Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1065: Family Ties and the Serpent Gorge

Li Yu spent a full two days within the peaceful village enjoying their unique food and taking a well deserved break from the constant fighting since he had arrived. The locals possessed a specialized cooking technique utilizing their own internal dragon fire that imparted a very distinct flavor to the roasted meat. The Iron Tusk Boar they served carried a smoky richness that paired flawlessly with the local ember spiced Wyrmwine.Li Yu asked to learn the technique and was generously taught by one of the head chefs after the man saw Li Yu possessing such a deep passion for the culinary arts. The chef walked him through the precise temperature shifts and the specific angles required to sear the meat from the inside out using external Qi control.

However, without actually having the dragon flame himself, Li Yu could not replicate the exact flavor regardless of how much he tried using his own natal flame. His fire was refined and powerful but it simply lacked that specific draconic essence required to bring out the earthy tones of the spices. This was a devastating realization for the young warrior and nearly made him curse out to the heavens for the injustice of it all.

Li Yu sadly gave up on replicating the exact taste for now and thanked the chef for the lessons. Li Yu pulled out a large pile of spirit stones to pay the man for his time and effort. The chef tried to reject the heavy payment but Li Yu insisted while placing the stones on the wooden counter.

"Please accept this," Li Yu said with a warm smile. "Passing down a craft and teaching others should always be valued."

Later that afternoon, Li Yu sat at a corner table near the market square while sipping tea and watching the merchants trade their goods. Two young men wearing familiar robes walked past his table and suddenly stopped in their tracks. They were disciples of the Li Clan and they quickly recognized him from the welcoming banquet held back at the main estate.

The two young men walked over and offered polite bows before introducing themselves as Li Heng and Li Bo. Li Heng was currently in the Half King realm and carried a leather satchel that smelled faintly of dried mint. Li Bo possessed a solid foundation at the King realm and his calloused knuckles showed a dedication to martial arts. The three chatted for a bit before Li Yu asked the questions that were hanging in the air.

"Is it really okay for you two to be talking to me in public?" Li Yu asked. "I am officially exiled from the clan after all."

Li Heng smiled and shook his head gently. "It is fine to talk to you. While you were exiled for breaking the pact, you were not targeted or marked as an enemy of the clan. To us, family is family and people make mistakes. It clearly was not a malicious crime against our bloodline or else the clan elders would not have gone out of their way to instruct us to treat you in a normal manner if we crossed paths."

Li Yu appreciated that sentiment deeply and welcomed them to sit down with him. He pointed to the plates of fresh food and pitchers of warm wine resting on the table.

"The food and drinks are really good here," Li Yu offered. "Join me for a meal before you find a place to rest."

Li Bo rubbed the back of his neck and hesitated for a brief second. "We should probably be going to secure our lodging before the sun goes down."

"The inns are not going anywhere," Li Yu insisted while pouring two fresh cups of wine and pushing them across the wood. "Sit down and let us talk for a bit. It is always good to see family out in the wild."

The two disciples accepted the invitation and sat down at the table. Li Yu introduced Faen and Borum to his family members and the group began to chat easily as they shared the roasted meat and the local side dishes.

"Have you two had any good luck during your training out here?" Li Yu asked while passing a plate of seasoned vegetables across the table.

Li Heng nodded eagerly and took a piece of meat. "We have found some valuable resources. I really like gathering herbs and doing it as a pastime helps me relax between sparring sessions. Because I study them often, I am quite knowledgeable about flora and we actually found some rare spiritual herbs near a waterfall that are very hard to find in other realms."

"We also had a lucky chance by finding a small hidden inheritance inside a ruined cave system," Li Bo added with a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately, we did not resonate with the trial giver at all. The legacy was meant for someone using a spear and neither of us walked that specific path so the doors remained shut to us."

Li Yu listened to their stories and asked about the local dangers they had faced. The two disciples explained that they had been in a lot of fights over their time in this realm as they traveled through the bordering territories. It would seem their luck was rather bad when it came to avoiding trouble as they kept running into aggressive rogue cultivators and territorial spirit beasts. However, their luck was good in a sense that they were able to handle all of those fights without suffering any permanent injuries or losing their hard earned treasures.

After eating and chatting for about an hour, the two disciples excused themselves and went on their way to secure a room for the night. Since they happened to run into each other, they exchanged communication tokens so they could help each other out. Since they were already here, they would be able to get to one another faster than the elders could. As they walked down the paved street, both men were thinking about their random encounter with Li Yu.

This story originates from NovelFire. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

'Cousin Li Yu is quite a nice person,' Li Heng thought to himself while glancing back. 'His easy going charm and his generosity make it very hard to dislike him.'

They both wondered what kind of ancient pact he actually broke to warrant an exile from the main family but they rationalized that he must have his own reasons for doing so. The politics of the family were beyond their level to worry about anyway and they had their own training goals to meet.

Li Yu finished his time in the peaceful town the next morning and continued to head north toward the towering peaks of the Crest Spine Sect. He enjoyed the slow pace as the landscape shifted from rolling hills to dense pine forests. Two days later, the evening sky turned a deep shade of purple as the sun dipped behind the jagged mountains. Li Yu was sitting by a crackling campfire and cooking a thick stew when a sharp buzzing sound broke the silence of the woods.

