Night passed in the Sanctuary like a gentle sigh—soft winds, glowing leaves, peaceful breaths from the sleeping huts. But Lin Fengyu didn't sleep. He sat on a stone by the riverside, spear resting across his knees, watching the ripples dance beneath the violet sky.
Tomorrow, he would face whatever commanded the beasts.
He could feel it—something ancient, something dangerous, something unexpected during a mere clan trial.
At dawn, he stood.
Meiyu, Lingxin, Qingxia, and Lin Xuan were already awake, waiting for him near the entrance node.
Li Meiyu held a bundle of dried berry cakes. "Take some food."
Lingxin clutched her marked hand, worry etched clearly across her face. "Don't stay out too long."
Lin Xuan looked ashamed but determined. "Next time… let me come."
Qingxia crossed her arms, still recovering but trying to hide concern. "If you die, I'll be angry."
Fengyu chuckled softly. "I won't die."
He placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"I'll be back."
And with that, he stepped out.
— — —
The outside greeted him with gloom.
Clouds hung low and heavy, pressing a suffocating stillness into the forest. No birds. No insects. No wind. The world seemed to be holding its breath.
Fengyu moved quickly, retracing the route where Qingxia had encountered the beast pack.
He noticed it almost immediately.
Claw marks. Massive ones.
The ground bore impressions like deep bowls—clearly footprints from something enormous. Trees were snapped in half as if crushed by something with terrifying weight.
Fengyu crouched beside a footprint, his breath slowing.
"Three claws… wide spacing… this isn't a common spirit beast."
A low tremor vibrated the ground.
Fengyu stilled.
Then another tremor.
Thump… thump…
Slow. Heavy. Rhythmic.
He vaulted up into a tree, settling silently on a thick branch. His eyes scanned the forest floor.
The trembling grew stronger.
Then he saw it.
A towering shadow moved between the trees—massive, bulky, easily four meters tall. Its fur was obsidian-black. Its shoulders wide as a bison. Its eyes burned with eerie purple light.
A Shadow Ridge Ironback Bear.
A mid-tier Spirit Beast. Strong enough to kill dozens of trial participants.
But something was wrong.
Its movements were sluggish, its breathing uneven. A dark aura pulsed around it like corrupted qi.
"Corrupted…?" Fengyu murmured.
Then he saw the real danger.
Behind the bear—
dozens of glowing eyes stared from the shadows.
A beast tide.
Not random.
Not chaotic.
They followed the bear in an orderly pattern, like soldiers behind a commander.
Fengyu's breath hitched.
"Someone is controlling them."
He strained his eyes—and saw it.
A small creature perched on the bear's back.
Barely the size of a human head.
Insect-like, with translucent wings and a bulbous body studded with glowing sigils.
A Mind-Eater Moth King.
Fengyu barely suppressed a gasp.
A moth king was rare, parasitic, and extremely dangerous. It could enslave beasts far stronger than itself. Even cultivators of the Foundation Realm could fall victim to it.
"But why here?" Fengyu whispered. "Why during a clan trial?"
The bear halted.
The moth king's antennae twitched violently.
The beast horde froze.
Then—
It turned its head.
And looked directly at Fengyu's hiding place.
Cold dread slammed into him.
It sensed me…!?
He dropped from the tree just as the Ironback Bear roared—a thunderous, earth-shaking sound that blasted splinters off the bark Fengyu had just abandoned.
The horde surged toward him like a violent tide.
Fengyu sprinted, dodging roots, sliding under fallen logs, weaving through trees as claws swiped inches from his back.
He couldn't outrun an entire beast tide.
He had one option.
"Sanctuary—NOW!"
He felt the transport begin—warm light gathering around him.
But before it completed—
A smaller beast, a lynx-like predator, leapt and slashed across Fengyu's shoulder, knocking him sideways.
The transport flickered.
Pain shot through him.
The system's voice warned:
"Host is under attack. Sanctuary transport interrupted."
"Damn—!"
Fengyu rolled, ducking another swipe. Blood trickled down his arm, stinging hot.
He stabbed his spear backward, piercing the lynx's throat. It fell twitching.
But the tide wasn't slowing.
The Ironback Bear charged, its roar shattering branches.
The Moth King screeched, its piercing cry sending another wave of madness through the beasts.
Fengyu's breath heaved.
He needed distance.
A clearing.
A second of stillness to trigger the Sanctuary.
He spotted a narrow ravine ahead.
If he jumped—
He didn't think—he ran.
Beasts thundered behind him, the ground shaking violently.
Five meters from the ravine—
A wolf latched onto his leg.
Fengyu grunted, stabbing downward. The spear cracked through the wolf's skull. Too slow.
The bear's roar vibrated the air—
Fengyu leapt.
He cleared the ravine by a hair. The beasts slammed into the edge, tumbling down in snarling chaos.
He landed hard, rolling through dirt and gravel.
Before the beasts regrouped—
"Sanctuary!
NOW!"
Warm light swallowed him whole—
— — —
He crashed into the Sanctuary, collapsing onto soft grass.
Lingxin screamed, rushing toward him. "Fengyu!"
Meiyu fell to her knees beside him. "You're hurt—your shoulder—!"
Qingxia's eyes widened. "What chased you?"
Lin Xuan froze in terror.
Fengyu panted, blood dripping from his arm, clothes torn, but eyes blazing with urgency.
"A Mind-Eater Moth King," he rasped.
Silence exploded.
Then Qingxia whispered, voice trembling, "That… that's impossible…"
Fengyu forced himself upright.
"No. It's real. And it's leading a beast tide."
The Sanctuary fell deathly silent.
Meiyu placed a hand over her mouth.
Lingxin trembled, tears gathering. "Fengyu… you could have died…"
But Fengyu's voice cut through the fear like steel.
"We don't have time to panic."
He pointed toward the Holy Tree.
"We prepare. Because that beast tide isn't wandering."
He met each of their eyes.
"It's heading this way."
And the Sanctuary's wind answered with a cold, warning howl—
as if the very world knew a storm was coming.