Chapter 839: Desperation
The quiet peace of Li Yu’s courtyard lasted for exactly one night. The artificial twilight of Kyokai City had barely shifted into its pale morning cycle when a heavy knock echoed across the pavilion. Li Yu opened his eyes and pushed himself up from the jade meditation bed. He walked to the sliding white doors and pulled them open.
Old Du stood on the wooden porch. The ferryman held his worn paddle with a tight grip and his weathered face was drawn into a serious frown.
"They are here," Old Du announced simply. "The delegation from the Eidolon Court arrived an hour ago. They bypassed the standard diplomatic channels and demanded an immediate audience."
Li Yu let out a slow breath and adjusted his dark robes. He had told Astramentis to bring the Eidolon to The Veil if they wanted to speak with him but he had not expected them to arrive so quickly. Their rapid response only further highlighted the intense desperation driving their empire.
"Lead the way," Li Yu said as he stepped out into the cool morning air.
They walked back toward the center of the city. The towering white marble structure of the Pagoda of the First Echo loomed ahead. Instead of staying in the main foyer or the vast starry expanse where Li Yu usually met the artifact, Old Du guided him toward a hidden formation near the back of the hall. The ferryman tapped his paddle against a blank marble wall and the solid stone rippled like water.
They stepped through the barrier and entered the private space of Astramentis.
It was a vast, circular chamber built from polished dark stone. Floating platforms of white marble hovered in the air, connected by bridges of solid golden light. The spinning rings of Astramentis dominated the center of the room as they were casting a warm and pulsing glow over the gathering.
A group of five strangers stood on the largest marble platform. Li Yu stopped a few paces away and took the opportunity to inspect them while they simultaneously studied him.
They were a fascinating and unsettling group. They belonged to the Eidolon Court, a race known for their phantom-like appearance and mixed lineages. All five possessed pale, slightly translucent skin that seemed to absorb the ambient light rather than reflect it. They cast faint and overlapping double shadows on the polished stone floor, making them look as though they existed slightly out of phase with reality.
Beyond their ghostly pallor, their physical traits varied wildly. Three of the men were tall and heavily built. They carried the rigid posture of seasoned warriors. One possessed elongated, pointed ears, while another had faint, crystalline scales tracing the line of his jaw.
Standing slightly behind the warriors was a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. Li Yu knew better than to trust appearances in the cultivation world; the calculated intelligence in her eyes marked her as someone who had lived for thousands of years. She wore a crown of pale, thorn-like horns that swept back into her dark hair.
At the forefront of the group stood their leader. He was a tall man wrapped in elegant robes of midnight blue and silver. His eyes were the color of shattered amethyst and he radiated a dense and suffocating aura.
Old Du stepped up beside Li Yu and offered a curt nod toward the Eidolon leader.
"Torend," Old Du greeted him. His gravelly voice held a note of caution. "It has been a long time since you crossed into our borders."
"It has, Ferryman," Torend replied smoothly. His voice carried a strange and echoing resonance.
Old Du leaned slightly toward Li Yu and lowered his voice. "Be careful with this one. I have met him before during the border skirmishes of the old eras. He is the leader of this delegation and his strength is equal to my own."
Li Yu noted the warning. If Torend was equal to Old Du, he was a powerhouse capable of leveling cities with a single strike. The fact that the Eidolon Court had sent someone of that caliber as an envoy proved they were not treating this as a simple recruitment mission. They had sent a general to secure an asset.
Torend stepped forward and narrowed his amethyst eyes. He inspected Li Yu from head to toe. The Eidolon leader scrutinized Li Yu’s physical vessel, the steady rhythm of his breathing and the dense energy radiating from his core. The longer Torend looked, the more the tension in his rigid shoulders began to ease. A faint glimmer of hope sparked in his cold eyes.
"He matches the preliminary criteria," Torend stated while nodding slowly. "The foundation is incredibly dense. The alignment is stable. This is the person we are looking for. Perhaps he truly could make the difference and help us resolve the crisis."
