Naive

"He saw me!" The instant his own reflection appeared within that pitch-black eye mirroring the firelight, every hair on the lunging wolf stood on end in sheer disbelief. *He saw me?* BOOM! Before he could even react, a deafening crash and a violent gale abruptly erupted. Accelerated by Chunjun's Transcendent Vision, the Regeneration form manifested; Zhanlu surged, sparking lightning, pushing the reinforced body's performance to its absolute limit as it reacted. The red-hot iron hand had already clamped around the wrist that had transformed into a razor claw. Caught. Amid countless afterimages, it effortlessly picked out the true position of the Claw of Bloodslaughter, even preemptively cutting off every possible trajectory of change before the strike was fully made. It was merely an effortless, casual grab. It looked as if Ji Jue had simply opened his fingers, and the wolf had served its claw straight into them. In a split second of impact, before the wolf could even pull back, his grip tightened gently. Then, the world spun! His vision went black. His sight veered wildly out of control as the world violently wheeled around. The ground rushed up and slammed into his face. By the time he came to his senses, he had been driven deep into the flagstones, carving out a massive crater. Immediately after, Ji Jue raised his foot and stomped down upon that dazed face! A plain, simple strike, yet it brought an instinctive chill. Horrified, the wolf bolted and sprang away in terror, retreating dozens of meters. Then he saw the colossal depression left behind—flagstones and dirt had completely disintegrated into the finest dust, billowing up in the gale. Utterly obliterated! Fortunately, the wolf was no longer where he had been. What was worse was that he realized Ji Jue wasn't there either... In that instant, the wolf's eyes went wide, nearly forgetting to breathe. Only now did he notice the hand resting on the nape of his neck, placed there who knew when... Though the heat of air friction still lingered on those fingers, what he felt upon noticing it was a bone-chilling dread, like falling into an icy abyss. Because he finally realized: It wasn't that he had dodged the artisan's attack; rather, in dodging, he had actively delivered his own vitals right under the outstretched palm. No need to chase, let alone painstakingly suppress or lure him in. At the very moment he stomped down, Ji Jue had already unleashed Chunjun's spiritus flash, appearing at the wolf's intended landing spot, holding out his hand, waiting for him to walk right into the trap. Natural. Inevitable. "A wolf?" Ji Jue slowly shook his head. "I've never seen a wolf this weak..." Beneath his grasping fingers, he could feel taut fur and muscle, the sudden burst of strength and foolhardy struggle—even the desperate resolve of a gecko shedding its tail, willing to have its spine crushed just to break free. Too late. Before that could happen: Dissociation Art: Jingzhen! Pan Ying, Chunjun, Zhanlu—crimson, pure white, and purplish-black hues erupted in this fleeting touch, surging unstoppably into the wolf's body and soul, suddenly spreading like a bomb. In crushing ruin, destroying everything! Soul, flesh, matrix, and blessing—all shattered to pieces. "AAAAAAAH—" A hysterical scream of agony tore through the air. The stiffened wolf burst into a figure of blood in an instant. Sharp crimson blades jutted out from flesh, countless invisible spiritus swords split the soul, thick black flames erupted from his mouth and nose, and purple lightning crackled from scorched eye sockets. Gravely wounded! "You'd better know a lot—as much as possible." Ji Jue raised his foot and stepped onto that face, grinding the twisted, charred visage to dust bit by bit. "That way, at least you'll have some value in clinging to life—" Crisp cracks of fracturing bone sounded continuously, mingling with muffled screams and whimpers. "Now, you can answer the first question." Ji Jue cast down a cold, indifferent gaze. "Where are your accomplices?" Beneath the artisan's foot, the wolf writhed and struggled feebly, reaching out in vain, grasping nothing, hissing shrilly. No reply came. Yet Ji Jue couldn't help but chuckle. "So there really is one?" "Come out!" An Ning's brows twitched, as though sensing something. With a flick of her fingers, light flew. Within the burning campsite, a charred corpse suddenly shattered, and a bizarre shadow sprang out, revealing a pale face with a hooked nose and a pair of grayish-white eyes steeped in gloom. Glancing at the mangled wolf beneath Ji Jue's foot, he couldn't suppress his rage. *Dammit, useless trash!* *That's why these catalyzed wolves are utterly useless, even if they keep their brains!* "Are you thinking your teammate is a piece of trash who's good for nothing?" A soft voice drifted on the wind with a regretful sigh. "What bad luck—so are you... Just a little bluff, and you couldn't keep your composure?" Ji Jue slowly pressed down with his foot. With a crisp *snap*, he broke the wolf's neck, unable to keep from laughing. "Seriously, how naive." Cuauhtli's expression darkened even further. He parted his lips as if to speak, but in that instant, his figure froze in place—or rather, what remained was already just an afterimage. A faint streak of near-invisible black light skimmed the ground and bolted into the distance! Unbelievably fast. Faster than any wolf Ji Jue had ever seen! The moment he noticed, Cuauhtli had already broken free of the market, escaping pursuit—only to abruptly halt, seized by fury. Right