The Greedy Shark shrieked—an inaudible, high-frequency sound that felt like needles in their teeth—and its figure flickered forward. It didn't run; it seemed to *swing* through the liquid air of the Sky Ocean, a bizarre, predatory motion that carried it in a blur straight for the exposed back of the fleeing Li disciple.
The older Li elder, Li Dah, moved to intercept. He used **Jingdao** to reinforce his skin to a dull iron hue and crashed head-on into the Greedy Shark. The impact was a brutal *CRUNCH* of force. It bought the younger disciple just enough time to stumble and fall at the feet of Gen and his group.
"Help us!" the young man sobbed, clutching at Gen's leg. "I heard from Li Zhi that you and Li Fen were very close! Help us, Gen Jiang! It's her father over there, Li Dah! If you really care for her, help us!"
Gen was about to dismiss him, to shove him away. But the name *Li Fen* made him hesitate, forcing him into a deep, conflicted silence. Li Fen was his friend from the Jade Palace. The one with whom they had traveled, fought, and survived until the Four Kingdoms. Now her father was in danger. Gen was paralyzed, unsure. The Li Family had something to do with the death of Varja. He would never forgive them for that. Yet… could he really allow Li Fen's father to die just like that?
On the side, Lorel felt a strange, cold twist in her stomach when she heard the young disciple emphasize how *close* Gen was with this Li Fen. *Who was she?* Gen had never spoken to her about another girl.
"Gen, the Li are not trustworthy," Liang reminded him quietly, his voice tense.
Kang Mao nodded. "My master, the old Shifting, told me to be very careful with any dealings with any of the Four Rulers. The Li included. Even my own family, the Kangs."
Chubbs urged them all, his eyes on the desperate fight. "The old man will not last any longer! If we want to do something, it is now!"
"For Li Fen!" the young disciple insisted, his eyes pleading with Gen.
Biting his lip, Gen made his choice. "Okay."
The golden hue of the Eternal Body's **First Door** flared out around him.
Lorel still had a questioning look in her eyes, but once action took hold, her thoughts crystallized. The seven **Supremacy Swords** fanned out behind her in a blazing pink halo as she ascended into position beside Gen.
Chubbs cursed and unleashed his own **Jingdao**, covering his body in a familiar rusty-gold sheen.
Kang Mao unleashed the **Thousand-Shifting Jingdao**. He used the **Jingdao of the Blitzing Dragon**, bursting forward so fast he was a blur. He intercepted the Greedy Shark's next claw-strike with his own chest, shifting at the last possible millisecond to the **Jingdao of the Born Monolith**. A clear, bell-like *PING* sounded, and the sheer, immovable force of the technique actually shoved the Greedy Shark backward a full pace.
It landed on all fours, shrieking again, an infrasound vibration of fury.
Gen smiled tightly. "It has not yet developed the ability to speak. Meaning it should not be as strong as the Sky Demon yet. We can deal with it."
He shot downward, the **End of the World Finger** condensing to a point of annihilating light aimed at the beast's core. The Greedy Shark flicked backward with impossible agility, letting the finger strike the floor where it had been standing. The stone didn't crack; it turned to mere dust, leaving a smooth, bowl-shaped void.
On the side, Lorel's Supremacy Swords fell like javelins of judgment, each landing with a *THUMP* that cratered the stone, forcing the beast to dance and dodge with furious speed.
Chubbs arrived behind the creature, cursing. "What does I have left to do now that you all managed the Greedy Shark alone? This is so unjust!" he grumbled, his own fist lashing out in a heavy blow that the beast twisted to avoid.
"Be careful!" Liang called out. " It is still an Adult Milky Beast!" He summoned the **Kalash of Elements**, letting the pure white **Lightning from the Abyss** fall in a concentrated rain. The Greedy Shark covered its body in a tight ball of coiling scales. The lightning hammered into it, one bolt after another, but before the attack could finish, the beast uncoiled and shot towards Chubbs, who was still cursing its evasiveness.
The sudden lunge forced Chubbs into a desperate block, the impact skidding him back several feet.
Now having retreated to the back line, Li Dah glanced at Gen and his friends. *So, this is Gen Jiang,* he thought, his mind racing even through the pain. *What temperament. And surrounded by so much talent… no wonder my daughter and he became friends.*
The younger cultivator at his side gripped his arm. "Uncle, we should leave now! Why they are fighting the Greedy Shark? They are strong, but they will rapidly understand it is too hard to kill. We should use this to flee!"
