Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The searing pain radiating through Li Yu slowly began to fade into a dull and heavy ache. The invisible blades tearing at his soul receded just enough for him to catch his breath. He remained on one knee while clutching his chest and his breathing echoed loudly in the quiet administrative space. The strange temporal rejection force had not kicked him out yet so there was nothing he could do but endure the lingering pressure.

Jirno floated down to the invisible floor with a look of concern etched across his ethereal features. He hovered anxiously near Li Yu and his translucent hands fluttered without knowing how to help his new and only friend in this world. Heiyuan slithered over and coiled his thick body around his companion to offer a physical shield against whatever unseen enemy was attacking them.

"I am fine," Li Yu grunted while pushing himself up from the floor. He rested a hand on the dark scales of the serpent to steady his balance. "The realm is trying to push me out but the connection has not severed yet. The pressure is stabilizing and I can endure it for now."

Jirno let out a breath he did not know he was holding. "I was terrified, Li Yu. The system sensors went wild for a moment but they could not identify the source of the anomaly or attack. I was afraid something was attacking this space somehow. It looked like the very fabric of space was trying to crush you."

"It is a long story," Li Yu managed a strained smile while pulling his chair over to sit down. "But it seems my time in this place is operating on a strict limit. We should make the most of whatever time we have left as I don’t know when I will be ejected from this realm."

Heiyuan narrowed his crimson eyes and tasted the air with his forked tongue. He did not like seeing his human companion in pain and the inability to bite the source of the attack frustrated him. He turned his large head toward the floating monitors and hissed loud enough to shake the glowing screens.

'If our time is running short, then I need to grow stronger right now,' Heiyuan sent his thoughts through the mental link while glaring at Jirno. 'Tell your friend to use his strange artifact to give me the next trial. I want the power to bite through whatever forces are trying to harm us.'

Li Yu conveyed the thoughts over to Jirno and quickly typed a command into his main console. The system processed the request and generated a new prompt accompanied by a cheerful chime. The ethereal overseer read the text and a look of confusion crossed his face.

"The system has generated a new simulation for the Hero type unit," Jirno explained while reading the glowing words. "But I have never seen these rules before. None of my spawned warriors ever received a trial like this. It is called The Valley of Seasons."

"What are the rules?" Li Yu asked while cycling his Qi to soothe the burning ache in his chest.

"The rules state that the serpent must cultivate the land in order to cultivate his soul and mind." Jirno read aloud. "Heiyuan will be placed in a ruined farming valley. He is forbidden from using violence to consume the local inhabitants. He can only devour the crops he grows with his own effort and the artifacts he unearths through patient labor. He must restore the valley and drive away a corrupt merchant sect using only the fruits of his harvest."

Heiyuan let out a rumbling growl of disbelief. The world devouring serpent was being asked to become a humble farmer. It was a direct challenge to his aggressive lifestyle and a test of his thin patience. The beast wanted to devour stars and shatter planets but the system was handing him a digital watering can and asking him to tend to crops.

'This is an insult to my bloodline!' Heiyuan hissed while thrashing his tail against the floor.

"It is a test of your temper, Heiyuan," Li Yu corrected him gently. "True power requires discipline in one form or another. If you can conquer your own aggressive nature, you can conquer anything. Go and show this system that a predator can master any domain."

Heiyuan grumbled but eventually lowered his head in agreement. The desire for another bloodline purification outweighed his bruised pride. The soft beam of light shot out from the monitor and struck him between the eyes once again as his physical body went limp on the floor. His consciousness plunged into the new digital world to take on the new challenges presented.

The large screen above them shifted to display a vibrant pixelated valley. A small dilapidated wooden cabin sat in the center of a field overgrown with tall weeds and heavy rocks. Heiyuan appeared on the screen as a thick black serpent wearing a comical straw hat. The visual was so unexpected that Li Yu actually laughed out loud despite the lingering pain in his chest.

The trial began and the initial days within the simulation were a disaster. Heiyuan tried to smash the rocks with his head but the game mechanics denied his brute strength and he only ended up hurting himself. He was forced to wrap his tail around a rusty pickaxe and swing it awkwardly to clear the debris. When the system provided him with a handful of turnip seeds, he scattered them haphazardly across the dry dirt and expected them to grow instantly.

