From the moment he blasted the cave open to this final quiet realization, his breakthrough had taken a total of four hours.

He donned a fresh set of robes from his storage ring. The pristine white fabric is a stark contrast to the grueling battle he had just endured. He was no longer injured. The combination of the breakthrough and the constant siphoning from his Koi Soul had already healed his physical wounds, knitting bone and mending flesh.

Only the mental fatigue remained and even that was fading, nourished by the strange purple crystal his Human Soul had "fished."

With a wave of his hand he collected his array disks. He left the cave and with another wave of his hand, he blasted the cave entrance and collapsed it. Burying any trace of his presence, his breakthrough or the purple leader's corpse.

He retrieved his merit token and sent a simple message to Jian Xuan. "I am on my way back. The breakthrough was successful."

Now, it was time to test his new mind on his way back.

As his physical body streaked across the desolate landscape, he engaged his "two brains."

Mind One, the Koi Soul, took control of the "day-to-day." It was the base consciousness, the one that had always been. It handled the high-speed flight, its spiritual sense sweeping the area around him, scanning for danger, listening for ambushes, noting the terrain and maintaining a constant low-level vigilance. It was the watchman on the wall.

Mind Two, the Human Soul, was free to think and process. It sank into the quiet analytical space of his Ocean of Qi.It pulled up the principles of his 'Void-Lattice Cage'.

'The construction is too slow,' the Human Soul analyzed. Its thought processes parallel to the Koi Soul's flight without affecting it.

'The Qi cost is high and it's inflexible. It's a bit slow to be a trap and I could possibly use it as a weapon as well. What if I integrate the principles of some of my water arts? Use water as a medium and void as the law? A flexible liquid-void cage that can be constructed quickly and then constrict… crush?'

Li Yu's physical body continued its high-speed flight without any issues. He kept checking just in case as he got used to using two brains. His eyes were constantly scanning the horizon. His internal world was a flurry of activity as Mind Two began deconstructing and re-fusing two separate high-level techniques.

‘This... this was amazing.’ Li Yu finally thought to himself.

The implications washed over him. He could continue to make progress on his techniques while doing his day-to-day activities. He could be eating, walking, talking or even sleeping while his Human Soul worked tirelessly. Analyzing, cultivating and creating anything he could think up of. His cultivation speed, his technique development... it would take another step forward.

And in battle...

His Koi Soul could focus entirely on the macro: the overall battlefield, the positions of all enemies, the flow of Qi and the incoming flanking attacks. His Human Soul could then be dedicated to the micro. To the single opponent in front of him, analyzing their every breath, their every muscle twitch and formulating a counter before they attacked. He could lock onto individuals while maintaining perfect situational awareness.

Then, a new inspiration struck him. His Abyssal Sentry.

Until now, it had been a semi-autonomous turret. He gave it a command—"fire," "defend," "barrage"—and it was executed. It was effective but it was stupid.

'But now...' he thought, his Human Soul dropping the cage-fusion project instantly. 'What if... what if my Human Soul pilots the Sentry?'

It wasn't just a turret anymore. It was an avatar. A second fully sentient body on the battlefield. His Human Soul could be in the Sentry, flying, dodging and targeting with the full analytical power of his second mind, while his Koi Soul and physical body fought elsewhere.

'It needs to be better,' his Human Soul immediately decided, already switching tasks. 'How to better integrate the control pathway? Can I make the Sentry its new 'body'? And one isn't enough. I need more. How do I advance the technique to support two Sentries? Or three? One piloted, two autonomous… Why a ball, it could take shape like a second body…'

As his physical body finally saw the dark jagged outline of Sorrow's Peak in the distance, his second mind was already neck-deep in the complex theoretical redesign of his Sentry technique. Trying to evolve it and take it to the next level.

He landed in the central courtyard. The monastery was a hive of activity but the tension was thick. Repairs were underway but the mood was grim. Jian Xuan was there, pacing near the command hall. "Brother Little Crab!" he yelled, his voice cracking with an almost hysterical joy. He shot across the courtyard, ignoring the stares of the demon and human cultivators.

At the same moment, the command hall door burst open. Grand Elder Corvus and Lord Zaltar having also sensed Li Yu from far away also emerged, their faces drawn with weariness... until they saw him.

Their expressions froze.

Jian Xuan, who already knew from the token, was just vibrating with manic energy. But Corvus and Zaltar... they finally sensed it for the first time.

Their powerful Soul Formation-level spiritual senses washed over Li Yu. The chaotic, overflowing power of a peak Core Formation disciple was gone. In its place was the terrifyingly deep and stable aura of a true Soul Formation expert.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"By the... Ashen Depths," Zaltar's deep voice rumbled, his four arms hanging limp in surprise.

"Soul... Formation?" Corvus whispered. His spiritual sense swept Li Yu again and again. Probing and assessing just to make sure. He could feel the youth in his bones, the vitality that was impossible to fake. "His... his bone age... he's... he's under fifty... Ancestors, he might be under thirty..."

They both stared. They had known he was a freak. A monster. A Core Formation disciple who could brawl with Demon Lords and slaughter Praetorians. But this? To break through here and at this age? This was unprecedented. This was not just a freak, it was an aberration… a monstrosity.

But they'd seen enough weird things through their long lives that they quickly accepted it. He was a monstrosity but at least he was on their side. He also seemed to be quite friendly and just wanted to raise fish.

"You... broke through," Corvus finally said, his voice flat as if stating the impossible was a simple fact.

