Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 938: An Ancestor’s Crisis

The spiral staircase leading to the top floor of the Li Clan library was full of arrays. As Li Yu placed his foot on the first step, the subtle and rhythmic pulse that had caught his attention grew stronger. It tugged gently at his soul.He ascended slowly and the ambient Qi grew heavier with every step. The lower floors of the library had been vast and expansive, filled with thousands of jade slips and bustling with the faint echoes of other disciples. However, the atmosphere here shifted drastically. The air grew perfectly still and the oppressive weight of thousands of years of accumulated intent pressed down upon his shoulders.

The top floor was not an endless labyrinth of bookshelves. It was a single and expansive circular chamber. The floor was black jade that reflected the soft and starlight infused ceiling above. Instead of shelves, there were only a few dozen solitary pedestals spaced far apart. Each pedestal held a single jade slip or a weathered parchment scroll that was protected by an isolated barrier of Qi.

In the very center of the chamber and sitting quietly on a woven mat of spiritual reeds was an old man.

He wore faded and unadorned grey robes that looked as though they had not been washed or changed in decades. His white hair was tied back in a simple knot and his face was etched with the deep lines of an unfathomably long life. He did not radiate a terrifying aura like Zhan Tian or the Heaven Severing Ancestor. In fact, he barely registered to Li Yu’s senses at all. He felt like a calm and undisturbed puddle of water.

Li Yu immediately recognized the signs of a master who had perfectly harmonized with the natural laws. He stepped forward and offered a deep and polite bow. Even if he was wrong, Li Yu was never one to be impolite to his seniors for no reason.

"Greetings, Senior." Li Yu said respectfully while keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the silence of the chamber.

The old man slowly opened his eyes. They were completely clear and lacking the milky haze of old age but they held a heavy weariness. He looked at Li Yu and his gaze was sweeping over the young man’s frame.

"You do not smell of the sword, child." The old man said. His voice was raspy, like dry leaves scraping against stone. "Your foundation is incredibly dense. It is wild yet contained within a human vessel. How were you allowed to step foot upon this floor? The arrays should have rejected anyone lacking a strong sword intent."

Li Yu reached into his robes and pulled out the heavy jade access token his father had given him. He held it out flat in his palm for the elder to see.

"I was given special permission to browse the entirety of the library, Senior." Li Yu explained politely. "My name is Li Yu. I am the son of Li Canghai."

The old man’s clear eyes widened just a fraction. He looked at the token, recognizing the authority etched into the jade and then looked back at Li Yu’s face.

"Canghai..." The old man murmured to himself. A faint and knowing smile touched the corners of his weathered lips. He gave a slow nod. "I see. The last time I saw little Canghai, he was barely at Half King. During our first encounter, he was swinging a wooden practice sword until his hands bled in the outer courtyards. It seems the boy finally grew up and established his own bloodline while I was in seclusion. Time is a fleeting river."

The old man waved a wrinkled hand dismissively. "Very well. If Canghai has that token to give out and deemed it appropriate to give it to you, then you may wander. Do not touch the barriers unless a technique specifically calls to your soul and do not make excessive noise. I am attempting to verify my own understanding of the Dao."

"I understand, Senior. Thank you." Li Yu bowed again and quietly stepped away.

He walked softly across the black jade floor and was letting his senses sweep over the scattered pedestals. The calling he had felt downstairs was definitely originating from this room but it was diffuse, scattered among the ancient texts. He approached a pedestal near the far wall and was observing a jade slip that seemed to pulse with a faint and rhythmic heartbeat.

Before Li Yu could reach out to inspect it, the old man’s raspy voice broke the silence once again.

"Boy."

Li Yu paused and turned around. The old man had not moved from his woven mat but his head was turned and watching Li Yu with a sudden spark of keen interest.

"I sense powerful sword spirits on you, they are so strong I can almost smell their scene." The old man tilted his head. "If you do not mind indulging an old man who has been staring at the wall for decades, could you show me the swords you carry? For you to have no sword intent yet have the presence of such powerful sword spirits is really odd. I have always loved to examine great swords. It is a major passion of mine to observe the craftsmanship of them."

“You can smell their presence? Is that something all high ranking clan members can do?” Li Yu questions in curiosity.

“It is one of my unique abilities, honed over a lifetime of being around swords.” The old man chuckled while explaining to Li Yu.

Li Yu considered the request for a moment and he didn't see the harm in it. This man was clearly an established elder, or someone even greater, of the Li Clan to be permitted to sit in meditation on the restricted top floor. Sharing a look at his weapons was a simple courtesy to an elder.

"Of course, Senior." Li Yu agreed.

He stepped away from the pedestal and walked back toward the center of the room. He stopped a respectful distance from the woven mat and tapped his chest, opening a small connection to his Koi Sanctuary.

With a soft hum of power, a streak of golden light shot out from his chest and hovered in the air before him. Gilded Calamity manifested. The golden scabbard gleamed and the ambient Qi in the room instantly grew sharp and oppressive. The sentient sword projected an aura of royalty and undeniable destructive weight.

