Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The morning mist hovered over the calm waters of the Five Star Lakes as Li Yu began his grueling daily routine. He was still dedicating a large portion of his energy toward lifting the staff left behind by Khaos but his path required a delicate balance. He could not neglect the other arts he had accumulated over his journey as each was important towards his goal.

He settled onto a flat stone near the water edge and initiated the Mantra. His Human Soul acted as the center as he carefully proceeded with having his souls work in tandem. As usual, the process was draining for his soul strength and he quickly had to stop after just a short session.

He shifted his focus to the Boundless Source Scripture while simultaneously running his Nexus technique, both techniques could be worked on together since one focused on the body and Qi while the other the mind. Li Yu found that using the Nexus technique immediately after the mantra helped to make better progress in the technique.

Many of these methods placed a heavy burden on his physique, Qi and soul. He could only practice them for short periods each day before needing to stop so he could recover. So while the sessions were often painful and grueling, they didn’t take up that much of his day. He just had to ensure that he went through them each day so he could make steady and continuous progress.

While his physical body and soul endured this strain, his second mind was far away. It continuously pushed his understanding of the universal laws in the background of his daily life when he did not need it to do anything else. He had long since reached a frustrating bottleneck after arriving at the Paragon realm and it required deep meditation to navigate.

The laws he possessed a higher understanding for had hit a rigid ceiling. He had maxed out his progression up to the 10,000th step for the laws of Life, Destruction, Decay, Void, Storm, Lightning, Water, Wind and various other elemental concepts. He stood at the edge of that precipice and looked out into the vast expanse of the Dao.

There seemed to be some fundamental step he was missing to break past this specific boundary. The concepts danced around him in his mental space but the final key eluded his grasp. However, simply meditating at the 10,000th step allowed his understanding of the laws to deepen further.

He could feel the texture of the elements and the subtle shifts in reality with greater clarity every day. The destructive power of lightning felt more localized while his command over the void felt more natural as he spent time reflecting on that threshold. He had asked his parents and grandfather about it before but their answer was not very helpful.

“To break through the 10,000th step requires inspiration, chance or simply luck. In short you need a catalyst of sorts. Enlightenment is the word that is usually used. No one can directly show you towards that door. You might gain inspiration from others or from some mundane thing but no one can forcefully break that step for you.” Li Yu’s mom had told him. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Some people never break through the 10,000th step in that particular law. It usually means they are not destined or don’t have an affinity towards it. Or it could be something else entirely. Most are not meant to walk so many paths, Li Yu. You will most likely only break this barrier with a few of the laws.” His father had said.

“Don’t listen to those two, they are weak and narrow minded. All paths lead towards the Dao so theoretically speaking, you should be able to break through all laws. Sometimes making really good progress in one law will make it easier to break through the others. But your parents are somewhat right, focusing down on a few is usually the better option as people only have so much time.” His grandfather finally said.

Li Yu’s thoughts drifted back to the present as he focused on different laws. The rivers of law for Time and Soul offered a very different experience. He was able to walk freely through those currents without encountering the same rigid barriers that stopped his progress in the others.

This freedom was due to his unique spiritual foundation but he still did not truly understand why. The ethereal Koi soul swam effortlessly through the River of Time and allowed him to observe for as many steps as he wanted. His Fisherman soul navigated the deep and treacherous waters of the Soul river with ancient expertise.

Yet he still saw no end to the paths no matter how long he walked. He felt he barely made any tangible progress within those specific laws despite the lack of resistance. The rivers stretched into the unknown and demanded an immense amount of patience to traverse without revealing any knowledge.

‘Since there is no resistance, I am not able to learn or glean anything from it…’ Was Li Yu’s ongoing theory about it. However, it did not stop him from walking these rivers whenever he could, hoping to find some clues anyways.

There were several other laws where he only stood at the 5,000th step. These included the esoteric laws of Fate, Karma and Yin-Yang. He knew these concepts required life experience and enlightenment to advance. They were intricate threads tying the universe together and pulling on them too quickly could result in backlash, so he took his time to observe their subtle influences over the world around him.

Li Yu trained in this repetitious and exhaustive manner for roughly one and a half months. He spent his days cycling his arts and his evenings wrestling with the unyielding weight of Star Abyss. The dark weapon remained firmly planted in the soil by the lake despite his constant efforts to tear it from the ground.

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On one particular afternoon the sun beat down on the grassy banks and Li Yu found himself staring at the weapon with blurry vision. He was drained from trying to pull the staff out for hours on end. Li Yu did not have much physical strength left to even move his arms so he simply sat in the dirt to practice his other internal techniques.

He closed his eyes and turned his attention inward toward his soul space. He had been refining his spirits individually and achieving high resonance between pairs. Today, he wanted to attempt something far more ambitious since his body was too tired to move and he felt he was ready. He sought to harmonize his entire spiritual foundation into a single chord.

