Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The massive asteroid battlestation blotted out the light of the three suns and cast a deep terrifying shadow over the millions of spectators. From those glowing fissures thirty four figures slowly descended.

They hovered in the air directly above the platforms. They possessed the pale smooth ovoid heads and the chaotic clusters of black eyes that defined the Xylarri leaders. But these creatures were vastly different from the ones Li Yu had fought.

Their auras washed over the arena like a physical crushing ocean. The weight of their spiritual pressure cracked the floor and forced many of the weaker spectators directly onto their knees.

Emperor Xerxis stared upward and felt his breath catch in his throat. He sensed their cultivation bases. Every single one of those thirty four creatures possessed power equal to or greater than his own. They were all Domain Kings or higher.

The nightmare did not end there.

Behind the thirty four leaders a dark purple river began to flow out of the battlestation. It was not liquid. It was a massive and seemingly endless swarm. Millions upon millions of Xylarri drones poured out from the asteroid. They filled the sky and skittered across the surface of the massive rock. Their combined corrupting aura passively devoured the ambient Qi of the entire region and made the air feel thin and cold.

"I gave you a chance Xerxis." The Termite King laughed. "Now everyone in this realm will die besides my people."

The thirty four supreme Xylarri leaders did not look at the Domain Kings though. They did not care about the millions of spectators or the royal guards.

They turned their chaotic black eyes in unison. Every single one of them locked their gaze directly onto Li Yu.

Li Yu stood on the platform and felt a cold and heavy dread wash over his entire body. He was genuinely scared. He knew his foundation was monstrous and his Koi Soul gave him a unique advantage against their corrupting energy. But this was beyond anything he could ever handle. He could fight a prodigy in his own realm. He could not fight thirty four supreme beings and an endless army. The gap in power was a bottomless abyss.

The other supreme rulers recovered from their initial shock. They turned their fury toward the pale traitor standing on the stage.

"How dare you betray the realm and all those living here!" The King of Flies demanded.

"I do not care about them." The Termite King laughed again. His blind face tilted upward toward the towering asteroid. "I will rule over this realm now. But I am a generous king. I will allow the Moth Queen and the Ant Queen to survive."

The Termite King pointed a pale finger at the two female rulers.

"You must let me bind your souls to me." The Termite King offered. "You will serve me for the rest of your lives. Accept this and your specific lineages will be spared."

The Moth Queen radiated a furious aura. She stood tall and proud in the face of total cosmic annihilation.

"I would rather fight to the death." The Moth Queen stated.

"We will grind you into dust before we serve a traitor." The Ant Queen agreed.

The armies of the four remaining empires responded to the words of their rulers. Millions of royal guards, assassins and heavy defenders drew their weapons simultaneously. It wasn’t just in this area, all around the realm, forces were mobilizing to fight to the death. They would not fall so easily regardless of the odds.

The sound of steel and organic armor locking into place echoed across the realm. They faced certain death against the overwhelming numbers of the Swarm but they did not falter. They listened to their supreme rulers even in the face of the apocalypse. High above the arena the massive asteroid powered up.

Deep purple light gathered at the center of the battlestation. The chaotic energy swirled formed a massive array of destructive power. The thirty four Xylarri leaders raised their scythe claws and channeled their cultivation into the array.

They were preparing to fire a combined strike that could easily erase the entire territory. But instead of aiming the attack at the defiant rulers or the gathered armies, they angled the massive beam towards a single person.

Every single ounce of that world ending power was aimed directly at Li Yu.

Li Yu did not hesitate but he wondered just what kind of person he killed for this kind of treatment. His bravo from before after killing a few Xylarri within his realm was entirely gone. He reached deep into his robes and grabbed the carved bone token Garrick had given him. It was his only possible means to escape from here and even that didn’t seem likely. He wrapped his fingers around the bone and prepared to crush it.

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Before his fingers could apply the pressure, a violent tremor shook his inner world.

The mountain within suddenly vibrated. It tore itself out of his chest in a flash of blinding light. The dark stone materialized in the physical world and floated directly in the air above Li Yu.

The mountain pulsed with a terrifying and ancient authority.

A voice echoed outward from the stone. It was a motherly voice but it was extremely angry and fierce. The sound did not travel through the physical air. It bypassed normal reality and projected directly into the minds of every single Xylarri present. It was meant for the Hivemind, not the exact Xylarri here.

"Do not bully my son! Or I will wipe you out!"

