But Mr. Yun was far from defeated. His hands wove complex patterns through the air, and suddenly the white mist surrounding him condensed into dozens of needle-thin projectiles. Each needle glowed with pale light and radiated poison energy.

"Thousand Poison Needles!" Mr. Yun shouted, thrusting both palms forward.

The cloud of needles shot toward Vogue like a deadly rain, spreading out to cover a wide area and make dodging nearly impossible.

Vogue’s response was immediate and devastating. His Fire dragon head opened wide, and a massive torrent of orange flames erupted outward—not the delicate Celestial Ice Flames, but a straightforward overwhelming blast of pure fire energy.

The flames engulfed the incoming poison needles, superheating them until they melted into harmless droplets that fell to the stone floor.

At the same time, Vogue’s Ice dragon head released a wave of freezing energy that spread across the ground like fog, creating patches of slippery ice that made stable footing treacherous.

Mr. Yun found himself forced onto the defensive, constantly having to counter or dodge multiple elemental attacks coming from different dragon heads simultaneously. How is he coordinating so many techniques at once?!

The battle had reached a genuine stalemate. Mr. Yun possessed superior overall cultivation depth and decades of refined combat technique. But Vogue had superior speed, multiple elemental attacks, and the element of surprise from abilities Mr. Yun had never encountered before.

Neither could land a decisive blow against the other.

And that was exactly what Vogue had been planning.

I don’t need to defeat him, Vogue reminded himself. I just need to occupy his attention long enough to create an opening for escape.

Vogue’s eyes flickered toward the hall’s exit passage. It was still approximately fifty meters away—achievable in seconds if he could create even a brief distraction.

He made his decision.

All four of Vogue’s dragon heads opened their jaws simultaneously. In perfect coordination, they released four different elemental attacks—Time distortion, Ice spears, Fire blast, and Thunder beam—all converging on Mr. Yun’s position from multiple angles.

The combined assault was so overwhelming that Mr. Yun had no choice but to fully commit to defense. He recalled both silver wheels to orbit around himself in a protective pattern while channeling maximum power into his white mist barrier.

The four elemental attacks struck his defenses with tremendous explosive force, creating a blinding flash of multi-colored light and deafening sound.

And in that exact moment of maximum distraction and sensory overload, Vogue executed his real plan.

He pulled the pitch-black mountain artifact from his storage space—the same one he had used during the barrier-breaking demonstration earlier—and hurled it with full force not at Mr. Yun, but at the ceiling directly above the white-clothed cultivator.

The mountain expanded to its full massive size as it flew, becoming a twenty-five-meter boulder of compressed spatial weight.

"CRASH!!" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The mountain struck the chamber’s ceiling with devastating impact, and the entire structure shuddered violently. Massive chunks of stone began raining down, creating a deadly shower of debris.

Mr. Yun was forced to abandon any thought of pursuit, instead focusing entirely on defending himself from the collapsing ceiling. His silver wheels spun frantically, pulverizing incoming boulders before they could crush him.

Vogue didn’t wait to see the results. The instant he released the mountain, he had already turned and activated his Thunderstorm Wings to maximum output.

His figure became a silver streak of pure speed, shooting across the hall toward the exit passage faster than the human eye could properly track.

In less than three seconds, Vogue had crossed the entire massive chamber and reached the limestone stairway that led back toward the surface.

He heard Mr. Yun’s furious shout behind him: "STOP! You cannot escape! The outer formation is still sealed!"

But Vogue was already ascending the stairs, his wings propelling him upward at incredible velocity. The stairway became a blur around him as he climbed hundreds of meters in mere moments.

The outer formation, Vogue thought with cold amusement. You mean the Wondrous Soul barrier that I personally broke earlier? The one where I deliberately created a hidden back door that only I know how to access? That formation?

When Vogue had broken through the blue crystal barrier to open the hall initially, he hadn’t just dissolved it completely. He had carefully created a small, hidden gap in the formation structure—a deliberate weakness that appeared to be natural degradation but was actually a precisely crafted escape route.

He had never trusted this expedition, never believed he would be allowed to leave peacefully. So he had prepared his exit strategy from the very beginning.

