The week that followed the impossible victory at the Crimson Ridge Pass was a testament to the resilience and unshakeable discipline of the cultivation world. The initial, wild cheers of relief quickly subsided, replaced by a grim, methodical determination. The battle was won but the war against the aftermath had just begun.
The pass, once a beautiful blood-red mountain range was now a vast, sprawling graveyard. Beast corpses laid everywhere, from the smallest Rank 1 scavenger to the colossal forms of the Tyrant Beasts. They all laid scattered across a landscape that had been churned into a bloody unrecognizable mire. The air was thick with the coppery scent of blood and the faint sweet smell of decay, a scent that even the strongest cleansing winds could not entirely disperse.
This was the harvest.
Thousands of disciples, their faces grim and their movements economical, moved through the carnage. It was a brutal but necessary task. Every demonic beast was a treasure trove of materials. Their hides could be tanned into spiritual armor, their bones ground into alchemical powders, their tendons woven into powerful bowstrings and their cores, the crystallized essence of their power, were a form of hard currency or a cultivation resource.
The sheer, staggering wealth represented by this mountain of corpses was enough to fund the allied sects for the next fifty years.
Li Yu and his Beast Taming Battalion were at the heart of this great, bloody enterprise. His disciples, with their innate understanding of demonic beast anatomy, moved with a skill and precision that was the envy of others. They were not just butchers; they were artisans, expertly carving out the most valuable parts of the beasts with a practiced ease.
Li Yu himself worked alongside them. He was not a distant commander but a quiet, hands-on leader. He moved from carcass to carcass, his expression calm and focused. The «Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art» was a quiet, deep current, drawing in the last, fading wisps of life essence and spiritual energy from the corpses that he could. A final, secret toll that no one could perceive. It was not a massive influx of power like the one he had experienced during the battle but a slow steady, nourishing stream that helped to solidify his new, Eighth Stage foundation.
After everything was cleaned up and they returned back to the sect a short period of peace and rest filled the entire sect. A few days after that rewards were announced and handed out.
As a reward for his contribution to the war, Li Yu was granted a massive, one-time reward from the sect: a storage ring filled with high-grade beast cores and raw materials. The sect also publicly announced that his personal resource stipend would be permanently increased to match that of a senior elder, a clear statement of their intent to continue fostering his growth.
The sect and the entire region entered a new, post-war era. The fragile alliance, forged in the fires of battle, held. The righteous and demonic sects, while not friends, now treated each other with a grudging, wary respect. The shared near-death experience had burned away their most ancient and petty animosities.
The Sect Leader came by to visit Li Yu again and had told him he didn't need to explain himself for what really happened out there. All that mattered was it ended in the benefit of the sect and the people. He was an extremely open minded person, one benefitting the seat of a sect master.
Li Yu returned to his quiet life but the world had changed. He was no longer just a disciple; he was a living legend, a powerhouse whose true strength was a subject of endless, whispered speculation. Disciples would travel to his valley, not just for his skills as a physician but simply to catch a glimpse of the man who was known as the Maniac or the Lunatic. The boy who fought against countless beasts and won.
His impact on the battlefield wasn't just seen by nearly everyone, the relentless fighting show he put on was etched into their memory. While others were starting to fade away during battle, he fought on continuously without stopping.
The amount of lives he saved from every sect present was numerous, he actually saved them all but they would never know that. Only the Sect Leader and his master were aware that he had done something.
He spent his days overseeing his burgeoning kingdom. The wealth from the Beast Tide allowed him to expand at an incredible rate. He built new, larger habitats, acquired new, exotic species from the Golden Sea Guild.
One afternoon, as he was inspecting a newly completed secluded pond designed by Uncle Wei for delicate, low-rank species, he decided it was time. His Koi's Sanctuary was a perfect, nourishing environment, but it was also becoming crowded with the spoils of his war. It was time to introduce some of the unique, non-combat-oriented beasts he had captured into the menagerie itself.
He stood at the edge of the crystal-clear pond. With a quiet thought, he opened the portal to his sanctuary and began the careful process of transfer. First came the Rank 2 Cloud-Eels, their strange, semi-ethereal bodies shimmering as they began to swim happily through both the water and the air of their new, larger home.
Next were the Rank 3 Rain-Frogs, who immediately found comfortable spots on the large, mossy rocks, their contented croaks adding a new, lively note to the valley's symphony. Half of the low-rank beasts he had captured, a menagerie of strange and wonderful aquatic creatures, were released, a new, vibrant population for his growing kingdom.
Finally, he turned his attention to the last group. He reached into his sanctuary and gently guided out the few dozen small, three-eyed toads he had rescued from the northern front of the Beast Tide. They emerged, their tiny bodies trembling, their auras a familiar, sorrowful song of loss and fear.
