Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1077: Cracked not Broken

The voices of the wealthy merchants and fierce sect leaders crashed together in a chaotic wave of greed as they fought to claim the mythical beast woman. Silas stood on the stage with a wide smile while waving his hands to acknowledge the rising bids, he was already thinking of how he was going to spend the bonus he was going to get from just this single auction.Before Silas could announce the current leading bid, a deafening crack echoed through the cavernous building. The polished black stone ceiling groaned as a bright silver light pierced straight through the protective arrays of the auction house. The intricate defensive runes carved into the walls shattered like fragile glass and rained glowing sparks down upon the general seating area.

A figure descended through the broken ceiling while wrapped in a surging aura of red spiritual energy. The intruder was another woman who possessed the exact same vibrant red hair and shimmering dragon scales as the captive on the stage. She carried the overwhelming pressure of a Sovereign realm expert and her sudden appearance forced the weaker cultivators in the room to fall flat against the ground.

The woman landed on the wooden stage with a heavy thud and the impact sent a shockwave of Qi rolling outward into the ground. Silas was thrown backward through the air and crashed into the velvet curtains while the four armed guards were instantly turned to mist by a casual wave of her hand. She was Seline, the older sister of Alys and she had come to rescue her sister.

Seline reached down and gripped the heavy suppression chains binding Alys as she channeled her Sovereign tier power into her palms and shattered the metal links into countless iron fragments. She pulled her younger sister up from the metal platform and wrapped a protective layer of red Qi around her.

"We are leaving," Seline declared with a sharp voice while pulling out a glowing jade talisman from her robes. She then crushed the talisman in her hand and a pillar of spatial energy erupted around the two women as the light pierced back through the hole in the ceiling and transported them outside the auction house in the blink of an eye.

The crowd inside the hall erupted into a frenzy of panic and anger. Wealthy merchants screamed for their guards while sect elders drew their weapons but the chaos was quickly silenced when two terrifying auras descended upon the room. Lord Vance and Commander Seryn appeared on the ruined stage and their combined Sovereign pressure forced everyone to freeze in place.

Lord Vance wore flowing golden robes that shimmered with defensive arrays while Commander Seryn stood beside him in dark heavy armor holding a long serrated spear. Both rulers of The Onyx Market looked up at the broken ceiling with expressions of fury and mild confusion. The city was heavily defended with arrays as well as this auction house. The fact that the intruder was able to get in and then out without issue meant they were either extremely powerful or they used a special treasure. The latter seemed the most likely or else they would have wiped out the entire city in their anger already after saving the woman.

"An enemy force is besieging the city walls," Commander Seryn shouted with a booming voice that rattled the remaining glass fixtures in the hall. "They must have used a specialized breaching treasure to punch a hole in our grand array but they will not leave this place alive. All guards and mercenaries are ordered to attack the invaders immediately."

Lord Vance raised his hands and added his own booming voice to the command. "Any guest who joins the defense and kills the invading troops will be rewarded generously. We will pay a high bounty in spirit stones for every enemy you slay. The higher the cultivation of your target, the richer the reward will be! Keep the heads for counting later and we will honor our word to the final stone."

Everyone in the room knew the words of the two Sovereigns were solid because The Onyx Market always at least honored its financial agreements. The promise of wealth caused a loud cheer to erupt from the auction attendees. Cultivators from so calmed righteous sects and dark clans drew their weapons together and charged out of the building to claim their bounties. The panic turned into a bloodthirsty hunt in a matter of seconds.

Li Yu did not join the rushing crowd though. He remained seated in his chair while watching the greedy cultivators swarm toward the exits. Li Yu stood up slowly and gestured for his companions to follow him out a side door that led into a quiet alleyway instead.

"Are we going to help defend the city?" Borum asked while keeping a close eye on the panicked people running down the street.

"No," Li Yu replied calmly while leading them toward a tall stone pagoda resting on the edge of the merchant district. "We have no reason to get involved in this mess, there might be more to it than just a rescue mission. We are just going to find a good spot to watch the situation unfold and perhaps learn a thing or two while watching Sovereigns fight."

