Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The quiet of the premium courtyard offered a stark contrast to the abrasive winds howling beyond its high walls. Li Yu sat in his main living quarters and meditated for a short time before deciding to step out and check on his retainers. He wanted to ensure the Eidolon experts and his abrasive captive had settled in without issue before training began.

He walked out onto the smooth stone training floor and looked toward the corner where Winter had deployed the spatial pavilion.

The scene that greeted him was mildly amusing. Gart was currently standing near the entrance of the stone pavilion holding a steaming pot of spiritual tea. The captive who had spent his time in the Koi Sanctuary shouting curses and planning insults was now acting with the diligence of a seasoned servant.

"Would you prefer the green leaf blend or the dark roasted root Senior Winter?" Gart asked with a bright and painfully forced smile. He poured a cup with practiced care. "I made sure to boil the water with a gentle technique just as you requested."

Winter accepted the cup with a blank expression. The elite stealth protector was an apex killer of a mighty empire but he was entirely unaccustomed to having a random youth wait on him hand and foot.

"This is adequate." Winter noted before taking a sip.

Gart beamed as if he had just been handed a supreme artifact. He then turned his attention to Solstice who was inspecting his dark armor. "Senior Solstice, your armor is looking a bit dusty from the travel. Allow me to fetch a clean cloth and polish the plating for you. It is the least I can do for such esteemed warriors."

Li Yu watched from the center of the courtyard and raised an eyebrow. He was genuinely surprised to see such a subservient side from Gart. The shark had been aggressive, short tempered and deeply defiant whenever he dealt with Li Yu.

But faced with individuals who were vastly stronger than himself, Gart had instantly adapted. He recognized the hierarchy of the cosmos and was doing the lowly chores to endear himself to the predators of the courtyard.

It was a stark display of survival instinct. It showed that Gart was not just a stubborn fool but someone who could bend to fit the situation he was placed in. Gart noticed Li Yu standing nearby and quickly set the teapot down. He scurried over with a calculating look in his eyes.

"You." Gart whispered while pointing a finger at Li Yu but keeping his voice low enough not to offend the Eidolons. "Who exactly are you? How does a kid like you have so many powerful protectors following you around? They are terrifying."

Li Yu looked at the sweating captive. "They are protecting something else on me. They are not technically here to protect me."

Gart stared at him for a long moment before letting out a quiet scoff of disbelief. He clearly did not buy the explanation. He assumed Li Yu was the hidden heir of some ancient family playing the fool. But Gart did not press the issue. He had learned enough to know when to keep his mouth shut.

"Whatever your secret is, it does not matter to me." Gart muttered before his eyes lit up with genuine excitement. "The large instructor said we could earn our own keep right? He said we could hunt beasts in the desolate zones or take on tasks from the camp boards to trade for cultivation resources."

"He did." Li Yu confirmed.

"That is excellent." Gart rubbed his hands together. "If I can work with these new team members to hunt, I can finally gather the resources I need to advance my own realm. I will make myself useful."

Li Yu nodded in approval. Letting Gart earn his own resources while supervised by the Eidolons was the perfect way to keep the shark busy and out of trouble. His advancement in strength would only be helpful to Li Yu. Li Yu left them to their planning and returned to his quarters to rest for the night.

The next day arrived with the harsh pale light of the desolate realm. Li Yu dressed in his durable dark robes as he stepped out of his courtyard and navigated the dusty paths toward the central gathering point of the camp.

The main plaza was a massive expanse of packed dirt surrounded by towering stone pillars. Over five hundred recruits were already standing in loose formations. The atmosphere was incredibly tense. The abrasive wind whipped through the ranks but the real source of the tension was the collective gaze of the crowd locking onto Li Yu as he approached.

Lei Gang stood on a raised stone platform at the front of the plaza. The mountain of a man crossed his thick arms and looked down at the assembled soldiers.

"Listen up." Lei Gang's deep gravelly voice boomed across the gathering and cut through the howling wind. "We have a late addition to the roster. His name is Li Yu and he is joining the camp today. He will participate in all drills moving forward."

