Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1095: The Sacred Grounds and the First Spark

Seline and Alys returned to the Five Star Lakes after finishing a long series of assignments for the Zhan Clan. They expected to find their quiet houses resting by the main pagoda just as they had left them a few weeks ago. Instead, they found an empty clearing where their house foundations used to be. The two women looked around and walked toward the newly established military camp situated just outside Li Yu's personal territory and they found their homes neatly relocated near the outer boundary of the new settlement.Shan happened to be there at the time and crossed his arms over his broad chest. The sisters approached him with confusion and a hint of anger but they stopped in their tracks once his cultivation base washed over them. The heavy weight of a Heavenly Zenith aura pressed down on their shoulders and made it hard to breathe.

Seline spoke first and tried to keep her voice steady. "Why were our homes moved from the main estate?"

Shan looked down at them with a stern expression. "Those lands are reserved for Li Yu and his family. The main estate is a place for his loved ones and his own personal peace. Everyone else who serves under him or works for him will live here in the outer camp. These are my orders not his."

Alys exchanged a glance with her sister before looking back up at the towering commander. "We are his followers just like you. We were brought here to serve him and we lived there before you arrived. Are we really being moved out here to stay permanently?"

"You are placed where you belong," Shan answered in a calm tone. "You are followers and you will reside where the rest of his forces reside. There is no room for debate on this matter."

Seline felt her face grow warm with embarrassment. "We thought we were brought here for something else. We thought our purpose was to ‘service’ Li Yu when he wanted company or needed to relieve his stress from training."

Shan raised an eyebrow and his voice carried a tone of firm finality. "I do not think so."

The blunt rejection stung but Shan continued to speak. "First of all, you are not strong enough to stand by his side in any meaningful capacity. A companion to the lord must possess the strength to survive the dangers that surround him. Secondly, Li Yu has not once mentioned either of you in a romantic or fond way, at least not to me. He speaks fondly of a woman named Lian when he discusses his future and his home. He has never spoken your names in the same vein."

'They are not even good looking or sexy enough to act as play things for my lord,' Shan thought to himself while evaluating their figures. He wisely chose to keep that specific thought buried in his mind though. He knew that no woman or man wanted to hear that they were not appealing. If he had spoken those words out loud, the sisters might have tried to attack him out of wounded pride even with the vast gap in their cultivation levels.

Seline and Alys shook their heads in defeat but did not mind it. It was at this time that they truly realized that the things with Elder Jin were truly just a misunderstanding. Li Yu had no desire for them in that sort of way and they had only come under his service because Seline had tried to kill him after he saved them both. It was at this point that the two really accepted their current life for what it was now. They accepted their new home location as well because there was nothing else they could do against a Heavenly Zenith expert who spoke with such authority.

A few days passed and the sisters adjusted to their new life in the new location. The Golden Horizon resources had paid for many new facilities including a large hot spring powered by restorative arrays. The water was infused with spirit herbs to heal injuries and ease the physical strain of intense cultivation.

Seline and Alys slipped into the steaming water late one evening to relax their sore muscles after a hard day of training. The soothing mist drifted over the glowing blue water and provided a comfortable layer of restoration. They leaned against the smooth stone edge and closed their eyes while the herbal properties soaked into their skin.

The door to the bathhouse opened and Li Yu walked inside wearing loose robes. He was looking for a place to relax his mind and gather his thoughts regarding his impending breakthrough. The sisters heard the footsteps and opened their eyes and froze in place as they realized who had just walked in. They were bathing without clothes and the mist was not enough to cover anything below.

Before Seline or Alys could even reach for anything to cover themselves or sink lower into the water, Li Yu walked right past them. He did not turn his head or even offer a greeting. He simply strolled past their section of the pool and headed straight toward his own reserved area behind a carved stone partition. He barely even registered their presence because he was too focused on his own thoughts at the moment.

Seline stared at the stone partition as her jaw dropped in disbelief. The encounter drove her crazy and sent her mind into a spiral of doubt. She began questioning her looks and her overall appeal as it seemed to completely fail her with Li Yu. Her beauty was something that had gotten her into a lot of trouble in the past and she had always cursed it but was internally proud of it as well.

‘Am I just not appealing anymore? Did my time fighting and training ruin my figure?’ Seline thought to herself in disbelief.

