As the morning sun rose, the beast tide at the mining grounds receded first, and Elder Yu immediately rushed back to the Yang family estate.

Seeing that the situation outside had stabilized, he prepared to go deep into the mountains to find the Patriarch, Yang Guanfeng.

But just as he was about to set off, his mind suddenly wavered, and his expression changed drastically.

"This is bad!"

He sensed the presence of the fox demon, and it was up on the cliff. Elder Yu's heart was instantly thrown into chaos.

The two children were still up there. Even with that Strange Stone, they were absolutely no match for a sixth-level Qi Gathering Demon Beast. This was terrible!

He mobilized his spiritual power to its absolute limit, leaping over the crowds and courtyards in a few bounds to reach the cliff.

Catching sight of the two children from afar, he quickly produced his Dharma Disc and cast a technique, pulling them behind him through the air.

He reached out to examine their bodies, finding that they were merely exhausted and overexerted, with no other major injuries. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

When he turned around, preparing to cast a technique to fight the fox demon, he was astonished to discover that it was already dead!

Its powerful aura had not yet completely dissipated, indicating it had been killed just moments ago.

Elder Yu stepped forward and saw a finger-thick, bloody hole piercing through the fox demon's brow, penetrating the Demon Beast's entire body before exiting from its tail.

Aside from this, the fox demon bore no other injuries, proving it had been slain in a single blow.

Elder Yu naturally recognized the distinct mark of a Spiritual Force Impact.

But he was deeply puzzled. The highest cultivation level between the two children was only the second level. How could they have instantly killed this fox demon in one strike?

As he wondered, Lingqing and Linghu walked over.

"Elder Yu, this Demon Beast was killed by the Strange Stone."

As Yang Lingqing spoke, she handed the somewhat hot Chen Yang to Elder Yu.

Then, she recounted how Wang Lie had previously trespassed into the Restricted Grounds, and how the Strange Stone had continuously released fluctuations of spiritual Qi to warn them throughout this beast tide attack.

"To think such a thing could happen!"

Elder Yu's face was filled with disbelief. He stared at Chen Yang, pondering for a long time as a distant legend surfaced in his mind-one he had heard in his Sect when he first embarked on the path of Cultivation.

"This object is so miraculous. Could it truly possess an extraordinary origin?"

After this series of events, Elder Yu increasingly felt that Chen Yang's origins were unusual, and that it was likely far more than a rare Strange Stone.

However, the remnants of the beast tide were still a threat, and this was not the time to discuss such matters.

Elder Yu escorted the two children down the cliff, along the way putting down a few wild beasts that had broken into the Yang family estate to hide.

With Elder Yu joining the fray, the battle on the front line instantly became a one-sided rout.

The Dharma Disc in his hand emitted a dazzling light. Elder Yu traced a few strokes in the air with his fingertip, and a pack of wild beasts before him was crushed into meat paste by a powerful gravitational force.

Seeing this terrifying display, the other beasts regained their senses, tucked their tails, and fled into the deep mountains.

Thus, the beast tide that had assaulted the Yang family completely subsided.

Although the casualties were heavy, and vast stretches of houses and rice paddies were destroyed, they had ultimately held the line.

The family's funeral arrangements were left to Yang Feiyun and Yang Xiaolei to handle. Elder Yu also instructed the three Lings to bring all the Demon Beast corpses back to the Restricted Grounds.

He himself did not delay any further, crossing Little Pine Mountain to search for Yang Guanfeng, who was still hunting demon beasts deep in the mountains.

"Patriarch!"

After traveling for half a day, he found Yang Guanfeng returning, heavily wounded.

At this moment, Yang Guanfeng looked terrible. A claw wound on his chest was deep enough to reveal bone, and a large chunk of flesh had been bitten from his shoulder.

Elder Yu hurried forward, only to find that Yang Guanfeng's aura was not weak at all; on the contrary, it was exceptionally profound.

"This!"

Elder Yu placed a hand on him to check, and his face immediately filled with uncontrollable joy.

"Patriarch, you've broken through!"

Yang Guanfeng's cultivation had advanced once more, reaching the sixth level of Qi Gathering!