The announcement was met with a heavy silence.

Li Yu took his place near the back of the formation and felt the weight of hundreds of eyes analyzing him. He saw some looks of blatant anger. He saw several looks of deep disdain. Most of the recruits offered neutral but wary glances. The ongoing rumor that he was someone from an important family who had bypassed the rules was firmly entrenched in their minds.

However, because they believed he was from an important family, no one dared to openly antagonize him. The vassal clan’s recruits knew better than to provoke a noble who could ruin their lineages. They mostly just wondered how he would fare in the brutal training regime and secretly hoped he would embarrass himself.

Lei Gang did not waste time on further introductions.

"Today is weight training. It is a different kind of weight training than you have done before. Each one targets a different aspect of training even if they involve weight." Lei Gang announced. He raised his massive hand and channeled his physical Qi. He slammed his palm against the stone platform.

The array carved into the plaza flared with a brilliant silver light. A massive spatial portal tore open directly behind the instructor. It revealed a vast and featureless expanse of smooth grey stone that stretched out to the horizon.

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"Move in." Lei Gang ordered.

The five hundred recruits marched forward and stepped through the portal in an orderly fashion. Li Yu followed the crowd and felt a strange shift in the ambient laws the moment he crossed the threshold.

They stood in the specialized spatial dimension and there was no sky, only a muted grey glow illuminating the endless stone floor.

Lei Gang stepped through the portal last and stood before the group.

"The rules here are simple." Lei Gang explained while his voice echoed in the vast space. "You just have to run. The array governing this dimension will scan your specific cultivation level and apply a weight directly tailored to your level. As you run, the weight will steadily increase."

Li Yu listened intently.

"You may use your Qi, your physical vessel and whatever internal techniques you possess to resist the pressure." Lei Gang continued. "There are no winners or losers here today and there is no finish line. You just need to last as long as you can to train your body. The Zhan clan respects the physical form above all else. A weak vessel cannot do anything! Now run!"

The recruits surged forward instantly. They formed a massive loose pack and began a steady and rhythmic jog across the endless grey stone.

Li Yu started running alongside them. The moment he took his first step, the spatial array above them hummed to life. He felt an invisible force scan his body. A fraction of a second later the tailored weight slammed down onto his shoulders.

It was staggeringly heavy and it was only the beginning. It felt as though he were suddenly carrying the world on his back. Li Yu gritted his teeth and forced his breathing to steady. He circulated his Qi through his meridians to support his muscles and joints.

Despite the crushing pressure, Li Yu found himself smiling internally. He had spent most of his cultivation journey relying on his own trial and error. He was mostly self taught and he had figured out his fighting styles through real combat experience.

He was here to receive proper training for his cultivation and his techniques. This physical tempering was exactly the kind of structured guidance he had been missing. While training today was incredibly simple, he was looking forward to what was to come. It stripped away all the complex variables of combat and forced him to focus purely on the harmony between his Qi and his physical vessel.

He matched the pace of the pack and settled into a grueling rhythm. The first hour passed in relative silence. The only sounds in the dimension were the heavy thuds of boots hitting the stone and the ragged breathing of five hundred cultivators.

The pressure kept increasing roughly every 5 to 10 minutes.

The air grew visibly distorted around the recruits as sweat poured down their faces and hissed as it hit the stone. Some of the weaker recruits began to falter. Their strides grew sloppy and their breathing turned into desperate gasps.

"This is ridiculous." A voice wheezed near the back of the pack.

Zhou Fan, the lazy slacker from a vassal clan slowed his pace significantly. His face was pale and his knees were shaking. He had done the bare minimum required to maintain his pride but the increasing weight was too much for his lax work ethic.

"I did my share." Zhou Fan muttered to himself. He stopped running and let his knees hit the stone. The moment he stopped moving, the array recognized his submission. A soft white light enveloped him and teleported him safely out of the dimension and back to the camp plaza. He was the first to drop out but he was far from the last.

