Midnight’s chill carried the metallic tang of anticipation as Lin Hao leaned against a pine trunk. Kung Fu Fly’s compound eyes relayed fragmented images—Fang Xiaoke’s group huddled on a treetop, their breaths frosting in sync with nervous heartbeats. The forest floor vibrated with suppressed energy, every rustle amplifying the tension of predators and prey awaiting phosphorus’s call.

  23:47 – Signal

  The flare erupted like a ruptured star, bathing the canopy in cyan and crimson. Shadows twisted into grotesque shapes as hundreds of figures surged southeast. Boots churned loam rich with decaying leaves, releasing earthy musk laced with desperation. Lin Hao’s mask filtered the chaos into thermal gradients—human silhouettes swarming like termites toward decayed grandeur.

  00:12 – Pursuit

  Huo Linhu’s roar echoed behind him, flames casting flickering Rorschach patterns on oak trunks. The fire-tiger’s molten claws tore through wolfpack ranks, each kill releasing the acrid stench of burning fur. Ahead, Fang Xiaoke’s party navigated the stampede with calculated restraint—until a seismic growl shook the air.

  00:19 – Interception

  The golden-horned ursine emerged in a hail of splintered cedars. Seven meters of muscle and malice, its claws gouged trenches in the soil that reeked of upturned earthworms. The scholarly youth barely screamed before his skull imploded—a wet pop followed by the coppery spray of gray matter. Fang Xiaoke’s shrill gasp carried jasmine and bile as she fled.

  00:21 – Confrontation

  Lin Hao skidded to a halt as the beast pivoted. Amber eyes glowed with primal hunger, saliva dripping acidic globs that hissed against fern fronds. Lang Zhu materialized from shadow threads, its spinnerets already weaving neurotoxic silk.

  "Suppression pattern delta," Lin Hao commanded, Devourer Dragon Sword humming to life. The blade’s edge shimmered with Devouring Void energy—a black hole’s event horizon given metallic form.

  00:23 – Carnage

  The ursine charged, each paw-strike quaking the ground. Lang Zhu’s webs snagged its hindquarters, the corrosive strands eating through hide with sizzling rancidity. Lin Hao lunged, sword carving an obsidian arc through moonlight. The blade bit into the beast’s shoulder—a wound that should have severed bone, yet only drew superficial blood.

  "Genetic anomaly detected," Wolfspider’s voice crackled through neural link. "Target exhibits Saint-tier ancestral lineage."

  00:25 – Revelation

  The ursine’s horn flared gold, ancient runes swirling across its surface. Lin Hao’s mask polarized as blinding light erupted—a photonic burst that left afterimages of claw swipes. He rolled beneath the attack, mud and pine needles plastering his armor. The Devouring Void writhed in response, its hunger resonating with the horn’s pulsating energy.

  00:27 – Resolution

  Lang Zhu struck from the canopy—a silk-wrapped boulder slammed into the ursine’s snout with cartilage-crunching force. The distraction lasted milliseconds. Lin Hao’s blade found its mark, severing the glowing horn at the base. The relic hit the soil with a crystalline chime, its light dimming to corpse-pale luminescence.

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  00:29 – Aftermath

  Huo Linhu arrived panting, flames reduced to smoldering embers. The fire-tiger’s flank bore parallel gashes oozing iridescent venom—wolfpack alpha’s parting gift. Lin Hao pocketed the horn fragment, its surface still warm with residual Saint energy. Ahead, Fang Xiaoke’s silhouette vanished into tomb-shadowed vales.

  00:31 – Convergence

  The mausoleum’s entrance yawned—a stone throat lined with lightning-etched reliefs. Hundreds clambered over each other at the threshold, their frenzy releasing sweat-salt and iron-blood aerosols. Kung Fu Fly’s visual feed showed Fang Xiaoke pricking her palm, ruby droplets sizzling against archaic seals. The tomb groaned awake, its breath carrying whispers of static charge and ancestral wrath.

