The moment the messenger finished delivering his words, the air outside the vine dome seemed to grow even sharper with cold. Thin snow still drifted down from the gray sky, floating lazily between the scorched ruins of the city. Behind them, Xue Yunxue's massive dome of intertwining vines stood firm, protecting the thousands of civilians still alive within. The thick tendrils coiled tightly around one another, pulsing faintly with dim green light, like a living fortress refusing to collapse even as the winter wind continued to rage.
Meanwhile, Xue Yunxue and her four beast husbands stood outside the dome.
Alongside them, there were still several hundred surviving soldiers stationed in the western part of the city.
They stood on snow that had long since been mixed with ash, blood, and red mud. Around them lay the wreckage of broken houses, burned carts, and enemy corpses that had not yet been cleared away. The air was heavy with the smell of metal, smoke, and the residue of energy left over from the previous night's battle.
No one spoke immediately.
But the moment they heard that Bai Zhou specifically wanted to summon Xue Yunxue alone, all four men caught the same disturbing implication.
Yun Wu's gaze sharpened at once.
He stood slightly in front of her, his tall frame blocking the wind like a wall of black iron. His cloak whipped in the small storm, while the Taigu Sword on his back reflected a cold gleam. He had known Bai Zhou far too long and understood the temperament of that old tiger well. This felt less like a conversation and more like a trap.
Xiang Shuai spun a purple spiritual blade around one finger before catching it in his palm again. His motion was light, but his jaw had hardened. Lu Xiao, who had been standing closest to Xue Yunxue the whole time, kept his crimson eyes lowered and gloomy, filled with rapid calculations and suspicions running wild in his mind.
They were all thinking the same thing.
The rebel army's assault had suddenly stopped since midnight.
And Yun Wu, who had once spent a long time among the rebels, recognized the pattern immediately.
"Don't go."
Yun Wu was the first to speak.
His voice was low, rough, and resolute, almost like a growl.
He turned toward Xue Yunxue, his amber eyes shining coldly.
"I think it's a trap."
Lin Yuan gave a slight nod. "Not just a trap," he said flatly. "It's an invitation that isn't even bothering to pretend otherwise."
Xiang Shuai clicked his tongue in contempt. "That old City Lord would never dare summon you alone unless he already had something to rely on. And I can guess exactly what kind of support he has."
Noctar.
The name did not need to be spoken aloud. Its shadow alone was enough to make the air feel colder.
Xue Yunxue stood in the middle of them, her face pale from exhaustion, the tip of her nose reddened by the biting cold. A few strands of hair had slipped loose and stuck to her cheeks. Yet although she looked worn down, her eyes remained clear.
She had already guessed it.
The attack had stopped since midnight.
Imperial reinforcements had never arrived.
Every line of communication was dead.
And now Bai Zhou—someone who had never deserved trust to begin with—suddenly wanted to speak with her in private.
It was all too obvious.
Wulong City had been abandoned.
At last, Lu Xiao moved. He grabbed Xue Yunxue's arm, his grip strong, almost demanding that she truly listen.
"I think Bai Zhou already understands that the Empire will not come to save this city," he said quietly, but his voice felt heavy as lead. "And if he knows he's been abandoned, then the fastest way for him to survive is to negotiate with the enemy."
Lu Xiao's gaze hardened.
"If the Emperor had truly intended to help, the imperial troops would have arrived last night at the latest. At the very least, communications wouldn't have been cut off completely."
He raised his chakra computer, which had long since lost all signal.
"I can't even contact Luo Shixin."
Xue Yunxue drew in a slow breath, a thin cloud of mist escaping her lips.
"I know."
Her answer was calm.
She turned to look behind her—toward the giant dome of vines protecting more than two thousand people. Through the gaps in the tendrils, the refugees could be seen dimly: children pressed together, mothers holding their families close, wounded men still alive only because she had chosen to remain here.
Xue Yunxue's gaze softened for a moment.
"If my going can protect them," she said quietly, "then it is worth it."
"It is not worth it."
This time, Xiang Shuai moved first.
He seized Xue Yunxue's hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His face, usually full of mockery, was now utterly dark.
"What if Noctar is there?" His voice dropped low, sharp as a thin blade. "What if this is exactly how they want to lure you there alone? Do you think I'd let you walk into the wolf's jaws like a fool?"
His tone was harsh.
But beneath it, his worry was obvious.
