Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 949: The Starry Path

The sixth day of the conference dawned with a heavy and suffocating atmosphere. The incident involving Yan Lie and Li Yu had fundamentally altered the dynamic of the gathering. The polite veneer of the first few days was completely gone. It was replaced by open hostility and paranoid glances.The Blazing Edge Empire delegation sat in the morning assembly with expressions of murder. They glared at the Li Clan pavilion with undisguised hatred. They had lost their senior martial brother to a crippling strike.

The loss of a sword arm for a cultivator was a devastating blow to their confidence. At their level, they had the pills required to regrow the arm but that would also take a few days of him being away from the conference, missing opportunities. They wanted revenge but they were terrified of the bone sword, it had taken the arm far too easily.

The Li Clan members were equally tense. They kept stealing wary glances at Li Yu as they treated him like a dormant volcano that could erupt at any moment. They gave him a wide berth during the morning demonstrations and spoke to him in hushed tones.

While they saw that he had only done so when the clan was insulted and his own father being insulted, the mental effect it had on everyone still made them put a bit of distance between themselves. They were proud that he upheld his and the clan’s honor but they didn’t mean they weren’t a bit afraid of him now. They simply did not know him long enough.

Li Yu did not mind the isolation at all as he was already a bit isolated from the beginning. He sat quietly and watched the presentations on the main stage without much care. Lunch provided a welcome break from the stifling tension of his own clan.

Lead Envoy Ren walked over to Li Yu just as the food was served. He brought three other rugged mercenaries from the Freeblade Alliance with him. They carried massive plates of roasted spirit beast meat and several jugs of potent wine that they brought themselves.

"Move over." Ren laughed warmly. He slapped a heavy hand on the nearly empty wooden table and took a seat directly across from Li Yu. "We brought the good stuff today. The Heavenly Sword Sect are a bunch of rigid statues that don’t know how to brew a strong drink."

Li Yu smiled and made room for the Freeblade members. He found himself looking forward to their company.

"I appreciate the addition." Li Yu said. He accepted a large cup of the strong wine while sharing some of his own stash with them. "The atmosphere of this place has been rather grim since last night."

A massive mercenary with a scarred face let out a booming laugh. "They are just a bit scared of you. Orthodox cultivators spend their entire lives learning rigid rules. Or are sheltered within their own clans.”

"Exactly." Another mercenary chimed in. She wielded a pair of jagged short swords and had a completely relaxed posture. "They think fighting is a conversation. We know fighting is just butchery. You understand the difference."

Li Yu nodded slowly while he took a bite of the roasted meat and washed it down with the burning wine. He felt a sense of camaraderie with these warriors. They judged him entirely by his actions and that was it.

"Master Tie taught me that a weapon has a specific purpose." Li Yu shared his thoughts with the group. "A sword is meant to cut. A hammer is meant to smash. If you use a weapon for its intended purpose without any wasted movement, the result is usually fatal. There is no need to make it elegant."

Ren raised his cup in a toast. "To brutal efficiency."

They spent the entire lunch and the subsequent dinner discussing practical combat. They traded stories and the harsh realities of the Myriad Realms. Li Yu learned about the unique survival tactics the Freeblade Alliance employed. He hit it off incredibly well with Ren and the others. They were honest and brash and they lived their lives without wearing a mask.

The Li Clan and the Heavenly Sword Sect clearly had their strengths. You do not become a powerful force without killing and fighting. Their techniques were sound and just as deadly and effective as those from the Freeblade Alliance. There was just more of a draw towards the Freeblade Alliance in terms of style and viewpoint that Li Yu couldn’t ignore.

The evening spars on the sixth day were brutal but highly regulated. The referee elders kept a suffocating grip on the arenas. They intervened the moment a strike looked even slightly lethal today. They also had two elders in each arena to make sure they were ready. No one dared to cross the line after witnessing the consequences from the night before.

The sun rose on the seventh day and it brought a renewed sense of anticipation to the mountain peaks. The Heavenly Sword Sect had promised a special event for this specific day. The attendees gathered in the main hall with eager expressions. The tension from the previous day was temporarily pushed aside by overwhelming curiosity.

A deep gong echoed through the massive stone structure and the ambient chatter died instantly.

One of the referees stepped onto the raised black platform and he was accompanied by six other high ranking priests. They all wore immaculate white robes and projected auras of authority.

"Welcome to the seventh day of our gathering." The elder announced. His voice resonated with Qi. "We have witnessed many great demonstrations and we have shared our insights on the holy edge. Today, we offer you a unique opportunity. The Myriad Realms are becoming more chaotic with every passing century. The dark forces stir and the future rests on the shoulders of the younger generation."

The crowd leaned forward as the elder paced slowly across the stage.

"To aid in your growth, the Heavenly Sword Sect has decided to grant a gift to all invited guests." The elder continued. "We are opening one of our sacred trial grounds to the assembly. We will allow you to walk the Starry Path."

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A collective gasp echoed through the hall as the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect looked incredibly shocked by the announcement. It was clear by their reaction that this was a massive concession. The minor empires and the rival clans began whispering frantically to each other.

Li Yu listened closely and was trying to figure out what it was. He did not know what the Starry Path was but the reaction of the crowd told him it was something highly coveted.

"The Starry Path is not a trial of combat." The elder explained to the uninitiated. "It is a spatial realm forged by our ancestors. It is a path made of starlight. When you walk across it, you will be constantly bombarded by thousands of different sword intents left behind by past masters. It is a crucible. You must use your own sword intent to resist the pressure. It is a rare opportunity to refine and polish your intent against the very best of our history."

