As the dust began to settle, Langtian froze in place, stunned beyond words by the sight before him.
"Heh? Little doggy, that’s all you got?"
Underneath the wolf’s massive paw and snapping jaws, stood Yue Ling.
She had caught the full force of the Rank 4 Demonic Wolf’s attack... with one hand.
Langtian’s mind reeled. His eyes widened. His entire body trembled with disbelief.
"I-Impossible!" he gasped.
Her voice dropped, calm and resolute. She lowered her stance, and in that moment, everything changed.
Her expression twisted, calm serenity replaced by something primal and feral.
Her eyes blazed with fiery crimson light.
Her lips curled, baring sharp, beast-like fangs.
Her fingernails lengthened into claw-like talons.
As she raised her other hand, her blade ignited, not just with red flame, but red lightning too. It crackled with unrestrained power, both elements coiling around the steel like living spirits.
Langtian’s breath caught, as he slowly realized what was happening.
Wait... The flames, the lightning, they aren’t ordinary spiritual energy...
Those flames. That lightning. That pressure.
They aren’t her weapon’s effect either!
They’re... demonic in nature...
I see... this is madness!
Just like a Rank 4 beast...
Senior sister Shangguan ... somehow, she now has her own demonic flames!
And what came next was the most terrifying display of raw power Langtian had ever witnessed.
"Junior Brother... let me show you something new."
She pushed the wolf back, the massive beast stumbling under the sheer weight of her presence.
Then she stepped forward, her sabers blazing, flames and lightning coiling along their edges like living serpents.
"Demonic Jiao Blade Style: Flood Serpent Shatters the Sky!"
With that cry, her twin sabers carved wide arcs through the air, leaving behind blazing trails of flame and lightning with each movement.
The mist split open, torn apart by surging Qi, as the images of two colossal Jiao coiled into existence behind her. Their long, scaled bodies shimmered with crimson fire and crackling electric current, their crimson eyes locked onto the wolf with killing intent!
Yue Ling raised her blades overhead, her eyes glowing like twin suns.
The wolf lunged again!
Yue Ling brought her sabers down in a sweeping dual slash.
"RAGING TAIL SLASHES!"
SHHHHRRRRAAAA—KRAKOOOM!
The spectral Jiao’s tails lashed out, divine and furious, flashing forward with a serpentine shriek, and cleaved through the Demonic Wolf’s body in a spiraling arc of flame and thunder!
The wolf didn’t even have time to howl.
Its body was torn apart instantly, sliced cleanly, shredded into steaming, twitching pieces by the twin divine strikes.
A sudden, violent gush of crimson burst from its sundered flesh, spraying into the air in a wide, fan-shaped arc. The sky, the stones, even Yue Ling herself was bathed in red.
Chunks of the Demonic Wolf’s corpse slammed to the ground around her, sizzling with residual energy. Its head landed last, rolling once before coming to a stop, with its flaming eyes wide with horror, slowly dimming into stunned silence.
And then, blood rained down.
Thick, heavy droplets splattered across the cracked stone, dripping from Yue Ling’s outstretched blade.
She stood unmoving, weapon still pointed downward, the final remnants of flame flickering along its edge, bathed in the gruesome rain of Demonic Wolf blood.
Not a single word followed.
_______________________________
As the bloody rain faded, Yue Ling stood still—soaked head to toe in red, bathed in gore, basking in the quiet aftermath of her kill.
Meanwhile, Langtian just stared.
He had forgotten how to breathe, much less speak.
Because what he had just witnessed was... insanity.
And the Rank 4 Demonic Beast was sliced into pieces like nothing.
Yue Ling tilted her head slightly, turning back to look at him. A wide, toothy grin spread across her lips, her crimson eyes still glowing faintly. The fire behind them gleamed for a brief moment... and then slowly dimmed.
"I told you," she said playfully. "I’m strong enough."
Her canines peeked out, just slightly elongated.
Langtian trembled, his voice barely a whisper.
"S-Senior Sister... H-how did you do that...?"
Yue Ling stepped toward him, lowering her bloodied blades. She gave a slow, knowing smile.
"Now... what if I told you... there’s a way for you to get your core back?"