The first three days of the caravan’s journey across the volcanic ridges were remarkably peaceful. Despite the caravan master’s earlier complaints about desperate vagrants and increased bandit activity, they encountered absolutely no resistance on the dark ironstone highways.
This was, of course, entirely due to the fact that they were still traveling well within Sovereign Ignis’s territory. The oppressive enforcent of the Ash Guards ensured that the roads remained impeccably safe. Any bandit foolish enough to ply their trade here usually ended up as a permanent, charred fixture on the side of the road.
By the afternoon of the fourth day, the caravan arrived at their first destination: the rchant town of Cinder Hollow.
Li Yu looked out from the rear flank of the caravan and was impressed by the architectural audacity of the realm. Cinder Hollow wasn't built on top of the volcanic plains; it was built directly into the colossal, petrified ribcage of an ancient magma beast. The massive, arcing bones served as natural walls and created a do like enclosure. Glowing, heat-resistant moss clung to the petrified marrow and was casting the bustling town in a vibrant, bioluminescent green light that contrasted beautifully against the omnipresent orange glow of the region.
As soon as the heavy wagons rolled into the town square, the rchant group sprang into organized action. Lana, moving with the practiced efficiency of a seasoned leader, imdiately began directing her workers to unload specific crates while negotiating with the local guild representatives.
With the cargo safely inside the town's arrays, the caravan guards were officially off duty for the evening. Li Yu and Malos wasted no ti finding a comfortable inn carved directly into the base of one of the colossal ribs. The establishnt was loud and filled with the boisterous laughter of miners and passing rchants. It slled strongly of roasted ats and spiced ale.
They secured a table in the corner, far away from the loudest patrons. Malos ordered a pitcher of the local specialty. A dark, foaming ale brewed with ember wheat and took a long, satisfied drink.
"Ah, the taste of working-class ale!" Malos sighed happily and was wiping a bit of foam from his chin. "You simply cannot find a brew with this kind of character in the palaces, Li Yu. They over refine everything until the soul is completely washed out of it."
Li Yu took a sip of his own cup. It was surprisingly good. It carries a smoky and robust flavor that warms the chest without burning the throat. He set the cup down and looked across the table at the ancient Demon Lord.
"You seem incredibly happy, Malos," Li Yu observed quietly.
"I am," Malos smiled while leaning back against the rough stone wall. His black eyes drifted toward the inn's window and was looking out into the bustling green lit streets where his daughter was currently finalizing a trade contract. "I am happier today than I have been in a very, very long ti."
Li Yu hesitated for a mont and was swirling the dark ale in his cup. "I don't an to pry, but... you have the resources of a Sovereign. You could have brought her back. You could have given her an empire to run. Yet you let her wander out here with a Core Formation cultivation base and a handful of guards. She was probably much weaker than that when she left ho as well."
Malos didn't look offended. His cheerful deanor softened into sothing deeply reflective.
"I could give her the world, Li Yu," Malos said with his voice barely rising above the din of the tavern. "I could pave her roads in gold and station an army of experts at her flanks. But that is exactly what she ran away from. She didn't want my safety. She wanted her autonomy. I respected her choice. If she ever did want those things, I would summon them right away for her.."
Malos looked back at Li Yu and his expression carried the heavy weight of a few centuries. "When you know the outco of every choice your child is going to make before they even formulate the thought, it strips them of their agency. My foresight was a cage for both them and . Leaving
was the only way she could truly live. So, I let her go. I destroyed the strings of fate that tied her to
so my enemies couldn't find her using those kinds of thods and I forced myself to stop looking at her future."
"That must have been difficult," Li Yu noted.
"It was agonizing," Malos admitted in a rare vulnerable mont. "But seeing her now? Seeing the way she commands her crew. The way she negotiates. The life she has built entirely on her own rits? It makes every mont of that agony worthwhile. She is thriving, Li Yu. And I am simply grateful that fate allowed
to witness it."
Li Yu nodded slowly and only sowhat understood the restraint it took for a being of absolute power to step back and let his child stumble, learn and grow. He didn't press the issue any further. Malos had shared enough and Li Yu respected the boundaries of his friend's past.
After finishing their al, Malos declared his intention to find a local rchant who sold "authentically cursed" trinkets and left Li Yu to his own devices.
Li Yu decided to wander the markets of Cinder Hollow to restock his own spatial ring. While he didn't strictly need to eat thanks to his high cultivation, he enjoyed the simple joys of a well cooked al. He navigated the crowded stalls and was searching for rare spices and unique ingredients.
He was currently inspecting a basket of rare 'Ash-Truffles.’ A fungi that only grew in the cooled tracks of magma flows, when a familiar voice spoke up beside him.
"You want to pair those with a sweet binder, not a savory one," Lana advised as she was stepping up to the stall. She had shed her heavy traveling coat for a lighter tunic and was looking significantly more relaxed now that the day's business was concluded. "The ash truffle has a naturally bitter, tallic profile. If you use a savory broth, it will taste like you're chewing on a rusty sword."
