The acrid stench of burnt flesh mingled with ozone as Hua Yang Zhenjun hovered above the volcanic island, his reconstructed body trembling with barely contained fury. The once-pristine silk of his Celestial Masters-bestowed robes hung in charred tatters, revealing pulsating grafts of dragon scale and tiger bone where Dun Che's counterattack had struck true.
"Filthy gutter beast!" Hua Yang's voice cracked like splitting granite. Twin orbs of corrupted qi swirled in his palms - one shimmering with stolen dragon essence, the other reeking of fermented tiger marrow. "You dare mar this celestial form with your flea-ridden tricks?"
Dun Che spat a glob of phoenix-ash infused blood onto the steaming obsidian. His matted fur bore crisscrossing wounds that glowed with residual celestial energy, each injury meticulously calculated to maximize agony without granting release. "Come closer," the fox demon growled through broken fangs, "I'll show you what gutter beasts do to celestial roadkill."
The truth burned brighter than his wounds - Hua Yang could have ended this minutes ago. The True Monarch's reconstructed face twisted in perverse delight as he traced glowing sigils in the air, each gesture sending fresh waves of corrupted energy cascading over the island.
Dance of the Broken Mirror
Dun Che's claw closed around the Mirror of Dongli's Arcane Seals, its silver surface icy against his bleeding palm. The artifact hummed with ancestral power, its etched sigils flaring as Hua Yang's latest attack - a coruscating blade of hybridized dragon-tiger qi - came screaming toward his chest.
Time dilated.
The fox demon's remaining eye caught the precise moment Hua Yang's sneer faltered - that priceless fraction of a heartbeat when celestial arrogance met mortal cunning. With a roar that tore open half-healed wounds, Dun Che pivoted into the deathblow's path.
Impact.
The mirror's surface rippled like mercury, ancient wards drinking deep of Hua Yang's corrupted strike before vomiting it back amplified. The reflected energy blade tore through Hua Yang's chest in a shower of alchemical sparks, its passage leaving smoking craters in the volcanic rock behind him.
"Gutter magic!" Hua Yang's scream contained multitudes - the Dragon-Tiger Mountain's alchemists, the Celestial Masters' whispered promises, the crumbling edifice of his stolen power. His reconstructed flesh knit itself with sickening pops and hisses, tiger-striped meridians glowing through translucent skin.
Dun Che collapsed to one knee, the mirror shattering as Hua Yang's counterstroke sent him skidding through razor-sharp obsidian shards. "That's... the thing about gutters..." he gasped, fingers closing around the Scepter of Eightfold Flames. "We remember what heaven tries to bury."
Ascendant Flames
The scepter's activation tore open ancient scars in reality. Eight phoenix spirits materialized from the bleeding wounds, their shrieks harmonizing into a dirge that shook magma chambers deep below the island. Hua Yang's eyes widened in genuine alarm as the spectral raptors dove - not toward him, but into the volcanic vents surrounding Zhao Rui's meditation circle.
The island erupted in a symphony of fire and vengeance.
Molten rock geysered skyward as the phoenix spirits conducted their final dance. Hua Yang's reconstructed meridians screamed warnings his hubris ignored - this was no mere distraction. The fox demon had turned the battlefield itself into a weapon.
"Enough!" Hua Yang's roar shook loose raining stalactites from nearby sea caves. Twin dragon-tiger hybrids materialized from his palms, their grotesque forms devouring the phoenix flames. "I'll peel your soul from—"
The explosion tore the island asunder.
Reckoning's Price
When the smoke cleared, Zhao Rui stood amidst swirling ashes, his second元神's golden armor retracting to reveal eyes burning with captured starlight. The Ten Thousand Laws Tome floated at his side, its pages illustrating Hua Yang's impending demise in brushstrokes of liquid gold.
Dun Che's broken form lay cradled in a crater of his own making, bloodied muzzle twisted in triumph. "Took you... long enough..."
Hua Yang's reconstructed body twitched in the magma flow, his perfect meridians unraveling like rotten silk. "This changes nothing!" Spasms wracked his hybrid frame as dragon essence warred with tiger spirit. "The Celestial Masters will—"
"Will what?" Zhao Rui's voice echoed with the Dragon King's final judgment. "Add your name to their collection of failed experiments?"
The Tome's pages fluttered open to a fresh illustration - Dragon-Tiger Mountain's pagodas burning beneath a sky full of watching dragons. As Hua Yang's screams faded into the volcanic roar, Zhao Rui knelt beside his fallen brother.
The fox demon's remaining eye reflected dancing phoenix flames. "Worth it?"
"Always." Zhao Rui's hand glowed with purified Golden Blood. "Now rest. Our hunt has just begun."