Grave News

A dozen or more figures descended in streaks of light, landing before Lu Yuan and the others — every one of them a Battle King Rank or Battle Sovereign powerhouse, with Li Qinghe at their head.

Li Qinghe glanced at Lu Yuan and Si Tingyu standing nearby, then stepped forward and gave Elder Yu a smile.

"Elder Yu, our Night Watchman colleagues still have Aberration Events to manage, so only a handful of Honorary Elders and regular Elders could make it. I hope that's all right."

Elder Yu smiled warmly. "The Night Watchmen manage Aberration Events across the entire empire — you're always stretched thin. The fact that so many of you were still able to come will mean a great deal to the people holding the front."

Li Qinghe smiled and said nothing more, simply drifting over to stand beside Lu Yuan and Si Tingyu.

The Night Watchman Elders nearby exchanged greetings with Elder Yu's group, then turned their attention to Lu Yuan.

Many of them he recognized — the same Honorary Elders who had ridden out together during the wave of Aberration Events triggered by the Soul-Devouring Orb.

A gaunt elderly man gave Lu Yuan a friendly nod.

"Elder Lu, it's been a while. I never imagined you'd already be Battle Sovereign by now. This old man can't help but feel a little outclassed."

A middle-aged Elder beside him smiled in agreement. "Truly. Young people these days are something else entirely. Battle Sovereign at this age — the sky's the limit."

Lu Yuan smiled and returned their pleasantries. He'd known that fame would bring these social obligations, but that didn't make them any less awkward. Still, it came with the territory.

While they were talking, a fleet of pitch-black warships appeared overhead and descended toward the plaza.

Several figures disembarked when the ships touched down.

Si Chengxin led the way, and behind him, Lu Yuan spotted Si Tingfeng.

Si Tingfeng caught Lu Yuan's eye immediately, gave him a playful wink, and let a rakish grin spread across his face.

With the shadow of Tong Menghan behind him, Si Tingfeng had returned to his old self — carefree and breezy as ever.

Lu Yuan offered him a small smile in return.

From the side, Si Chengxin caught the exchange, and a quiet smile touched his eyes.

Under normal circumstances, if Si Tingfeng were exchanging looks with someone in a situation this serious, Si Chengxin would have noted it down for later. After the Tong Menghan affair, he had concluded his nephew needed firmer handling.

But the other party was Lu Yuan.

That changed everything. Lu Yuan was already a Battle Sovereign, and in terms of raw combat strength, Si Chengxin privately suspected even he himself might not measure up. On top of that, the Si family Ancestor had personally acknowledged that Lu Yuan's future was boundless — had even expressed a willingness for both of his most outstanding nieces to become Lu Yuan's wives.

As far as Si Chengxin was concerned, Si Tingfeng growing close to Lu Yuan was exactly what he wanted to see. The Ancestor felt the same way.

So Si Chengxin pretended not to notice. He walked over with the others, his expression turning appropriately grave as he addressed Elder Yu.

"Elder Yu, we've brought a thousand of the Red Maple Guard's finest. Pulling more would be difficult — the Imperial Capital still needs its garrison."

Elder Yu smiled pleasantly. "That should be plenty. Good — now that everyone's here, there's no sense in delaying. Let's move out."

Everyone nodded.

Elder Yu raised a hand, and several warships shimmered into view. The group boarded, the ships lifted off, and in a blaze of light they shot toward the Forbidden Zone.

Aboard the flagship, Elder Yu, Si Chengxin, Li Qinghe, Lu Yuan, Si Tingyu, and the other Battle King Rank and Battle Sovereign powerhouses gathered to work out the deployment.

The moment they turned to business, Elder Yu's expression sobered.

"The Beast Tide at the Endless Mountain Range and Ice-Fire Rift Valley is larger than the one a few years back. Both defensive lines are under serious strain. Li Xinghai My Lord and Si Qi My Lord have already departed for the border ahead of us. The rest of us will need to split into two groups and reinforce each front separately."

Si Chengxin gave a measured nod. "Only makes sense. We have close to a thousand between the Red Maple Guard and the Talent Camp. Perhaps each group covers one front, with the Night Watchman Elders dividing between them?"

He glanced at Li Qinghe. Here, she was the Night Watchmen's ranking officer.

*Li Qinghe — easygoing as she is — and Director Gu An actually trusts her to run point on this?* Lu Yuan bit back a flicker of exasperation.

