The silence in the grotto was a heavy, profound thing. The water, once a raging vortex of chaotic energy, was now unnervingly still, held in the unyielding grip of Khaos's spatial lock. The Tidal Wrath Behemoth was frozen before Li Yu, a living monument of stone and flesh, its colossal form a testament to the raw power of the deep sea.
A wave of profound, weary relief washed through the beast's consciousness, a feeling Li Yu could perceive as clearly as if it were his own. The primary, deep-seated agony at its very core—the constant, draining violation from the parasite—was gone. The relief was so absolute, so sudden, that the Behemoth's mind was momentarily lost in a fog of weary confusion. Its frantic, futile struggles against the invisible bonds lessened.
But the torment was not over. The secondary affliction, the spiritual poison, still pulsed through its meridians, a maddening, widespread itch that prevented true peace. The rage had subsided from a roaring inferno to a bed of smoldering coals, but it was still there, ready to flare to life at the slightest provocation.
Li Yu knew this was his only window of opportunity. The beast's mind, no longer completely consumed by a two-front war of agony, was now clear enough to be reached.
He closed his eyes, focusing once more. He did not project a general feeling of calm this time; that had been a mistake. He needed to be specific, to communicate intent. He reached out with the essence of his Koi Martial Spirit, projecting a simple, powerful sequence of feelings directly into the Behemoth's mind. First, an acknowledgment of its remaining pain, a feeling of shared sympathy for the 'sharp, stinging hurt.' Second, a clear image of removal, of cleansing, a feeling of 'taking the bad shiny away.' Finally, he projected a feeling of the peace that would follow, the pure, undisturbed tranquility of a deep, calm ocean.
'I took one hurt away. Let me take the other.'
This time, the Behemoth did not erupt in fury. Its massive golden eyes, still wide with the terror of its paralysis, focused on Li Yu with a new, dawning intelligence. It could understand. It could remember the sudden, blessed relief that had come moments after this small being had appeared. It could feel the genuine, non-hostile nature of his pure aquatic energy. The pain from the poison still drove it towards madness, but the memory of that relief was a powerful anchor.
A slow, hesitant feeling of assent, of desperate hope, trickled back from the ancient creature. It was a gamble, a last, desperate throw of the dice for a being that had known nothing but pain for months.
'Show me,' Li Yu projected gently. 'Show me the root of the poison. Show me the bad shiny.'
The Behemoth couldn't move its body, but it could guide his senses. It focused its remaining consciousness, directing Li Yu's attention to a specific spot on its vast, stone-plated flank. It was an area covered in ancient scars, the marks of territorial battles fought centuries ago. But among the old wounds, there was one that felt different. It was a small, almost perfectly circular puncture wound, long since healed over, but the stone-like hide around it was subtly discolored, a faint, sickly purple that was nearly invisible in the gloom.
This was the entry point. The source.
Li Yu began to swim forward, moving through the still, dark water towards the colossal, frozen creature. It was an act of profound trust, both in the Behemoth's reluctant cooperation and in Khaos's absolute control. He approached the massive flank, the sheer scale of it like swimming towards a living cliff face. He finally reached the discolored spot and placed his hand gently on the Behemoth's hide. It was cold and hard, like smoothed obsidian, but beneath the surface, he could feel the faint, thrumming life force of the ancient leviathan.
He focused his own spiritual energy, letting it flow from his palm, not as an attack, but as a gentle, probing current. And there, buried deep within the creature's dense musculature, he found it. It was a thin, needle-like object, no longer than his finger, made of a dark, malevolent-looking metal. It pulsed with a wicked, insidious energy, the very same spiritual poison that had spread throughout the Behemoth's body. It was a Soul-Spike, a cursed artifact designed for one purpose: to inflict slow, maddening torment.
'This is a delicate operation,' Li Yu thought, analyzing the object. Its design was cruel and clever. The spike was barbed with microscopic hooks of solidified spiritual energy. Any attempt to simply pull it out would cause the barbs to break off, releasing a final, cataclysmic dose of poison that would likely shatter the beast's spirit completely. It was a trap, designed to punish any attempt at rescue.
"A nasty little toy," Khaos's voice rumbled in his mind, dripping with disdain. "The work of a craven who fears a direct confrontation. Shall I crush it?"
'No,' Li Yu replied instantly. 'Your power is too absolute. It might shatter it and trigger the trap. I have a different idea. I need you to keep the beast perfectly still. This requires a gentler touch.'
Li Yu took a deep breath. He placed both his palms flat on the Behemoth's hide, centering himself over the hidden Soul-Spike. Then, he did the opposite of what any normal cultivator would do. He didn't try to extract the poison. He began to pour his own life force, the pure, vibrant, life-affirming energy of the Koi's Sanctuary, into the Tidal Wrath Behemoth.