Li Yu kept his expression neutral and met the leader’s gaze directly.
"Astramentis told me you are offering a Realm Essence in exchange for my help," Li Yu said evenly. "That is a steep price. What exactly is the issue that requires my specific foundation?"
Torend frowned. The hopeful glimmer in his eyes vanished, replaced by a wall of pragmatic caution.
"I cannot tell you that," Torend answered. "The matter is highly secretive. It is of the utmost importance to the survival of our realm and our people. I cannot risk the news getting out to our enemies."
"We can sign a soul contract," Li Yu offered reasonably. "I can bind myself to silence regarding the details of the task before you explain it."
"No," Torend rejected the idea instantly. "Even soul contracts have flaws and loopholes that can be exploited by skilled diviners. The risk is too great. I will not speak a single word of the task while we stand on foreign soil."
Li Yu crossed his arms. "How are we supposed to discuss terms if you refuse to tell me what I am agreeing to do?"
"I will explain everything," Torend replied with a steady and uncompromising tone. "But I will only tell you after we arrive in our realm. Once you are within the borders of the Eidolon Court, I can guarantee that you cannot escape and leak the news. You will be briefed when the risk of exposure is eliminated."
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Li Yu stared at the Eidolon leader for a long moment to see if he was joking. He was not.
"That is ridiculous," Li Yu said bluntly. "Who in their right mind would agree to such terms? You want me to blindly accept a mission, travel to a foreign empire and learn the details only after I have effectively become your prisoner. I would be trapped behind your borders with no leverage."
The young woman with the thorn like horns stepped forward and placed a hand on Torend’s arm but the leader ignored her. He kept his focus locked on Li Yu.
"I have no choice," Torend stated coldly. The ambient temperature in the room dropped several degrees as his powerful aura began to leak into the air. "The survival of my race outweighs your desire for leverage. Furthermore, I did not come here today to ask for your permission."
Li Yu narrowed his eyes as the hostile intent washed over him. He naturally reached into his inner world, bringing his connection to Star Crusher to the forefront of his mind.
"You will go with us," Torend declared. "No matter what."
Old Du slammed the base of his wooden paddle against the marble platform. The sound cracked like a whip, fracturing the stone beneath his feet. The ferryman’s grey robes flared as his own terrifying aura erupted to match the Eidolon leader.
"What is the meaning of this, Torend?" Old Du demanded. His voice carried the rumbling weight of a brewing storm. "You step into the heart of The Veil and threaten one of our candidates? Are you going to break the diplomatic ties with everyone here for this?"
Torend did not flinch against the ferryman’s pressure. "Yes. If need be, we will sever every tie. There is no other choice in this matter."
As the words left his mouth, the three heavily built Eidolon men spread out across the platform. They moved with coordinated, military precision. They were fanning out to block the exits and cut off Li Yu’s avenues of escape. They drew curved blades forged from a pale, translucent metal that hummed with spiritual energy.
Astramentis reacted instantly. The massive rings of the astrolabe spun with furious speed and was generating a blinding golden light.
"You dare bring violence into my private sanctum?" Astramentis boomed. The layered voice shook the floating platforms. "You will be ground into cosmic dust for this insult!"
The golden light surged forward like a tidal wave, intent on crushing the Eidolon delegation.
Before the light could strike, the young woman with the thorned horns reached into her robes and pulled out a jagged prism of dark grey stone. She channeled her Qi into the relic and it shattered into a dozen floating pieces. The fragments emitted a thick, nullifying mist that rapidly expanded across the platform.
When the golden light of Astramentis hit the mist, it slowed and distorted. The raw power of the sacred artifact was not broken but it was heavily dampened. The mist created a sluggish zone where the astrolabe’s authority struggled to take hold.
Li Yu watched the tactical deployment with cold realization. The Eidolon Court had not come to negotiate. They had brought an artifact specifically designed to counter Astramentis. They knew the astrolabe would not have summoned them unless it had already found a candidate who met their criteria and they had walked into The Veil fully intending to kidnap that person.