"Did he really just ignore us?" Seline asked while looking down at her reflection in the rippling water. "He did not even glance in our direction. Am I getting old and ugly?"

Alys sighed and scrubbed her arms with a soft cloth. "He has a lot on his mind, Seline. I heard he is trying to reach the Tribulation realm. People focus on power above all else and he is preparing for a life or death trial."

"Power is important but we are right here," Seline argued as she pushed her wet hair over her shoulder. "Shan told us we were not what Li Yu wanted and now this just further proves it. I need to figure out what is wrong with me."

Alys did not think much of the interaction since she was more practical but she still questioned her own appeal deep down. It was a heavy blow to their confidence to be treated like invisible statues when they have been treated as stunning trophies most of their lives. The sisters did not stay in the water for much longer though. They dressed quickly and headed back out to take on more clan tasks and become stronger.

Li Yu soaked in the reserved spring for an hour before returning to his dark wood pagoda. He continued to cultivate through the night and pondered what he was missing to take the next step. He felt he was ready to face the lightning but the heavens remained silent and ignored him.

Li Yu decided to visit the clan library the following morning to read a bit more about the Tribulation realm. The library was a towering structure filled with ancient scrolls and jade slips containing the collective knowledge of the Zhan Clan. Li Yu walked through the quiet aisles and read dozens of records detailing the breakthrough experiences of past elders.

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He read about the physical preparations and the mental fortitude required to survive the heavenly judgment. He found records discussing how the body and Qi must harmonize before the sky opens up to deliver the test. Li Yu found plenty of interesting history but he did not find any specific thing that pointed to what was stopping him from taking the final step. It seemed that he had everything he needed to make that step yet he didn’t.

He put the scrolls away and walked over to the desk near the entrance. An older elder with a long white beard sat behind the desk organizing a stack of returned jade slips. Li Yu wanted to be prepared for when the moment finally arrived so he asked the elder about the best place to undergo the breakthrough, the place his father told him the Zhan Clan had.

"Greetings elder," Li Yu said with a polite bow. "I am preparing to face my tribulation test soon. I hope so anyways. Are there specific areas within the clan grounds suited for such an event?"

The elder looked up and smiled kindly at the young man. "You are seeking one of our sacred grounds. There is a special place located to the far west of the headquarters. It is a sacred place where one of the ancient ancestors of the Zhan Clan did his tribulation advancement and it became the designated spot ever since then."

"What makes it so special?" Li Yu asked as he leaned against the wooden desk.

"That ancestor was a true master in lightning laws and later on heavenly lightning," the elder explained while stroking his beard. "He gained enlightenment regarding the heavens during his own breakthrough and later went back to that very spot to engrave complex formations and other techniques into the earth. Many of our current array masters still do not fully understand the depth of his work as it relies on a very high level of understanding of that particular law."

"Do the formations block the lightning?" Li Yu inquired.

"No one can block the heavens," the elder corrected him gently. "The formations do a few things but are difficult to explain. They do nothing at all and at the same time they do help. The fact that it is a great place to advance remained ironclad within the clan for countless generations. Some say it boosts the success rate by an amazing twenty percent or maybe even more depending on your affinity."

Li Yu thanked the elder for the valuable information and committed the location to his memory. Knowing where to go was half the battle and he felt a bit more secure having a designated destination to go when the time arrived.

Zhan Tian returned to the Five Star Lakes a few days later to check on his grandson as he had not seen him in a long time due to that training trip and his own duties. The Worldkeeper always did his best to make time for Li Yu and this time was no different. He arrived at the estate and spent the afternoon inspecting the new military camp as it wasn’t here last time he arrived..

Zhan Tian observed the aquatic warriors cultivating or training in the courtyards and saw the potential of the budding legion. Seeing what Li Yu was doing now made him think to help from the shadows. Zhan Tian decided that he too would plan to sneak in members into the legion that met the aquatic bloodline criteria, knowing about the Koi Sanctuary already.

He would not use his own personal soldiers because those were his own troops and most of them wouldn’t fit the criteria anyways. He would instead keep an eye out for good candidates during his travels and funnel them toward the Eternal Koi as wild encounters.

In order for this to work, the Worldkeeper eventually pulled Commander Shan aside for a private conversation near the edge of the forest for some words. Zhan Tian also wanted to ensure the man leading his grandson's army was truly capable of such a role. Li Yu didn’t know what the two did or what they talked about but he received Zhan Tian’s evaluation at the end and that was good enough.

