Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The moment Star Crusher materialized in the clearing the entire atmosphere violently shifted. The heavy dense air of the realm seemed to freeze completely solid under the sudden murderous pressure.

Garrick reacted instantly. The Great Sage stepped firmly in front of Li Yu, his physical body tensing like a coiled spring. He channeled his massive internal Qi and was preparing for violence. Garrick did not care that Muten was a Paragon. He was entirely ready to either fight to the death or grab Li Yu and violently smash a path to freedom.

"Where did you get that staff?" Muten demanded as his voice dropped to a dangerous and icy whisper.

Muten recognized the material immediately. It was the petrified shell of his own clan members. The power and level of the weapon could only mean that it came from at the very least an ancestor of his clan. His entire lineage resided within the Void Shell Citadel and they held the remains of their ancestors in the highest regard. They absolutely did not give such materials to outsiders.

But beneath his burning anger Muten felt something else. As he stared at the dark staff, he felt a strange connection to the weapon. It was a bizarre resonance that was vibrating deep within his soul that he simply could not explain. It felt intensely personal but he dismissed it as a bloodline reaction to seeing his ancestral remains disrespected in such a way.

Li Yu looked at the furious group in confusion. He lowered Star Crusher slightly but kept a firm grip on the weapon while gently placing a hand on Garrick's broad back to keep the Great Sage from attacking prematurely.

"I do not understand the reaction. I thought you wanted to spar so I took out my weapon." Li Yu said calmly. "If you are asking where I got the staff, a friend of mine gave this to me. Actually, he is more like a teacher. It was a gift from him."

"That is entirely impossible!" Muten snapped at Li Yu’s words. His aura was flaring violently now. "That kind of material could only come from my ancestors! The sheer density and the ambient power radiating from that staff could only come from a very top power of my own clan! We do not gift our sacred dead to wandering vagrants! You must have robbed the grave of some of our most powerful ancestors!"

Zarek gripped his sword tighter and his knuckles turned white. "I will take his head right now young master!"

Li Yu looked directly into Muten's furious eyes and decided to appeal to the young prodigy. This was clearly a misunderstanding. He just got here, how could he have robbed their ancestral grave?

"Think about this logically, Muten." Li Yu reasoned. "Do you really think that I could sneak into your ancestral graves without anyone knowing? Do you think I could successfully steal the remains of a supreme cultivator, forge those remains into a high tier staff and then be stupid enough to casually pull it out in front of you for a friendly spar?"

Muten froze slightly. Anger had overridden any logic in the heat of the moment. He began to immediately process the undeniable logic of the statement.

‘If this young wanderer truly possessed the stealth and the power to bypass the ultimate defenses of the Void Shell Citadel, he would never be foolish enough to reveal the stolen loot over a simple wager on a dirt road. It made absolutely zero sense.’ Muten thought.

"You are right." Muten admitted as his voice returned to its normal smooth cadence. "It is highly illogical. It is practically impossible."

Despite acknowledging the logic, Muten kept his guard completely up. Zarek and the other guards refused to lower their weapons. They were still radiating intense killing intent and were still ready to strike Li Yu down at the slightest movement. The visual evidence of the ancestral shell was simply too offensive to ignore.

"Please calm down." Li Yu offered and wanted to deescalate the situation completely. "I will just ask my teacher to come out here and explain the situation to you. He can clear this entire misunderstanding up."

Muten and the guards stared at Li Yu in stunned silence. The killing intent wavered slightly, replaced by overwhelming shock.

"Come out?" Muten repeated, his eyes narrowing. "You possess a living space? You have an inner world?"

The revelation was earth shattering to the young prodigy. He did not have an inner world yet. Not because he lacked the ability to but cultivations simply did not form an inner world yet at this stage. That came at a later realm. To hear a cultivator at the mere Divine Transformation realm casually offer to pull someone out of an inner world defied what he knew.

They had absolutely no idea that Li Yu possessed the Koi Sanctuary. They did not know it was the unique inner world generated directly from his martial spirit rather than his own inner world. Even though it was a misunderstanding, they had assumed correctly, Li Yu did in fact have an inner world but that was not where Khaos was being called out from.

Li Yu nodded and was entirely unaware of the significance of his double inner world. He closed his eyes and sent his consciousness deep into the Koi Sanctuary and was expecting to find the ancient warrior resting where he normally did. He did not find Khaos there.

He searched the massive ocean trenches. He searched the floating islands. He scanned the entire internal ecosystem. Khaos was nowhere to be found and had not once told him he was leaving somewhere.

Li Yu opened his eyes. A sense of awkwardness washed over him. He remembered the chaotic spatial transition and realized that Khaos might have been ejected during that time?

Li Yu rubbed the back of his neck and offered an incredibly sheepish smile to the hostile group.

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"Well." Li Yu started clearing his throat nervously. "It seems my friend must have left at some point without telling me. Or perhaps we got separated when we fell through that shattered rift earlier."

Zarek sneered loudly and was entirely unconvinced. "What an absolutely pathetic lie! He knows he is caught!"

It truly sounded like a complete fabrication. Even Li Yu knew it sounded like he was just making up excuses to cover his tracks. Muten raised a hand and silenced his aggressive guard instantly. The young prodigy's cold logic prevailed once again. There was simply no way a grave robber would act this way. There was a misunderstanding here but it made no sense for Li Yu to be a grave robber.

"There is no way you robbed the materials or a weapon of that caliber from my clan." Muten stated firmly. He was deciding to trust his own intellect over his initial emotional reaction. "If you were capable of executing a heist of that magnitude you would know much better than to reveal the weapon now. Let me see it though."

