Chương 77: When the Tide Retreats

The Raging Blood Lion, wounded fled far into the distance. The Blood Jade Spider fell, killed by the full powered strike of the Nine Star Black Glass Array. In this spirit beast tide, the humans of Qingtai Prefecture had finally carved out a true victory. Normally, it was only during the great century spanning tides that a Purple Mansion Realm spirit beast would fall.

Fang Xinjin and Zhou Yuezi had achieved their main objective, injuring the sixth level Raging Blood Lion, crippling its ambition to break into the late stage of Purple Mansion Realm anytime soon. The Blood Jade Spider had been secondary, a casualty of circumstance. Its pre-existing injuries had slowed it down, and at just the second level it stood no chance against the power of the Nine Star Black Glass Array. It was eliminated. Now, the spirit beasts scattered in every direction, retreating in chaos.

The mountain ran red. Blood Lion Mountain, the ancestral land of the Raging Blood Lion clan, a place their kind had schemed for generations to reclaim, looked as if it had been bathed entirely in blood. And yet, once again, they slunk away in defeat. The Raging Blood Lion tribe leader had been confident. Certain, even, that he would ascend to the late stage Purple Mansion Realm. But now, with a serious wound carved deep into his flesh, his plans lay in ruins. The next tide would bring no great victory for his kind.

That was always the humans' real goal. As the years turned, with every small defeat stacking upon the last, the humans of Qingtai Prefecture would tighten their grip. Crush them. Slowly. Irreversibly. On the heights of Blood Lion Mountain, the cultivators watched the beasts retreat. They knew, deep in their bones, the tide was over. Some wept. Not from weakness but from having stared death in the face and lived. For a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, a tide like this was serious, but survivable.

For a Qi Refining Realm cultivator? It was hell. Separation. Loss. The raw, ugly split between life and death. This was not a battle. It was a slaughterhouse. Nearly ten thousand Qi Refining Realm cultivators had marched onto this mountain. A little over six thousand still survived. And that was with the Nine Star Black Glass Array holding the line for over a month. Without it? Far fewer would have survived. Seventeen Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators had fallen.

Among them, one was a late stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator from the Fang family. That meant the Fang and Zhou families owed seventeen Foundation Establishment Pills to the families of the fallen. The question was not if, but when, and that was for the two great clans to decide. Even Purple Mansion clans didn't stockpile that many Foundation Establishment Pills. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. They rot.

A Foundation Establishment Pill's shelf life is about thirty years. Forty, at most, even with spiritual seals wrapped tight around it. Think about how long those pills Zhang Huaijin found in that ancient cave abode must have been sitting there. Still, the humans of Qingtai Prefecture had not walked away empty handed. They had killed ten Tier 2, upper grade spirit beasts. On Blood Lion Mountain, most of the late stage Foundation Establishment cultivators came from the Fang and Zhou families. They fought harder.

Hit faster. Their artifacts were sharper. Their techniques are simply better. Of course they dominated. And now, with a Purple Mansion Realm spirit beast fallen as well? The math worked out beautifully. Ten Tier 2, upper grade spirit beast cores. In the hands of a Tier 3 alchemist, those could yield at least fifteen Foundation Establishment Pills. Add the core of the Purple Mansion beast, and you could push that closer to twenty. Not to mention the mountains of spirit beast flesh, bone, hide, and blood.

All of it valuable in some way shape or form. From this single battle, leaving aside the beast cores entirely, the raw materials alone were worth at least three hundred thousand spirit stones. Of course, liquidating that much material would take time. And with so many corpses flooding the market, prices would dip. Under normal circumstances, the haul would be worth even more. The Fang and Zhou families might not have to pay out all seventeen pills in the end. Why?

Because some Foundation Establishment clans had lost not only their Foundation Establishment cultivators, but also their late stage Qi Refining confidantes. Without a worthy candidate, a Foundation Establishment Pill becomes a curse not a blessing. Those families usually had two choices. First, exchange the pill for equivalent resources. Spirit stones. Weapons. Materials. Let the clan rebuild slowly, from the ground up. Second, defer. Let the Fang and Zhou families hold the pill for twenty years.

If, after two decades, the clan still had no one ready, the claim expired. And sometimes, over those twenty years, the clan simply crumbled. If that happened, the agreement died with them. This had been a small scale tide. When the century spanning tide came? Two Golden Core Realm powers from the Bing Province would descend to take command. Even Purple Mansion forces could be wiped out. —— Zhang Huaijin sat cross legged on the blood soaked ground, dressed in white. His eyes were closed. His breathing, steady.

Spiritual energy cycled through his meridians, slow and deep. Tian Jianwei's death had caused no ripples. No one suspected him. No one even looked his way. In full view of the entire battlefield, Tian Jianwei had simply crumbled. The Horned Ox had trampled him, crushed his skull like an eggshell. Nothing was there to say. Zhang Hong and Zhang Linyi moved quietly through the carnage, gathering the bodies of their fallen kin. Their faces were grim.

Zhang Huaijin had done everything he could to protect the clan members. But the final battle had been chaos itself, pure, screaming chaos. And his focus had been on the Foundation Establishment Realm beasts, not the smaller fights. Of the ten Qi Refining Realm cultivators the Zhang family had brought, besides Zhang Huaijin himself, two had died. Compared to the butcher's bill other families were paying, that was a miracle. But still. They were family. A cold, heavy sorrow pressed down on every Zhang's heart.

The tide was over. The reckoning had begun. Soon, the officials would come. They would count merit points, weigh kills, tally contributions. And when the dust settled, the survivors would exchange those merit points for resources to grow stronger. Returning home, every Zhang cultivator would sharpen their blade. Refine their techniques. Push toward the next Realm. Zhang Linyi and Zhang Hong had escaped serious injury. Zhang Liwei, though? He was walking on air.

In two months, the young man had personally slain eighteen Tier 1, upper grade spirit beasts. Dozens more of mid grade. His battle lust was legendary. Every day, he hunted. Every dusk, he came back blood soaked and grinning. As a Three Spirit Root cultivator. The entire Zhang family had already marked him as a candidate for Foundation Establishment. Now the Blood Lion Mountain roared with activity. Cultivators swept across the battlefield, sorting corpses, recovering artifacts, gathering remains. Calculating.

Counting. Preparing. The spirit vein beneath the Mountain stirred, drawing in spiritual energy slowly replenishing what the array formation had burned. The Nine Star Black Glass Array, still humming with residual power, began to glow again. Brighter this time. Steadier. Two hours later, Zhang Huaijin opened his eyes. His spiritual energy was fully restored. His meridians, calm. His mind, sharp. This spirit beast tide had changed everything for him.

Zhang Huaijin of Langya County, once a name spoken only within the Zhang family's walls, had become famous across all nine counties of Qingtai Prefecture. On the slopes of Blood Lion Mountain, he had killed over twenty Foundation Establishment Realm spirit beasts. Nearly ten of those were mid grade. And in the middle of the chaos, mid battle, surrounded by death he had broken through to the second level of Foundation Establishment Realm, How could such a man not become a legend?

The name Zhang Huaijin now carved itself into the memory of every survivor. A name spoken with respect. With fear. With awe.