  Thunderous Ascent

  The golden-horned ursine’s roar vibrated teeth and bone, its breath reeking of carrion and fermented sap. Lin Hao’s boots skidded on pine needles slick with resin as Lang Zhu’s venomous silk strands hissed through the air—useless against the beast’s hide.

  00:34 – Adaptation

  Lin Hao’s draconic scales flared crimson under moonlight, muscles coiling with primate ferocity. The Devourer Dragon Sword met ursine claws in a shower of sparks that singed his nostrils with ozone. Pain lanced up his arm—a fractal pattern of micro-fractures blooming beneath scales.

  "Master," Lang Zhu’s neural transmission crackled, "its epidermal density exceeds Saint-tier alloys."

  The ursine’s retaliatory swipe sheared through centuries-old cedars. Splinters rained like shrapnel, peppering Lin Hao’s armor with impacts that resonated like temple bells.

  00:37 – Precision

  Bai’s mutated form lunged—steel-bristled fur glinting as it sank fangs into the ursine’s wounded paw. The beast’s howl carried ultrasonic frequencies that shattered nearby icicles. Lang Zhu struck from shadows, spinnerets injecting necrotic enzymes that turned muscle to slurry.

  Lin Hao pivoted, sword carving nine luminous sigils into the night. The runes detonated sequentially—concussive booms alternating with vacuum silence. The ursine’s chest cavity imploded, ribs snapping like kindling beneath a blacksmith’s hammer.

  00:39 – Harvest

  Bai rooted through carnage, claws extracting a core pulsating with topaz energy. The artifact’s surface writhed with ancestral runes—a genetic codex for thunder-wrought evolution. Swallowing it whole, the beastling’s spine arched as keratin plates erupted from flesh, each growth accompanied by the sound of cracking walnut shells.

  "Report biometric shift," Lin Hao ordered, wiping ursine viscera from his visor.

  "Muscle density increased 300%. Neural conductivity now parallels lightning rods." Wolfspider’s analysis scrolled across his retinal display. "Caution—aggression biomarkers exceeding safe thresholds."

  00:42 – Convergence

  The tomb’s entrance loomed—a megalithic maw exhaling petrichor and ionized air. Fang Xiaoke’s blood sizzled against arcane seals, the scent of burnt copper heralding grinding stone. Adventurers stampeded past mutated thunder-wolves whose pelts crackled with static discharge.

  01:15 – Infiltration

  Lin Hao navigated peripheral cliffs, boots crunching quartz veins that sparked beneath his weight. Fang Xiaoke’s party crept ahead, unaware their shadows now hosted Kung Fu Fly’s compound-eyed sentinel. The tomb’s interior exhaled centuries of mildew and embalming unguents—scent layers unraveling like burial shrouds.

  01:27 – Revelation

  The inner sanctum’s door bore a single epitaph, its characters seared by lightning: "Here lies Wu Kuang—Saint of Storms. Trespassers become ash."

  Fang Xiaoke traced the inscription with trembling fingers. "Ancestor’s wrath still guards his slumber," she whispered, voice blending reverence and dread.

  Chen Wu’s blade pricked her nape. "Open it. Now." His tone carried the reek of greed’s sour sweat.

  01:29 – Betrayal

  Lin Hao materialized from shadow threads. "She bleeds, you die." The Devourer Sword’s edge kissed Chen Wu’s jugular, its vacuum hum devouring the man’s terrified whimper.

  Fang Xiaoke’s blood droplet struck the seal. Thunder detonated—a concussive wave flattening tomb dust into glassy sheets. The inner chamber yawned, revealing crystalline reliquaries humming with storm energy.

  01:31 – Awakening

  Wu Kuang’s desiccated hand gripped a staff crackling with captive lightning. His eye sockets flared azure as residual willpower snarled through the chamber: "Mortal. You reek of dragon and void."

  Lin Hao’s scales resonated in discordant harmonics. "I reek of survival."

  The Saint’s bones creaked upright, ozone and myrrh perfuming his skeletal grin. "Let us exchange fragrances."