While the Sages and Rui fought the Sage-level and stronger quasi-Sage-level beasts at the very forefront of the beast tide, the other Martial Artists of the Kandrian Empire fought off the rest of the beast tide that diverged away from the Sages and headed down further north and south of the Kandrian border.
The most important group to target were the quasi-Sage-level beasts and monsters. The most powerful Martial Masters had their eyes exclusively focused on them. They knew that they needed to focus and take down the worst of the creatures while letting the other Masters deal with the weaker beasts and monsters.
Having been informed of the absence of Rui, they knew that their job was much harder. They needed to divide Masters in a way to ensure that all three rotating shifts of Masters would have enough powerful Masters in each shift.