Li Yu didn't walk back to his camp; he trudged. The adrenaline of the fight and the shock of the dimensional ejection were wearing off. All that was left behind was a bone-deep exhaustion. When he emerged from the darkness of the gorge, the army cheered for his return.

  "Commander!"

  Sect Master Zhou and Patriarch Han rushed forward to meet him. Their faces were a mixture of relief and panic. Behind them, the entire army stood at attention, ready to storm hell if he hadn't shown up. Everyone had been nervous but had been mostly calmed by Si Luo and Bai Ruo.

  "I'm fine," Li Yu waved them off before they could start the interrogation. "Negotiations concluded. They left." Everyone could tell that he looked much more tired than before but they didn’t question him any further. If he wanted to tell them then he would. Otherwise, they didn’t need to know. The fact that he was safe was enough for them.

  Si Luo and Bai Ruo materialized next to him. They had both been worried about him, more than they thought they would be. Their friendship had started in a strange place due to how they had met. However, after traveling so long together, the three of them had started to become real friends. Their eyes scanned him for injuries.

  "Li Yu," Si Luo whispered urgently. "That space... where did you go? We lost you completely. Where are those people?"

  "Later," Li Yu muttered to them while stifling a yawn that cracked his jaw. "I'm tired right now and need to rest. I don't want to talk about it right now. Please keep watch for me. Don't let anyone disturb me."

  "Okay," Bai Ruo promised. They could see how tired and exhausted he was. The two of them hadn’t seen him this worn down since joining the team. Judging from how he was, it wasn’t easy in there.

  Li Yu nodded gratefully to them. He walked over to Tekton who was curled up near the perimeter. The centipede lifted his head, chittering a soft greeting to Li Yu.

  Li Yu climbed onto the flat plate of Tekton’s head and laid flat down. He extended his arms and legs and spread out wide. He stared at the stars for a bit before he was asleep minutes later.

  In the white silence of the pocket dimension, there was no sleep. There was only the ragged sound of terror.

  The five members of the group stood amidst the wreckage of their artificial world. The white sand was churned into glass. The sky was cracked. And the air still tasted of the death that had nearly claimed them.

  Grandma Gui was leaning heavily on her cane. Her two hands were trembling uncontrollably. She was a cultivator who could command legions, yet she felt as fragile as a mortal in a tiger cage.

  "That hook..." she wheezed while rubbing the spot on her forehead where the phantom metal had almost touched. "It didn't target my body. It targeted my soul. My very being itself. If he had landed that..."

  "You would have been erased from the cycle," Scholar Mo finished for her. His voice was hollow as it sounded out. He was staring at the spot where Li Yu had vanished.

  "He lives up to his lineage," Mo then whispered. "No... he exceeds them. He is a complete freak. I have never seen someone like him before, in any realm. Yet he comes from this one. Without any care or guidance as well."

  "What do you mean," Hao rasped. He was sitting on the ground. His pride shattered more than anything else. He had been praised since birth as being talented. Yet just moments ago he was powerless to face someone at the same level when he had better equipment. He couldn’t even think how he could have defeated Li Yu.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "His physical parameters," Mo analyzed in his mind. His eyes were darting back and forth as he replayed the battle in his mind. "The density of his flesh, the explosive power of his muscles... that is undeniably from his mother's side. Her clan is known for producing monsters of physical prowess."

  He paced nervously.

  "But his Qi... that heavy, world-crushing and limitless power? That should be from his father. He has inherited the best of both bloodlines. Many within the same clan don’t even inherit anything but it seemed he got the best trait of both. It is unfair. It is a biological impossibility."

  "But the souls?" Auntie Lan asked while retracting her vines. "The fish like serpent? That Fisherman? Neither of his parents or their clans are known for the soul, especially something of that magnitude. And two Nascent Souls? He’s also only mid-stage Soul Formation. That soul attack earlier… that is freakish even for our realm."

  "I do not know," Mo admitted. "His soul strength is beyond anything that he should have. Neither of his parents are known for it either as you said. Perhaps a mutation? Or a third inheritance we are unaware of? It’s hard to say. He is a freak."

  "It does not matter," Yue said. She stood apart from them and was staring at her hands. "He refused my request. The oath still remains."

  "We take him again," Hao growled out loud but his voice lacked conviction. It would be difficult to do such a thing against such a freak with the imposed rules from the oath. "We prepare better."

  "You will do no such thing." The voice didn't come from them. It came from everywhere at once and shook the entire realm.

  It was a voice of absolute, crushing authority. A voice that sounded like a god calling down from the heavens. The white sky turned black.

  Not the black of night but the black of Nothing. The cracks Li Yu had made in the dimension didn't heal; they tore open, bleeding darkness into the pocket world.

  THUD.

  Hao hit the ground face first. He didn't choose to; his legs simply gave out. Scholar Mo dropped to his knees and was vomiting blood. Auntie Lan collapsed. This was happening when they were at their full cultivation level.

  Even Grandma Gui, with her higher cultivation, was forced to kneel on both knees. Her cane snapped under the weight of the presence.

  Yue tried to stand. She channeled every ounce of her prodigious talent and her pride. But the weight seemed infinite and ending. Immediately, she was forced to her knees and her head bowed against her will.

  A figure stepped out of the darkness. It was the person that had saved Grandma Gui earlier and ejected Li Yu from this world.

  Grandma Gui looked up, her eyes bulging. She recognized that energy. Every monster in the Higher Realms recognized that energy.

  "VoidClaw..." she whispered. Her voice filled with a terror that eclipsed her earlier fear of the hook.

  "You arrogant bugs," the figure rumbled. Khaos looked down at them. He wasn't just angry. He was disgusted.

  "I have spent this time sealing off this area because of you people," Khaos said. His voice was dripping with venom. "Hiding your energy signatures. Masking the ripples of your incompetence. Do you know why?"

  He stepped closer to Grandma Gui.

  "Because if they detected what you just did... if they saw you... you and your entire clan would be destroyed within moments. More importantly, you would have harmed the young lord and what his parents are trying to do."

  "Lord VoidClaw," Grandma Gui pressed her forehead into the sand but voluntarily this time. "We... we did not know he was being protected by you. We meant no permanent harm!"

  "You dare to say that when you threw a Time-Lock Amber at him?" Khaos snarled. "If I hadn't stepped in to parry his soul's defense earlier, that Fisherman would have eaten your existence. And then I would have had to explain why I allowed someone from your clan to die here."

  He turned his burning eyes to Yue.

  "And you. Is this how your clan repays its debts?"

  Yue flinched but held her ground. She was straining against the pressure to look up at him.

  "Your clan exists because his mother's lineage saved you," Khaos roared. "Countless times as well. They shielded you and your kind. They gave you sanctuary when the stars aligned against you. And this is your gratitude? Ambushing their heir here?"

  "I..." Yue swallowed hard. "I want to control my own fate."

  "Fate?" Khaos laughed. It was a terrible sound. "You want freedom from a promise made by your betters?"