Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Li Yu did not look back at the plumes of thick white smoke rising from the military refineries. The Aegis Legion was gearing up for a massive war but he was officially removing himself from the board.

He wanted to return to the neutral zones. The untamed wilderness was dangerous but it was a natural danger dictated by starving beasts and rogue elements. It lacked the suffocating and orchestrated malice of Domain Kings playing their grand political games.

His journey took only a single day. He traveled with a singular purpose to leave this place instead of his aimless travels. Before he crossed the invisible border back into the neutral territory, he made a brief detour. He needed to address the glaring weakness Lord Moros had exposed a few days prior. His old stealth arrays were outdated and insufficient for a cultivator playing in the deep waters of the insectoid realm.

He found a black market array vendor operating out of a reinforced stone tent. Li Yu purchased a set of top tier concealment disks. The new array plates were forged from deep earth metal and etched with complex runes. They were designed to mask, suppress ambient Qi fluctuations and project a visual illusion.

With his new equipment secured, he pushed deep into a jagged mountain range within the neutral zones. The peaks here were sharp and treacherous. They were stabbing into the sky like broken teeth. The Qi was dense and wild. It was swirling through the deep ravines in violent currents. It was a harsh environment that deterred casual travelers and made it a good place to hide.

Li Yu found a cliff face near the summit of the tallest peak. He carved a small but deep cave straight into the solid bedrock. He smoothed the interior stone and dragged a heavy boulder over the entrance, leaving only a narrow gap for air.

He placed his new array disks at the entrance of the cave. He fed a sliver of his Qi into the plates. The runes flared to life. A shimmering barrier enveloped the cave and then vanished. It blended seamlessly with the natural rock of the mountain.

From the outside the cliff face looked undisturbed. His energy signature was completely erased from the surrounding world. He added a pile of spirit stones next to the array plates to help power them. They drew in their own Qi from the environment but it was not enough to actively use them constantly.

Li Yu sat cross legged on the cold stone floor and let out a heavy sigh.

The world outside was descending into chaotic violence but in here he finally had some peace. He couldn’t remember the last time he found cultivating to be more enjoyable than traveling but this realm was currently just too chaotic for him. Or perhaps he was tired of traveling and wanted to be alone for a time. He figured it was best to just train for now and hide out until the fires of war burned themselves down to embers. He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into training.

However, he did not want to remain ignorant of the shifting tides. A cultivator who blinded himself to the reality of the realm often ended up dead. He decided he would dedicate the vast majority of his time to cultivation but he would make periodic trips to gather intelligence.

There was a rough settlement called Split Rock located near his mountain peak. It was a haven for smugglers, rogue mercenaries and information brokers. A week after establishing his hidden cave, Li Yu made his first trip to the settlement.

He wore a dark simple traveler cloak and kept his aura suppressed to the Foundation Establishment level. He walked into the dingy central tavern of Split Rock and ordered a cup of bitter root tea. He sat in the darkest corner and extended his senses.

The tavern was packed with wounded mercenaries and opportunistic scavengers. The gossip flowed as freely as the cheap drinks.

"King Venrik actually did it." A massive beetle warrior said. "He marched his forces right up to the borders of the Eclipse Court. The usurper kept his promise."

"Is he insane?" A thin mantis rogue asked, taking a sip from a cracked mug. "Queen Calyptra commands the greatest assassin network in the realm on top of their Empire being ranked the highest. The Moth Empire has untouchable prestige. Venrik's army should have been slaughtered in the outer mist."

"That is the thing." The beetle warrior leaned closer while lowering his voice. "His army is vastly bigger than anyone thought. He did not just bring the remnants of the Aegis Legion. When the battle lines were drawn, a massive horde of hidden troops marched out of the deep wastes. Millions of feral spiders, toxic scorpions and exiled horrors. He built up a massive power base during his time in exile."

"He was biding his time the entire time." An older one eyed ant veteran nodded sagely from the next table. "He used the wealth of the neutral zones to fund a shadow army. That is where his arrogant confidence came from. He knew he had the numbers to wage a full scale invasion."

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Li Yu took a sip of his tea. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. Venrik was not acting out of wounded pride when he declared war. He had a hidden trump card and he played it immediately to maintain his momentum.

"So the Eclipse Court is falling?" The mantis rogue asked.

"No." The beetle warrior shook his head. "That is the real surprise. The fighting is a brutal stalemate. Venrik has the numbers and the raw brute force but Queen Calyptra has the home advantage. Her domain is a nightmare of poison traps and soul tearing illusions. Neither side can gain an inch of ground. They are just grinding each other into bloody dust."

