For the next three days, the rchant caravan remained firmly anchored in the industrial tropolis of Ember Fall. While the burly caravan master, Vane, oversaw the restocking of supplies and the negotiation of new trade contracts, the family was finally given the space to simply exist together.
It was a quiet period of reconnection. The suffocating weight of the Sovereign’s omniscient shadow was gone and was replaced by the stumbling warmth of a father getting to know the people his children had beco.
On the morning of the fourth day, Li Yu stepped into the stifling heat of The Second Strike forge. The massive open air workshop was relatively quiet and the assistant smiths had been given the morning off.
At the center of the room, Tuwark stood before his massive star tal anvil. He wasn't hamring. He was simply staring down at a raw and incredibly pure ingot of deep ground iron. His broad shoulders were tense and his usually open and friendly face was marred by a deep, conflicted frown.
"If you stare at the tal any harder, you might lt it without the furnace," Li Yu noted casually with a smile while stepping into the workspace. Tuwark jumped slightly and was pulled from his deep thoughts. He looked up, offering Li Yu a sowhat strained smile. "Li Yu. Good morning. I was just... contemplating a project."
Li Yu walked over and was looking down at the high grade ingot. "A project for your father perhaps?"
Tuwark sighed heavily as he was leaning his massive hands against the edge of the anvil. "Is it that obvious?"
"You have been casting nervous glances at the weapons rack every ti Malos walks into the room," Li Yu pointed out. The two had grown closer together in these short few days. They weren’t close friends or anything but they had grown closer. "It is entirely natural to want to gift him sothing you made. You are a blacksmith. It is how you express yourself. I would want to do the sa." ‘If I could…’ Like finished the thought quietly in his head.
"But that's exactly the problem," Tuwark groaned. He ran a soot stained hand through his hair. "He is the Lord of Foresight. He is a Demon Lord. I have seen the armory he had from when he was before a Demon Lord, Li Yu. He possesses weapons and armor that I could only hope to craft right now. I am a Soul Formation smith working in an outer ring city. Even if I craft the absolute greatest sword of my entire life, it will still be a child's toy compared to the supre artifacts he already owns. It feels almost insulting to offer it to him. I don’t want him to laugh at my skills."
Li Yu listened quietly as Tuwark talked. He understood the man’s hesitation. The sheer disparity in cultivation and resources made any material gift objectively useless to a Sovereign. Anything that he could make would be easily dwarfed in terms of quality and materials to Malos’s finest treasures.
But Li Yu also understood Malos. It was strange to think about or say but Li Yu had gotten to know Malos quite well. Of course his darkest secrets weren't known to Li Yu but Li Yu liked to think that he Malos better than most. More importantly, he viewed the situation from his own father’s eyes.
"Tuwark," Li Yu said to the man, his voice was calm and grounding. "Do you think your father traveled across the volcanic ridges, disguised himself as a common caravan guard and sat in a tent arguing over tariff prices because he was looking for supre artifacts? He valued painted river rocks over powerful treasures as well."
Tuwark was a bit confused at first and was looking at Li Yu. "Well... no."
"He wants his family." Li Yu stated firmly. "A Demon Lord asures a weapon by its lethal efficiency. A father asures a gift by the hands that made it. He doesn't want the strongest blade to slay his enemies. He wants a sword made by his son. If you craft it, I guarantee you he will cherish it more than any divine treasure in his vaults. Do it. You will see."
Tuwark looked down at the ingot of deep earth iron. The conflicted frown slowly vanished and was replaced by the determined focus that made him the second best blacksmith in Ember Fall. He took a deep breath and nodded.
"You are right," Tuwark said with a bright and earnest smile breaking across his face. He had forgotten in his worry to craft the greatest thing his father owned that he missed that whatever he crafted would be the greatest. "Thank you, Li Yu."
An hour later, the atmosphere in the forge had completely shifted. Malos had been invited inside and the ancient Demon Lord was currently sitting on a wooden stool near the edge of the workspace. He was completely transfixed.
Tuwark stood before the roaring furnace with his leather apron tied tight. He wasn't just working the tal; he was pouring his very soul into it. The most he had ever done in his entire life. His Soul Formation Qi flared with a steady, rhythmic intensity.
It was synchronizing perfectly with the heavy, ringing strikes of his hamr. He folded the deep earth iron and was infusing it with his own elental affinities. He was tempering the blade in spiritual waters and striking it again and again until the impurities were completely driven out.
Li Yu stood near the entrance and was also watching the process. He didn’t understand the actual skill involved since he wasn’t a blacksmith himself but watching a master of one’s craft was always an eye opening experience. It was a masterful display of forging. The sword taking shape was objectively excellent. A weapon that was bordering on a masterpiece even for soone in the Divine Transformation realm. It was a show of his skill that he could do so at the Soul Formation stage in cultivation.
