After flying away from the headquarters Tekton landed and turned back into the bracelet on Li Yu’s arm.

  "Walking," Li Yu said as he was adjusting the strap of his travel pack, "is good for the soul. It connects you to the earth. It lets you see the world at a human pace. The trip will be much more enjoyable this way."

  On his wrist, Tekton let out a chittering noise that sounded suspiciously like a scoff.

  "Don't give me that attitude," Li Yu muttered while stepping over a large root. "If we fly, we miss the details. We miss the smell of this continent. We miss the..." He paused, sniffing the air. "...is that burning fur?"

  They were roughly a day out from the Alliance Headquarters if traveling on foot and were traveling along the main road leading out from there which was named the Five Alliance’s Road. Li Yu had decided to suppress his cultivation aura completely. To the casual observer, he was just a mortal traveler—albeit one with high-quality robes and a very strange metal pet. He wanted to see the continent not as a generic map of strategic resources to be defended but as a place where people lived, ate and struggled.

  The road wound through a region known as the Whispering Plains. Tall, hollow rock formations jutted out of the ground like broken teeth and whistling as the wind blew through them.

  As they rounded a bend, the source of the smell became apparent. A small roadside inn, "The Whistling Kettle," was puffing black smoke from its kitchen chimney.

  "Lunch," Li Yu declared, patting Tekton’s head segment. "And possibly a lesson on fire control. Look at all that smoke."

  The inside of The Whistling Kettle was chaotic. It was lunch rush and the inn was packed with travelers, merchants and low-level mercenaries. The air was thick with the smell of cheap ale and scorched meat.

  Li Yu found a small table in the corner. He set Tekton down on the table. The centipede uncoiled slightly, raising his head to inspect the salt shaker.

  A harried waitress slammed a wooden cup of water onto the table. "Stew or roast? We’re out of bread."

  "Roast," Li Yu said. "And what is the roast today?"

  "Rock-Lizard," she said, already turning away. "It’s chewy. Don't complain. It’s that or nothing at all."

  Ten minutes later, a plate was dropped in front of him. It was a slab of greyish meat, charred on the outside and glistening with grease.

  Li Yu picked up his knife and fork. He sawed at the meat. The meat resisted. He applied a little bit of Qi to his arms—just enough to bend steel—and managed to finally cut a piece. He put it in his mouth.

  It tasted like a salted boot that had been left in a sulfur mine.

  Li Yu sighed and tried swallowing the lump with difficulty. He looked around. Everyone else was eating it with grim determination. This was just food to them. Fuel. It could be because this was a time of war but the conditions didn’t seem very good. This was not that far away from the Alliance Headquarters either.

  He stood up and picked up his plate. He walked toward the kitchen.

  "Hey! You can't go back there!" the waitress shouted.

  Li Yu smiled back at her but chose to ignore her. He slipped through the swinging doors. The kitchen was a sauna. A large, sweaty man—presumably the chef—was hacking at a carcass with a cleaver that looked more like a splitting axe.

  "Excuse me," Li Yu said.

  The chef spun around with his cleaver raised. "Get out! Kitchen's for staff!"

  "I just have a question," Li Yu said, holding up the grey meat. "Why do you hate this lizard?"

  The chef blinked, confused. "What?"

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  "You hate it," Li Yu pointed to the scorching hot griddle where the meat was sizzling violently. "You’re cooking it over high heat without marinating it. The muscle fibers of a Rock-Lizard are dense. High heat just tightens them up. You’re serving granite."

  "It's lizard!" the chef barked. "It's tough meat! That's how it is!"

  "It doesn't have to be," Li Yu said. He spotted a basket of sour plums in the corner. "May I?"

  Without waiting for an answer, Li Yu grabbed a handful of plums. He crushed them in his hand, juice dripping into a bowl. He added a splash of the cheap ale, some crushed garlic and a pinch of coarse salt.

  "Give me a fresh cut," Li Yu ordered. The authority in his voice was subtle but undeniable—the tone of a head chef in his domain.

  The baffled chef felt like he had to obey and handed him a raw slice.

