Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The oppressive heat radiating from the crimson scales of the dragon kin transformed the falling rain into a thick fog over the ruined courtyard. Vaxx stood with his heavy tail swaying slowly behind him and his slit yellow eyes swept across the gathered forces.

"Kneel before the blood of the central continent," Vaxx demanded with a voice that rumbled. "Drop your weapons and submit to my edict or your entire lineage will be wiped from this plateau."

The command hung in the humid air and carried the undisputed authority of the dragons. Skarn stood just a few paces away and his four silver wings trembled under the overwhelming bloodline suppression. The insectoid leader possessed a Law Seed cultivation base that matched the dragon kin in realm but the qualitative difference in their Qi was staggering. Skarn had fought for every scrap of resources on this turbulent plateau while Vaxx had gorged himself on the hoarded wealth of the Dragon Core.

The brave Lumin elites who had just conquered the enemy stronghold began to waver. The innate terror of facing a descendant of the invincible tyrants shattered their fighting spirit. One by one the silver armored guards lowered their spears and dropped to their knees in the wet stone.

Skarn looked around at his soldiers and felt the bitter taste of defeat coat his tongue. He had just been a few moments from a complete victory but it was all completely taken away from him in another instant. He slowly lowered his jagged sword and bowed his head in submission to secure the survival of his people.

Zarak leaned against his broken halberd and let out a victorious clicking laugh. The Venin leader had lost most of his army and suffered severe injuries but he had won the war by surrendering his pride to a stronger master.

"You made the correct choice," Vaxx sneered while looking down at the kneeling Lumin forces. "The Venin faction serves my interests and they will rule this continent from now on. Take your men and go back to your place. If you raise a weapon against Zarak again, I will personally slaughter every moth in your capital."

Li Yu stood near the shattered gates and watched the display unfold. He kept his hands resting casually at his sides and observed the shifting dynamics of power. The battle was over and the rulers of the plateau had been decided by a single command from an outsider. He planned to leave well enough alone since this local dispute meant nothing to him in the grand scheme of his journey. He had fulfilled his part of the assault and he could simply slip away to browse the Lumin archives once the retreating forces cleared the area.

He turned his body to leave the courtyard when a sharp voice called out to him.

"Halt, human," Vaxx commanded while pointing a clawed finger toward the gates.

The dragon kin narrowed his yellow eyes and stepped over the rubble. Vaxx could sense the blood of his people on Li Yu and his crimson scales flared with sudden anger. Those three fighters were his personal subordinates sent to destabilize the region and this unknown human had slaughtered them like common insects.

"You killed my servants," Vaxx stated with a cold fury dripping from his words. "For that offense you will leave your head on these stones."

Vaxx did not bother drawing a weapon or gathering his own Qi to enact the execution. He believed he held the lives of everyone present in the palm of his hand so he delegated the task to his new subjects. He turned his gaze toward the kneeling insectoid leader.

"Skarn," Vaxx ordered with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Kill this human and bring me his head to prove your submission."

Skarn flinched and his golden compound eyes darted between the terrifying dragon kin and the calm human standing near the gates. Li Yu did not do anything as he simply watched Skarn and waited to see how the Lumin leader would navigate this deadly crossroad.

The reality of the situation was quite ironic. Vaxx thought he held supreme authority over the courtyard but the true apex predator was the human quietly observing them. Skarn was now forced to make a decision that would either doom himself alongside the arrogant dragon kin or secure his salvation by siding with Li Yu. It was a test of character and a measure of the small trust they had built during their short alliance.

Li Yu waited to see if Skarn would honor their mutual pact and stand against the tyranny of the dragons. The soul pact they had taken prevented betrayal but there were naturally ways to get around that. Since they were only going to work together for a short time, they did not do an elaborate pact that sealed off any and all conditions of betrayal.

Skarn gripped the hilt of his jagged sword but his hands shook uncontrollably. He was too terrified of the dragons to raise his blade against Vaxx. The stories of entire species being eradicated for showing defiance paralyzed his mind and clouded his judgment. However, he could not bring himself to betray Li Yu either. The mutual soul pact they had sworn over the wooden table bound his spirit and attacking his ally would cause his cultivation foundation to shatter instantly.

"I cannot do it, Lord Vaxx," Skarn confessed while keeping his head bowed in shame. "This human and I swore a mutual soul pact before we launched this assault. If I raise my blade against him the laws of the vow will destroy my cultivation."

