Chapter 650: Now That's Trouble

The golden lightning kept exploding out of the gray mist, one after another, as dense as rain, tearing the hazy smoke into fragments.

The Giant Fox's forelimb was struck by the lightning.

The golden current crawled up its arm, and wherever it passed, the black‑golden Flame was suppressed by the golden current, burning in flickering light and dark.

The Giant Fox frowned, lifted its forelimb and stepped back; its black‑golden eyes stared at the still churning gray mist and at the continuously exploding golden lightning.

In the gray mist, a figure slowly emerged.

Jing Yuan was still standing there.

Gray dust clung to his white hair and covered his robe, yet his body did not collapse, and his face bore an inscrutable smile.

The Divine Lord rose from behind Jing Yuan.

The golden colossus first revealed its head, then its shoulders, as wide as a wall; the armor patterns on its shoulders were clearly visible, swirling in the golden light like illuminated rivers.

Then its arm extended from behind Jing Yuan, bracing against the Giant Fox's forelimb.

The moment the Divine Lord's palm touched the Giant Fox's forelimb, a golden lightning thicker than any before burst forth.

The lightning spread outward from the contact point like an opened golden fan, enveloping everything around in dazzling gold light.

The Divine Lord's body continued to rise.

It rose continuously from behind Jing Yuan, golden light pouring from its body, turning the entire dim sky golden.

Its height stretched from a few dozen meters to tens of meters, then from tens to nearly a hundred meters, finally stopping at a height just a head shorter than the Giant Fox.

The nearly hundred‑meter Divine Lord stood before the several‑hundred‑meter Giant Fox like an adult facing a child.

But that aura, that bone‑deep pressure, made the Giant Fox frown again.

The Divine Lord's hands drew a golden spear from the void.

The spear was countless times larger than the one Jing Yuan held, its shaft covered with dense sigils that swirled in the golden light like ignited runes.

The spearhead was golden and blindingly bright, its radiance pouring down from the tip, bleaching everything around.

The Divine Lord gripped the Golden Spear tightly, rotating its shaft once in his hand, generating a muffled rush of wind.

The Golden Spear swept sideways from his side; as it cut the air, golden lightning burst from the shaft, one after another, pouring down from the tip and filling the entire sky before the Divine Lord.

The golden thunder rolled and hissed in the air like a pack of beasts released from cages, lunging toward the Giant Fox.

It enveloped the Giant Fox entirely in a sea of golden thunder.

【5】 The Giant Fox's body stiffened for a moment within the thunder.

The Giant Fox's body stiffened briefly in that lightning.

The golden currents struck the black‑golden Flame on its body, the two colors colliding and intertwining.

The golden currents tried to pierce the gaps of the Flame, while the black‑golden Flame tried to burn the currents to ash; the two forces waged a tug‑of‑war on the Giant Fox's surface, each advancing as the other retreated, neither yielding.

The black‑golden eyes shifted from the Divine Lord to the golden thunder still burning on its own body.

It then lifted its head and let out a long howl toward the heavens.

The sound was louder than before, shaking the black‑red ripples in the sky.

Jing Yuan stood behind the Divine Lord, still holding the Golden Spear; the thunder on its shaft had dimmed considerably, yet the patterns still glowed.

His white long hair fluttered in the wind, and his golden eyes stared at the flames burning on his body.

He furrowed his brow.

It wasn't because it was strong—he had long known it was strong.

It was because it was smiling.

In those black‑golden eyes was an indefinable mix of excitement and enjoyment, like someone finally finding a toy that could play with them for a while.

Jing Yuan's grip on the Golden Spear tightened.

"Now this is troublesome."

Perspective shift.

Ilya pushed open the half‑ajar wooden door, slipped inside sideways, then carefully pulled the door back, leaving a slit no wider than a hair.

Robin followed behind her, footsteps as light as stepping on cotton, even her breathing was barely audible.

The place was larger than it appeared from outside.

The dim light filtering through the crack could not reach the far end, only illuminating this small area—several crooked benches, a wooden floor blanketed with a thick layer of ash, and an absurdly massive beam overhead.

Beyond that, nothing was discernible, only a vast abyss‑like space where occasional flashes flickered in the darkness, indistinguishable as broken glass or something else.

Ilya looked around, and a word sprang to mind—opera house.

The drapes hanging from the ceiling, their original colors long faded, the wall‑mounted sconces long without candles, and the tiered rows of seats resembling steps all reminded her of the ancient theatres she had seen on television.

Only this theatre was larger than those on TV, like a gigantic coffin abandoned for centuries.

She tugged Robin's sleeve, and the two stepped a few paces deeper along the wall, slipping into a small room beside them.

The room was probably once a VIP lounge; it was small but had a relatively sturdy wooden door, and solid brick walls, unlike the thin wooden partitions outside that could be kicked through.

Ilya closed the door, latched the bolt, then leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

Her hand still trembled, a ruby clenched in her palm, the faint glow on the staff's shaft flickering.

Robin crouched beside her, straining his ears to listen to the sounds outside.

The sound came from far away, high‑pitched and thin, bouncing back and forth in the vast hall several times, turning into a muddled echo.

It sounded like someone humming, yet also like someone talking to themselves, the melody rising and falling, distant and near.

"Loli loli loli…"

The words bounced between wall and ceiling, sometimes close as if right outside the door, other times distant as if from the opposite end of the theatre.

The voice carried a spine‑tingling, joyous energy, like a child running around an amusement park, shouting "I found you" while sprinting.

Robin's brow twitched slightly.

Cat catches mouse.

The phrase flashed through her mind.

They are the mouse, and that orange little thing hopping around outside is the cat.

Not the kind of cat that kills a mouse with one bite, but the kind that, after catching a mouse, doesn't rush to eat it, first pats it twice, flicks it twice, and watches the mouse run wildly across the ground.

That kind of cat is the most disgusting, because it isn't in a hurry, it has patience, and it has all the time to play with you.

Boom—!

The sound didn't come from outside, but from a very close place, so close that Ilya felt the wall itself tremble.

Her back bounced off the wall, and her whole body lunged forward, nearly landing flat on the ground.

The ruby slipped out of her palm and rolled twice on the floor.

Robin braced against the wall, stood up, and leaned to the doorway to look outside.