The hour passed in a flurry of logistical activity. Grand Elder Theron, with the decisiveness of a seasoned general, finalized the transfer of command to Aethelgard's local leaders. His last instructions to Captain Gavriel were clear and absolute: "Hold the walls, trust in Grand Elder Khaos, and do not, under any circumstance, get in his way."

Khaos had already retired to a cultivation room they provided for him. He told everyone that he would keep his senses on the walls and unless needed he shouldn’t be bothered. No one dared to disagree even though he was technically the one in their home.

At the southern gate, a smaller, sleeker airship waited. It was not a bulky warship like the one that had brought them but a rapid-assault vessel, built for speed and surgical strikes. Theron, Jian, and Li Yu boarded, accompanied by a small, elite contingent of the Forest of the Radiant Dawn: two grim-faced Core Formation elders and dozens of their most seasoned disciples.

The moment the ramp was sealed, the ship shot into the sky leaving the relative safety of Aethelgard behind. They began their journey south. The mood on board was still tense; the brief, overwhelming victory at the city had been a reprieve not a conclusion. Now, they were plunging headfirst into one of the raging hearts of the war.

The land below was a testament to the conflict's brutality. Scarred earth, smoldering villages and the dark, telltale stains of recent battles painted a grim picture. They flew for less than an hour before their first objective came into view.

The smaller fortified city of Riverbend. It was a key junction, controlling the flow of supplies along the great southern river and it was currently beset by a horde of beast-faction warriors. The city's defensive array was flickering and fighting could be seen occurring all around the outside as defenders tried to take pressure off of the formation..

"They won't last another hour. Thankfully we were able to make it in time," Theron stated, his eyes fixed on the battle below. "Have the ship hold this position."

Jian was already gripping his sword. "My turn?"

"No," Theron said curtly. He turned to the anxious disciples. "Watch. Learn. There will be plenty of experience for you all later. But right now, we do not have time. We are not here to train, we are here to reclaim."

Before anyone could react, the Grand Elder leaped from the side of the ship. He descended with the controlled but crushing weight of a mountain. His sixth-level Soul Formation aura erupted, a vast, suffocating pressure that momentarily stopped the battle on both sides.

The beast-faction commanders, three cultivators who had heavily mutated their bodies with crustacean-like armor, looked up in terror. Theron didn't even look at the rank-and-file soldiers. He was already in motion, his hand falling in a simple, downward palm strike.

"Mountain's Heart Palm!"

A colossal hand of golden spiritual energy, easily a hundred meters wide, materialized in the sky and descended. It was not a fast attack but it was strong. The three commanders combined their power, creating a shield of crimson energy but it was like a paper lantern trying to stop a landslide. The golden palm crushed their shield, their bodies and the ground beneath them in one silent devastating impact leaving a perfect handprint pressed into the ground.

The besieging army, seeing their leadership instantly annihilated, broke and scattered in every direction. The people they were fighting with did not let this opportunity go and were able to kill a lot of them before they could escape.

Theron landed softly on the city wall. He barked a single, powerful command at the stunned city guards: "Hold this line! Reinforcements are coming! Conserve your energy!" He then went to the heart of the defensive array and used his own energy to quickly stabilize it. He took out more spirit stones to leave with those in charge to continue its operation.

Before the city's leaders could even emerge to thank him, he leaped back into the sky and onto the ship. The entire encounter didn’t last long but had an immense impact. Time was pressing and they had to be quick.

"Pilot," Theron ordered, as if he had just stepped out for a breath of air. "Continue south."

The ship sped onward, leaving the newly secured city of Riverbend behind. The disciples had watched on. There wasn’t much to learn for them, it had all happened too quickly and was a difference in power. Theron had forgotten in his rush that he wasn’t lowering his strength and putting on demonstrations like he normally did to help the disciples see and understand things. He simply got on with it but had told them to watch and learn.

They continued south and with the landscape becoming wilder. Li Yu was taking this time to enjoy the scenery which wasn't all that different from his own home but yet still different. The architecture of buildings, the trees were different and the overall landscape. He was brought out of his enjoyment by the ship's detection array suddenly blared a warning.

"Enemy patrol, three kilometers ahead!" the staff in the main cabin called out. "Mixed force, thirty strong!"

Jian Xuan was on his feet, his eyes ablaze with a familiar, manic light. "This one is mine! I need to stretch my legs!"

He didn't wait for permission. He shot out the side of the ship, a golden comet arcing towards the enemy patrol. Li Yu and the others watched on as he recklessly charged yet again. Time was pressing so Jian acted fast.

The patrol, a mix of mutated human cultivators and demonic beasts, had just spotted him.

