Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Zaal knew he was trapped in a space where the normal rules of life and death seem to have no meaning. Somehow his luck turned against him completely and sent him to the worst place imaginable with the worst person to be with as well, Li Yu himself. The dark seal planted by the Fisherman Soul kept him bound to the dirt while the spinning vortex high above ensured his suffering could last for an eternity if the demon before him wanted it to.

The rushing spiritual water crashed against the shores of the island and provided a steady rhythm to the grim scene. The Human Soul stood a short distance away with its own weapon resting in hand while acting as a silent guard.

"Speak," Li Yu commanded while leaning forward to cast a dark shadow over the parasite. "Tell me the secrets this old fool was hiding."

Zaal did not hesitate to spill the truth. The voices overlapping in the air carried a tone of desperation as the Heart Demon began to recount the hidden history of his former host. "I know these things because I was an invisible passenger that no one knew existed." Zaal explained frantically. "The people Guizhong conspired with were incredibly cautious. They placed seals on the soul of the ancestor to protect their plans as one would expect. If anyone tried to search his memories,those seals would trigger and destroy his mind to hide the truth. No one could ever extract this information from him directly."

Li Yu narrowed his dual colored eyes and kept the sword steady. "But those seals did not affect you."

"No, they did not," Zaal confirmed while the chains rattled nervously. "Those hidden figures did not know I existed within him. I am an independent entity hiding within the negative emotions of the host. The restrictive seals placed on the ancestor only bound his own essence and soul. I watched every secret meeting and heard every whispered command through his eyes and ears without triggering their defenses."

Li Yu gestured with his free hand for the entity to continue. "Tell me more quickly. Who was he working with and what were they planning to do?"

Zaal described a plot that stretched across the last three decades. The Heart Demon revealed that Guizhong was actively conspiring against his own home and several other realms scattered around. The ultimate goal of his unseen masters was to establish a hidden foothold and summon an invading force strong enough to conquer the surrounding territories. The mysterious group never revealed their grand strategy beyond that to the ancestor but they gave him very specific tasks to complete over the years.

"They ordered him to set up hidden arrays across the Luminous Realm," Zaal said while the eyes in the dark glass darted back and forth. "They gave him the plans and techniques for summoning gates and restrictive formations designed to isolate this region from the rest of the cosmos. Guizhong was tasked with acquiring the specific resources needed to build those structures and supplying the small vanguard forces they already had hiding in the region. He spent decades gathering the materials and doing their tasks to feed their war machine."

Li Yu frowned as he processed the scale of the betrayal. A man of Guizhong's status had unlimited access to the entire vault of his clan. The old man was using his supreme authority to steal from his own descendants and funnel those materials directly to an invading army under the guise of his own cultivation for the better of the clan.

"Why would an expert standing at the peak of a clan sell out his own people? I might be understandable if the clan and he were weak but they have a storied history and he is already so strong." Li Yu asked with a skeptical tone. "What could they possibly offer a man who already had wealth and status? If he already had an innate inner world why would he risk everything for outside methods?"

"Having an innate inner world is a blessing but it also creates a rigid ceiling," Zaal answered quickly. Since Zaal was attached to Guizhong as a Heart Demon, he was able to more or less feel Guizhong’s feelings so he knew Guizhong better than most. At least during the last thirty or so years.

"Guizhong reached the limit of his natural potential centuries ago and he felt stuck, suffocated. They offered him a prize he could not refuse or ever turn his back to. They promised him two ancient techniques designed specifically for the inner world along with a rare treasure that would elevate his inner world to a higher level. They showed him a path and dream that he wanted. The mysterious group gave him the preliminary teachings of the first technique to prove their worth and that small taste hooked him like a starving beast finding fresh meat."

Over the last thirty years Guizhong went off to do exactly as he was commanded. He would travel to isolated places to receive new instructions and hand over the stolen resources. The unseen masters slowly fed him bits and pieces of the promised technique as a reward for his continued obedience. The old man was incredibly happy with the arrangement and threw himself into his studies with a burning passion.

Things were going well for a time but his mind grew increasingly obsessed and corrupt as he studied deeper. All of this was going on without Guizhong even realizing it himself since he was so isolated from others at this time. Zaal explained that the technique was not just a method for improving an inner world. It carried a hidden poison that slowly corrupted the foundation of the practitioner without Zaal having to do anything at all.

"The technique was rotting his reasoning from the inside out. It was like a Heart Demon in disguise and even I was curious about it to use in the future." Zaal continued while the jagged thorns scraped against the dirt. "It was corrupting his inner world, mind and twisting his Dao into something foul. The laws governing his foundation began to warp under the pressure of the new teachings. I tried to hide the effects of that corruption to protect my own host but the teachings were too potent. The downward spiral was fueled by those scattered pieces of the technique. It acted like a drug that eroded his rational thought and left only a desperate craving for more power. He needed the next piece of the puzzle just to feel sane. I fed on the negative emotions he produced but the true source of his madness was the knowledge they gave him."

Li Yu looked at the broken spirit of Guizhong lying nearby but did not feel sorry for the damned fool. The old man was a victim of his own greed and ambition. The punishment and suffering that Li Yu was dishing out felt even more deserved. He traded the safety of his clan for a poisoned chalice of power.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Then why did he attack us today?" Li Yu demanded. "If he was so focused on building arrays and gathering resources for that other group, why did he abandon his decades of careful planning just to capture me?"