Li Yu listened to the tactical reports for another hour before leaving the tavern and returning to his mountain cave. Some were believable while others sounded like rumors. He did his best to piece the clues together from various conversations to more or less understand what was happening.

The news confirmed his theories. The Domain Kings were locked in a supreme struggle of attrition. It was the perfect time for him to focus on his own foundation. He sat in the center of his array formation and began his training once more.

His primary goal was to cultivate his lightning laws more into his core combat techniques. He needed to weave the properties of lightning into his arsenal to enhance his speed and increase his destructive might even more.

He wanted to evolve his Void Step. Traveling quickly was one thing but to move even faster in combat was another. While he could in effect do that with his Void Step, the drain in Qi was large. He wanted to have other options in the way he fought.

He spent days vibrating with intense electrical energy. He practiced short rapid bursts of movement within the confines of his cave. He became a blur of dark robes and golden sparks. The stone walls of his sanctuary grew scorched and blackened from the constant release of excess energy.

When he exhausted his physical stamina, he shifted his focus to body refinement. It was a grueling torturous process of breaking himself down and building himself back up. His body was already incredibly strong but if he wanted to take that next step, he would have to endure all kinds of pain. It wasn’t something he wanted to do but that had to be done regardless.

Another week passed in isolated agony.

Li Yu felt his foundation solidify but very slowly. He was firmly entrenched at the fourth level of Divine Transformation but his combat prowess was growing. The integration of his laws was becoming better.

He decided he needed another break to clear his mind and gather fresh supplies. He dropped his array barrier and flew back toward Split Rock.

As he walked into the rogue settlement, he immediately felt a shift in the atmosphere from before. The tense excitement of the previous week was gone. It was replaced by a suffocating blanket of panic.

Merchants were frantically packing their carts. Mercenaries were arguing over triple pay rates. The dingy tavern was overflowing with terrified refugees who had fled the territories of the war. Li Yu found a spot and ordered his bitter tea. He did not have to strain his senses to hear the news. The patrons were shouting the updates in a state of frantic disbelief.

"Emperor Xerxis has moved!" A panicked fly demon screamed, waving his multiple arms in the air. "The Hive Empire has joined the war!"

Li Yu froze as his tea cup was hovering inches from his mouth.

"Did he attack Venrik?" A mercenary demanded while grabbing the fly demon by the collar. "Did he strike the usurper in the rear?"

"No!" The fly demon shrieked as he was trying to pull away. "He attacked the Eclipse Court! Xerxis launched his endless swarms! The Hive is burning the outer mist forests as we speak!"

The tavern erupted into a chaotic roar of overlapping voices. Li Yu placed his cup down and narrowed his eyes. The board had just violently flipped.

Xerxis was taking advantage of the chaos. The Emperor of the Hive harbored an ancient and bitter hatred for Queen Calyptra and the Eclipse Court. With Venrik’s hidden army locking the moth forces into a brutal stalemate, other parts of the Empire were exposed.

Xerxis was a supreme opportunist. He saw his hated foe bogged down in a war of attrition and decided to strike the killing blow.

"Queen Calyptra cannot fight a two front war." A seasoned rogue cultivator muttered. "Venrik’s brute force was already pushing her forces to their absolute limit. Now she has the endless millions of the Hive crashing into her."

"The Moth Empire is losing ground." Another refugee sobbed as he was burying his face in his hands. "The defensive lines are caving in. The toxic mist is burning away. The Eclipse Court is going to be wiped off the map."

Li Yu sat back in the shadows and digested the geopolitical shift.

The scale of the destruction currently happening was unfathomable. Three Domain Kings were clashing. Three great empires were throwing their total military might into a single bloody meat grinder. Billions of insectoid soldiers, beasts and innocent civilians were dying in the crossfire.

It was a war fueled by deep grudges, massive egos and supreme ambition.

Li Yu felt a cold chill run down his spine. If he had accepted the Moth Queen’s invitation or if he had decided to linger near the borders out of mere curiosity, he would currently be trapped in the warzone potentially.

He finished his tea and stood up, leaving his payment on the table.

He walked out of the frantic settlement and looked toward the horizon. The sky in the far distance was stained a dark bruised purple from the sheer volume of toxic Qi and explosive techniques being unleashed.

He shook his head and activated his new lightning infused movement. A flash of golden sparks illuminated the dirt path and he vanished away. He was traveling at terrifying speed back toward his isolated mountain.

He was going to seal his cave and continue his training. The Domain Kings could tear each other apart for the throne. He was focused solely on making his own progress.