Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 888: Barren Lands and a Bitter Pill

They traveled toward the southeast with Zhan leading the way. The Heaven Severing Mantis moved with his usual swift and steady pace, his instincts guiding them back into the unseen and neutral corridors of the Ferine Realm.The journey took them away from the towering pines of the woodland and the jagged peaks of the mountain ape. The landscape slowly flattened out, turning into a vast expanse of dry and scrubby terrain. The earth here was pale and chalky, dotted with withered bushes and large patches of cracked mud. The ambient Qi in the air was remarkably thin, lacking the heavy elemental concentrations found in the territories of the great rulers.

It was a desolate and highly unappealing stretch of land.

They traveled for a few uneventful days through the quiet scrublands. They did not encounter any roaming packs of predators or hidden traps. The minor beasts that lived in this region were small and skittish, fleeing into the dusty brush long before Li Yu and Zhan even approached.

"This area is unclaimed." Zhan noted as they walked across a wide expanse of dry earth. He paused and swept his multifaceted eyes across the horizon. "There are no border markers and no lingering scents of a sovereign beast. The Qi here is too poor to sustain a large tribe. It is quite useless land so it makes sense it is unclaimed."

Li Yu looked around the quiet expanse. The lack of resources made it undesirable for the locals, which meant it was the best place for them to stop for an extended period of time.

"Useless land means no unwanted visitors." Li Yu said while stopping his stride. "This is a good chance for us to rest and for you to take in the core. A breakthrough requires time and minimal distractions."

Zhan clicked his mandibles in agreement. The Tribulation core resting in his spatial storage was a heavy temptation and he was eager to integrate the massive reservoir of Qi into his foundation.

They found a small cluster of chalky rock formations rising from the flat ground. Li Yu used his Destruction Qi to carve out a spacious cave within the largest rock. He did not bother with elaborate furnishings, just a flat stone floor and a wide entrance to let the dry wind circulate but not too wide.

Zhan walked into the center of the newly formed cave. He quickly sat down, folding his long insectoid legs beneath his emerald carapace. With a brief flash of spatial energy, the glowing sphere of condensed earth Qi appeared in front of him.

The core pulsed with a deep, heavy light, illuminating the chalky walls of the cave. Zhan did not hesitate at all. He opened his mandibles wide and swallowed the massive core whole.

Almost immediately, a thick aura of yellow earth Qi erupted from the mantis. The energy swirled around him like a heavy sandstorm and quickly cocooned his body in a dense layer of power. Zhan closed his eyes and sank into a deep meditative trance and began the arduous process of breaking down the Tribulation essence. Li Yu watched him for a moment and was ensuring the initial absorption was stable. Satisfied that his guide and budding friend was safe, Li Yu walked toward the cave entrance and sat down near the opening to keep watch.

He reached toward his belt and unhooked the two high tier beast storage bags. With a wave of his hand, he released the seals. Two streaks of light shot out from the bags and materialized on the dusty ground outside the cave.

Ouros appeared first. The Brutal Iron Bear shook his heavy head, taking a deep breath of the dry air. The pills and the claim environment of the bag had worked wonders. The shattered bones in his chest were fully knit back together and the cracked iron plates along his arms had smoothed out. He was back in fighting shape, though his demeanor remained heavily subdued in the presence of his new master.

Talia appeared next. The Nether Rift Viper remained in her humanoid form, wearing the form fitting scale armor woven from her own void scales. She stumbled slightly upon exiting the bag but quickly regained her balance.

Li Yu had not used these bags for a long time and forgot to notify them that he was releasing them. Li Yu looked at her severed arm and the green pill had done its job. Where there had once been a bleeding stump, a new limb had grown.

The arm was fully formed, though the skin and the void scales covering it were a shade lighter than the rest of her body. This indicated that it was fresh tissue that still needed time to harden. The two newly acquired servants were now recovered enough to move in the open.

Talia took a breath and was ready to assess her surroundings but she froze. Her amethyst eyes snapped toward the dark interior of the cave. She could feel the massive and pulsing rhythm of earth energy.

She possessed a deep connection to that specific energy signature. She had tracked it, fought a terrifying battle for it and bled for it.

"He is absorbing it." Talia whispered as her voice was trembling.