Li Yu looked at her and was pleasantly surprised. "You cook?"
"I am a rchant who spends most of her life on the road," Lana smiled as she was picking up one of the truffles and inspecting it with a practiced eye. "If I relied entirely on the dried rations my guards eat, I would have lost my mind years ago. I pride myself on knowing my ingredients. It seems you do, too."
"I try," Li Yu chuckled while handing the stall owner a few spirit stones to purchase the basket. "I find that cooking is a good way to stay grounded. It requires focus but the imdiate reward is always satisfying."
Lana nodded in agreent and was now walking alongside him as they moved away from the stall. The initial suspicion she had held toward Li Yu had already vanished from their days on the road and was replaced by a comfortable and easy camaraderie.
"You know," Lana said as she was glancing at him sideways. "I was incredibly wary of you when you first stepped out of that caravan. My father doesn't do 'friends'. He does alliances. He does contracts. To see him traveling with soone without an ulterior motive... you must be quite a special person, Li Yu."
"I assure you, I am incredibly ordinary," Li Yu lied smoothly. "I just happened to be walking in the sa direction he was. We enjoy the sa terrible jokes and the sa roadside food. It’s nothing special."
Lana laughed at his words. It was a bright sound that echoed nicely. "Ordinary or not, you make him happy. He smiles differently around you. Less like a Demon Lord and more like a normal person. For that alone, you have my thanks."
"He's a good traveling companion," Li Yu replied and was offering a smile. "Even if he does try to pay for our als with painted rocks."
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They spent the next hour walking through the market, discussing flavor profiles, the best cuts of various beasts and the ideal temperature for brewing different teas. It was an incredibly pleasant evening and completely devoid of the suffocating politics of the capital.
The next morning, the caravan rolled out of Cinder Hollow. Their wagons were restocked and their cargo secured. The destination was the next outer ring city, a journey that would take them deeper into the more desolate and less patrolled regions of the volcanic ridges.
It was during the second day of this leg of the journey that Li Yu discovered exactly how Lana’s rchant group maintained such high profit margins. She wasn't just trading goods; she was manufacturing them.
The roof of Lana's heavy lead carriage opened up and revealed a highly modified, open air platform. Secured to the center of the platform was an intricately carved, bronze alchemy cauldron that humd with a concentrated array.
Lana stood before the cauldron with her sleeves rolled up and her amber eyes completely focused. She tossed handfuls of the raw herbs they had purchased in Cinder Hollow into the bronze vessel. Her hands moved in rapid, precise seals and was channeling her Core Formation Qi into the array beneath the cauldron.
She wasn't using the wild, explosive flas typical of Ignis’s territory. Her fire was a deep, controlled crimson. It was burning with a steady and relentless consistency that perfectly extracted the dicinal properties of the herbs without scorching them.
Li Yu and Malos were riding on top of the wagon directly behind her which gave them a perfect view of the process.
"She's refining Sun Drop Pills," Malos whispered to Li Yu. His voice filled with an overwhelming pride that was hard to hide. He was leaning forward and his black eyes were tracking every single movent his daughter made. "A highly sought after restorative pill in these harsh environnts. It requires absolute temperature control to prevent the volatile herbs from detonating."
Li Yu watched Lana's technique even though he didn’t quite understand them. "She's very skilled. Her foundation is incredibly solid."
"I know," Malos smiled as a single, joyful tear ford in the corner of his eye. He quickly blinked it away before anyone noticed. "This is the first ti I have ever seen her refine a pill. She learned the craft entirely after she left ho. Every seal she forms, every technique she utilizes... it is entirely her own. I had no hand in this."
It was a profound mont for the father. He was watching his child demonstrate a mastery that existed completely outside of his omniscient shadow. But the chaotic realms rarely allowed peaceful monts to last.
The air around the caravan didn't shift; it simply shattered.
There was no warning cry from the vanguard and no visual distortion on the horizon. A massive and complex spatial array, hidden perfectly beneath the dark ironstone of the road, suddenly detonated.
The resulting shockwave of compressed Qi flipped the two lead wagons entirely off the road and was sending crates of valuable cargo smashing into the rocky terrain. The Ash Rhinos bellowed in panic and were stamping their massive feet as the suffocating pressure from the ambush washed over the caravan. From the shifting dust and the spatial tear in the center of the road, five figures erged.
They wore form fitting armor crafted from light absorbing dark tal. Their faces hidden behind featureless and mirrored masks. They didn't move like bandits or desperate vagrants. They moved with the silent, terrifying synchronization of elite, highly trained killers.
Li Yu instantly dropped his relaxed posture as his staff appeared in his hand. He leaped from the wagon and landed lightly on the dark stone road.
Four of the assassins radiated auras at the peak of the Soul Formation realm and were bordering on early Divine Transformation. But it was the fifth figure, the leader who floated out of the spatial tear last, that made Li Yu’s blood run cold.