Jian landed in their midst like a thunderbolt. But this time, there were no thousands of energy claws. He had his physical sword in hand. His martial spirit, the winged sword, enveloped him making his aura even sharper.

He was a whirlwind of steel. His swordsmanship was exquisite, a dance of death that was both beautiful and terrifying. He didn't just smash or blast; he slew. A precise slice to the neck of a mutated human, a blindingly fast thrust that found the pinpoint-small spiritual core of a charging beast, a reverse-grip parry that disarmed one foe and gutted another in the same fluid motion. It was over in thirty seconds.

He stood in the center of the carnage, his sword dripping. He looked around the empty, blood-soaked field, as if addressing a massive, invisible crowd.

"BEHOLD!" he roared, his voice filled with zealous fervor. "The power of the Crab God! He grants us victory and smites all pretenders!"

Then, to Li Yu's secondhand embarrassment, Jian clasped his hands together and began to chant, his voice echoing across the empty wilderness.

Anya and the other disciples stared, completely bewildered. These were the people that knew about the Golden Shell Guild since they were there on the other continent. They knew it was all a cover, yet they were slowly starting to think the Golden Shell Guild was the cover and this was Jian Xuan’s real affiliation this whole time. Either that or that man is insane! "Brother Li..." she whispered, "is... is he...?"

"He's... very devout, one of the most devoted in the cult.." Li Yu managed to say, his face a mask of neutrality. He was beginning to worry that Jian had actually, genuinely brainwashed himself with his own propaganda.

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Jian flew back to the ship, his expression one of serene post-sermon bliss. "A fine warm-up."

The journey continued. Another alarm blared. "Larger patrol detected! Almost entirely beasts! Sixty... no, eighty of them! One human commander!"

Li Yu stood up. "I'll take this one." His words surprised the disciples he was currently sitting and talking with.

He didn't leap. He simply walked to the edge and vanished.

Down on the ground, the patrol of massive, iron-scaled wolf-beasts was sniffing the air, agitated. Their human commander, a man in dark robes, was shouting at them to get in formation, having sensed the ship above.

A shadow flickered in the very center of their pack. Li Yu appeared, his presence so abrupt it took a full second for the beasts to register him. In that second, he summoned his weapon.

Star-Crusher materialized in his hands, its weight something Li Yu had gotten used to but was still incredibly heavy. This was going to be its first kill. The closest beast, an alpha-sized wolf with tusks with an early Core Formation Realm, lunged. Li Yu didn't dodge. He planted his feet, gripping Star-Crusher in both hands and swung the weapon in a low horizontal arc.

It wasn't a cut. It was an impact.

Star-Crusher connected with the beast's shoulder. There was no sound of tearing flesh or breaking bone. There was only a dull, wet WHUMP and a shockwave of pure kinetic force exploded from the point of impact. The entire upper half of the massive beast—head, shoulders, torso—was instantly obliterated, reduced to a red mist and pulverized fragments that Li Yu sucked into the Koi Sanctuary as additional nourishment for his beasts.

The human commander's eyes went wide with terror. Before he could even cast a technique, Li Yu was gone.

Void Step mixed with one of his earlier techniques, Ripping Shadow Step.

He appeared behind the commander. Star-Crusher, swung in a devastating upward blow, smashed the man's spiritual shields, his defensive artifact and his entire body in one catastrophic, upward-moving explosion of force.

Li Yu's fighting style was the polar opposite of Jian's. It was not a dance. It was a brutal, overwhelming and terrifyingly efficient act of annihilation.

The remaining beasts, leaderless, lunged at him. Li Yu became a phantom of destruction. Ripping Shadow Step. Smash. Void Step. Slam. Each swing of Star-Crusher ended a life, its sheer weight and power turning the iron-hard bodies of the beasts into pulp. In less time than it took Jian, the entire pack was dead.

Li Yu stood in the center of the carnage, breathing calmly. He waved his hand and the bodies of the beasts were pulled into the sanctuary. Others viewing it would simply think he was collecting his spoils to be processed later.

"Good nourishment for the beasts inside," he murmured to himself. He felt a minor pang of disappointment. "A pity. No aquatic beasts to capture."

The reason he was starting to use and mix in some of his older arts was due to the injury he had at the hands of the incredibly ugly old man. While he was injured he realized the techniques he was currently using took a big strain on him. Something that he hadn’t noticed due to his strong foundation.

Once injured badly, he saw the issue and shortcomings from it. So now he is in the process of reinventing the way he used his techniques to have a balance of powerful ones but of other softer ones to use when he was lower on energy or injured.

He void-stepped back onto the ship, his robes as clean as when he'd left. The disciples all took an involuntary step back. Jian's style was flashy and impressive. Li Yu's was... horrifying, just as they had seen it in the north. It was the brutal, impersonal and absolute erasure of a natural disaster.

