Patriarch Cyrus was already convulsing, his eyes rolled back into his skull and red steam was hissing from his pores as he began to incinerate his own longevity to fuel the summoning.

  "GO!" Elder Lumen yelled in their last ditch attempt. The elders knew they were most likely going to die but they listened anyway. What other choice was there?

  Lumen was the fastest. Despite his crushed nose and the backlash rattling his meridians, he moved. He pushed his movement technique to the point of breaking his own legs and his body giving out.

  Lumen was able to become a blur of light as his speed pushed to his limits. He didn’t aim for Li Yu directly though. He aimed to circle, to confuse, to create a chaotic storm of chakrams that would force Li Yu to defend rather than attack to buy time.

  "Flash-Step Arts: Thousand Afterimage Strikes!"

  Lumen split into dozens of illusory copies that filled the gray void with noise and motion. Li Yu didn’t seem to be in a hurry though. He didn’t know that Cyrus was trying to buy ten seconds but he had a feeling something was going on. Li Yu could see and sense Cyrus’s qi flaring and dying at the same time in a strange pattern.

  Angered that Li Yu wasn’t reacting to his technique at all, Lumen appeared behind Li Yu. Lumen’s real body was clutching a dagger made of pure spiritual qi and aimed for the base of Li Yu's skull. "Die, you monster!" he yelled internally to himself.

  Li Yu still didn’t move and continued to look at Cyrus and analyze him. Instead of Li Yu, the golden Koi Soul surged with power. It was a heavy, crushing pressure that radiated out from it. A golden portal appeared between it and Elder Lumen. It moved one of its claws through the golden portal and clawed at Elder Lumen.

  HUMMMMMM.

  From the golden portal, a massive spectral claw materialized. It carried the pressure of an ancient beast that seemed to have transcended this reality. It was ancient, regal and terrifyingly heavy.

  "Leviathan’s Strike!"

  The claw slammed down like a judge’s gavel. This technique used to be the Koi Soul striking out with its tail, however, after its evolution its body was much too massive for quick tail movements. When the technique was unleashed, the Koi Soul instead attacked with one of its many claws.

  It hit Lumen before his dagger could reach within a foot of Li Yu.

  There was no scream of pain. The spiritual pressure of the Koi Soul was a direct attack on the mind and soul, coupled with the physical weight of the soul projection. Lumen’s body simply folded. His eyes went blank instantly as his sea of consciousness was flattened by the majestic will of the Leviathan.

  His body dropped like a stone and completely devoid of life before it even hit the floor.

  Elder Vokin had used Lumen’s attack as a distraction to vanish completely. He had burned his blood essence to merge with the gray mist of the void pocket. He was invisible to the naked eye, invisible to thermal senses and nearly invisible to spiritual sense.

  He crept toward Li Yu’s exposed throat just like Lumen had done. His daggers coated in a poison so potent it could melt through spiritual shielding. This was a combination attack, if one failed another would succeed.

  ‘I have him,’ Vokin thought as his heart was hammering against his ribs. ‘He is arrogant. He thinks he has won. Just one cut…’

  He lunged, timing his attack with Lumen’s. Then he saw it, Lumen’s lifeless body dropping to the ground behind Li Yu with no signs of any attack hitting him. This made him stutter in his attack but it truly didn’t really matter if he did or not.

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  Li Yu’s left hand shot out to where Vokin’s neck was. He hadn’t even turned to look. He simply reached into the empty air to his left and grabbed. His hand closed around Vokin’s throat, squeezing tight enough to crack the windpipe.

  Vokin’s stealth shattered. He materialized dangling in Li Yu’s grip, his daggers falling uselessly into the void. His eyes bulged with terror. "H-How?"

  "You're trying to hide in the void?" Li Yu said, looking at the struggling Elder with mild pity. "In a void pocket that I created? That’s like trying to hide from a fish in a glass bowl."

