The battlefield, which had been a chaotic but manageable grinder, transformed in an instant. The arrival of the second wave was not just an addition of numbers; it was a fundamental shift in the very nature of the war. The legions of Rank 3 and Rank 4 beasts were a true army, their movements coordinated, their auras a crushing unified presence.
For the allied cultivators, who had spent six grueling hours fighting for their lives, the sight of this new, fresh and infinitely more powerful enemy was a blow to their already fractured morale. Cries of despair and terror echoed along the defensive lines as the second wave crashed into them.
A Sixth Stage Qi Condensation expert from the Crimson Cauldron Sect, who had been a pillar of his unit, was instantly torn to shreds by a trio of coordinated Rank 4 Saber-Toothed Tigers. Normally he would have been able to put up a fight against them but he was tired, fatigued and drained. The front line did not just falter; it shattered.
It was in this moment of rising despair that a new and overwhelmingly powerful aura erupted from the heart of the river gorge.
Li Yu felt the breakthrough settle, the universe of new power within him finding its equilibrium. The world, which had been a chaotic storm of sound and fury, suddenly seemed to slow down. He could see the trajectory of every spiritual art, the desperate expression on every disciple's face, the predatory glint in every beast's eye, all with a preternatural clarity.
His spiritual sense, now supercharged by his Seventh Stage Foundation Establishment foundation, was no longer just a net; it was a part of the battlefield itself, every ripple in the river, every shift in the wind, an extension of his own consciousness.
He stood in the churning, bloody water with his Star-Iron Rod held loosely in one hand. His aura was a deep, calm and unshakable pillar in the midst of the raging storm.
The Myriad Graves Sect leader, who stood on a high cliff overlooking the gorge, paused in his direction of his disciples. His midnight-dark eyes, the eyes of a Core Formation expert, widened in disbelief as he felt the sudden, explosive surge of power from the young man in the river below. 'He… he broke through? What kind of monster is this boy?'
Li Yu did not have time to revel in his newfound power. He saw the chaos, the collapsing lines, the despair in the eyes of the demonic sect disciples as they were pushed back by a new terrifying threat. Leading the charge of the second wave into the gorge was a new beast, a true hegemon of the swamps.
It was a Colossal Mud-Titan, a Rank 6 Hegemon Beast. It stood over sixty feet tall, its humanoid body a grotesque amalgamation of enchanted river mud, ancient stones and the gnarled roots of ironwood trees. Its eyes were two burning, malevolent swamp-fires and its every step shook the very foundations of the gorge. It was a living siege engine, a creature of immense, unyielding physical power.
"Hold it back!" the Myriad Graves Sect leader roared, but his disciples' Yin-aspected, corrosive arts, so effective against flesh, simply splashed harmlessly against the Mud-Titan's ever-regenerating, earthen body.
Li Yu knew that if that creature broke their line, the entire Right Flank would collapse. He did not wait for an order. He gave one.
"Hu Jian! Lin Tao!" his voice, imbued with the power of his new realm, was a thunderclap that cut through the chaos. "Take the battalion! Form a defensive line with the Myriad Graves Sect! Do not let a single beast pass! I will deal with the Titan."
Li Yu was already moving. He did not fly. He ran, his feet striding across the surface of the churning river as if it were solid ground. He shot towards the advancing behemoth, a single, small figure against a moving mountain.
The Mud-Titan saw him, its swamp-fire eyes glowing with a dismissive, contemptuous light. It raised one of its massive, tree-trunk-like arms and brought it crashing down, a blow that could pulverize a sect's gatehouse.
Li Yu did not evade. He did not defend. He met the attack head-on. He swung his Star-Iron Rod in a simple, clean, upward arc. Rod Smash.
His own profound physical strength, amplified by his 'Leviathan's Unity' physique and now fueled by the immense, qualitative leap of his Seventh Stage foundation, was channeled into the impossibly heavy weapon. There was no time to hide his power. The battle was too critical; he had to end this threat quickly and decisively to stabilize the front.
The two forces met.
There was no deafening explosion. There was only a deep, soul-shaking BOOM, as if the world itself had cracked. A visible, circular shockwave of pure, compressed air erupted from the point of impact, turning the surrounding river water into a fine, atomized mist.
The Mud-Titan's massive arm, which was made of stone and enchanted mud harder than steel, simply… shattered. It exploded into a shower of gravel and sludge from the elbow down. That wasn't all, it's entire being exploded from the impact.
A wave of stunned silence washed over everyone who witnessed it. A Rank 6 Hegemon Beast was equivalent to a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, but that was a measure of its spiritual energy. Its physical body was a fortress, a hundred times tougher than any human at that level.
Even a normal, early-stage Foundation Establishment expert would have to spend some time wearing down such a creature. For this young man to destroy it in a single blow was impressive.
The entire Right Flank of the battlefield had fallen more quiet but their battle raged on. The disciples of the Myriad Graves Sect, the beast tamers of the Green Mountain battalion, and the demonic beasts of the tide all quickly went back to their own fights. The beasts they were fighting were now more sluggish however. Sensing a dangerous threat from that boy over there.
The leader of the Myriad Graves Sect looked down from his cliff, his usual, scholarly calm replaced by a look that he was impressed by what he saw. He had thought he was allying with a talented junior. He had not realized he was fighting alongside a beast in human form.
Li Yu looked at the new, dark line of beasts that was already beginning to surge forward to fill the gap left by the fallen Titan. He took a deep, steadying breath. One down. Thousands more to go.