He pulled the communication jade from his spatial ring and infused a strand of Qi into the smooth stone. The panicked voices of Li Heng and Li Bo erupted from the jade in a chaotic rush of noise.

"Cousin Li Yu, please quickly come help Li Mei!" Li Bo yelled over the sound of crashing trees and hissing wind. "She is under attack by a Sovereign realm viper and the situation is dire!"

Li Yu reacted instantly and dropped his wooden stirring spoon into the dirt. "Where are you located?"

Li Heng quickly shouted a set of coordinates detailing a rocky gorge just a few dozen miles to the east of their current position. Li Yu memorized the location and ended the connection. He rocketed off into the night sky with his glaive already summoned into his hand. Faen and Borum followed closely behind him as they tore through the crisp evening air.

The distance melted away under his impressive flight speed and he arrived at the rocky gorge just moments later. The area was devastated by violent Qi shockwaves and shattered boulders littered the uneven ground. Acidic venom hissed as it melted the stone walls of the canyon.

Li Yu looked down and saw Li Mei being pushed back against a steep cliff face. The Origin Awakening expert was fighting a towering Sovereign realm viper with dark green scales and glowing yellow eyes. The giant snake lunged forward with bared fangs while Li Mei deflected the heavy strikes using her pale blue sword.

Li Yu could see that things were going poorly for her, not only was she a realm below the viper,. there were dark patches of purple and black poison spreading rapidly across her leg, her arm and her stomach where her white robes were torn to shreds. The viper itself was extremely wounded as well with deep sword gashes all over its body, leaking dark blood over the rocks and several of its scales shattered beyond repair.

Li Mei had clearly fought hard and she was able to match the Sovereign realm beast in direct combat but the venom was taking a heavy toll on her body and draining her stamina. Her body faltered during a heavy parry and her knees buckled under her own failing strength. The viper saw the opening and reared its ugly head back to deliver a fatal bite to end her life.

Li Yu descended like a falling star and caught her around the waist right before she hit the ground and used his downward momentum to sweep her away from the striking zone and brought her to safety near the edge of the gorge. Her breathing was shallow and her skin was pale at this point. He gently handed the fading girl over to his two companions.

"Watch over her," Li Yu commanded Faen and Borum before turning back to face the hissing beast.

The giant viper had slithered forward to finish its prey and snapped its jaws shut at the now empty air but a flash of silver light intercepted the beast mid strike. Silent Bastion had shot out from Li Yu before he grabbed Li Mei and wedged its wide blade right between the upper and lower jaws of the snake. The sword stuck firmly in place and made the creature unable to bite down.

The viper thrashed wildly and tried to shake the blade loose by slamming its head against the rocks but Li Yu did not give the beast any room to breathe. He summoned his other swords and sent them flying forward to harass the flanks of the snake. The blades spun around the viper like a small hurricane of death while slicing into the existing wounds.

With his glaive gripped tightly in both hands, Li Yu charged forward and attempted to resonate his five souls together to recreate the overwhelming power he used against Patriarch Malphas. He wanted to finish things off as quickly as possible so he could check on Li Mei’s internal condition. He focused his mind and pushed on his souls but the resonance simply did not work. The connection felt hollow and forced as the souls refused to join in.

Li Yu realized as he charged that the instant manifestation before was due to something else and not on his will to make his soul resonate. He tried to think back to what he was feeling back then and the only emotions he remembered was rage, hatred and killing intent.

‘Could that be the key? But how can I force hatred and rage?’ He thought to himself. His current emotions simply were not volatile like that in this case because he was just fighting a wild beast. There was no deep malice, pain or something else driving his killing intent.

However, while he could not call upon all five souls for a supreme strike, he was able to get his Human Soul and his Koi Soul to resonate together relatively smoothly. A surge of gray and golden energy flooded his meridians and further increased his physical power beyond his normal limits.

The viper hissed in pain as the orbiting swords carved additional fresh wounds into its thick scales. The beast was already exhausted and had been bleeding heavily from the battle with Li Mei. Li Yu noted that she had already done roughly ninety percent of the damage required to kill the creature before the poison forced her to collapse.

Li Yu channeled his energy and launched a dense soul strike directly via the Koi Soul. The invisible needle tore through the air and pierced straight into the mind of the viper. Physical defenses offered no resistance against the ethereal attack as the beast froze in place while the soul spike shattered its fragile consciousness from the inside out, rendering it brain dead in an instant.

Without missing a beat, Li Yu leaped into the air and brought his glaive down in a brutal vertical arc. The sharp blade cleaved the Sovereign realm viper cleanly in half from its head down to its midsection with dark blood spraying across the rocky gorge as the two halves of the snake slumped lifelessly to the dirt.

The battle was over as quickly as Li Yu had arrived. Li Yu exhaled a long breath and dispersed his soul resonance to conserve his mental energy. He waved his hand and returned his orbiting swords away to his Koi Sanctuary for cleaning and storage. Silent Bastion pulled itself free from the severed head and vanished into the void alongside the others. With the threat eliminated, Li Yu immediately turned around and rushed over to check up on Li Mei.