Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The spectral female figure floated in the air with her clawed hand firmly clamped around Khaos's wrist. The freezing rot of her soul energy pulsed with a rhythmic malicious intent trying to dig deeper into the ancient warrior's foundation.

"Of course I survived!" Xyphyra shouted. Her voice was a terrible, layered sound that echoed directly inside the mind rather than the physical air. "I would never allow my spirit to fade into the abyss until I had the absolute pleasure of watching you die. I sustained myself on nothing but pure hatred just for this moment."

Khaos did not flinch.

"Are you truly still clinging to that ancient grudge?" Khaos asked with his voice remaining a calm and dangerous rumble. "After all this time and all the blood spilled across the universe you are still angry about the past?"

The purple energy flared violently in response to his calm demeanor. The spectral image of Xyphyra contorted into an expression of predatory rage. Her empty violet eyes widened.

"Of course I am still angry!" Xyphyra screamed and the sound scraped against the surrounding wooden architecture. "You betrayed me! You abandoned our grand design to be with some pathetic whore!"

Khaos's eyes twitched.

It was a microscopic movement but it carried the weight of a collapsing star. The terrifying calm that had settled over the VoidClaw instantly shattered. Khaos channeled his power. He did not unleash a massive explosive technique. He simply exerted the power of his soul.

The bright sickly purple color that was creeping rapidly up his bicep suddenly stopped. It hit an invisible impenetrable wall. The freezing rot tried to push forward but it was completely overwhelmed. The purple infection began to recede. It was forced violently backward down his arm and retreated past his elbow and back toward his wrist where her clawed hand maintained its grip.

Xyphyra gasped and her spectral form flickered in shock.

"You need to be very careful now," Khaos warned. His voice carried a lethal freezing edge that made the air in the courtyard drop by several degrees. "That woman you just insulted is my wife. Some things cannot be spoken about without a heavy price."

Khaos glared at the purple specter hovering before him. "And for the record I never betrayed you for her. We were never together Xyphyra. You built a delusion in your own mind. You made your own decisions and chose your own dark path. I simply made mine."

Xyphyra stared at his arm in absolute disbelief. The freezing soul rot she had cultivated for thousands of years was being effortlessly pushed back by his soul power? This was impossible.

"How are you doing this?" Xyphyra demanded while tightening her ethereal grip. "You could not resist my soul arts in the ancient wars! You should be paralyzed!"

"I am not the person I was back then." Khaos stated plainly. He easily rotated his wrist within her grip and proving her hold was entirely ineffective. "My soul has grown many times more powerful over the years. I have walked paths you cannot even comprehend."

Xyphyra scoffs at his declaration. She tossed her head back and her purple hair whipped around her translucent shoulders.

"Do not flatter yourself, VoidClaw." Xyphyra mocked with a bitter sneer. "You are only resisting me because I was severely weakened in that catastrophic war. I have been forced to hide inside this broken old fool like a parasite to slowly stitch my spirit back together. I have not fully recovered my strength. If I were whole, you would already be a mindless husk on these jade stones."

She leaned closer and her face hovered mere inches from his. "But even with your newfound power and my lingering injuries you still cannot keep me here. You cannot trap me and you cannot kill me. My soul is entirely too strong for you. The moment I choose to leave, I will vanish into the ether and you will never find me again."

Khaos looked at her arrogant expression and then a low rumbling sound built in his chest. He started to laugh. It was not a dark and menacing chuckle. It was a bright, booming laugh that was filled with amusement at her absolute foolishness.

"You are absolutely right," Khaos agreed while shaking his head. "I might not have been able to kill you back then and even with my current power I might not be able to permanently trap a soul expert of your caliber right now. But I know someone who can."

Xyphyra narrowed her empty violet eyes suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

Khaos raised his free hand and pointed a finger past her. "I am talking about him. Look at who is laying on the floor behind you."

Xyphyra scoffed again and was fully believing this was some pathetic attempt at misdirection. But her arrogance compelled her to look. She slowly turned her spectral head and cast her gaze toward the paved jade stones where the young human wanderer was currently sleeping face down.