A few simulated days passed and the seeds withered into brown dust because he refused to water them. Heiyuan roared at the digital sky and bit the side of his own wooden cabin in frustration at doing something he had almost no knowledge of. Inside the world, information that he needed to know was flowing into his mind but his initial thoughts were to ignore them completely and do as he wanted to.

Li Yu and Jirno watched the chaotic display from the comfort of the administrative space. They settled back into their routine of sharing meals and conversing while the simulation ran its course. Li Yu’s pain remained but he suppressed it as best as he could and used it as a form of mental training for himself. This second trial proved to be much longer than the first. A full month passed in the outside world while Heiyuan struggled through the passing seasons of the digital valley.

During this month Li Yu did not waste his time. He set up a cultivation mat near his stove and spent many hours meditating to fortify his soul against the creeping rejection force. The pain would occasionally spike and force him to his knees but he always caught his breath and resumed his cycling.

Jirno watched Li Yu with a mixture of worry, respect and inspiration. The ethereal overseer had lived for thousands of years but he had spent all that time hiding behind glowing screens. He possessed a vast reservoir of energy but he lacked the mental fortitude to endure true hardship, besides the hardship of loneliness which was a form of training in itself. He began to look up to Li Yu like an older brother seeking guidance even though he was technically much older than him.

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"How do you bear the pain, Brother Li?" Jirno asked one evening while they shared a plate of roasted river fish. He had adopted the respectful title naturally over the past few weeks. "You sit there and let the realm crush you but you never complain. If the system sent a shock through my ethereal form, I would weep for days."

"It’s not easy, let’s get that part very clear. But cultivation is that way, I too had it quite easy earlier on and have recently been suffering a lot. Pain is just a physical boundary though, Jirno." Li Yu answered while taking a bite of the tender fish. "When you walk the path of cultivation you realize that suffering can be a tool for growth if used correctly. It tempers the mind and clears away the distractions. You have lived a sheltered life in this void so you fear the unknown. If you ever leave this room, you will find that a few scars are worth the freedom of seeing the real Myriad Realms and what it has to offer."

Jirno nodded thoughtfully and looked at his translucent hands. "You speak of the cosmos with such familiarity. I only know the world through the data streams and the maps on my monitors. What is it like to have a family out there? To build a life outside of a designated mandate?"

Li Yu smiled and poured them both a cup of warm tea. He had told Jirno stories about the Five Star Lakes and the loud bustling nature of the Zhan clan. He spoke of his grandfather teaching him the value of ruthlessness and his mother showing him the strength of loyalty. He described the feeling of returning home after a long journey and knowing there were people waiting for him.

The ethereal dragon kin listened with rapt attention and a deep longing filled his yellow eyes. The bond between the two anomalies grew stronger with every passing day. They were unlikely friends brought together by a tear in reality and they cherished the quiet moments they shared in the glowing sanctuary. The two both know that it could end at any time so they were just enjoying each other’s company for the time being.

While the two friends bonded in the real world, Heiyuan was undergoing a quiet transformation inside the simulation. The dark serpent eventually realized that raging against the system rules yielded no results. If he wanted the bloodline reward, he had to play the game the way the system wanted him to.

He learned to hold the digital watering can with his tail and meticulously watered his crops every morning. When a flock of pixelated spirit crows tried to eat his prized summer melons, he did not waste his energy chasing them across the map. He gathered wood and old straw to craft a series of scarecrows that kept his fields safe.

The system challenged his patience by requiring him to restore the ruined Inheritance Pavilion located in the town square. Heiyuan had to venture into the local mines and battle strange slime creatures to uncover rare artifacts and glowing gems. He spent endless hours breaking digital rocks and organizing his findings into neat display cases for the town scholar. The tedious labor forced the aggressive beast to appreciate the quiet satisfaction of a completed task as more and more were done over time.