"Take him," Torend ordered his men.
The three warriors surged forward. Their curved blades cut through the dampening mist as they aimed to disable Li Yu without killing him. Li Yu planted his feet and summoned his chaotic domain. The space around him warped and thickened, preparing to repel the assault for what it was worth. He was greatly dwarfed by them in terms of cultivation. He was still ready to fight though and he knew Old Du was moving to intercept Torend.
Before the first blade could swing, a jagged rift appeared directly in front of Li Yu as dark purple energy spilled out to swallow the pale light. Khaos stepped out from the Koi Sanctuary and planted his boots on the marble platform.
The ancient warrior did not shout or immediately unleash a devastating attack. He simply stood there while the suffocating weight of his presence began to bleed into the room. The dampening mist generated by the Eidolon artifact hissed and dissolved into harmless vapor as it failed to withstand the density of his void laws.
The three charging warriors froze mid stride. Their combat instincts screamed at them to retreat as the heavy pressure pressed down on their phantom-like bodies. They slowly lowered their curved blades and backed away.
Torend took a ragged breath and stumbled backward. The certainty of the Eidolon leader fractured into terror. While he might have been an equal to the ferryman, the entity standing before him was a monster whose depths he could not fathom. The suffocating weight of the dark aura made it clear that their dampening artifact and their numbers meant nothing here.
"Senior," Torend managed to say as his voice trembled. He bowed his head in a desperate show of submission to a vastly superior force. The young woman and the three warriors quickly followed his lead.
"Explain yourself." Khaos spoke softly. His melodic rumble vibrated in the marrow of their bones.
The fight was already drained out of the Eidolon delegation. They backed down from their aggressive posture and pivoted to desperate pleading.
"We mean no disrespect to you or this realm, Senior," Torend said quickly while looking up with panic in his amethyst eyes. "We acted out of desperation. We really need Li Yu’s help. He is the only one who fits the criteria to save us. We could not risk him refusing our request."
Li Yu lowered his guard slightly with Khaos’s arrival. The sudden shift from hostile kidnappers to begging victims was jarring. It did not erase the fact that they had just tried to take him by force. He was thankful for Khaos stepping out when he did but the hostility in the room was far from settled.
Old Du stepped forward. The ferryman’s grip on his wooden paddle was white knuckled as his chest heaved with unrestrained fury.
"Desperation does not excuse this insult!" Old Du roared and pointed his paddle at the leader. "You planned this from the start. You brought a relic into our realm with your evil intentions. You smiled at my face while your men drew their blades to steal our people!"
Astramentis spun aggressively above them as the massive rings cast erratic shadows across the room.
"They treat our sanctuary like a hunting ground," Astramentis resonated angrily. "Do you think this realm has fallen so much that we can be bullied? Do they view us as a weakened state ripe for exploitation?"
"We are not a dying dog for you to kick," Old Du snarled while glaring down at Torend. He turned his furious gaze toward the astrolabe. "We cannot let this transgression stand. If we allow them to walk away after attempting a kidnapping, the greater cosmos will see us as weak prey. We must gather our forces and execute them here. We must show the Eidolon Court and every other watching empire that The Veil is not to be messed with."
Torend paled significantly. What should have been an easy task was now a death sentence. He looked at his delegation and realized they had overplayed their hand without truly understanding the powers they were facing.
They had relied on the dampening artifact to secure their prize and flee before the native forces could mount a proper defense. Now they were trapped and staring down a furious ferryman and an unknown powerhouse.
Li Yu stood quietly and watched the political standoff unfold.
‘I had refused their offer because of the blind risks but I had not expected them to resort to immediate violence. The Eidolon Court was ruthless and their desperation makes them incredibly dangerous.’ Li Yu thought to himself.
Old Du and Astramentis continued to voice their demands for lethal retaliation as the fate of the five Eidolon envoys hung in the balance.