They climbed the exterior stairs of the tall pagoda and reached a wide balcony that offered a clear view of the city walls. The night sky above The Onyx Market was illuminated by thousands of glowing cultivation arts already. A force of several thousand warriors that looked like they were beast related had breached the outer gates and were currently clashing with the city guards. The sounds of clashing metal and dying screams echoed across the sprawling valley.

Li Yu leaned against the stone railing and observed the flow of the battle, trying to gleam some sort of inspiration from it. He could see that the invading forces were already beginning to retreat as they fought in tight defensive formations and slowly backed away while fending off the swarming mercenaries.

The beast kin warriors knew they could not defeat the entire city and they were just buying time and distraction for their leader. They had accomplished their primary goal of rescuing Alys and now they just needed to survive the withdrawal.

High above in the sky, three figures clashed in the night sky. Seline held Alys closely to her side while trying to fly toward the open valley but her path was blocked by Lord Vance and Commander Seryn. The two city rulers unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks to keep the sisters from escaping.

The fact that she had broken through their defenses and stole from them was a humiliation that could not afford. Not only was it bad for their reputation but if the idea got out that they could be taken advantage of and not be ruthlessly slaughtered spread out, they would have a lot more people probing them for weakness. Showing weakness was one of the worst crimes anyone could make within the cultivation world.

Commander Seryn thrust her serrated spear forward and sent a dozen piercing shadows through the air. Seline exhaled a thick cloud of fragrant smoke from her lips to intercept the attack. The red mist distorted the space around her and caused the spear strikes to veer off course and strike the empty air. It acted as both an illusionary force as well as a physical force, a thing unique to their species..

Lord Vance followed up the spear attack by tossing a handful of golden coins into the sky. The coins expanded into glowing disks that formed a prison around the two sisters. The spatial lock forced Seline to stop her retreat and was forced to defend herself. She gathered her red Qi and formed a phantom lion claw to smash against the golden disks but the barrier held firm under the combined power of the two city rulers.

Seline floated in the center of the golden prison and glared at her two opponents with a burning hatred. "Your day will come to an end soon. Your vile city will burn for what you do to people!"

Lord Vance laughed while adjusting the sleeves of his golden robes with a dismissive wave. "We were not the ones who captured her in the first place. We merely paid for her when a party brought her to our gates. Once the spirit stones were exchanged, she became our rightful property. What you are doing is being a thief."

"If you really wanted your sister back so badly, you simply had to buy her in the auction like everyone else," Commander Seryn added with a cold sneer while resting her spear against her armored shoulder. "That is how the law of commerce works in our city!"

"You trade in flesh and misery," Seline spat while holding her sister tighter. Alys was still sealed away and could not help her sister at all. "You place a price on the living and call it the law."

"And you are just a fool who lacks the funds to play the game," Lord Vance mocked while letting his Sovereign aura flare even brighter. "Since you decided to break our roof and ruin our auction, we will just have to recoup our losses. Do not even think of leaving here today! We will capture you as well and sell you both. A pair of powerful Mirage Dragions will definitely fetch a never before seen price from all over this realm."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Li Yu watched the confrontation from the balcony of the pagoda but his expression was entirely neutral. Faen stood beside him while Borum and Garren watched the sky. Garren could only imagine and dream of one day matching their power.

Li Yu activated his karmic senses and looked at the karmic threads of the three fighters and captive sister. The karma surrounding Lord Vance and Commander Seryn was not great but it was not horrible either, much to Li Yu’s surprise at first. Then realizations began to form in his mind as he made some guesses as to why that was the case. They operated what many would call a brutal city that traded in slaves but they did not personally torture people or hunt innocents for sport. Their karma was a murky gray color that reflected a life of ruthless business rather than pure evil.

Interestingly, the karma radiating from Seline was actually worse than the two she just stole from but not as vile as the people from the Solaris Kingdom. She had likely killed countless people and committed her own share of ruthless acts to reach the Sovereign realm and lead a force of thousands.