There was a flash of hesitation in Li Dah's expression. After all, these kids were fighting to help them. Shouldn't they join and finish it off? But a part of him, the more pragmatic, survivalist part honed by decades in the cutthroat Li family, was also wary. Clearly, even with these talented kids, getting rid of the Greedy Shark was just too hard. *They will understand it on their own.*
"Let's go," Li Dah said, his voice grim.
The duo turned, becoming two beams of greyish light shooting in the opposite direction, abandoning the fight and their rescuers.
Chubbs, who was farthest out in the fight, was the first to notice. He called after them, his voice booming with outrage. "You bunch of cowards! How dare you!"
Gen tilted his head briefly to look, a hint of deep disappointment flashing across his face. After all, he knew how Li Fen was. He had thought maybe some people were still good in the Li Family. He was wrong.
That moment of distraction was costly.
Gen felt a powerful aura condense beside him. He tilted his head sideways purely on instinct. A barbed tail-tip, moving faster than before, zipped past his face, scraping against his reinforced Jingdao with a shower of sparks. His heart skipped a beat. He reinforced the air beneath his feet and tapped on it to retreat into the void, simultaneously unleashing the **Jingdao of the Second Door**. The light condensed inward, enveloping his body as it reinforced his bones to diamond density. Now covered in the faint, cold white vapor above his skin, he turned to his friends.
"Be careful! Something is changing about it!"
Kang Mao used the **Jingdao of the Ogre's Hammer** to land a powerful, concussive strike toward the Greedy Shark's spine. This time, the beast didn't dodge. It simply balled into itself, letting the attack land with a world-shaking ***CRACK*** that sent a crater five meters wide into the ancient floor.
However, the Greedy Shark was perfectly fine. Or, to be more precise, its body *reconstructed* as fast as it had been harmed, the dented scales flowing back into place, the cracks sealing.
Kang Mao's eyes widened. "Its ability to regenerate is beyond normal. It looks like… it is feeding on something."
The Greedy Shark let out a soft, chittering shriek. This time, it sounded almost… human. As if it was saying, *Soon.*
Lorel and Liang, from above, had a bad feeling. "We should retreat now," Liang yelled down. "It is evolving! Feeding on our abilities!"
Gen, who had been closer, was too slow to react. The Greedy Shark flipped onto its back legs and began to *roll*, its seven barbed tails extended like the blades of a razor-shuriken. It became a spinning tornado of scaled death, moving directly toward Gen.
With no way to run, Gen condensed all his Jingdao into his arms. He did the insane: he reached out and *caught* the spinning Greedy Shark with his bare hands, like catching a human-sized buzzsaw.
***SCREEEEE—GRIND!***
His hands cried out. Sparks bloomed violently, the sound of god-metal grinding against god-metal. His arms trembled violently as faint traces of blood began to seep from his fingertips. *This thing was even harder than his reinforced bones!*
With no momentum to lift it, he was forced to tilt sideways. The shuriken-like Greedy Shark slid through his desperate grip and tore across his chest before shooting past and embedding itself straight into the ceiling with a solid *THWOCK*.
Gen bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he was driven to the ground by the force, landing with a heavy *THUD*. Lorel and the others all screamed his name, retreating to form a tight defensive circle around him.
Gen pushed himself up, holding his bleeding chest, and cursed, looking up at the creature now hanging from the ceiling.
This time, it hung by its two taloned feet, head downwards. A grotesque, learning smile flickered across its bestial face. And it spoke. Its voice was a hoarse, grinding rasp, like a rocky old man who had never spoken in ages. It was just learning how to articulate.
"Human greed…" it grated out, each word a struggle, "…is not only about treasure."
This was the reason why the Li duo had fled. It wasn't that Li Dah couldn't have finished off the Greedy Shark earlier—when the fight started, it was still an Adult Milky Beast that had just barely reached its peak. But now, in mere minutes of combat, it had gotten even closer to the level of the three-tailed Sky Demon. It progressed *mid-combat* by feeding on human greed. Not just the usual kind. Greed for treasure, yes, but also greed for combat—the cultivator's fatal mistake of thinking they could win with *one last strike*. Each time that last strike missed, each time desperation and desire to prevail spiked, *it grew stronger*.
And it was still getting stronger now.
Just when Gen and his group thought things couldn't get worse, a familiar, chilling laugh echoed from the opposite side of the vast hall, behind their backs.
"We meet again, my old friends."
Gen's face drained of all color. He didn't need to turn to know. He could feel the oppressive, intelligent malice, and see the faint shadow cast by three sinuous, whip-like tails dangling behind a figure in the archway.
The familiar, unbreakable exoskeleton. Those pitiless, intelligent eyes that had once sent them to the edge of despair.
The three-tailed Sky Demon had found them.