Rain felt the soft, caressing breeze on his skin as the gigantic spirit bird, Cognis, took off and soared smoothly among the sea of clouds. Normally, the sheer, ferocious gale generated by the creature's high-speed flight would have sent an unshielded mortal cascading downward to a gruesome, shattering end. Yet, it was clear that Purple Rose was actively protecting him, weaving an invisible barrier that filtered out the atmospheric pressure and left only a cool, refreshing draft to brush against his skin.
As a result, Rain's very first experience of flight was remarkably pleasant. The only thing dampening his inner mood was the agonizing reality that he couldn't appreciate the magnificent view with his own eyes. Gloom settled heavily over his features as the memory of the twisted, mocking face of the bandit chief suddenly flashed across his mind. A fierce wave of bitter hatred surged within him, causing his teeth to grind and his fists to clenching tightly enough for his knuckles to turn bone-white.
"Don't give in to a blind rage, Rain. Those evil men are, in the end, mere mortals. You will be able to settle the account with them in full once you become strong enough," Rose's soft, melodic voice chimed gently from his side. She was keenly attuned to his emotional shifts, having noticed the sudden, turbulent change in his aura.
Breathe.
Cultivator Rose was right—Rain forcefully beat back the cold, consuming fire of rage that was eating away at his insides, deliberately regulating his chaotic breathing.
"I will focus entirely on what I can do right now," he said quietly after a long pause. The deep, heavy frown between his brows smoothed out as he let out a long, shuddering breath, purging the remaining tension from his frame.
Rose nodded in silent appreciation while looking at him. Deep inside, she was genuinely surprised. In her extensive experience, after going through the unimaginable trauma and physical agony this youth had suffered, most ordinary people would completely shatter, completely deaf to logic or reason.
In fact, it could already be considered a remarkably positive outcome if a survivor didn't completely succumb to madness from the overwhelming weight of mental and physical torture.
The fact that he possessed the profound emotional fortitude to regulate his state so quickly was incredible—especially for an ignorant young man originating from such a desolate, backwater region. Just as she was making this silent observation, however, a sudden ripple in the spiritual pressure of the surrounding air caught her attention. She instantly turned her gaze away from Rain, her expression hardening.
Beyond the distant horizon, a turbulent crimson cloud was blasting toward them at a terrifying, alarming speed.
"Cloudflare Fiend..." Rose murmured, her voice barely audible over the rush of the wind.
Rain, despite being completely blind, seemed to be rapidly adapting to his altered condition, developing a heightened, instinctual awareness. He couldn't quite explain the mechanism behind it, but he could now perceive subtle shifts in his environment with startling clarity—most notably, the crushing, palpable wave of pure hostility rushing directly toward their position.
"Something is—"
Rain didn't even have the time to finish his urgent warning before a harsh, devious laugh echoed mockingly from the distance.
"I finally found you, little girl! Did you honestly believe that you could slip out of my grasp so easily?"
The ill-intentioned voice belonged to a gaunt old man featuring a completely bald head and a blazing, unkempt red beard. He was dressed in slovenly, grease-stained crimson robes, standing atop the swirling red cloud as if it were a solid, flat stone floor.
Rain was instantly startled. It wasn't because the distant voice had closed the distance in the mere blink of an eye, nor was it because of the bizarre, eccentric appearance of the old man—after all, he couldn't see any of it. Rather, the moment the old man's laughter reached their ears, Rain felt a sudden, violent burning sensation erupt across his skin. That fiery agony grew rapidly worse with every second the old man closed the distance, making Rain feel as though his physical body had been unceremoniously hurled into a blazing pyre.
The torment continued to mount until a comforting, gentle pat landed softly against his back from Fairy Rose. The scorching, intolerable heat vanished instantly, replaced by a soothing, cool wave of protective energy that completely insulated him.
"So you actually managed to track me down. Must I truly rid the world of you?" Rose's tone carried a slight, melancholic lament—as if she genuinely couldn't bear the heavy burden of taking another life, no matter how vile.
"Nonsense! You? Getting rid of me?!" The old man barked a harsh, furious laugh.
"You were merely lucky that I wasn't physically present when you ruthlessly slaughtered my subordinates! And now you stand there speaking as if you are some kind of compassionate saint doing me a favor. Hmph! Shameless!"
