The explosion faded.
Dark qi dispersed.
From within the turbulence, the demonic cultivator stepped out.
There was no irritation on his face.
No anger.
Only something far more dangerous.
A wild, almost feverish grin slowly spread across his features.
"Multiple elements…" he murmured.
Lightning.
Earth.
Now wind.
His pupils dilated slightly.
"How interesting."
The air behind him shattered as he launched forward again—this time without restraint, without testing, without play.
He vanished—
And reappeared directly behind them.
"I can't let you escape."
Dark qi condensed around his palm, forming a spiraling vortex technique meant not to kill—
But to suppress.
To bind.
To capture.
The lizard felt it instantly.
Not an execution strike.
A sealing technique.
His eyes sharpened.
The vortex slammed toward them.
He twisted midair, thrusting both claws forward.
Wind and lightning erupted together—no hesitation now, no searching for feeling.
He knew it.
He had grasped it.
Storm energy collided with the demonic technique.
The sky fractured with violent sound.
Element against cultivation art.
Wild natural force against refined Golden Core mastery.
The clash sent shockwaves through the clouds.
The lizard was struck—
Dark qi scraped across his scales, cutting and burning—
But he did not fall.
He gritted through it.
Lightning exploded outward, shredding the suppressive strands before they could fully bind him.
He remained airborne.
Breathing heavier.
But steady.
Behind them, the cultivator's grin widened.
"Yes…"
The lizard did not look back.
Instead, he spoke urgently.
"Shift back to your fox form. Now."
The fox blinked mid-flight.
"What? Why—"
"Do it."
No explanation.
No time.
Just command.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Her mind raced in a flash of rapid calculations.
Why now?
Mass reduction?
Aerodynamics?
Spiritual synchronization?
The cultivator closed in again.
She didn't fully understand—
But she trusted one truth.
He wouldn't demand it without reason.
Without another word—
Her body shimmered.
Human form dissolved into white light.
In an instant, she reverted to her fox form—sleek, compact, far lighter.
The lizard didn't hesitate.
He grabbed her by the scruff, firm but controlled.
Wind spiraled violently around his body.
Lightning layered over it, not exploding outward—but compressing inward.
He thought rapidly.
Wind reduces resistance.
Lightning stimulates.
If wind carries.
If lightning accelerates.
Then together—
They amplify speed.
He had combined elements for power.
Now—
He would combine them for velocity.
He forced the wind beneath his feet, compressing it into a spiraling thrust.
Lightning surged through his muscles, overclocking every movement.
For a fraction of a second—
Nothing happened.
Then—
The air behind them detonated.
A sonic boom tore across the sky.
They vanished forward in a streak of stormlight.
The demonic cultivator's eyes widened slightly.
Their speed had nearly doubled.
Wind compressed ahead of the lizard, parting resistance. Lightning discharged rhythmically, propelling him like bursts of thunder.
The fox's eyes widened in her smaller form as the world blurred into streaks.
Ah.
That's why.
Behind them, the cultivator clicked his tongue—but the grin never left.
"So you adapt that quickly?"
Dark qi exploded beneath his feet as he gave chase once more.
But now—
The hunt had changed.
This was no longer predator chasing prey.
It was storm racing storm.
Ahead—
The unstable region of distorted spiritual currents loomed closer with every thunderous heartbeat.
The demonic cultivator's grin sharpened.
"So you think speed alone is enough?"
Dark qi wrapped around his legs in spiraling patterns, runes igniting across his robes. His figure blurred—
Then split.
Afterimages layered over one another as he activated a high-grade movement technique. The air beneath him warped, folding slightly as he stepped through compressed space rather than simply flying.
He did not chase the wind.
He cut through it.
Distance that should have taken seconds vanished in a breath.
Yet—
The lizard did not slow.
Not even slightly.
Wind screamed past his ears. Lightning pulsed through his muscles in precise bursts. He could feel the strain now—micro-fractures in his scales, meridians heating from overuse.
But he didn't release the technique.
He increased it.
Again.
And again.
Wind compressed tighter beneath him, forming a narrow tunnel that reduced resistance to almost nothing. Lightning stimulation intensified, pushing his small body beyond normal limits.
His heartbeat thundered.
Faster.
The fox, held in his grasp, felt the tremor in his claws.
"You're overdoing it," she transmitted sharply.
No response.
His focus narrowed to pure calculation.
Distance to chaotic region: closing.
Golden Core aura: gaining.
Margin: shrinking.
Push more.
Behind them, the demonic cultivator moved like stepping through space once more, reappearing far closer. His palm lifted, dark chains of qi forming—prepared to intercept rather than simply pursue.
The lizard sensed it instantly.
He adjusted mid-flight.
Wind spiraled not just beneath him—but around him.
If wind is everywhere…
Then shape it everywhere.
He elongated the compressed air into a narrow vortex, drilling forward like a spear. Lightning wrapped around it in tight coils, stabilizing the structure and preventing collapse.
Speed increased again.
A second sonic boom detonated.
The cultivator's eyes flashed with surprise.
"This little monster…"
He accelerated further, robes tearing slightly from the strain of his movement art.
The sky ahead began to distort.
Clouds no longer moved naturally—they twisted.
Spiritual energy fluctuated erratically.
Space shimmered like heated glass.
They were approaching the chaotic region.
Violent currents collided unpredictably. Pockets of compressed qi exploded without warning. Gravity itself felt unstable.
The fox saw it clearly now.
If they entered at this speed—
One mistake would tear them apart.
The lizard felt it too.
But he did not slow.
Behind them, the demonic cultivator lunged one final time, extending his hand—
Just as the lizard crossed the boundary.
The world twisted.
Wind reversed direction without warning.
Lightning scattered sideways.
Space folded.
They plunged into the unstable region—
And the storm swallowed everything.