Jian Xuan eventually captured the man after a short one-sided struggle. It is much harder to take someone down without killing them than it was to just kill them. Jian wouldn’t have needed nearly as much time if he were to simply take his head off. The 2nd stage Soul Formation expert now had his cultivation completely sealed in Jian Xuan’s hand.

Li Yu went over to Bai Yan to see how she was doing since she was fighting before he got there. After checking and seeing that she was okay with only minor injuries he was relieved. She had a lot of words for him, things she wanted to say but nothing came out. She was only able to nod when he asked if she was all okay.

The sect leader guarding this city came over now and thanked Jian for coming to their rescue. What would have happened if they didn’t show up they didn’t even want to think about. It was decided that Jian Xuan would take the man with him as his prisoner since he was the strongest. If the Beast Faction had a plan to rescue him, it would be best directed at the city Jian was staying at.

After the surprise attack, an eerie silence fell over the southern coast. Nothing out of the blue happened, nothing happened at all. The expected retaliatory strike from the Beast Faction never came. After the attack by that man, no more beasts came out from the sea.

Five days soon passed since that attack. Everyone was now thinking that the beast tide was finally over. Believing that the force from the beasts was spent, the sects began to pack up, leaving a small force of roughly 20% behind as a just in case.

“You must come visit us at the Azure Wave Sect Senior Li” said one of the disciples that had been talking with Li Yu during this time. A few more jumped in saying the same thing, that he had to come.

“Thank you for the kind offers, I will definitely visit when I have time. You will have to make some time then and play host for me. You know I love food and drinks so prepare a lot!” Li Yu responded to them laughing.

“I will make sure to visit your shop when you finally open one too, the Golden Shell Guild can be a supplier of some goods then as well.” He said to the woman whose dream it was to open a shop and leave the cultivation world.

On that day, Jian contacted Li Yu via the communication token. His voice was laced with frustration. “Li Yu, I still have this prisoner. The Beast Faction hasn’t made a move. It’s like they don’t care that we have him. What should I do?”

Li Yu considered this for a moment. “They’re not reacting. The plan didn’t work at all. There’s a seal on his soul, so we can’t get any information out of him anyway. Just kill him and take his storage ring. It’s the only value he has left for us.”

Later, the core team talked via the communication token, their voices filled with a sense of frustration that they were no closer to getting to the leadership of the Beast Faction than when they started.

“So that’s it?” Kael asked. “We don’t even get a hint of who was behind this?”

“It is disappointing,” Bai Yan agreed. “I was certain the capture of a Soul Formation expert would force their leadership to show their hand. For them to simply abandon him… it suggests either a profound level of ruthlessness or that he was more expendable than we thought.”

“Maybe he was what everything was thinking, that he was the one overseeing the operations this time around,” Li Yu speculated. “Without him to command them the whole thing stopped. If there was anyone else remaining they fled.”

The team was disappointed they weren’t able to lure out their leaders, but they had to move on as there was nothing else they could do here now. They had successfully defended the coast and dealt a blow to the enemy. With the beast tide over, Li Yu gave his new orders.

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“Jian, stay down south for now. Set up at our headquarters where the Golden Tide Clan used to be. It would be good to have a permanent force down here just in case there was more to this than what we saw. Perhaps they did something else in the south while the beast tide was going on. Kael, you stay with Jian. You two seem to be getting along and you can learn from Jian.” He would bring Bai Yan and Cyra back up with him to the sect.

The flight back was an uneventful one and they were quickly back at the sect. Li Yu sent Bai Yan to go meet up with Fat Pig to help him along with his activities with the guild. He then settled down, foregoing his usual reports and visits. He went directly into his pagoda to rest and recover.

It was only a week later that he went to visit his master, Elder Ning, to simply chat and relax. A few days after that, he met his close friends, Brother Kai and Lin Tao. They asked him why it took him so long to get back after dropping off Hu Jian. He explained that he had things he had to go do right afterwards, so he was delayed. They didn’t press any further because he was always doing other things, they wouldn’t pry.

Li Yu was now nearly fully recovered, it had taken him a long time to do so. That is with his strong body and all the healing pills he took. As he meditated, he could definitely feel that his body was stronger than before. The ordeal had been a baptism by fire, tempering his physical form to a new level of resilience.

He confirmed his theory that getting beaten up was a way to strengthen his body, but the memory of the pain made him shudder. It was not a training method he would ever seek out on purpose. It would only now be a small positive prize he can take after a tough battle.

As he settled in at the sect once more, his thoughts eventually drifted to Lireal and the insanely powerful, but hateful and ugly old man. He still felt the phantom ache of the beating and his anger, which had subsided, began to rise again. It took him quite awhile to settle back down, it would seem that the old man had left a mental scar on him.

He wanted a second opinion, an expert assessment of the power he had faced. He went into his Koi Sanctuary to chat with Khaos. He found the colossal crab not in his usually spot but meditating at the bottom of a deep trench in the ocean.

“Khaos,” Li Yu began, “you met Zephyr, the old ugly naga. The one with the face like a pickled grape.” Khaos opened one massive eye and stared at him with it.

“There’s a question that’s been bugging me,” Li Yu continued. “If you two were to fight, a real fight, who do you think would win?”

Khaos was surprisingly quiet. For a long silent moment he seemed to be in deep contemplation. He then finally answered Li Yu. “Probably not me.” A shocking admission from Khaos, this was a first. Li Yu was so taken aback he almost couldn't respond and only stared for awhile.

“What do you mean, ‘probably not’?” Li Yu asked, bewildered.

Khaos shifted his immense weight, the seabed trembling slightly. “The old naga is indeed very strong. His cultivation is stronger than mine, I can admit that. He’s a lot older than me too, it’s actually pathetic how he is only at that strength at that age! His body and soul have fused and he has begun to grasp the natural laws. He is on a different level from the Soul Formation weaklings you associate with.”

“So he’d beat you?” Li Yu pressed.

“I said ‘probably not me’,” Khaos corrected, his voice laced with his usual arrogance. “His cultivation is higher, yes. But I could not gauge his understanding of the laws. That is the true battlefield at our level. However,” he added, with a distinct note of mockery in his tone, “using my void laws, I would certainly not have gotten beaten up like you did. His attacks were powerful, but they would have never touched me. I could have come and went as I pleased. I couldn’t beat the old man, but the old man couldn’t beat me, either.”

This was a huge sign of respect from Khaos, the first time ever that Li Yu had seen that from him for anyone else. To admit that another being was his equal in a fight was a monumental concession. It would seem from what Khaos said, he would most likely lose in a fight but Khaos didn’t want to just straight out and say it, Li Yu thought.

Li Yu, however, was focused on a different part. The memory of the beating, now validated by Khaos’s assessment, came flooding back. He could only squeeze his fist, his anger rising again just thinking of that ugly, wrinkled, prune-like face!

Li Yu didn’t realize it himself but he started believing all the stories he was making up of that ugly old man. He couldn’t even remember what the old man actually looked like anymore, his features now purely from his made up stories.