High above the fractured restaurant roof, the golden core cultivator finally descended slightly.
His figure became clearer as the thinning dust drifted away.
Dark purple hair flowed behind him.
His face was pale.
Cold.
Eyes sharp with a faint demonic sheen.
He hovered effortlessly in the air, as if gravity had no hold over him.
Then he spoke.
His voice carried through the broken structure without effort.
"Are you done with your thoughts, little fox?"
The fox's expression remained composed.
Outwardly calm.
Her turquoise gaze met his without flinching.
"Hand over the child," he continued lazily, "and the two puppets."
The fox tilted her head slightly.
"A demonic practitioner," she said evenly, "dares trespass into the territory of the righteous sects?"
Her tone carried faint mockery.
But inwardly—
*He knows.*
*He isn't guessing.*
*He was watching the entire time.*
*Through the puppet.*
*Or perhaps before that.*
Her mind sharpened.
*He knows about the child.*
That meant the tracking was precise.
Deliberate.
Not random destruction.
"And what child are you referring to?" she asked aloud, voice steady. "I know nothing about any child."
Even as she spoke—
She sent a voice transmission.
**"Get ready."**
Controlled urgency.
**"Make her fully invisible. We're leaving."**
No hesitation now.
They would not fight here.
Not against a golden core cultivator in open city space.
Little White remained invisible.
He still could not see the man clearly.
Not his full form.
Not the flow of his energy.
But he felt it.
The pressure.
Dense.
Heavy.
Like standing beneath a mountain.
*So this is a golden core,* he thought.
*Its presence… strong.*
Very strong.
Not like the earlier female cultivator.
This one felt darker.
More suffocating.
Without hesitation, he shrank.
His large form compressed rapidly.
Returning to a smaller size.
He landed lightly atop the child's head.
Both remained invisible.
Hidden beneath layered concealment.
He responded through transmission.
**"Already ready."**
Simple.
Direct.
**"Let's go. Can't fight him."**
The fox's eyes did not leave the hovering cultivator.
Her barrier still shimmered faintly around their position.
The two corpse puppets stood at her sides, weapons raised.
Buying seconds if needed.
The golden core man's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Still pretending?" he asked calmly.
The air around him darkened faintly with demonic energy.
The fox's thoughts narrowed.
*He was watching.*
*He knows.*
*But he hasn't attacked directly again.*
*He wants the child alive.*
That was leverage.
Opportunity.
Her spiritual energy coiled inward—
Not outward.
Preparing not for attack—
But escape.
And the moment stretched thin.
The fox lifted her chin slightly, meeting his gaze without lowering her own.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken," she said smoothly. "I don't know where the child you're looking for is."
Her tone remained even.
"I found no child when I encountered that puppet."
A faint shrug of her shoulders.
"And even if I had—why would I take one? That would only be a burden."
Her turquoise eyes sharpened faintly.
"As for the puppets… I apologize. They are mine now."
No genuine remorse in her voice.
"And I do not release what belongs to me."
A breath.
Controlled.
"So I will be taking my leave."
In the same motion—
She flicked her sleeve.
Both corpse puppets dissolved into streams of dim light and vanished into her storage pouch.
No hesitation.
No delay.
Her aura surged.
Not outward—
Inward.
Condensed.
Then—
Her back rippled with energy.
Wings burst outward.
Not feathers—
But spiritual constructs shaped like wings.
They crackled faintly with lightning.
Her body arched slightly as energy gathered at her core.
"I do hope," she said calmly, "you find what you are looking for."
Then—
She moved.
Instantly.
She seized the invisible child.
And the invisible lizard.
At that exact moment—
Her own form shimmered.
Distorted.
Then vanished.
Gone.
Invisible.
The golden core cultivator's eyes sharpened—
But she had already launched.
Her wings beat once—
A thunderous crack of compressed air exploded outward.
The ground beneath fractured.
She shot upward—
No lingering.
No turning.
Straight out of the ruined building and into the open sky.
Her speed was immediate.
Maximum output.
No gradual acceleration.
A streak of compressed wind ripped away from the city's center.
Within seconds—
She was beyond the rooftops.
Beyond the outer walls.
Flying low and fast.
No trail.
No visible form.
Invisible.
Gone.
The golden core cultivator remained suspended above the shattered remains of the restaurant.
Dust still drifted through the air.
Citizens screamed below.
Guards gathered cautiously.
But he ignored them.
His expression remained unchanged.
For a brief moment—
He simply stood there.
Still.
Then—
His eyes shifted.
Slowly.
Toward the horizon.
Toward the direction the fox had fled.
A faint distortion lingered in the air.
Almost imperceptible.
But to someone of his level—
Clear enough.
"Concealment," he muttered.
A faint smirk touched his lips.
"You think that hides you?"
The demonic aura around him darkened.
Not explosive.
Focused.
He raised a single hand and closed his eyes briefly.
Feeling.
Tracing.
Not sight.
Not sound.
But something subtler.
A thread.
Thin.
Faint.
Yet present.
His eyes snapped open.
There.
Without another word—
He vanished.
Not in a burst of power.
Not with spectacle.
He simply blurred—
And reappeared far beyond the city walls.
Then again.
Each step covering immense distance.
The air rippled violently in his wake.
He moved in the same direction the fox had fled.
Not rushed.
Not frantic.
Confident.
Certain.
The hunt had resumed.