"You and your wretched ilk have been plaguing the East Valmir Region for far too long," Rose retorted, her voice dropping into a chilling register. "Killing, raping, stealing, and causing unspeakable mayhem wherever your whims take you. Numerous fellow outer disciples of my Radiant God Sect have fallen directly into your devious clutches. I have personally inspected their remains. What you and your bandits did was vile beyond compare."
She paused, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "After I wiped out your subordinates, not only didn't you have the sense to hide away in some deep, abandoned cave to rot, but you actually had the sheer audacity to come hunting for revenge. It would seem I was far too lenient when I first dealt with degenerates like you."
The atmospheric temperature plummeted instantly. The rushing winds around them died down completely, locked in a heavy, suffocating stillness.
"You arrogant little wench!" The old freak was utterly infuriated, steam practically billowing from the top of his bald head.
From the sharp verbal exchange, Rain instantly gathered that the newcomer was no stranger to Rose; they were bitter, irreconcilable enemies. He tensed his battered muscles, knowing a catastrophic battle could break out at any fraction of a second—and to make matters worse, they were fighting thousands of feet up in the sky.
The cold, unforgiving waters of death were once again lapping hungrily at his heels, seeking to drag him back down into their dark depths.
Sensing his rising tension, Rose lightly patted his shoulder one more time. "Don't worry, Cognis will not let anything untoward happen to you here. I will try to finish this unsettled business as swiftly as possible," she reassured him with a calm, steady cadence.
Rain felt a certain absolute finality in her tone. At the very least, she harbored no doubt that she would emerge victorious today. Though their current situation was dire in the extreme, Rain couldn't help but feel a deep, lingering regret that he was robbed of the ability to witness true immortals clash in the heavens.
With fluid grace, Rose took a deliberate step off the back of the giant magical bird, Cognis. The moment her boots left the feathers, a section of her immaculate robes smoothly transformed into shimmering, butterfly-like wings of pure light, allowing her to levitate effortlessly in the open sky.
"This? A high-grade Magic Garment?!" The old man, notoriously known across the region as the Cloudflare Fiend, muttered, his eyes locking onto her transformed robes. His expression suddenly turned grave and severe. "It would appear that your status within the Radiant God Sect is far from ordinary."
Rose offered no reply, simply staring at him impassively. Her stance made her intentions unmistakably clear: she had no time or patience to waste on idle chit-chat with a dead man.
Make your move; if you do not act now, you will never get the chance. That was the unspoken message flashing coldly within her eyes.
The old man's brow twitched violently. "Very well, you arrogant little wench! Have it your way!" he roared, glaring at her with murderous malice.
Suddenly, without a single preliminary sign or gathering of spiritual pressure, a harvesting scythe materialized out of thin air directly between them, violently slashing toward Rose's slender neck. Crackling tongues of fierce, destructive fire licked hungrily along the curved blade, imbuing it with a terrifying, sky-burning momentum.
"DIE!"
In stark contrast to the lethal onslaught, Rose remained as tranquil and unruffled as a serene mountain lake. She plainly reached out her bare hand and struck forward with an ordinary palm strike, attempting to meet the enemy's low-grade Magic tool using nothing more than unaugmented flesh and blood.
"So utterly arrogant!"
The Cloudflare Fiend—who, despite his bluster, had maintained a high degree of internal caution—instantly breathed a heavy sigh of relief, a triumphant, malicious smile blooming across his weathered old face.
As a seasoned rogue cultivator, the Cloudflare Fiend knew sect disciples intimately. Their foundational cultivation was always exceptionally stable and firm, and they were invariably equipped with high-grade, defensive magic tools that ordinary loose cultivators could never dream of acquiring. Tools like his fiery scythe simply couldn't compare to elite sect treasures. That was precisely why he had harbored lingering wariness toward Rose from the start.
But now, all his worries had evaporated. He had accurately gauged her exact cultivation level through the slight ripple of prana she released the moment she executed that unshielded palm strike.
She was only at the Magic Body Stage—Skin tier. By contrast, he stood a full tier higher at the formidable Muscle tier. Now that she had inexplicably chosen not to deploy any high-grade offensive or defensive treasures, the Cloudflare Fiend had absolute zero reason to fear her.
Her end was definitively set in stone.