Meanwhile, on the completely opposite side of the sprawling Xiao Clan estate, within the luxurious guest quarters provided for the Jia Nan Academy delegation, another realization was dawning.
Teacher Ruo Lin was sitting elegantly in the garden pavilion, sipping morning tea while chatting with a dozen of her senior students. They were finalizing the logistics of the upcoming journey, discussing which basic foundational classes the new recruits would be assigned to upon their arrival at the academy.
Suddenly, Ruo Lin froze.
She paused midway through lifting her teacup, her beautiful, mature face turning incredibly serious. As a water Da Dou Shi, her perception of the ambient moisture in the air was exceptional. And right now, the moisture blowing in from the northern mountains carried an unnatural, chaotic density.
She closed her eyes, trying to focusing entirely on the distant mountain range.
When she opened them, her eyes were wide with genuine alarm.
"Teacher Ruo Lin? What happened?" a senior female student asked, noticing the sudden, terrifying shift in her tutor's usually gentle aura.
Ruo Lin remained silent for a few seconds, her mind rapidly processing the sensory data. "I feel beasts," she murmured, her voice tight. "It's likely a concentration of magical beast auras gathering in the back of the Xiao Clan estate."
The senior students instantly shot to their feet, their hands flying to the hilts of their swords.
"A Beast Tide?!" one of the male seniors gasped. In the Dou Qi Continent, a Beast Tide—where hundreds of frenzied monsters swarmed human settlements—was a catastrophic event that could wipe a city off the map.
"I am not certain," Ruo Lin replied, standing up smoothly, her blue dress fluttering as her Dou Qi flared. "But we have free time, and it is our duty as guests to assist our hosts if a calamity is occurring. Follow me, quickly!"
The dozen elite senior students fell into a tight, disciplined combat formation behind their tutor. They surged out of the guest quarters, utilizing their advanced academy movement techniques to traverse the estate at incredible speeds.
Destiny, it seemed, was pulling everyone toward the same epicenter.
Halfway up the winding, forested mountain trail, Ruo Lin's group violently intersected with Xiao Zhan's group.
Both sides immediately drew back, weapons half-drawn, before recognizing each other through the dense morning mist.
"Patriarch Xiao!" Ruo Lin called out, her tone professional but laced with urgency as she stepped forward. "I apologize for the intrusion, but my students and I sensed a massive, highly unusual gathering of beast auras heading toward this peak. Is your clan under attack?"
Xiao Zhan offered a polite, though highly stressed, nod of greeting. "Teacher Ruo Lin. We were just notified by our guards as well. I can feel the auras myself now that we are closer. But we do not have a clear visual yet."
"Then we shall assist you," Ruo Lin declared firmly.
The combined group—two Da Dou Shi, a high Dou Shi commander, a dozen elite academy seniors, and the secretly terrifying Xun'er—moved together as a single, highly lethal unit. They crested the final ridge, the dense pine trees giving way to the rocky incline that overlooked the secluded hot springs.
As they closed the final distance, a strange, beautiful sound began to filter through the trees.
It was not the roar of frenzied monsters. It was not the agonizing screams of a Beast Tide tearing through flesh.
It was the soft, melancholic, and profoundly serene melody of a bamboo flute.
The group reached the edge of the ridge and peered down into the mist-shrouded valley below.
Standing behind a oak tree at the edge of the clearing, sweating profusely and gesturing frantically for them to remain absolutely silent, was First Elder Xiao Lu. The usually stern, commanding old man looked completely terrified to make a single sound.
Xiao Zhan crouched low, sneaking over to the First Elder. "Xiao Lu, what in the heavens is happening—"
The Patriarch's words died instantly in his throat.
Xiao Zhan, Teacher Ruo Lin, the hardened Commander Li, and all twelve academy seniors looked past the oak tree and into the clearing near that ancient willow tree. Every single one of them felt their jaws go completely slack. Absolute, mind-numbing astonishment washed over their faces, followed quickly by a spike of sheer, primal terror.
It was an impossible scene.
Gathered in the clearing, forming a massive, incredibly dense, multi-layered barricade around the hot spring, were dozens upon dozens of magical beasts.
There were massive Rank 1 Iron-Hide Boars, their tusks gleaming in the morning light. There were packs of lethal Spirit Wolves sitting peacefully beside timid Mountain Hares. There were venomous apricot Serpents coiled lazily in the branches of the willow tree, their heads swaying in perfect rhythm.
And trapped right in the dead center of this terrifying, lethal congregation of monsters was a young man and a young woman.
Xiao Yu was fast asleep, her back resting against a large boulder, completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that a massive, carnivorous Spirit Wolf was resting its head less than three feet from her exposed legs.
Sitting just a few yards away, leaning comfortably against the trunk of the willow tree, was Yoriichi.
The youth was in an absolute state of trance. His eyes were closed, his breathing perfectly synchronized with the universe, and his fingers dancing flawlessly over a rough-hewn bamboo flute.
He didn't seem to care—or perhaps didn't even notice—what was happening outside his own internal world. He was the epicenter of the bizarre phenomenon, his music acting as a physical anchor for the beasts' violent instincts.
Ruo Lin covered her mouth with a trembling hand. "Heavens above..." she whispered, her Da Dou Shi composure completely shattering. If even one of those beasts snapped out of the trance, her student would be torn to shreds in a fraction of a second.
Xiao Zhan's face drained of all color. He slowly turned his head, locking eyes with First Elder Xiao Lu.
Xiao Lu simply let out a tiny, high-pitched whimper of a sigh, shaking his head helplessly. He had rushed up here to deliver some travel documents to his granddaughter, only to find this apocalyptic nightmare. The old man was clearly just as unaware and terrified of his grandchildren's insane antics as the rest of them.
Xiao Zhan swallowed hard, forcefully suppressing his rising panic. He was a seasoned Patriarch. He quickly scanned the perimeter, running a tactical calculation in his head.
'The beasts are mostly Unranked and low Rank 1. The sheer numbers are terrifying, but...' Xiao Zhan glanced at Ruo Lin, who was already discreetly condensing a thin layer of blue water Dou Qi over her palms, preparing for the worst. 'With myself, Teacher Ruo Lin, the Commander, and the seniors, we have enough raw firepower to instantly slaughter the inner ring and extract Xiao Yu and Xiao Ning if the situation goes south.'
He raised a hand, signaling the entire group to hold their positions and prepare their Dou Skills in absolute silence.
They stood frozen on the ridge, an elite strike force of cultivators holding their breath, forced to become a silent audience to the most terrifying, beautiful, and utterly surreal concert in the history of the Dou Qi Continent.