Yun Wu remained silent, but his shoulders had already gone tense. Lin Yuan stared at Xue Yunxue without speaking, clearly disapproving. Lu Xiao still had not released her arm. If anything, his grip tightened.
Not one of them was willing.
Xue Yunxue looked at each of their faces in turn.
She could not just hide and wait.
Slowly, Xue Yunxue raised her right hand.
Around her wrist, the living vine coiled there like a bracelet began to glow. Green-gold light flowed along its fine fibers, then pulsed outward in waves of energy so dense that even the air around them began to tremble.
The root moved.
"I won't go alone," Xue Yunxue said.
This time, her voice was steadier.
Deeper.
Her eyes fell upon the light around her wrist.
"I'll go with Moa."
Xue Yunxue slowly closed her fingers around the glowing root.
"And he," she said softly, "has grown much stronger now."
Moa appeared in the form of a beautiful little boy, small and golden-haired, with round rosy cheeks that made him look almost absurdly adorable. His appearance and age seemed to change constantly, though his facial features always remained the same. This time, he looked no older than five.
All five of them stared in surprise at Moa's new form.
"Shouldn't you be much more mature by now?" Yun Wu asked, bewildered.
"Not always. My physical changes depend on the new energy I absorb. This time, even if I look much younger, my strength may already be equal to Noctar's," Moa said confidently.
"Moa, you look so cute." Xue Yunxue crouched down and pinched his plump cheek.
Lin Yuan's eyebrow twitched. How could anyone entrust Yunxue's safety to a creature whose shape itself was this inconsistent?
"Are you seriously going to trust your life to something that still looks like it needs help changing its diapers?" Lin Yuan said sharply.
In the next instant, a thick vine shot out from the ground like a flash of light and lashed Lin Yuan directly across the backside. He winced in pain and rubbed the spot with a grimace.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm older than your ancestors. I can protect Sister Xue much better than you!"
Then Moa transformed back into a dark green bracelet on Xue Yunxue's wrist.
This time, Moa was completely confident that he could help Xue Yunxue defeat Noctar. He had trained directly under Tao Ling, and if Xue Yunxue's plant power were combined with the power of her divine fox bloodline, then even Noctar would be the one begging for his life.
Unfortunately, Xue Yunxue still had not realized the full truth of her strength and her real form.
Her four beast husbands had no choice but to obey her in the end. Still, Lin Yuan secretly sent a thread of spiritual energy to trail after Xue Yunxue. The moment that energy sensed danger, he would rush there immediately to save her.
-----------------------------------------------------
The winter wind swept across the ruined city plains, carrying thin snowflakes and the frozen scent of blood in the air. Xue Yunxue walked behind Bai Zhou's messenger.
Her pace was calm.
Not hurried.
And not hesitant.
From afar, she might have looked fragile—a young girl walking alone into the middle of a city occupied by the enemy.
But only a fool would truly believe she was weak.
They passed through streets that had been almost completely destroyed. Burned walls stood half-collapsed, charred shop signs hung loose from broken frames, and the snow that should have been clean had turned dull beneath ash and old blood. From time to time, Xue Yunxue saw bodies that had not yet been removed: civilians, city guards, and rebel soldiers mixed together in death. Their frozen faces were locked in the same final expression of horror.
Bai Zhou's messenger walked several paces ahead of her with a stiff back.
The man kept glancing backward, as if afraid that the girl he was escorting might suddenly turn around and flee. Xue Yunxue said nothing. She did not even look at him. Her focus had long since fixed on the one thing she could sense faintly in the distance—
Noctar's energy.
Dark.
Rotten.
Disgusting.
It was not long before they arrived at a wide, open square.
Xue Yunxue recognized it at a glance.
The execution ground.
The place where Xuxu should have been beheaded yesterday.
And the traces of it were still there.
A large wooden platform stood at the edge of the square like a ceremonial stage built solely to witness death. The execution frame still stood upright at its center, its broad iron blade reflecting the dim winter light with a dull gleam.
On the podium, Bai Zhou stood waiting.
The old City Lord's face was pale as paper. His shoulders, once always straight, now looked slightly hunched, and his sunken eyes were filled with vigilance. He tried to stand as calmly as possible, but the fear crawling across his face was far too obvious to hide. He was clearly terrified of Noctar.
But the most striking presence in the square was not Bai Zhou.
Noctar sat upon the central seat of honor, slightly higher than everyone around him.
Arrogant.
