The crater trembled.
Broken stone shifted slowly beneath the overwhelming gravity still crushing the battlefield.
For several long moments—
nothing moved.
Then—
Elder Han's hand tightened around the Cloud-Piercing Spirit Spear.
CRACK.
The earth beneath his fingers split apart.
Slowly…
the elder rose to his feet.
Blood flowed steadily from his mouth.
One arm hung unnaturally at his side.
His robes had long since been reduced to scorched remnants fluttering beneath the storm winds.
Yet his eyes remained clear.
Sharp.
Above him, colossal storm-serpents coiled endlessly through the heavens while dark blue lightning illuminated the world in violent flashes.
And at the center of it all—
the tiny white lizard hovered silently.
Watching.
Elder Han stared upward at that small white figure for a long moment.
Then finally—
understanding settled fully within him.
I cannot escape this thing.
The realization came calmly now.
Without denial.
Without panic.
Every attempt to flee had already been seen through before it even began.
Every calculation.
Every shift in intent.
The creature wasn't merely stronger than expected.
It controlled the battlefield itself.
The skies.
Gravity.
Movement.
Distance.
And perhaps most terrifying of all—
it remained calm while doing so.
Elder Han slowly exhaled.
Then the fear inside him disappeared.
Not because hope had returned.
Because hope had ended.
And once a cultivator truly accepted death—
hesitation vanished with it.
The elder straightened fully despite the gravity crushing against his body.
Silver-gold energy still burned around him as his cultivation essence consumed itself from within.
His damaged meridians screamed.
His Golden Core trembled violently.
Yet his spiritual pressure continued rising.
If this is where my path ends…
…then this demon dies with me.
BOOOOOOOM—!!!
The battlefield exploded beneath him.
A colossal wave of silver-gold energy erupted outward from Elder Han's body with such force that even the descending gravity field distorted violently around him.
The storm clouds churned harder overhead.
The Dharma Form behind him manifested once more—
larger than before.
Denser.
No longer stable.
The enormous armored figure flickered repeatedly as though on the verge of collapse, vast cracks of silver light spreading across its spiritual body.
Too much power.
Too much strain.
Elder Han no longer cared.
The remaining essence of his cultivation flooded recklessly into the manifestation.
The Cloud-Piercing Spirit Spear screamed in resonance.
SHRIIIIIIIING—!
The sound alone tore apart nearby mountain ridges.
The white lizard's golden eyes narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
The elder had changed again.
Not stronger in refinement.
More dangerous.
Like a dying beast abandoning survival entirely for the sake of one final kill.
Below, Elder Han lowered his stance.
Gravity crushed against him from every direction, continuously fracturing the earth beneath his feet.
Yet slowly—
he moved.
One step.
Then another.
Each movement shattered the ground beneath him.
Silver-gold flames erupted more violently around his body.
The Dharma Form raised its spear alongside him.
And then—
Elder Han vanished.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
The world exploded apart behind him as he accelerated beyond his previous limits.
Even the gravity field ruptured momentarily beneath the sheer force of his movement.
A streak of silver tore upward through the storm-filled heavens directly toward the descending serpents.
"HEAVEN-RENDING ASCENT!"
The spear thrust forward.
Space split open.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
A jagged silver fracture ripped across the sky in the spear's wake as Elder Han pierced directly through the first storm-serpent descending toward him.
BOOOOOM—!
The enormous serpent exploded into scattered lightning instantly.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Elder Han tore through them like a comet ascending toward heaven itself, silver-gold force annihilating everything before him.
But behind him—
the serpents reformed.
Again.
And again.
Endlessly.
The elder ignored them completely.
Because they had never been his target.
His bloodshot eyes locked only onto the small white figure waiting silently beyond the storm.
The lizard.
Everything narrowed to that single existence.
The distance between them vanished rapidly.
Elder Han's cultivation burned harder.
His meridians ruptured further.
Blood streamed from his skin as the forbidden technique pushed his body beyond destruction.
Yet his speed increased again.
One final strike.
One final chance.
The white lizard watched the approaching elder calmly while storm-serpents coiled through the battlefield behind him.
Golden eyes reflected the incoming spear-light quietly.
No fear.
Only observation.
Then—
for the first time since the battle began—
the lizard moved to meet him.
A single step through the air.
Blue flames spiraled around his body.
Dark lightning cracked across the heavens.
Gravity folded inward.
And Elder Han roared as his spear descended with everything remaining in his life.
"DIE—!"
The word shattered across the heavens.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
The Cloud-Piercing Spirit Spear descended like a collapsing star.
Silver-gold force spiraled around its tip in catastrophic layers, tearing apart the atmosphere itself as Elder Han thrust forward with every remaining fragment of his cultivation.
This strike contained everything.
His Golden Core.
His essence.
His Dao path.
His remaining lifespan.
Even space fractured in its wake.
The heavens screamed.
And directly before that annihilating spear—
the white lizard simply raised one claw.
Small.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
Then—
gravity collapsed.
Not outward.
Inward.
CRRRRRRRRACK—!!!
The space between spear and claw folded violently.
The spiraling silver-gold force compressed instantly, dragged inward by overwhelming gravitational distortion.
Elder Han's pupils contracted.
Impossible—
His Heaven-Rending Ascent had pierced mountains.
Split grand formations.
Killed Golden Core beasts in a single strike.
Yet now—
its momentum was slowing.
The spearhead trembled violently only inches from the lizard's claw as invisible force crushed against it from every direction at once.
The surrounding sky warped into a distorted sphere.
Blue lightning bent unnaturally around the compressed space.
Even sound twisted.
The white lizard's golden eyes reflected Elder Han quietly.
Then the claw closed.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
The world detonated.
A sphere of silver, blue, and black erupted across the heavens as gravity imploded directly against the spiraling spear-force.
Shockwaves annihilated storm clouds across hundreds of kilometers.
Mountain ranges below disintegrated instantly.
The ruined battlefield vanished beneath expanding destruction.
And within the collapsing center—
CRACK.
A tiny sound.
But Elder Han heard it clearly.
His eyes widened as he looked downward.
The Cloud-Piercing Spirit Spear—
had fractured.
A thin crack spread across the spirit weapon's shaft.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
The weapon screamed.
SHRIIIIIIII—
And shattered apart in Elder Han's hands.
Fragments of silver spiritual metal scattered through the exploding heavens like dying stars.
The elder stared in disbelief.
His bonded spirit weapon…
destroyed.
And in that single moment of shock—
the lizard moved.
Not fast.
Not violently.
Simply forward.
A white blur crossed the remaining distance instantly.
Then Elder Han felt a claw rest lightly against his chest.
Softly.
Almost gently.
Golden eyes met his own at point-blank range.
And for the first time—
Elder Han saw emotion within them.
Curiosity.
"…So this," the lizard murmured quietly,
"…is the limit of a Golden Core cultivator."
The words struck harder than any attack.
Not mockery.
Observation.
As though Elder Han's entire life, cultivation, and desperate struggle had merely answered a question.
Rage exploded through the elder instantly.
"MONSTER—!"
Silver-gold energy erupted from his body one final time.
His damaged Golden Core cracked violently within him as he attempted to self-detonate.
If he could not kill this thing—
then he would drag it into death beside him.