A Battle Saint's Notice

Anastasia's dark red eyes flickered with a faint gleam. She glanced at the smiling faces of her Nightshade companions and spoke in a cool, level voice.

"According to word coming out of the Dark Night Forest, that Aberration Source is far from ordinary. Several Battle Saint-level Aberration Feral Beasts have already appeared. At most half a day before the Beast Tide reaches us — and you're still thinking about other things? You'd be better off considering how to conduct yourselves when it hits."

The smiles froze on Xia Zhi's and Nina's faces. Gravity settled over them in their place.

A silence fell. Then a look of puzzlement crossed Xia Zhi's face.

"How did an Aberration Source just appear in the Dark Night Forest out of nowhere? There were never any signs before."

Though the Nightshade women didn't frequent the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin, they still had some understanding of its conditions — their race did maintain a sizeable city here, after all.

Aberration Sources typically emerged with some form of prior warning. Yet the Dark Night Forest had shown none. An Aberration Source had simply erupted without any precursor, and that was strange.

Anastasia turned her gaze toward the direction of the Dark Night Forest. After a few seconds of silence, she slowly shook her head.

"I don't know. We deal with the Beast Tide first. Everything else can wait."

Lu Yuan's group had been resting for half a day when the alarm sounded.

He was seated cross-legged in his room, deep in cultivation. At the sound of the alarm, his eyes opened. Threads of starlight shimmered in his gaze. His body vanished from the spot and reappeared at the door; he opened it and stepped out.

From the other rooms, Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue each emerged in turn.

Li Qinghe's face wore a barely contained eagerness. "Looks like the Beast Tide is close. Let's go take a look at the wall."

Si Tingyu's expression was composed and steady. She nodded. "Right." Then she glanced sidelong at Li Qinghe. "Qinghe — don't rush in carelessly."

"Relax," Li Qinghe said with a grin.

Shuangyue cast Lu Yuan a sidelong look, smiling with her arms crossed. "With A-Yuan around, how could he ever let his dear Elder Sister Qinghe come to harm?"

Li Qinghe raised an eyebrow at her, a wicked little smile playing at her lips. "Oh? Is our Yueyue jealous?"

Lu Yuan gave a dry cough. "Shuangyue, don't worry — none of you three are going to be in any danger."

The Aberration Source he'd sensed earlier was no trivial matter, but simply keeping these three safe was well within his means.

Si Tingyu smiled. "Let's go."

Lu Yuan transported all three of them in an instant, reappearing in midair above the section of Dark Night City's wall closest to the Dark Night Forest.

By now, nearly every Gene Warrior stationed in the city had already come out. The walls and the sky above them were dense with figures — roughly one hundred thousand, Lu Yuan estimated with a sweep of his gaze.

The majority were Battle King Rank, with a fair number of Battle Sovereigns and Battle Emperors among them. His eyes moved to the three figures standing at the very front of the formation. One was a Twin-headed warrior of the Twin-headed Demon Race. Another was a peculiar, small-statured being whose skin shimmered with crystalline blue light. The last was a Nightshade woman of breathtaking beauty.

All three radiated formidable auras. Every one of them was a Battle Saint.

The most powerful was the Twin-headed Demon Race Battle Saint — Lu Yuan judged him to be considerably stronger than the Aberrated Green Dog they'd once encountered. The other two were roughly on par with that creature's level.

*So this is the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin.* Even a simple garrison post had three Battle Saints.

It was worth remembering that across the entire White Cloud Star Domain, Battle Saints were the absolute pinnacle of power — fewer than ten existed in total.

As though sensing his gaze, the blue-glowing little figure turned to look at him. The being had a long white beard, and his deep blue pupils carried a luminous, almost otherworldly intelligence.

Meeting Lu Yuan's eyes, the dwarf paused slightly — then gave him a small, amiable nod, a warm smile rising to his face.

Lu Yuan blinked. *A Battle Saint just nodded at me?* He was genuinely at a loss.

Beside him, Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue had all been quietly observing the Battle Saints. They too went still at the sight.

Li Qinghe stared at the small figure with open curiosity, then glanced back at Lu Yuan. "Little Yuan, do you know that Battle Saint?"

Lu Yuan rolled his eyes. "We've basically been together this whole time — if I knew him, wouldn't you already know? That Battle Saint probably isn't even from the White Cloud Star Domain."