"Barely passable for your cultivation realm but he has a good mind and the right skills for training and leading an army." Zhan Tian said to Li Yu about the man upon his return.

That was incredibly high praise indeed for Commander Shan. Zhan Tian rarely complimented anyone outside of his immediate family and telling someone they were barely passable was what he would say to anyone worthy enough to help his family so it was a stamp of approval from Li Yu’s loving grandpa.

Li Yu and Zhan Tian sat together on a small wooden dock stretching out into the calm waters of the Five Star Lakes later that afternoon. They held simple bamboo fishing poles, watched the colorful fish swim beneath the surface and were enjoying themselves in each other's company. The afternoon sun cast a warm golden glow over the water and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees. It was a rare moment of peace away from the constant struggle of cultivation.

"Your mother and father are doing well on the front lines," Zhan Tian said while keeping his eyes on his floating bobber. "The fighting is fierce but they hold their ground and are uninjured. They miss you very much, you know."

"I miss them too," Li Yu replied softly. "I hope to grow strong enough to join them soon so they do not have to shoulder the burden alone."

"You are doing exactly what you need to do," Zhan Tian assured him with a pat on the shoulder. "Building your foundation and establishing your own forces will serve you better than rushing into those kinds of war zones prematurely. Patience is a weapon, Li Yu. Learn to wield it well as you will need a lot of it and this is coming from a Zhan!" Zhan Tian chuckled towards the end.

Li Yu nodded and gripped the handle of his fishing pole hard nonetheless. He watched the water ripple as a silver fish darted toward his bait but he did not react to it at all. Li Yu tried to focus his mind on the simple act of waiting, relaxing and letting go of his lingering frustrations regarding his stagnant cultivation. This was a strange experience for Li Yu who normally was too relaxed, too carefree on the cultivation path but in recent times he had been pushing relentlessly. He stopped trying to force the breakthrough and simply allowed himself to exist in the present moment with his grandfather.

The bobber then dipped below the surface and Li Yu pulled the rod back as a sudden vibration echoed through his core. His soul suddenly aligned in harmony with his physical body as both sides erupted forward in progress. The stagnant Qi inside his body ignited like dry brush catching fire and the energy surged upward to his mind.

He felt something clicking over in his body, the missing piece of the puzzle suddenly and finally fell into place. Not through forceful meditation, cultivation or constant pressure but through a moment of quiet clarity that was sparked by his grandfather. Li Yu was standing right at the doorstep and was about to break through.

The sky above the Five Star Lakes instantly darkened as heavy clouds began to gather with unnatural speed. The air grew thick with static electricity and the calm water around the dock began to churn wildly. Zhan Tian dropped his fishing pole and stood up with a serious expression that Li Yu had never seen before. He sensed the heavenly energy locking onto his grandson and knew they had very little time to act.

"It is starting," Zhan Tian declared while grabbing Li Yu by the shoulder.

The Worldkeeper raised his free hand and literally tore the void open in front of them. The fabric of space ripped apart to reveal a swirling tunnel of chaotic energy. Zhan Tian did not hesitate and dragged Li Yu through the spatial tear to take him directly to the sacred spot in the west.

The spatial rift snapped shut just as a deafening crack of thunder echoed across the valley. Shan stood on the balcony of his command pavilion in the real world and noticed the sudden shift in the atmosphere as well. He looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and felt the familiar pull of a heavenly tribulation gathering in the distance. He tracked the energy signature of the spatial tear and immediately knew what was happening.

Tiff stood near the pavilion stairs and watched the dark clouds rolling across the horizon. "Is that the young lord breaking through?"

"Yes," Shan answered. "His time has finally come!"

Shan had been prepared to take Li Yu to the sacred grounds himself if the boy broke through while Zhan Tian was away. He had already researched the clan records and learned exactly where the spot was located ahead of time to ensure his lord would have the best possible advantage. He really was a careful commander in all matters.

"Come with me," Shan ordered as he stepped off the balcony.

He took Tiff by the arm and launched himself into the sky to head where Li Yu was going. He did not need to get there right away and the Worldkeeper was already with him. What everyone didn’t know was that this was going to be a monumental challenge for Li Yu that would alter the course of Li Yu’s life.