Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 852: The Price of a Realm

Elysia let the freezing gale blow for another long moment before she finally reigned in her aura. The sudden release of pressure caused several council members to gasp for air. The ambient temperature of the spatial pocket slowly returned to a comfortable warmth."You bargain with coins and resources," Elysia lectured coldly. She looked down at the kneeling figures. "You look at the survival of our entire race and you try to measure it against titles and pride. My vessel is worthy of such a title. He holds the foundation that ensures we do not fade into dust. There is no price too high and no authority too great for the one who provides my sanctuary."

She used the word vessel deliberately this time. She stripped away the derogatory tone Haelan had used for it earlier and replaced it with a heavy reverence. To her the word did not mean a disposable tool. It meant a sacred container.

The council members remained silent. They had their answer and it was absolute. Her words were law and there was no room for debate anymore. Probably only death awaited those that would keep trying to push.

"You will arrange a token of authority for him immediately," Elysia commanded. She turned her gaze toward Haelan. "It must carry the undisputed weight of the Grand Envoy. I want every single one of your Qi signatures forged into the core of the token. When it takes it out, the entire empire must know that his commands carry the unified backing of all the leaders. There can be no room for questions!"

Haelan nodded slowly. "It will be done Ancestor."

"Furthermore," Elysia continued. She clasped her hands elegantly in front of her robes. "You will go to the vault of the central keep. You will retrieve the Phantom Aegis and present it to him."

The collective flinch that rippled through the thirty seven leaders was entirely visible. Haelan raised his head in shock. Even Jhyra lifted her amethyst eyes from the dirt once more.

"The Phantom Aegis?" Haelan asked. His voice was laced with disbelief. "Ancestor, with all due respect that armor has been sealed since the ancient eras. It is a defining artifact of our people. Only one person has ever been allowed to use it. You expressly forbade anyone from even entering the chamber where it rests since then."

"I forbade you because I was saving it for a special person," Elysia replied evenly. She never elaborated on who that special person was originally meant to be. "And who is better suited to wear it than the one who is saving our entire empire today? And who to better use it for protection than the one shielding me."

Haelan opened his mouth to protest but he quickly shut it. He looked at Li Yu and then back to Elysia. He bowed his head instead.

"We will retrieve the armor," Haelan said quietly. What else could they do? She was their Ancestor and her decrees were absolute. They said their objection and that was enough. Saying it twice would only mean disaster for them.

Elysia offered a dismissive wave of her hand. "Go. Begin the preparations. Do not return until the items are ready."

The council members stood up one by one. They bowed deeply to Elysia and then offered a stiff but formal bow to Li Yu now. They turned and walked back toward the colossal iron doors after they were done. The doors opened with a heavy groan and swallowed the thirty seven leaders before slamming shut once more.

Li Yu stood on the wooden porch in silence. He was quite stunned about how smoothly everything was going. The trip here, the strange but tidy way he was able to house their ancestor and now he was even elevated within their culture.

He had walked into the Omen Realm expecting a grueling battle of wits. He thought he would have to constantly threaten the council with the soul contracts just to secure his basic safety. He did not even ask for a grand title or supreme battle armor. Yet Elysia was freely rewarding him with the highest honors of her empire. It seemed to be going incredibly well.

He looked over at Elysia. She was humming a soft melody and walking toward the edge of her crystal pond to check on her fish.

Li Yu crossed his arms. He was seriously reconsidering what everyone else had said about the Ancestor. History and their words painted her as a paranoid monster who held her own children hostage through bloodline curses. The council members were clearly terrified of her. But from Li Yu's perspective she did not seem that bad at all. Besides her strange behavior when she met him, which could be attributed to the poison, she has been a very pleasant person.

She was protective and generous. She commanded her people with authority but she used that authority to ensure her host was treated with the utmost respect. Perhaps as Jhyra had mentioned earlier, she really had mellowed as the eras went by. She seemed quite responsible. She recognized the immense burden Li Yu was taking on and she was compensating him fairly.

"Make yourself comfortable, Li Yu," Elysia called out over her shoulder. She tossed a handful of spiritual feed into the pond. "It will take them some time to forge the token properly. You may use the house or practice in the fields."

Li Yu nodded. "Thank you."

A week passed in quiet isolation.

Li Yu remained inside the spatial pocket. It was a strange and surreal experience. He was sitting in the deepest core of a hostile spectral empire but he felt like he was back on his small farm in Silkwood. He spent his mornings swinging Gilded Calamity through the air. In the afternoons he practiced his forms and was integrating different laws into his staff techniques.

