While still in the midst of a brutal battle between human and beast , The humans number were dwindling , while the beast numbers was also dwindling , their numbers were far higher at the moment.
The silver serpent lingered in the smoke, her scales glimmering faintly under the moonlight. She did not strike. She did not flee. She only watched.
Zhou's tongue flicked, tasting the air. Her scent was strange—sharp, heavy, coiled with power. violently, a second hunger rising, whispering to devour her. His body convulsed, rolling in the blood‑stained dirt, torn between instinct and fear.
The stranger tilted her head, eyes gleaming with intelligence far sharper than any beast Zhou had ever seen. When she finally spoke, her voice was smooth, almost mocking.
"Little worm," she said softly, "you devour like a beast, yet you endure like something more. How curious."
Zhou hissed , bloodlust rising , further amplified by something deep within . He tried to move , but instinctually , he couldn't , as if his instincts told him if he did he was done for.
The silver serpent slithered closer, circling him with deliberate grace. "Do not bare your fangs at me. If I wished you dead, you would already be a husk." Her tongue flicked, tasting the air around him. "No… you are different. I can smell it. Something inside you stirs. Something… rare."
As she said those words , Zhou's vision blurred , something deep resonated with those words , arrogant as if trying to prove her words , His stomach was ignited with a blue glow , not hurting like last time but strangely ... Comforting.
The silver serpent's eyes gleamed with amusement. "You are different. Useful."
His vision blurred again— he saw a throne of bones, rivers of blood, and a colossal serpent coiled around a mountain, its eyes molten gold. Beasts bowed in endless rows, their roars shaking the heavens.
Zhou hissed violently, thrashing in the dirt, the vision shattering.
He hissed , coils tightening, fangs bared. His body screamed to strike, to devour her, even as his instincts shrieked that she was beyond him.
The serpent tilted her head, surprised. "Defiant?" Her tongue flicked, tasting his rage. "Good. That will make you interesting."
She slithered back into the smoke, her laughter soft and cruel. Zhou remained coiled, trembling, his hunger burning hotter than ever. He had not yielded.
...
Above, the battle between the White Fox and the core formation cultivators reached its climax. The fox's fur was matted with blood, her once‑pristine coat torn by blades and Qi strikes. Yet her eyes still burned with cold fury, her movements sharp and merciless.
The cultivators, old and weary, staggered under her relentless assault. Their Qi reserves were nearly spent, their bodies riddled with wounds. They had fought valiantly, but the beast before them was too strong, too cunning, too relentless.
With a single, fluid motion, the White Fox leapt through their ranks. Her claws flashed, her tails whipped, and in one fell swoop, two cultivators' heads rolled across the blood‑soaked ground.
Panic erupted. The remaining cultivators faltered, their formation collapsing entirely. Fear spread like wildfire. They turned and fled, abandoning the battlefield, abandoning their comrades.
The White Fox did not chase. She landed gracefully, though her body trembled with exhaustion. Blood dripped from her wounds, staining the earth beneath her. She winced, her breath ragged, but her eyes remained sharp, victorious.
She tilted her head back and howled.
The sound tore through the battlefield like a blade. It was not just a cry of triumph—it was a declaration of dominion. The howl reverberated through the bones of every beast and human alike, a sound that carried the weight of inevitability.
The remaining humans froze, their weapons slipping from their hands. Their eyes widened in horror, their spirits breaking entirely. The howl stripped them of hope, leaving only despair.
For a moment, his vision blurred again. He saw flashes—an endless mountain range, rivers of blood, beasts bowing before a colossal fox whose eyes burned like suns. He hissed, thrashing, the vision vanishing as quickly as it came.
After the howl , all the beast left rallied together , although their numbers weren't what it used to be and most there had blood dripping from their body , they still charged the wall head first , sending tremors throughout it , its stone wall quaked but held out , for now.
Zhou , instead of charging the wall , went back to his temporary abode in the wall , he slithered into the hole , its smell of ash and moss hit again . Not wasting any time , Zhou grabbed the pouches and played them into one another with his tail.
He then wore one singular pouch over his neck , carrying it around , Zhou then slowly slithered out of the hole in the wall and towards the gate where the cultivators came out from.
coiling through the dirt , Zhou crawled in the dirt , trying to avoid being spotted.
Zhou coiled through bodies of both beast and human alike , ignoring the hunger that seems to permeate from the corpses.
Before Zhou could even reach the city gate fully , Numerous beasts rushed into it in full force , no longer banging their head on the wall , their roars sent shockwaves in the streets of the city.
Zhou slithered through the gate, his tongue flicking at the air thick with smoke and blood. The corpses outside had been silent, but here—here the city screamed.
Beasts surged through the streets, their roars shaking the stone walls. They tore through flesh and bone with mindless fury, their eyes burning with bloodlust. The radiant streets, once bright with lanterns and laughter, drowned in crimson.
The cries of the humans rose like a storm—pleas for mercy, for salvation, for escape. None came. The beasts did not distinguish between soldier and child, warrior and beggar. To them, all were prey.
Zhou coiled forward in precise movements , watching the carnage unfold , the screams and blood of the humans filled the air , causing an intoxicating feeling to wash over Zhou.
His coils twiched , his stomach churned despite just eating a few moments ago . Zhou shook his head , resisting the intoxicating aroma and continued on . The stone tiles of the streets were dotted with bodies . women and children .
Zhou arrived at the town square , its broken tiles contrasted the relatively orderly tiles he had seen previously , the broken fragments of weapons were evident . There was a battle here .
Zhou's nose twitched , smelling something unfamiliar , not blood , not prey , it had a smell that was impossible to describe for Zhou but it reminded him of the same smell when meeting that flower girl