Wu Yulan blasts forward, though it is so fast that I do not detect any movement at all. To me, it appears as though she simply appears next to the fox, in mid-air, above and to the right of the beast’s head. Her blade precisely follows the bright white line, carving through it as though it is supposed to be an obstacle to her sword, but in reality, it only accelerates her edge and sharpens it.

The speed with which the fox reacts is equally as impressive as Wu Yulan’s speed.

It turns its body into the path of the slash and opens its maw wide. A cluster of sword Qi appears in its mouth, shimmering black and white as it collects and forms a powerful core of martial technique.

Indeed, it is not just a barbaric blast of energy that Core Formation beasts are capable of. This sphere of condensed sword energy is controlled and even contains profound, formulaic energy — like a prototypical martial art.

When it comes to mote-for-mote sword energy, not even Wu Yulan could compete with this fox. However, when it comes to the speed of gathering energy and the degree to which it can be compressed, not even ten of these foxes could compare to Wu Yulan and her [Eternal Moment Swordsmanship].

The art of the paradoxical concepts of eternity and transience is a potent force expressed in moments in which the sword is both immutable and ever-changing; that is to say, the force remains the same, while the vector may be expressed freely.

To Wu Yulan who comprehended the second layer of this art — Emergent Nihility — there can be no obstacle to prevent her sword from existing for a single, eternal moment and then returning to nothingness.

When her blade strikes the sphere of condensed sword energy, it comes with enough force to flatten the grass in the forest around them and emit a pulse of pure sword energy from the unraveling profound laws. Even though Wu Yulan’s energy is far greater than that of the fox’s sphere, it can make no progress beyond the inner core of the sphere.

The white line that marks the path of Wu Yulan’s sword strike disperses.

At that moment, another six lines appear around the fox, marking slashes from all directions. Just as the lines appear, Wu Yulan’s sword intent and energy burst from her sword in a cluster of white and cyan light, in the shape of snowflakes, that swarm around the fox.

The martial technique of the second layer of [Eternal Moment Swordsmanship] is both beautiful and incredibly destructive. It is no wonder why Wu Yulan managed to obtain the same result as Lan Xiaohui in the second trial of my Inner World.

How Wu Yulan managed to comprehend this layer is beyond my knowledge, and possibly hers. Nihility; the only true moment that is eternal is the point at which all things collapse to nothingness. This concept alone is difficult to grasp or perceive, beyond logical deduction, but to also combine it with the law of emergence from [Transient Sword] is truly something that is in the realm of the word "genius".

In other words, each one of the six lines that appear around the fox is from a single slash of Wu Yulan’s blade, yet each happens simultaneously and each carries the same force as the original strike.

To say that Wu Yulan expends all her energy on this one strike would be an understatement. Everything she has to offer — her entire capacity and possibly an additional sacrifice of her life force — is condensed into this one strike, in an instant, and unleashed.

Even the fox — an opponent so superior to these two that they are like ants to it — trembles and its pupils narrow to thin points when it senses the overwhelming might descending upon it from all directions. Even though it is unlikely to be enough to kill it, nevermind natural healing or medicine repairing the damage, it would be lucky to keep all of its limbs.

With nowhere else to go, the fox launches itself forward, its body bursting with glimmering sword energy as it slams directly into Wu Yulan’s body and launches the girl back at a velocity that would kill an ordinary mortal ten times over just from the extreme acceleration.

Two of the white lines intersect with the fox and the sword force contained within the snowflakes unleashes invisible swords that bend the light in the vicinity of their strikes and disappear into nothingness. Blood bursts into the air as a long gash appears on the pristine white fur of the fox’s back, and another one on its left hind leg. The cuts are so deep that were the fox a five-tail variant instead it would’ve been torn to shreds.

However, these wounds are not enough to even significantly affect its mobility, much less threaten its life.

A shadow trailing black light and glimmers of moonlight flies under the body of Wu Yulan, who is still in mid-air from the impact, streaming toward the fox before it can regain its balance.

Lan Xiaohui appears next to the fox, raising her right hand high in the sky as a swarm of moonlight petals gathers on the tip of her fingers, condensing the entire might of the Shattered Moonlight technique into those four points, and then she slashes her hand down.

Caught in a brilliant tandem attack by these two, not even this fox can react in time to avoid damage. Lan Xiaohui’s hand cuts across the fox’s face, tearing flesh and bone apart as her hand buries itself halfway into her opponent’s skull, discharging all her gathered energy into the motion.

The fox roars, turns, and slams its six tails into Lan Xiaohui’s body, launching her also in the same direction that it launched Wu Yulan, breaking several of my owner’s ribs, but then it rolls on the floor and howls miserably.

When Lan Xiaohui impacts the ground, hundreds of steps away from the fox, and comes to a stop, another fifty steps away from where she initially impacted the ground, both her useless left arm and more of her ribs break.

Not far from her, further away in the direction her trajectory took her, the unconscious and bloody form of Wu Yulan lies on the ground. At first, Wu Yulan appears to be dead, but in the several seconds it takes for my owner to climb to her feet, I notice signs of life in her companion, although merely hanging on by a thread.

What Lan Xiaohui does next is logical. That blow from the fox was enough to nearly knock my owner unconscious also, and with her diminished capacity, the only thing she can think of doing is picking Wu Yulan up, with her one remaining good arm, and trying to drag the other girl to safety.

Meanwhile, the fox’s miserable howls have turned furious and explosions ring in the distance.

With both their Qi depleted and their auras nearly extinguished, finding them in the blizzard will be difficult.

Given the circumstances now, a path forward appears.

“Run,” I tell Lan Xiaohui.

Normally, I would never condone such an action. The sword never yields, relents, or retreats. But the path of a sword cultivator is always evolving. At least for now, and considering the inconvenience of finding a new owner, running is, in fact, an option.