Elysia spent her time tending to the vegetable fields and reading old scrolls. She was a quiet and pleasant companion. She never once again brought up the bizarre embrace from their first meeting but she treated him well. Elysia simply acted like a gracious host. She seemed perfectly content to just exist in the same space as him.

The dynamic was peaceful. Li Yu did not bother sending his spectral projection into his inner world during this time. He wanted to maintain his focus on the physical realm in case the council tried any tricks.

He remained entirely oblivious to the fact that his Human Soul and Elysia's true form had created an isolated space inside her constructed house in his soul space. Not even Li Yu himself could peer into there without directly going in. It was their private space together where she could truly be herself.

On the morning of the seventh day, the heavy grinding sound of the iron doors echoed across the landscape. Li Yu lowered his staff as he was mid practice. He watched as Haelan and Jhyra walked down the dirt path. They were completely alone this time.

The two supreme leaders approached the wooden house at a comfortable pace. They stopped a few paces away from Li Yu and offered a deep bow. It was not the stiff and resentful bow from a week ago. It was a gesture of respect as they had the time to process everything that had happened. Within the leader's head, they were merely bowing to their Ancestor, not the young boy that they didn't quite like.

"Grand Envoy," Haelan greeted him. The title sounded strange coming from the ancient expert but there was no hesitation in his voice. Haelan reached into his shimmering robes and he pulled out a heavy rectangular plaque. He presented it to Li Yu with both hands.

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Li Yu stepped forward and took the item. It was a new token created specifically for him and him alone. It was forged from a flawless piece of what looked like glass or crystal. It was trimmed with pale bones however. The surface of the token was smooth but the interior swirled with thirty seven distinct lights. It was a beautiful and intimidating object.

"The token carries the spiritual essence of every council member and Core Warden," Haelan explained. "Any array or defensive formation in the Eidolon Court will instantly recognize its authority. You will not be barred from anything within the Empire no matter where you go. Our people will recognize your commands as absolute."

Li Yu ran his thumb over the smooth glass. He could feel the dense web of Qi signatures trapped inside. It was an incredible piece of design and held such authority.

‘I don’t think I have been elevated as high as this in any place I have gone. Great risks do also bring great rewards. That must be why the heroes in the stories told to children always take on such impossible odds and great risks. The rewards are simply imaginable.’ Li Yu thought to himself for a quick moment. He nodded and stored the token securely away.

Jhyra stepped forward next. She held a large wooden box carved with protective sealing runes. She tapped the lid and the runes faded into the wood. The box popped open to reveal its contents.

Li Yu looked inside and his eyes widened slightly.

It was the Phantom Aegis that was to be given to him. The armor did not look like standard metal plating or heavy scales. It looked like solidified moonlight woven together with threads of dark shadow. It was completely ethereal in appearance and it did not have a rigid shape. It flowed and shifted within the confines of the wooden box like liquid smoke. It didn’t look like it could protect him at all.

"It is one of our best armors," Jhyra said to him, not revealing the scale of its value. She did sound reluctant to part with it though. "It possesses no physical weight. The moment you channel your Qi into the fabric, it will form to fit your exact proportions. It provides defense against physical strikes and it is extremely powerful against most soul attacks. It also repairs itself by drawing on ambient spiritual energy."

Li Yu reached into the box. He touched the fabric and it felt cooler than ice. It was incredibly soft but he could sense the toughness of the material. It was a magnificent piece of equipment and he wasn’t even sure how such a thing was even created. This would provide protection without hindering his movements in the slightest.

What Li Yu didn’t realize was that the armor itself was also sealed by several arrays so he could use it at his current level. If left unaltered, the armor itself would drain him of all of his Qi the moment he touched it. He was nowhere near the level needed to wield the armor at its full strength. However, the spirit inside the armor trembled the moment Li Yu touched the armor, it had been waiting for this reunion.

"I appreciate this," Li Yu said sincerely. He closed the wooden box and stored it away in his Koi Sanctuary. He would wait to bond with the armor and see how best to use it.

He looked at Haelan and Jhyra. The transaction was complete but there was still one massive loose end.

"This is all very generous," Li Yu said while leaning against his staff. "But I need to remind you of the third condition we agreed upon. You must give the Realm Essence over to The Veil. I am sure they are also waiting for their payment."

Haelan nodded immediately. "It is already being sent their way. A dedicated fleet departed the Omen Realm two days ago. They are carrying the essence directly to their leaders. The delivery will be completed shortly if it is not already done. We stay true to our words."

Li Yu let out a small breath of relief. That was one of the primary reasons he had taken this risk in the first place. Securing the essence for Old Du was a monumental victory for their people. Perhaps now they could make some good progress in restoring their beloved home.

