The morning sun struggled to pierce the thick white mist covering the border city. The air tasted a bit of ash and spilled blood. The grand declarations made by the two Half King patriarchs the night before had ignited a powder keg.
Li Yu sat comfortably on the slanted tiled roof of a tall bakery. He held a large steaming bowl of spicy beef noodles and was ready to eat it. He used his chopsticks to stir the thick broth and took a slow satisfying bite. The roof provided a perfect vantage point to overlook the central market district.
Below him the streets were entirely empty of ordinary mortals and rchants. The wooden stalls were empty. The cobblestones were scorched by elental techniques. Groups of cultivators in blue green and red robes clashed violently in the alleyways.
He watched a squad of River Flow cultivators form a defensive water array. They successfully blocked a barrage of fla techniques fired by the Raging Blade cultivators on a nearby balcony. The Ironwood fighters then charged the water array with heavy attacks to shatter the defense. It was a brutal, chaotic but still relatively controlled lee. No one was blowing up the entire area.
Li Yu chewed his beef and nodded in appreciation of the spectacle and he was not the only one watching.
Three miles above the city, hidden within a folded pocket of space a specialized unit of five elite experts hovered in silence. They wore form fitting dark armor designed for stealth and quick movents. They were the invisible squad assigned by the Eidolon council.
Currently, they continue to be baffled by Li Yu’s .
"Is he ordering more food?" Winter asked. He was the commander of the squad.
"He just finished a plate of stead buns an hour ago." Autumn confird. She was a master tracker and kept her senses locked onto Li Yu’s physical state. "He is eating purely for entertainnt at this point."
The three other mbers of the squad floated nearby. Sumr, Solstice and Spring exchanged deeply confused glances.
"The Ancestor was compatible with this boy as her host." Solstice muttered. He crossed his arms over his chest. "I expected a ruthless conqueror or at least soone with drive. I expected a dedicated cultivation fanatic who spends every waking mont refining his Dao. Instead, we are guarding soone who likes to eat and listens to gossip."
"We have absolutely nothing to do." Spring complained with a sigh. She twirled a slender throwing knife between her fingers. "The two Core Wardens are already stationed in his imdiate shadow. His own foundation from what we can tell is already quite monstrous for his realm and age. Instead of doing sothing more productive, he is watching like a common person."
"Stay vigilant regardless." Winter ordered sternly. "Our duty is to observe, protect if needed and also to make sure his journey goes smoothly in everything he does. Even if our current assignnt consists of watching him eat spicy noodles while local insects fight over a spirit stone mine."
The five elite shadows fell silent again. They settled in for a very long and very boring job ahead.
Down in the city the conflict raged on. Li Yu finished his noodles and tossed the empty wooden bowl into a nearby alley as he jumped gracefully from the roof. He navigated the ruined city with practiced ease as he was quite familiar with the place now. Avoiding the major skirmishes, Li Yu slipped past the blockades to find places where the local citizens were hiding.
The people of the border city were resilient. They locked their heavy doors and gathered in the fortified basents of the larger taverns and tea houses. They knew how to survive a turf war by this point.
Li Yu found a crowded underground tavern operating by the western gate. He paid the hefty entrance fee and found a seat in the dimly lit room with the others. The air was thick with the sll of cheap wine and nervous sweat. He ordered a cup of herbal tea and listened to the frantic whispers of the displaced rchants.
"The Raging Blade Clan overplayed their hand." A fat rchant whispered loudly to his companion. "They thought they could ride the Ironwood Clan's coattails to victory."
"I heard they suffered a massive defeat this morning." The companion replied eagerly. "What exactly happened?"
"The River Flow young master is a vicious little snake." The fat rchant chuckled. "He led a small detachnt of his forces out of the eastern gate. He made it look like they were retreating with a carriage full of high grade spirit stones. The Raging Blade took the bait."
"The Raging Blade forces chased them into the canyons." The rchant continued. "They thought they had cornered the young master. But the entire canyon was rigged. The River Flow Clan had spent the last three days carving a massive slaughter array into the canyon walls. Once the Raging Blade forces were entirely inside the valley, the array was activated."
"A slaughter array?" The companion gasped in horror.
"It was a massacre." The rchant nodded grimly. "Torrents of highly compressed water blades flooded the canyon. The Raging Blade cultivators were trapped and couldn’t escape. The water cut through their defensive Qi and their armor like wet paper. Nearly ninety percent of their main fighting force was wiped out in a single hour."
"What about their elders?"
"Their Patriarch and three core elders managed to break through the array using a forbidden blood technique." The rchant explained. "But they are heavily wounded. Their foundation is crippled as far as I know. The Raging Blade Clan is effectively finished in this city. They do not have the manpower to hold their territories anymore and will be eaten by the others soon enough."
The arrogant allies who sought to avenge a broken engagent had rushed blindly into a trap. Their desire for face and revenge had blinded them to strategy. The River Flow Clan had successfully eliminated one entire faction from the board with a single and decisive stroke. The tavern patrons continued to gossip about the grueso details of the canyon massacre while Li Yu listened for a while longer before stepping back out into the city.
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The destruction of the Raging Blade main force shifted the montum of the war. The Ironwood Clan found themselves suddenly isolated and outnumbered. The green robed cultivators were forced to pull back from the contested rchant districts and barricade themselves inside their ancestral compound.
The fifth and sixth days of the week were defined by a brutal siege.
The River Flow forces surrounded the Ironwood estate. They bombarded the gate with continuous attacks. The sky was permanently stained with flashes of blue and green Qi. The two Half King patriarchs clashed multiple tis in the clouds above the compound. That was where the true battle would be decided. Their battles shook the foundations of the city but they were incredibly evenly matched. Neither patriarch could land a fatal blow without risking mutual destruction.