"Then why is he greeting you?"

Lu Yuan thought about it. "Maybe he's just friendly. Or maybe he wasn't looking at me specifically — there are a lot of people around here."

He glanced around as he said this — and his expression went stiff.

The nearest Gene Warriors were a good several dozen meters away.

Dark Night City's wall stretched thirty kilometers long. With a hundred thousand people spread across the sky above it, the formation wasn't exactly cramped. There was clearly an open gap around their little group.

Plenty of the surrounding Gene Warriors had noticed where the small powerhouse's gaze had landed. They were looking at Lu Yuan's group with curious eyes, whispering to their companions.

*They're probably talking about us.*

Lu Yuan quietly returned his attention forward, glancing once more at the dwarf Battle Saint — who had already looked away.

Li Qinghe and the others were equally puzzled, though none of them pressed the matter further.

Where the three Battle Saints stood, the Twin-headed Demon Race Saint and the Nightshade Battle Saint had both noticed the dwarf's brief attention.

The Nightshade Battle Saint idly swept a lock of dark red hair from her shoulder. Her face was breathtaking — a mature, captivating beauty that seemed to carry a thousand moods in a single expression. She smiled.

"Silas, you seem quite interested in that little human."

The Twin-headed Demon Race Battle Saint also angled one of his heads toward the dwarf.

Silas's eyes seemed to hold the slow drift of stars within them. He smiled, a note of quiet wonder in his voice.

"That young man carries an exceptionally dense stellar force on him... If I'm not mistaken, he has engraved a Saint-grade Transcendent Gene related to the stars."

Both the Nightshade Battle Saint and the Twin-headed Battle Saint went still. They stared at Silas for a moment, then turned to look at the distant Lu Yuan — who wore an expression of complete bewilderment.

They turned back. The Nightshade Battle Saint narrowed her eyes, lips curving. "Silas, are you serious?"

Silas let out a hearty laugh. "Gladys, you know better than anyone what my power is. Trust my eyes."

Gladys's eyes narrowed slightly, a flash of astonishment crossing her face.

"Only Battle Sovereign rank, and already possessing a Saint-grade gene... Which War God's bloodline does this child carry?"

The Twin-headed Battle Saint glanced at Lu Yuan once more, his voice a low rumble.

"Or perhaps he simply encountered his own fortune. Who can say?"

He looked at Gladys, his mouth splitting into a grin. "Either way, Gladys — for your Nightshade Race, this young man is another excellent marriage prospect. As long as he doesn't fall, Battle Saint is a certainty. War God is not out of the question."

Gladys laughed, her smile carrying a languid, effortless charm. "I'm already thinking about suitable candidates."

For the Nightshade Race, this sort of calculation was never anything to be coy about. Their race was entirely female — strategic marriage was both a means of continuing the bloodline and a way of strengthening the race as a whole.

Back among his own group, Lu Yuan's confusion was only deepening.

It had been strange enough when the small Battle Saint looked at him. But a moment later, the other two had turned to stare as well.

*What on earth is there to look at?*

*Could it be that I'm simply too handsome?*

If that were the reason, he could almost understand the Nightshade Battle Saint taking an interest. But the other two looking at him made his skin crawl in a distinctly unsettling way.

He was still puzzling over this when something made him stop. He lifted his gaze to the distance.

Far ahead, deep within the Dark Night Forest bathed in its eerie green glow, wave after wave of aura was converging and rushing closer at speed. Within moments, dark shapes burst from the treeline and came surging toward them.

Li Qinghe's eyes lit up. "Here they come!"

Shuangyue narrowed her eyes, took hold of her Staff, and swept it in a wide arc. Threads of green light streamed out and sank into Lu Yuan, Li Qinghe, and Si Tingyu.

Lu Yuan felt an immediate enhancement wash through him — a boost across all his abilities of roughly ten percent.

*Ten percent?* He was genuinely surprised. He already carried seven Saint-grade genes and several sixth-tier Gene Armaments of Saint and Divine Grade, and she could still push all of it up by a tenth. That was no small feat.

*That Combat Technique of hers is something else.*

Si Tingyu drew a slow, steady breath. "They're here."

Across the entire formation, other Gene Warriors spotted the tide of Aberration Feral Beasts bearing down on them and began to stir, each making their own preparations.