At first she saw nothing but a weak human boy. But as her supreme spiritual sense washed over Li Yu her expression completely froze.

It took her an agonizing moment to fully process what she was looking at. The realization crashed into her spirit with the force of a falling moon. Her ethereal form began to tremble violently. The purple light illuminating her body flickered and dimmed in the face of incomprehensible shock.

"Is that..." Xyphyra whispered. Her voice lost all of its previous malice and mockery. She sounded like a terrified child. She stared at the sleeping boy and her mind struggled to accept the impossibility of the situation. "Why is he so young though?"

She spoke the words to Khaos but she was mostly asking the universe itself.

"You do not seem to understand," Khaos said with a terrifying grin spreading across his face. "Yes, that is exactly who you think it is. Isn’t it quite odd?"

Then the ancient VoidClaw threw his head back and roared with laughter.

It was a sound of unbridled triumph. Khaos laughed with the force of a collapsing galaxy. He did not hold back his presence or mask his aura. The sheer volume and power of his laughter erupted outward and shattered the silence of the pocket dimension.

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But the sound did not stop there. The laughter vibrated through what was an impenetrable shell to others. It echoed out into the coastal sky above the Violet Deep. It rolled across the churning ocean and was generating massive tidal waves that crashed against the distant cliffs. The laughter shook the entire Demonic realm. Deep earth fault lines groaned and ironstone buildings in the capital rattled.

The demons and cultivators of the empire had absolutely no idea what was causing the apocalyptic vibrations. They looked toward the sky in sheer terror wondering if a new Sovereign tier threat had descended upon their world.

Outside the giant floating clam, Malos and the three elite generals were sitting in their portable courtyard playing a quiet game of cards.

The sudden world shaking laughter erupted directly from the pearlescent shell beneath them. The vibrations were so intense that the tea cups shattered on the table. The three generals scrambled to their feet and drew their weapons while looking around wildly for an attacking army.

Malos gripped the edge of the stone table to steady himself. He looked down at the pristine white shell and blinked his dark eyes in concern. He was certainly a bit spooked by the sheer magnitude of the sound but it didn’t seem dangerous. The shaking died down as quickly as it appeared.

"Well." Malos said while dusting off his robes and picking up his scattered cards. "It seems Li Yu is making new friends inside. Your turn General."

The generals looked at the Demon Lord in disbelief but slowly sat back down after wiping the sweat from their brows. They quickly returned to their drinks while the realm stabilized.

Inside the courtyard, Khaos continued to laugh while Xyphyra stared in absolute horror.

"No way…" Xyphyra muttered while shaking her spectral head frantically. She released her grip on Khaos's wrist entirely and floated backward. "It cannot be. That makes no sense at all. It is impossible!"

"It is really unfortunate that you decided to reveal yourself right now." Khaos said with a smile. He looked at the trembling purple specter with supreme satisfaction. "It was a very good plan Xyphyra. Luring me to touch my old friend while my soul was open to transfer memories was brilliant. You almost had me."

Khaos looked down at the old gardener who was still sitting cross legged with his eyes closed and completely oblivious to the spiritual warfare happening above him. He was long put into a trance.

"But you made a fatal miscalculation." Khaos continued his tone shifting to deep respect. "The friend I knew would never be afraid to get his memories back even if he did lose them. He was far too fearless to ever hide from his past. That was deeply ingrained in his very being. Your little trap was doomed the moment he made his choice. It is now time to get him back and give him the peace he truly deserves."

Khaos turned his head and looked directly at the sleeping form of Li Yu. He took a deep breath and shouted to the open air of the courtyard.

"Help me this time and I will owe you a favor! After all that I have done, you know I have earned it as well."

The words echoed through the pocket dimension. For a brief second nothing happened.

Then the space above Li Yu's sleeping body began to warp. The air grew incredibly heavy. The soft warm light of the glowing pearl above was instantly drowned out by an overwhelming ancient presence that defied description.

A figure slowly materialized from Li Yu's body.

It was an old man wearing a simple woven straw hat and ragged clothes. He held a weathered fishing rod in his hands. Beside him a water buffalo appeared as well. It was Muddy in soul form.