He smiled at Elder Yu and said, "Heh, this old, worthless frame of mine makes no progress when I cultivate in peace. It only feels comfortable when a Demon Beast gives me a scratch or a bite."

"Hahahaha, breaking through in the midst of battle. The Patriarch's talent is truly admirable."

Speaking of this, Elder Yu brought up an old topic: "Alas, if only someone had guided the Patriarch into cultivation earlier, reaching not just the late stages, but even Qi Gathering Perfection would have been effortless."

Upon hearing this, Yang Guanfeng shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Such is fate. Now that the younger generation of our Yang family is promising, I have no other wishes."

After taking a healing pill, Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu returned home together.

After a tally, the true cost of the calamity was revealed. Including the main family, the Clan Soldiers, the original villagers at the foot of the mountain, and the refugees who had fled here, a total of four hundred and eighty-four people had died.

Upon returning home, Yang Guanfeng spent five days organizing everyone to clean up the battlefield.

At the same time, he and Elder Yu opened up a large cemetery on the western hillside of Little Pine Mountain, burying all the commoners who had perished in this beast tide.

On the day of the burial, all the surviving commoners followed the Yang family up the mountain to pay their respects.

The line of mourners stretched from the mountainside all the way down to the foot of the peak.

Standing before the four hundred and eighty-four graves, Yang Guanfeng addressed the crowd in a clear, resonant voice.

"This battle was the battle for our Yang family's survival since our independence from Liuye Town!"

"If we had lost this battle, the Yang family would no longer exist!"

"Fortunately, we had warriors! We had heroes! We had all of you!"

"This victory belongs not to the Yang family, but to all of you!"

He paused briefly, then raised a jar of wine from beside him.

"I, Yang Guanfeng, toast to all of you!"

After drinking it down in one gulp, he raised another cup, turned to face the four hundred and eighty-four graves, and shouted, "A toast to the warriors! A toast to the heroes!"

His voice was deep and powerful, echoing across the entirety of Little Pine Mountain.

The crowd behind him-men and women, young and old-all raised their cups and, together with Yang Guanfeng, poured their wine onto the soil of Little Pine Mountain.

That night, the gates of the Yang family compound were thrown wide open, hosting a feast for all the commoners who had endured this disaster.

Some raised their cups in celebration, some embraced and wept, some were filled with heroic passion, and some sat in silent shock.

All the faces of mortal life dissolved in the wine, in the tears, and in the night.

The battle of the beast tide allowed the Yang family to firmly establish their roots on Little Pine Mountain. At the same time, it bound the fates of the mortal commoners at the foot of the mountain to the Yang family for generations to come.

Meanwhile, the other forces in the eastern mountain forests fared far worse.

Every single village was completely destroyed, with not a single villager spared. It was said that even their bones were chewed up and swallowed, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

The army of Liuye Town was nearly wiped out, and a Qi Gathering cultivator had fallen, but the town itself was not breached, which was barely acceptable.

However, Baishi Town on the other side was not so fortunate.

On the night of the beast tide, a late-stage Qi Gathering Demon Beast appeared to assault the town.

Even though the town mayor broke through on the spot to reach the sixth level of Qi Gathering, it was to no avail. He ultimately became sustenance for the Demon Beast.

Once the city gates were breached, the beast horde entered the town and began a wanton slaughter. The desperate wails of the townspeople turned the area into a living purgatory, a scene too horrifying to behold.

In the end, it was said that a streak of light flew over from the horizon. The true form of that light was a cyan flying sword.

The flying sword darted back and forth through the town a few times, instantly slaying all the Demon Beasts, including the late-stage Qi Gathering one.

Later, two talismans descended, enveloping the entire town in magical light. Within moments, the wild beasts within had their blood drained, turning into dry corpses that crumbled at the slightest touch.

By the time the beast tide ended, Baishi Town's population was less than thirty percent of what it had been. Many families were entirely wiped out, and very few cultivators remained.

Wang Xiong miraculously survived, but his son, Wang Weiyang, died at the hands of that late-stage Qi Gathering Demon Beast. The Wang family, which he had painstakingly built with a lifetime of effort, was utterly destroyed in this great calamity.