Li Yu let out a soft sigh and shook his head. Disappointment washed over him as he processed the cowardly response. It was an understandable one though, that Skarn chose fear since the Moth leader did not know Li Yu possessed Creation Lord strength. They had just met not long ago and siding with a wandering human over a dragon kin would be a suicidal gamble for an average Law Seed expert. The choice was logical from his perspective but it caused Li Yu's opinion of the insectoid leader to drop to the very bottom.

Skarn had made the wrong decision and it was his own bad luck that he failed to recognize the true power in the room. Vaxx scoffed at the excuse and turned his attention away from the useless Lumin leader. The dragon kin looked toward the battered Venin commander.

"Zarak," Vaxx barked the new order. "Claim the human's head for me and prove your worth then."

Zarak grinned through his broken mandibles and ignored the searing pain in his chest. The Venin leader was eager to impress his master and solidify his rule over the plateau. He channeled the remnants of his toxic decay laws into his broken halberd and charged toward the gates with a wild battle cry.

Li Yu watched the injured rebel approach and felt no desire to prolong the farce. As Zarak neared striking distance, Li Yu raised his right hand and gathered a dense concentration of Qi in his palm. He stepped forward and delivered a simple palm strike directly to the center of Zarak's chest.

The physical impact bypassed the toxic Qi and shattered the rebel leader's heart in an instant. Zarak died before his battle cry could even fade into the thunder and his body collapsed onto the wet stone. Li Yu waved his hand and stored the fresh corpse inside his Koi Sanctuary for Heiyuan to consume later as usual.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Vaxx widened his yellow eyes in genuine shock at the quick and casual display. Even though Zarak was badly injured, the ability to take care of him so quickly showed this human was terrifying. The dragon kin opened his mouth to shout a command and began gathering a sphere of crimson fire in his throat.

Li Yu did not give the arrogant creature a chance to attack. He engaged his void stepping technique and vanished from the gates like a ghost. He reappeared directly behind Vaxx and raised his right hand high into the air.

He brought his palm down against the back of the dragon kin's neck with the crushing weight of a falling meteor. The physical force drove Vaxx face first into the stone tiles and created a spiderweb of deep cracks across the courtyard. The dragon kin choked on his own blood as the impact scrambled his senses and shattered his composure.

Before Vaxx could struggle or unleash anything else, Li Yu drove his divine sense directly into the creature's mind. He bypassed the natural spiritual defenses of the dragon kin and slammed a slave seal onto his soul. The glowing brand flared with dark energy and paralyzed Vaxx instantly. The terrifying representative of the central continent was reduced to a helpless prisoner pinned against the rubble.

The Lumin guards gasped and Skarn stumbled backward in disbelief. The invincible dragon kin had been subdued in the blink of an eye without the human even using a weapon. What they were more surprised about was the fact that Li Yu was fearless against the dragons. It was not Vaxx’s strength that terrified everyone here, it was his backing.

There were countless stories of times where a dragon was killed only for the entire area to be wiped out or entire powerful lineages to be destroyed overnight. The dragons had an ability to find out who killed their people and to maintain their prestige, would violently kill anyone that went against them.

Li Yu stood over the paralyzed captive and looked toward the trembling Lumin leader. He brushed a few drops of rain off his sleeves and spoke with a calm voice that carried easily over the storm.

"Your answer was expected, Skarn," Li Yu said while looking at the golden compound eyes. "You chose fear over honor and that means it is not in our fates to continue working together. Our temporary alliance is broken here."

Skarn tried to speak but his clicking mandibles failed to form any coherent words. He realized he had vastly underestimated the human and sided with the wrong power. Instead of dying to the dragons, this human will instead kill them all here today. What Li Yu said next surprised him though.

"I hope you never cross my path again," Li Yu warned him with a cold glare. "If you ever stand in front of me in the future, I will kill you without hesitation. The only reason I am allowing you to live today is because I saw the happy faces of the common people on this continent. You are not a bad ruler to your subjects and the choice you made in the past is what is saving you today. What you chose to do was actually the most reasonable course of action for someone blind to the truth. Continue to govern your people well and stay out of my sight."

Li Yu reached down and grabbed Vaxx by the curved horns. He lifted the heavy dragon kin off the ground and took to the sky without looking back. He left the Lumin faction standing in the ruined courtyard to sort out the remnants of their civil war alone. The remaining forces were too stunned by the events to stand up or do anything for a long while. Everyone had to take time to process what had just happened and what was going to happen next.

Skarn ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut about what happened today and hope that the dragons do not come looking for them. If anywhere were to break this order, he would destroy their entire lineage himself before the dragons came to kill everyone.

