The clearing fell into a deathly, suffocating silence. The faint odor of ozone and scorched earth lingered over the neat pile of grey ash that used to be Sun. Zhao and the remaining two outer disciples stood frozen, their weapons raised but shaking. Their eyes darted erratically between the pile of dust and the tiny white fox sitting unbothered just a few feet away.
Ren looked at their terrified faces. Her analytical mind processed her high advantage, but she also realized that leaving a continuous trail of completely incinerated cultivators might cause the entire Clear Water Sect to mobilize its core elders. She was only Level 6 and currently in the second stage of Body Refinement. Fighting off an army of Qi Condensation experts or Core Formation masters right now wasn't mathematically optimal.
Deciding to be exceptionally generous, Ren let out a soft huff.
She stood up from her crouched position. Instead of lunging or generating another sphere of eerie blue Fox Fire, she walked deliberately toward a patch of loose, damp dirt right in the middle of the clearing.
"What is it doing?" one of the trembling disciples whispered, his voice cracking as he gripped his sword. "Is it preparing a high-level ritual?"
"Don't move!" Zhao hissed, a drop of cold sweat rolling down his jaw. "Watch its paws!"
Ren ignored their panic. Lowering her perspective close to the ground, she extended a single, sharp claw from her front paw. Using her high agility and refined control, she began to rapidly drag her feet through the dirt, sweeping her tail to clear away the stray leaves.
Skrrrt. Scratch. Swish.
She carved deep, precise strokes into the soil. Thanks to her intact human consciousness and the System's flawless motor translation, she didn't write in messy animal scratchings. She wrote in the sharp, elegant calligraphy of the Azure Cloud Continent’s human language.
After a minute of swift movement, Ren trotted backward a few paces, sat down on her hind legs, and wrapped her fluffy tail neatly around her paws. She tilted her head, gesturing toward the ground with a sharp blink of her golden-blue eyes.
Zhao blinked, his brow furrowing as he leaned forward, maintaining a rigid defensive stance. He peered down at the text carved deeply into the earth. His eyes widened page by page as he read the large, perfectly legible characters aloud:
[ FOOLS. I HAVE PRIMORDIAL PROTECTION. THE PRIMORDIAL GODDESS OF THE KITSUNE HAS DECREED MY SPIRIT UNTAMABLE. THE PRIMORDIAL GODDESS OF THE PHOENIX HAS DECREED THAT THOSE WHO TRY WILL BURN TO ASH. SCRAM BEFORE THE FLAMES CONSUME THE REST OF YOUR SOULS. ]
The two younger disciples stared at the ground, their faces completely bloodless.
"P-Primordial Goddesses?" one of them stammered, dropping his sword completely. The metal clattered loudly against a stone. "The Primordial Faith... those are entities from the ancient myths! Higher than the immortal emperors!"
"Sun tried to force a contract, and he instantly turned to ash," the other whispered, clutching his chest as if his own meridians were already burning. "Wang Chen tried to tame her, and his entire core network melted! Senior Brother Zhao... the text is right! It's not a mutation! It's a divine decree!"
Zhao looked from the text back to Ren. The tiny fox sat there with absolute poise, looking less like a wild forest beast and more like an ancient monarch observing a group of unruly peasants. The sheer intelligence radiating from her gaze corroborated every single word written in the dirt.
A beast that could write human script with perfect grammar, protected by an automatic, high-grade divine backlash that ignored a cultivator's physical refinement tier? They weren't hunting a spiritual pet. They had marched straight into a localized divine tribulation.
Zhao’s grip on his iron broadsword loosened. He knew that if he fought her using normal physical martial arts, he might stand a chance due to his Stage 6 muscle reinforcement. But if she had a way to trigger that white flame through another mechanic, or if the goddesses decided his aggression counted as an insult to their bloodline, he would join Sun in the dirt before the sun reached its peak.
"We are leaving," Zhao commanded, his voice tight and hollow.
"Senior Brother?"
"I said we leave!" Zhao snapped, backing away slowly without taking his eyes off Ren. "Gather Liu. He's still breathing. We return to the sect and report this to the Inner Council. This is beyond Elder Mo's jurisdiction. This is a matter of celestial intervention."
The two disciples didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled over to the brush where Liu lay groaning from his severe burns, hoisting his heavy body onto their shoulders. Step by step, the survivors retreated backward into the shadows of the forest, keeping their eyes locked on the white specter until the thick foliage swallowed them completely.
Ren watched them go, letting out a small, satisfied fox-sigh as the system interface blinked back to life.
[ Ding! The Crimson Hunt Event updated! ]
* Current Status: 2/5 Disciples Defeated, 3/5 Disciples Successfully Evaded via Psychological Intimidation.
* Event Evaluation: Complete Success!