Outside the Shattered Spine Mountains. The sun was setting by the time they emerged from the cave. The fog had dissipated and left the air clear and cold.

  The Master looked at the sealed entrance, his face glowing with a renewed vigor. His sect, which had been declining for generations, now held the seeds of a Human Emperor. He had no plans to recruit more people. His only goal was to have someone inherit the legacy and he had accomplished that now.

  "I will stay here," the Master declared. "I will build a hut and guard the entrance until they emerge."

  Li Yu didn’t try to convince him otherwise. It could be seen on his face that this was his life long goal and nothing would move him.

  Kael stepped forward. He looked different. The darkness that had clung to him for so long from before, the obsession with vengeance, had softened. It wasn't truly gone but he had time to process everything after his revenge.

  "Li Yu," Kael said. "I... I think this is where we part ways for now as well."

  Li Yu nodded. He had expected this. "Where will you go?"

  "Home," Kael said. "To where my family is buried. I need to... I need to tell them it's over. And then... I want to see the continent. I spent my whole life training to get revenge. I want to see what else there is."

  "A traveler's life is a good life," Li Yu said. He reached into his storage ring and pulled out a heavy bag of coins and spiritstones. A few high-grade artifacts he had. He tossed them to Kael.

  "Take these. Don't argue. Traveling costs money and I have too much."

  Kael caught the bag. He smiled back at Li Yu. A genuine smile. "Thank you, Li Yu. For giving me the chance to close the book."

  "If you ever need a place to rest, the Alliance of the Jagged Peaks is always open," Li Yu said. "You could be a teacher or an advisor there. Take this token so they understand who you are." Li Yu threw him one of the several tokens he had for identification with the alliance.

  Kael bowed deeply to Li Yu. With a final nod to Krell, he turned and walked down the mountain path. His figure soon disappeared into the twilight shadows.

  Li Yu watched him go. Another friend finding his path. He wasn’t as close to Kael as he was to Jian Xuan but the feelings were similar. He wanted to see the man happy after all that he had gone through.

  Thoughts of Spine drifted into Li Yu’s head. This entire time he was scanning for Qi signatures similar to Spine but found no one. They were told he had a son that had been captured and brainwashed by the Beast Revolution Cult but Li Yu found no traces of them here.

  "And you?" Li Yu asked as he turned to Krell. The demon blacksmith was leaning on the side of the wall and was bored. He had hoped to explore a bit on this continent but one thing led to another and he hadn’t been able to.

  "I'm coming with you," Krell grunted. "Coming to this continent has been mostly a complete bust for me."

  "Sounds good," Li Yu smiled. "Let's go."

  Li Yu summoned Tekton back to his full size. They climbed aboard and left Jian Xuan’s master to his vigil. They launched back toward the Cloud-Mist Peaks.

  The return trip was swift. When Li Yu walked into the main hall, the atmosphere was tense. Sect Master Zhou, Matriarch Su and Commander Lei were huddled around a map, arguing about patrol routes.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  When Li Yu entered they all straightened up.

  "Commander!" Zhou exclaimed. A wave of relief washing over his square face. "You're back! The rescue?"

  "Success," Li Yu said briefly. "My friend will be in seclusion for a while. But that's not why I called this meeting."

  Li Yu walked to the head of the table. He didn't sit down. He looked at the leaders he had gathered. These were the main pillars of his alliance so far. The original members so to speak.

  "I'm leaving," Li Yu said.

  The room went dead silent. Matriarch Su dropped her fan. Commander Lei’s mouth hung open. Zhou looked like he had been slapped with a wet fish.

  "L-leaving?" Zhou stammered. "For... for a trip? A diplomatic mission?"

  "For good. Or at least, for a long time," Li Yu corrected. He looked at them seriously.

  "I hit a ceiling here. Or better to say the resources have dried up here. The only way to get more in a short time span would be to wage war and I don’t want to do that here. You saw my breakthrough at the banquet. To go further... I need resources. I need to go where the conflicts are at and where the monsters are."

  "But Commander," Matriarch Su said. "If a major threat appears... who will defend us? We are decently strong, yes, but we are not that strong. Definitely not strong enough to occupy this kind of territory."

  Li Yu smiled. "I anticipated that. That's why I arranged insurance on top of help from the Five Mountain Alliance and the Divine Wind Sect."

  He pulled out a jade slip and placed it on the table.

  "First, the Divine Wind Sect. Meilin owes me a little bit. If you are in dire straits, send a signal to them. They will come at least once. Maybe twice."

  He paused, letting that sink in.

  "But if they are too far away... or if the threat is immediate..."

  Li Yu tapped the map, specifically pointing to another region of the continent. The region known as the Western Crags.

  "You call him."

  Zhou squinted at the map. "The Western Crags? That's... that's the Beast Territory. It's ruled by the Grey-Wind Emperor. He is a monster! A Soul Formation calamity! He hates humans!"

  "He works for me now," Li Yu said casually.

  The silence this time was heavy enough to crush a diamond. They had seen him fight the Grey-Wind Emperor before and beat him. But they didn’t know that he was now serving Li Yu like that.

  "I'm sorry?" Commander Lei whispered. "Did you say... the Grey-Wind Emperor... works for you?"

  "You were there when we fought." Li Yu explained. "I won. He submitted. I sent him back to rule his territory as a vassal. His name is Gale as you know and have already been introduced."

  "He's actually quite reasonable once you beat him up," Li Yu said. "If the Alliance faces an extinction-level threat and only then you contact him. He is sworn to protect my interests. And this city... is my interest. He will either come to help you or you can flee to his area in times of need."

  "This..." Zhou took a deep breath. "This changes everything. With a Beast Emperor as a hidden ally... we should be much safer."

  "Don't get cocky," Li Yu warned. "He would protect you from destruction, not from bad management. If you run this place into the ground, that's on you."

  Li Yu stepped back from the table after saying what he wanted to.

  "Commander," Zhou said, his voice thick with emotion. "Will you return?"

  Li Yu looked out the window.

  "This is considered one of my homes now, Zhou. I planted a seed here. I intend to come back and see the tree. I’ll visit when I can. If you really need me, contact me with this. I will come to your aid as well if needed but I should be the last resort since I don’t know where I’ll be."

  He turned and walked toward the balcony. Tekton was waiting above and his massive body casting a shadow over the city.

  Li Yu vaulted onto the centipede's head.

  He looked down at the city one last time. He saw the smoke rising from the mortal district's kitchens. He saw the guards patrolling the walls. He saw the statue in the plaza.

  "Still hate the statue," Li Yu muttered to himself.

  "Safe travels, Commander!" the leaders shouted from the balcony and gave him one last bow in farewell.

  "Do a good job. I’m counting on you." Li Yu called back.