The fake Su Ruyin suddenly grabbed Ningyan’s jaw, her fingers digging harshly into his skin as chains burst from the ground and coiled around his ankles, legs, and torso, binding him tightly in place.

She smiled at him brightly, almost gently.

"We meet again."

Her nails pressed deeper, enough to bruise. Ningyan gritted his teeth, glaring up at her while her smile only widened further.

"Are you angry?" she asked softly before laughing under her breath. "Apologies. This will all be over soon. I just need to..."

Her hand suddenly moved to his chest.

Before Ningyan could react, her arm plunged straight through him.

It burst out from his back in a spray of blood.

Ningyan froze.

His eyes widened violently as a fierce wave of qi exploded from his body in instinctive retaliation, blasting through the surroundings, but it was unstable, far too unstable to truly stop her.

Xie Menghua smiled in delight.

She watched his expression carefully, watched the blood spill from his lips, watched the light slowly dim in his glowing purple eyes before his body slumped forward, hanging limply against the chains restraining him.

Then she burst into victorious laughter, pulling her bloodied hand free as she rose to her feet.

At that exact moment, an emerald portal tore open beside the ruined house.

Lan Meishan stepped through. And froze.

His pupils dilated instantly.

"Ningyan...?" His voice cracked softly.

What he saw was Ningyan’s motionless body hanging from glowing chains while a phoenix beast woman who was wearing Su Ruyin’s face stood nearby with blood covering her hand.

"Hm?" Xie Menghua turned toward him, tilting her head with interest. "Oh. The serpent beast king."

The seal beneath Ningyan’s body suddenly ignited with a violent purple glow.

A terrifying wave of emerald qi erupted from Lan Meishan’s body.

The entire area trembled.

His expression did not change, but his eyes.... His eyes were filled with such immense wrath that even the air itself seemed to grow heavier beneath it.

Far away, Yan Wuhen, still locked in battle with Xie Zhenting, felt Ningyan’s presence abruptly dim.

At the same time, Lan Meishan’s aura exploded across the area like a storm.

Wuhen’s heart dropped.

The brief distraction cost him instantly.

Xie Zhenting’s attack slammed into him, sending him crashing violently into the lake below. Water exploded upward in massive waves as Xie Zhenting immediately descended after him, aiming for a finishing strike.

Yan Wuhen blocked it at the last second with roaring red-gold flames before retaliating hard enough to force Xie Zhenting backward.

The opening was enough.

Wuhen immediately tried to break away toward Ningyan but Xie Zhenting intercepted him again.

"You truly are strong," he said with admiration.

Their attacks collided once more, power tearing through the surroundings.

Wuhen was growing furious now. Because he understood it clearly.

Xie Zhenting was not trying to simply fight him.

He was deliberately stalling him.

Meanwhile, Lan Meishan and Xie Menghua had already descended into a full battle of their own.

Xie Menghua was powerful, ancient, overwhelming, monstrous in her own right but she was nowhere near Lan Meishan now.

Not after what she had done.

Lan Meishan moved with terrifying silence, his emerald glow slithering around him like an enraged serpent beast god, every strike precise enough to split apart the earth itself.

While Xie Menghua fought like an eruption. Wild. Explosive. Laughing through the destruction as phoenix flames devoured everything around them.

Eventually, Xie Menghua succeeded in landing a powerful blow against Lan Meishan, the force violent enough to send him sliding backward across the ruined ground.

His head snapped back and a familiar voice immediately echoed through his mind.

’Shall I take over?’

Lan Meishan’s glowing emerald serpent eyes constricted sharply. "Kill her."

The response came instantly, filled with terrifying delight. ’As you wish.’

At that moment, a gigantic translucent emerald serpent burst violently from Meishan’s body and slammed straight into Xie Menghua just as she was preparing to charge at him again.

The impact shook the surroundings.

Even though she managed to block the attack and shatter the serpent apparition apart, Lan Meishan appeared directly before her the very next second.

The aura around him had changed completely.

It no longer felt like one being.

It felt like two monstrous entities had merged into one.

Xie Menghua’s eyes widened.

She summoned a massive flaming shield to defend herself, but the moment Meishan struck it, the shield shattered instantly.

The force alone sent her flying backward.

"Brother!"

For the first time, genuine panic entered her voice.

Far away, Xie Zhenting heard her cry while still battling Yan Wuhen.

His expression changed immediately.

Without hesitation, he turned and rushed toward her but Yan Wuhen followed just as quickly.

