Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The journey continued down the wide dirt road but the pace had slowed to an absolute crawl. They were currently about two days out from the renown academy city. They could have easily arrived by now if they marched with their usual strict discipline. But Li Yu had won the wager and he fully intended to exercise his prize.

Ever since the young wanderer forced the greatest genius of the Void Shell Citadel to concede a spar, he had been dragging the entire entourage on an endless series of completely mundane detours.

Muten stuck to his word. He was a person of honor. If he agreed to a wager, he would see it through, no matter how deeply it annoyed his structured mind. Their first major delay happened when Li Yu spotted a massive waterfall off in the distance.

Instead of walking past it, he asked that they hike three miles through the dense heavy forest just to look at the water. Muten stood near the edge of the roaring falls with his arms crossed over his chest. He watched the glowing blue water crash into the deep basin below and was entirely failing to see the point of standing there.

"The water falls," Muten stated, his voice flat and perfectly logical. "Can we please return to the road?"

Li Yu just laughed and handed the young prodigy a handful of roasted nuts he had bought from a traveling merchant an hour earlier. The next day Li Yu dragged them to an ancient ruined temple half buried in the side of a rocky cliff.

There was absolutely no spiritual energy left in the ruins. There were no hidden treasures or ancient inheritances to uncover. It was just a pile of very old rocks. Li Yu spent two full hours walking through the crumbling archways and was admiring the faded carvings on the walls.

Zarek looked like he was going to experience a violent Qi deviation from pure frustration. He gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly his hands shook. He could not fathom why his supreme young master was allowing this vagrant to waste their incredibly valuable time. Half of that reason was that Muten did not want to go to this academy. He was being forced to go by his family. Since he didn’t want to be there anyways and he was honoring a wager, he did not rush things.

The elegant butler and the quiet maid simply followed along and were performing their duties without a single word of complaint. Garrick walked behind Li Yu and was enjoying the absurdity of the situation. The Great Sage found it entertaining to watch.

"This is completely inefficient." Muten muttered as Li Yu stopped at yet another roadside stall to buy a strange bubbling green drink. "We are wasting precious time that could be spent refining our foundations and advancing our cultivation."

"Your foundation is already denser than a mountain Muten," Li Yu replied as he was taking a sip of the sweet green liquid. "If you make your entire life nothing but a race to the next realm, you will miss the entire world you are trying to conquer. Drink this."

Li Yu shoved a wooden cup of the green drink into Muten's hands. The young prodigy sighed heavily.

“You only say that because from what I can see you have no responsibilities. I have people looking up to me and depending on me. I cannot ‘just take it easy.’ Doing so might lead others to die or worse.” Muten replied with the truth.

Li Yu couldn’t refute him so he nodded his head and smiled. Not really knowing what else to say. Muten wasn’t wrong, Li Yu was privileged with freedom. And while it seemed like he never cultivated, he was cultivating all the time but he couldn’t reveal his secrets.

Muten took a small sip of the drink. It was surprisingly refreshing and carried a hint of sweet mint that cleared his mind. He drank the rest of it in silence. Later that day, the sun reached its absolute peak in the heavy sky. They stopped in a lush clearing near the road to have their noon meal.

After they finished eating the roasted meats and glowing fruits, Li Yu walked over to a soft and grassy hill that was overlooking the valley. He patted the ground next to him and looked directly at Muten.

"Come here." Li Yu instructed. "We are going to take a nap."

The entire entourage froze completely. Zarek nearly choked on his water. Muten stared at Li Yu like the young wanderer had just suggested they jump into a volcano.

"A nap?" Muten repeated his voice laced with disbelief. "Cultivators of my level do not sleep. Sleep is a biological necessity for mortals and the weak. I have not slept in years. I circulate my Qi to rejuvenate my physical form."

"Circulating Qi is working," Li Yu argued while pointing to the soft grass. "I am telling you to completely stop working. Just for one hour. Lie down, close your eyes and literally do absolutely nothing."

Muten frowned deeply. His entire life had been a non stop grueling schedule of training, studying and leading. The very concept of lying in the grass and doing absolutely nothing felt like a failure of his duties and a waste of his valuable time.

But he had lost the wager.

Muten let out another long and heavy sigh that rustled the grass around them. He walked over to the hill and rigidly lay down on his back. He kept his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his posture was as stiff as a wooden board.

"Relax your shoulders!" Li Yu commanded as he was lying back and resting his hands behind his head. "Uncross your arms. Just breathe the air."

Muten slowly uncrossed his arms and let them rest on the grass. He closed his eyes.