The old man’s clear eyes widened significantly. He leaned forward and his calm demeanor breaking for a moment as he stared at the hovering blade.

"Gilded Calamity..." The old man breathed. "One of the Ten Great Swords of our clan. I was present the day the master smiths pulled it from the ancestral forge. How did you come to possess this weapon? This is not a toy for a junior, especially one without any sword intent."

"My father, Canghai, gave it to me." Li Yu answered honestly.

The old man blinked and was processing the information. He slowly stroked his white beard and nodded. "So it must have been given to little Canghai and then he gave it to you. I suppose that makes sense. If he chose to pass his primary weapon to his son, it is somewhat within his rights, however highly irregular. A father's love often supersedes clan protocol."

Li Yu nodded and was glad the elder understood. He tapped his chest again.

A sharp and piercing whistle cut through the quiet chamber. A streak of dark green light erupted from the sanctuary. Firmament's End hovered in the air right next to Gilded Calamity. It was perfectly radiating a cold and surgical precision that felt as though it could casually sever the bonds of karma itself.

The old man physically flinched this time, his back straightening up on the mat. His jaw dropped open as he stared at the second blade.

"Firmament's End?!" The old man gasped while his voice lost its raspy calm entirely. "That is a second of the Ten Great Swords! Boy, that blade belongs to the Heaven Severing Ancestor! How in the Dao did you get your hands on his weapon? Did you steal it?!"

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"No, Senior." Li Yu replied calmly and was unfazed by the sudden outburst. "He gave it to me as well."

"He gave it to you?!" The old man repeated while his tone dripped with absolute skepticism. "The Heaven Severing Ancestor is a sword fanatic who loves his blades more than he loves most living beings. Why would he give away one of the greatest treasures of the clan to a junior who doesn't even practice orthodox sword arts?"

"I helped him with a favor." Li Yu explained simply. "He gave it to me as compensation."

The old man stared at Li Yu for a long and quiet moment. He clearly did not believe a single word of that explanation. The idea of the terrifying and battle crazed Heaven Severing Ancestor casually handing over Firmament's End for a simple 'favor' was completely absurd.

However, the sword was hovering peacefully right in front of him, fully compliant with Li Yu's control so it must have been handed over as he said. Otherwise there was no way the sword would listen to a thief. A thief would also not bring a stolen blade back to the clan he stole it from and was even willing to share it openly like this.

The old man swallowed hard and offered a rigid nod. "Fine. He gave it to you for a favor. Let us pretend that makes sense."

Li Yu tapped his chest a third time. A wave of freezing air washed over the black jade floor. Whispering Frost emerged, its icy and crystalline blade shimmering under the starlight ceiling. It was a beautiful masterpiece that was radiating an aura of cold that caused a thin layer of frost to form on the surrounding pedestals.

The old man stared at the icy sword and then let out a massive and shuddering breath of relief. He slumped his shoulders and placed a hand over his chest.

"Oh, thank the heavens." The old man whispered to himself. "I was almost scared to death. I thought you were about to pull out a third of the Ten Great Swords. That is just a high quality weapon. A very fine and masterful blade with an excellent elemental affinity but it is quite ‘normal’ compared to the two before.."

The old man wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He had genuinely feared that his sanity was slipping. To see a junior possessing two of the clan's greatest treasures was already pushing the boundaries of reality. To possess three would mean the entire structure of the Li Clan had collapsed into anarchy during his seclusion.

Li Yu noticed that the elder had no strong reaction to Whispering Frost. It was a wonderful sword but it clearly lacked the weight of the others. He made a mental note to see if there was a way to upgrade it even further, not realizing that the reason it didn’t match the other two swords was because it was missing a sword spirit. Something that couldn’t be created out of nothing but forged through countless battles and kills.

"I have one more that I have been using, Senior." Li Yu said politely. He put Whispering Frost away, letting it vanish back into his sanctuary and tapped his chest for the final time.

The air in the room did not grow hot or cold. It simply died. A heavy and suffocating aura of malevolent evil and slaughter flooded the top floor of the library. The protective barriers around the nearby pedestals flared brightly and actively resisted the overwhelming pressure.

Pale Extinction drifted out. The jagged and pale bone sword looked incredibly crude compared to the elegant Li Clan blades. However, the spiritual pressure radiating from the bones was terrifying. The spirit locked within the bone screamed silently into the ambient Qi, projecting an aura of endless slaughter and decay.

The old man scrambled backward on his hands and knees while completely abandoning his dignified meditation posture. He scrambled off the woven mat and retreated several steps, his eyes wide with horror.

"What in the Dao is that?!" The old man spoke as his voice cracked loudly. He pointed a trembling finger at the hovering bone sword. "How do you have something like that, boy?! That is a cursed artifact! The malice rolling off that blade is not something anyone should be holding! Where did you get that abomination?!"

"My grandfather gave it to me." Li Yu answered plainly. "He brought it back as a gift upon his return."

