The air in the cave behind the waterfall was thick with the tension of a storm about to break. Below, in the valley, the Blackwood Syndicate moved with the swift, brutal efficiency of a well-oiled machine of death. The new wave of Rank 5 Tyrant Beasts— hulking, spike-shelled lizards and ferocious, twin-headed swamp hounds—were positioned at the front, their roars a deafening, earth-shaking chorus. Jin Ao stood beside the Syndicate Leader, a triumphant, hateful sneer on his face, his gaze sweeping the cliffs as if searching for the hiding place of his enemies.
"They have us trapped," Su Ling stated, her voice a low, cold whisper. "They control the only exit to the valley. We are outnumbered at least eight to one, and they have the advantage of terrain and a beast army."
The other disciples, who had been filled with righteous fury moments before, now felt a cold knot of fear in their stomachs. The odds were not just long; they were impossible.
It was Elder Ma who broke the silence, his voice a low, furious growl that seemed to shake the very stones of the cave. "So we fight," he said, his eyes blazing with a warrior's light. He looked at Elder Feng, his former political rival, and saw not an enemy, but a fellow protector of the sect. "Feng. You and I will be the tip of the spear. Our target is Jin Ao and that bastard leading this filth. We cut off the head of the snake. The disciples will follow our charge and engage the main force."
"A sound plan," Elder Feng agreed, her own expression a mask of cold, lethal fury. "But their beast tamers and their Tyrant Beasts will intercept us. We will be bogged down before we can even reach their leaders." Her gaze swept over the pale faces of the disciples, a grim reality setting in. Their charge would fail before it began. Her eyes finally settled on the quiet, unassuming boy at the back of the cave. He kept bringing about surprises, their only unknown variable.
She walked over to him, her expression grave. "Disciple Li," she said, her voice sharp, yet tinged with a heavy reluctance. "I am about to ask you to do the impossible. To ask you to sacrifice yourself and your friends to open a path for the rest of us. Those Tyrant Beasts are the shield that protects their leaders. If our charge is to have any hope of success, that shield must be broken, or at the very least, held back."
She looked him directly in the eye, the weight of her authority pressing down. "I know you have your Flood Dragon and the Naga you revealed in the competition. They are powerful. But against a dozen Tyrant Beasts… I am asking you to take your team and engage that beast army first. You must hold their attention, create a chaotic opening for the main force. I know this is a suicide mission. But I must ask. For the sect." Her voice trailed off. Who would truly want to die, who would truly want to lay down their life for the sect but there weren't many choices, if not Li Yu and his group, it would be someone else.
Li Yu looked at the desperate, resolute face of the elder. He thought of his quiet valley, of his master's guidance, of the friends he had made, and even of the rivals he had fought. This sect, for all its flaws and internal conflicts, had given him a home when he had none. It had taken him in as an orphan and given him a path to walk. It had raised him for nearly half his life.
"The sect is my home, Elder," he said, his voice quiet but filled with an unshakeable certainty. "I will not allow it to be defiled by traitors." He turned to his three friends, who met his gaze with fierce, unwavering loyalty. "We will hold the line." Some of his confidence came from having Khaos's shell but also from the training his group went through. He felt they should be able to stay alive.
Elder Feng nodded, a flicker of profound, pained respect in her eyes. "Good." She turned to the rest of the disciples. "You have all seen the depravity of these traitors. They deal in the forbidden art of human slavery and have betrayed our sect. There is no mercy for such scum! Disciple Li's team will create the opening! When you see it, you charge! Fight with the honor of the Green Mountain Sect! For the sect!"
"For the sect!" the disciples roared, their fear burned away by a surge of righteous fury and the selfless courage of the small team before them.
Li Yu and his three friends were the first to emerge from the cave. They did not charge. They stood at the base of the waterfall, a calm, unshakeable island in the middle of the raging storm. Before them, the dozen Rank 5 Tyrant Beasts, guided by their handlers, began to charge, their intent to crush this small, arrogant vanguard.
"Now," Li Yu said, his voice a low command.
Brother Kai stomped his foot, and a massive, thick wall of solid earth, twenty feet high, erupted from the ground, intercepting the charge of the Tyrant Beasts and giving them a moment's pause. Hu Jian and Lin Tao stood before it, their auras flaring, ready for battle.
Li Yu simply raised his hand. "The time for hiding is over," he whispered to himself. "Let them see what a true beast tamer can do."
He opened the portal to his Koi's Sanctuary, not a small, pinprick opening, but a wide, shimmering gateway of crimson-gold light.
The first to emerge were two massive, hulking forms that slammed into the ground with the weight of small mountains. Aegis and Bastion, the two Rank 4 Iron-Shell Guardian Turtles. They immediately took up a position in front of their four human companions, their shells forming an impenetrable, overlapping wall.
