Wang Chen moved like a blur, his feet kicking off the lower branches as he surged upward into the canopy. The yellow Beast-Binding Sigil crackled with coercive spiritual energy in his left hand, casting an eerie crimson glow across his face.
Ethan didn't move. She crouched on the thick willow branch, her small white paws gripping the bark tightly.
I could run, she thought, her hyper-analytical mind assessing the distance to the next tree. But he’s a Stage 4 cultivator. His agility and physical strength are boosted by Blood Boiling. A chase through the canopy puts me at a disadvantage.
More importantly, a deep, resonant warmth was pulsing from the very center of her soul. It was the divine signature of the two primordial goddesses. The Vermilion Backlash was waiting, coiling like a sleeping dragon just beneath her spiritual pathways.
"System," she commanded mentally, keeping her eyes locked on the approaching disciple. "Update Host Name. If I'm starting a new life, I'm doing it right."
[ Ding! Please enter your new name. ]
"Ren," she decided. It was short, sharp, and carried the meaning of lotus or tolerance—a fitting mask for a fox who was going to quietly rewrite the rules of this world.
[ Name successfully updated. Host Name: Ren. ]
"Don't worry, little thing, your days of hiding in the dirt are over," Wang Chen sneered, breaking through the last layer of leaves. He lunged forward, thrusting the glowing paper talisman straight toward her forehead. "You belong to the Clear Water Sect now!"
The crimson talisman snapped against Ren's forehead.
For a fraction of a second, Wang Chen’s face lit up with triumphant ecstasy. He expected the spiritual ink to dissolve into her brain, shattering her wild instincts and forcing her down onto her knees in absolute submission.
Instead, the moment the Beast-Binding Sigil made contact, a violent, silver-white ripple exploded outward from Ren's skin. The Untamable Spirit blessing activated instantly, shattering the talisman's coercive array into thousands of useless, dark-red sparks.
Wang Chen’s smile froze. "What? Why didn't the branding lock—"
He never got to finish his sentence.
The System didn't just block the attack; it triggered the counter-measure. Deep within Ren’s soul, the Vermilion Backlash erupted.
A sound like the screech of a cosmic bird echoed through the clearing, though it was heard only in the spiritual plane. Suddenly, a plume of violent, pure-white fire burst forth from Ren's forehead, traveling backward along the line of Wang Chen's channeled Qi.
It hit his hand first.
FWOOSH.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!"
Wang Chen let out a blood-curdling shriek as the primordial phoenix flame engulfed his left arm. The fire didn't just burn his skin; it ignored his Stage 4 physical defenses entirely, eating through his supercharged blood and aggressively tearing into his internal spiritual meridian pathways.
The sheer force of the mystical backlash blasted him backward off the branch. He fell through the air, crashing violently through the brittle limbs of the weeping willow before slamming hard onto the forest floor below.
Ren peered down from her perch, her ears twitching at the sound of the impact.
Wang Chen was rolling on the bloody grass, screaming in agony. The white fire had vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but the damage was catastrophic. His left hand was charred black, and his midnight-blue sect robes were smoking.
Ren activated her skill to see the aftermath.
[ Target: Wang Chen (Human Male) ]
* Status: Critical Condition / Severe Soul Trauma
* Cultivation Realm: CRIPPLED. 9-Stage Body Refinement ➔ Stage 2: Bone Tempering (Falling)
* System Note: Target's core cardiovascular network has been melted by primordial energy. Cultivation has permanently regressed two full stages.
The Outer Disciple lay gasping for air, his sword thrown several feet away. The supercharged energy that had made him so fast and arrogant just seconds ago was leaking out of his pores like a broken sieve.
Ren let out a soft huff, her bright fox eyes gleaming with a cold, newfound understanding of this world. The goddesses hadn't just given her a shield; they had given her a nuclear option.
Climbing down the trunk with deliberate, silent grace, she stepped out onto the blood-soaked grass, her white paws stopping just inches away from the groaning cultivator.