  Li Yu tossed it into the bowl. He then began massaging the acidic mixture into the meat for thirty seconds. "The acid from this breaks down the meat. Normally you’d want an hour, but if you massage it with power and intent..." Li Yu used his strength to give it an intense finger massage. "...thirty seconds works."

  He tossed the meat onto the hottest part of the griddle. Sizzle. He flipped it once and then took it off.

  "Try it."

  The chef looked at the meat and then back at Li Yu. He picked it up with his fingers and took a bite.

  His eyes went wide. He chewed. He swallowed.

  "It... it melts," the chef whispered.

  "It’s not bad meat," Li Yu wiped his hands on a rag. "It’s just misunderstood. Use the plums. Hire someone with some cultivation to give it a power massage after it's been marinating in the acid and it should be much more tender. Or cook it slowly but I am guessing you aren’t doing that because you have no time. You’ll sell twice as much and people can actually enjoy the food. People shouldn't go to battle on bad food."

  He walked back out to the dining room without another word. He left the chef staring at the griddle and deep in thought. Those last words from Li Yu stuck with him. The chef had only been trying to get the food out and not caring as much about the taste and quality. However, these people were most likely going off to fight. It was the least he could do to make sure they had a good meal, it could be their last.

  As Li Yu sat back down, he noticed the waitress staring at him with nasty looks. He smiled back at her again and popped a piece of the tenderized meat into his mouth. He had indeed over stepped but he wanted to improve the quality here by just a bit.

  "Please give me the bill."

  After leaving the inn Li Yu proceeded to walk East. The landscape shifted as they walked East. The rocky plains gave way to rolling hills covered in vibrant purple grass. This was the Violet Graze region, famous for its Spirit Yaks and the peaceful, pastoral life of its inhabitants.

  Walking was proving to be exactly what Li Yu needed. His boots were dusty, his skin was tanned from the sun and his mind was becoming more clear. He wasn’t completely idle as he walked. His second mind was delving into the rivers of the different laws as he went on. He was making some progress down each of them but progress was slow.

  The only two where progress was fast was the River of Time and River of Soul but in both he didn’t feel like his understanding was increasing by much.

  ‘It’s a long journey, not a sprint.’ Li Yu reminded himself constantly as he was enjoying his journey through this continent as well. ‘I will get there when the time is right, there’s no need to rush.’

  Tekton seemed to be enjoying it too. This was not something he had ever done before. His life had been one of constantly hiding and on edge. While he was strong, he was timid and avoided danger. Now, he was free to roam, explore and enjoy. He would occasionally scuttle off into the tall grass to chase field mice. He never actually caught them though. Perhaps he just liked the chase before darting back to coil around Li Yu’s arm.

  Around midday they came across a commotion on the road.

  A merchant caravan was stuck. A recent flash flood had turned a dip in the road into a mud pit and three heavy wagons were bogged down to the axles. The oxen were straining, their hooves slipping in the muck. The drivers were shouting, whips cracking but the wagons weren't moving.

  Traffic was backed up. Other travelers were standing around watching and offering useless advice. Li Yu walked up to the edge of the pit. The mud was deep and thick, smelling of rot and clay.

  "Give it a rest." Li Yu called out to the lead driver who was about to lash the exhausted oxen again. "You’re just scaring the beasts."

  The driver, a red-faced man covered in mud, glared at him. "Unless you have a team of horses in your pocket, keep walking, traveler! I need to get moving one way or another."

  Li Yu adjusted his pack. "I don't have horses. I do have some strength though. I was born strong."

  He waded into the mud. It squelched up to his knees. The onlookers murmured—why would a man in such nice robes ruin them?

  Li Yu walked to the back of the heaviest wagon. He placed his hands on the tailgate.

  "On my count!" Li Yu shouted to the driver. "Guide them forward! Don't whip them, just guide them!"

  "You're crazy!" the driver yelled back. "That wagon weighs too push. I had to overload it to meet my quota! You can't push it!"

  "One! Two! Three!"

  Li Yu pushed. He engaged the muscles of his legs and back, muscles tempered by a cultivation body that could shatter mountains. To the onlookers, it looked like he was straining incredibly hard with his veins popping. In reality, he was trying to not break anything but still look like he was trying hard.