Tang Xi moved swiftly through the forest, leaving the battlefield behind. Her body still pulsed with the adrenaline from the previous fight, but her mind remained sharp.

  Then, a familiar sound sliced through the air.

  A high-pitched squeal, unmistakable.

  Her heart pounded. —"That sound… could it be…?"

  Before she could finish her thought, the squeal multiplied, turning into a deafening chorus that blended with the sound of trees crashing and something rapidly closing in.

  — "It only be…!"

  Without hesitation, Tang Xi activated Phoenix Wing Step and shot forward like an arrow. Behihe sounds of trees splintering and the ground trembling sighat at least two massive creatures were giving chase.

  The Cloud-Haired Boars.

  They had heard the final cry of their fallen panion, and now they were out for revenge.

  Tang Xi ran at full speed, pushing her body to its limits. The boars were relentless. Even with her superior mobility and stant ges in dire, the pursuit tinued.

  'They won't give up… even after kilometers of running?' — she thought. Her instincts told her something was wrong.

  Growing uneasy, she decided to test the Lunar Umbrel's cealment ability, bending the light arouo create an illusion. Her body became a shimmering mirage within the forest.

  Yet, the boars tinued chasing her without hesitation.

  — "What the hell…?"

  Her cealment should have been enough to fuse their sight. Ahey still located her effortlessly. Then how were they trag her?

  Her mind sharpened as she ran.

  'They 't be sensihrough spiritual energy… After all, I never made direct aura tact with the boar I killed. So what could it be?'

  A sudden realization struck her.

  — "The blood!"

  Her eyes quickly sed her own body. That's wheiced—on the er of her clothes and in her hair—tiny drops of dried blood.

  'Of course… They're not trag me by my energy… but by the st of blood.'

  Now it all made sense.

  She o find a pce to wash and ge her clothes immediately.

  Then, she remembered something.

  A river y ahead in the forest. If she could reach it, she could finally throw off the boars and se any trace of blood.

  But there roblem.

  The fastest path to the river led through ahat, acc to her senses and the Lunar Umbrel, radiated danger.

  She weighed her options:'The chase won't stop as long as I carry the st of blood. And while this pce feels dangerous, it doesn't carry the aura of certaih.'

  She made her decision.

  Tang Xi adjusted her pad dashed toward the dangerous zone.

  As she ehe area, she remained on high alert. Moving swiftly yet cautiously, she didn't immediately sense where the danger y. But she dared not lower her guard.

  She maintained her vigiil halfway through, when suddenly, every hair on her body stood on end. A primal instinct of danger surged within her.

  Her sharp gaze swept the surroundings.

  The vegetation was de trees with interwoven branches f a natural opy overhead.

  Then, something moved.

  A subtle shadow. A nearly imperceptible slithering from above.

  Tang Xi reacted instantly.

  She threw herself to the side just as a whip-like viruck down from above, shing the spot where she had been a moment before.

  But when she looked up to see her attacker… her eyes widened in horror, and a shiver of disgust ran through her body.

  The vines weren't vines.

  They were snakes.

  She couldn't even t them. But at a ghere had to be hundreds.

  Hundreds of dark-green serpents hung from the trees like viheir bodies entwined so seamlessly with the brahat they were nearly indistinguishable. They varied in size—from the smallest, barely the thiess of a rope, to the rgest, as thick as a bowl. Their cold eyes gleamed between the shadows, and their bodies unduted in hypnotiison.

  A chill ran down her spine.

  "They were here the whole time… and I didn't even notice."

  Tang Xi had no time to hesitate.

  Behihe boars' rrew closer.

  Ahead, the snakes began to move, slithering down from the trees like a living wall.

  She had to get out of there immediately.

  Which meant using one of her trump cards—Phoenix Wings.

  Tang Xi closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath.

  — "Activate."

  A burst of fming energy erupted around her.

  A scorg shockwave instantly spread outward, f the so recoil. Those o her uhemselves onto higher branches, desperately avoiding the intense heat.

  The fire wasn't destructive enough to burn the forest down, but the surrounding trees had their bark scorched.

  Tang Xi felt the impact of the teique on her own body. Phoenix Wings required a massive amount of energy, draining her Qi rapidly. She could only sustain it for fifteen mi most. And after that, she'd be left powerless.

  But it was worth it.

  A faint, nearly transparent proje of fming wings materialized on her back.

  Her speed instantly increased by 50%.

  She became a streak of fme within the juhe wave of heat emanating from her body seemed to ule the Vine-Snakes, and they instinctively avoided her.

  Sensing this, Tang Xi propelled herself forward, ign the venomous gazes of the snakes above and the furious roars of the boars behind.

  The chaotic sounds of the jungle roared around her, but every step carried her further from danger.

  And then, finally, the sound of her pursuers began to fade.

  The river was near.