Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 879: A Clash of Tribulations

Li Yu and Zhan continued their journey deeper into the ancient woodland. They were moving steadily toward the center of the vast territory. The massive pine and oak trees formed a dense canopy high above their heads, filtering the harsh light of the dual suns into a glowing green twilight. The ambient wood Qi grew heavier with every mile they crossed and was a silent testament to the immense age of the domain.They walked for several hours in relative peace with the search for the Shadow Cicada remaining a daunting task but Li Yu was content to simply traverse the land and observe the unique flora of the Ferine Realm. Then, the ground trembled.

It was a subtle vibration at first, barely enough to ripple the surface of a nearby puddle. But within seconds, the tremor escalated into a violent and rolling quake. The massive trees groaned under the sudden stress. Flocks of colorful birds erupted from the canopy, taking flight in a frantic wave of panic.

A heavy and oppressive pressure swept through the forest, carrying the distinct scent of crushed stone and fresh blood. Another battle had broken out somewhere off in the distance.

Li Yu stopped walking as he felt the chaotic fluctuations of Qi echoing from the north. The familiar tug of curiosity flared in his mind, urging him to go investigate the source of the destruction. He remembered how he used to chase after such events to gather intelligence or secure rare resources. He took a deep breath and forced the impulse down, he had learned his lesson.

Li Yu walked over to a large, moss covered boulder and sat down. He leaned his staff, Star Crusher, against the stone and closed his eyes.

"I won’t be going." Li Yu stated firmly to his companion. "It is just another territorial dispute. We will wait here until the auras settle. I have no intention of stumbling into a hunting ground and fighting a war that does not concern us."

Zhan stood nearby and offered a stiff nod. The Heaven Severing Mantis kept his scythe-like arms lowered. "A wise decision. We will let them tear each other apart. Though it is a bit strange to have fighting happening within the heart of Elder Mu’s territory."

They waited in silence for a few minutes as the distant booming sounds continued to shake the earth. Li Yu kept his breathing steady and was actively ignoring the massive spikes of energy. Then, a voice shattered the sky.

It was a booming, thunderous roar that carried the physical weight of a falling mountain. The sheer volume of the sound caused the leaves on some of the trees to disintegrate into green mist.

"Mu! Your roots have drained this soil for far too long!" The voice echoed across the hundreds of miles and was ringing in Li Yu's ears with terrifying clarity. "The Mountain Ape Clan claims this timber! Submit or be turned to ash!"

Li Yu opened his eyes. The pressure saturating the air was unlike anything he had felt in this realm so far. It was not the localized aura of a hunting beast or a border guard. It was the unrestrained killing intent of a ruler.

Zhan suddenly went rigid as the emerald carapace of the mantis vibrated violently. His eyes widened and the sharp sword intent he naturally radiated began to spike in erratic and uncontrollable waves.

"That is a ruler." Zhan said with a mixture of dread and overwhelming excitement. "A true apex predator has initiated a domain war."

"Sit down, Zhan." Li Yu warned him. "You said it yourself. We should not spectate or else we will get affected."

"This is different!" Zhan argued while taking an anxious step toward the north. "This is not a petty squabble over a hunting trail. This is a clash of the titans. The entities fighting over there have touched the peak of what this realm has to offer. To witness their application of laws, to see the pure intent of a ruler... it could provide the insight I need to advance my own sword path."

Li Yu looked at the insectoid beast. Zhan was truly a single minded martial fanatic. The opportunity to witness a battle of such magnitude was a temptation the mantis simply could not resist even though he was the one that scolded him for going to watch things before. Zhan’s scythes were twitching and he looked ready to run toward the danger with or without Li Yu.

"Please." Zhan turned to Li Yu and was practically begging. "We do not have to get close. We can stay miles away on a high ridge. When the rulers fight, the minor laws of the wild are suspended. The sheer scale of their auras will force everyone to watch and we will not be targeted as scavengers because we are nothing more than dust to them."