Calm.
As though this blood-soaked execution ground were no more than his private hall.
His dark robes draped over the wooden floor, thick and heavy like a starless night. Half his face was hidden beneath shadow, but his eyes could be seen clearly—dark, sharp, and filled with a kind of interest that made the back of one's neck prickle.
It was not the gaze of an ordinary enemy.
He looked at Xue Yunxue as a collector might look at a rare treasure he had coveted for a very long time.
Like a hunter finally watching his finest prey walk willingly into the trap on her own two feet.
The moment Xue Yunxue stopped at the center of the square, Noctar smiled.
The smile spread slowly, broadly, and made the already cold atmosphere grow even more piercing.
"Good," he said, his voice heavy and rough, echoing across the silent execution ground. "Very good."
He leaned back slightly in his chair, clearly savoring the moment.
"You are very noble, Xue Yunxue. Coming here alone in exchange for the safety of the entire city."
His tone sounded almost complimentary.
But the content was pure mockery.
Bai Zhou lowered his head slightly, not daring to raise it. The rebel soldiers guarding the square also fell silent, watching with wary eyes. Some looked at Xue Yunxue with curiosity. Some with faint fear. All of them had heard the rumors about her—about her rare plant-element power.
Xue Yunxue lifted her gaze to the podium.
Her eyes were cold.
Unaffected by the mental pressure beginning to spread slowly from Noctar's body.
"I came here," she said calmly, her voice clear even if not loud, "not to surrender."
The cold wind blew, lifting the edge of her robe.
Her expression did not change.
"I came to kill you."
The sentence fell flatly.
Without shouting.
Without drama.
And precisely because she said it so calmly, it felt all the more dangerous.
Several soldiers around the square stiffened unconsciously. Bai Zhou raised his face slightly, clearly shocked by her nearly absurd courage.
Then Noctar laughed.
The sound was loud, low, and dripping with open contempt. It bounced across the empty square like the laughter of a beast amused by the ignorance of its prey.
"You?" he said, that mocking smile still hanging from his lips. "Of course. You may try… if you can."
Almost the instant he finished speaking, the ground around Xue Yunxue trembled.
The sound of crystal cracking rose from beneath her feet.
Then—
KRAKK!
Pillars of clear crystal burst out of the ground in a perfectly circular formation, growing so fast that the air around them shrieked. The crystals shot upward in seconds, connecting and locking together to surround Xue Yunxue from every direction. Their surfaces were smooth, cold, and reflected the pale winter light like prison walls with no openings.
Energy-suppressing crystal.
A cursed substance designed specifically to cripple beastmen.
The moment the walls sealed shut, the fluctuations in the air changed. The pressure every living creature naturally emitted was forcibly crushed back into the body, as though invisible hands were squeezing veins, meridians, and the core of one's strength. An ordinary beastman would have lost control immediately. Some would not even have been able to maintain human form inside such a prison.
Noctar rested his chin against the back of one hand, watching from above with narrowed, satisfied eyes.
He remembered well.
This type of crystal had once affected Xue Yunxue before.
And he wanted to see once again the magnificent form of that nine-tailed fox.
But this time, there was one thing he had failed to calculate.
Xue Yunxue truly was standing in Hu Shui's body, and that body should have been affected by these crystals.
But the power flowing through her now was no longer hers alone.
Deep in her consciousness, Moa opened his eyes.
And the energy of Fleur—pure, ancient, wild, and completely unwilling to obey the laws of the world of Qui—burst outward like a wave of life unleashed from chains.
Xue Yunxue smiled faintly.
Coldly.
Almost mockingly.
Then she raised one hand.
There was no grand movement. Only a light flick, as though she were merely signaling to something sleeping beneath the earth.
In the next second, the ground under the crystal prison exploded open.
Huge green-gold roots surged from beneath the surface with savage force. Thick as dragon-serpents, covered in thorns, and pulsing with dense life energy, they coiled, tightened, and slammed into the crystal walls from within.
BRAKKK!
The entire crystal prison shattered in less than a second.
Transparent shards flew in every direction, catching the light like a rain of glittering glass. Some fragments even struck nearby rebel soldiers hard enough to force them to leap backward.
Xue Yunxue stood in the middle of the shattered crystal ruins.
Untouched.
Unshaken.
Noctar rose from his seat at once.
For the first time since she had arrived, his expression truly changed. The mocking smile vanished. His dark eyes narrowed—not in interest this time, but in caution.
