Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 919: Legacy of Blood and Bone

Li Yu sat at the large stone table and let the heavy words wash over him. The evening wind blew through the courtyard but he barely felt the chill. A massive storm of emotions raged inside his chest and he was incredibly mad that he had been left behind. He was sad for all the nights he spent shivering in the small village while dreaming of a family he thought was dead. He was upset that they had lied to him. But beneath all the anger and the sorrow, he was overwhelmingly thankful for their sacrifice as well. It was a mix of emotions that was hard to process.

He looked at his mother and father across from him now. He saw the deep lines of worry around their eyes and the guilt that weighed heavily on their shoulders. They had not abandoned him out of malice or selfishness. They had shattered their own hearts to give him a chance to simply breathe. It was clear what they did instead, they went and shouldered the burden and sky so that he and countless others could live.

"I can somewhat understand your decisions." Li Yu said as fresh tears welled up in his eyes. "But I suffered so much without you."

Tielan let out a broken sob and reached across the table to grip his hands tightly. Canghai closed his eyes as a look of agony crossed his face. Hearing their son admit his suffering was worse than taking a physical blade to the chest. It broke their hearts completely but they also understood his pain.

"I know why you did it." Li Yu continued while wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "You had massive burdens to carry. You wanted to give me the best environment to grow up in. You mainly wanted me to be safe. I can truly understand that."

Li Yu thought back to the rescue mission for Li Canghai. He remembered the terrifying scale of the cosmic wars and the destructive power of the entities involved. He had seen empires clash and entire realms burn through his travels as well.

"People at your level of cultivation must have countless enemies." Li Yu stated quietly. "If I had stayed with you, I would have been chased and schemed against my entire life. I would have been a target from the moment I was born. I am thankful that you protected me from that."

He stood up from his seat and walked around the stone table. He wrapped his arms around his mother and his father and pulled them into another deep hug.

"I am just so happy we are back together. That is all that matters to me right now." Li Yu whispered.

Tielan hugged him back fiercely and Canghai rested his hand on the back of his son's head. The crushing weight of their past decisions finally began to lighten slightly. Their son had survived the mud and the blood and he still had the capacity to forgive them.

"Let me cook something for us." Li Yu said while pulling back and offering a watery smile. "We have a lot of lost time to catch up on."

He walked over to the cooking fire he had set up earlier. He took out the premium ingredients that had collected from his travels, it was another form of story telling for him. The physical act of preparing the food helped ground his racing thoughts. He chopped the rare spirit vegetables and marinated the roasted meats while his parents sat at the table and watched him with adoration.

They spent the next hour chatting and catching up. Li Yu told them everything he could about himself. He recounted his early days of struggling for resources, his fortuitous encounters and the grueling battles that had forged his foundation. He skipped over some of the most life threatening moments so he would not worry his parents or make them feel guilter but he spoke honestly about his journey.

In return, he learned more about the true status of his parents. He learned about the vast reach of the Li clan and the physical dominance of the Zhan clan. It would take a very long time to go over everything and process it all but beginning now was much better than remaining in the dark.

The rich aroma of the stew filled the courtyard just as the space near the table warped. Zhan Tian stepped out of the void and materialized next to the stone bench. The massive Worldkeeper looked incredibly satisfied.

"The meal smells fantastic." Zhan Tian boomed happily.

Li Yu looked behind his grandfather and noticed the empty space. "Where did Khaos go?" Li Yu asked.

"With his duty done, he went to take care of other things that he couldn’t do all this time." Zhan Tian answered casually as he took a seat at the table. "He is a very busy man. But do not worry about him. I myself will take over the duties that he was doing."

Li Yu did not quite understand what that meant. Khaos had always been a mysterious shadow who appeared exactly when he was needed most. Seeing as how his grandfather was being vague about the details, Li Yu knew he was not going to get a straight answer just as before with Khaos.

"I see." Li Yu replied while bringing the large pot of stew to the table. "I am sad that he left so suddenly, I never got a chance to truly thank him.” Li Yu said.

‘But it makes me motivated. I will become stronger so I can stand on the same stage as him later and thank him properly.’ Li Yu quickly thought to himself.