The trial also introduced social challenges. The system required him to integrate with the local inhabitants and find a partner. Heiyuan explored the town and found a fierce warrior woman named Abia who practiced sword arts near the mountain lake. The serpent did not understand the concept of a wife but he viewed her as a worthy subordinate. He learned that she enjoyed spicy magma peppers so he dedicated a large portion of his farm to growing the fiery crops to offer to her.

He brought her fresh peppers every single day until her affection meter maxed out. They held a simple ceremony in the town square and she moved into his upgraded wooden cabin. Having a partner who helped repair his fences and feed his livestock gave Heiyuan a strange sense of accomplishment that did not involve shedding blood. In fact, he grew quite fond of the life he was living in here as the time he spent in here was roughly 10x of the time outside in the real world.

The final challenge of the simulation arrived in the winter season. A greedy organization known as the Golden Coin Syndicate arrived in the valley and attempted to pave over the town square to build a sprawling market hub. They threatened to buy out the local farms and ruin the peaceful environment Heiyuan had worked so hard to cultivate.

The old Heiyuan would have simply swallowed the syndicate members and burned their ledgers. The new enlightened serpent chose a different path.

Heiyuan spent the harsh digital winter growing rare frost seeds in his greenhouse and delving to the deepest floors of the mines. He gathered the final artifacts needed to restore the valley arrays and completed every community bundle required by the town elders. The sheer volume of high quality crops and rare gems he produced flooded the local economy and drove the Golden Coin Syndicate into bankruptcy.

The town gathered in the square to celebrate their victory and the syndicate leader was chased out of the valley by an angry mob of farmers. Heiyuan watched the scene from the steps of the restored pavilion with his wife standing by his side. The serpent raised his straw hat and let out a triumphant hiss.

The screen in the administrative space flashed with a brilliant golden light and the simulation concluded.

The beam connecting the monitor to Heiyuan severed and the dark serpent drew a sharp breath as his consciousness returned to his physical body. The rewards of the trial cascaded through his meridians like a rushing river once more. His dark scales gained a vibrant iridescent sheen and his physical size expanded until he filled out a much bigger area. His devouring bloodline had purified by another ten percent.

'I saved the town, Li Yu!' Heiyuan hissed through the mental link and his tone carried a strange sense of pride. 'I grew star pumpkins and defeated the greedy merchants with economics. It was the most frustrating battle of my life but I won.'

Li Yu laughed out loud and walked over to pat the massive snout of his companion. "You did incredibly well, Heiyuan. You proved that your mind is just as strong as your jaws. I am very proud of the discipline you showed in there."

Jirno floated over and clapped his hands with genuine joy. "The system evaluation gave you a flawless score. You are truly a marvel, Heiyuan. I have never seen a beast adapt to a lifestyle simulation with such efficiency."

The celebration was cut short as another violent spike of pain tore through Li Yu. This time the rejection force was much stronger than before. The invisible blades carved deep into his spiritual foundation and drove him to both knees. He coughed heavily and a thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.

The dark void of the administrative space began to hum with a chaotic frequency. The floating screens flickered and a localized storm of temporal energy gathered around Li Yu. The timeline was losing its patience and the forceful eviction was accelerating ever faster.

Jirno rushed forward and tried to project a shield of hard light to protect his friend but the temporal energy simply bypassed the digital barrier. The overseer watched in horror as the air around Li Yu began to crack like fragile glass.

"Brother Li!" Jirno cried out in a panic. "What is happening to the space around you? The system cannot read the energy signatures. It says the fabric of reality is collapsing in your immediate vicinity."

Li Yu wiped the blood from his chin and looked up at the ethereal dragon kin. The burning pain in his chest told him everything he needed to know. His time in this realm was up. The timeline could no longer support the weight of his anomalous presence and it was tearing a rift to send him away.

"The realm is finally kicking me out Jirno," Li Yu said through gritted teeth while struggling to stand. He placed a hand on Heiyuan to anchor himself against the pulling force. "My journey here is over. Live well and I hope you can find a way out of this realm! If I am able to find this realm again, I will ask my elders to help me figure out a way to free you."

The peaceful month they had spent together was ending in sudden violence. The bond they had forged in the digital sanctuary was about to be tested by the laws of time and space. Li Yu tightened his grip on his companion and prepared to face the chaotic rift opening right before his eyes.