He had not expected this.
The crystal that should have been enough to suppress Xue Yunxue before…
had not even had time to work this time.
Bai Zhou took half a step back unconsciously. His face turned even whiter, his lips parting slightly. The rebel generals standing beside the platform exchanged glances, clearly stunned. They all knew the quality of those crystals. They all knew how many powerful beastmen had collapsed inside them.
And this girl had just shattered them as if breaking thin ice.
Noctar did not sit again.
He looked at Xue Yunxue far more seriously now.
At first, he had come intending to capture her.
To see again the true form of the divine nine-tailed fox that had once dazzled him.
But after that one move, he realized something.
This hunt would not be as easy as he had expected.
He lifted one hand slightly.
Five figures leaped down from the podium.
They landed on the square with heavy impacts, and the frozen ground beneath them cracked outward in every direction. Steam rose from their bodies, melting the snow around their feet instantly. The fluctuations they emitted were so dense that the air itself seemed to tremble.
Those five generals were battle monsters.
Every one of them was clearly above level ninety.
They spread out, surrounding Xue Yunxue from five different directions, sealing off every possible path of escape.
One was built like a mountain bear, his shoulders as broad as a city gate.
Another was tall and thin, carrying two pale-blue spiritual swords.
There was also a woman with dark red hair, her entire body covered in ember-like energy tattoos.
And the remaining two men both carried murderous auras no less terrifying than the others.
Noctar spoke from the podium, his voice once again cold.
"Cripple her," he ordered. "But leave her alive."
Within her mind, Moa clicked his tongue softly.
Big Sister Xue, his voice rang clear in her thoughts, brimming with contagious confidence, don't be afraid. We'll beat them easily.
Xue Yunxue did not answer with words.
She simply lowered her center of gravity slightly, letting her breathing align itself with the rhythm of the energy flowing inside her body. Snow circled softly around her feet, and the glowing root on her wrist crept a little higher along her arm.
The five generals moved at the same time.
So fast that to ordinary eyes, their bodies nearly vanished.
Thousands of energy blades exploded into the air.
Spiritual swords, spears of light, energy bows, and jagged scythes burst from every direction, surging toward Xue Yunxue like a storm designed to peel her flesh from her bones. The air over the square was instantly filled with piercing whistles, pressure waves, and deadly flashes so intense that sight itself became chaotic.
But Xue Yunxue remained calm.
She stamped one foot down.
Cracks spread beneath her sole.
Then golden vines burst upward.
Not one or two—but dozens of massive roots growing at once, shooting up from beneath the ground in spiraling arcs before converging above her head to form a tightly interwoven half-dome. It looked like woven living roots, but its hardness far surpassed steel.
The rain of attacks struck the dome all at once.
Not one of them penetrated.
The dome stood firm.
It did not even crack.
The five generals instantly realized that the opponent before them was far from "an ordinary girl."
They had crushed powerful beastmen before with a single combined strike. They knew exactly how destructive that volley had been. Even a high-level monster should have been ripped apart.
Yet this dome—
gave them nothing.
Only the sound of impacts and rebounding force.
Their eyes changed.
From contempt—
to caution.
From caution—
to unease.
Inside the dome, Xue Yunxue slowly raised one hand.
Her energy shifted direction.
From protection—
to attack.
Outside the dome's surface, golden spiritual blades began to form. At first only a few. Then dozens. Then hundreds. They hovered around the dome in a vast semicircle—thin, long, and glittering with murderous sharpness. Each one was saturated with deadly plant poison, while fine thorn-like barbs grew along their edges like the teeth of some feral beast.
The generals only realized the danger when it was already too late.
Xue Yunxue lowered her hand.
And every blade shot forward.
Their speed was horrifying.
They did not fly—
they seemed to vanish from one point and appear in another.
Three of the generals reacted in time, leaping backward, deflecting, or twisting their weapons to alter the trajectory of the strikes.
But the other two were not fast enough.
The golden blades pierced their bodies like a rain of spears.
CRASSK!
Flesh tore.
Bone shattered.
One general lost half his shoulder before his body was ripped apart by thorned vines erupting from beneath the earth. The other did not even have time to scream—his chest was pierced through from front and back at the same instant, and the poison spread immediately, making his entire body convulse before collapsing.
Both died almost instantly.
There was no second chance.
No meaningful resistance.
They fell into the bloodstained snow.
