Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1074: A Different Kind of Breakthrough

The dirt road leading into the western territories stretched out like a long ribbon cutting through the tall yellow grass of the open plains. Li Yu walked at a leisurely pace while taking in the expansive scenery and enjoying the warm afternoon sun beating down on his shoulders. Faen and Borum flanked him on either side as the trio chatted about what they saw. They ventured further and further away from the established dragon kin lands in the east.Three days after leaving the rhino kin village and the toxic tomb behind, the flat plains gradually transitioned into a rugged landscape filled with deep rocky canyons and scattered pine forests. The group was walking through a narrow gorge bordered by high stone walls when the sound of shifting loose rocks echoed from the ridges above.

A group of twelve armed men and beast kin jumped down from the high ledges and blocked the road forward. They wore mismatched leather armor and wielded sabers that carried a faint scent of dried blood. The leader of the group was a tall man with patches of gray fur on his arms and a thick scar running across his cheek. He pointed a heavy broadsword toward Li Yu and sneered with a greedy glint in his eyes.

"Stop right there and drop your weapons," the bandit leader shouted with a gruff and demanding voice. "Hand over your spatial rings and all your spirit stones. If you cooperate with us and do not make a scene, we will let you live to see another day."

Li Yu looked at the group of bandits and let out a soft sigh as he inspected their strength. Their cultivation bases were only hovering in the Core Formation and early Nascent Soul realms. They were just common thieves preying on vulnerable merchants who dared to cross the canyon without hiring guards.

"I think you picked the wrong group to rob today," Li Yu said while keeping his hands relaxed at his sides and offering a calm smile. "We do not have any intention of giving you our things so you should probably just step aside and let us pass."

The bandit leader narrowed his eyes and gripped the hilt of his sword tighter. "Do you think you can talk your way out of this? There are twelve of us and only three of you. I do not care how calm you act. Kill the guards and take the rings from his corpse!"

Before the bandits could take a single step forward to execute the order, Borum stepped in front of Li Yu and stomped his heavy boot against the dirt. The Domain King aura radiating from the silent golem erupted into the narrow gorge and pressed down on the bandits like a falling mountain. The thieves froze in place as the overwhelming pressure robbed them of their breath and forced their knees to buckle under the strain.

Faen did not wait for them to recover from the sudden shock. She vanished from her spot and reappeared behind the bandit leader in the blink of an eye and struck with lightning speed while ending the lives of each one of them. The brief encounter ended in less than a minute and the three travelers resumed their walk without a single scratch on their clothes.

That minor ambush was the only real trouble they faced as the days slowly turned into weeks. The journey westward proved to be an enjoyable experience for Li Yu as they passed through a diverse variety of settlements. This realm was a vibrant melting pot of countless different races and each town possessed a somewhat of a unique culture that he eagerly explored to pass the time.

A week after the canyon incident they arrived at a bustling trade hub named Copper Cliff. The city was carved directly into the side of a sheer canyon wall and featured a dizzying network of stone terraces along with thick rope bridges meant for visiting outsiders. However, the primary residents of the city did not need the bridges at all. They were a unique race of shelled beast kin that resembled towering humanoid hermit crabs.

They possessed thick copper colored chitin plating across their limbs and four lower crab like legs that allowed them to scale the vertical ninety degree cliff faces with effortless grace. Instead of normal sea shells, these Carapace Kin carried massive hollowed out geodes and boulders of raw copper ore on their backs which they decorated with glowing moss and intricate carvings.

Li Yu walked across a suspension bridge and approached a colorful market stall built directly into the vertical drop. The stall owner was an older crab whose massive geode shell sparkled with blue crystals. He hung completely sideways off the cliff wall and used his lower spiked legs to anchor himself while his upper humanoid hands gestured toward a row of small glass jars filled with glowing red powder.

"Welcome to Copper Cliff travelers," the merchant greeted with a clicking voice. "Are you looking for rare spices to warm your bones during your journey?"

"I am always looking for new flavors," Li Yu replied while leaning over the wooden railing to inspect the fine powder resting inside the jars. "What does this one taste like?"

