Racing through the horde of beasts, Sun finally managed to cross into the forest beyond Corpse Mountain Settlement's borders.
The beasts in this area were no less abundant.
Fortunately, the trees provided an efficient means to traverse over the beasts.
Jumping from tree to tree, Sun watched the undulating tide beneath him.
Countless beasts, from fur to feathers, hairy or bald, writhed beneath him in their relentless movement forward.
If Sun were to fall into the tide, he would undoubtedly be trampled.
Even if he had a stable position, it wouldn't take long for this tide to overwhelm him.
'Don't fall. Don't fall. Don't fall.'
Thanks to the Dao Art Medium -- Shade's Embrace -- Sun's figure was masked by the shadows.
The thickness of the forest's roof witheld the light to scarcity, allowing the darkness to be especially thick.
As he travelled through the trees, Sun scanned the area to look for the perpetrator.
'If my Seniors can not find this perpetrator -- or perpetrators -- then how do I find them?'
Sun had not put too much thought into this.
He couldn't turn back now, so he merely ran around to find some sort of hint.
One hundred meters forward revealed nothing but the stampeding of beasts.
Two hundred meters forward held nothing else; the occasional Beast King would shake the ground beneath him, consequently shaking his tree.
Three hundred meters, Sun saw his first few Mystical Beast Kings since his departure.
A snake which stretched a few dozen meters long, a gorilla which stood as tall as the trees, and a tiger that was as thick as a hill.
Sun avoided these cautiously, not wanting to risk stealing their attention when he was this deep into the tide.
Four hundred meters...
Five hundred meters...
Six hundred meters...
He had already passed the initially scanned range of his seniors' Immersion.
Nothing besides the tide of beasts was present, which seemed to come from some source further ahead.
It was like an endless river of beasts; Sun had no choice but to move forward.
Seven hundred meters...
Eight hundred meters...
Nine hundred meters...
After pushing toward the one thousand-meter mark, Sun finally saw something.
Rather, Sun finally felt something.
A heavy presence was felt ahead of him.
He stopped on a thick branch of a tree, pausing as he contemplated.
'What is this pressure? Could it be the perpetrator...?'
Sun felt uneasy as he looked in the direction of this pressure.
'I can't turn back now... They are all counting on me!'
Slowly regaining his momentum, Sun leapt a few trees further.
...
The starlit sky was shining dimly on this area of the forest.
Patches of clouds seemed to withhold the light.
Sun breached into a clearing in the forest.
The vast flat land surprised him.
Shaking the boy to his core was the sheer number of beasts in this area.
'Thousands... tens of thousands of them...!'
'This can't be, this number is larger than the first tide!'
Not only the number of ordinary beasts, but also Beast Kings and even Mystical Beast Kings.
There was also the diversity of beasts.
Looking away from the spectacle, Sun's gaze fell on four terrifying beasts.
A pale tiger, whose muscularity was sickenly exaggerated, with a fierce jaw which could tear apart a large tree.
A wide tortoise, whose skin and eyes looked dry and lifeless, with a large, stony shell fit upon its back, like a small hill of rock.
A mishapen bird, whose feathers were constantly lit aflame, searing with a heat that caused most of the beasts to steer clear of it.
A blue mass. Sun could not tell what this was, besides its shiny exterior composed of -- what Sun assumes to be -- scales.
This last beast, Sun, looked at the figure lying on the blue mass, trying to stifle the chill raking down his spine.
It was a lone person, but it was looking directly at Sun.
Even though the cloak hid the figure within, Sun knew it was looking at him.
"Are you so rude as to not introduce yourself?"
A voice boomed across the area.
The beasts remained undisturbed.
'This must be the perpetrator my Seniors were talking about...'
'It can't be...'
With the sheer authority in this person's voice, Sun could not deduce whether it was a man or a woman.
Instead, another chill ran down his spine.
'Third Foundation... She -- he? -- was expecting me! It must have been through Immersion...'
'They could see through my Dao Art Medium, but they could also hide themself from Immersion, too!'
'They must be a Third Foundation Cultivator!'
"Hello?"
Sun jolted as they called again, he tried not to seem frightened, so he called out, rousing whatever fierceness he could rise in his throat.
"Demonic scoundrel! You dare to attack our Settlement with such underhanded tactics!"
The androgynous voice answered back harshly.
"Don't beat around the bush, get over here. Let us fight already~."
"What! The audacity! You dare to order me around!?"
Though his voice was furious, Sun felt even more unsettled by this figure's straightforward demands.
"If you call back your tide, then I'll consider sparing you! Otherwise, I will tear you limb from limb, and annihilate this entire tide myself!"
"That is quite enough, Junior. Hurry and stand before me. Stop hesitating."
Sun didn't give in; he truly wanted to fight against this fiend, but the situation was too much for him alone to handle.
Feeling stifled about his position, he tried to raise his voice again.
The cloaked figure jumped and landed on the shell of the massive tortoise.
"Fine. Go forth!"
The blue mass trembled, and the sound of metallic rustling could be heard.
It exploded forth like a stream of blue.
Sun shook at the abrupt ferocity.
Qi surged desperately into his legs as he jumped off the branch he was currently on.
The blue mass struck where Sun had been standing.
Frightened, Sun lands on a tree a few meters from his previous one.
A the blue mass wrapped around a distant tree, it began charging towards Sun again.
Promptly, Sun fled again, and again.
The blue mass relentlessly pursued him as it destroyed dozens of trees in its path.
"Haha... look at 'im go..."
The cloaked figure merely watched as Sun was chased around the forest's trees.
Eventually, forcing Sun into the flat ground of the clearing, where he was surrounded by the countless beasts around him.
Staring down from the hill-like shell of the tortoise, the cloaked figure withdrew their hood, revealing an odd-looking face.
"I am merely a Follower of The Spirit. Pleased to meet you~."