"Thank you for honoring your word," Li Yu said. He looked at the two leaders closely.

"We were not left with much of a choice," Jhyra replied quietly but without any anger.

Li Yu noticed a distinct shift in her demeanor. Her words were pragmatic but the bitter edge was gone. The desperation that had defined their previous interactions was missing. The crushing tension in their shoulders was vastly reduced now that their Ancestor was doing okay.

They could clearly feel how much better their Ancestor was doing. The fundamental curse tied to their bloodline had stabilized. The metaphorical noose around their necks was just severed. They were no longer walking a tightrope over an abyss of extinction. They were in a much better mood despite handing over a valuable artifact and authority to a foreigner.

Haelan clasped his hands behind his back. He looked around the peaceful spatial pocket before returning his gaze to Li Yu.

"We honored our word," Haelan said slowly. "But there is something you need to understand about that payment. We want you to fully grasp the magnitude of the exchange so you can understand our situation."

Li Yu narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"The Realm Essence we are sending to The Veil was not sitting in a dusty vault," Jhyra explained. Her amethyst eyes locked onto Li Yu with an intense and heavy sorrow. "Realm Essences do not simply exist in nature waiting to be picked. They are the foundational core of a living world."

Li Yu felt a cold knot form in his stomach. He suddenly realized where this conversation was going.

"In order to get that specific essence," Haelan continued. "That entire realm was destroyed and harvested. We possessed a vassal realm whose laws matched the requirements of The Veil was looking for and that was the one chosen. It was a truly valuable place that gave birth to rare soul related treasures and a home for many. When we decided to ask Astramentis, we knew we needed the ultimate bargaining chip."

Li Yu stared at them as the realization fully settled in. He had somewhat understood what it meant to get Realm Essence but never truly processed it until now.

"We moved everything out of that realm first," Jhyra added quickly as she saw the horror dawn on Li Yu's face. "We deployed thousands of transport ships. We evacuated trillions of mortals and cultivators. We relocated beasts and harvested the spiritual veins. We emptied the realm out. But the act of collapsing a realm to extract its final drop of life is still a massive and devastating effort."

They wanted him to fully understand that the price they originally paid to buy his cooperation was not cheap by any means. They had shattered a realm along with its long history. While they had mostly used it as a realm to harvest resources from, it did not change the fact that countless people viewed it as their home and had their legacies there. They had permanently erased a piece of the cosmos just to afford the chance at survival.

"We are ruthless," Haelan said quietly. It seemed like it was more to himself than Li Yu. "But we do not destroy for the sake of destruction. We did what was necessary for our survival. We hope you can somewhat understand us now."

Li Yu stood in stunned silence. The scale of their actions was terrifying. They had evacuated a realm and then cracked it open like an egg. It was an act of logistical mastery and absolute cruelty wrapped into one. They were trying to justify their actions to him and perhaps a bit to themselves as well. They wanted him to see that their ruthlessness was born from necessity and not madness.

The two leaders did not wait for his response. They offered one final respectful bow and turned around. They walked back up the dirt path toward the iron doors without waiting for any kind of response. They were not looking for one.

Li Yu watched them leave. His mind was struggling to process the weight of a destroyed realm. All those people that had to move and leave because of the commands of others. Was this something that happened quite common or was it rare throughout the cosmos? He didn’t have an answer..

As Haelan and Jhyra reached the massive threshold, Haelan paused. He stopped walking and looked back over his shoulder at the young man standing near the wooden house.

"Grand Envoy," Haelan called out. His voice was completely stripped of its imperial authority. It was just the quiet and fragile voice of an old man. "Please take good care of our son."

Li Yu blinked. He stood even more frozen on the porch. "What?"

They didn’t say anything else and both the two leaders stepped through the threshold. The colossal iron doors ground shut and plunged the entrance back into shadow. What they said could only mean one person. The one that was recently tied to him, Torend.

Li Yu was left standing entirely alone on the wooden porch. His grip on Star Crusher was white knuckled without him realizing it and he was stunned.

Torend was their son. The general who had tried to kidnap him. The man Haelan had almost executed in the courtyard just to prove a point. They had bound their own flesh and blood into eternal servitude to appease a stranger and they didn’t even tell him until now.

Li Yu looked up at the warm blue sky of the spatial pocket. The Eidolon Court was indeed a terrifying empire. However, the depth of their sacrifice was just as staggering as their cruelty. They had traded a realm and their own son so trillions others could survive. His respect for them grew immensely. Regardless of the situation or what the rewards were, it could never be easy to sacrifice their son.