Li Qinghe sat on the couch with a relatively composed expression. She thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Works for us. The Night Watchmen we've brought are all Battle King Rank or Battle Sovereign — not a huge number, but enough to split and join you on both fronts."

Si Chengxin and Elder Yu both nodded.

Then Elder Yu continued with a smile, "For the specific split — the Talent Camp will take the Endless Mountain Range. After all, we reinforced that front last time too."

"No objection. We'll head to the Ice-Fire Rift Valley, then."

Si Chengxin gave a brief nod, then looked at Li Qinghe. "Elder Li, you can arrange your Night Watchmen's assignments."

Li Qinghe didn't even pause. "I'm going to the Endless Mountain Range."

The room went quiet.

Everyone already knew about her relationship with Lu Yuan, so why she'd chosen that front wasn't exactly a mystery. But assigning *herself* first, before anyone else, without a moment's hesitation — was that really how this worked?

Even the Night Watchman Elders looked pained.

Fortunately, Li Qinghe promptly sorted out everyone else's placements afterward, and after a short discussion of remaining details, the meeting wrapped up.

Si Tingfeng had been sitting beside Lu Yuan throughout, listening in. When he heard he'd been assigned to the Ice-Fire Rift Valley, a shadow crossed his face.

He'd fought alongside the Talent Camp during the last Beast Tide too — reinforcing the Endless Mountain Range, where he'd made comrades he still kept in touch with. He'd quietly assumed they'd fight side by side again. Instead, he was being shipped off to the Ice-Fire Rift Valley.

But Si Tingfeng held a senior position in the Red Maple Guard now, with a squad under his command. He couldn't just follow his own wishes. He turned to Lu Yuan with a helpless look and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Lu Yuan, I'm honestly jealous of you. If you end up at Camp 38, check in on a few people for me — find Captain Fang Yu and mention my name. He'll know who you mean."

"Consider it done," Lu Yuan said.

Si Tingfeng visibly relaxed, laughing with his usual easy confidence. "With a Battle Sovereign's word behind it, I've got nothing to worry about. Once this Beast Tide is over, dinner's on me."

"Deal. Let's bring Maige and Yang Ping along too. By the way, how's Maige holding up under your command?"

A wicked grin spread across Si Tingfeng's face. "Since he's in my hands, I'm naturally going to put him through every drill I can think of."

Lu Yuan had nothing to say to that.

He silently mourned for Maige.

Shortly afterward, Lu Yuan opened a Space Gate to send Si Chengxin's group back to their own warships. As they neared the border, the two fleets separated — Lu Yuan's group veered toward the Endless Mountain Range while Si Chengxin and the Red Maple Guard peeled off for the Ice-Fire Rift Valley.

The warships reached the Endless Fortress not long after.

As with the previous Beast Tide, the Talent Camp students were received by the Guard Corps, while Battle King Rank and Battle Sovereign powerhouses like Lu Yuan, Li Qinghe, and Si Tingyu would be posted to the frontline camps when the time came.

Lu Yuan thought about dropping by to see Groat and the others, but with the Beast Tide pressing down — and having seen them recently in the Land of Origin — there was no real urgency. He let it go for now.

He followed Elder Yu's group through the middle defensive line and flew toward the forward fortresses.

Along the way, Feral Beasts were already appearing in the forests. He even caught the aura of several mutant Feral Beasts among them.

But perhaps because the main swarm hadn't fully converged yet, the numbers were not especially high.

The closer they drew to the front line, the denser the Aberrated Feral Beasts and ordinary Feral Beasts became.

They soon reached the very edge of the defensive perimeter. Near the front line, the concentration of Feral Beasts was noticeably heavier than deeper in, with a fair number of Aberrated variants scattered throughout.

Even so, the defenders were managing the current pressure without serious difficulty. Spirit Cannons thundered along the walls in steady salvos, and that alone was enough to beat back the encroaching beasts.

Lu Yuan surveyed the fighting below, then turned his gaze toward the depths of the Endless Mountain Range.

His eyes narrowed.

He was picking up a formidable aura from within those mountains.

*Saint Grade?!*

A cold light flickered behind his eyes.

*When did the Endless Mountain Range start housing a Saint Grade Aberrated Feral Beast?*

His mind went back to the last Beast Tide — that one had also been triggered by a Sovereign Grade Feral Beast that had Aberrated. Was this the same pattern?

