The journey back from the western front was a silent, solitary flight through a sky that was, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, clear and peaceful. Li Yu stood on the back of his Silver-Winged Flying Swordfish, the wind whipping past him, his expression a mask of introspection.
The four kings were gone. Their armies were annihilated. The great Beast Tide, a threat that had brought the entire region to its knees, had been single-handedly dismantled by him and the horror he kept in his soul.
As he flew, his mind was not on the victory but on the terrifying display of power he had witnessed. Khaos had unmade a mountain and scattered a storm with a casualness that was more frightening than any rage.
Khaos had gone and destroyed the 4th king without any issues, just like the rest. It was a Wind Roc, not something that Li Yu could take into his sanctuary. The battle was swift and done before the roc even knew what was happening. Khaos was able to beat it in speed and power. It had reinforced the profound lesson he had learned in his training: his own strength was still just a flickering candle in a vast, dark universe. He had a long, long way to go.
He did, however, make progress. After absorbing so many beasts from the four kings under Khaos's attack, he broke through to the eighth stage of Foundation Establishment.
From the 4th king he was able to capture a Rank 7 Skyshroud Leviathan. Its massive, whale-like body, over a hundred feet long, was covered in scales of shimmering, pearlescent silver. It was one of the few aquatic bloodline creatures with the 4th king's army and it was willing to submit. He would have to check on it later.
He turned his mount back towards the Crimson Ridge Pass. It was time to return to the world of humans.
When he arrived, the scene that greeted him was one of tense, exhausted vigilance. The Myriad Mountains Guardian Array still shimmered, a dome of emerald green light that held the horrors of the world at bay.
Inside, the disciples of the allied sects moved like ghosts, their spiritual energy reserves slightly recovered, their faces etched with a grim, weary determination as they watched the endless sea of beast corpses outside.
Li Yu did not announce his return with a grand entrance. That was not his way. He guided his Swordfish to a high, secluded cliff face at the rear of the pass. He recalled the beast and with a single thought, activated his «Abyssal Dragon's Shadow». His form dissolved into the shadows and he slipped through a tiny imperceptible fluctuation in the great array with Khaos's help. A ghost returning to his own camp completely unseen.
His first priority was not his friends but the hundred formation masters who were the dying heart of their defense. They sat in their complex array, their faces as pale as death, their bodies trembling with the strain of feeding the insatiable formation. The piles of spirit stones around them were dwindling at an alarming rate.
He knew he had to end this.
He made his way directly to the main command warship of the Green Mountain Sect and requested an immediate, private audience with the Sect Master. He was escorted into a small, sound-proofed chamber where the Sect Master sat in deep meditation, his face weary from the events of late.
"Disciple Li," the Sect Master said, his voice low and tired "You have returned."
Li Yu was a bit surprised that the Sect Master knew he had left the formation but upon further thought it shouldn't be that surprising. They were constantly monitoring the area to keep a look out, everyone was on edge and everyone was exhausted.
"I have, Sect Master," Li Yu replied, his voice calm and even. He knelt and gave a deep, formal bow. "The beast kings are gone."
The Sect Master's eyes, which had been heavy with exhaustion, snapped open, a brilliant, golden light flaring within them. "Gone?" he whispered, his voice a mixture of disbelief and insane hope. "What do you mean, gone? Could it be a trick for them to lure us out?"
"The Beast Kings are no longer a threat," Li Yu stated simply. He did not offer details. He did not speak of Khaos's impossible feats. He knew that such a truth was too monstrous. He simply presented the result.
"The threat has been neutralized. I have seen it with my own eyes. Sect Master, the Myriad Mountains Guardian Array is consuming our sect's resources at a catastrophic rate. The formation masters cannot hold it for much longer. The tide is broken. You must lower the barrier."
The Sect Master stared at him, his ancient gaze seeming to pierce through Li Yu's very soul. He could see the exhaustion in the boy's eyes, the deep care he had for the sect which had called his home. He also saw a calm, unshakeable certainty. He did not know how, but he knew, with the instinct of a Core Formation expert, that the boy was telling the truth.
"You have done the impossible, child," the Sect Master said, his voice filled with a new awe. He understood, in that moment, that the boy's secrets were deeper and more terrifying than he could have ever imagined. And he understood that those secrets needed to be protected. Envy had been the fall of many heroes.
"Your actions today will remain a secret between you and I. This is something that the other sects cannot know about. Return to your battalion. Act as if you have just returned from a long scouting mission I sent you on. I will handle the other leaders."
"Yes, Sect Master," Li Yu said. He gave another deep bow and departed, leaving the most powerful man in the sect to grapple with a miracle he could not comprehend.
A few minutes later, the Green Mountain Sect Master convened a private, emergency meeting with the other six Core Formation experts. He did not tell them the truth. He simply stated, with an unshakeable authority that he had "received definitive intelligence from a flawless source" that the Beast Kings, for reasons unknown, had inexplicably withdrawn.
The other leaders were, understandably, skeptical. But they were also exhausted, their own spiritual senses telling them that the oppressive will of the four kings had indeed… vanished. After a brief, tense debate, they agreed to a high-speed reconnaissance mission.
The seven of them shot into the sky, seven brilliant suns that passed over the sea of dead lesser beasts. They traveled for a great distance into the western wilderness, to the very horizon where the four colossal shadows had stood.
And they found… nothing.
The psychic pressure was gone. The colossal shadows had vanished. The Untamed Wilderness was utterly, unnervingly silent.
Bewildered but filled with unbelievable relief, they returned. The order was given.
With a deep, groaning sound that echoed through the mountains, the emerald-green dome of the Myriad Mountains Guardian Array flickered and died. A wave of confusion, followed by a tidal wave of overwhelming, joyous relief, washed over the thousands of disciples. They didn't know why. They didn't know how. They only knew that they had been saved.
The sect leaders then themselves swept outward to clear up any remaining beasts in the area. Their disciples were much too battered and damaged for anymore fighting.
In the midst of the rising celebration, Li Yu was in the reserve camp of his battalion, quietly tending to the wounds of a disciple's Armored-Shell Turtle, his expression as calm and unassuming as ever. His friends rushed to his side, their faces a mixture of relief and confusion.
"Commander Li! You're back!" Hu Jian exclaimed. "What happened? The elders are saying the Beast Kings just… left!"
"It seems we were fortunate," Li Yu replied, a small tired smile on his face as he applied a healing salve to the turtle's shell.
His friends looked at him, at his calm ordinary expression and they knew that it had not been fortune. It had something to do with him, he kept bringing about miracles. But they did not ask. It was a secret he was not yet ready to share and they would protect it with their lives. They couldn't prove it anyways.
Who would believe or even think that a foundation establishment cultivator had anything to do with it anyways. There was no reason to tell the truth because the truth was even more insane than any lie.
As the first true cheers of victory began to echo through the pass, the Sect Master's voice boomed once more, a solemn, final command that cut through the celebration. "The battle is won. But the war is not over. The cleanup begins now. Harvest the materials. Tend to the wounded. And honor our fallen."
The long bloody fight was finally, truly over. Li Yu stood up and looked out at the vast, sprawling graveyard of the Beast Tide, his eyes not on the cheering disciples but on the endless sea of resources waiting to be collected.
His reward was not in the praise of the elders or the worship of the disciples. His reward was the quiet, undeniable fact that his home and everyone in it was safe. And for a boy who had lost everything to a beast tide once before, that was more than enough.