Zhan Tian let out a boisterous laugh and they began to eat their meal while enjoying their first true family dinner together. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was warm. Li Yu sat between his parents and listened to stories from each of them. They talked about ancient battles they had fought and the glorious history of the Zhan and Li families.

The grand tales of cosmic empires made Li Yu think about their current situation.

"What are we going to do now?" Li Yu asked while setting his bowl down. "Are we going to be a family in secret or are you going to reveal the news that you have a son?"

"Of course we are not going to hide." Zhan Tian stated loudly before Tielan or Canghai could answer. "It would be discovered over time anyways. You are my grandson. You should be able to enjoy the immense benefits of your birthright."

Li Yu shook his head and offered a gentle counter.

"I just value my parents." Li Yu said sincerely. "And now I value my grandfather since I just found out I had one. I have gone through my entire cultivation journey without any birthright. I do not need any titles or resources if it is going to make things more complicated for us."

Tielan and Canghai smiled at him but their eyes were also a bit sad. They felt a deep ache in their chests knowing that their son had grown so accustomed to having no backing that he did not even desire his rightful legacy.

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"Do not worry about complications." Zhan Tian said while his voice dropped into a tone of authority. "I am here now. If I cannot shoulder the burdens for my family, then I might as well die."

The Worldkeeper wiped his mouth and stood up from the table.

"Enough serious talk." Zhan Tian announced with a wide grin. "It is time for some greeting gifts that should have been collecting interest. I have been hoarding treasures for thousands of years."

Zhan Tian waved his massive hand and a pile of incredibly rare beast cores, metals and pills appeared on the stone table. He then reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a beautiful longsword. The blade shimmered with a blue light.

"I heard from Li Canghai that you use a staff but take this anyways. You can always trade it away for something else later." Zhan Tian offered. "It is quite a powerful weapon."

Li Yu looked at the sword and smiled politely. "Thank you, Grandfather. But I actually have my own swords for combat."

With a thought, a flash of light illuminated the courtyard. Gilded Calamity and Firmament's End materialized in the air above the table. The golden sword radiated a tyrannical aura while the dark green sword hummed with deadly precision.

Zhan Tian stared at the two hovering weapons and his eyes widened in shock. He recognized the swords as they were well known.

"Why do you have those?" Zhan Tian asked in disbelief. "And why do you have two of them?"

Li Yu looked at the swords and then back at his father.

"Father gave me this sword after I came out of the Temporary Dao Stone and said it was a ceremonial sword." Li Yu said while looking directly at Canghai. "This sword was given to me recently by father’s elder.”

Li Canghai smiled warmly and nodded. A look of pride was etched across his face.

"Those two swords are actually two of the ten swords of the Li clan." Canghai explained slowly. "They are the treasures of our bloodline. The sword I gave you is named Gilded Calamity."

Canghai looked at the green blade. "The other sword is Firmament's End, given by my master. Why he gave it to you, I am not sure actually. He won’t tell me either.."

Li Yu was stunned that he had been carrying supreme treasures of his father's clan this entire time. He had been using Gilded Calamity as a practice sword in the mornings to claim his mind. As for Firmament’s End, he had been throwing that sword around via sword control to stab into things for practice.

He immediately reached out and grabbed the hilts of the weapons.

"I should give them back to the clan then." Li Yu said while holding the swords out toward his father. "They belong in the ancestral halls."

"Absolutely not." Canghai refused immediately while pushing his son's hands back. "They are yours. Gilded Calamity is mine to give to who I see fit. The same goes for Firmament’s End. That is fate. They are yours now and they will serve you well."

Zhan Tian looked at the blue sword in his own hand and suddenly felt incredibly inadequate.

The sword he was trying to give to his grandson seemed quite lacking now compared to the artifacts of the Li clan. Zhan Tian was an intensely proud man. He absolutely could not be outdone by his son in law when it came to gifting his only grandson.

However, those Li clan swords were not ordinary and it was extremely tough to beat them in terms of quality. Fortunately for the Worldkeeper, he had an answer. He actually had several answers hidden in his vast armory.

Zhan Tian tossed the blue sword back inside his storage ring like it was a piece of trash and reached deep into his spatial storage.