The thirty four leaders froze. The millions of drones stopped moving. The hivemind shrieked in terror as an unimaginable weight pressed down upon their collective soul.

The mountain exploded. It did not send rocks flying. It shattered into a massive vortex of consuming power.

The thirty four Xylarri were instantly killed. Their bodies cracked and dissolved into fine mist in a fraction of a second. The millions upon millions of drones swarming the sky died just as fast. The terrifying purple plague that threatened to consume the realm was snuffed out like a weak candle in a hurricane.

The asteroid battlestation suffered the exact same fate. Everyone inside the structure was instantly killed. The structure itself groaned and began to rapidly shrink. The moon sized rock compressed down into the size of a mountain and then down to the size of a boulder.

The vortex generated by the exploding mountain acted like a vacuum.

The dead bodies of the millions of drones, the thirty four leaders, the massive volume of corrupting purple Qi and the shrunken asteroid were all violently sucked into the empty space where the mountain had just been floating.

The entire apocalyptic threat was devoured in the blink of an eye.

The vortex collapsed inward, eventually condensing into a single beam of light. The light shot right back into Li Yu's chest.

Li Yu gasped and looked inward. His inner world had changed. The massive volume of purple Qi was securely contained. But the biggest difference was the landscape. The shrunken asteroid structure now sat perfectly in his inner world and replaced the exact spot where the mountain once stood.

Back in the physical world, the shattered sky slowly began to mend itself. The light of the three suns returned to the floating arena.

A sudden spatial tear opened on the platform right next to Li Yu.

Garrick tumbled out and hit the floor heavily. The giant brawler was completely naked. He had clearly been busy having fun with the ladies on the warship when the terrifying aura of the mountain erupted. He did not even take a single second to grab a robe or a pair of pants.

Garrick dropped directly onto his knees. He pressed his forehead against the cracked floor and was bowing toward the empty air where the mountain had just appeared.

"I am sorry for skipping out on my duty!" Garrick yelled.

His voice trembled with horror. He remained bowing, his metallic body shaking uncontrollably. He was terrified he was going to be punished for leaving Li Yu alone. Li Yu looked at the man in confusion but his mind was still confused with what had just happened.

The arena was completely silent. Millions of people stared at the empty sky and then down at the human boy standing on the stage.

They looked at Li Yu as if he was a monster. A being who carried an artifact or a guardian that could casually erase a fleet and thirty four experts in a single breath was someone who defied all logic.

Emperor Xerxis stood frozen in his viewing box. He looked at the empty sky and then at Li Yu. After a moment to process, Xerxis was incredibly angry with himself. He realized he had made a massive political mistake. He knew Li Yu had terrifying hidden protectors.

‘When the Xylarri aimed their attack at him, I should have jumped in front of Li Yu and acted like I wanted to shield him! If I had done that, I could have gained immense favor with the god-like entity that just wiped out the Swarm.’ He regretted his inaction immensely but he had just been too surprised by the overwhelming scale of the enemy forces.

Down on the platform, Li Yu was becoming more and more confused. He stood there blinking in the returning sunlight. He remembered the mountain from when Garrick was freed. He knew it possessed incredible power since no one could damage it. But he did not hear the voice just now. The motherly message was transmitted exclusively into the Xylarri hivemind.

Li Yu looked at the spot where the stone had floated. He began to piece together what he thought had happened and assumed the mountain was a supreme protective artifact left by the person who had trapped Garrick. It had triggered to save his life and now it was used up. It had exploded and was now sadly gone. It wouldn’t be able to save his life again.

The heavy silence in the arena was finally broken.

The four surviving supreme rulers turned their heads slowly. They looked away from the confused human boy and locked their eyes onto the pale figure standing at the end of the stage.

The Termite King stood perfectly still. His cosmic backing was gone. His massive unstoppable allies had been erased from existence. He was the one that was most stunned by the sudden turn of events.

The Moth Queen raised her hand. Her dark aura flared with renewed fury.

"Destroy the Hollow Dominion." The Moth Queen ordered.

"Kill every last one of them." The Ant Queen agreed.

"Leave none alive." The King of Flies added.

"Eradicate their entire lineage!" Emperor Xerxis roared, projecting his voice across the arena.

The order was given simultaneously by all four leaders. The millions of royal guards, assassins and troops shifted their weapons. They turned their unified wrath toward the termite delegation.

The four supreme rulers did not wait for their armies. They launched themselves forward and were quickly converging on the Termite King from four different directions. The traitor had brought a plague to their doorstep and they were going to ensure his empire paid the ultimate price.