Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1020: Help is Needed

The ancestor crashed onto the ruined tiles of his grand estate as black blood poured from his lips while the laws around him destabilized. The wooden horse artifact had mostly ruined his dantian and stripped away his Sovereign realm authority. He could not stand or fight but he was far from helpless.A cruel smile twisted his wrinkled face as he reached into his torn robes with a trembling hand and pulled out a small wooden carving of an eagle. He forced the last drops of his fading life essence into the artifact.

The carving glowed with a blinding silver light before shattering into dust and a shrieking projection of a giant eagle materialized in the sky above the courtyard. The beast was forged from spite and concentrated spiritual energy. It folded its translucent wings and dove directly toward the old man hovering in the air.

The old man tried to raise his iron staff to defend himself but he was already drained from throwing his own artifact. The eagle slammed into him with the force of a falling meteor as its glowing talons dug deep into his flesh and ripped outward. Blood rained down on the frosted gardens in an instant.The old man lost both of his arms and his legs in a single brutal motion, he was reduced to a bleeding stump as he plummeted toward the ground.

"Grandfather!" The woman in the gray cloak screamed. She abandoned her fight with the stern elder and sprinted across the ruined courtyard.

The eagle projection did not fade after striking its primary target. It banked sharply and swept through the ranks of the invading mercenaries. The spirit beast tore three warriors apart and crushed another against a stone wall before its residual energy finally evaporated into the morning air.

The Ye ancestor laid on the broken roof tiles and laughed loudly at his successful counter attack. The sound was wet and raspy but it carried a deep sense of twisted satisfaction.

"I was not going to die without taking you down with me." The ancestor wheezed while staring up at the gray sky. "Your revenge ends here in the dirt."

The woman heard his mocking laughter and her sorrow quickly turned into blinding fury. She turned and rushed toward the main manor. She intended to lock his soul inside his broken body so she could torture him for the crimes he committed against her people.

She leaped onto the roof and raised a glowing talisman but she was a second too late.

The ancestor saw her coming and gathered the last spark of Qi in his palm as he struck his own forehead with a decisive blow. His eyes rolled back and his life force extinguished instantly. He had taken his own life, on his own terms. He left the woman standing over his corpse with a hollow victory. She had won the war but the satisfaction of true vengeance was snatched from her grasp.

She cursed loudly and kicked his lifeless body down into the garden below. She quickly turned around and rushed back to where her grandfather had fallen.

Several other people were already gathered around the old man as they applied thick salves to his grievous wounds and fed him three high grade healing pills. The potent medicine went to work immediately while the bleeding stopped and a soft golden light wrapped around his severed joints.

Cultivators at his high level of power possessed incredible vitality, losing limbs was a painful experience but it was not a fatal injury if treated quickly with the right resources. The pills would stabilize his core and allow his flesh to eventually knit back together.

The ancestor had dealt a devastating blow but he had failed to finish the old man off. However, the initial strike of the eagle had also crippled his dantian by half, he would never return to his peak again.

Li Yu sat quietly on his high branch and watched the aftermath unfold. He remained an outsider observing the bloody consequences of a long forgotten crime.

He thought about how fortune could change so quickly, the Ye family woke up as the uncontested rulers of this area and they were now nothing more than corpses buried under their own burning home. He also thought about how karma eventually found its way back to the people who sowed it. The Ye ancestor had stolen a future to build his wealth and that stolen future had finally returned to collect the debt.

Li Yu now knew the Ye family had committed terrible atrocities to reach their position of power. He would never have guessed their dark history just by looking at their elegant pavilions and polite smiles. This realization sparked a deeper line of thought within his mind.

He understood that his own family likely shared a very similar past. The Zhan Clan did not conquer realms by asking politely. They built their towering fortresses and their elite armies through warfare and conquest, nearly all forces did. If they didn’t do so to gain their original status, they definitely did to keep it.

No organization grew into a dominant power by just being nice to their neighbors. There was value in diplomacy and kindness but the Myriad Realms rewarded those who took advantage of presented opportunities. The degree of their cruelty might be different but at the end of the day, they surely sowed a lot of karma just like this.

Depending on the viewpoint of the defeated people, the Zhan Clan surely had enemies hiding in the shadows just like this mercenary group. It was the fundamental nature of the cultivation world. Survival required strength and strength often required taking from others.

This objective view of the cosmos resonated deeply with his Karma Severing foundation. He did not judge the Ye family for their ruthless ambition and he did not judge the mercenaries for their bloody revenge. He simply saw the turning of a grand wheel, it was a cycle of cause and effect where actions birthed consequences across generations.

A sense of enlightenment washed over Li Yu’s consciousness. The chaotic sounds of the burning estate faded away as his second mind descended onto the roaring River of Law for Karma. The waters of karma flowed with an intense and mesmerizing rhythm.

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He had been standing at the 5000th step for quite some time while struggling to comprehend the true weight of his actions. Watching the fall of the Ye family provided the missing piece of the puzzle.

Li Yu took a step forward and then another. The conceptual pressure of the river tried to push him back but his mind and heart remained firm and unyielding. He accepted the reality of his own bloody past and the future violence he would inevitably commit to protect his loved ones. He did not seek absolution and he did not fear the consequences.

He walked straight through the rushing currents and broke through the five thousandth step on the River of Law. The second mind opened its eyes and looked at the flowing karma as it stepped onto the water and began to walk its own path while absorbing the complex truths of cause and effect.

