Li Yu's flight back to Sorrow's Peak was a solitary high-speed streak across the blighted lands. His mind was not on the battle to come but on the one he had just left. The Cultist, Harlen, shouts came to his mind.

'Bathed naked in a vat of poison? Robes woven from ghosts? Devours souls?'

He had to admit, the rumors were... creative. They were also wildly and absurdly false. But they were built on some kernels of truth that had been twisted by fear into the legend of a boogeyman.

It was a strange unsettling feeling to be cheered by the very people who had invented his demonic reputation. It only reinforced his understanding: this world was complex, and alliances were as fluid as water.

He was so deep in thought, processing the strange day that he almost missed the danger.

It wasn't a sound. It was a feeling. A sudden cloying thickness in the air, a spatial distortion that wasn't his own. His instincts, now honed by all of his experiences and his attunement to void laws screamed at him.

He stopped dead in the air, the Star-Crusher staff flashing into his hand. All around him the space rippled and twenty figures materialized, surrounding him in an inescapable sphere.

Li Yu's blood ran cold.

These were not drones. Each one of the twenty Xylarri radiated an aura of power equivalent to a Soul Formation cultivator. There were insectoid brutes, slender humanoids and chimeric crawlers. All with the same pale, veined skin and clusters of soulless black eyes of the Praetorian elites. This was not a random swarm; this was an elite ambush squad.

His mind raced, assessing the impossible odds. 'Run,' his nature screamed. 'Void-step to get away, get out!'

But as he tensed, his gaze fell on the leader of the group who appeared like magic last. It was floating silently in the back just out of immediate combat range. It was different.

This Xylarri was not pale. Its entire body was a deep royal purple, as if carved from amethyst. It was slender, vaguely humanoid and its multiple black eyes seemed to glow with a cold intelligence that the Praetorians had lacked. This was it. This had to be the special commander, or one similar to it, that the Cultists had described. The one that had stunned the Armored General with a soul attack.

Li Yu’s hand tightened on his staff. His Abyssal Sentry orb materialized and was hovering above his shoulder. He was on high alert, his Nascent Soul braced for a spiritual assault.

And then... nothing happened.

The twenty Soul Formation Xylarri just... floated there. They stared at him with their heads tilted. Their corrupting purple auras washed over him but they still didn't attack.

‘It’s even more creepy that they aren’t doing anything.” Li Yu thought to himself as he continued to assess the situation. Li Yu's mind, which was already primed by Harlen's absurd tales, instantly flashed to another memory. Vespertine. The Venom Lord. The ambush in the ravine. The poison he hadn't felt.

They're waiting.

This wasn't a simple standoff. It seemed like it was a tactic of some kind. They were waiting for something to take effect. A poison? A curse? A subtle long-range soul assault?

Li Yu did a rapid internal scan. His body tempered by the Abyssal Leviathan Physique felt no ill effects. His Ocean of Qi, vast and churning, was untainted. His Nascent Soul was exceptionally powerful, felt no probing, no attack. Whatever they were doing... it wasn't working. At least not yet..

He was immune or seemed to be.

A dangerous idea began to form in his head. He was outnumbered twenty to one. A direct fight, even with his absorption would be costly. He could be badly injured, they might even be able to kill him with that unique one there. But if they thought their attack was working...

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He decided to play along.

He let his aura "flicker," as if struggling to maintain it. He swayed in the air, his movements becoming sluggish. The Xylarri still remained motionless.

He pressed onward with the act. He put a hand to his head as if a sudden wave of dizziness had struck him. He staggered, dropping a few feet in the air, his breath becoming ragged. He leaned heavily on his staff, his pristine white robe a stark contrast to the "weakness" he was projecting.

"How... vile..." he grunted, forcing the words out, his voice laced with a performer's weakness. "You... evil creatures! Using such... such tricks... when you already outnumber me!"

Li Yu had no idea if this act was working or if they could even understand what he was saying. However, the act went on.

The Xylarri continued to remain still. The special purple one, their presumed leader finally floated forward slightly. It regarded him with cold, analytical and unblinking eyes. She seemed to be confirming his state.

She seemed convinced. Whatever was supposed to be happening was happening.

The purple leader waved a slender crystalline hand at the group behind her and then pointed directly at Li Yu.

Five of the Soul Formation drones detached themselves from the main group and began to advance on him slowly. Their own weapons—claws, energy, chitinous blades— were glowing with purple energy. They were the execution squad, sent to finish off the "weakened" prey.

One, a slender humanoid Praetorian with crystalline claws was the closest. The other four fanned out: two Juggernaut brutes and two of the skittering, six-limbed crawlers.

Li Yu's head was bowed, his form seemingly trembling while supported by his staff. He watched them approach through his spiritual sense. Closer... closer...

They were now close enough, well inside his optimal strike range.

Now.

Li Yu's head snapped up. His eyes were now blazing with a cold light. His aura, which had flickered like a dying candle,exploded outwards in the full, unbridled might of his cultivation and amplified by his monstrous foundation.

The five Xylarri elites and the main group behind them began to react to his trick but it was too late..

Li Yu struck.

He didn't waste the opening. His primary target was the closest Praetorian Hunter. He unleashed his most potent single-target soul attack.

"Leviathan's Strike!"

His Nascent Soul struck outward with its tail. An invisible blow of soul power, refined and focused, slammed into the Praetorian Hunter's mind. The Xylarri who were known for their strong souls were not immune to it. The Hunter's body locked up instantly, its multiple black eyes going vacant. It was stunned and dazed.

Simultaneously, Li Yu acted. "Abyssal Javelins!"

He didn't need a wide-scale barrage. He needed precision. Twenty black spears materialized instantly. He didn't target the stunned Hunter. He targeted the other four to prevent them from helping it. Five javelins for each of them.

And in the same instant that his soul and Qi attacks launched, he moved. He used his void-step, crossing the thirty feet, appearing directly in front of the stunned Praetorian Hunter.

The Hunter's vacant eyes registered the white robe but its mind was not able to operate correctly. Li Yu's staff, wreathed in dark destructive void energy swung forward. It was a calm and calculated execution.

CRUNCH.

The staff connected with the Hunter's smooth pale head. The void energy erupted and the creature's head and upper torso were simply erased. Its body disintegrated into grey dust even as it fell.

Thwip-thwip-thwip...

At the same moment the twenty javelins found their marks. The four other members of the execution squad, who were just beginning to react to Li Yu's sudden explosion of power were struck. Five javelins each.

Their bodies were torn apart, purple energy flaring as the void-infused spears pierced their tough hides. They weren't dead, Soul Formation level beings were too tough for that, but they were grievously injured. Some of their limbs were severed, their torsos impaled and their purple auras flickering wildly.

Li Yu landed lightly on the air and held his staff at the ready. His Sentry orb was active, his Koi devouring field now sucking in the massive burst of energy from the dead Praetorian.

He faced the remaining fifteen Xylarri and their stunned purple-skinned leader. He could almost see it in its eyes. It was true shock, true surprise that he was okay. It would seem that whatever was supposed to happen to him had always worked before. The Xylarri that stepped up to get him had their guards lowered with that belief.

One dead. Four critically wounded.

It was time for him to counter-attack.