The six members of his entourage stood near the carriage in stunned silence. Zarek, the three guards, the butler and the maid stared at the grassy hill with wide eyes. They had served the young master for a very long time. They had seen him bleed in combat and they had seen him push himself to the absolute brink of death in training.

They had never once seen the young master take a nap. He was always too busy carrying the crushing weight of the Void Shell Citadel on his shoulders.

At first, Muten just laid there analyzing things in his mind. But as the minutes ticked by, the soft breeze blew across his face. The warmth of the sun soaked into his dark robes. The sound of the rustling leaves filled his ears.

The heavy and invisible tension that had defined his entire existence slowly began to melt away little by little. Muten's breathing deepened and his mind finally drifted into a peaceful and quiet sleep. An hour later Li Yu woke up. He stretched his arms and let out a satisfied yawn. He looked over at Muten and was expecting the young prodigy to be awake and annoyed by the wasted time.

Muten opened his eyes. He sat up slowly.

But he did not say a word. His dark eyes were completely wide and entirely glazed over. A terrifying stillness descended upon the grassy hill. The ambient Qi in the heavy realm suddenly violently rushed toward Muten and was forming a massive, swirling vortex of spiritual energy directly above his head.

Muten had instantly entered a state of enlightenment. Li Yu recognized the phenomenon immediately but before he could even speak, the space directly beside the hill violently shattered.

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Two figures appeared out of thin air. They radiated a suffocating ancient power that vastly eclipsed Muten's Paragon aura. Li Yu reacted purely on instinct. He thought they were assassins ambushing the vulnerable prodigy. Li Yu channeled his Destruction laws and threw a heavy punch toward the closest figure.

The older man simply raised a hand and casually swatted the air.

Li Yu felt an invisible mountain slam into his chest. He was violently swatted away like a bothersome fly. He flew backward through the air and crashed heavily into the dirt near the carriage. Garrick immediately stepped forward, his fists glowing with power but Zarek rushed between them waving his arms frantically.

"Stop!" Zarek spoke, keeping his voice low so as to not bother Muten. "Do not attack. That is Elder Jaro. He is the young master's guardian elder."

Li Yu pushed himself up from the dirt and was coughing slightly. He rubbed his sore chest. He looked at the two old men standing over the meditating Muten.

The guards knew Elder Jaro well. He was the assigned protector who traveled in the shadows. He was there to ensure the clan heir was never assassinated by rival factions. But the guards stared at the second older man in confusion. They had never seen him before in their entire lives.

It turned out that Muten always had two protectors. Only Elder Jaro ever acted or showed his presence. The second man was the second secret guardian elder named Elder Torin. He was significantly stronger than Jaro and existed solely as the final line of defense for the greatest genius of the clan.

However, enlightenment was so incredibly rare and supremely valuable that both elders appeared simultaneously to make absolutely sure nothing went wrong.

Elder Jaro and Elder Torin moved with flawless precision. They raised their hands and immediately sealed off the entire area surrounding the grassy hill. A massive dome of dark purple energy locked the space down, ensuring no stray beasts or wandering cultivators could disrupt Muten's revelation.

Once the impenetrable perimeter was set the two elders turned and walked over to Li Yu.

Li Yu braced himself and was expecting to be scolded for attacking an elder. But to his surprise the two ancient men offered him a polite and respectful bow.

"We must thank you young traveler." Elder Jaro spoke.

Elder Torin nodded in agreement. "Experiencing his first defeat at the same realm and then being forced by you to actually relax and step away from his duties was the exact catalyst he needed. You have given him an opportunity that is hard to come by."

Li Yu brushed the dirt off his robes and smiled. "I just thought he needed a nap. He was far too tense."

The two elders chuckled softly. Then their expressions turned serious. They looked at Li Yu with intense calculating eyes.

"We watched the spar from the shadows," Elder Torin said as his gaze dropped to Li Yu's hands. "We saw the weapon you wield. Would you allow us to see it up close?"

Li Yu hesitated for a moment but decided to comply. These men were vastly stronger than him and if they wanted to kill him for the weapon, they would have already done it. He reached out and summoned Star Crusher from his Koi Sanctuary.

The dark staff materialized in his hand. Li Yu held it out toward Elder Jaro. The older man reached out with a single hand and grasped the center of the staff. Li Yu let go.

The absolute second the staff left Li Yu's grip it plummeted toward the ground with the weight of a star. Elder Jaro's eyes went wide with pure shock. His arm was violently dragged downward by an impossible, crushing weight. Before the staff could smash into the dirt, Li Yu quickly reached down and caught it.

Li Yu looked at the elder in genuine confusion. "It is an incredibly heavy weapon but it should not be so heavy that a guardian elder of your level cannot hold onto it."

