Suddenly, a sharp bird cry echoed from somewhere ahead.
Lauren paused and peered forward.
In the distance, a massive white bird-like demon beast with a crown of crimson feathers atop its head was locked in a brutal battle with a gigantic python.
Normally, birds of prey dominated serpents. But these two were absurdly enormous. Even though the white bird’s talons repeatedly shredded the python’s scales, leaving deep, bloody trenches across its body, it still couldn’t gain the upper hand.
White feathers drifted across the battlefield like falling snow.
Both beasts were fifth-tier monsters—and judging by the python’s aura, it was only a year or two away from breaking into the sixth tier.
Lauren’s eyes gleamed.
If Edmund devoured those two beast cores…
Heh.
Silently, she slipped into concealment and waited, hoping the two monsters would kill each other so she could swoop in and harvest the spoils.
The battle escalated violently.
With a savage screech, the white bird drove its talons into the python’s face and tore out one of its eyes.
The python retaliated instantly.
Its colossal jaws snapped shut around one of the bird’s wings, ripping through flesh and feathers. Blood sprayed across the frozen ground.
The white bird shrieked in agony. Dragging its mangled wing, it suddenly took flight—
Except it wasn’t fleeing.
It was flying straight toward Lauren.
Behind it, the enraged python gave chase, smashing through the snow and ice like a living avalanche.
The explosion erupted inside the python’s skull.
Even bodies as durable as forged steel couldn’t withstand a sixth-grade talisman from the inside. The python’s mouth instantly detonated into a grotesque spray of flesh and shattered fangs.
Chunks of yellowed teeth shot through the air like shrapnel.
One fang the size of a bull’s horn spun straight toward Lauren, nearly landing in her lap.
“Disgusting.”
She immediately tossed it into her inner space.
Inside, the tooth landed with a heavy thud at Edmund’s feet.
His face darkened instantly.
An ancient divine dragon… reduced to cleaning up monster garbage.
But the python wasn’t dead.
Wracked with unbearable agony, it went completely berserk, thrashing and lunging at Lauren with blind fury.
Lauren resisted the urge to use another explosive talisman. Her instincts screamed that the python’s hide alone was worth a fortune.
She formed a rapid series of hand seals.
The Gintama Sword split apart midair, fragmenting into multiple blades that formed a lethal rotating sword array around the python.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Within seconds, her ice spiritual energy surged outward, empowered by the Far North’s environment. Frost spread rapidly, sealing the massive serpent inside a towering sculpture of ice.
The creature froze solid, trapped within the whirling sword formation.
Lauren targeted the beast core.
Just as she prepared to extract it—
The ice prison exploded.
Lauren’s instincts screamed. She vanished backward, retreating several meters in an instant.
“Sister! Are you alright?!”
Not far away, the transformed bird-girl clutched her bleeding arm and rushed toward Lauren, her face filled with exaggerated worry.
Lauren nearly choked.
Who the hell is your sister? We’re not even the same damn species.
Grinding her teeth, Lauren snapped, “Little white bird, run. Once I finish with that thing, you’re next.”
Don’t think a few sweet words will stop me from ripping out your beast core and plucking every last feather off you.
Her gaze snapped back toward the battlefield.
Her expression immediately changed.
The python was mutating.
Jet-black scales began spreading across its body, growing outward from its skull like a creeping plague.
Lauren’s pupils shrank.
She thrust forward with her sword, aiming directly for the serpent’s gall bladder—the weakest point she could exploit before the transformation completed.
But the moment her blade touched its flesh, hardened scales erupted across the wound site.
“Oh no!” the girl shouted. “It’s evolving into a scaled dragon! Sister, you’re screwed once it reaches sixth tier!”
Lauren snarled inwardly.
You think I don’t know that?!
Ignoring the tearing pain in her arms, she flipped backward and widened the distance between them.
Then she struck.
Targeting the narrow band of flesh the transformation hadn’t reached yet, she unleashed everything she had.
The three-foot Gintama Sword exploded with power, expanding into a monstrous forty-meter-long blade of frozen destruction.
It cleaved downward like divine judgment.
The serpent split in half.
The python released an ear-splitting roar as blood erupted from its ruptured throat, carrying a nauseating stench that burned Lauren’s nose.
Its severed body thrashed wildly, refusing to die.
Its head, however—
Its head was still alive.
With insane fury blazing in its remaining eye, it lunged toward Lauren, jaws snapping with murderous intent.
The roar tore through her mind like a shockwave, rattling even her Nascent Soul.
Lauren bit down hard on her tongue, using the sharp pain to stabilize her consciousness.
To her horror, despite losing most of its body, the creature wasn’t weakening.
If anything—
It had become even more ferocious.
Lauren didn’t hesitate.
She flicked out another sixth-grade Explosive Spirit Talisman and hurled it straight at the charging giant python.
Eight talismans burst into existence midair, snapping into formation around the beast like glowing shackles.
“Detonate.”
The eight talismans exploded simultaneously.
The shockwave ripped through the air, the blast hammering into the python’s body from every direction. The enormous serpent convulsed violently, its charred scales cracking as spiritual fire tore through flesh and bone.
A heartbeat later, the massive corpse—blackened, smoking, and unmistakably dead—crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact.
Lauren covered her nose against the sickening burnt stench and casually tossed the corpse into her inner space.
Inside, Edmund stared at the falling carcass in dead silence.
“…Check the beast core,” Lauren added. “It might have advanced to sixth grade.”
Edmund paused.
…Fine. For a sixth-grade beast core, he could tolerate this humiliation.
“Sister!”
The girl hurried over, eyes shining with open admiration.
Lauren raised a brow and immediately pointed the Gintama Sword at her throat.
“Oh, right. You too. Hand over your beast core, and I might let you live.”
A demon beast without its beast core would revert to its original form—or die, depending on its condition.
The girl froze, her expression crumpling as tears welled in her eyes.
“Sister, please spare me!”
Lauren frowned.
She knew beasts that could assume human form were notoriously troublesome—not because they were stronger, but because they were shaped directly by heaven and earth’s spiritual energy. Many of them were unsettlingly innocent, almost childlike.
Killing them sometimes felt like slaughtering something that didn’t even understand what death meant.
After a long pause, Lauren lowered her sword.
“Get lost before I change my mind.”
“Sister…”
“Shut it,” Lauren snapped. “We’re not even the same species. Who the hell is your sister?”
The girl smiled sweetly.
“My brother told me that any female human cultivator older than me should be called ‘sister.’ Male cultivators are called ‘brother.’”
Lauren stared at her.
…Demonic beasts are this civilized now?
“I am not older than you,” Lauren said flatly. “You’re probably over a thousand years old. I’m barely in my twenties.”
“But you look older than me,” the girl replied earnestly. “So you’re sister.”
Lauren: “…”
Her patience snapped. She suddenly pressed the sword closer to the girl’s neck, her expression turning vicious.
“Don’t test me. I will rip your beast core out while you’re still breathing.”
“I believe you, I believe you!” the girl said quickly, nodding frantically. Then she tilted her head. “By the way… where’s Grandpa Edmund?”
