Li Yu returned to Crater's Edge well after the moon had claid the sky. The floating fortress was illuminated by pale glowing pearls and the natural luminescence of the Spirit-Jade. At night ti it looked like a spectral crown resting on the dark waters of the Lonely Crater Sea.
The main sector of the island was a hive of activity. Even at this late hour, the Golden Shell Guild never truly slept. Airships docked silently at the outer rings, offloading crates of rare materials from all over the continent and loading up goods from other areas.
Patrols of guards moved with disciplined precision all around the area. It was a kingdom in the making and was now the main headquarters of the Golden Shell Company. Li Yu was slowly starting to et the people that his followers had been hiring to run many of the core parts of the business. He was never introduced as the boss but simply as the Grand Elder’s disciple which still brought him imnse respect since he was the only known one to hold that title.
Li Yu, however, did not land at the main docks. He steered his flight toward the eastern secluded sector.
Here, separated from the bustle by a dense forest of transplanted Spirit-Bamboos and noise-dampening arrays, stood his private residence. It was a three-story pagoda made of black ironwood and white jade. It was perched on a jutting promontory that overlooked the endless dark water.
He landed softly on the balcony. The silence here was profound, broken only by the rhythmic lapping of the waves against the base of the floating island below.
He entered the pagoda and walked past the main hall and down into the ditation chamber. The room was sparse. A single mat, an incense burner that was currently cold and a large window that frad the night sky. Cyra had wanted to have more things here but due to his rage he wanted to keep it simple at the ti. Now he regretted that decision as the room was much too bare.
Li Yu sat down. He didn't imdiately begin to cycle his qi. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and centered himself. He had spent days helping others, fixing their beasts and nding their tragedies. Now, it was ti to tend to his own internal world.
He had been negligent. In his rage and then in his frenzied cultivation, he had treated his internal world like a furnace. It was sothing to shovel fuel into and demand heat from. He hadn’t visited his companions. He hadn’t spoken to them this entire ti.
With a thought, he shifted his consciousness inward, diving into the Koi Sanctuary.
The world shifted. The sll of incense was replaced by the scent of ancient water and life.
He stood on the surface of the water in his Sanctuary. It was as vast and calm as ever. The "sky" here was a soft nebulous twilight.
A massive ripple disturbed the water and a golden-red head the size of a house broke the surface. His Koi Martial Spirit.
It didn’t roar. It didn’t splash playfully as it used to before. It simply floated there, its large intelligent eyes watching him. Its scales shimred with a light that seed dimr than usual, reflecting Li Yu’s own emotional state over the past few months.
Li Yu walked across the water until he was standing right in front of its snout. He reached out and placed his hand on the cold and wet scales.
"I'm sorry," Li Yu whispered. "I shut you out."
The Koi let out a low, vibrating hum that resonated in Li Yu’s chest. It wasn't a sound of accusation but of acknowledgnt. It knew. It was him and he was it. It had felt the rage, the grief and the cold suffocating drive for vengeance just as acutely as he had.
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"We lost them, buddy," Li Yu said, his voice cracking slightly in the safety of his own soul.
He spent the next hour just talking. He recounted the events, not because the Koi didn’t know, but because he needed to say the words to sothing that was truly a part of him. He spoke of his fear, his regret and the newfound clarity he had found in Goldflow City.
The Koi listened, its fins gently moving the water, keeping him steady. As he spoke, the dimness on its scales began to fade. It was replaced by a warm steady glow. It was the glow of reconnection and sothing much greater.
After finding peace with his Martial Spirit, Li Yu moved deeper. He shifted his presence to a different area of his sanctuary that was now sealed away by the Void. He knew who had done it, it was clearly the work of Khaos. He approached it and a small hole automatically opened up for him to co through.
The atmosphere here was different. It was heavy pressing and absolutely silent. There wasn’t a single sound that could be heard at all. Li Yu could hear the sound of his heartbeat which made the area seem even more eerie. The water here was sohow darker, absorbing light rather than reflecting it.
Floating in the center of this “Void Cage” was none other than Khaos in his full crab form. He looked and felt slightly different but Li Yu couldn’t tell what had changed.
"So," a voice echoed throughout the area. "The boy finally returns from his tantrum."
Li Yu stood before him. "Hello, Khaos." Not even paying attention to his remakes. He understood Khaos well now. Just his gesture of staying with him when he was on his hands and knees proved everything that was needed for Li Yu. This was soone who truly cared about him.
"You look terrible," Khaos observed. Two pinpricks of light ford in the darkness, acting as eyes. "Weak. Sentintal."
"I am grieving," Li Yu said, his voice steady. "I lost people I loved."
"And?" Khaos retorted. "Does weeping bring them back? Does starving yourself reassemble their corpses?"
Li Yu frowned. "No. But it honors their mory in a way..."
"mory is a ghost," Khaos scoffed. "Power is reality. You have spent all this ti wallowing. Wasting ti that could have been used to get stronger."
"I ca to thank you," Li Yu interrupted, ignoring the remakes once again. "During that ti… the comfort that your palm bought
was indescribable. Thank you!... truly."
"Think nothing of it," Khaos grumbled. "I am not sure why I was there either…."
"Still," Li Yu said. "Thank you."
Khaos remained silent for a long mont. Then, the voice ca again, lower this ti. "Listen to , boy. Grief... pain... loss... humans call these weaknesses. They try to bury them. You tried to bury them."
Li Yu nodded.
"Fools," Khaos spat. "Pain is fuel. Rage is a weapon. Grief is the anchor that keeps you from drifting away when you ascend to heights where others cannot breathe. Do not discard them. Do not 'heal' from them if healing ans forgetting. Use them. Forge them. Only with power can you rewrite the ending. Only with power can you ensure nothing is ever taken from you again."
Li Yu blinked, quite surprised by his comnts. The advice strangely resonated with what he had realized in the city. He didn't want to be a shadow but he couldn't pretend the darkness didn't exist. He had to use it.
"I will," Li Yu said, a small smile touching his lips. "Thank you, Khaos."
"Now stop wasting ti, go and beco stronger. It won’t happen with you staying and talking to ."
Li Yu turned to leave but his eyes caught sothing floating a distance away from Khaos. It was the Lotus Seed. Last ti he saw it, Khaos had trapped it in a small void cage because it kept trying to stick to him.
It had grown. It was almost triple the size it once was, making it massive. And it was no longer in the separate containnt field. It was let out but it kept a respectable distance away from Khaos now.
"You let it out?" Li Yu asked, looking at the cage.
"It was annoying," Khaos muttered. "It kept vibrating against the walls. Besides... it is quiet now and it knows its place. I tolerate it."
Li Yu looked closer at the seed. Running through it were distinct pulsating veins of pitch black which must be Void Energy. The seed was feeding on the ambient energy leaking from Khaos and the energy from the Koi Sanctuary. Instead of withering, it was adapting. It was evolving. It floated gently in the dark water. It was drifting closer to Khaos and then away like a silent satellite orbiting a black star.
"It suits you," Li Yu noted.
"Get out," Khaos growled but he closed his eyes and went back to doing whatever he was doing. Li Yu gave him one last look and gave him a 90 degree bow out of respect and thankfulness for what Khaos had done for him.
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