Over the next two hours the steady trickle of dropouts turned into a flood. Cultivators pushed their limits until their Qi reserves ran dry and until their muscles failed. They collapsed on the grey stone and were teleported away in flashes of white light.

Near the front of the pack, Vennia was pushing herself relentlessly. She was drenched in sweat but her form remained perfect. She used a specialized breathing technique to cycle her Qi and stave off exhaustion. Using just enough Qi to help her already strong body to keep going.

She turned her head slightly and scanned the group behind her. Her dark eyes were searching for the pampered noble that stole the place that should have been hers. She fully expected Li Yu to have dropped out by now.

To her immense frustration, she spotted Li Yu running steadily in the middle of the pack.

"How is he still going?" Vennia gritted her teeth. She could see the force his boots were now leaving in the stone, indicating that his personal weight was incredibly high. "He missed the foundational conditioning. He should be coughing blood by now. He must possess some high tier defensive artifact masking his weakness."

She refused to accept that a late arrival that was handed a premium courtyard could match her endurance. She focused her anger into her legs and maintained her aggressive pace.

A few paces away from Vennia, the heavyweight female recruit Zhu Dawa was running with booming heavy steps. Despite her fat frame she moved with a terrifying grace. The gravitational weight seemed to bounce off her sturdy physique.

Zhu Dawa glanced back at Li Yu and offered a wide grin.

"He has a good stride." Zhu Dawa noted while speaking loud enough for the nearby recruits to hear. "His breathing is not erratic, he is not weak at all. This might actually be fun."

Zhan Mingyu, the muscular talent from the main clan, ran at the very front of the entire formation. He carried an aura of absolute superiority to the others. He had barely broken a sweat during the first three hours but the recent weight increase was finally testing his limits.

He heard Zhu Dawa's comment and cast a quick glance over his broad shoulder. He observed Li Yu for a few moments. Zhan Mingyu possessed a keen eye for martial foundations and had seen other geniuses from the clan. He could see that the array was punishing the newcomer far more severely than anyone else yet he was still going.

'His foundation is incredibly solid.' Zhan Mingyu thought to himself. 'The array is trying to crush him and yet he holds his form perfectly. Perhaps the rumors of his noble bloodline are true. Only an elite lineage could forge a vessel like that.'

Zhan Mingyu looked forward again and dismissed the thought. It did not matter who the boy was. Zhan Mingyu intended to outlast everyone in the dimension regardless and prove his Dao.

Somewhere in the middle of the pack, Chen Kaito was struggling. The hardworking standard vassal male was reaching the end of his endurance. His muscles burned with agonizing fire and his Qi pathways ached. He watched Li Yu running with a calm and focused expression just a few paces ahead of him.

'Focus on the breath.' Chen Kaito told himself while forcing his legs to keep moving. 'Do not watch the noble. Do not compare yourself to those born with silver spoons and given countless resources from birth. Just take one more step and show everyone what hard work can achieve.'

Chen Kaito pushed past his limits and managed to stay in the run through sheer determination. Another hour passed and the array increased the weight a significant amount.

The collective groan of the remaining recruits echoed across the grey dimension. It was a brutal spike in gravity that instantly dropped dozens of runners to the floor. The flashes of white teleportation light lit up the space like a localized thunderstorm.

By the time the light faded, about half of the people had dropped out from the original group. The sprawling pack of five hundred had been reduced to a hardened core of two hundred and fifty.

Li Yu was still in the group that was going.

His dark robes were soaked with sweat and his muscles screamed in protest but his mind was crystal clear. He focused on the simple mechanics of placing one foot in front of the other as he adjusted his Qi flow to reinforce himself. His body was adjusting itself to the increased weight as time went on but the increase in weight was much too fast for it to keep up.

He simply kept his eyes on the endless grey horizon and continued to run. He didn’t want to let down the senior that had gone out of her way to let him be here. It was a rare chance for him to get guidance from extremely powerful beings and he didn’t want to let this chance slip by.