It was like opening a floodgate. A torrent of brilliant, azure-gold energy flowed from his body into the leviathan's. From the outside, it would have looked like two tiny, impossibly bright suns had appeared on the creature's dark flank.
The Behemoth's mind, which had been bracing for more pain, was suddenly inundated with a feeling of overwhelming warmth and vitality. It was the purest, most potent aquatic energy it had ever encountered, a cleansing tide that was the absolute antithesis of the dark, corrosive poison that afflicted it.
Li Yu's energy didn't attack the poison directly. Instead, it nourished the Behemoth's own damaged life force. He targeted the creature's spiritual channels, his energy flowing through them like a great river clearing out a polluted stream. The dark, insidious threads of the Soul-Spike's curse, which had clung to the beast's meridians for months, were washed away, diluted, and rendered inert by the sheer, overwhelming purity of Li Yu's power.
The process was an immense drain on Li Yu, but it was also a form of cultivation unlike any other. As his energy purified the Behemoth, he was in turn absorbing the ancient, vast, and primal oceanic energy of the beast itself. It was a symbiotic exchange of power, a dangerous, high-stakes purification ritual. His own spiritual core hummed, growing stronger and deeper as it processed this ancient, raw power.
As the Behemoth's channels were cleansed, the Soul-Spike was left isolated, its network of poison severed. Its barbs, made of spiritual energy, began to dissolve, unable to maintain their form in the face of such overwhelming purity.
'Now!' Li Yu thought.
He focused a thread of his own energy, wrapping it around the now-inert spike, and gently pulled. It slid out of the Behemoth's flesh with a faint squelch, the wound closing behind it, cleansed by his power. He held the malevolent black needle in his hand, its dark energy now contained, unable to escape the cocoon of his own azure light.
The moment the spike was removed, the last vestiges of pain vanished from the Tidal Wrath Behemoth.
For a long, profound moment, there was nothing. No rage. No pain. No confusion. Only the blessed, forgotten sensation of peace. A wave of emotion, so powerful it almost staggered Li Yu, washed over him from the great beast—not agony, but a flood of pure, unadulterated gratitude, a feeling as deep and vast as the ocean itself.
'Khaos,' Li Yu projected, his voice tired but steady. 'Release it.'
"Are you certain, boy? It may still be disoriented," the sovereign grumbled, a rare hint of caution in his tone.
'I'm certain.'
With a final, mental huff, Khaos retracted his power. The invisible, absolute lock on space vanished.
The Tidal Wrath Behemoth was free.
It drifted in the dark water for a moment, its colossal body moving with a slow, newfound grace. Then, it turned its great head towards Li Yu. Its massive golden eyes, now completely clear of madness, fixed on the tiny figure floating before it. They held a wisdom that spanned centuries, and a depth of gratitude that transcended words.
Slowly, deliberately, it moved forward. It lowered its massive head, bringing its snout, a surface as large as a carriage, to gently nudge Li Yu's side. It was an act of immense, careful tenderness, a gesture of thanks and affection from a creature whose slightest unintentional twitch could have crushed him.
Li Yu smiled, placing his hand on the creature's stone-like hide. The connection was made. He had not just saved a beast; he had made a friend.
He projected a final thought. 'Rest now. Heal.'
The Behemoth gave a low, rumbling croon, a sound of pure contentment that vibrated through the water. It then turned and swam slowly to the bottom of the grotto, coiling its massive body and closing its eyes, finally entering a true, peaceful state of recuperation for the first time in months.
Li Yu watched it for a moment, then turned. He sent a single, calm pulse of his own energy towards the sealed entrance.
Outside, the effect was immediate.
"Open the portal! Now!" Branch Master Jing commanded, his voice cracking with a hope he hadn't dared to feel.
The runes glowed, the grinding sound returned, and the shimmering, watery door reappeared. A moment later, Li Yu floated out, his expression calm and weary, but his eyes bright. In his hand, held within a sphere of azure light, was the small, wicked-looking Soul-Spike.
Elder Quan and Branch Master Jing stared, first at the undeniable proof of the curse in his hand, then at his unharmed person, and finally at the now utterly silent and still seal. They were speechless, their minds unable to fully comprehend the miracle they had just witnessed.
The crisis that had threatened to destroy their city and had baffled the greatest experts they knew, had just been solved, single-handedly, by the quiet, unassuming young man who stood before them. The weight of his name in the annals of the Jade Sea Pavilion had just been forged not in gold, but in the impossible.