Li Yu felt the oppressive weight in the air and knew Zhan was probably right. Worst of all was that he couldn’t contain his curiosity either, he wanted to see the fight as well. The entities causing this quake were so far above them that a human and a mantis hiding on a distant cliff should not even register as a threat. Furthermore, Li Yu wanted to understand the true ceiling of power in the Ferine Realm.

'If I am going to survive here, I need to know what a ruler looks like in combat.' Li Yu thought to himself.

"Fine." Li Yu stood up and grabbed his staff. "But we stay on the outer edge. The moment the battle shifts toward us, we run away as quickly as possible."

"Understood." Zhan agreed instantly.

They abandoned their slow pace and dashed northward. Zhan led the way and was navigating the dense forest with terrifying speed as the booming sounds of destruction grew louder and more distinct with every passing mile. The air grew hot and the smell of shattered wood and pulverized stone became suffocating.

They finally broke through the tree line and arrived at the edge of a large and elevated ridge.

Li Yu dropped to a crouch and was hiding behind an outcropping of grey rocks. Zhan crouched beside him, his eyes locked onto the sprawling valley below.

They were not alone on the ridge. Dozens of other minor beasts had gathered along the high cliffs, drawn by the apocalyptic display of power. Shadow panthers, tigers, lions and others stood side by side with their natural hostilities paused. They were all watching the valley in a state of awe and were waiting to see who would claim the right to rule their lives.

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Li Yu looked down into the valley and a massive war was already underway. The invading forces were a terrifying sight. Hundreds of giant apes were standing thirty to forty feet tall. They were charging through the ancient woodland and they were mountain apes, possessing thick golden brown fur and armor forged from slabs of solid stones. They wielded massive stone pillars as clubs and were smashing everything in their path.

Defending the valley were the ent like guards of Elder Mu. There were hundreds of the towering wooden soldiers, moving in coordinated formations to block the primate invasion.

The clash between the two armies was deafening. The apes swung their stone pillars with the force of meteors, shattering the wooden bodies of the ents. The ents retaliated with heavy and sweeping punches that crushed the apes into the dirt. However, the numbers and aggressive momentum of the mountain apes were overwhelming.

The ent forces were being pushed back. The defensive line was breaking and the ancient forest was being trampled into a wasteland of splinters and blood.

"The challenger probably brought his entire clan." Zhan whispered with his gaze fixed on the carnage.

Suddenly, the ambient wood Qi in the valley surged. The broken branches and shattered leaves on the ground began to glow with a blinding green light. A localized earthquake ripped through the center of the valley and the ground bulged upward, sending dozens of the giant mountain apes tumbling backward.

Then, the earth erupted.

A colossal structure of living wood rose from the soil. It was not just a tree; it was a fortress of timber that pierced the clouds. The trunk was incredibly thick, covered in dark and ancient bark that looked like dragon scales. Thousands of long, green, whip-like limbs cascaded down from the immense canopy and swayed gently despite the chaos below.

Elder Mu had arrived.

The presence of the ancient willow tree brought an immediate halt to the skirmishes. The surviving ent guards fell back and were taking shelter behind the massive roots of their leader. The mountain apes ceased their advance with their aggressive roars dying in their throats as they stared up at the towering ruler.

"Gorr!" A voice echoed from the deep hollows of the colossal trunk. The sound was ancient and carried a sorrowful resonance that vibrated in the marrow of every beast watching. "You bring fire and stone to my quiet home. Have you grown tired of your mountains?"

From the ranks of the invading ape army, a single figure stepped forward.

He was not significantly taller than the other mountain apes but his presence eclipsed them all. This was Gorr the Mountain Ape. His fur was a gleaming and metallic silver. His body was encased in a natural armor of dark and condensed earth Qi. He did not carry any weapon; his fists were enough.

As Gorr stepped into the clearing facing the ancient willow, he released his cultivation base and revealed his Tribulation realm strength and standing in the valley below were two entities at the Tribulation realm.

They were beings who had accumulated so much power that the heavens themselves had tried to erase them with lightning and they had survived. They commanded world altering power that few could match.

"Your home is stagnant, Mu!" Gorr roared as his voice cracked the sky. "The Ferine Realm belongs to those who conquer! Your wood and bodies will fuel my clan's ascension!"