"Should we help the sisters?" Faen asked quietly while watching Seline struggle against the golden disks.

"No," Li Yu answered while keeping his eyes on the sky. "We do not know them and they chose to attack this fortified city, not us. They might have a plan that gets changed if we interfere. Besides, they must bear the consequences of their own actions. We will just watch as it's none of our business."

This situation was just yet another conflict in a cultivation world filled with endless wars. Li Yu had no reason to get involved like he did with Morrigan and the Solaris Kingdom. When he fought alongside Morrigan, he had been pulled into the conflict by chance and saw it through because that is what one should do for a friend. This time he just happened to be sitting in the audience when a dispute erupted. He did not know their backgrounds or who was truly right or wrong in the grand scheme of things.

Up in the sky the battle continued with terrifying intensity as Seline was forced to drop her illusions and fight with power just to keep the attacks away from Alys. Commander Seryn was a seasoned mercenary who fought with brutal efficiency and knew she had the upper hand. She closed the distance and unleashed a flurry of spear thrusts that tore through the red mist and left deep cuts along Seline's dragon scales. Seryn also took advantage that Seline had to defend Alys and kept sending attacks her way to throw Seline off balance.

Lord Vance provided support from a distance as his disks crashed down upon Seline and forced her lower into the sky. The merchant ruler used his cultivation arts to drain the ambient Qi from the air and make it harder for the beast woman to recover her energy. He seemed to possess an endless supply of treasures and talismans that he continuously threw out.

It became quickly clear that Seline was fighting a losing battle. She could not protect a weaker person while fending off two experts who were at her same cultivation level. Her red hair was singed and bright blood dripped from her scaled arms. She looked down at the retreating forces on the ground and realized her warriors were being bogged down by the greedy auction attendees within the city as well. Her escape now looked impossible and her forces looked like they were going to be slaughtered.

Knowing she had no other choice, Seline reached into her spatial ring and pulled out a strange crystal lotus that pulsed with a volatile dark energy. Lord Vance and Commander Seryn saw the item and their eyes widened in sudden fear, it would seem that they recognized what it was. They immediately stopped their attacks and tried to retreat but Seline crushed the crystal lotus in her hand before they could even move from where they were.

A wave of pure white light erupted from the crushed treasure and swallowed the night sky, turning it into day. The blast was so intense that it felt like a second sun had suddenly ignited over the city as a deafening roar shook the very foundations of The Onyx Market while a shockwave of destructive energy ripped through the clouds.

Li Yu raised his arms to shield his face from the blinding flash and was thankful he was far enough away. The energy released by that lotus treasure was incredibly strange. It did not carry just heat or concussive force but rather a chaotic spiritual disruption. His senses were instantly scrambled by the light and he could not perceive anything happening within the blast zone. The ambient Qi in the environment violently twisted and blocked all probing.

The blinding light lingered in the sky for several long moments before slowly fading into a thick cloud of gray smoke. The spiritual disruption settled down and Li Yu lowered his arms to inspect the aftermath as did everyone else that was watching.

Lord Vance and Commander Seryn were still hovering in the sky but they were in terrible condition. The golden robes of the merchant ruler were torn to shreds and a deep wound stretched across his entire chest. Commander Seryn was missing half of her dark armor and she coughed up a mouthful of dark blood while leaning heavily on her serrated spear. The great treasure had inflicted heavy injuries on both of them in a single instant. If Seline had met them in such a state to begin with, she could have easily won.

However, Seline and Alys were gone.

Li Yu scanned the sky and the surrounding valleys but he could not find a single trace of the two Mirage Dragions. He did not know if the women used the explosion as a cover to teleport away or if the destructive energy of the crystal lotus had consumed them in the process. The chaotic lingering energy made it impossible to track their path, tell where they had gone or know if they died or not.