The ambient temperature in the courtyard plummeted instantly and a suffocating aura of extreme slaughter and absolute destruction flooded the space. Zhan Tian pulled out a weapon that looked like it had been carved from the nightmare of a dying god.

It was a bone sword. The blade was jagged and pale white. Dark veins of corrupted marrow pulsed beneath the surface of the bone. It looked entirely evil. Everyone at the table stared in awe at the terrifying weapon but they were also a bit afraid of it.

"Father." Tielan asked with a sharp tone of concern. "Is it wise to give that to Li Yu? It seems incredibly evil."

"It is evil." Zhan Tian admitted bluntly. "It was the natal weapon of the supreme commander of the forces I was up against in that zone. I fought against this sword many times and it is extremely deadly. If I heard the boasting from that fool correctly, the name of the sword is Pale Extinction. While it is the natal weapon of that being, it survived after I killed him so I took it."

Zhan Tian looked down at Li Yu with a confident grin. "But the brat has a powerful soul. He should be able to handle it."

"I will watch over him as he tries." Zhan Tian assured his daughter. "I will take it back immediately if anything bad happens."

Li Yu looked at the pulsating bone sword and took a step back. "I cannot take this. It is far too valuable and more importantly dangerous."

"Nonsense!" Zhan Tian barked. He would not take no for an answer. He shoved the hilt of the bone sword directly toward Li Yu's chest. "Grab it and show me the strength of your foundation!"

Li Yu had no choice but to raise his hand. He wrapped his fingers around the pale bone handle. The exact moment his skin touched the weapon, the slaughter intent exploded.

A wave of pure crimson energy blasted outward and shattered the stone table completely. The stew and the jade cups were vaporized. A terrifying screech echoed not in the physical air but directly inside Li Yu's mind. The vicious sword spirit of Pale Extinction, an ancient entity forged from the deaths of millions, surged up his arm.

The sword spirit invaded Li Yu's soul space immediately. It manifested as a towering demon of blood and bone. It raised its spectral claws and prepared to tear Li Yu's consciousness to shreds to claim his body as a new vessel.

But the demon had entered the wrong domain.

The Fisherman Soul was already waiting for it. The figure stood silently upon the calm waters of Li Yu's soul space. The Fisherman did not look intimidated by the screaming demon of slaughter at all.

For the first time ever, the Fisherman Soul did not reach for its fishing rod to hook the invader.

He stepped forward, raised his hand and sent a casual but devastating palm strike directly at the invading sword spirit. The physical manifestation of soul laws crashed into the demon in an instant. There was no epic battle and there was no struggle for dominance.

The palm strike hit the sword spirit and instantly obliterated it. The demon of blood and bone shattered into a billion pieces of harmless spiritual dust but the Fisherman Soul did not stop there. It channeled a fraction of its grey energy down the connection and slammed a permanent brand of submission directly into the core of Pale Extinction.

The entire process was over in an instant.

In the physical world, the explosive crimson aura surrounding Li Yu vanished completely. The bone sword stopped pulsing with evil intent and it rested calmly in his grip. It felt as docile and obedient as a well trained hound.

Li Yu blinked and looked down at the sword and was surprised. He was expecting an epic battle of wills as he tried to tame this sword. He swung it once through the air and it felt perfectly balanced.

Zhan Tian stood completely frozen. His jaw hung open slightly because he had been on the receiving end of this blade many times before

Tielan and Canghai stared at their son in shock. They had all braced themselves to intervene. They too had expected a grueling battle of wills that could last for days. Taming a weapon, especially a natal weapon like Pale Extinction was supposed to be a monumental task that tested the very limits of a cultivator's existence.

"It is a very nice sword." Li Yu said simply without realizing what had truly happened since it happened so quickly. "Thank you, Grandfather."

Zhan Tian slowly turned his head to look at his daughter. The Worldkeeper wore an expression of disbelief.

"Tielan." Zhan Tian questioned in a half joking and half serious tone. "Did you cheat on Li Canghai? Why does our family have someone with such an absurdly powerful soul?"

She could only look back with a blank expression. She was sure she didn’t but similarly to during the rescue mission, she was questioning it a bit again.