Muten extended his hand and was demanding the staff.

Li Yu looked at the young prodigy. He figured that cooperating might fully smooth over the remaining tensions. Muten was arrogant but he certainly did not seem like a common thief who would steal a weapon and run.

Li Yu tossed Star Crusher through the air.

Muten caught the heavy staff with effortless grace. The moment the weapon touched his palm he felt the strange connection flare up again. He studied the staff by running his fingers over the incredibly dense material. He felt the ancient void energy swirling within the staff. He studied it quietly for several long moments and let the familiar resonance wash over him before he finally tossed it back to Li Yu.

"We will change the condition of our spar." Muten announced as his competitive spirit reignited with intensity. "If I win, you will give that staff back to me so I can return it to where it truly belongs within my clan. Also the same conditions apply as before. You stop bothering me with your sightseeing. If you win, we will drop this matter all together."

Li Yu caught Star Crusher and agreed to the new terms with a simple nod. It was purely one sided but he would have to deal with things only if he loses.

He was also incredibly confused by the entire interaction. He began to form a working theory in his mind. He assumed that Khaos must be from a very similar clan to Muten or perhaps he was a very distant relative of this specific lineage who somehow ended up getting separated and ended up in Li Yu's original realm.

Muten instructed his guards to step further back. He walked into the center of the clearing and faced Li Yu. The young prodigy took a deep breath. His terrifying Paragon aura began to rapidly compress and shrink. He forcefully suppressed his own power, bringing his foundational strength all the way down until he rested exactly at the early Divine Transformation realm, just like Li Yu.

Muten did not draw a physical weapon. He raised his hands and cupped his fingers which formed the shape of crab claws. Dense purple Void Qi violently erupted from his palms. The energy swirled and condensed rapidly, forming a glowing claw around his hands. The density of the purple Qi distorted the air around him.

"Come." Muten challenged Li Yu as his voice echoed with supreme confidence.

Li Yu gripped Star Crusher and immediately executed a void step. He vanished from his spot attempting to reappear directly behind Muten for a quick and decisive strike. But Muten already reacted.

Before Li Yu could even fully materialize from the void, Muten pivoted perfectly and swung his purple claw. The spatial fabric bent around the strike and accelerated the attack to an impossible speed. The heavy Qi claw slammed directly into the shaft of Star Crusher and sent a massive kinetic shockwave tearing through the clearing.

Li Yu was violently blasted backward. His boots carved two deep trenches into the dirt as he skidded to a halt.

Li Yu looked at Muten in shock. "Your mastery of the void at this level is completely absurd! It exceeds my own mastery by a massive margin! Are you absolutely sure you are not cheating? Is this truly your real ability when you were in the Divine Transformation realm?"

Muten scoffed and lowered his glowing purple claws slightly. "You talk far too much. Keep fighting."

Despite his dismissive words to Li Yu, Muten was internally surprised. The kinetic impact of his strike should have completely shattered the bones of a normal Divine Transformation cultivator. But Li Yu absorbed the heavy blow with minimal effort. The young man was impossibly tough and his physical foundation seemed stronger than a beast’s.

Li Yu stabilized his stance and gripped Star Crusher with both hands. He quickly realized that he could not possibly beat this young prodigy in a contest of Void laws. Muten simply understood the spatial fabric on a much deeper level.

If Li Yu wanted to win this wager, he had to rely on his variety and his unthinkably wide foundation.

"Alright." Li Yu muttered as a fierce and determined light flashed in his eyes. "Let us see how you handle this."

Li Yu channeled his internal Qi, pushing his foundation to the absolute limit. He began to aggressively draw upon the various laws he had mastered during his journey.

Dark purple Void Qi swirled around the base of Star Crusher, matching the energy radiating from Muten's claws. But Li Yu did not stop there.

He seamlessly integrated a heavy surge of Destruction laws. He was coating the striking edge of the staff with an annihilating presence. Crackling blue Lightning suddenly erupted along the shaft of the weapon. It was hissing loudly against the dense atmosphere.

He pulled upon the crushing weight of the deep ocean to act as medium for them all. He was weaving Water laws around the entire staff to form a terrifying localized storm of pressure. Lastly, he wrapped himself around in a spiritual layer that relied on the Soul Laws. It was a new technique that he came up with during the month after the great war.

The spiritual layer around him acted almost like a domain. Those around him would feel sluggish and there would be additional pressure on their soul. The closer they were to him the heavier and sluggish their soul and in turn their bodies would feel. It was great for close quarter combat.

Li Yu stepped forward and the ground was cracking beneath his boots under the combined weight of the five laws.

Muten entirely lost a bit of his arrogant composure. His eyes widened in disbelief. Zarek and the three other guards gasped out loud as their rigid discipline shattered slightly as they watched the display of impossible power.

It was completely unheard of for a cultivator at the Divine Transformation realm to possess such high mastery over four completely distinct laws. Weaving Void, Destruction, Lightning and Water together with such harmony required a deep leveling of understanding that they didn’t know how someone in early Divine Transformation could have.

Then there was the fifth law that was surrounding Li Yu. While they weren’t masters in it, they could clearly sense that it was the laws of the Soul. One of the hardest and most terrifying laws to understand and use. One wrong move and it could mean a cultivator’s death before they even knew what happened.

Li Yu smiled brightly and was twirling the violently crackling staff in his hands. He vanished into the void once more and left behind a trail of lightning and destructive water in his wake. He was ready to show the young genius exactly what a true anomaly looked like in combat.