The change was subtle, amidst that chaos the beast tides the majority of cultivators barely noticed a thing, however the keen-eyed ones among the groups frowned as they fought and killed off their share of the beasts.
'Something's off, the beasts seem distracted?' one of them thought as their spear plunged in the ribcage of a large cat like creature with fins and blue fur, it had tried to ignore him entirely.
Such situations were happening all over the beach, some of the weaker groups became overwhelmed and were forced to let beasts through while they recovered, while others found them easier to deal with as they seemed to be intent on barging through recklessly.
"Tch, did someone do something?" The thick browed man, Yi Yijun grunted as his group struggled to pin down a couple creatures as their limbs and tentacles whipped violently while they thrashed about.
Unfortunately, the beach was in a state of chaos, so it wasn't easy to identify exactly what was happening.
Which was why those at the back began to rejoice in silence as more beasts began to come to them, the strong beasts were still pinned down, so they didn't need to worry as they began joyfully collecting materials.
'As expected, even with an Incense doused in this High Strength Feeding Solution, the tide hasn't overwhelmed them…' Shu He watched the battle unfold with a slight smile 'I'd be in trouble if they failed to hold out' he wanted to laugh but kept it in.
This 'High Strength Feeding Solution' was something produced for animals that had lost their appetite, struggled to eat certain things or to bait animals to eat in general, it's a high strength type produced by him and Jing Yaling by modifying the original recipe that was kept in the Beast Taming Division.
This specific mix would be very attractive to seafaring creatures and less towards terrestrial ones, by soaking in incense stick in it and burning it, it would become much more potent and spread quickly, but fade quicker.
'Hopefully it doesn't last for too long…' He was watching the general pattern of the tide's movements, because they were situated to the back at the right the entire tide seemed to be shifting in their direction, no one appeared to have noticed yet, but it was better to not do it for too long.
"There's a large beast incoming!" One of the Crystal Coral Sect members yelled, the group looked into the distance as a large isopod creature scuttled towards them, knocking the group in front of them out of the way with its hard shell.
'It's not quite at the Satiated level… they should be able to handle it' Shu He watched with crossed arms as Ren Hai drew his sword.
"You three, we'll the deal with it! The rest of you focus on the smaller ones!" He issued an order towards the three Meridian Awakening disciples as they drew their weapons to intercept the isopod.
One of them performed a hand sign as a ball of fire shot out, attempting to engulf the isopod in flames yet its charged through without so much as a mark on its shell.
"Trap it!"
The long-haired girl slammed her hands against the ground as the earth beneath the sand upturned creating a small circle of rock around the isopod as it crashed in to the wall, screeching in anger as it banged again and again.
It then began to dig in to the rocks in an attempt to climb the sides, so the third member sent out strips of seaweed that wrapped around its extended limbs and pulled, causing it to stand upright.
And with that opening-
"<
'Good teamwork' Shu He nodded as he noticed more beasts heading their way in the distance.
"Pull the carcass to the side! Get ready, we're not done!" Ren Hai didn't need any assistance; he had fully entered the zone and was oblivious to the presence of Shu He and Xue.
Just like that, the beast tide went on even with a little interference with Shu He, the members of the Crystal Coral Sect proved to be very competent despite their lower cultivation which surprised Shu He, but at the same time he was relieved.
Once the sun began setting over the horizon, it was announced that the beast tide was entering its final wave, one might think that was a good thing, that the last will just be simple dregs, but it was the opposite.
The last beasts were the strongest, the last to run away from whatever caused the tide, and so at this point many of the smaller sects began to pull back and count their gains, risking their lives for any more would be stupid.
"We're going to retreat now, thanks to what you did earlier we've made far more gains than we should have normally" Ren Hai spoke to Shu He; a hint of respect was clear in his voice.
"I think you would have gotten plenty without me, your teamwork surprised me!" Shu He humbly replied.
"No… I noticed, you helped us out a few times, right? We would have had far more injuries if not…"
Shu He merely shrugged with a smile, it was true he had used some of his weighted needles to offer some support, but the help he gave was very little. "It's the result of your hard work, I'm sure Tao Yan would be happy to see you like this".
"Really?!" Ren Hai's eyes lit up "I was worried since I only recently reached Balance Attainment… I wanted Senior Brother to know the sect would be fine without him here for a while".
"I'm sure it will… but be careful" Shu He issued a warning out of nowhere, Ren Hai nodded lightly "I understand" he then turned to the head of the beach where they were preparing for the final wave, the Everlasting Ocean Sect was holding it off until they were prepared. "What will you do, Shu He?".
Shu He scratched his chin in thought as he glanced at Shu Xue who was sat next to him silently, in fact she had fallen asleep mid wave since there was nothing to do. "I think I'll stay and see this last wave; we didn't get much action after all".
"Got it, we'll wait for you at our camp, I'll get one of our disciples to wait to guide you".
"Okay, that's great, thanks" After he nodded, Ren Hai ran off to catch up with the rest of his sect, they had a challenge ahead of them; They had far more materials than they usually do, so they will be a target of larger sects or bands of loose cultivators that get greedy.
It shouldn't be too much a problem while everyone was still gathered… the problem would be when they were transporting it back to their sect!
He sighed "Problems for another day".
"What kind of problems?" The sound of footsteps in the sand were followed by a rosy voice, Na Xue arrived next to him as she crouched down and poked the sleeping duck in human form.
"Decided to help?" Shu He asked as he glanced at her.
"It just seemed like something interesting might happen, you looked a little bored yourself." Her finger sunk into Shu Xue's cheek but there wasn't a single response.
"…Well, maybe." He sighed again, after watching Ren Hai and his group he had realised the truth.
There was a large gap.
Between him and them, Ren Hai was the same cultivation level as him, yet Shu He felt he could have dealt with those beasts alone with little problems along the way, all he really did was stand still and throw a few needles.
There was an itch growing in his body, one that he hadn't really felt before.
He wanted to fight. He wanted to see the full extent of his work.
It was an unneeded feeling, one that he pushed down, yet it was evidently there.
"What about Bai Lian?" He asked, trying to change the topic.
"She's.. preoccupied, she said to go ahead without her".
"Oh" Their eyes turned towards the horizon as silence fell on them, it wasn't that they didn't want to talk, but rather their attention was fixated on the movement beneath the waves.
[Wake up!] he said through their link to Shu Xue, who hopped up comically while rubbing her eyes.
"What?!" She yelled in surprise as she looked around before looking up to Shu He.
"Seems like we'll have a chance to do something after all" Shu He said to her.
Meanwhile, Na Xue's eyes turned a pale yellow as a smile grew on her face "Well this will be interesting".
In the distance, a large army of crustaceans filled with multiple spirit beasts marched on to shore along with tens of octopi like creatures… but just behind them was the biggest creature of all.
Its body was deep black with yellow circles on its shining scales, it had amber eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness as large fleshy fangs protruded out of its open maw.
It was a massive sea snake!