Within seconds, Vogue emerged into the outer chamber where the blue crystal walls had previously blocked their path. As expected, the walls had reformed after their passage, sealing the hall once again.

But Vogue could see his hidden gap—a subtle distortion in the crystal structure that would be invisible to anyone who didn’t know exactly where to look.

He pulled out the green jade formation plate he had used earlier and quickly manipulated its controls with practiced efficiency. The gap in the barrier widened just enough to permit passage.

Vogue shot through the opening like an arrow from a bow, his wings folding slightly to fit through the narrow space.

Behind him, he heard the muffled sounds of multiple people emerging from the stairway—Mr. Yun and probably others pursuing him in desperate chase.

But by the time they reached the reformed barrier and began attempting to break through, Vogue had already passed beyond it and sealed the gap behind himself.

He was out of the inner sanctum, racing through the mountain’s passage toward the surface exit. His Thunderstorm Wings carried him at speeds that made the stone walls blur into indistinct streaks.

Just a little further, Vogue urged himself. Once I’m outside the mountain and into open wilderness, they’ll never be able to track me. My speed advantage is too great.

Within less than a minute of desperate flight, Vogue burst out of the mountain entrance and into the cavern where the Klein Family’s base camp had been established.

The formation barrier that concealed the entrance was still active. Vogue could sense its structure, and more importantly, he still had the authorization token that Sean had given him earlier to pass through safely.

He flew directly at the illusory cliff wall without slowing, trusting the formation to recognize his token and permit passage.

The wall rippled like water as he passed through it, and suddenly Vogue was outside—flying through the massive forest under the open sky.

The sun was setting, painting the sky in brilliant oranges and reds. The fresh air of the wilderness filled his lungs after hours spent in underground chambers.

Vogue didn’t slow down or celebrate his escape. He immediately oriented himself and began flying at maximum speed away from the mountain, putting as much distance as possible between himself and his pursuers.

His Thunderstorm Wings beat powerfully, carrying him through the forest canopy at over two hundred kilometers per hour—faster than any of the conspirators could hope to match even if they made it outside.

As he flew, Vogue reached into his storage space and withdrew the jade box that had caused all this chaos. He examined it carefully while maintaining his flight trajectory.

The box was surprisingly plain—just smooth white jade with no obvious decorative markings or inscriptions. It was sealed with a simple spiritual lock that prevented casual opening but didn’t seem to have any dangerous defensive mechanisms.

Should I open it now? Vogue wondered. Or wait until I’m safely away and can examine the contents properly?

He decided to wait. Opening mysterious sealed containers while flying at high speed through dangerous wilderness seemed like an excellent way to trigger unexpected problems.

Instead, he secured the jade box carefully in his storage space and focused entirely on escape.

For the next hour, Vogue flew without pause, covering well over a hundred kilometers of forest and gradually curving his trajectory to make tracking more difficult. He deliberately flew over rivers and through areas with strong spiritual energy fluctuations that would mask his trail.

Only when he had put vast distance between himself and the Saint’s ruin—and when his spiritual senses detected no signs of pursuit—did Vogue finally begin to slow down.

He found a particularly dense section of forest with ancient trees so massive that their canopy created near-complete darkness at ground level. Vogue descended carefully and landed in a small clearing hidden between enormous roots.

He deactivated his dragon transformation, and his body returned to normal human appearance. The four dragon heads faded away, his extra arms disappeared, his scales receded beneath his skin, and his eight wings dissolved into motes of light.

Vogue took several deep breaths, allowing his body to recover from the sustained high-speed flight and the intense combat before it.

Then, and only then, did he pull out the jade box again and examine it more carefully in the fading twilight.

Alright, Vogue thought with anticipation. Let’s see what secret was worth betraying a hundred years of friendship and attempting to murder an entire expedition team.

He carefully channeled spiritual energy into breaking the seal on the jade box, taking his time to ensure he didn’t trigger any hidden defensive mechanisms.

The lock clicked open smoothly after about thirty seconds of careful manipulation.

Vogue lifted the jade lid slowly, peering inside to see what treasure or secret lay within...