before him, a hair's breadth away in the air, a bizarre outline faintly emerged. An invisible iron wall had already risen from the earth! Tong Shan! A towering wall of telekinesis had manifested out of nowhere before him. No, rather, long before he had resolved to act, Tong Shan had already laid an inescapable net around the market, locking everything down completely. Now that he had relinquished the Domain's natural disaster, the telekinesis composing the Domain was all the more solid, sealing everything like an iron shell. Nor was it merely pure telekinesis. Cuauhtli could feel the bizarre properties dormant within that telekinetic barrier, making the wolf instinctively shudder with dread. A leaf lifted in the wind, blew across, and drifted forward. Right before his eyes, it was sheared in two by an invisible blade, and unseen flames flared up, reducing the severed leaf to invisible ash. "I'll leave the rest to you, Miss An," Tong Shan said placidly. "While maintaining the containment, I have no way to fight back. I'll trouble the two of you to protect me." "A cornered beast in a cage—I hear they're quite a pain..." An Ning grinned cheerfully. Between the ten fingers of her hands, eight shards of forged Pan Ying iron crafted by Ji Jue silently appeared and vanished, flickering ceaselessly. Every flicker was a projection too fast for the naked eye to discern; every dissipation represented the consummate technique of Flying Light, striking before it was even unleashed! In a flash, countless starlike gleams flickered erratically within the sealed domain. Barrages of Flying Light, too fast for the eye to track, whistled through the air, trailing behind them a sky full of golden-thread light tracks. Dozens, hundreds, thousands— Between the gaps of those streaming trails of Flying Light, the formless shadow shifted wildly, grazing past incoming beams again and again, darting left and right, evading attacks by a hair's breadth like a dance. For a single moment, the flickering radiance converged as if becoming a blazing sun, stinging everyone's eyes—and then, erupted ten thousandfold! Countless trails of Flying Light enveloped everything. There was nowhere to run! Nor was there any need to run anymore. Cuauhtli suddenly threw his head back and roared. His wolf pelt unfurled like a cloak, billowing outward and splitting into countless shadows that shot outward in all directions, lunging into a counterattack. The sound of collisions and shattering rang out ceaselessly. Flying Light and shadows clashed, sharp screeches pouring down like a torrential rain, filling the air as blood sprayed. As those shadows continually burst, corpses materialized out of thin air, each bearing a completely distinct face—age, race, and appearance, no two alike! The corpses cracked like empty husks, letting out dying wails. And quickly turned to ash. Remnant molts! Those were all remnant molts crafted from souls after devouring prey! Now, countless remnant molts took the Flying Light's onslaught in the wolf's stead, buying this crucial instant. Right in the split second following Flying Light's all-out strike: The wolf shadow didn't take the opportunity to rush Tong Shan; instead, ignoring the Tianyuan high above who seemingly had no means of self-defense, he lunged straight at her! What a joke! Could anyone believe a word that came out of a Tianyuan's mouth?! If Cuauhtli had believed so much as a single punctuation mark, he wouldn't have lived this long. Did they really think he couldn't sense the dormant telekinetic traps laid around Tong Shan? As for Ji Jue, that was even more out of the question! An idiot who had just finished transforming might think an artisan was easy pickings because of the stereotype that artisans were weak in surprise encounters. But one idiot had already died; was Cuauhtli supposed to foolishly rush in and throw his life away too? Indeed, among the three, Ji Jue seemed the weakest, yet instinct told him that Ji Jue was the most dangerous one. Perhaps by matching move for move, he could exploit some minuscule opening to take Ji Jue down, but was he going to gamble? Gamble against an artisan's hidden trumps? Was he insane?! Between an enemy who might be terribly strong or weak and completely unpredictable, and a Hunter whose cards were already laid bare and notoriously troublesome, Cuauhtli chose the known quantity! A Hunter? It wasn't like he hadn't killed one before! If the Hunter didn't die, it would be a constant thorn in his side, forcing him to divert most of his focus to stay on guard. Only if the Hunter died would he have room to maneuver. Thus, shielded by countless remnant molts, Cuauhtli charged straight ahead against the barrage of Flying Light. From the sleeves around his hands, two curved sickle-swords slid out. Steel light flashed, precisely slashing apart every incoming beam of Flying Light. The moment An Ning realized he had begun his counterattack, the sickle-swords in his hands had already left his grip. Slithering through the air like living serpents, they bypassed the countless returning beams of Flying Light, spinning and slashing toward An Ning from an impossibly tricky angle! Right before her eyes! An Ning's pupils constricted. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that one day, she would see a wolf attack a Hunting Finger with projection! Moreover, setting aside skill, purely in terms of speed at this moment, it was neck and neck with hers... Neck and neck? Wait, that wasn't right! An Ning silently gritted her teeth. It was an outright, utter disgrace!