But Li Yu wasn't just watching the sword. He was also watching Malos.
The Lord of Foresight, a being who routinely navigated the rise and fall of empires with a cheerful, detached amusent, was completely silent. His black eyes tracked every single swing of his son's hamr. As Tuwark perford the final, delicate strikes to shape the edge of the blade, Malos’s breath hitched.
A single tear slipped down the ancient Demon Lord’s cheek and was cutting a clean path down his face. He didn't bother wiping it away. He simply sat there silently with overwhelming and absolute pride in his son.
With a final hiss of steam, Tuwark pulled the finished blade from the cooling trough. It was a beautiful longsword. The dark tal rippled with a subtle and earthy luminescence. He quickly fitted it with a simple but sturdy hilt of carved bone. All the materials used were the best that he could get his own hands on.
Tuwark walked over to his father as he was holding the sword out with both hands. He looked nervous and was suddenly hyper aware of his own limitations.
"It... it isn't a Sovereign artifact, Father," Tuwark said humbly but his voice was thick with emotion. "It is not the level I know you are probably used to using. But it is the very best sword I have ever made. I poured everything I had into it. For you."
Malos stood up slowly. His hands were actually trembling as he reached out and took the sword from his son. He didn't inspect the edge for flaws. He didn't test its Qi conductivity. He pulled the blade against his chest and was holding it like a fragile and priceless treasure.
"It is perfect," Malos whispered as he finally was inspecting it. His voice was trembling as well. He then looked at his son and his black eyes were shining with unshed tears. "It is the most magnificent weapon in the entire realm, my boy. No blade in my armory could ever compare to this. I will never use another weapon again."
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Before Tuwark could respond, Malos reached into his own robes and pulled out a small, intricately carved black pendant strung on a cord of woven silver.
"A father must also provide," Malos said with his cheerful smile returning as he stepped forward and carefully tied the necklace around Tuwark’s thick neck. "A simple charm, to keep you grounded in the heat of the forge."
Tuwark touched the pendant and was smiling warmly. "Thank you, Father."
From his vantage point near the door, Li Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly. His senses peered past the physical layer of the necklace.
It wasn't a "simple charm."
The mont the pendant settled against Tuwark’s chest, it resonated with a massive and invisible network of protective wards already woven into the young man's very aura. Li Yu shifted his gaze and was looking out the window toward the caravan warehouse where Lana was currently taking inventory.
He saw it there, too. Thanks to his extrely powerful soul and his long ti spent with them, he was able to notice this. Both the son and the daughter were absolutely draped in invisible, Sovereign level protective techniques and charms.
They were bound into their aura, soul and layered into their spiritual foundations. It was always there, hovering in the very air around them. Lana and Tuwark clearly had absolutely no idea they were there.
‘He destroyed the strings of fate so his enemies couldn't track them,’ Li Yu realized with respect blooming in his chest. ‘But he never truly left them unprotected. If anyone ever actually managed to land a lethal blow on either of them, the backlash would likely annihilate up to but not including the level of a Demon Lord. They are protected like a Demon Lord’s capital is nearly. I am actually really jealous of them.’
Little did Li Yu know that he was also a walking fortress. The crab shell armor that Khaos had given him and told him it protected against fairly weak attacks was also a supre protection treasure that was woven with all kinds of charms and techniques. Lian from the Veil Lotus also snuck in many other protective wards as well. Finally and ultimately, the strongest protection Li Li Yu had on him was from his parents but he didn’t know any of this.
The emotional high of the forging naturally bled into the afternoon. Not wanting to be outdone by her brother after seeing Malos carrying the sword on his waist and genuinely wanting to share her own craft, Lana set up her bronze cauldron in the courtyard of their rented pavilion.
For three hours, Malos sat on a cushion and watched his daughter refine. Lana moved with sharp, intelligent precision and was perfectly balancing the volatile volcanic herbs to create a specialized batch of healing pills.
When she finally opened the cauldron, a dozen perfectly round, glowing crimson pills, Malos clapped his hands together with the giddy excitent of a child. He once again had tears in his eyes from watching his daughter refining pills for him.
Lana placed the pills into a small bag and handed it to him.
"For your travels," Lana said to him in a soft voice. She noticed his wet eyes and couldn’t help but smile. "Just in case your friend here fails to protect you from a stray beast."
Malos took the bag and his chest was already swollen with so much pride Li Yu thought the Sovereign might actually float away. He imdiately tied the small bag to his belt, right next to the new sword.
"I am the best equipped traveler in the realm!" Malos declared loudly while puffing out his chest.