She took a step toward the cave, her hands balling into tight fists. She could see the silhouette of the mantis sitting in the center of the swirling yellow sandstorm and greedily devouring the prize she had risked her life to claim.

Heartbreak and unadulterated frustration washed over her face. She had sneaked through the void, dodged a mountain ape's crushing blows and nearly died just to secure that Tribulation core. It was supposed to be her ticket to a higher realm. Now, she was forced to watch a bug eat her hard earned treasure.

"You thief!" Talia hissed under her breath and was glaring at the meditating mantis. She muttered a long string of vile curses, wishing a thousand different spatial collapses upon the insect.

However, she did not take another step forward. She did not summon her Void Qi to interrupt him. The seal planted deep within her soul flared with a cold warning. She could not do anything that went against Li Yu's will and it was obvious that the human had gifted her core to the mantis. The sheer injustice of the situation made her grind her teeth but she was powerless to stop it.

"Sit down." Li Yu commanded smoothly as his dark eyes fixed on her. "Both of you."

Ouros immediately dropped into a seated position on the dusty ground, crossing his iron plated arms over his chest. Talia let out a bitter sigh as she was tearing her gaze away from the cave and sat down on a flat rock nearby. She crossed her new and pale arm over her chest, nursing her loss.

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Li Yu finally leaned back against the chalky wall of the cave entrance. He needed to keep an eye on Zhan's progress but he also needed to understand the assets he had just acquired.

"We have a long journey ahead of us toward the aquatic lands." Li Yu stated while looking between the bear and the viper. "I know your names and your rough combat capabilities but I know nothing of your backgrounds. Since you are bound to me now and we have time, you will tell me your history."

He pointed a finger at the bear. "Start with yourself, Ouros."

Ouros shifted his heavy weight, kicking a small cloud of dust up with his boot. He did not seem bothered by the interrogation.

"I have no real background, Li Yu." Ouros answered. "I was born in a shallow cave in the western plains. I do not know my parents. In the wild, bear cubs that are not eaten by predators either grow strong quickly or die. I grew strong."

Ouros looked down at his plated hands.

"I have no real family and no clan." He continued plainly. "I fought for scraps, claimed a small hunting ground and eventually realized that working as a tracker for the larger factions yielded better food and resources than fighting random beasts for dirt. I am out for myself. I hunt, I eat, I survive."

Li Yu nodded at his response. It was a simple but brutal existence. Probably representing the vast majority of the rogue beasts in the Ferine Realm. Ouros was a pure product of his environment, driven solely by the instinct to live another day and to get stronger.

Li Yu shifted his gaze to the woman in the scale armor.

"What about you, Talia?" Li Yu asked. "You must have a deeper origin than a random cave."

Talia glared at him, her amethyst eyes flashing with lingering resentment over the core. She considered staying silent but the soul seal thrummed in her mind, compelling her to answer her master’s inquiry.

"I have a background." Talia said, her harmonic voice tight with reluctance. "I was not born in the dirt like the brute. I had parents. They taught me how to slip through the void, how to compress my scales and how to hunt without making a sound."

She looked away and was staring out across the barren scrubland.

"But our species does not stay together." Talia explained. "We do not form massive packs or build out territory. At a certain age and when a viper reaches the King realm and can sustain their own spatial pocket, they are forced to leave. The parents drive the children away and we must make it on our own from that day forward."

"Why?" Li Yu asked, finding the practice strange for a species that clearly possessed the intelligence to build a strong faction. "Most beasts group together for safety. Why force your own kind into isolation?"

Talia sighed and the anger in her voice faded into a weary resignation.

"Because grouping together is a death sentence for us." Talia said softly. "My parents told me the history of our bloodline before I left. Long ago, the Nether Rift Vipers did stay together. We had a vast territory and we were ruled by a ruler like Gorr was."

She ran a hand over her newly grown arm and was tracing the fresh scales.

"But our ruler was ambitious." Talia continued. "He used the void to bypass borders, stealing resources and assassinating rivals from the shadows. He made far too many enemies among the other supreme beings. Eventually, the other rulers formed an alliance. They broke into his hidden dimension and killed him. But they did not stop there."

Ouros grunted, familiar with the concept of a faction purge.