Elder Jaro's face turned completely red with embarrassment and awe. He rubbed his strained shoulder. "It feels exactly like trying to lift the entire realm. It is absolutely immovable to me."

"Let me try." Elder Torin said as he stepped forward. He was much stronger than Jaro and pushed his vast cultivation into his arms.Li Yu held the staff up high and slowly let go as Torin gripped the dark material.

The exact same thing happened. The staff hurdled toward the ground with unstoppable force, completely ignoring Torin's supreme strength. Li Yu had to dive forward and catch it again.

The two elders stared at the staff in wonder. They exchanged a highly meaningful look and the last lingering traces of suspicion completely vanished from their eyes.

"You definitely did not steal this weapon from our ancestral tombs." Elder Torin concluded while taking a deep breath. "It possesses a supreme weight that actively rejects us. It was definitely made specifically for you or bound to your unique soul. If you had stolen it, you would not be able to lift it either."

Li Yu felt a wave of relief wash over him. He was incredibly glad they did not suspect him of grave robbing anymore.

"Could you hold it up for us while we study it?" Elder Jaro asked politely and also with slight embarrassment. He couldn’t even remember the last time he asked someone to hold something for him, let alone a young junior.

Li Yu nodded and held Star Crusher horizontally in front of them. The two elders leaned in close and were studying the staff.

"The material is incredibly similar to our sacred lineage." Torin murmured, his eyes reflecting the void light. "But it is significantly harder, stronger and vastly more powerful than any of our known ancestors. It is as if this shell came from a being who reached a level no one else in our clan has."

They looked up at Li Yu. "Were you truly given this by your teacher?"

"I really was," Li Yu answered honestly. "I am not lying to you. He gave it to me after my previous staff broke. Saying that this should do for a long time."

The two elders sighed deeply as their faces filled with regret.

"It is a true pity your teacher is not here right now," Jaro commented as he was shaking his head slowly. "A being capable of forging a weapon from such supreme material must possess unimaginable wisdom. The current Patriarch of our clan would benefit immensely from meeting such a person."

Li Yu could easily see the deep concern etched on their weathered faces. He suspected the Patriarch they mentioned was dealing with a massive crisis or a severe bottleneck in his cultivation. Li Yu did not say anything but he internally wondered where Khaos had gone. It would have been incredibly useful to have him here right now to answer these questions and possibly help this clan.

The group settled into a quiet waiting period.

A full week passed while Muten remained completely locked in his state of deep enlightenment on the grassy hill. The two guardian elders were entirely pleased with the delay, stating that the longer he remained in the state the better his ultimate foundation would become. They had to scare away a few curious people coming to investigate. Absolutely no one was allowed to get close.

During this week Li Yu did not sit still. Since he was not actively cultivating, he used the time to explore the surrounding region. Despite flight being incredibly exhausting, he flew around the area and visited different smaller towns and remote villages. This turned out to be great training for him and his body was getting more and more used to this kind of environment.

He constantly flew back to the camp and brought back large bags filled with all kinds of local foods, drinks, roasted meats and fresh baked pastries for the group to eat and try.

Elder Jaro and Elder Torin had taken quite a liking to the young man during this quiet week. They found Li Yu to be incredibly kind, sincere and deeply respectful. However, as veterans who had spent their lives managing clan politics and warfare they also judged him silently.

They thought he was far too carefree to survive the brutal realities of the higher realms. They mused together that Li Yu would never make a great leader. He lacked the ruthless drive and the rigid discipline required to actually be in charge of a massive group or a warring organization. But they agreed he possessed a natural charisma that would make him a very good figurehead to rally behind. He would just need tacticians and logistic masters to help him.

They also thought he was incredibly lazy. They rarely saw him cultivate properly during the entire week but they could not deny that his foundation and raw combat power were absurdly high for his level. He was a walking contradiction.

On the morning of the eighth day, the massive swirling vortex of ambient Qi above the hill suddenly collapsed inward.

The energy rushed directly into Muten's body. The young prodigy opened his eyes and a bright and terrifying purple light flashed across the clearing. The heavy pressure of his aura expanded outward, pushing the dirt away in a perfect circle before he reigned it back in with flawless control.

Muten stood up. He had made absolutely massive gains in his understanding of the Void and his foundational stability. The two elders immediately dropped the defensive barrier and approached their young master while offering slight bows.

Muten returned their bows and thanked them for watching over him. He then walked past them and walked directly up to Li Yu who was currently chewing on a piece of dried fruit. Muten stopped and offered a sincere bow to Li Yu.

"Thank you, Li Yu." Muten said, his voice filled with gratitude. "Thank you for forcing a completely different perspective onto me. If you had not made me stop and rest I might have never chanced upon that enlightenment. Thank you."