The leader didn't even draw a weapon. He simply released his aura.
It was crushing and overwhelming. The pressure that transcended the physical realm and pressing directly against the souls of everyone present. It was the unmistakable and terrifying weight of a Soul Transformation expert.
The regular caravan guards, who were mostly at the Foundation Establishnt and Core Formation realms, didn't even have a chance to draw their weapons. The sheer spiritual gravity of the leader's aura hit them like a physical hamr. It instantly dropped them to their knees. Several of them passed out on the spot and were foaming at the mouth from the spiritual backlash.
Lana, standing on the alchemy platform of her carriage, gritted her teeth and her amber eyes were wide with shock. She desperately flared her aura to remain standing under the oppressive weight but she was completely immobilized. It still showed how strong her soul actually was though, even if she had not been to Soul Formation yet.
‘I can't fight that person.’ Li Yu realized instantly. Even though the soul pressure from the man was completely ineffective against him, Li Yu saw through his strength. While he can take on the soul pressure, the leader’s actual Qi and most likely his physical strength was not sothing Li Yu could content with.
The masked leader raised a hand and was pointing a single, deadly finger directly at Lana.
"The target is the rchant," the leader commanded but his voice a distorted, tallic rasp. "Eliminate her. Leave no survivors."
The four subordinate assassins blurred into motion. They each drew sleek, poisoned short swords as they shot forward like dark arrows. Before the leader could channel his lethal Qi, the air beside him rippled.
Malos didn't use a flashy technique. He didn't boom a theatrical response or have any playfulness in his actions. The cheerful rchant persona was instantly replaced by the terrifying void of the Lord of Foresight.
Malos simply appeared directly in front of the Soul Transformation leader.
The assassin leader recoiled as his mirrored mask tilted up in sudden and absolute terror as his spiritual senses registered the unfathomable depth of the being standing before him. He tried to retreat. He tried to detach his soul from his physical body to escape.
Malos raised a single hand and casually flicked his wrist.
The space around the leader instantly solidified and locked both his physical body and his ethereal soul into a stasis. The terrifying Soul Transformation expert was rendered as harmless and immobile as a statue in the blink of an eye.
"Li Yu," Malos said with his voice cold and flat. He never took his eyes off the frozen leader. "Handle the trash."
"Understood." Li Yu replied.
Li Yu didn't bother suppressing his aura anymore. The second level Divine Transformation power roared to life as a heavy and crushing ocean of Qi flooded his ridians. The four assassins, upon realizing their leader was instantly defeated, didn't flee. Their discipline was surprising. They redirected their killing intent toward the imdiate threat: Li Yu.
They attacked in perfect unison from four different angles with their poisoned blades aid at Li Yu’s vital points. Li Yu spun his staff and his movents were fluid and brutally efficient.
CLANG! CLANG!
He parried the first two strikes with bone jarring force. The sheer kinetic impact of Li Yu’s block shattered the dark tal of the assassins' short swords and sent the masked killers stumbling backward with broken wrists.
The third assassin tried to slip past Li Yu’s guard and was aiming a dagger directly at his kidney. Li Yu shifted his weight and allowed the blade to strike his side. The poisoned tal sparked against his skin and completely failed to pierce the durability of his Leviathan Physique.
Li Yu grabbed the third assassin by the throat and hoisted him off the ground. He then violently slamd him down onto the ironstone road and crushed his head instantly. The final assassin, realizing close combat was suicidal, leaped back and tried channeling all of his Soul Formation Qi into a concentrated blade of dark energy.
Li Yu didn't pursue him. He planted his staff into the ground and raised his right hand.
Abyssal Javelin. It was denser and deadlier than ever. Li Yu hurled the construct forward.
The crushing spear of Qi crossed the distance in an instant. It didn’t move, it disappeared and appeared where it needed to go. It didn't just pierce the assassin's dark energy blade; it completely obliterated it. The Abyssal Javelin struck the assassin squarely in the chest and the kinetic mass of the attack instantly turned his upper body into a fine red mist before even that disappeared into nothingness.
Within seconds of the ambush beginning, all four subordinate assassins were dead and their bodies broken on the dark stone road. Li Yu exhaled slowly and retracted his aura. He pulled his staff back from the ground. He looked around to ensure the periter was clear and then turned his attention back to the center of the road.
Malos was still standing casually in front of the frozen Soul Transformation leader. The ancient Demon Lord seed to be staring into his very soul.
Lana, still standing on her alchemy platform, was gripping the edge of the bronze cauldron. Her knuckles were white. She looked at the dead assassins, then at Li Yu and her amber eyes wide with a mixture of shock and realization. The "ordinary" friend her father traveled with had just slaughtered four peak Soul Formation with the casual ease of a man swatting flies.
"Well," Malos said while breaking the heavy silence as he turned to look back at them. The Demon Lord's black eyes narrowed and was stripped of any warmth. "It seems soone has made a very, very bad miscalculation."
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