The night prior had passed with a familiar, yet distinct, rhythm.

  Si Luo, fueled perhaps by the lingering confidence of her drinking victory or simply bored by the tranquility of the village, had attempted another "ambush" in their suite. She did not do it just because of this though, Li Yu thought it was a good idea for training to have these ambushes. So he wasn’t ready and couldn’t prepare like the last time she did.

  She had dissolved her dress, revealing the dangerously revealing attire she wore in her natural state. She then draped herself across the bamboo furniture with the intent to shatter Li Yu’s composure.

  It was a formidable offensive. A siege engine of beauty designed to level cities.

  But Li Yu’s fortress held.

  He had looked at her, appreciated the aesthetics with the calm detachment of an art critic evaluating a sculpture and simply tossed her a blanket. "You'll catch a cold, Princess. I think the training has been paying off. I am nothing like before."

  Si Luo had stared at him, baffled, before finally retreating to her own bed with a huff of frustrated amusement. She was both proud of him as well as frustrated that she couldn’t tease him like before. It seemed the tea, or perhaps just repeated exposure to her antics had forged Li Yu’s willpower into iron. He had slept soundly, unplagued by any restless dreams. Li Yu had grown up slightly.

  The next morning, the trio found themselves back at the breakfast stall by the stream.

  "Where to next?" Li Yu asked, tearing into a steamed bun. "We have about two weeks before the Founding Banquet. We could head north to the Glacial Peaks? Or maybe south to the Coral Coast?"

  "The Glacial Peaks would offer a unique ice-element phenomena," Bai Ruo suggested, sipping soy milk. "However, the ambient temperature requires heavy thermal gear that we would need to purchase."

  "I vote for the coast," Si Luo said. She was looking at a map she had acquired. "I wish to eat a crab larger than myself."

  "A worthy goal," Li Yu nodded. "Coast it is. We can—"

  BOOM!

  The air rippled.

  A shockwave, sharp and violent, tore through the morning calm. It originated from the forest edge, about two miles east of the village proper. Birds scattered in a frantic cloud. The water in the stream shuddered and disrupted the lazy swim of the koi living there.

  Li Yu stopped chewing. His eyes, warm and relaxed a second ago, went cold.

  "They interrupted breakfast," Li Yu said coldly.

  "There must be a fight going on over there," Bai Ruo stated and stood up instantly. "Multiple assailants. Lots of killing intent."

  "We go," Li Yu said.

  He didn't run over there. He blurred. One moment he was sitting; the next, he was a streak of afterimages fading in the wind. Si Luo and Bai Ruo vanished alongside him.

  After staying here and enjoying the place, they didn't want this violence to reach the village. Green-Hollow was a sanctuary of peace, of retired soldiers and playing children. Li Yu wouldn't let blood stain the bamboo.

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  Two miles away, in a clearing of broken stalks and churned earth, the siblings of the Divine Wind Sect were fighting for their lives. The people that came with them were heavily injuried and they weren’t doing so well either.

  Feng Wei was on one knee, his silver robes slashed and stained with red. His sword was glowing with desperate wind Qi and was deflecting a barrage of attacks. Behind him, Feng Xi was pale, her hands moving in a blur as she maintained a faltering defensive barrier around them.

  Surrounding them were twenty figures in black and tight-fitting armor. Their faces were covered by featureless white masks. They moved with the silent and coordinated lethality of professional killers.

  Leading them was a giant of a man. He stood nearly seven feet tall, his skin grey and rocky, wielding a massive spiked mace that dripped with green venom.

  "Give it up, Elder Feng," the hulk rumbled, his voice like grinding stones. "The Divine Wind Sect is far away. No one is coming now. You die here today."

  "Who sent you?" Feng Wei grit out while coughing up blood. "The Iron-Blood Hall? The Shadow-Viper?"

  "Does it matter?" The hulk laughed. "The coin is spent. The contract is sealed."

  He raised the mace. His aura flared to its maximum. It was the strength of a Mid-Stage Core Formation. He was stronger than the siblings, especially with them exhausted and outnumbered.

  "Goodbye, geniuses," the hulk sneered at the them.

  He swung the mace down and was aiming to crush Feng Wei into paste. As he was swinging down he heard it. Words that drifted from above.

  "The only mistake you made," a voice thundered from the sky, "was picking this location."

  "And attacking people I like."

  Li Yu was falling at an incredible speed.

  He wasn't floating or flying. He was dropping, accelerating with gravity and his own terrifying physical power. He fell feet first and his body was shrouded in dark light. It looked like a dark meteor tearing through the atmosphere and gave off no light.

  The hulk tried to redirect his mace upward but it was much too late by the time he realized it.

  CRACK-BOOM.

  Li Yu slammed into the hulk. There was no technique used or fancy martial art name. Just the raw mass of a body tempered to the extreme and fury.

  The earth exploded. A crater formed and snapped the surrounding bamboo like twigs. Dust and debris shot outward in a shockwave that knocked the assassins off their feet.

  When the dust settled, Li Yu was standing in the center of the crater.

  The hulk was gone.

  There was no body where the man once stood. No scream. Just a fine mist of red and grey hanging in the air, slowly dissipating. One stomp. Total annihilation.

  The assassins froze at the sudden change of events. Their leader, a powerhouse of their organization, had been erased in a blink.

  Before the assassins could yell to retreat, it happened.

  Above the clearing, the sky darkened. Abyssal Javelins rained down like a storm of judgment.

  Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.

  It happened in the same heartbeat as Li Yu’s attack. The javelins moved too quickly and were seeking their targets with sentient precision. They punched through defensive barriers, armor, and flesh with zero resistance.

  Every assassin who was there crumpled instantly. The void energy consumed them, leaving nothing behind but empty armor and silence.

  Within the span of Li Yu’s words the battle was over.

  Li Yu stepped out of the crater he had created and he waved his hand. The storage rings from the fallen assassins flew into his palm.

  He tossed the handful of rings to Feng Wei.

  "Check them," Li Yu said calmly. "See if there's any way to identify where these people came from. I would like to have words from a group that would dare to disrupt the peace around here."

  Feng Wei caught the rings and his hands were trembling. Not only from the damage and pain he was suffering. He was stunned by what had just happened. He looked at the crater where the hulk used to be. It was a man stronger than him and he was erased in an instant. He looked at the empty armor of the twenty assassins that beat back the inner disciples with them. He looked at Li Yu.

  The pieces clicked into place. His unknown suspicions from yesterday and why Li Yu looked so awkward whenever Commander Li was discussed. The overwhelming physical strength. The command over the Void. The "rogue cultivator" who traveled with two strange but powerful women.

  "You..." Feng Wei whispered. "Commander... Li Yu?"