He reached out with his consciousness and commanded his five distinct souls to align as he used his human soul as the central anchor to bear the heavy burden of the connection. The ethereal Koi swam in a tight circle around the anchor while the imposing Whale soul drifted below to provide a stable base. Muddy stood firm beside the human spirit to lend its stubborn endurance as the Fisherman stepped forward to cast his intent over the gathering.

The diverse energies clashed and repelled one another several times before they finally began to settle into a shared rhythm. It took hours of delicate manipulation and intense focus to get this far. For the first time since he had awakened them, Li Yu managed to get all five of his souls to resonate together at once rather than separately as he had done before.

What he didn’t realize was that this wasn’t the first time. There were already a few times where his five souls had already resonated with one another but he wasn’t aware of that. This was the first time they resonated through his own efforts though.

The initial resonance between them was still really low in intensity. It was a fragile harmony that required his utmost concentration to maintain without shattering. Yet as the five spirits vibrated in unison, Li Yu could clearly feel the resulting power output. It was vastly more potent than a high resonance achieved with just two souls. The combined spiritual pressure flooded his meridians and revitalized his exhausted mind with a surge of clarity.

He analyzed the connections within the harmony and noticed a specific detail. The bond between his human soul and the Koi soul had actually become the furthest along in terms of resonance over the course of his long training. Their energies intertwined seamlessly and provided the strong core needed to keep the other three spirits in check.

Li Yu smiled as a wave of satisfaction washed over his tired body. He opened his eyes and knew he was finally on the right path toward mastering his complex spiritual foundation. His moment of triumph was interrupted by a subtle vibration in the physical world. He looked forward and noticed Star Abyss shaking slightly in the dirt. The dark staff hummed with a low frequency as his five souls continued to resonate together within his body.

The realization hit him like a physical blow, the staff was not just a test of physical strength or Qi density as he had initially thought. It responded to the weight and density of his soul as well. Li Yu pushed himself up from the ground despite the lingering fatigue in his muscles and he walked over to the vibrating weapon.

He wrapped his calloused hands around the cold grip as he closed his eyes and focused entirely on maintaining the delicate five soul resonance while drawing upon whatever fragments of Qi he had left in his core. He pulled upward with all his might as the muscles in his back coiled tightly and his boots dug deep into the soil.

The earth groaned and the staff finally shifted for the very first time. It moved just a fraction of an inch but it was the first real sign of progress he had seen in the past month and a half. The sudden exertion proved to be too much for his depleted state however. The fragile harmony in his soul space shattered as his concentration wavered under the heavy strain. His physical strength gave out a second later and he collapsed onto the grass while gasping for air, laying flat on his back.

The staff settled back into its original position but a bright spark of hope burned in his chest. He knew the secret now and he just needed a fresh start to prove it. Li Yu spent the rest of the evening meditating and resting his weary body.

He consumed a few high grade recovery pills to soothe his strained meridians and ensure his spiritual sea was calm. He woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to apply his new discovery to the stubborn weapon.

He walked out to the garden as the early light cast long shadows across the lake. Star Abyss stood waiting like an unyielding monolith. Li Yu did not rush the process today, he stood before the weapon and initiated his internal techniques to prepare his mind and body for the immense burden ahead.

He centered his human soul and slowly drew the Koi, the Whale, Muddy and the Fisherman into his technique. The familiar hum of the five soul resonance filled his being as the power surged through his veins. The harmony enhanced his physical Paragon strength with spiritual density and gave him the foundation he needed to challenge the staff.

He reached out and gripped the staff as he flared his Qi to its absolute peak and pulled with every ounce of strength and energy he possessed. The dark metal groaned against the earth and sent a deep tremor through the garden.

Li Yu gritted his teeth as the immense pressure pushed back against his grip. He poured his resonant soul energy into his arms and forced the weapon upward. The starry speckles on the metal seemed to glow as the staff finally broke its static hold on the dirt.

He pulled it out by half an inch. The weapon hovered in his hands as he fought a desperate battle against the crushing restriction holding it down. His muscles screamed in agony while his Qi reserves plummeted at a terrifying rate.

The struggle lasted for exactly ten seconds and in that brief window of extreme exertion, he drained himself completely in body, soul and Qi. The combined toll was catastrophic to his stamina and his vision began to darken at the edges. His hands lost their grip and the staff slid through his fingers before sinking heavily back down into the dirt.

Li Yu fell backward and stared up at the morning clouds once again. His chest heaved and his limbs felt like they were made of lead. He had poured his entire existence into those ten seconds just to achieve half an inch of movement.

He rolled his head to the side and glared at the dark weapon resting peacefully in the grass. A deep sense of frustration bubbled up through his exhaustion as he realized just how long this training was going to take. He cursed Khaos loudly and yelled at the sky to return his previous staff because this new one was simply too much to deal with.