Out in the real world, Li Yu stood perfectly still on the cypress branch. His eyes were open but unfocused at this sudden inspiration. He remained frozen in that state of deep meditation for about five minutes before his main mind snapped back while his second mind continued. The cold wind ruffled his robes and the distant shouts of the victorious mercenaries echoed through the swamp but he did not move a single muscle.

His focus eventually returned to the physical realm. Someone had been hiding in the thick fog a few hundred yards away and their killing intent was pointed directly at his back ever since the ancestor fell. They had likely noticed a stranger watching the estate and were preparing to launch a preemptive strike to protect their hard won victory.

Li Yu did not turn around or draw his weapon. He kept his posture relaxed and spoke calmly to the freezing wind.

"Do not make a move or else you might just doom yourself and everyone else here." He warned with a steady voice.

He let the words hang in the damp air. He possessed the power to wipe out the exhausted mercenaries with his orbiting arsenal or with his other means if they chose to provoke him. The hidden watcher seemed to sense the heavy threat lurking beneath his calm tone as the killing intent wavered and then slowly retreated back into the fog.

"Good choice." Li Yu said moments later.

He had no desire to fight a group of people who had just reclaimed their stolen lands. He pushed off the branch and glided away from the ruined estate. He traveled quickly across the frozen marshland and retraced his steps back to the Zhan Clan military base.

The guards at the fortress let him inside without any issues as he walked straight to the array platform and activated the array to return home. His medical mission out in the Frostmire realm was a failure in terms of earning spirit stones but the trip was far from a waste.

He had made incredible progress on the laws of karma and strengthened his own Dao Heart. His second mind was still undergoing enlightenment and making steady steps along those shores. The scenery blurred as the spatial array transported him across the cosmos.

Many realms away and within the pristine borders of the Li Clan, the atmosphere was tense. The sun shone brightly over the elegant sword pavilions but a dark cloud hung over a specific private courtyard. Li Jian and Li Hua walked quietly through a secluded garden path as they approached a secure study located near the back of their family manor and knocked softly on the heavy wooden door.

"Enter." A calm voice called out from inside.

The brother and sister stepped into the study and closed the door firmly behind them. Their parents were sitting at a polished stone table reviewing several military reports. Their mother, Li Su, was an elegant woman who shared the striking features of her cousin Li Canghai.

She possessed a sharp mind and a talent for political maneuvering. Their father, Xin Bo, sat beside her. He hailed from a respected but weaker power sword clan and had earned his place within the Li family through exceptional martial prowess and unwavering loyalty.

"What is the matter with you two?" Xin Bo asked while setting his brush down. "You both look like you just swallowed bitter herbs."

Li Jian exchanged a worried glance with his sister before stepping forward.

"We need to talk about sister." Li Jian stated with a heavy sigh. "Her condition is deteriorating faster than we thought."

Li Su frowned and folded her hands on the table. "Explain."

"Her paranoia regarding Li Yu is spiraling out of control." Li Hua spoke up. "We just returned from the Sunfire Sovereign trial ground. Li Yu offered a storage ring of excess herbs to an elder. I asked the elder afterwards and he said it was his way of honoring his father’s side of the family. It was a simple and polite gesture. But sister viewed it as a direct attack. As you know, this is not the first time either, we’ve talked about the other moments with you already."

"She thought he was actively bribing the inner circle to steal her position as heir." Li Jian added while shaking his head. "She is seeing shadows everywhere. She accused me of being a fool for not seeing his grand political scheme. She genuinely believes he is trying to usurp her standing while playing the role of a humble son."

Xin Bo leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "Li Yu has shown zero interest in clan politics. He spends his time cultivating by his lakes at the Zhan Clan or doing something else away from the Li Clan completely. He is just like Canghai in that regard."

"We know that father." Li Hua said with clear distress. "But sister cannot see it. She must have some sort of heart demon towards him and it is twisting her perception of reality. She is normally not like this at all. She cannot focus on her own cultivation or her duties because she is constantly looking over her shoulder. If this continues, she will ruin her own foundation trying to fight an enemy that does not even exist."

Li Su closed her eyes and let out a long breath. She loved her eldest daughter deeply but she also recognized the severe danger of the situation. A clan heir could not function while crippled by irrational fear. The Li Clan required a leader with a clear mind and a steady hand.

"This is worse than I anticipated." Li Su admitted softly. "I knew she felt threatened by his sudden return and his impressive talent but I did not realize it had manifested into a proper heart demon."

"What should we do?" Li Jian asked while looking between his parents. "We tried reasoning with her but she refuses to listen to us. She thinks we are just blind to the threat."

Xin Bo looked at his wife with a serious expression. "We cannot handle this internally. If her heart demon fractures her Dao Heart, the elders will sense it and they will push to replace her. Not only that, it will ruin a great talent of the Li Clan. We need to get ahead of this before it ruins her."

"You are right." Li Su agreed as she stood up from the stone table. "This is a serious issue that threatens the stability of the clan as well as our daughter. We need to escalate this to the top."

"Are we going to speak with cousin Canghai?" Xin Bo asked.

"No." Li Su replied firmly while adjusting her elegant sleeves. "Canghai is too close to the boy and his judgment will be clouded. We do need to talk to him but not at first. We are going straight to the Clan Head. He needs to know exactly what is happening with the chosen heir before the situation becomes unsalvageable."

Li Jian and Li Hua nodded in agreement. It felt like a betrayal to report their sister to the highest authority but they knew it was the only way to save her from her own mind. It did not mean they thought she was now unworthy, sometimes people needed help and there was nothing wrong with that.

The family left the secure study and began the long walk toward the central peak where the Clan Head resided. The political landscape of the Li Clan was about to shift and Li Yu was standing right at the center of the storm without even knowing it.