The old man froze and he slowly lowered his trembling hand. He stared at Li Yu, then stared at the jagged bone sword and then stared blankly at the black jade floor. His mind simply stopped working. He didn’t know who his grandfather was, Canghai had gotten married while he was in seclusion.

The old man’s name was Ancestor Li Cangyuan and he had entered an isolated seclusion many decades ago. He had shut himself away from the politics, the wars and the daily operations of the Li Clan to seek a higher truth in the Dao. He had just emerged a few days prior, coming to the library to quietly verify his new understandings against the ancient texts.

Now, he was standing in front of a junior who did not even practice the sword, yet casually hovered two of the clan's greatest treasures and an artifact of evil that could likely corrupt the mind of most who wield it. Yet this boy was fine and didn’t seem to think anything of the Li Clan swords or that bone sword..

A spiraling existential crisis gripped the ancient ancestor.

'Has the world changed that drastically while I was meditating?' Cangyuan thought to himself, his eyes glazing over as he stared at the wall. 'Did the Li Clan conquer the entire cosmos? Did we become so unfathomably wealthy and powerful that we are handing out world-ending artifacts to the younger generation like cheap cabbages in a market?'

He ran a hand through his white hair with his grip tightening in distress.

'Is Gilded Calamity not rare anymore? Is Firmament's End just standard issue for a promising junior? Did they expand the Ten Great Swords? Is it the Top One Thousand Great Swords of the Li Clan now?!'

Li Yu watched the old man mumble incoherently to himself. The elder had completely zoned out and was staring at the floor with a look of despair and confusion. Seeing that the man was no longer interested in talking, Li Yu politely bowed his head.

He turned around and walked back toward the pedestal he had been approaching earlier, leaving the ancestor to sort through his thoughts. Several minutes passed in complete silence.

Ancestor Li Cangyuan finally snapped back to reality. He blinked rapidly and was shaking his head to clear the absurd thoughts. He looked across the room and saw Li Yu quietly browsing the protective barriers around the ancient texts.

The old man cleared his throat, trying desperately to regain some semblance of his ancestral dignity. He smoothed out his faded robes and walked over to where Li Yu was standing.

"Boy." Cangyuan said as his voice was still carrying a faint tremor. "Are you looking for anything in particular up here?"

Li Yu turned away from a glowing parchment and shook his head.

"No, Senior." Li Yu replied politely. "I found a sword formation technique on the sixth floor called the Celestial Star Sword Formation. I came up here to see if there was anything else that resonated with me but I am mostly just browsing."

Cangyuan nodded slowly, it was finally a response that made sense. He knew of that formation. It was a notoriously difficult and aggressive technique, requiring immense Qi reserves and soul power to control all the swords.

"That is a powerful choice." Cangyuan said while feeling like he was finally back on familiar ground while discussing techniques. "However, it is quite demanding on resources."

"It is." Li Yu sighed slightly with a look of genuine frustration crossing his face. "I want to practice it but I do not have nearly enough swords yet. The highest level of the formation requires one hundred flying swords."

Cangyuan raised an eyebrow. The existential dread began to creep back into his chest. He looked at the boy who had just casually displayed three divine treasures.

"Surely that is not an issue for you." Cangyuan said while forcing a strained laugh. "If your father, the Heaven Severing Ancestor and your grandfather are casually gifting you those treasures... surely they can provide you with a mere ninety six swords to complete your formation."

"I wish it were that easy." Li Yu said while shaking his head in disappointment. "But the text explicitly stated that I needed swords of this level only." Li Yu gestured to his chest, referring to the monstrous blades he had just shown. "Finding ninety six more swords of that caliber seems entirely impossible. I don't know how I am going to find that many."

Ancestor Li Cangyuan stopped breathing.

He could only stare at Li Yu. He looked deeply into the young man's eyes, searching for any hint of arrogance, humor or sarcasm. He found none. Li Yu was entirely sincere. The boy genuinely believed that the foundational requirement for a Li Clan sword formation was one hundred swords of that caliber.

The ancient ancestor's mind broke completely.

'The world has gone completely insane.' Cangyuan thought as his vision was swimming. 'The juniors think an artifact of that level is the bare minimum requirement to practice that sword formation. I have meditated for too long. I have lost touch with reality.'

Without saying another word, Ancestor Li Cangyuan turned on his heel. He did not say goodbye and he did not offer any ancestral wisdom. He simply walked briskly toward the spiral staircase, his faded robes fluttering behind him. Li Cangyuan needed to find Patriarch Li Muchen immediately. He needed someone to explain to him what the hell had happened to the cosmos while his eyes were closed.

Li Yu stood near the pedestal and was completely confused by the abrupt departure. He was even more confused since he thought the old man would surely be some powerful elder but it seemed like he was someone that didn’t even know where he was. Li Yu watched the old man disappear down the staircase.

"Did I say something wrong?" Li Yu wondered aloud while scratching the back of his head. He shrugged and decided that the eccentricities of ancient masters were beyond his current understanding. He turned his attention back to the glowing pedestal and was ready to see exactly what had been calling to his soul.