Lord Vance looked around the empty sky and his face twisted into a mask of rage. He had suffered seriously heavy injuries, his city was ruined and his prized captive had slipped through his fingers. He let out a furious roar that echoed across the quiet valley and would not let this matter end as is, he had to get something else.

"Kill or capture them all!" Lord Vance screamed while pointing down at the invading beast kin forces that had come with Seline. "Leave no one alive that resists. Slaughter every last one of those animals!"

Commander Seryn wiped the blood from her chin and joined the assault. Even though the two rulers were greatly injured, they were still Sovereign realm experts. They descended upon the retreating invaders like angry gods trying to quell their rage. Golden disks crushed groups of warriors into paste while a flurry of spear shadows ripped through defensive formations with ease.

Li Yu watched the slaughter from the balcony and noted the cruel reality of the situation. The invading troops had marched into a deadly city to help their leader rescue her sister. They fought bravely and did everything they could to buy her time. But when things turned out poorly, they were quickly abandoned to face the wrath of two enraged Sovereigns. Seline had used her treasure to save or kill herself and her sister while leaving thousands of her followers behind to die.

The battle at the gates did not last long once the city rulers joined the fray. The mercenary captains and the greedy auction attendees surrounded the remaining forces and cut off all avenues of escape. Seeing that they were abandoned and severely outmatched, the morale of the invading army shattered.

The mercenaries offered the survivors a grim choice between submission or death. Around seventy percent of the remaining warriors dropped their weapons and surrendered to the city guards. They were immediately bound in heavy suppression chains and led away to the slave pens to replenish the stock that was lost during the chaos. The remaining thirty percent of the warriors refused to be taken as slaves and chose to fight to the bitter end or take their own lives rather than face the humiliation of the auction block.

Just as abruptly as had it began, the fighting had ceased and the streets were stained with blood. The cleanup operation was already underway as merchants swept broken debris away from their storefronts and guards hauled carts filled with beast bodies to be harvested or simply destroyed. The Onyx Market was wounded but the ruthless machinery of the city continued to turn.

Li Yu led his group away from the pagoda and they walked back toward their rented inn. The streets were buzzing with nervous energy as cultivators gathered in small groups to discuss the shocking events of the night.

As they walked through the market district, Li Yu listened to the gossip spreading among the locals. The information brokers and veteran mercenaries were already piecing together the true nature of the attack and rumors have already begun to spread. It seemed that this information was already preplanned or preplanted because the gossip was already full of information that couldn’t have just been figured out so soon after. Someone wanted this information to spread.

"This was not just a simple rescue mission," a scarred mercenary whispered to his companions near a food stall. "It was a trap. A deliberate setup from another group out west."

"What do you mean?" Another man asked with a frown.

"Think about it," the veteran replied while chewing on a piece of dried meat. "Alys was captured by an unknown party and sold directly to Lord Vance just a few weeks ago. The people who captured her most likely knew exactly who her sister was and they likely predicted Seline would throw her entire army at our city to get her back."

"It was a conspiracy," a nearby merchant chimed in with wide eyes. "They used the Mirage Dragions as bait to force a war. They wanted Seline to attack and clash with our rulers. Now Seline has lost her army and both Lord Vance and Commander Seryn are nursing heavy injuries."

Li Yu listened to the whispers and realized the scale of the scheme of the other party if it was true. The battle he had just witnessed was merely the opening move of a much larger game that someone else was playing. It would seem that a hidden faction had orchestrated the entire conflict to weaken the strongest powers in the region without risking their own people.

If the rumors were true, that unknown group was likely preparing to march on the city at this very moment to clean up the remains. They would sweep in while the two Sovereigns were greatly weakened and seize control of the lucrative trade hub for themselves.

It seemed like the entire city and its brutal history was on the verge of collapse within a single day, all due to a masterful scheme that probably took years to think of and execute. Li Yu returned to his room and sat by the window to wait for the final act to begin, if it was going to begin. Once again Li Yu realized that schemes were extremely dangerous but then shook his head as it would seem that he was really terrible with coming up with one himself.