As Tianqi Yu spoke, a cold killing aura flared around him like winter frost.

“Azure An, hand over the Holy Fruit of Illusory Feathers and the Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass, or don’t even dream of leaving this peak.”

Nearby Golden Core Stage cultivators, eyes red with greed, surged forward like wolves and barked threats.

Some even unleashed their Golden Core might, driving a rolling tide of Spirit Pressure straight at Nana Toki like a falling mountain.

Their intent was naked, sharp as a drawn blade: refuse to hand them over, and she’d die here.

A chance like this in the Wildbeast Wasteland comes once in ages; every shark wanted a slice.

But Nana Toki never bowed to brute force; soft words might’ve worked, swagger wouldn’t.

Since they leaned on brute strength and threats, everything was off the table.

“Heh. Can’t leave the peak? Who do you clowns think you are?”

She drew her Black Great Axe and swatted the crushing pressure apart like dust.

She swept a cold stare around, smile thin as a blade. “Golden Core and you think you’re someone? Even if the Heavenly Emperor himself shows up, you won’t take a crumb from me.”

“You like bullying with numbers? Fine. I enjoy picking fights with idiots. Come one, I’ll kill one; come two, I’ll drop a pair. Let’s see who’s tougher—your pack of fools or Azure An.”

Faces went pale, like lanterns snuffed.

Tianqi Yu’s expression sank to stone; how dare a mere Foundation Establishment woman rage so loud?

“Reckless woman, big mouth. Watch me behead you first!”

A burly man burst from the crowd, broadsword in hand, spirit might boiling like a storm sea.

Light ran along his blade.

In a blink he was at Nana Toki’s throat.

“Scram.”

She didn’t even lift an eyelid at a Golden Core First Stage peak. Her axe came down like thunder.

Back then, at Foundation Fifth Stage, she could stalemate a Golden Core First Stage on raw body strength.

Now stronger, she didn’t spare them a thought.

“Boom!”

“Crack… crack…”

Two savage forces collided, and shock rippled like broken ice.

To everyone’s surprise, the Golden Core peak was blasted away, slammed into the ground, limp as a dead dog.

“What domineering power.” Spectators hid their shivers; Azure An might be beyond an ordinary Golden Core’s grip.

“Don’t get careless,” sharp-eyed ones warned. “She’s on the body-tempering path. She’s not a paper-thin Foundation junior. Don’t trade blows—use techniques to drain her. Body cultivators store little Spirit Energy; be patient, she’ll burn out.”

Before they finished, distant cultivators had already formed seals and hurled spells like streaking comets.

Nana Toki felt her irritation spike like nails. “Seriously? Can’t play fair?”

She spun the Black Great Axe, whipping up wind like a storm.

She batted aside a barrage of techniques.

Spirit surged underfoot, and she sprinted down the peak like a wildfire.

They wanted to wear her down? Too bad.

She wasn’t playing.

She had what she came for; no need to grind herself to bone.

Onlookers blinked. “Wait, wasn’t it ‘come two, kill two’? Why’s she bolting?”

“As the saying goes, revenge can wait ten years,” she muttered, humor dry as sand.

She wasn’t a moron; why let them drain her?

“After her!” Tianqi Yu had waited long enough.

Spirit flared like jet flame, and he charged down first.

“Move! Don’t let him hog the loot!”

Disciples from other sects bellowed and drove their teams after him like a stampede.

“Boom, boom—” Hundreds swept down like a storm front, following Tianqi Yu.

The whole mountain shuddered.

If Nana Toki truly wanted out, none could touch her.

A talisman and she’d vanish like mist.

She headed downhill only because Du Fei Yu waited at the foot.

She planned to repay the Body-tempering pool favor with a great chance.

That fresh Holy Fruit of Illusory Feathers would do.

“Here. This one’s yours.”

She found Du Fei Yu behind a slope, didn’t even slow.

She tugged the pale fruit from her hidden space, shoved it into his hands, then veered into a forest thick with cover.

Du Fei Yu stared at her retreating back, face flat, mood sizzling like oil. “What the hell.”

“What even is this?”

The moment the rich Spirit Energy bled from the white fruit, his eyes snapped wide. “Holy Fruit of Illusory Feathers?!”

Where’d that madwoman snag it?

Did she rob someone?

Why give it to me?

