There was no sound.
That was the most terrifying part. When Li Yu's palm, glowing with a light that seemed to devour the world, struck the ground, there was no cataclysmic explosion, no earth-shattering roar. Instead, a deep, soul-shaking thrum echoed, through the air and through the very earth itself.
A shockwave of pure, irresistible force, not of explosive Qi, but of sheer, crushing weight, erupted from the point of impact. The ground buckled, not shattering into dust, but compressing as if under the foot of a giant. A visible wave of distorted, heavy energy spread out across the clearing floor.
The six charging Rank 5 Tyrant Beasts, creatures of immense physical might, were the first to be caught in the tide. Their ferocious charge did not just stop; it was crushed. The shockwave slammed into them from below, shattering their legs and sending the immense, concussive force traveling up through their bodies. Their armored hides, which could deflect spiritual arts, offered no resistance as their internal organs were turned to paste in a single, horrifying moment. They collapsed, their massive bodies skidding to a halt, dead before they even hit the ground.
The Syndicate Leader, a powerful Foundation Establishment expert, was descending from the sky like a meteor of blood-red energy. He was already wounded from his intense battle with Elder Feng, his aura flickering, a deep, bleeding gash from her sword visible on his back from when he had recklessly abandoned their fight. He was halfway to his target when the «Abyssal Tide» shockwave erupted from the earth below him.
The wave of pure, condensed weight slammed into him from his undefended underside. His protective aura, already strained from his earlier fight and weakened by his injury from rushing here, shattered like glass. The force of the impact was like being hit by a mountain.
His eyes, which had been burning with a desperate fury, now went wide with a look of pure, soul-shattering disbelief. He had rushed here without any caution and was too surprised by what happened. He thought his foundation realm pressure would freeze Li Yu but little did he know that Li Yu had been training against that kind of pressure with Khaos. What was even more absurd was that Li Yu didn't feel the pressure at all, the so-called pressure from Khaos that it claimed was foundation stage 1 was definitely not stage 1, his standards are too different! Of course Li Yu didn't know any of this and didn't even realize what the leader was trying to do.
The Syndicate Leader let out a choked, agonized cry as his bones cracked and his meridians ruptured. His descent was no longer a charge; it was an uncontrolled, broken fall. He crashed into the ground in a heap, his body a mangled mess, alive, but utterly defeated and out of the fight.
The wave of abyssal pressure washed across the battlefield and then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
Silence.
The clearing, which had been a chaotic, swirling melee of death, was now utterly still. The charging Tyrant Beasts were dead, their massive forms littering the sunken, fractured earth. The Syndicate Leader lay broken and dying, his Foundation Establishment aura extinguished.
Every single person still standing, from the black-robed assassins to the disciples of the Green Mountain Sect, froze. The battle simply… stopped. All eyes, filled with a mixture of terror, awe, and utter, brain-numbing confusion, turned to the source of that silent, world-ending power.
Li Yu stood at the base of the waterfall, his hand still extended, his expression as calm and placid as a deep lake. The raging, abyssal ocean of his Ninth Stage Qi Condensation aura, no longer suppressed, washed over the valley, a declaration of power so profound it made every other cultivator present feel like a child in the presence of a king.
"Ninth… Stage…?" one of the disciples whispered, his voice trembling, unable to believe what his senses were telling him. The boy was just fifteen years old. To be at the Ninth Stage was not just genius; it was a miracle, a monster that defied all cultivation logic.
The remaining assassins of the Blackwood Syndicate, their leader dead and their beast army annihilated, felt their will to fight evaporate. They were faced with an enemy they could not comprehend. Their only instinct was to flee.
But in the center of the battlefield, the clash of the remaining experts reached its own, bloody conclusion. Jin Ao, his face a mask of horror as he felt the life forces of his followers being extinguished to fuel his borrowed power, faltered for a single, crucial instant. It was all the opening Elder Ma needed.
"For the sect!" the old elder roared, his fury and disgust at Jin Ao's treason giving him a final surge of strength. His fist, wreathed in the thick, heavy power of the earth, crashed through Jin Ao's blood-red aura and slammed into his chest. There was a sickening crunch of breaking bones, and Jin Ao was sent flying, his borrowed power dissipating, his body a broken mess as he crashed into the far cliff face, his fate unknown.
With their leaders gone, the remaining assassins broke and ran, melting into the dark, silent forest.
Elder Feng did not give the order to pursue. She stood, her sword dripping with blood, and stared, not at the fleeing enemies, but at Li Yu. Her face, usually a mask of cold, stern authority, was now a canvas of pure, unadulterated shock.
The battle was over.
Li Yu calmly recalled his beasts. Aegis and Bastion, who had weathered the edge of the abyssal tide without a scratch, vanished back into the sanctuary. The hydras, Crimson, and Lirael, who had been systematically dismantling the Syndicate's beast handlers, followed, their work complete. He then suppressed his aura, the raging ocean receding back into the calm, unassuming pond of a Sixth Stage disciple.
He walked over to his three friends, who were staring at him with expressions of such profound shock that they looked as if they had seen a ghost.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice calm, as if he had not just single-handedly ended a major battle.
"Junior Steward…" Brother Kai stammered, his mind unable to form the words. "You… your power…"
Li Yu gave them a small, reassuring smile. "We can talk later. For now, we have a mess to clean up."
The surviving sect disciples slowly, cautiously began to gather. They gave Li Yu's small group a wide, fearful berth, their gazes a mixture of awe and a deep, instinctual fear. They did not know what they had just witnessed, but they knew it was a power that did not belong in their world.
Elder Feng and Elder Ma finally approached, their own expressions grim and deeply unsettled.
"Li Yu," Elder Feng began, her voice a low, serious rumble. "You have some explaining to do."
Li Yu met her gaze without flinching. "I do, Elder."
He did not wait for the interrogation. He simply began to speak, his voice clear and calm, for all the surviving disciples to hear.
"I have been hiding my strength in order to protect myself. My master likely knew I was hiding my true strength and played along to also project me and give me time to grow" He always had a suspicion that his master could tell his cultivation level. That she herself was more than what was shown on the surface. He continued, "As you can see from my actions, I view this sect as my home but there were internal conflicts so I couldn't be 100% truthful."
His explanation was simple and undeniably true. They had all seen the Syndicate Leader's charge.
"To reach the Ninth Stage at your age… that is not just a prodigy. That is a monster." Elder Ma's voice was a low growl, his face a complex mixture of disbelief and a dawning, grudging respect.
"Perhaps," Li Yu said with a simple nod. "But today, it was a monster that fought for the Green Mountain Sect."
He turned and began to tend to the wounded, his movements calm and efficient. He left the two elders and the stunned disciples to process the impossible truth they had just been given. As he worked, his mind was a quiet storm of calculation.
Elder Feng finally found her words "Everyone has their secrets, which cultivator doesn't? You did the right thing and the sect is lucky to have someone like you." She looked at him with a gentle gaze.
He had won the battle. He had exposed a traitor. He had saved the expedition. But he had been forced to reveal his greatest secret. He was no longer the lucky, unassuming beast tamer. He was Li Yu, the monstrous, fifteen-year-old genius at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.
He had no choice but to reveal his true power, the leader made such a decisive attack on him. While he himself wouldn't have gotten killed, his friends might have been or gotten hurt and he couldn't allow that just to protect some secret. Perhaps this was for the better, to reveal his true power or perhaps this will paint a bigger target on this back. Only time will tell and he will just have to deal with it as it comes.