Later that night, the vibrant energy of the family reunion finally settled. Tuwark had to return to his forge to fulfill a massive order of ironstone plating for the city guards and Lana was locked in her pavilion, finalizing the logistical ledgers for their departure the next morning.
Malos and Li Yu found themselves alone for the first ti since coming to the city. They were in the quiet and dimly lit corner of a high end tavern near the artisan district.
The ancient Demon Lord had shed his boisterous rchant persona entirely. He sat slumped slightly in his chair and was staring into a cup of highly potent liquor. He had been drinking steadily for the past hour.
"They are magnificent, aren't they?" Malos murmured to Li Yu with his black eyes distant and clouded with mory.
"They are," Li Yu agreed as he took a slow sip of his own tea. "You should be proud. They have built strong lives. They are also great people."
"They have their mother's spirit," Malos said as a sad and wistful smile touched his lips. He looked up at Li Yu. "You asked about her before."
Li Yu remained quiet and was allowing the man the space to speak if he wished.
"She wasn't a powerful cultivator," Malos revealed to him as his voice dropped to a low, reverent whisper. "In fact, she barely reached the Foundation Establishnt realm. And she didn't want to go any further. She was entirely mortal in her desires. She loved the changing of the seasons, the taste of ordinary food and the simple, fleeting beauty of a life that actually had an end. She wasn’t fit for a world such as this."
Malos took a long and heavy drink from his cup. He stayed quiet for a long ti as well.
"I didn't have the power I wield now but I was already a rising force and one that was feared." Malos continued but was staring at the empty bottom of his cup. "I had the resources. I had the pills, the heavenly treasures and the esoteric arts. I could have forcefully elevated her foundation. I could have pushed her into at least the Soul Formation realm, given her thousands of years of life. I begged her to let
do it."
"She refused?" Li Yu asked softly after a quiet mont.
"She refused," Malos nodded with a sigh and began closing his eyes. "She said that eternity without purpose was just a different kind of suffering or death. She wanted to age. She wanted to experience the natural cycle of the world. And because I loved her more than I loved the heavens themselves... I respected her choice."
The tavern around them was loud and filled with the laughter of off duty blacksmiths and rchants but the space around their table felt incredibly isolating and cold. It wasn’t just by chance either, Li Yu had created a barrier for their conversation.
"We lived together until she grew old," Malos said to Li Yu with his voice cracking slightly. "But Li Yu... you must understand the curse of my eyes. My foresight was already blooming then."
Malos looked at Li Yu and for the first ti, Li Yu saw the agonizing torture that the Demon Lord had endured during this ti.
"I knew it was coming," Malos whispered as his hands began trembling slightly. He tried to hide it by gripping the empty cup but it didn’t go away. "Every single day, I saw it. When she smiled at
over breakfast, I saw the exact mont her heart would stop beating. When she held our newborn children, I saw the wrinkles that would eventually claim her face. I saw her final breath decades before she took it. It was constantly there. Playing out in my mind. An inescapable, unchangeable tragedy."
Malos poured himself another cup of the harsh liquor.
"It tortured ," Malos confessed as a single tear escaped his eye. It was entirely different from the tears of pride he had shed in the forge. "To hold the woman you love and to simultaneously watch her die in your arms a thousand tis a day... it is a madness I would not wish upon my greatest enemy. But I stayed. I stayed until the very end because that is how the tapestry weaves."
He raised his cup and was looking at Li Yu with a deadly, heartbreaking sincerity.
"Love, my friend," Malos warned as his voice echoed with the ancient, crushing weight of his long life. "Love is one of the strongest, most radiant lights in the universe. It can build empires and forge souls. But it is also one of the most excruciatingly hurtful forces in existence. It is the only thing that can truly shatter a Sovereign's armor."
Malos drank the liquor and slamd the cup down on the table. He took a deep and shuddering breath to pull his mind back. The grief slowly receded back behind the impenetrable walls of his mind.
"But," Malos added. He was now offering a weak but genuine smile. "It is entirely worth it."
Li Yu sat in silence. He thought of his own parents. The mother and father he believed were dead. He thought of the enduring warmth of their mory. His thoughts drifted towards Lian for reasons he didn’t quite understand. There was a closeness there that he felt but didn’t understand. Li Yu had only t her for a little bit of ti and even he wasn’t sure why he thought of her just now. He understood what Malos ant but didn’t really understand how it felt.
Li Yu didn't offer any empty platitudes. He didn't try to comfort the ancient Sovereign with words. He picked up the jug of liquor, and refilled Malos’s cup to the brim. He then poured one for himself.
Li Yu raised his cup in a silent but respectful toast to the mories that hurt and the love that made the pain worthwhile. Malos t his gaze. There was a silent camaraderie and clinked his cup against Li Yu's. They drank together long into the night, two wanderers sharing the weight of the road.
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