"They decided our spatial abilities were too dangerous to exist as an organized force." Talia said as her amethyst eyes were darkening. "They hunted our species down. They slaughtered the dens and burned our homes. We were nearly driven to extinction."

Talia looked back at Li Yu with her expression hardening.

"That is why we always break off." She concluded. "Survival of the species is much better when we do not stay together. If we are scattered to the winds, solitary and hidden, we cannot be wiped out all at once. An enemy might find and kill one viper but they will never find all of us. Isolation is our armor."

Li Yu processed her story. It was a tragic but highly pragmatic approach to survival. The vipers had sacrificed the warmth and safety of a community to ensure their bloodline endured the wrath of the ruling class. It explained her sullen nature and her intense desire to hoard resources for herself.

"I understand now." Li Yu said while for the first time offering a rare sliver of acknowledgement. "Your history is written in blood, but you do not need to hide in the void anymore."

Talia did not look convinced but she offered a slow nod of obedience. For the next few days, the barren scrubland remained quiet. Ouros took up a position outside the cave and was acting as a heavy guard against any wandering scavengers. Talia spent her time familiarizing herself with her newly regenerated arm, running spatial drills to ensure her Qi flow was unimpeded.

Inside the cave, the yellow sandstorm of earth Qi continued to swirl around Zhan. On the morning of the fourth day, the ambient air pressure in the region suddenly spiked.

The swirling yellow energy inside the rock began to compress, shrinking rapidly until it formed a denser and glowing shell around the mantis. A sharp, metallic hum echoed from within the shell. It was the sound of a sword being drawn from a scabbard.

With a loud crack, the earth shell shattered.

Zhan sat in the center of the debris and his appearance had changed. His emerald carapace was now a darker and richer shade of green. It carried a faint metallic sheen that resembled polished iron. The serrated edges of his natural scythes looked sharper and were humming with a highly condensed and lethal intent.

A powerful shockwave erupted from his body, sweeping out of the cave and blowing a massive cloud of pale dust across the scrubland. Ouros braced his heavy legs against the wind with his eyes wide. Talia cursed loudly and shielded her face, her aura flaring as she felt the weight of the pressure washing over her.

Zhan had broken through the bottleneck of the Law Seed realm. He had successfully fused his sword laws and the newly acquired earth essence into his physical vessel, ascending to the Law Integration level.

But the momentum did not stop there. The Tribulation core was a massive reservoir of energy, far exceeding what was necessary for a single breakthrough. The residual energy continued to flood Zhan's meridians, fueling a rapid and violent expansion of his foundation.

The sharp sword intent radiating from the mantis expanded outward, forming a distinct and localized field of suppression. The ground inside the cave was scored with hundreds of deep, invisible slash marks. Zhan pushed past the final barrier and his aura stabilized. He had broken through to the Domain King realm.

Outside the cave, Talia watched the display of raw power and let out a bitter and venomous groan. She kicked a loose rock with her boot, cursing the heavens and the mantis. That overwhelming surge of energy, that effortless jump across realms, should have been hers. She had done the dirty work and the bug had reaped all the rewards.

Zhan slowly opened his multifaceted eyes. They now glowed with an even sharper and more piercing light. He stood up, his dark emerald carapace shifting smoothly with the motion. He felt the terrifying strength coursing through his body, the newfound density of his defense and the lethality of his expanded intent.

He walked out of the cave and stopped in front of Li Yu. The Heaven Severing Mantis lowered his triangular head in a gesture of respect.

"Thank you, Li Yu." Zhan said with deep gratitude. "For the core, for the opportunity and for everything that you have given me."

"You earned it." Li Yu replied smoothly and was pleased with the massive upgrade to Zhan. "A strong fighter is essential to what I need."

Zhan stood tall with his scythes resting at his sides. While he voiced his gratitude to the human, inside his own mind, his thoughts drifted to the dark and blood soaked mental landscape he had visited when they first met. He thought of the cold and brash spirit resting inside the golden scabbard.

'And thank you, Master.' Zhan thought internally, offering a silent prayer to Gilded Calamity. 'The Three Step Slayer technique gave me the insight I needed to fuse my intent with this new strength. I will not fail the path of the sword.'