Can numbers alone threaten someone on the level of a god?
Yes.
On one condition:
Each individual in that "number" must be a 1 — not countless 0s.
The serpent goddess of ash finally remembered that truth.
Her "army" of monsters collapsed the instant they touched the ice-forged beasts.
Every contact ended the same:
Shatter.
Scatter.
Gone.
A massive shape suddenly hurtled past her.
She turned—
the minotaur-like brute she favored most was embedded into a boulder, blood running down the stone.
Across its torso, a deep concave slash caved the flesh inward.
She looked forward again.
The white-haired yaksha was carving through her army.
Left hand—he planted an ice spear into the ground, blocking incoming clubs and axes.
Right hand—another spear, double–edged like Ping'er's newest design, materialized in a flash of frost.
A silver arc cut through the battlefield.
A shower of blood followed.
A circle of monsters toppled like felled wheat.
Snow Kui pulled out the first spear, resting it casually on his shoulder, while the second pointed toward the ground.
No thrill.
No joy.
Once, fighting thrilled him.
Now—
Fight exists for only one purpose:
To kill.
His emotionless gaze swept past the remaining monsters and locked onto the serpent goddess in the distance.
Even with her minions between them, she flinched.
That gaze carried absolute intent—
I will kill you.
Panic crawled under her scales.
She slammed her palms together, inhaled, and her chest expanded.
Then—
A tidal wave of gray ash surged out, swallowing monsters and Snow Kui's ice beasts indiscriminately.
Snow Kui didn't blink.
Beneath her stunned expression, his butterfly wings spread open—
And he flew straight into it.
Into the ash.
Into the god's "Law of Ash."
The serpent goddess froze.
Then—delight twisted her lips.
A yaksha mad enough to take her attack head-on?
Good.
Let him die.
Because anything swallowed by her ash—
Does not come back out.
But then—
A silhouette burst from the tail end of the gray wave.
Steam rose from his body.
Before plunging into the ash, he had coated himself with a crude layer of ice.
Not enough to block the god's corrosion…
but enough to keep moving.
His ice wings were half–melted and blackened, so—
He shed them.
New wings burst from his back, ice forming fresh feathers.
His chest was coated in ash—
so he stabbed his own fingers into his flesh
and ripped the corrupted part off.
Tearing his own flesh—like discarding torn clothing.
Snow Kui didn't even wince.
The serpent goddess stared, paralyzed.
For the first time, she saw—
A fighter who didn't care about life or death.
She used "pragmatism" as an excuse to avoid fighting her equals.
She and her brother always justified retreat:
"If we fight, another god will interfere."
"We only avoid battle because others might take advantage."
No.
They simply never intended to stake their lives.
From the moment Snow Kui charged through her ash—
He had already put his life on the table.
He leapt.
His eyes flashed with blue—
the Law of Freezing.
"And this—"
—is what it means to fight to the death.
Meanwhile — At the Liyue Coast
Inside the hall where Morax normally met with adepti,
the dragon-like god was instructing a brown-and-green deer adeptus.
This deer—Moon Carver, Morax's earliest and strictest follower—listened solemnly.
Then another deer strutted in, swinging its antlers flamboyantly.
Even in full deer form, he radiated the narcissism of someone who admired himself in every reflective surface.
It was Cloud Retainer, before her crane form.
The moment she spotted Guizhong and Azhdaha in the corner, she panicked.
"Lady Guizhong?! You—why are you here?!"
Morax frowned.
"Cloud Retainer. Why such panic?"
"It's not panic! It's an emergency!"
Cloud Retainer blurted rapidly:
"The old man was helping that little fish demon with transformation training. We sensed a god—heading toward Lady Guizhong's territory!"
Silence.
Then—pressure.
All three gods released their presence.
The air turned solid—
the density of Geo energy soared to lethal concentration.
Cloud Retainer's legs trembled.
Sirs, PLEASE put away your divine might, I beg you…
Advance Chapters available on P@treon
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