Li Yu's heart, which was usually as calm and deep as a silent lake, felt a strange, familiar pang. He did not know why, but he felt an instinctual connection to these small, insignificant creatures. He knelt at the edge of the pond and extended his hand, a gentle, emerald-green stream of pure life energy flowing from his palm and into the water, creating a nourishing and incredibly safe environment for them.
The small toads, who had been huddled together in a state of terror, felt the warm, life-giving energy wash over them. They looked at Li Yu, their three eyes filled with a dawning, confused recognition. They felt a sense of safety from his aura, a feeling that was completely alien in the cruel, chaotic world they had just been rescued from. They did not flee. They slowly, cautiously, began to hop towards him.
As he watched them, a distant, forgotten memory surfaced in his mind. A memory of a lonely, grieving Rank 3 Three-Eyed Spirit Toad in a small, isolated pond in the Green Mountain Sect, a creature whose spirit was broken by the loss of its children. A creature to whom he had shown a simple, unexpected kindness.
He thought it would be good for their species to be together so he brought these small toads to that older one. It was now staying in the Deep Water Menagerie in another pond.
The small toads froze. They looked at the large, familiar figure of the adult toad. A wave of pure, unadulterated and soul-shaking joy erupted from their tiny bodies.
Mother!
The psychic cry was a single, unified, and overwhelmingly emotional wave that washed over Li Yu. The small toads, their years of fear and loneliness forgotten in an instant, swarmed towards their mother, a chattering, croaking river of green.
The mother toad, who had believed her children to be lost forever, let out a great, silent, psychic sob of her own, her three eyes overflowing with tears of pure, unadulterated joy. She gathered her lost children to her, her entire being a symphony of love and relief.
Li Yu knelt at the edge of the pond, his own eyes wide with understanding. He finally understood the source of their familiar sorrow, the reason for his own, strange connection to them. These were the very children the toad had grieved for, a family torn apart by the chaos of the world, now reunited in the place he had built.
His simple act of kindness, a moment of empathy for a grieving beast so many years ago, had come full circle. He had not just saved a few insignificant creatures from a battlefield. He had reunited a family. He had healed a broken heart.
He stood up, his heart filled with a quiet satisfaction that was more nourishing than any cultivation breakthrough. He envisioned a bit of his own mother over to where the frog was, how she must have felt from that one time he had gotten lost but was helped back home by a villager. This was what it was all about, being able to enjoy what life had to offer and to be able to help those along the way. In order to keep doing these things he needed strength.
His nights were when he would achieve it. He continued his brutal lessons with Khaos, his power and his control growing stronger with each session. He began to truly learn how to wield the terrifying power of his own foundation.
He also spent time with his new companions. Kui, the Behemoth Turtle-Snake, had fully recovered in the nourishing sanctuary. Its boisterous, flattering personality was a constant source of amusement.
"Ah, wise Host!" its mental voice would boom. "Your return fills this old turtle's heart with a joy as vast as the four seas! Surely, the world outside is a dull, grey place without your brilliant, sun-like presence!"
Xylia, the Glacial Matriarch, was his opposite. She was a silent queen, her presence a constant calming cold. She would spend her days in a deep, meditative trance in the icy corner of the sanctuary she had claimed, her profound control over the ice element a constant, passive lesson for Li Yu.
He also finally had the time to truly study the two new Rank 7 Abyssal Water-Drakes, Ying and Zhao. He had made contract seals with them as they were willing to submit with Kui's direction. They were natural-born commanders, their intelligence sharp, their instincts for pack tactics flawless. He began to train them alongside the others, they were his strongest beasts that he could openly take out right now.
He was building his power further, but having seen true powerhouses fight. There was still a long way before he would truly feel that he had the power to make a difference. He wanted the power that Khaos showed, to be able to crush and smash things in his way.
One evening, as he was sitting in his studying over the battles he had fought, he received a visitor. It was his master, Elder Ning.
She looked at him, a proud satisfied smile on her face. "You have become a pillar of this sect, Li Yu. Your name is spoken in every corner of this sect."
"I only did my duty, Master," he replied.
"You did more than that," she said. "You have given us a future." Her expression turned serious. "And now, it is time to build your own."
She placed a small, simple, unadorned jade slip on the table. "You are at the Eighth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, even higher than me." He had kept his real cultivation known to his master.
She paused here, gently looking at the boy that had grown up before she knew it. A feeling of pride, warmth and happiness showing on her face and Li Yu could feel it as well. She continued after a moment.
"The final step, the step into the Core Formation Realm, is a chasm that has stopped countless geniuses. It is not just about power; it is about enlightenment, about forming a single concept that will define your future path."
She looked at him, her gaze intense. "This jade slip contains the lifetime of comprehension of our sect's founder, a great powerhouse who reached the peak of the Core Formation Realm. It is one of the most precious treasures of our Green Mountain Sect. The Sect Master has agreed that you are to be granted the privilege of studying it in seclusion for three months. After that, it must be returned to the sect's vaults."
Li Yu stared at the simple jade slip, the weight of thousands of years of wisdom resting on his table.