The Fisherman had made his appearance.

Following closely behind the Fisherman the massive ethereal form of the Koi glided out of Li Yu's chest circling the air above the courtyard with majestic grace. Finally the colossal spectral image of the Whale breached the surface of reality casting a massive shadow over the entire garden.

Xyphyra looked at the four soul entities and her mind completely broke.

"What in the Dao..." Xyphyra stammered as her ethereal form began to glitch and distort from sheer panic. She looked at the Fisherman and her violet eyes wide with absolute incomprehensible terror. "It has aged? But he looks so young out there… What is this... how can you possibly be older?!"

She did not get the chance to ask any further questions.

Before Xyphyra could attempt to flee into the ether the Fisherman casually raised his weathered rod. He did not use a grand technique or chant a complex spell. He simply flicked his wrist and cast his line forward.

The invisible hook crossed the courtyard in an unblockable instant. It pierced directly through the purple ethereal image of Xyphyra and hooked securely into the deepest core of her soul.

Xyphyra screamed. It was a sound of absolute agony and terror. The Fisherman gave a sharp tug on the rod.

He did not just pull the spectral projection toward him. The hook dragged her entire true being completely out of the old man's body. A massive torrent of sickly purple energy was violently ripped from the gardener's spine, forcibly evicting the parasite that had hidden there for thousands of years.

Xyphyra thrashed and resisted with everything she had. She unleashed waves of terrifying soul arts trying to rot the invisible fishing line and shatter the hook. She was one of the most powerful soul experts in the universe in her prime and even in her injured state, she should have been able to come and go as she pleased.

But her struggles were completely and utterly futile. She was entirely powerless against the pull of the rod.

The realization stunned her into a brief moment of silence. She was being reeled in like a common minnow. The Fisherman had brought Muddy, the Koi and the Whale with him but looking at the absolute effortless ease with which he handled the rod it was entirely unclear if he actually needed their help at all. They seemed to just be there for the spectacle.

The Fisherman dragged her across the courtyard until she was hovering directly in front of him.

Her true spiritual form was finally revealed. She was a devastatingly beautiful woman with long flowing purple hair and flawless skin. She glared at the Fisherman with a mixture of immense hatred and absolute fear.

The Fisherman did not say a word. He simply raised his free hand and slammed his palm directly into the center of her chest.

"Perv!" Xyphyra yelled while crossing her arms over herself in a desperate attempt to block the strike.

The physical impact did nothing but the spiritual consequences were instantaneous.

The moment the Fisherman's palm touched her soul all kinds of ancient glowing chains, complex runes and heavy sealing marks erupted from the point of impact. The seals rapidly spread outward and were wrapping entirely around her spiritual body. They were locking her cultivation foundation tight.

But the seals did something far worse than just imprison her.

As the runes locked into place, Xyphyra's beautiful ethereal form began to rapidly change. Her flawless skin wrinkled and sagged. Her long vibrant purple hair turned a dull coarse grey. Her posture hunched over and her sharp alluring features melted into the soft weathered face of a very old tired grandmother.

Xyphyra looked down at her new hands. She saw the wrinkles and the age spots.

The devastation that washed over her face was absolute. Losing her freedom and being imprisoned by ancient seals was a terrible fate but losing her youth and her beauty was a punishment that was an insult to her pride as a soul master. It was far more devastating than anything else the Fisherman could have done to her.

"No!" The newly formed grandma screamed in furious protest while waving her wrinkled arms wildly. "Change me back! You absolute monster change me back right now!"

The Fisherman ignored her complaints entirely. He gave the fishing rod one final tug.

The screaming withered form of Xyphyra was violently yanked forward and sucked directly into the sleeping body of Li Yu. She vanished without a trace, leaving behind a perfectly quiet and peaceful courtyard.

The Fisherman adjusted his straw hat. Muddy, the Koi and the Whale silently dissolved back into the ether.

The ancient soul entities retreated back into the young wanderer's foundation, returning the pocket dimension to its quiet and serene state. It was as if the most terrifying soul battle in recent history had never even occurred.