At the forefront, the three Battle Saints narrowed their eyes in unison. Then Gladys raised one hand. Across the silver light shield encasing Dark Night City, hexagonal openings appeared like an enormous honeycomb spread across the sky. Her voice, carrying a faint magnetic resonance, reached every ear present:

"Those seeking Merits are free to go out and hunt Aberration Feral Beasts. Nightshade — move out."

At those words, the Nightshade fighters rose en masse and poured through the openings, flooding out beyond the shield.

Lu Yuan wasn't surprised. From the way Gladys had set this up, the shield was clearly meant as a last line of defense. If the Gene Warriors outside couldn't hold the Beast Tide, then the shield would be the final bulwark.

Until that point, her clear intention was for everyone in the city to take the fight to the Aberrations outside.

For the non-Nightshade warriors present, this was hardly exploitation. Hunting Aberration Feral Beasts earned Merits, and the rewards far exceeded what ordinary beasts could offer. In a Beast Tide of this scale, the sheer number of Aberrations was staggering — survive it, and you'd come out wealthy overnight.

Everyone had their own reasons to fight, and so they would.

That included Lu Yuan's group.

"Let's head out."

He smiled and led Li Qinghe and the others toward one of the Light Gates. Around them, streams of Gene Warriors were already passing through and exiting the shield.

Lu Yuan caught several gazes on him and turned to look. Anastasia and a group of Nightshade Battle King Rank warriors stood not far away, themselves surrounded by Battle Sovereign and Battle Emperor escorts as they moved toward the Light Gates.

Anastasia and the others had noticed him. When their eyes met, she gave him a composed nod.

He smiled and nodded back in greeting, then glanced briefly at the Battle Sovereign and Battle Emperor escorts around her before looking away.

*If Anastasia and the others made it onto the Prodigy Rankings and the King Rankings, they have real potential — some of them might even have a shot at Battle Saint someday. But at Battle King Rank right now, they're fragile against something like this. If any of them fell here, there'd be no revival. That would be a serious loss for the Nightshade Race — so having powerhouses watch over them during a trial like this makes complete sense.*

He couldn't help but be quietly impressed. *The talented from a major race really do get a different level of treatment.*

Outside the shield, the formation took shape. The entire front line consisted of Battle Emperor rank and above; Battle Sovereigns and Battle Kings were positioned further back to avoid being overrun by the first wave.

Li Qinghe scanned the formations around them and looked at Lu Yuan. "Little Yuan — where should we position ourselves?"

He glanced around, then smiled. "Up front. All the way to the front."

Li Qinghe's eyes lit up. She nodded with enthusiasm. "Works for me."

Si Tingyu looked at him, a trace of worry in her expression. "Isn't that too dangerous?"

"Trust me, Instructor Si." He grinned. "I've got us."

She studied him for a moment, then gave a small nod. "Alright."

Shuangyue said nothing, apparently already perfectly at ease.

They flew forward, passing column after column of Gene Warriors, making straight for the very tip of the defensive line.

Behind them, Battle Sovereigns and Battle King Rank warriors watched them go with wide eyes.

"Have these humans lost it? What are a bunch of Battle Sovereigns doing flying all the way to the front? Do they have a death wish?"

"Who knows — maybe they're rookies who don't know any better?"

"Wait — isn't that human man the one the three honored Saints were paying attention to earlier? And he's going all the way up there... Maybe he's got something to him after all?"

"A Saint paid attention to him? Why? Come to think of it, maybe he really does have something up his sleeve."

Not far behind, Anastasia's group had also noticed Lu Yuan's movement.

Xia Zhi watched his retreating figure, surprise plain in her eyes.

"As expected of Lu Yuan — he's actually leading all three of those human women straight to the front. That's confidence."

Nina smiled. "If Lu Yuan dares do it, he definitely has the ability to back it up."

"Look at you," Xia Zhi muttered, rolling her eyes. "Completely smitten."

Anastasia narrowed hers slightly and said nothing. She turned over in her mind why Gladys had taken notice of Lu Yuan. *Is there something special about him?*

Before any of them could think it through, one of the Nightshade Battle Emperors in their escort snapped sharply:

"Get ready — the Beast Tide is here!"

Far ahead, the Aberration Feral Beasts had closed to near distance, their roars crashing through the air like thunder as they surged headlong toward the front lines.