The elder stopped pacing and looked out over the sea of cultivators.

"There is an additional benefit." The elder added softly. "The Starry Path serves as a resting place for countless blades. These are weapons left behind by fallen elders, donated by supreme experts or recovered from ancient battlefields. If your personal sword intent resonates with a slumbering sword within the void, that blade will be drawn to you."

The hall erupted into excited murmurs.

"If a sword chooses you, you may keep it." The elder declared loudly. He raised his hand to silence the rising noise. "It becomes yours to wield with no strings attached. We only ask for one thing in return and you are not bound to it."

The elder locked eyes with the leaders of the various delegations.

"We ask that you keep the Heavenly Sword Sect in your mind as you walk your path." The elder stated firmly. "When you reach the peak of your potential in the future, when you become much stronger and more powerful, you return to the Starry Path. You donate a sword back to the trial ground that is equal to or greater than the one you took. Or you impart a sword technique to our archives. That is the only we ask, not demand, of you if you are chosen by a sword."

Li Yu analyzed the announcement as did the others. Most immediately saw the political strategy behind the gesture.

It was a magnificent move by the Heavenly Sword Sect. They were taking idle assets stored in a pocket dimension and using them to build political goodwill. They were creating a web of karmic debts across the entire Myriad Realms.

If a young cultivator took a sword and died early, the sect lost a piece of metal and perhaps a great sword. But if that cultivator grew into something more, they would owe, even if they didn’t technically owe, the Heavenly Sword Sect a favor. They would return to donate a powerful artifact or a technique. It was a long term investment that guaranteed the continuous growth and influence of the sect.

It was also a unique and rare opportunity for the outsiders. The Heavenly Sword Sect almost never opened this domain to anyone outside their own disciples. The chance to polish one's intent and potentially claim a powerful weapon for free was too good to pass up.

"We will proceed to the entrance of the domain immediately." The elder announced. He turned and gestured toward the massive stone doors at the back of the hall.

The entire assembly followed the priests out of the building. They walked across a long suspension bridge that spanned a bottomless gorge. They arrived at a solitary mountain peak that was completely flat on top. An archway carved from stone stood in the center of the plateau.

The six priests surrounding the elder stepped forward. They formed a complex series of hand seals and injected their Qi into the archway. The empty space within the frame began to ripple and tear. A swirling vortex of silver starlight and incredibly sharp Qi manifested before them. The pressure radiating from the portal made the weaker cultivators in the crowd take a step back.

"The rules are simple." The referee elder called out over the humming sound of the portal. "Ten people may enter at one time. Once you cross the threshold, the spatial array will isolate you. You will walk the path alone. You will face the pressure alone. If you cannot withstand the intent, you will be safely expelled from the domain. Do not force yourself beyond your limits or your soul will suffer permanent damage."

The elder looked at the eager crowd. "Who will be the first ten?"

Dozens of cultivators rushed forward instantly. They were desperate to claim the best swords before anyone else had a chance. The elders quickly organized a line and selected the first batch. It was a mix of disciples from the Blazing Edge Empire, the Frostmoon Empire and a few Freeblade mercenaries.

The ten chosen cultivators took deep breaths and stepped into the swirling silver vortex. They vanished from sight one by one.

The crowd waited in heavy anticipation as the portal hummed steadily.

Inside the Starry Path, the ten cultivators were immediately separated into their own isolated dimensions. They found themselves standing on a narrow bridge made of solid light. The void around them was filled with countless floating orbs of light and each orb contained a slumbering sword and a remnant intent.

The moment they took a step forward the pressure crashed down on them.

It was like walking into a hurricane of invisible blades. The remnant intents of ancient masters slashed at their minds and their souls. The cultivators roared and flared their own sword intents to the absolute maximum. Aura of sword intent mixed with fire, ice and wind erupted along the hidden paths. They tried desperately to push back against the crushing weight of the trial.

They reached out with their minds and they tried to resonate with the floating lights in the void. Everyone searched for a matching resonance in the chaotic storm of power. Ten minutes passed in the outside world.

The silver vortex suddenly flared brightly and the ten figures were violently spat out of the portal. They tumbled across the stone plateau and collapsed onto the ground. They were completely drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Their faces were incredibly pale and the spiritual exhaustion was evident in their trembling limbs.

The crowd leaned in closely to see the results.

Nine of the cultivators slowly stood up with empty hands. They looked deeply disappointed but their auras felt slightly more refined than before. The pressure had polished their foundational intent even though they failed to claim a prize.

The tenth cultivator was a young man from the Frostmoon Empire. He remained on one knee and gripped a weapon tightly in his right hand.

He slowly raised his head and held the blade up for everyone to see. It was a relatively standard spiritual sword with a pale blue hilt and a thin edge. It radiated a decent amount of cold Qi but it was relatively normal to the kinds of weapons people of their standing had. It was not an ancient relic or a world shattering artifact. It was simply a good sword to those that are here.

The crowd let out a collective sigh. Some were disappointed by the lack of a legendary reveal while others were relieved that the competition had not gained a massive advantage.

Li Yu watched the young man inspect his new weapon with mixed emotions on his face. The trial was exactly as the elder had described. It relied on fate and resonance rather than power. Li Yu crossed his arms and waited for his turn to enter the starry void.