The Battle Saints' Shock

The Aberration Feral Beasts surging at the front of the tide were all primarily speed-type creatures — King Grade, Sovereign Grade, and Emperor Grade alike.

High above, a terrifying aura pulsed through the sky, so oppressive that even the Battle Emperor-ranked warriors had gone pale, their chests tight with dread.

A Saint-grade Aberration Feral Beast.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and glanced upward toward the source. Deep within the green-tinged clouds, vast silhouettes of enormous tentacles drifted in and out of view. From that glimpse alone it was plain to see — whatever this Saint-grade Aberration was, it was enormous.

"Hmph."

At that moment, the Twin-headed Demon Race Battle Saint let out a low grunt. His voice, heavy with authority, rolled across every corner of the surrounding area — then his body vanished, reappearing inside the cloud layer in an instant.

A heartbeat later, both he and the Aberration disappeared from sight. Roars and explosions erupted simultaneously, green radiance and black-gold light surging through the sky — the shock waves of a Battle Saint-level exchange.

With the Saint-grade Aberration held in check, the Battle Emperor and Battle Sovereign warriors at the front line erupted into action. Spirit Power blazed around each of them as they unleashed Combat Techniques and Gene Armament abilities alike, cutting down the Aberrations flooding toward them.

Si Tingyu, Li Qinghe, and Shuangyue joined in — golden-crimson radiance blazing, dark sword energy sweeping wide, and Wooden Guardians solidifying in the air one after another.

The three of them were just bracing for the wave when Lu Yuan raised a single finger and lazily pointed forward.

The space within nearly a thousand meters ahead of him buckled and warped. Spatial vortexes blossomed across the entire zone, swallowing every Aberration Feral Beast in their path.

King Grade and Sovereign Grade Aberrations alike were ground to pieces, shredded flesh spraying in all directions. Even the Emperor Grade beasts were ensnared — barely able to move, savage wounds opening across their bodies as they roared in impotent fury.

Lu Yuan raised his hand. Streaks of stellar sword light flashed through the vortexes, and every Emperor Grade beast still struggling inside was cut down.

In what felt like a single breath, every Aberration Feral Beast in front of the four of them had been wiped out.

Silence fell.

Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at the slowly dissipating vortexes, their expressions somewhere between stunned and lost.

They weren't the only ones. The Battle Emperor and Battle Sovereign warriors fighting nearby — those who had been holding their own with energy to spare — were gaping at the empty stretch of space, minds completely blank.

One towering warrior with a single horn and dark lines running across his brow brought his axe down on a Sovereign Grade beast, then stood staring at the fading vortexes and the Emperor Grade corpses crumpling to the ground. His jaw twitched.

"What kind of monster is this human?!"

Every nearby Battle Emperor and Battle Sovereign turned toward Lu Yuan. Awe was written plainly across each of their faces.

A short distance back, Anastasia's group had been holding in reserve, waiting for any King or Sovereign Grade beasts that leaked through — but none had reached them, and the fight hadn't even started. They too were staring at Lu Yuan, faces struck with shock.

Nina's mouth fell open, her eyes sparkling with unabashed admiration.

"He's incredible — Lu Yuan is genuinely incredible!"

Xia Zhi recovered herself and glanced at the starstruck look on Nina's face. She opened her mouth, nearly called her a lovesick fool — but the words died on her tongue. Even she had to admit it: the power Lu Yuan had just displayed was nothing short of terrifying.

Anastasia watched him in silence. After a moment she slowly pulled her gaze away, scanning the Battle Sovereign and Battle Emperor Nightshade warriors standing guard nearby — even both Battle Emperors among them were staring at Lu Yuan, disbelief etched across their faces.

She let out a quiet breath and murmured softly, "Remarkable."

Further back on the defensive line, Gladys and Silas had been watching for any other Saint-grade Aberrations that might emerge. Neither had moved to engage. Now both of them stood watching Lu Yuan in silence.

After a moment, the shock in Silas's eyes faded to a measured calm. A slight smile crossed his face.

"If that wasn't a Combat Technique like a spatial vortex ability — if he simply used spatial force as a casual attack — then this young human might actually carry a Saint-grade Spatial Type Transcendent Gene. Truly frightening."

Beside him, Gladys drew a slow breath, her voice uncertain.

"A Saint-grade Spatial Type Transcendent Gene... how could he possibly have inscribed it? Even a War God attempting to engrave a Saint-grade Spatial Transcendent Gene would more likely than not suffer a backlash... He must have a Transcendent Gene with a spatial vortex ability. That said — annihilating Sovereign Grade Aberrations in an instant would still require at minimum a Sovereign Grade Spatial Transcendent Gene. And this human is only Battle Sovereign rank. How did he even manage to inscribe that?!"