This pattern continued for two grueling days. The war in the south was not a single front but a festering infection of hundreds of smaller battles. They were a rapid-response surgical team. They would fly, detect a threat and deploy. Theron, with his overwhelming power, would handle any city or fortress under siege, striking at the leadership and restoring defenses.

Jian, with his manic energy and superb swordsmanship, would handle the mixed cultivator-squads, his "Crab Cult" chants becoming a bizarre and terrifying calling card that was beginning to spread among the enemy remnants. Li Yu, with his brutal efficiency, would handle the large beast packs, his Star-Crusher turning them into sustenance for his own growing menagerie.

They were a well-oiled machine of death and in those two days, they liberated over a dozen small towns and three minor cities, punching a hole of stability deep into the chaotic southern territory.

During a brief lull, as guards performed mop-up operations in a newly-freed town, the disciples from the Forest sect gathered in an area to take a break with Li Yu besides them. Anya, the sharp-eyed woman, acted as the ice-breaker.

"Brother Li," she said, her voice laced with respect and a hint of trepidation. "Your combat style. It's... truly brutal and to the point. We rarely see such a style in our sect."

Li Yu, who was looking around the town and scanning for any still hidden dangers, looked up with a smile. "It's just force. Efficiency. The goal is to end the threat as fast as possible, with no wasted motion. Brother Jian's sword art is the real skill. That takes a lifetime of dedication. I don’t have such talents… no rather… I don’t have as much time, my time focused on other areas of cultivation. So I try to keep my combat style as simple as possible."

His straightforwardness and his deflection of the praise seemed to put the disciples at ease. The tall spear-wielder stepped forward. "But your cultivation... you are so young, yet your spiritual energy is immense. How do you train for that?"

This opened the floodgates. For the next hour, they exchanged experiences. Li Yu listened to their grueling training regimens, their endless battles against demons and beasts here on this continent and their specialized team tactics. In turn, he shared some of his own philosophies on cultivation and what he had learned up to this point.

“But please understand that each person has their own path to walk, their own style. What works for me might not work for you and the same can be said in reverse. I have found that only by truly walking your own path can you find the power best suited for you. Of course you should learn from others, reference what others have done to help you along the way. But the true path to the greatest power is your own path and only you can walk that.” Li Yu ended his viewpoints on.

He quickly added “But don’t forget to enjoy yourself along the way, what is cultivation without enjoying the world and those around you.” A reminder to them and quite possibly himself of why he did all of this for.

Then, Li Yu skillfully turned the conversation, his curiosity piqued. "This is a hard war," he said, his gaze drifting to the scarred but beautiful landscape. "But your home... what is it like when it's not on fire? When all this is settled, I would love to explore, to see the real continent. To eat, drink and enjoy all the wonders it has to offer."

The disciples were surprised by the question. It was the first non-war-related thing they had discussed in weeks. A disciple's face lit up, a small nostalgic smile appearing. "Oh, Brother Li, you must try the 'Sunfire Wine' from the Volcanic Ridge. It's like drinking a pleasant warm fire that spreads through your whole body, like you are being hugged by a loved one."

"And the coastal cities, before... before they fell," Anya said softly. "They served Coral-Spiced Fish, wrapped in sea-kelp. The taste was... a memory of the ocean itself."

Another mentioned the 'Sky-Noodle' from a high mountain city, a single meters-long noodle that an entire family would share from a massive communal bowl. They spoke of music, of festivals, of ancient ruins in the deep forests.

Li Yu listened intently to every word. He was a person who tried to never forget why they fought. It wasn't for power or for land. It was to protect the right to live, to enjoy these simple, wonderful things. This wasn't the time for him to enjoy them physically, he knew that. But hearing about them, cataloging them in his mind, was a balm to his soul, a reminder of the life that existed beyond the battlefield.

The ship's formations hummed back to life and the disciples, their spirits visibly lifted from a conversation not on fighting or war, returned to their posts.

At the end of the second day, a new sight appeared on the horizon. It was a massive city, one that rivaled Aethelgard in scale, built into the very side of a colossal, miles-deep canyon that glowed with a faint, reddish light—the Bloodfire Rift. The city there was a fortress, a bastion of stone and steel. Fighting could be seen all across this area for as far as the eye could see.

Theron stood at the prow, his expression grim. "We're here. This is Fort Torrent. It is the primary bastion guarding the main passage across the Rift and it is the key to the entire southern front."

He turned to the group, his eyes hard. "This is where we make our stand. I will be stationed here personally to coordinate the entire southern offensive. From this city, we will break the enemy and take back our land."

The ship angled down, plunging towards the heart of another raging battle but this time they weren't just passing through. They had arrived at their new home.