Even if it ant her own death. Even if it ant she was consud entirely by whatever she was about to unleash.
With a sharp breath, she staggered backward, creating distance between herself and the enemy, the last vestige of her strength slipping away with each exhaled breath. Her opponent, sensing the shift, was quick to respond.
Lingluo’s eyes narrowed, her chaos claws slashing through the air in a deadly arc, aiming to tear the woman apart before she could complete whatever dark ritual she was about to perform.
But it was too late. The leader’s gamble had already begun.
She muttered sothing in an unknown tongue, her voice low and guttural. The air around her grew thick, dense with the scent of blood and death.
Lingluo’s claws raked through the air, striking her opponent’s side, but the attack only grazed her. The woman staggered, but the spell continued.
From the ground beneath her, blood began to stir. It writhed, slithering like living creatures drawn by an unseen force.
The blood that had spilled from her fallen subordinates, the very essence of their life now stained the earth, was being pulled toward her, gathered into a massive whirlpool of crimson that began to swirl at her feet.
Then, in an instant, the leader’s body was encased in a cocoon of red. The blood shot upward violently, wrapping around her form, sealing her within a shell of viscous fluid. It surged, pulsating with unnatural energy, as the very ground seed to tremble beneath its power.
Lingluo froze for a mont, watching in shock, sensing the weight of the dangerous spell that surrounded her opponent. Her mind scread at her to stop, to rip apart the cocoon before whatever was inside could be fully awakened.
She didn’t hesitate. With a roar, Lingluo slamd both her hands forward, her claws charging with purple energy, glowing with a violent intensity.
She thrust her hands into the cocoon, the dark energy from her claws tearing into the pulsating mass, cracking it open with a deafening snap.
The leader’s scream echoed from within the cocoon — no longer her voice, but sothing far darker, more primal.
It was a scream of pain, but also one of hunger, of savagery. It was beastly. Raw.
The sound reverberated through the air, thick and animalistic, as though sothing far more dangerous was clawing its way out.
Looking at it, Lingluo’s face twisted in disgust, but she didn’t relent. She pressed harder, pushing her energy further into the cracks of the cocoon. The blood wrapped form buckled and writhed, the air growing heavy with the stench of death and decay.
The scream intensified, becoming an animalistic roar that shook the air itself. And then, through the cracks, sothing erged — sothing that was definitely not the leader.
A pair of glowing, red eyes pierced through the mass of blood soaked cocoon, the gaze filled with madness and fury. But it wasn’t the leader’s eyes.
From within the cocoon, an enormous hand, thick with blackened claws, tore through the red shell.
A monstrous form, began to erge, its body rippling with raw, uncontrollable power. The woman — the leader, was no longer the one at the center. What had erged was sothing else entirely.
***
Yu Xuan watched the battle from the sidelines. He could have intervened at any mont, but he chose not to.
This was a trial, and death here wasn’t permanent. He decided to let her fight freely, to unleash her full strength.
"How impressive," he muttered. Even in the heat of battle, his sister’s power was nothing to scoff at.
Despite facing an opponent stronger than her, it didn’t feel like she would lose.
’Having a powerful physique sure has its advantages,’ he thought.
He, too, possessed a formidable body, one that surpassed ordinary Foundation Establishnt cultivators. While his physique hadn’t granted him mystical abilities, the raw physical power it granted was undeniable.
Watching their movents, the swift strikes, the calculated dodges, the energy bursts — Yu Xuan felt a surge of inspiration.
’I want to break through too... to use so spectacular moves.’ His multiple affinities could allow him to unleash even greater techniques, if he mastered them.
’How envious...’ he muttered, a hint of jealousy threading through his voice. He was young, after all, with so much potential waiting to be realized.
But the playfulness vanished the mont he saw the cocoon beginning to form. His gaze sharpened, muscles tensed, and every sense went on high alert. He was ready to intervene at a heartbeat’s notice.
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