"Heh — if he already carries a Saint-grade stellar force Transcendent Gene, then perhaps it isn't entirely impossible. Still, this human truly is something. How did we not notice earlier that someone this powerful was among us?"

Silas marveled aloud.

Gladys's lips curved into a small smile. "A fascinating young man. It seems we'll need to look into him properly."

Silas glanced at her. "It sounds like you Nightshade are even more interested in him."

"A young man with potential like this — of course the Nightshade are interested. He is precisely the kind of partner we look for."

Gladys said it without the slightest embarrassment.

Silas shook his head with a quiet laugh and let the matter rest.

With Lu Yuan's single move having eliminated every Aberration in front of them, the three women had nothing left to do.

Li Qinghe fixed him with an odd look.

"...Little Yuan, what was that? I thought your Combat Technique was spatial movement."

Lu Yuan blinked, then smiled. "A small trick of mine."

Li Qinghe's mouth twitched. When it became clear he wasn't going to say more, she dropped it and quietly began turning things over in her mind.

She wasn't alone. Si Tingyu and Shuangyue were doing the same.

Before long, once the space had settled, another wave of Aberration Feral Beasts poured in from the rear of the tide, roaring as they rushed forward.

Li Qinghe tightened her grip on her weapon. Shuangyue's expression went firm. Si Tingyu drew a steadying breath. "Be careful—"

She hadn't finished the words before Lu Yuan raised one finger again. A spatial storm vortex condensed and unfurled.

An entire swarm of Aberration Feral Beasts was shredded apart.

All three women's expressions froze simultaneously, each face taking on a slightly pained, contorted look.

They had just realized: there was nothing to do here. There was literally nothing they could do.

*There aren't even any beasts left — what the hell are we supposed to fight?!*

Li Qinghe tugged at the corner of her mouth and shot Lu Yuan an aggrieved look.

"Little Yuan... could you maybe let us actually hit something? This is no fun at all. It's supposed to be a Beast Tide, and we have zero sense of taking part in it."

Lu Yuan blinked. He looked at the three of them, took in their deeply peculiar expressions, and felt a flicker of sheepishness.

"I see — I was thinking too simply about this. Right then... let me catch one for you."

*After all, Elder Sister Qinghe and the others are Gene Warriors too. Of course they want to fight. Just shielding them like this isn't the right approach.*

The three women blinked in unison.

Shuangyue tilted her head, puzzled. "...Catch one? How?"

Lu Yuan smiled. "Like this."

He reached out and made a grabbing motion toward empty space.

In the next instant, one of the Aberration Feral Beasts that had halted just outside his spatial vortex range vanished from where it stood — a pitch-black Giant Wolf with a single horn and four long tentacles growing from its back — and reappeared directly in front of the three women.

Lu Yuan had locked it in a spatial confinement. Its crimson eyes blazed with light, but it couldn't so much as twitch a single tentacle.

Lu Yuan glanced at the mildly dazed expressions on the three women's faces, unsure whether they were satisfied with his offering. He asked tentatively:

"Its aura reads like a peak Sovereign Grade Aberration... want to start with this one? I can always catch more if it's not enough."

Li Qinghe: "..."

Si Tingyu: "..."

Shuangyue: "..."

The three of them stared at the frozen beast. Then at Lu Yuan. Then back at the beast. None of them could find words.

They weren't the only ones. Every Battle Sovereign and Battle Emperor nearby was doing the exact same thing — alternating dumbfounded stares between Lu Yuan and the immobilized Aberration, their minds completely vacant.

*This thing is really a Sovereign Grade Aberration?!*

*And he's really a Battle Sovereign??*

The looks on their faces said it all: *Are you having a laugh?*

From further back, Nina watched Li Qinghe's group with eyes gone practically green with envy.

"That's not fair... I want Lu Yuan to catch Aberrations for me too..."

Xia Zhi turned and stared at her like she'd grown a second head. *That's your takeaway from this?!* The question that actually mattered was how a man supposedly at Battle Sovereign rank had just reached out and plucked that Aberration from a distance, leaving it completely powerless to resist!

The Nightshade around them wore expressions of people with shaken convictions. Even Anastasia's usual composed confidence had slipped — her mouth hung slightly open as she stared at the captured beast. Its aura still roiled furiously against the spatial prison holding it, and the sheer pressure of that aura approached Battle Emperor level.