"That is Sun Root powder," the merchant explained with evident pride. "We harvest the roots from the highest peaks where they absorb the pure morning light before the clouds roll in. It carries a sharp heat that warms the body and leaves a sweet aftertaste on the tongue. It is highly popular among cultivators who practice ice arts because it keeps their internal temperature balanced."

"I will take three jars," Li Yu said as he handed over a handful of spirit stones to the happy merchant.

He then asked the crab about the local cooking methods and spent the next hour discussing the best ways to marinate sky fowl meat. The merchant was thrilled to share his cultural recipes and Li Yu learned a great deal about balancing sweet and spicy flavors using the local flora here.

They continued their journey further west and eventually visited a sprawling floating village built upon a serene blue lake. The town was inhabited by amphibian beast kin who possessed smooth green skin, webbed fingers and large unblinking eyes. The locals glided across the water on flat wooden boats and traded aquatic herbs that only grew in the deeper areas of the lake.

Li Yu rented a small boat and spent an entire afternoon trading idle gossip with an amphibian fisherman. The fisherman told him tall tales about a giant water serpent living in the depths that demanded offerings of roasted fish to keep the waters calm. Li Yu listened intently and traded a few stories of his own regarding his travels. The diverse encounters enriched his understanding of the realm and provided him with a steady supply of new ingredients for his expanding pantry.

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Unfortunately for Li Yu, the aquatic life here was similar to a few other places he had visited so there were no additional beasts he could take in. He also tried to find that giant water serpent the people in the town spoke of but couldn’t find it. Either the serpent was just a legend meant to tell travelers or it was somehow hidden from his senses. Either way though, it was a fun use of several days trying to find it.

The days blended together into a peaceful routine as Li Yu and his companions moved from one town to the next. The weeks slipped by effortlessly until Li Yu had officially been in this realm for a full two months. The bloody battle against the flaming crow in the Solaris Kingdom felt like a distant memory compared to the quiet and mundane life he was living now on the open road. He didn’t encounter any additional dangers but he also didn’t gain any additional treasures either.

During those two months of travel, Li Yu dedicated every stop for lunch and dinner to practicing his fire control. When they set up camp under the stars, he would go through the information from the Crest Spine Sect and study the ancient draconic theories regarding flame manipulation.

His natal flame was an incredibly powerful fire meant to incinerate enemies, be used for alchemy or to forge weapons but Li Yu had never used it for the latter two. Trying to force such a destructive energy to mimic the qualities of a dragon flame was a very difficult task. The cooking flame he witnessed in the dragon kin village required a specific compression of Qi at the base of the fire to create a slow and lingering heat that penetrated the meat without burning the surface.

Every night Li Yu would sit by the campfire and summon his flame into the palm of his hand. He would try to alter the internal structure of the fire by weaving his Qi according to the manuals provided by Sect Leader Korren. Most nights the flame would simply flicker and reject the changes while trying to revert back to its natural state. Occasionally his focus would slip and the fire would flare out of control to singe the grass around his boots.

His body allowed him to endure the minor backlashes of the failing techniques without sustaining any real burns or injuries. Faen and Borum would sit nearby and watch his endless trial and error process with quiet amusement. They did not understand why a powerful expert was spending so much time and effort just to be able to change the flavor of a roasted meal but they admired his dedication and stood guard while he practiced. Seeing this from him made them cultivate harder and further refine their techniques as well.

On a cool evening near the end of his second month in the realm, the group decided to set up camp in a wide clearing near a rushing river. Faen had ventured into the surrounding woods earlier in the day and managed to hunt a large armored river ox. The beast possessed thick plates of bone along its spine and its meat was notoriously tough to cook but it carried a rich and savory flavor if prepared correctly.

Li Yu butchered the ox near the riverbank and prepared several thick cuts of meat on a set of iron skewers. He rubbed the raw meat with the Sun Root powder he bought in Copper Cliff and added a pinch of crushed sea salt to enhance the natural profile.