A murmur of surprise went through the sect disciples watching from the cave. "Two more Rank 4 beasts? Where did he get those?"
But Li Yu was not finished.
From the portal, two more powerful auras surged. Fury and Rage, the two Rank 4 Azure-Clawed Hydras, shot out, their six draconic heads letting out a chorus of furious, venomous hisses as they charged to meet the enemy.
The disciples were now openly gaping. Four previously unknown Rank 4 beasts? It was unbelievable.
Then, a shimmer of distorted light emerged. Mirage, the Rank 4 Phantasmal Octopus, vanished into the shadows, its psychic aura a subtle, confusing wave. And beside it, with a furious roar, came Crimson, his familiar, powerful Flood Dragon form.
Elder Feng's eyes were wide with utter shock. "Six Rank 4 beasts… How is this possible?"
Finally, a wave of cold, noble power washed over them all. Lirael, the Rank 5 Deep-Sea Naga, emerged, her midnight-blue scales a stark contrast to the crimson-gold light of the portal. She gave Li Yu a single, intelligent glance, then vanished into the chaos.
The sudden appearance of an entire, well-coordinated army of powerful demonic beasts, none of whom had been seen before besides Crimson and Lirael, sent a wave of absolute shock through everyone present. The Syndicate's charge faltered. The sect disciples stared, their minds unable to process what they were seeing. This wasn't a disciple with a few powerful companions. This was a one-man army. A walking Beast Tide.
"That is the signal!" Elder Feng roared, her voice now filled not with desperation, but with a new, wild hope. "CHARGE!"
With Li Yu's army holding back the enemy's beast vanguard, the path was clear. Elder Feng and Elder Ma shot out from behind the waterfall, two bolts of lightning descending upon the valley, their target the Syndicate Leader and Jin Ao. The rest of the sect disciples followed, a river of flashing swords and brilliant spirit arts, crashing into the wall of black-robed assassins. The valley floor immediately became a chaotic, swirling melee of death.
Li Yu stood behind his turtle-shell wall, his expression calm. He was not a natural fighter, like those at the genius level, but he was far from helpless. His role was not to lead the charge, but to be the unshakeable core of their defense. Their goal was not to win, but to hold, to be the reef upon which the enemy's wave would break.
The battle for the valley's flank was a brutal clash of monsters. The Tyrant Beasts, recovering from their initial shock, slammed into Crimson, Fury, and Rage. The three draconic beasts, despite being a lower rank, fought with a perfect, savage coordination, their attacks weaving together, their venom and brute force holding the more powerful but less intelligent Tyrant Beasts at bay. Behind them, Aegis and Bastion stood, their shells an unbreachable wall that protected their human masters from any stray attacks.
"Hu Jian! Lin Tao! The handlers!" Li Yu commanded.
His two friends shot out from the sides of the turtle wall. Hu Jian was a roaring flame, his saber cleaving a path towards the handlers of the spike-shelled lizards. Lin Tao was a silent, deadly current, his water whips snaking out to ensnare the handlers of the twin-headed hounds.
Li Yu himself moved to the front line, his black staff a blur. An assassin, slipping past the chaos, lunged at Brother Kai. Li Yu was there in an instant, his staff a flowing, defensive barrier. He used «Flowing Water, Enduring Mountain» to redirect the assassin's blade, then trapped the man's arm with «The Serpent's Coil», sending him stumbling into the path of Hu Jian's backswing. He was not a genius in combat, but his techniques were mastered and his mind was calm. He was fulfilling his role as a support well, the lynchpin holding their entire defensive formation together.
On the main battlefield, the tide was turning. The Syndicate's beast tamers, their minds clouded by the subtle, disorienting illusions of Mirage, found their control over their beasts faltering. Lirael was a ghost of death among them, her silver horn glowing with a cold, deadly light as she struck, crippling handler after handler and breaking their connection to their beasts.
Li Yu's mind was a battlefield of information. He saw a disciple about to be overwhelmed by a gorilla and directed Fury to intercept. He saw a group of assassins trying to flank Su Ling and directed Lin Tao to cut them off. He saw a crack forming in Brother Kai's earthen wall and directed Bastion to reinforce it.
He was not a warrior. He did not need to be. He was the mind, and his beasts and his friends were his body. Their primary goal was to defend, to hold this small section of the battlefield and protect the flank of the main force. They took opportunities for a kill when they presented themselves, but their focus was on being an unmovable, unshakeable anchor.
The battle raged, a chaotic, brutal symphony of roaring beasts and clashing steel. The disciples of the Green Mountain Sect, inspired by the sudden, overwhelming support and guided by an unseen hand, began to push back.
Li Yu looked up at the cataclysmic battle between the four Foundation Establishment experts. His master had been right. This was a war. And he, the quiet, unassuming boy from the fish ponds, was standing right at its heart.