Li Yu, having planned this conversation on the flight back, gave a simple nod. "The ambush was perilous. It was a life-and-death struggle that pushed me to my absolute limit. The pressure... it forced the opportunity. I was lucky."

"Luck?" Jian Xuan exploded, shoving past the two stunned leaders. "Luck has nothing to do with it! HAH! Did you hear that? A life-and-death battle! The Great Crab God, in his infinite wisdom saw the piety and courage of his most humble follower! He saw the danger of this war and granted his champion the power to overcome it! A trial, a test and then a blessing! All praise the Crab God, for he guides the faithful to glory!"

Corvus and Zaltar both winced, their expressions a mix of annoyance and exhaustion. They had seen past the deception of this so-called Crab God. Used to explain anything and everything that these two did. They couldn’t prove them wrong and there was nothing else that explained what was going on. They were too tired to even argue with the fanatic.

"The breakthrough," Li Yu said, his voice cutting cleanly through Jian Xuan's praise, "is not the most important news." His face grew cold and serious. "It was how I was ambushed. I need to report to Commander Theron. Now."

The mood snapped back to a grim reality.

They gathered in the command hall that was set up here, the tactical map glowing. Corvus activated the long-range communication array, its runes flaring to life. A moment later, a projection of Commander Theron shimmered into existence. His face was grim.

"Commander Li Yu." Theron said, his voice a low baritone. "Report."

Li Yu nodded. "Commander," he said, "before you hear my report, I request you connect the other strike group leaders. All of them. This concerns every one of us."

Theron's eyes narrowed. He held Li Yu's gaze for a moment then nodded. "Of course."

The array flared, new runes lighting up. Li Yu could feel the subtle shift in the air as other long-range tokens were linked into the call. He could sense the tense, wary presence of the Cultist leaders, Vrak and the Red-Eyed Mistress. He saw others too, a network of nervous, powerful wills, all now listening.

"I have all strike leaders patched in, Commander Li Yu," Theron said. "You have the floor."

Li Yu began. "After I left the Sunken Basin Outpost, I was ambushed."

"It was not a random swarm. It was an elite Xylarri execution squad. Twenty Praetorians, all at the Soul Formation level."

A wave of sharp, indrawn breaths echoed through the various communication channels.

"They were led," Li Yu continued, his voice steady, "by one of the special ones. The deep-purple variant. The kind the Cultists team had described."

From the Cultist's channel, he heard a sharp hissed curse and the sound of something solid being slammed.

"They were organized," Li Yu said, pressing the crucial intelligence. "They used a spatial-locking treasure to prevent my escape and they fought with a terrifying formation that shared and distributed all damage. They were not a mindless swarm. They were a coordinated team and were following orders."

The silence in the network was absolute.

"How... how are you alive?" It was the voice of the Red-Eyed Mistress, sharp and laced with disbelief. "That thing... it killed the General..."

"They underestimated me," Li Yu said calmly. "They believed I was trapped and about to die. It gave me the opening I needed. I was able to use a one-time-use, life-saving artifact given to me by Great Prophet Khaos. It was a treasure of immense power."

He let that sink in. He was building the lie, grounding it in a verifiable authority.

"The resulting blast... it was devastating. The implosion tore a hole in their formation and in the spatial lock. It killed half of them outright and grievously injured the rest, including the purple leader."

He paused, letting the image of him standing amidst a scene of utter chaos and destruction permeate their minds.

"The formation broke. The survivors were in a panic and their leader was wounded. I... I finished them off."

It was a decent lie. It explained how a "Core Formation" disciple could survive twenty-one Soul Formation experts. It attributed the victory to a powerful expended item, making him seem both resourceful and lucky. More importantly, it gave everyone the information they needed about the ambush. What to expect and look out for.

The reaction was a mix of stunned relief and amplified terror.

Good news: Twenty-one Soul Formation elites, including a purple leader, were dead. This was the single greatest allied victory of the war so far. Bad news: There were likely to be more purple leaders. They were leading organized ambush squads, equipped with treasures and using advanced tactics.

Commander Theron's voice finally broke the silence and it was as grim as granite. "Commander Li Yu, your victory and the cost of your artifact has provided us with a critical intelligence of this war. The enemy is more organized than we feared and have ever known. They are hunting us."

He continued, "In light of this, the current strike group plan is untenable. We are too exposed. Our smaller and fast-moving teams are no longer assets; they are bait waiting to be eaten."

"New orders for all groups, effective immediately. Consolidate. Your groups of two to three Soul Formation experts are now vulnerable. All teams will be assigned their two nearest allied groups and merge. The new strike groups will consist of six to nine Soul Formation experts. This will reduce our map coverage but it is the only way to increase our survivability."

Theron's voice became specific. "Grand Elder Corvus, your group is at Sorrow's Peak. The two closest allied forces are the Sunken Basin Outpost... and the Demonic Strike Team."

"They will rendezvous with your team in the next two days," Theron commanded. He then went on to assign the rest of the groups and who would partner with whom.

Before the transmission was cut out, Grand Elder Theron reminded everyone to be extremely careful. Place the lives of themselves and their team above all other mission objectives. It’s better to retreat and return alive than make progress right now.

Li Yu looked at Corvus and Zaltar. They looked back at him. Their group of four was about to merge with the Cultist group (High Priest Vrak, the Red-Eyed Mistress) and another three Demon Soul Formation experts.

"Well," Zaltar growled, "this will be... interesting."

Corvus just closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. His only thoughts were about how his luck had been terrible ever since he ran into these two crab cult fanatics. "We need to revise the entire plan. Again."