  He slammed Vokin into the ground as destructive qi flowed through Vokin’s body. Vokin coughed up blood upon impact with the ground and was trying to get up. Vokin tried to gather all of his qi but Li Yu’s own destructive qi was destroying any bit of qi from gathering. It was a last ditch plan to detonate his own core and entire cultivation to injury Li Yu but even that was failing.

  Above them the opalescent ocean of the Fisherman Soul churned. The Fisherman raised his rod once again. The second time he was taking action in this fight. The hook descended as it did before. It was not seeking a dead soul this time but a living one.

  Vokin screamed as he felt the cold ethereal metal snag his very essence. The Fisherman yanked instantly.

  Vokin’s body arched in an unnatural bow. A glowing ball was ripped violently from his physical shell. It wasn’t a clean extraction. It was tearing and extremely agonizing. The mental pain was beyond description. The soul was dragged into the opalescent water. Leaving behind a hollow warm corpse behind.

  Li Yu stepped over Vokin’s body. Only Elder Brek now remained.

  The defensive specialist stood directly in front of Cyrus. His War-Bear was already gone and his Rhino spirit shattered and couldn’t reform. His body wasn’t in much better shape with his ribs broken. He held a backup hammer with trembling hands. He was the only thing standing between Li Yu and the Patriarch.

  Brek looked at the two corpses behind Li Yu. He looked at the monster walking toward him. And he lowered his hammer.

  He didn't drop it. He just lowered it to a resting position. He knew.

  "That technique," Brek rasped as blood was bubbling at the corner of his lips. He nodded toward the black staff in Li Yu's hand. "That staff and those staff techniques. They are spectacular. Can I ask you a question?"

  Li Yu paused. "Yes?"

  "Does it have a name?" Brek asked. His eyes were dimming but there was a spark of martial curiosity there. There was also a little spark of loyalty, he was going to buy his patriarch some time with conversation.

  Elder Brek was a warrior wanting to know what killed him. "I have studied hammer arts for four hundred years. I have never seen force and power generated like that. I would like to know… before I go."

  Li Yu looked at the staff in his hands. He looked at the dying Elder. He had a vague feeling that this elder and the other two were trying to stall him. To stall for time for whatever it was that Cyrus was doing over there.

  It might have been overconfidence or it could have been curiosity. Either way, Li Yu had planned to wait for him to finish his technique and see what it was. It didn’t seem harmful to anyone but himself. If there were more people here, he wouldn’t have acted this way, finishing things immediately.

  "It has a name," Li Yu said softly. "The original creator… he was a person who enjoyed wine and had simple tastes. He called it ‘Drunken Monkey Destroying the World’."

  Brek blinked. A wheezing laugh escaped his chest that turned into a cough.

  "Drunken Monkey… Destroying the World," Brek repeated, shaking his head. "What a ridiculous name. What a… fitting name."

  “I didn’t have the heart to change the name, even after I have modified it quite heavily. However, its essence is still there. You are right, it is quite fitting.”

  He closed his eyes and was at peace with himself. "I am ready."

  As those words were said, the sky darkened as a massive shadow descended. Tekton had been waiting patiently. He swooped down and his jaws opened wide enough to swallow a carriage.

  CRUNCH.

  Tekton bit down. He took Brek’s upper body in a single efficient motion.

  However, the beast paused, tilting his head. With a surprising amount of delicacy, Tekton used his tongue to separate the spatial ring from the severed finger inside his mouth. He spat the ring out, letting it clatter to the floor near Li Yu, before swallowing the rest of the meal.

  "Good job," Li Yu praised as he was picking up the ring. "Don't eat the resources unless I say it is okay."

  Li Yu looked over at Cyrus. The Patriarch of the Crimson Fang was unrecognizable. His skin had withered and was clinging to his skull like wet parchment. His hair had turned from white to a dull lifeless gray and was falling out in clumps. He had burned 90% or more of his own life force. He had burned his blood. He had burned his future.

  But he had succeeded.