Gorr did not waste time with further words. He kicked off the ground, leaving a crater in his wake. The silver backed ape launched himself into the air and was aiming directly for the massive trunk of the ancient willow.

He pulled his right fist back as the air around his hand distorted and collapsed inward. He was invoking a terrifying law. It was the Law of Gravity. Gravity itself bent to his will, compressing the mass of an entire mountain range into his knuckles.

Elder Mu reacted with the fluid grace of an ancient master.

Hundreds of the thick, whip-like limbs hanging from the canopy shot forward. They moved faster than the eye could track as they were weaving together in mid air to form a glowing green shield of pure vitality.

Gorr’s fist collided with the shield and the resulting shockwave was silent for a fraction of a second before a sound like the world tearing in half washed over the valley.

Li Yu and Zhan were thrown flat against the ridge. The minor beasts around them scrambled in terror as the kinetic force stripped the top layer of dirt and rocks from the cliffside. The sky above the valley instantly darkened and their Qi blocked out the sunlight. The clouds were also blown away by the impact.

Down below, the green shield held for a moment before shattering into a billion motes of light as the weight of Gorr's strike was overwhelming. But Elder Mu was a ruler of life and regeneration. Before Gorr could follow through, thousands of spear-like roots erupted from the soil beneath the ape. They shot upward and were seeking to impale the challenger while he was suspended in the air.

Gorr roared in defiance as he spun his body and used his heavy limbs to deflect the incoming roots. Every time his fists struck the wood, the impact generated a concussive blast that pulverized the earth below. The battle escalated into a blur of godly destruction as they seemed evenly matched.

Elder Mu did not move from his spot and he did not need to. The ancient tree commanded the very forest itself with his immense size. The ground rolled like ocean waves, turning the dirt into a swirling vortex of mud and crushing roots. The whip-like branches rained down from the sky, each lash carrying enough force to slice a canyon.

Gorr waded through the onslaught like an unstoppable juggernaut. He utilized his Tribulation level cultivation to warp the space around him. Every step he took forced the gravity in the valley to multiply, crushing the incoming branches before they could even touch his silver fur. He threw punches that sent invisible pillars of compressed force crashing into Elder Mu’s massive trunk.

"Look at the intent." Zhan whispered from beside Li Yu. The mantis was staring at the clash with unblinking eyes and was ignoring the debris raining down on their ridge. "There is no wasted movement even though the ape is quite savage in its attacks. The ape’s strikes are raw force but the application of the law makes them sharper than any blade. The tree is soft, yet its defense is an impenetrable ocean."

Li Yu watched the application of the laws with deep focus and it was a humbling experience. He realized that his own understanding of Void Qi and life laws was incredibly crude compared to this display. Elder Mu was not just regenerating broken branches; he was actively weaving the law of vitality to drain the kinetic energy from Gorr's attacks before they landed.

Gorr landed heavily on the ground which created a massive trench. He slammed both of his fists into the soil.

Mountain Burial!

The earth beneath Elder Mu fractured and massive plates shifted and rose upward, forming giant hands of solid stone that attempted to close around the colossal willow. He was attempting to crush it into the depths of the world.

"You are too young, ape." Elder Mu’s sorrowful voice echoed through the chaotic valley.

The ancient willow glowed with a blinding and verdant light. The whip-like branches extended outward, piercing into the rising stone hands. Instead of trying to break the rock, Elder Mu utilized a terrifying technique of devouring. The tree rapidly absorbed the earth Qi directly from the stone and surrounding area. This turned the massive hands into brittle and dry sand that crumbled harmlessly into the valley.

Gorr let out a frustrated roar as his supreme technique was unraveled in an instant. He charged forward again with his silver body radiating a suffocating pressure as he prepared to engage the ancient tree in close quarters combat.

Li Yu kept his eyes glued to the valley as the sky continued to change colors. It was flashing between the golden brown of crushing earth and the vibrant green of endless vitality. The laws of the world wept under the strain of their conflict. It was a true clash of Tribulations and the outcome would reshape the borders of the Ferine Realm forever.