Back on the rear line, Gladys and Silas stared at the scene with grave expressions. Neither spoke for a long moment.

Finally, Gladys drew a slow, deliberate breath.

"It seems my guess was wrong. This young man... he has truly inscribed a powerful Saint-grade Spatial Type Transcendent Gene. Sovereign Grade Spatial power alone could never accomplish this."

Beside her, Silas's expression was unreadable, a faint edge of stunned disbelief behind his eyes. He had offered two possibilities earlier because both had seemed reasonable — but even then, he had privately assumed no Battle Sovereign could actually inscribe a Saint-grade Spatial Transcendent Gene. That was a gene where even a War God faced worse than nine-in-ten odds of suffering a backlash. An irregular Battle Sovereign shouldn't have been able to engrave it either.

And yet the evidence before his eyes was dismantling that assumption piece by piece.

A Battle Sovereign had truly inscribed a Saint-grade Spatial Type Transcendent Gene — a gene incomparably more difficult to engrave than even a stellar force Transcendent Gene.

His voice came out low, barely above a whisper. "...How did he do it?"

Gladys's eyes lit with deep, undisguised fascination, her face practically luminous as she laughed softly.

"Perhaps he stumbled into some extraordinary fortune — there's no other explanation for how a single Battle Sovereign could carry two Saint-grade Transcendent Genes, and one of them Spatial Type at that. What a remarkable young man... even I find myself a little tempted, I have to say. Heh."

Silas glanced at her, something complicated flickering across his face. "...The age gap between the two of you is rather considerable, don't you think."

Gladys went rigid. She fixed Silas with a long, cool look.

"Silas. Surely you're aware that bringing up a lady's age in her presence is considered rather poor manners."

"Ha... just a joke, a joke."

Silas chuckled and dropped the subject, turning his gaze back to Lu Yuan with a genuine sigh of admiration.

"Two Saint-grade Transcendent Genes, and one of them Spatial Type... a Battle Sovereign like that could probably just barely hold his own against a Battle Saint even now. The young people these days are something else."

At those words, Gladys's gaze sharpened, growing quiet and deep.

"Oh? And being strong is a problem?"

The pale-blue light in Silas's eyes stirred faintly. He gave a slow nod.

"Not at all — the stronger the better. If anything, he's still not strong enough..."

A quiet sigh escaped him. "We don't have much time left."

Neither of them spoke after that.

By then, Li Qinghe's group had also snapped back to their senses.

All three cast a brief, strange glance at Lu Yuan. Si Tingyu took a steadying breath, her expression as composed and serious as ever, and gave a firm nod.

"We can handle it."

"All right — releasing it now," Lu Yuan said with a smile.

Golden-crimson light coiled and pulsed along Si Tingyu's spear as she gave a small nod.

Li Qinghe and Shuangyue settled into their stances.

Lu Yuan released the spatial confinement on the Giant Wolf Aberration.

**"ROAR!!"**

The instant it was freed, the beast lashed out with its tentacles and launched itself forward in a streak of green light, making for open space.

Even Aberrated, the creature's survival instincts remained intact. It knew well enough that Lu Yuan was something it had no hope of contending with, and it chose accordingly.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and began gathering spatial force, preparing to warp the surrounding space into a sealed zone — enough to keep the Aberration from bolting.

But Li Qinghe let out a sharp exhale through her nose. Her body vanished — and a cascade of razor-sharp sword beams materialized directly in the path of the green streak, cutting off its escape.

At the same time, Shuangyue swept her Staff through the air. A series of green luminous rings bloomed in the air and snapped shut around the beast, binding it in place.

Si Tingyu surged forward. Her spear swept into a thrust aimed straight for the Giant Wolf.

The Giant Wolf let out a furious howl. Green flames blazed up, tearing the binding rings apart, and it crashed head-on against Si Tingyu's strike before launching a savage counterattack.

Lu Yuan watched the three of them engage, keeping only a thin thread of attention on the fight — enough to intervene if something went wrong. The rest of his gaze moved forward, sweeping over the Beast Tide.

Which left him feeling somewhat at a loss.

After his two displays of force, he seemed to have made quite an impression. Every Aberration Feral Beast in the tide was now actively avoiding his section of the line — veering off before they came anywhere near him, redirecting their charge toward other positions entirely.

The corner of Lu Yuan's mouth twitched.

*Aberrated beasts were supposed to be more bloodthirsty and aggressive than usual. So why were these ones such cowards?*