"It fell apart today because of you." Zaal said while shrinking back from the young lord. "Guizhong saw the strange anomaly inside your foundation and the sight sparked an overwhelming obsession for knowledge that I could not control. His mind was already fragile from the corrupted technique and the prospect of studying your inner world to advance further pushed him over the edge. He abandoned caution and reason just to claim you as a test subject. I tried to calm his desires but the madness took over."

Li Yu frowned as he processed the news. His own unique situation had acted as the catalyst that shattered a thirty year conspiracy because the man was too far along in his own madness. It was a chaotic twist of fate that brought the hidden danger to this area out into the light.

"Give me a name," Li Yu ordered while pressing the tip of his sword against a rusted link. "Who are these people and what do they look like?"

"The people he worked with called themselves The Shadowed Pantheon," Zaal revealed with a trembling voice. "It could very well be a fake name or a code word used for their forces in this region but that was the only title they ever provided."

Li Yu pressed further. "Did he ever see their faces?"

"At first they were cloaked in heavy shadows," Zaal explained. "They used strange techniques so Guizhong could never see their true forms or detect any specific traits from their auras. They met in dark caves and isolated valleys while keeping a great distance between them, not that sight would have changed anything."

The Heart Demon paused for a moment as if recalling a distant memory. "But after the bits and pieces of the techniques were given to him and he fell deeper under their influence, they began to grow loose with their secrecy. They became more trusting, probably because they knew he was effectively a slave to the teachings they provided. The drug-like influence ensured his loyalty so they stopped hiding in the dark during their final few meetings that he had with them."

"Describe them in detail." Li Yu demanded while keeping his weapon steady. "Do not leave out a single feature. I need to know exactly what we are dealing with."

Zaal described their physical features in vivid detail. "They are not humans and they are not simple beasts. They possessed a disturbing mixture of traits that did not match any known race in the Myriad Realms that I have seen. They had thick black scales covering their bodies that seemed to drink the ambient light around them and cast a natural shadow over their forms. Their limbs were unnaturally elongated and featured multiple joints that allowed them to move with a strange, creepy but fluid grace unlike anything I have ever seen. They possessed burning amber eyes lacking pupils that glowed like hot coals in the dark. Instead of traditional horns of beasts, they wore crowns of jagged bone growing directly from their skulls as if they were kings. Their very presence felt wrong as if they did not belong."

Li Yu listened to the description and felt a sense of trouble brewing in his chest. The creatures Zaal described so far in his story sounded like a monstrous force preparing to wage a brutal war across the realms. This was not a simple border skirmish or a dispute between rival clans. The Shadowed Pantheon was orchestrating a grand invasion and they were using the greed of this old fool to pave the way. If Guizhong was doing this in the Luminous Realm, then there were likely other traitors doing the exact same thing in other territories around here. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

While the plan revealed thus far only involves the few realms around this one, it did not mean it would stay that way. It could be the starting point for their attack across the Myriad Realms and such an attack would involve his family sooner or later. His mom, dad or grandfather would get involved eventually and they could be put into danger.

He knew he had to pass this information along to the people who could actually do something about it. Since he was unconscious to the outside world, he had no idea his grandfather was already interrogating the clan leaders for the same kind of information he was getting. Li Yu just knew this threat was beyond his current capabilities to handle alone. He needed to wake up and inform his family before the enemy realized their plan had been discovered.

Zaal finished the long explanation and the sphere of rusted chains slumped against the dirt in a posture of defeat. The entity had given up the secrets it held and now it only wanted the pain to stop.

"I have told you the truth and left out no important details that I can remember," Zaal pleaded while the bloodshot eyes in the mirror filled with tears once more. "I have given you their name and their appearance. I explained the betrayal and the plan. Please! Please kill me now. I have lived long enough and I just want to die after what I have been through today."

Li Yu looked at the now pathetic creature and slowly lowered his sword. He considered the value of the information and realized the entity had upheld its end of the bargain. The details provided a clear target and explained the mysteries surrounding the dead ancestor. While it did not solve everything, it was a great starting point for an investigation.

"I will give you the release of death you desire," Li Yu said with a cold and steady voice. "But only after you retell this exact story to my grandfather in the physical world. He needs to hear this from your own mouth so he can take action against this Shadowed Pantheon."

Zaal widened his eyes in horror. The entity was about to argue back and complain about the delay since even though Li Yu was no longer slashing him, the residue pain was still there. Pain like that does not go away simply because the sword stopped. It wanted the sweet release of death right now and the thought of having to continue to live terrified the creature.

"I have told you the truth here!" Zaal whined while shaking his rusted chains. "Why must I continue to suffer! Just destroy me and let me fade! I cannot bear another moment of this existence!"

Li Yu did not bother to yell or argue with the parasite. The young lord simply turned around and drove his heavy sword straight through the glowing chest of the ruined ancestor once again. The blade pierced the ethereal flesh and pinned Guizhong to the dirt.

The agonizing shrieks of the old man filled the air and echoed across the rushing water once more. The ancestor thrashed against his bindings as the blade carved through his spiritual essence for an unknown amount. Li Yu twisted the hilt and dragged the sharp edge through the shoulder of the spirit while keeping his eyes fixed on the Heart Demon.

Zaal saw the cold look on the face of the young lord and watched him hack away at the broken spirit without a shred of mercy once more. The Heart Demon swallowed his complaints instantly and realized arguing would only bring the sword back to his own self. At least while detached he didn’t have to suffer along that fool. The parasite stopped his protests and agreed to the terms while praying for a swift end.

"I will tell him," Zaal whispered in defeat. "I will tell him everything you want to hear. Just promise me you will end this after this."

"I keep my promises," Li Yu replied while pulling his weapon free for another strike.