The night air in Tidal Jade City, usually filled with the gentle sounds of lapping waves and distant, melodious wind chimes, was suddenly suffocated by a thick, black blanket of murderous intent. On the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, dozens of figures, clad in black from head to toe, materialized from the shadows.
More poured into the streets below, forming a tight, inescapable cordon. In the sky above, a half-dozen powerful cultivators hovered, their auras cold and deadly. The entire guest pavilion was surrounded. The serpent, driven by fear and a desperate need to reclaim its secrets, had finally struck.
From the group hovering in the sky, one man glided forward. He was tall and imposing, clad in fine, dark robes, his face sharp and hawkish. His aura was a churning, violent sea of power, a pressure that dwarfed the others with him.
"The rats inside the building," his voice boomed, amplified by his spiritual energy, echoing through the now-silent streets. "You have overstayed your welcome in this city. Come out and face your judgment, or we will burn this entire pavilion to the ground with you in it."
Inside the main hall, Li Yu's expression was calm, but his spiritual sense was focused entirely on the man who had just spoken. 'Peak Core Formation,' he thought, a flicker of genuine surprise in his eyes. This is the strongest human cultivator I have seen, outside of Jian Xuan.' This was no mere enforcer; this was a true powerhouse, a big wig of the Beast Revolution Faction. They kept having repeated setbacks in this region and have now brought someone with incredible strength.
The five other figures in the sky with him, ranging from mid to early Core Formation, were a testament to the gravity of the force they had brought. Another incredibly strong force like before, this faction must have been around for a long time to gather so many with such strengths. They would be an extremely powerful sect if all decided to start one.
Kui and Spine stood ready, their expressions grim. Jian Xuan, who had already moved from the courtyard to stand beside Li Yu, was completely unfazed.
"They are confident," Jian Xuan murmured, his gaze fixed on the leader in the sky.
"They think they have brought out enough power to destroy us," Li Yu said quietly.
They did not move. They did not respond. They simply waited. Their silence was a form of contempt, an unspoken challenge that clearly infuriated the man outside. After a moment, with a frustrated growl, the six powerful cultivators from the sky descended, landing with a heavy thud in the courtyard. They strode into the main hall as if they owned it, their combined pressure washing over the room.
The man in the lead, his eyes burning with a cold fire, looked them over. "So, the rats are actually a gathering people. I am Elder Tian Long of the Beast Revolution Faction. I will give you one choice. You are clearly powerful individuals. Join us. The new world is dawning, and there is a place for the strong in it. Serve the Faction, and you will be rewarded with power and status beyond your imagining. Refuse, and you will die here, tonight, forgotten."
His threats hung in the air, but the group was completely unfazed by them. It was Li Yu who spoke, a flicker of almost childish curiosity in his voice. "Benefits? What kind of benefits can you offer?"
Elder Tian Long's lips curled into a cruel, confident smile, believing he had found a crack in their resolve. "Anything you desire. Wealth? We can give you a mountain of spirit stones. Power? Our Faction has cultivation techniques that can advance you by leaps and bounds. Status? When the revolution is complete, you will be lords in the new world order, second only to the great beasts themselves. I am an Elder of the Faction. I have the authority to grant you all of this, and more."
He spread his arms wide, his expression one of magnanimous power.
Li Yu listened patiently to the grand promises. When the man was finished, Li Yu simply shook his head. He reached behind his back and a heavy, black staff of Condensed Sea Iron Ore materialized in his hand. He rested its end on the floor with a soft thud.
"I cannot trust someone who promises too much," he said, his voice simple and direct. "My mother warned me not to."
The simple, almost childish rejection was a greater insult than any threat. Elder Tian Long's face contorted in a mask of pure, murderous rage. "Foolish child! You have chosen death!"
His aura, which had been a churning sea, erupted into a raging tsunami. The unrestrained spiritual pressure of a peak Core Formation expert slammed into the room, powerful enough to crack the jade floor tiles and make the very air tremble. It was a force designed to crush the will of his opponents before the battle even began.
Jian Xuan, with a calm gesture, released a sliver of his own aura, a perfect, unbreachable wall of energy that shielded Kui and Spine from the crushing pressure, leaving them completely unaffected.
But at the exact moment that Elder Tian Long's aura exploded outwards, it was Spine who reacted.
His body, which had been standing in a state of quiet, coiled readiness, suddenly went rigid. His head snapped up, his eyes, usually calm and steady, now blazed with a fire of pure, unadulterated, and ancient hatred. Every muscle in his powerful form tensed, and a low, guttural growl, a sound more animal than human, tore from his throat.
He was not looking at the five subordinates. He was not looking at Li Yu or Jian Xuan. His entire being, his entire soul, was focused on one man.
Elder Tian Long.
"IT'S YOU!" Spine roared, his voice no longer human, but the bellow of a great, wounded leviathan. The sound was a physical force, a shockwave of grief and rage that blasted through the hall. "YOU BASTARD! TODAY YOU WILL DIE!"
Before anyone could react, before Li Yu or Jian Xuan could even process what was happening, Spine exploded. His human form was torn away in a whirlwind of golden light and raw, untamed power. In its place, his true form appeared, a magnificent behemoth and of primal fury. He was no longer the silent man he usually was. He was a leviathan of the deep sea, a being of immense power, and he was completely consumed by a singular, soul-deep rage.
His sudden, explosive transformation shattered the grand hall of the guest pavilion. The roof was blown skyward in a shower of jade tiles and splintered wood. The walls crumbled outwards, dissolving into dust. The entire, elegant structure was annihilated in an instant, revealing the clear, moonlit sky and the dozens of shocked, black-clad figures that surrounded them.
Spine, in his true beast form, ignored everyone and everything else. With a roar that shook the very foundations of the city, he launched himself directly at Elder Tian Long, a golden comet of pure, unthinking vengeance.
Li Yu and his team were still quite stunned. They stood in the rubble of the building, the sudden, violent escalation of the situation leaving them momentarily speechless. What was going on? What could possibly have caused their calm, stoic retainer to lose control so completely?