He had no time to ask.

She’d smoke-trailed away seconds ago.

Only the wave of pursuers remained, thundering down for the fruit and grass.

“Damn it, Azure An—just you wait.”

By the time Nana Toki reached the Wasteland’s heart, dusk pressed low like ash.

Crossing a swath of black soil, she saw her idiot System still poking an anthill with another little fool by the body-tempering pool.

“Those two have it easy.”

“Where’s Big Swallow?” She didn’t see the Heavenswallow Serpent’s shadow.

“Oh—her? Training on the other side,” the System said, pointing with a twig like a kid. “Also, what’s ‘Big Swallow’ supposed to mean?”

“It’s a respectful title for the Heavenswallow Serpent,” Nana said. “I can’t call a millennia-old beast ‘Little Swallow’ or ‘Swallow-chan.’ I’d get killed.”

The System paused like a stuck clock, then nodded. “Fair.”

Her strange survival instinct ticked up a notch.

“By the way, Host,” the System went on, pulling out a map like a magician. “Planning to leave the Heavenly Ascent Sect after this Wasteland run?”

“I compiled training notes this morning. Spots suited for your cultivation, needed heavenly materials and arts. Take it, so you don’t wander like a clueless super-soldier.”

“A clueless super-soldier, huh.”

“I’ve got business with Big Swallow. Keep playing with Blue Magpie.”

“Okay~”

She tucked the map away without opening it and headed deeper into the heartland.

She’d torn into the Immortal Realm to retrieve the Azure Crow Fairy’s reincarnated spirit embryo.

Hidden wounds carved down her might like knifecuts in bark.

Nana figured the Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass rebuilt flesh; its life laws weren’t small.

If the Serpent could use it to mend, that would be best.

She didn’t expect miracles; even a shorter healing time was good news.

She finally found the Serpent beneath a giant tree.

Its trunk was wider than a hall; dozens couldn’t encircle it.

The crown rose a hundred meters, sun-blotting, leaf-thick, casting a tight green dome.

The Serpent stood under the boughs, staring at the dense leaves like watching rain, lost in thought.

Only when Nana drew close did she stir and regain her usual calm. “Do you need something?”

Her voice was light, clean as a mountain spring, cooling the air.

Nana sat on a nearby stone, didn’t rush to speak.

She produced the Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass.

As it left the space, the air filled with the pulse of life, a quiet, endless current.

She waited till the Serpent’s eyes fell on the grass, then asked softly, “If I hand this to you, how much can you recover?”

The Serpent didn’t answer at once.

She frowned, thoughts moving like slow clouds.

Minutes later she gave a steady answer: “Fully refined—twenty years. Forty percent.”

The number chilled Nana.

She had no sense for how deep that damage ran.

Even with such treasure, twenty years for four-tenths of her strength.

“Can you make it faster?”

Worry pressed in.

If Immortal Realm enforcers came, their little group—old, hurt, and few—would break like dry twigs.

She needed the Serpent to regain power, whatever it took.

“If I obtain an Eight Cornered Ghost Algae Fish soaked in Nether River water, and a thousand-year Profound Ice Silkworm from the Heavenly Mountain summit, I can heal in five years.”

“Eight Cornered Ghost Algae Fish and a thousand-year Profound Ice Silkworm?”

Nana frowned; the names carried chill and grandeur.

Neither sounded easy.

“Take this first. If I find the other two later, I’ll bring them to you.”

She placed the Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass in the Serpent’s hands.

Getting the Serpent back up protected the whole team.

She could still see the Serpent, wounded, battling Immortal Realm cultivators, a memory like scorched earth.

If the Serpent returned to her peak, Blue Magpie would finally be safe.

“You mean to give me these heavenly materials?” The Serpent froze for a beat, eyes rounding. “Why?”

They weren’t kin or sworn.

Why would this woman hand her something like this?

“You’re the strongest. Naturally you use it first,” Nana said, the excuse thin as paper.

The Serpent watched the grass in her palm, silent for ten heartbeats.

Then she lifted her gaze, steady as night. “You should remember what I told you.”

“What?”

“Your life and death are none of my concern,” she said, face smooth, no ripple of feeling.

“Of course I remember,” Nana Toki said, her voice calm as still water.

She returned the other’s smile, a thin crescent. “Just make sure that idiot of mine stays safe.”