Li Yu sat on a large rock near the unlit fire pit and closed his eyes to focus his mind. He recalled the countless failures and adjusted his approach based on the lessons he had learned. Li Yu summoned his natal flame and focused on the foundational theories of the dragon race rather than just the visual outcome. Instead of trying to force the fire to change its nature through brute strength, he gently coaxed his Qi into a tight spiral at the very core of the flame.

He visualized the heavy and enduring heat of these particular dragons. He slowed the chaotic vibrations of his destructive fire and fed a steady stream of pure spiritual energy into the spiral to stabilize the reaction.

'The heat must radiate outward from a dense center rather than burn wildly on the surface,' Li Yu thought as he carefully tuned the frequency of his energy. 'The flame must nourish the meat rather than destroy it.'

Slowly but surely, the bright orange flame dancing in his palm began to shift. The outer edges of the fire darkened into a deep crimson while the core condensed into a heavy glowing ember. The ambient temperature in the clearing did not spike into a searing heat like it usually did when he summoned his true fire. Instead, a wave of comforting warmth spread through the crisp evening air. The heat felt heavy and robust just like the dragon flame he had witnessed.

Li Yu opened his eyes and stared at the crimson fire with wide eyes while maintaining the delicate balance of Qi flowing from his body and transferred the flame into the stone pit. The fire caught the dry wood and continued to burn with that specific heavy quality without reverting to orange.

He placed the iron skewers over the pit and watched the cooking process closely. The crimson flames licked the thick cuts of river ox meat and the fat began to render at a very slow and controlled pace. The heat penetrated deep into the tough tissue without scorching the outside layer or turning the spices to ash. Li Yu controlled the flame to work itself through the microscopic channels in the meat, a savory and earthy aroma filled the clearing and made Faen and Borum turn their heads toward the pit with eager expressions.

Li Yu carefully rotated the skewers and let the meat cook until it achieved a beautiful caramelized crust while the internal flames in the meat broke down all the tough collective tissues. He pulled the first skewer away from the heat and let it rest for a brief moment before taking a large bite.

The tender meat melted in his mouth as the spicy kick of the Sun Root powder mixed flawlessly with the rich juices of the ox. The additional earthy and roasted flavor imparted by the flame was the cherry on top of the whole experience. It did overpower the meat or spices but added its own unique depth of favor while allowing the meat of the ox to shine through. It was the exact taste he had been chasing. It was a flavor his normal flame could not produce before but now it could.

A surge of pure euphoria rushed through his body as he took another bite. Li Yu jumped up from the rock and let out a loud cheer of triumph that echoed across the quiet river valley.

"I did it!" Li Yu shouted while holding the half eaten skewer toward the sky in victory. "I finally figured it out! The flavor is right!"

Faen and Borum walked over to the fire pit and looked at their master with confused smiles. The sheer joy radiating from Li Yu was so intense that it felt like he had just broken through a major cultivation realm and reached the Tribulation stage. His aura flared with genuine excitement and his eyes sparkled with deep satisfaction as he admired the cooked meat.

"Is the food really that good?" Borum asked with his deep and rumbling voice.

"Try it for yourself," Li Yu laughed as he handed a fresh skewer to the giant golem and another to Faen.

The two companions took a bite and their eyes widened slightly in surprise. The tough river ox meat was incredibly tender and carried a depth of taste they had never experienced before. They nodded their heads in eager approval and quickly finished their generous portions while asking for more.

Li Yu sat back down on his rock and looked at the crimson fire burning steadily in the pit. He had spent all this time traveling the western lands, meeting new people and studying techniques just to cook a better piece of meat. To any other cultivator in the cosmos, it would seem like a tragic waste of time and talent. But for Li Yu, achieving this specific culinary goal brought him more happiness than finding a legendary artifact hidden in a tomb.

He spent the rest of the night cooking the remaining river ox meat and celebrating his unique victory with his two companions. The cool river breeze blew through the clearing as they ate and drank under the bright stars while Li Yu felt a sense of peace within his heart as he tended to the flames. His journey through this diverse realm was yielding the kind of rewards he had always wanted and he looked forward to whatever small joys tomorrow would bring on the road ahead.