Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 903: The Premium Courtyard and the New Recruits

Lei Gang led the group away from the main thoroughfare of the training camp. The abrasive wind died down slightly as they walked deeper into the instructor sector. The architecture here was slightly more refined than the rough stone barracks they had flown over earlier. They eventually stopped in front of a wide wooden gate bound in dark iron.The chief instructor pushed the heavy gates open and gestured for Li Yu to enter.

Li Yu stepped inside and was genuinely surprised. The courtyard was massive and beautifully maintained. It featured a smooth stone training floor, a small meditation pavilion and a clear spring of spiritual water bubbling from a carved stone basin.

The ambient Qi gathering arrays woven into the high walls were incredibly dense and provided a comfortable buffer against the harsh environment outside. It was easily the best looking and most expansive living space he had seen since arriving in this realm.

"This is your assigned quarter." Lei Gang grumbled while crossing his thick arms.

Li Yu looked at the mountain of a man. "Is this the standard accommodation for new recruits?"

"It is the accommodation available today." Lei Gang lied smoothly while keeping his face a mask of stone.

In truth Lei Gang had agonized over where to place the boy since he had been told of his job. He wanted to throw Li Yu into the communal barracks with the other five hundred recruits to build character and maintain camp discipline. But every time he considered it, the terrifying threat of Zhan Tielan echoed in his mind.

If the boy suffered unnecessarily or lacked anything, Lei Gang would pay the price in blood. His fear of the fierce commander had thoroughly overridden his military discipline so he decided to simply give Li Yu the premium courtyard usually reserved for visiting elders.

"Make yourselves at home." Lei Gang said while glaring at the seven Eidolon experts.

The Eidolons did not waste any time. Winter stepped forward and produced a small multifaceted crystal from his dark armor. He channeled a brief surge of soul Qi into the artifact and tossed it toward the far corner of the expansive courtyard. The crystal shattered into a cloud of pale mist that quickly solidified into a modest but sturdy stone pavilion. It was a portable spatial dwelling.

"We will set up our quarters here." Fenric stated from behind his black glass mask. "We will stay out of your way and we will not cause trouble."

The two Core Wardens immediately assumed their positions near the entrance of Li Yu's main living quarters and fell into the roles of silent bodyguards. The five stealth protectors exchanged weary glances. They were normally the powerful guardians of talents of a mighty empire but they quickly realized they were essentially going to act as maids and servants for the duration of this assignment.

Li Yu nodded in satisfaction, the arrangement was tidy. He reached into his inner world and decided it was time to bring his other captive out into the open.

A flash of light deposited Gart onto the smooth stone training floor.

The abrasive captive had spent a time locked away in the Koi Sanctuary. Gart materialized with a scowl already plastered across his face. He was short tempered, defiant and he had spent his time in the Koi Sanctuary planning a long list of insults to hurl at Li Yu the moment he saw the outside world again.

"It is about time you let me out you little..." Gart started to shout while balling his fists.

His voice died in his throat instantly.

Gart blinked and looked around the courtyard. His eyes landed on the towering figure of Lei Gang. The chief instructor radiated a physical density that made the air feel like solid iron. Gart then turned his head and saw Fenric and Oram standing by the doors. He saw Winter, Autumn, Spring, Solstice and Summer organizing the spatial pavilion in the corner.

The bad attitude evaporated like water on hot coals. Gart realized with clarity that every single person in this courtyard was vastly stronger than him. Even the people who looked like they were setting up furniture possessed cultivation bases that could crush him.

Gart snapped his mouth shut and a heavy silence replaced his usual defiance. He looked at Li Yu standing calmly in the center of the gathering of predators and wondered exactly who the hell his master really was.

"Everyone earns their own keep in this camp." Lei Gang announced while breaking the silence and not even playing attention to the newly arrived Gart. He pointed a massive finger at the Eidolons and Gart.

"We do not have idle people here. The military does not feed outsiders for free. If you want resources and daily items, you will hunt the beasts in the surrounding desolate zones and turn them in for camp merits. Or you can take on tasks posted on the boards for the same thing. At most one person can stay behind in the courtyard with the recruit in case he needs something. The rest of you will work."

There were absolutely no arguments as Lei Gang was the strongest one here.

Gart nodded so fast his neck cracked while the five shadow experts simply sighed internally. They lamented the strange twist of fate that had brought them from the heights of the Eidolon Court to hunting beasts in a barren wasteland, even if the beasts were powerful. Fenric and Oram could only shake their heads.

‘At least they can cultivate in relative peace and have resources to do so.’ They thought to themselves.

"Follow me." Lei Gang instructed Li Yu. "I will show you the layout."

Li Yu left his retainers to organize the courtyard and followed the chief instructor back out into the dusty winds.

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Lei Gang spent the next hour giving Li Yu a rapid tour of the facility. He pointed out the massive mess hall where the recruits gathered for meals. He showed him the instructor quarters and the armory. Most importantly, he led him past the different training spots.

"Almost everything here is done as a group." Lei Gang explained as they walked along the perimeter wall. "The instructors lead the daily sessions. You just need to report to the central gathering point every morning and the training will begin."

"Understood." Li Yu said as he observed a group of recruits walking by.

"You are coming in at a strange time." Lei Gang warned him while keeping his voice low. "The others have been here for a while. You can slowly get to know them and become friends with them or not. It does not matter to me. What does matter is your performance. If the instructors do not see you being worthy or fit to endure the regime, you will be kicked out of the camp."

Lei Gang turned and walked away after delivering the warning. He left Li Yu to find his own way back to his quarters.