Li Yu spent these days moving between different high points in the city to watch what was happening. He bought bags of candied fruit and roasted nuts from the few brave street vendors who dared to open their stalls. He watched the tactics and analyzed the flow of Qi in the different defensive arrays.
High above the city, the five elite stealth experts were losing their minds with boredom. They were too used to prodigies pushing their limits and constantly getting into trouble. Having to watch over Li Yu went against everything they had grown accustod to.
"He bought more candied fruit." Sumr reported with a deadpan voice. "He is currently analyzing the structural integrity of the Ironwood gates and its arrays while chewing on a sugar coated plum."
"I have counted three thousand distinct flaws in the Ironwood defensive array." Solstice grumbled. "I could breach that compound with a single strike. This is agonizing to watch. They are so incredibly slow. Were we this weak at one point too? I can’t seem to rember."
"Patience." Winter commanded but even his voice carried a trace of weariness.
By the seventh day, the atmosphere in the city reached a boiling point. The Ironwood defensive arrays were flickering and failing. The River Flow forces were preparing for a final charge to breach the walls and win.
Li Yu found a seat on the balcony of an abandoned teahouse directly across from the Ironwood compound. He had a perfect view of the gates and even had a few others around him watching the action as well. They settled in and waited for the climax of the war.
The sun began to set and casted long and eerie shadows across the mist filled streets.
The River Flow Patriarch floated high into the air. His blue robes billowed with imnse power. He raised his hands and gathered a terrifying amount of moisture from the atmosphere. A massive swirling vortex of water materialized above his head. It was a Half King level strike designed to shatter the arrays and bring an end to this conflict.
The Ironwood Patriarch did not delay either and rose from his courtyard to et the challenge. His aura flared with vibrant green light and he summoned a colossal phantom of an ancient tree to block the incoming attack. The two Half Kings stared each other down and looked to be calculating the other person’s next move. The final clash was imminent.
But then sothing strange happened.
The vibrant green aura surrounding the Ironwood Patriarch suddenly flickered. The colossal phantom tree wavered and began to dissolve into mist. The old man clutched his chest and coughed up a massive mouthful of black blood. He stumbled in the air and his cultivation base plumted drastically.
A murmur of shock rippled through the River Flow forces below and whispers erupted from every spot that others were watching from. Li Yu leaned forward on the balcony railing with those around him. His eyes narrowed as he analyzed the sudden change.
"Poison." Li Yu whispered to himself while those around him gasped in surprise at the sudden change in the battle.
The gossip Li Yu had heard days ago flooded back into his mind. The Night Sable Clan had been playing both sides. They had been feeding intelligence and resources to the Ironwood forces to keep the war going. Could it have been them that poisoned him? Or was it the River Flow forces?
The River Flow Patriarch did not hesitate though. He did not care why his enemy was suddenly crippled, he only saw an opening and he took it without rcy. He hurled the water vortex forward.
The weakened Ironwood Patriarch could not mount a proper defense. The vortex slamd into him with the force that he couldn’t handle in his current state. His bones shattered and his ridians ruptured. He was thrown violently out of the sky and crashed directly through the roof of his own main hall. The Half King was instantly dead.
With their patriarch defeated, the Ironwood defensive arrays collapsed soon after. The heavy wooden gates splintered into pieces.
"Kill them all!" The River Flow young master scread as he raised his sword. "Leave no survivors!"
The blue robed cultivators flooded into the compound and the slaughter began. The remaining Ironwood elders fought desperately but their morale was broken and the situation looked hopeless without their leader. They were heavily outnumbered and completely surrounded.
As the battle raged inside the courtyard, the shadows of the surrounding streets suddenly ca alive.
Hundreds of cultivators wearing black robes lted out of the alleyways. They were fresh, completely uninjured and moved in perfect coordination. The Night Sable Clan had finally revealed their true strength.
They did not attack the River Flow forces. They joined them.
The black robed assassins scaled the walls of the Ironwood compound. They moved silently and executed the fleeing Ironwood disciples with ruthless efficiency. They were going to make sure all the roots were pulled. The group targeted the escape routes and ensured that not a single green robed cultivator made it out of the estate alive.
Li Yu watched the coordinated massacre from his balcony. The betrayal was executed flawlessly. The treacherous shadow clan or so other force used poison to cripple the stubborn righteous leader. They let the opposing force break the gates and then swooped in to help clean up the remnants and secure a share of the spoils.
‘Sches are indeed unmatchable. I need to beco smarter and better with sches myself.’ Li Yu thought to himself but who knows how long it would take him to actually get good at scheming.
Within two hours, the Ironwood Clan was completely erased from the border city. The fires burning inside their compound illuminated the night sky of the city. The River Flow forces stood victorious among the ruins. They were exhausted, battered and bleeding but they had fought a grueling war against two different clans. Their Qi reserves were completely drained.
The Night Sable forces gathered in the center of the courtyard and they stood in perfect formation. They were completely rested and their weapons were already drawn.
The River Flow Patriarch landed heavily in the courtyard. He was panting and his robes were torn. He looked at the leader of the Night Sable Clan. The black robed leader stepped forward with a polite and terrifying smile.
The trap was finally sprung.
Li Yu reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of roasted nuts he had purchased earlier. He tossed one into his mouth and chewed slowly. The war was not yet completely over. The true final confrontation was just about to begin. He sat back in his chair and waited for the Night Sable Clan to make their final move.
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