The square fell abruptly silent.
The three remaining generals stared at their dead comrades with widened eyes. The fear that had once been only a bad premonition now became cold reality. They were Noctar's chosen generals—war monsters who had slaughtered whole towns.
And now, two of them had fallen with horrifying ease at the hands of a girl who still looked too young to be called a veteran.
On the podium, Noctar's face darkened.
He was no longer smiling.
His gaze stabbed toward Xue Yunxue, and for the first time, the deaths of his subordinates truly provoked his anger. Not because he cared for their lives, but because they were talented assets. Expensive tools of war.
And two of those tools had just been destroyed before his eyes.
He tried to read the level of the girl's power.
But he could not.
The energy radiating from Xue Yunxue was too strange, too mixed, too wild. There was the plant element that should have felt familiar, but within it lurked something mysterious and immeasurable. There was no recognizable pattern he could grasp.
Noctar stepped down from the podium.
Every step was calm, but the dark aura he carried made the entire square tense.
The three remaining generals retreated immediately without needing to be told twice.
They knew perfectly well when their master had become serious.
Xue Yunxue felt his approach.
The protective dome around her slowly opened and withdrew back into the earth like a night-blooming flower folding its petals. She stood tall, facing Noctar directly for the first time without a barrier between them.
"Your strength has risen very quickly," Noctar said.
This time there was no mockery.
Only the cold evaluation of a predator sizing up an opponent.
"It seems I'll have to act personally if I want to capture you."
He raised his sword.
The blade was long and slightly curved, radiating a dark red glow like embers on the verge of dying out. At first glance, it was already intimidating. But Xue Yunxue immediately realized that its true danger lay not merely in its edge.
There was something deeply unnatural about it.
A thin layer of dark liquid coated its surface, nearly invisible unless one caught the crimson reflections sliding along it. Even from that distance, Xue Yunxue could smell the foul metallic stench of dense poison.
That sword was not just a weapon of war.
It was an instrument of slaughter crafted to end life as fast as possible.
Perhaps a single scratch would be enough to bring down even a high-level beastman within seconds.
Xue Yunxue narrowed her eyes.
But there was no real fear on her face.
Ever since she had absorbed the blood-heart core of Fleur's parasitic plant, her body had changed. Ordinary poison no longer meant much to her. Even a terrifying toxin like Noctar's might only pose a serious threat if it struck a fatal point in overwhelming quantity.
So she was not afraid of the poison.
The one she needed to watch—
was the man holding the sword.
Slowly, Xue Yunxue raised her right hand.
From her wrist, thorned vines crawled outward, growing, hardening, and changing shape until they formed a long, elegant sword of thorns. Its blade looked as if it were made from dark green roots and the bones of living plants, with fine thorns running along both edges and gleaming with golden poison.
It was beautiful.
And deadly.
The wind blew harder, sweeping snow between them.
On one side of the square, Noctar stood with his poisonous red sword in hand.
On the other, Xue Yunxue held her living thorn-blade, which pulsed faintly as though it were breathing.
No one spoke again.
Bai Zhou held his breath atop the podium, his face pale as a corpse. The rebel soldiers did not dare move. Even the three surviving generals withdrew farther away, as if instinct itself told them that what would happen next had already surpassed the level of an ordinary battle.
The snow continued to fall.
Thin.
Silent.
Then a single white flake drifted between the tips of their swords.
And in the very next instant—
the field exploded with killing intent.
The snowflake had not yet even reached the ground when Noctar moved first.
His body vanished from where he stood, leaving only a black blur in the air. The only sound was a sharp hiss—and then the crimson flash of his sword was already slashing straight toward Xue Yunxue's throat.
Fast.
Too fast.
Xue Yunxue reacted almost purely on instinct. Her thorn-sword rose reflexively, intercepting the attack with a deafening metallic crash. The force drove her backward several steps over the snow, her heels carving long grooves into the frozen ground.
His strength was immense.
Terrifyingly immense.
Her right arm trembled faintly from that first collision.
Noctar gave her no room to breathe.
The instant his first slash was blocked, his sword twisted through the air and came down again from an impossible angle—this time toward her left shoulder, then cutting low toward her waist, then sweeping upward toward her chest. His sequence of attacks was wild yet precise, savage like a storm of boulders hurled from a mountain cliff.
Xue Yunxue understood one thing immediately—
in terms of experience, she was at a disadvantage.