Li Yu flew through the eternal storm and carried his captive far away from the Venin stronghold. He navigated the dark clouds until he found a deserted gorge surrounded by rock walls. He descended into the barren ravine and threw Vaxx onto the muddy ground without much care.

The dragon kin groaned and glared up at Li Yu with unmasked hatred. The slave seal prevented Vaxx from gathering Qi or launching an attack but it did not suppress his ability to speak.

"You are a dead man, human," Vaxx spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the rocks. "When the elders find out what you have done, they will peel your skin away while you still breathe."

"Save the threats and give me answers," Li Yu demanded while crossing his arms over his chest. "Tell me about the Dragon Core. I want to know the exact number of experts residing in the central continent and the layout of your defensive borders."

Vaxx sneered and tried to open his mouth to speak but a series of glowing golden chains suddenly manifested around his head. The chains pulsed with ancient seals and forcefully prevented the dragon kin from sharing such information.

Li Yu recognized the mechanism immediately, the ruling dragons were indeed incredibly careful with their secrets. All sensitive military information had been locked away behind complex mental seals placed within Vaxx's soul. The moment the captive tried to reveal anything the seals activated to prevent the leak. It was not surprising to see as this was a common thing done.

Li Yu expanded his divine sense and probed the golden chains. He quickly realized breaking the seals would instantly destroy the captive's mind and render him a drooling husk so there was nothing he could do there. The dragon kin could not tell him anything useful even if he wanted to cooperate.

"It seems you are useless to me," Li Yu said while gathering Qi in his right hand. "Since you cannot help me at all, I will just kill you and feed you to my companion."

Vaxx forced his jaws open against the glowing chains and let out a desperate laugh. "If you kill me, my life slip resting in the ancestral hall will shatter! The elders will be alerted of my death and they will track the residual karma to hunt you down!"

Li Yu listened to the threat and evaluated the logic behind the words. There indeed existed such techniques so he believed Vaxx’s words but he did not care. He looked at the bruised and battered creature and shook his head.

"I do not care about your life slip," Li Yu replied with a dismissive tone. "The dragons rule a vast territory spanning the entire center of this world. They cannot possibly watch over every single scout or envoy that leaves their borders to play in the mud. You are strong compared to these outer moths but I do not believe you hold enough value for anyone to notice and to cross the ocean just to find your killer."

Vaxx widened his yellow eyes as the human called his bluff with terrifying accuracy. Before the dragon kin could formulate another lie, Li Yu thrust his palm forward and struck Vaxx squarely in the chest. The concentrated Qi pierced the crimson scales and obliterated the creature's heart in an instant.

The dragon kin died and the golden seals around his head faded into nothingness. Li Yu waved his hand and collected the corpse into his Koi Sanctuary for Heiyuan to digest later. He then stood alone in the quiet gorge and looked up at the dark sky. Li Yu did not truly know if the dragons would come hunting for him but he was tired of tiptoeing around the issue now. Everywhere he went on these outer continents kept leading to dead ends and erased histories. He was done avoiding the central continent and he decided he would head there now to find his own answers.

Li Yu took to the sky and flew with a renewed sense of purpose. He left the eternal storms of The Shattered Sky behind and crossed the turbulent dark ocean separating the outer lands from the center of the world.

He traveled for a day and braced himself for a harsh and brutal environment. He expected the Dragon Core to look like a rugged ancient fortress carved from jagged stones and surrounded by rivers of lava. He expected to find a militarized zone filled with suffering slaves and cruel overlords.

However, as he crossed the invisible boundary marking the central territory the dark ocean gave way to clear crystalline waters. The heavy gray clouds broke apart and revealed a pristine blue sky illuminated by a warm radiant sun. Li Yu hovered in the air and stared at the central continent in pure disbelief at what he saw. It did not look like a fortress of evil. It looked like an untouched paradise.

Lush green fields stretched out toward the horizon and rolled gently over vibrant hills. Crystal clear rivers flowed through forests filled with towering ancient trees bearing glowing golden fruits. The atmospheric Qi here was incredibly dense, sweet and it washed over his skin like a refreshing spring breeze. He saw large herds of non sentient beasts grazing peacefully in the meadows while colorful birds soared freely through the warm air.

It was incredibly beautiful and radiated a sense of peace that he had not felt since he arrived in this realm.

Despite the serene beauty stretching out before him, Li Yu kept his guard up and maintained a tight grip on his internal Qi. This was a forbidden land that no outsider dared to venture through and he knew better than to trust a pretty facade. The true rulers of this world lived somewhere in this paradise and he was ready to face whatever secrets Dragon Core held.