Xie Zhenting reached Xie Menghua first, throwing out a powerful attack that forced Lan Meishan backward before grabbing his sister’s arm.

Her once-perfect appearance was already ruined. Her hair was disheveled, blood streaked one side of her face, and her breathing had become unstable.

"Are you alright?" he asked sharply.

Xie Menghua jerked her arm away from him angrily.

Xie Zhenting sighed in annoyance at her stubbornness.

But Yan Wuhen barely noticed them anymore.

Because the moment he arrived, he saw Ningyan.

Motionless.

His body hung limply from glowing chains while an enormous purple seal burned beneath him.

Yan Wuhen stopped completely.

For one terrifying second, he simply stood there staring.

His nine tails swayed slowly behind him as though they, too, were trying to process what they were seeing.

Then his fox ears lowered.

The red-gold glow in his eyes dimmed.

Even his tails slowly began to droop when Ningyan still did not move.

"Ningyan...?" His voice sounded confused. Lost. Like his mind refused to understand what his eyes were showing him.

He slowly stepped toward him but the instant he crossed into the seal’s range, a violent pressure exploded outward and threw him back.

Wuhen blinked.

Then immediately tried again.

The seal repelled him once more.

He could not even touch him. "No... no..."

Xie Zhenting noticed instantly. And for the first time, true fascination appeared in his eyes as he watched the mighty nine-tailed fox begin to crumble under grief.

Xie Menghua, meanwhile, burst into delighted laughter.

But the sound only drew Lan Meishan’s attention back to her.

He suddenly appeared directly beside her. Far too close.

Xie Menghua gasped as she found herself staring straight into those glowing emerald eyes filled with overwhelming murderous rage.

Instinctively, she pressed a hand against her chest but it was too late.

Lan Meishan shifted into his serpent beast form.

A gigantic black-scaled serpent erupted into existence.

Everything happened too fast.

One second Xie Menghua was still standing there and the next, she had vanished into the jaws of the massive serpent beast.

"A-Hua!" Xie Zhenting’s scream tore through the battlefield.

But there was nothing he could do.

Not as his sister was brutally torn apart before his eyes.

He froze completely.

And at that exact moment, the enormous seal beneath Ningyan suddenly ignited with blinding purple light.

Then swallowed him whole.

The same enormous seal appeared beneath Xie Zhenting’s feet, taking him too.

The remaining phoenixes had already fled long ago, and above them, the blue moon slowly disappeared behind thick clouds, plunging the entire area into an eerie darkness.

Yan Wuhen still stood there motionless.

Nearby, Lan Meishan had already shifted back into his human form, though traces of that other presence still lingered within him. His glowing emerald eyes remained fixed on Xie Menghua’s body.

Or rather, Su Ruyin’s face.

A bright golden glow surrounded her broken body, healing every injury Meishan had inflicted upon her as though nothing had happened at all. Torn flesh restored itself. Broken bones realigned. Even the blood vanished slowly beneath the light.

Lan Meishan stared down at her with immense hatred.

"She’s immortal," he hissed and turned toward Wuhen.

Yan Wuhen had finally torn his gaze away from the ground and slowly lifted his head toward the darkened sky above.

"He’s dead," he whispered.

The words immediately pulled Lan Meishan’s full attention toward him.

He frowned deeply before slowly closing his eyes, allowing the other personality within him to recede.

When he opened them again, his expression was calmer, though no less terrifying.

"He’s not," Lan Meishan said firmly.

Wuhen slowly turned to look at him. "He is."

His voice sounded empty. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The lack of life within his expression, his eyes, even his posture, was deeply unsettling. It was as though something inside him had gone numb completely.

"I can feel it," he added quietly.

Lan Meishan shook his head in denial. "No."

His voice came faster now, sharper.

"I am going to find him. He is not dead. She only rendered him unconscious. That seal... it must have been the seal."

He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself as much as Wuhen.

Then suddenly, Yan Wuhen let out a hollow chuckle.

Two of his tails ignited with roaring red-gold flames as he slowly began walking toward Xie Menghua’s unconscious body. "Why is she alive?"

Lan Meishan looked toward the phoenix beast woman still bathed in that immortal golden glow.

Even after everything he had done to her, she continued healing endlessly.

It was revolting to watch.

An emerald formation suddenly appeared beneath Lan Meishan’s feet.

Another formed beneath Wuhen.

And a third beneath Xie Menghua’s unconscious body.

Lan Meishan’s eyes sharpened.

"He is alive," he said with absolute certainty. "And we are going to find him."

The portals ignited brightly and in the next instant, they were all gone.