As the massive instructor walked through the dusty camp he rubbed his scarred chin. He was thinking internally about the terrifying trap he was walking into. What would he do if Li Yu failed the tests?

It was not something he could hide from the other instructors or the camp records. Should he cheat the scores? He realized with a sinking feeling that he had forgotten to ask Tielan the most important question. Was he supposed to prepare Li Yu and test him to see if he could join her personal army or was he just supposed to train him until he was tired? He genuinely was not sure.

"Well, let us see what the kid has got." Lei Gang muttered to himself. He went toward his own quarters rubbing his head because he had a massive headache dealing with this whole situation.

While Li Yu familiarized himself with the camp layout, the news of his arrival was already spreading like wildfire through the recruit population.

The massive mess hall was crowded with over five hundred young cultivators taking their evening meal. The room was loud with the clatter of bowls and the energetic chatter of warriors recovering from a brutal day of physical tempering. But the primary topic of conversation centered entirely around the newcomer.

At a long wooden table near the center of the hall, a woman slammed her heavy clay cup down with a sharp crack.

Vennia was furious. She was the top ranked female recruit hailing from a powerful vassal clan. She had fought tooth and nail through the initial culling phases to secure her position at the top of the merit boards. She was fiercely competitive and believed that strength and hard work should be rewarded above all else.

"It is an insult." Vennia stated sharply while her dark eyes glared at the table. "I requested access to the premium instructor courtyard three separate times. I earned the merits and I have the rank. Instructor Lei Gang rejected my request every single time saying the courtyard was reserved for visiting elders. Now some random late arrival simply walks into the camp and is handed the keys on his first day?"

"Perhaps he is a visiting elder." A lazy voice called out from the end of the table.

Zhou Fan was leaning back on the wooden bench with his eyes half closed. He was a male recruit from another vassal clan but he possessed absolutely none of Vennia's burning ambition. He was a slacker who did the bare minimum required to pass the daily training and preferred sleeping over training.

"He is not an elder." Vennia snapped back. "My scouts saw him. He is really young. He is just some pampered noble who pulled strings to bypass the rules."

"It does not matter." A deep voice rumbled from the adjacent table.

Zhan Mingyu did not look up from his meal. He was a heavily muscled young man from the main Zhan Clan. He carried an aura of arrogant superiority that kept the vassal clan recruits at a respectful distance.

He was not here to join the personal army. He was a promising talent of the main family and was simply utilizing the camp because it offered some of the best training available to their forces.

"Rules are bent for those with the right bloodline and those with strength." Zhan Mingyu said dismissively. "If he is a pampered noble, he will break under the training within three days. The arrays do not care who your father or mother is. They will crush him regardless. There is no need to cry about a courtyard."

Vennia ground her teeth but did not argue with a member of the main clan. Even with her top rank, almost everyone would value Zhan Mingyu’s words over hers and she knew that. That was the reality of the cosmos.

Sitting across from Zhan Mingyu was a large woman who was methodically devouring a mountain of roasted beast meat. Zhu Dawa was a heavyweight female recruit. She possessed a thick and fat frame that caused many outsiders to underestimate her.

But those within the camp knew better. Beneath her heavy appearance was an explosive and terrifying physical strength. She was a brawler who had shattered several powerful training dummies with her bare hands.

"I do not care about the courtyard." Zhu Dawa mumbled through a mouthful of meat. "I just want to see if he is strong. We need fresh sparring partners. The rest of you are getting boring."

"We should not judge him before we see him." A calm and earnest voice added.

Chen Kaito was sitting quietly and wiping down his arm guards with a clean cloth. He was a hardworking and standard young man from a vassal clan. He lacked the explosive talent of Zhu Dawa or the arrogant pedigree of Zhan Mingyu but he made up for it with relentless determination. He was the voice of reason among the chaotic personalities of the top recruits.

"Coming in late means he missed the foundational conditioning." Chen Kaito pointed out logically. "He will be at a severe disadvantage tomorrow morning. If he is just a pampered noble, he will drop out. If he stays then he deserves to be here. Just remember that if he was able to get such treatment, he should be someone of importance so watch yourselves."

"I hope he drops out fast." Zhou Fan muttered while shifting his position on the hard bench. "All this gossip is giving me a headache. It is just more work to care about a new guy."

Vennia scowled at the slacker but her mind remained fixed on the injustice of the premium courtyard. She made a silent vow to challenge the newcomer during the physical drills. She intended to prove that merit and hard work were vastly superior to whatever political connections he possessed.

The mess hall continued to buzz with rumors and speculation regarding the mysterious late arrival. The five hundred recruits had formed a tight knit hierarchy forged in pain. The sudden introduction of an outsider who received blatant preferential treatment was a disruption to their established order.

The twilight of the desolate realm deepened into true night as the abrasive wind howled outside the high stone walls.

Li Yu finished his solitary walk around the camp and returned to his premium courtyard. He pushed the heavy iron bound gates open and stepped inside. The space was quiet and secure.

He noticed that Fenric was standing guard near the meditation pavilion while the rest of the Eidolon experts were resting inside their spatial dwelling. Gart was nowhere to be seen.

Li Yu walked into his main living quarters and sat down on the simple wooden bed. He closed his eyes and began to circulate his Qi. He did not care about the politics of the camp or the opinions of the other recruits.

He was here for a single purpose. He needed to push his physical vessel to the absolute limit and get proper guidance. Li Yu steadied his breathing and allowed his mind to settle. The morning would arrive quickly and he was ready to step into the training to see exactly what this training camp had to offer.