The meeting with the sects started that night. It was held in a central location relative to the sects: an old, repurposed fortress known as the Seawatch Bastion. It was a grim, functional place of stone and iron, built on a high cliff that offered a commanding view of the southern coastline.

Li Yu’s team was escorted into the main war room, where maps were spread across a massive table, and the air was thick with tension. They were able to get such treatment because of their strength. Each person there was at least stronger than the sect leaders present, with the boy being the only exception.

Present here were the leaders of the five sects that had managed to band together. The first was the Azure Wave Sect, a well-rounded sect specializing in water-based arts. The second was the Iron Ship Sect, a group of sturdy-looking cultivators who were masters of defensive formations and crafting.

The third was the Whispering Coral Sect, a mysterious group specializing in poison and illusion arts. The fourth was the Stone Sentinel Sect, masters of earth-based techniques who had come down from the mountains to lend their aid. The fifth and final group was the Soaring Gull Sect, known for their incredible scouting abilities and aerial combat.

The meeting was short and to the point. The Soaring Gull Sect’s scouts reported that the beast wave was not concentrated in a single area but was a massive front, preparing to assault the five coastal cities simultaneously. The plan was simple: each sect would defend one of the core cities.

It was then that Jian, speaking for the Golden Shell Guild, stood up. “My Guild will aid in this defense,” he declared. “We will split our forces. Four of my comrades will each assist one of your sects. I will take a city, as will Elder Cyra, General Kael, and General Bai Yan. Our young disciple, Li Yu, and his bodyguard Spine, will defend the fifth city, Azure Wave City, alongside our hosts who we met first.”

The sect leaders, who had been steeling themselves for a desperate, bloody defense, were flooded with a bit of relief and deep gratitude. The power of the Guild could be seen by all in the room, with auras stronger than their own. With their help, they should be able to protect the cities without losing too many members of their sect.

They all expressed their heartfelt thanks that the guild would be willing to help them. They had no major assets in those cities that they couldn’t take with them and leave. Coming back once the battle was over and charging a higher than average price for everything was what a lot of the merchants would do. They didn’t know that the guild had their own agenda for being here or else it could very well be like that with them as well.

After the meeting, the Guild team met up for a quick, private briefing. “Keep your eyes open,” Jian Xuan began to talk. “This is most likely a diversion. The Beast Faction is behind this, and they’re trying to draw attention away from what they are actually doing, most likely anyways. Our primary goal is to defend the cities, but our true mission is to find the puppeteers. Don’t show your full strength unless you must. Lure them out thinking there are no real strong forces here.”

Li Yu and team all nodded in understanding, this was something they had discussed before. They each flew off to their respective cities. The attack came in the middle of the night. Waves upon waves of beasts from the sea came, their numbers a terrifying tide of chitin and claws.

At Azure Wave City, Li Yu met the waves head-on, his staff a blur of dark metal that liquefied dozens of beasts with every swing, their energy greedily absorbed by his martial spirit. His martial spirit was operating at full strength, with all the aquatic life here, he was able to greedily draw in their power without restraint, weakening them greatly before they had reached the other cultivators defending with him. He once again was using his water arts, slowing down beasts and funneling beasts to areas that he would then attack.

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At Jian’s city, the Stone Sentinel Sect held the line with grim determination. A burly elder roared as his “Granite Shieldmaiden” martial spirit—a towering, stoic figure of solid rock—materialized to block the charge of a colossal, hammer-headed sea beast. Nearby, a younger disciple with a pair of “Earthen Gauntlets” as his martial spirit punched his way through a horde of smaller beasts, each blow shattering their carapaces like pottery.

Jian himself moved like a phantom through the chaos, his sword a silver comet that left trails of death in its wake, effortlessly dispatching any threat that broke through the Stone Sentinels’ unyielding defense.

At Bai Yan’s city, the Iron Ship Sect’s defensive formations were a sight to behold. Disciples stood shoulder-to-shoulder, their qi linked to create shimmering barriers of force. Their martial spirits reflected their sect’s nature: one powerful disciple commanded an “Anchor Golem” martial spirit, a slow but unstoppable juggernaut that swung its massive anchor-fist in wide, devastating arcs.

Another’s martial spirit took the form of a massive “Forge Hammer,” which he used to methodically smash the armored shells of giant crab-like monsters. Bai Yan acted as a field commander, her polearm a whirlwind of death as she moved along the line, shoring up weaknesses and cutting down elite beasts with brutal efficiency.

At Kael’s city, the battle was fought on two fronts. On the ground, Kael was a force of nature, his Tidal Cleaver creating a no-man’s-land that no beast could cross. Above, the Soaring Gull Sect’s riders dominated the sky. One rider’s “Gale Falcon” martial spirit merged with her, increasing her speed and allowing her to unleash devastating wind blades.

Another rider, a stoic-looking man, had a “Sky-Piercing Lance” as his spirit; he would dive from incredible heights, his spirit-lance leading the charge to impale the largest of the sea monsters with a single, devastating strike.

Finally, at Cyra’s city, the disciples of the Whispering Coral Sect fought with a strange, deadly grace. One disciple’s “Venomous Sea Snake” spirit coiled around his blade, envenoming every strike. Another used his “Chameleon Squid” spirit to become nearly invisible, appearing from the shadows to deliver fatal blows to beast leaders before melting away again.

They were effective, but the sheer number of beasts was beginning to overwhelm them. Then, the first true elites appeared. Three hulking, squid-like beasts with early Core Formation auras burst from the waves, their eyes glowing with a mindless, crimson light. They charged through the disciples’ poison and illusion arts, their minds seemingly immune.

The leader of the Whispering Coral Sect paled. It was at this moment that Cyra acted. Cyra used her illusion arts instantly. Her six ethereal hands, weaving a complex pattern in the air. A ripple of disorienting energy washed over the three charging beasts. To the onlookers, the beasts simply stopped, their tentacles twitching as they stared into space.

But within their corrupted minds, they were trapped in a nightmare. One was suddenly convinced another step would send it straight to the abyss and froze in terror. Another saw its own allies as horrifying predators and began to attack them with mindless fury.

The third was trapped in a simple, perfect illusion of an empty, peaceful ocean, its rage forgotten as it floated placidly in its mental prison. With the beasts rendered completely helpless, the sect leader and her elites moved in and delivered the killing blows.

Cyra’s effortless control over such powerful creatures left the sect leader deeply impressed and grateful that she was around. Without her, the sect leader would have to have engaged in a life and death battle. Soon after, reports began to flood in from the other four cities: stronger, Core Formation-level beasts were appearing everywhere.

However, with the help of the Guild members, who were now revealing a bit more of their true strength, they were all being killed. The initial wave had been repelled. But as the sun began to rise, casting a bloody red light on the corpse-strewn shores, everyone had the same grim thought, this beast tide was strong and with no end in sight.