*Did something Aberrate all the way to Saint Grade this time?*

That would certainly explain why this Beast Tide was so much worse.

*Could there be some new disturbance around the Spatial Rift inside the Endless Mountain Range? Nothing else would explain another Aberration Event erupting so soon.*

He turned it over in his mind, resolving to slip out and take a closer look that night.

The party arrived at the fortress.

Atop the fortress walls, several high-ranking Guard Corps officers stood waiting. When they saw Lu Yuan and the others approaching, Commander Karol stepped forward with a smile.

"Elder Yu, Elder Li Qinghe — good to see you both again. Thank you for coming to reinforce us once more."

Elder Yu chuckled warmly. "The defensive line is the shield that protects our empire. The Talent Camp cultivates its pillars. Naturally, we bear our share of this burden."

Li Qinghe smiled. "The Night Watchmen feel the same."

Karol nodded warmly, then looked over at Lu Yuan, admiration evident in his gaze.

"Both the Talent Camp and the Night Watchmen are core institutions of our empire. Only the Talent Camp could nurture a talent like Lu Yuan — and a talent like Lu Yuan is exactly why the Night Watchmen would want him as an Honorary Elder."

He had neatly folded both organizations into his praise without favoring either.

Elder Yu smiled and let out a small, resigned sigh. "Lu Yuan's ability isn't something we taught him — that belongs entirely to his own gifts."

Lu Yuan stepped in with a grin. "You're too modest, Elder Yu. My mentors have helped me more than you know."

Beside him, Si Tingyu glanced at him with a composed expression and said nothing.

She knew perfectly well that even if no one had done a single thing, Lu Yuan would have gotten this strong regardless.

She kept the thought to herself.

Karol smiled. "With all of you here, I'm sure this Beast Tide will be just as manageable as the last one."

At the mention of the Beast Tide, the mood shifted. Elder Yu's gaze moved to the Endless Mountain Range.

"What's the situation right now?"

Karol's expression turned grim.

"Not good. We're still in the early phase — the main beast swarm hasn't fully converged yet — but the Feral Beast numbers are already on par with what we were dealing with at peak contact during the last Beast Tide. Based on scout reports, we're estimating this one is at least double the scale."

Silence settled over the group.

Those who remembered the last Beast Tide — Elder Yu and the Talent Camp instructors — went visibly pale.

Hart Kaine's voice came out tight with disbelief.

"How is that possible? Even a Sovereign Grade Feral Beast in the Endless Mountain Range couldn't drive a swarm this enormous. The last Beast Tide of that scale was caused by a *single* Sovereign Grade Flame Demon Hound that Aberrated. Are you telling me two or three Sovereign Grade beasts have Aberrated this time?"

An odd flicker passed through Lu Yuan's eyes. *Hart, you could afford to guess a little bolder than that. There just might be a Sovereign Grade beast that Aberrated all the way to Saint Grade...*

He kept that to himself. If he said it out loud, everyone except Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu — the only two who knew the truth about him — would probably be terrified. After all, that Saint Grade Aberrated Feral Beast from before was still the stuff of nightmares for Battle Emperors and Battle Sovereigns across all of Great Qi Star.

Karol's expression remained grave.

"It's not outside the realm of possibility. Li Xinghai My Lord personally ventured deep into the Endless Mountain Range. He didn't locate the source of the Aberrations, but the aura he encountered made his heart seize with dread — and his assessment was that at least several Aberrated Sovereign Grade Feral Beasts are present."

Silence.

After a beat, one of the Battle King Rank Talent Camp instructors' jaw worked silently before he found his voice.

"Commander Karol... there are actually *several* Sovereign Grade Aberrated Feral Beasts? What are we supposed to do? None of us are a match for even one of those."

Karol exhaled slowly, the weight of it audible.

"Nothing is confirmed yet. Under normal circumstances, we could request Battle Emperors from other empires to help. But right now, every Forbidden Zone is seeing Beast Tides simultaneously..." He paused. "We're on our own."

The atmosphere turned to stone.

Every face in the room creased with worry.

Every face, except two.

Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu looked perfectly calm.

Neither of them was afraid. After all, the very person who had slain that Saint Grade Aberrated Feral Beast was standing right here among them. Unless several Saint Grade Aberrations had somehow appeared all at once — what was there to be afraid of?