The channeling was complete.
The talisman clenched between Wu Suowei's teeth dissolved into points of light, shooting upward and leaving long, glowing trails behind them.
After colliding with the ceiling, the points of light vanished without a trace, disappearing completely like fish slipping into water with a flick of their tails.
But what actually happened?
If one could observe and track them from a third-person perspective, they would see those points of light shooting through the floors of the abandoned building at extreme speed, plunging straight into the now-darkened sky.
Indeed, the afternoon that had started out sunny and bright was now sultry, oppressive, and dim.
Layers of dark clouds blanketed the sky, making it look as if a sudden, torrential downpour was about to unleash.
Would it rain?
In reality, it would not.
For the moment the points of light plunged into the clouds, the sky stirred, and bolts of silvery-white heavenly lightning crashed straight down toward the long-abandoned building.
Thick pillars of lightning pierced through the concrete floors, ignoring all physical obstacles to strike with pinpoint accuracy. They burst into multiple arcs, violently blasting every remaining monster in the area.
By then, the snow wolf had already beaten the tiger beast to the brink of death. With its body heavily mutilated, the beast could no longer struggle.
The remaining human-faced ape monsters and the few surviving tiger beasts were all caught within the lightning's radius, leaving them with nowhere to run.
Rumble—
Thunder cracked, and electricity ran wild.
Blinding lightning instantly flooded the ruins, its pure energy vaporizing all sinister forces. Under the heavenly lightning, the bizarre monsters dissolved, charred, and crumbled in a split second, leaving not a single trace behind.
In just an instant, the crisis that had surrounded everyone was completely resolved.
It was truly a skill worthy of its long channel time. Aside from the drawback of needing to charge, everything else about it was flawless—especially its raw damage.
While the mechanics were a bit slow, the sheer numbers more than made up for it.
As the dust slowly settled, a dead silence returned to the unfinished building. Only a faint, scorched smell lingered in the air, bearing witness to the battle that had just transpired.
“They're all gone,” Mi Ke judged after closing her eyes to sense the surroundings.
This officially put an end to the trap.
They had won, perhaps thwarting the mastermind's conspiracy, or perhaps successfully surviving a deadly trap.
In any case, other than the missing Ou Li, no one present had sustained serious injuries, which was already a good outcome.
Their long-tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and everyone subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. As their stiff bodies loosened, the relief of surviving a near-death experience washed over them.
In the next second, an unexpected change occurred.
Waves rose once again in the calm waters.
As the only surviving non-human creature on the battlefield, it might have been spared because it belonged to Bai Ci, or perhaps because it was essentially a puppet—a tool without self-awareness.
In any case, the heavenly lightning had avoided striking it, while the tiger beast it was fighting had been locked onto and utterly destroyed with no way of escape.
But just when everything seemed to have come to a close, the snow wolf's lifeless, purple eyes slowly turned toward Bai Ci.
Its body tensed, assuming a hostile posture that signaled an imminent attack.
The creature that had shown nothing but brutal coldness toward their enemies had now turned its sharp edge.
It faced Bai Ci, its sharp fangs bared slightly as saliva dripped from its mouth.
Although there was still no killing intent, its hostile intention could not be clearer.
The hearts of the group, which had just relaxed, suddenly leapt into their throats again.
Mi Ke's face was filled with shock, panic, and confusion. “What's going on? Did the summoned creature get affected by something and go out of control?”
As she asked, she looked at Bai Ci.
She—and not just her, but also the other two named Wu—were waiting for Bai Ci's answer.
This would determine what actions they would take to deal with this white wolf that seemed poised to turn on its master.
“It hasn't gone out of control.”
Bai Ci answered without the slightest hesitation. She was confident she could explain the situation and the reasons behind it without exposing any flaws.
This was the explanation she had prepared long ago when she decided to use Gluttony.
Now that Mi Ke had brought up the question, it was the perfect opportunity to deliver her explanation.
Bai Ci shook her head gently, her tone calm and devoid of any panic or fear. She affirmed once more, “It hasn't gone out of control.”
“As the benevolent soul of Lady Ming, if I wish to commit slaughter, I must pay a price.”
Before her voice could fully fade, the snow wolf pounced.
Its swift figure blurred. Just as brutally as it had treated their enemies, it now targeted Bai Ci with the same precise, direct violence. Its sharp fangs clamped down on her thigh, instantly tearing through her clothes and sinking deep into her flesh.
Everyone stared in stunned disbelief. Wu Daoqing instinctively wanted to step forward to stop it, but Wu Suowei grabbed his wrist in a death grip.
“Close your eyes. It will be over soon. Watching this might be a bit too cruel for you,” Bai Ci comforted them with a smile, acting as if she were completely indifferent to her own gruesome state.
In truth, she really was. This torment was much better than the time she had been eaten by Wisteria.
Perhaps because she was currently in a semi-soul state, she didn't feel much pain when her flesh was torn. Instead, there was only a strange itch, though the mangled flesh looked rather terrifying.
Yes, it was merely flesh, not actual blood and bone.
How could a soul body bleed profusely?
Mi Ke closed her eyes as told and turned around, choosing not to look at Bai Ci's miserable state out of respect.
Wu Suowei chose to look down, but before he did, he covered Wu Daoqing's eyes with his hand, forcing him to bow his head as well.
Consuming her flesh was not enough. The snow wolf bit down hard, a sharp crunch echoing as her left leg was completely severed from her body.
Once its meal was complete—even though the flesh didn't quite look like normal flesh—Bai Ci could clearly feel her health points dropping.
She now felt a wave of weakness, similar to the sensation of severe blood loss.
Having finished its equivalent exchange of a meal, the snow wolf's body gradually dissolved. What finally fell to the ground was a vine doll, the purple flower pinned to its chest stained with a thin layer of blood.
Putting away Gluttony, Bai Ci looked at her severed leg bone lying on the ground, then at the three who still kept their eyes closed. After a moment's thought, she took out another item.
It was a spool of thin, translucent white thread paired with a single needle.
The item, Body Stitching.
Picking up the leg bone that had been gnawed clean, Bai Ci used her clumsy sewing skills to stitch the white bone back onto the remaining stump of her leg.
Though she couldn't fathom how a seemingly ordinary needle could pierce through solid bone, the end result was successful. She managed to align the leg correctly, even if the stitches looked incredibly ugly.
The moment she tied the knot to complete the stitching, flesh rapidly grew over the bone, connecting and fusing with the stump.
The traces of the needle and thread vanished completely. The gruesome, torn flesh restored itself, and the wounds healed entirely, leaving no indication that she had ever been injured.
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