The Great Hall of the Frost Iron Sect had been transformed into a bazaar of high-level commerce. The long tables, usually reserved for feasting on roasted yak and planning beast hunts, were currently groaning under the weight of steel and resources.

  Li Yu moved and beside him walked the sect’s Chief Quartermaster. He was an elderly man named Bjorn who had only one eye and hands that looked like gnarled oak roots.

  Li Yu gestured to a stack of several hundred broadswords.

  Bjorn picked one up. He didn't swing it gently; he smashed the flat of the blade against the stone table. The blade rang with a clear resonant hum and vibrated but not break.

  "Good temper," Bjorn commented. "Better than the standard issue we give the outer disciples."

  Li Yu moved to the next pile. "Plate armor. Krell says the alloy is mixed with spirit-gold. Lightweight and high impact resistance. It will hold up against claws and fangs pretty well."

  Bjorn ran a hand over the breastplates. In a sect that prioritized hunting, equipment was life. Weapons broke against beast hides. Armor was shredded by claws. Consumables were used by the truckload. To have this much surplus dropped in their lap was a godsend.

  "And the price?" Bjorn asked even though he already knew.

  "What you call the waste pile," Li Yu said. He pointed toward the sect’s vaults. "Every demon core you have. From the lowest grade to the highest general."

  Bjorn let out a sharp and incredulous laugh. "Sect Master Torben wasn't joking. You really want the poison rocks. You can have them all!"

  "I have a use for them," Li Yu smiled.

  The deal was struck instantly.

  For the next three hours, disciples were ordered to go through the vaults for every demonic core they had. They stored every core they found into storage rings. They didn’t really know the number themselves as they were usually just tossed in there.

  They had a separate vault to store the cores but oftentimes people just threw them everywhere. Not caring at all where they ended up. To the Frost Iron Sect, they were cleaning out hazardous waste that leaked corrupt Qi. To Li Yu, they were delivering pure, concentrated power.

  By the time the last vault was searched, Li Yu’s storage ring was filled with tens of thousands of cores. All of the cores from years upon years of fighting. Li Yu was filled with excitement from the sheer numbers of cores he was getting.

  "The tailor is finished," Krell said while walking into the room. The demon looked deeply unhappy and angry. He was holding up a heavy fur cloak.

  Li Yu took it. It was a masterpiece of Northern craftsmanship. Thick white fur that was lined with other fabrics to prevent chafing and reinforced with leather pads.

  But it was the patch sewn onto the left breast that drew the eye.

  It was a circular emblem. The background was a deep vibrant blue. The color of an ocean. Rising from the blue waves was a stark, black crab claw. The pincers wer eopen and aggressive.

  "The Crab Claws," Li Yu said while nodding in satisfaction. "It stands out."

  "It looks ridiculous," Krell grumbled. "Why didn’t you just change the name. We are walking around wearing a picture of seafood." Krell regretted laughing all those times now.

  "Crabs are armored tanks of the sea, Krell. Have some pride. Besides, the paperwork was already done. We can’t ask to change it now." Li Yu chuckled.

  With the logistics settled for their group the team began to move. The Crab Claws went to work, all three of them.

  The rifts in the Frostbound Dominion were a constant and relentless tide of spatial tears that kept the continent in a state of perpetual war. Most were relatively small though. Skirmish-level breaches spilling out anywhere from one hundred to four hundred entities of various strength.

  Another alert for a breach sounded.

  Li Yu and Krell moved fast but they arrived just as the local response team was engaging.

  The rift had opened over a flat expanse of wind-scoured ice. A swarm of Frost Demons, demonic constructs of ice and demon Qi, were surging toward a line of shield-bearers from a local clan.

  "Hold the line!" The clan leader screamed so loudly his voice became hoarse. "Don't let them flank!"

  The shield wall was buckling. The Frost Demons were relentless. They continuously hammered against the spiritual barriers with frozen fists. Then a shadow fell over the battlefield.

  "Reinforcements!" a young cultivator yelled as he was pointing up to the sky.

  Tekton dropped from the sky. The ancient beast didn't land gently. He expanded mid-air, growing from a wrist-sized ornament to a massive biological weapon of destruction. He crashed into the rear line of the Frost Demons. His massive black carapace shattered the ice beneath him.

  SCREEE!

  Tekton thrashed his hundreds of legs acting like scythes mowing down the demons like wheat. On the top of his head and along some of the sides Li Yu had artisans paint the Crab Claw emblem on Tekton. Tekton hated it but Li Yu insisted, calling it free advertisement.

  "Push them!" Krell roared as he appeared on the battlefield. He was charging in from the left flank. He didn't use a weapon. He didn't need one for what he was fighting. He punched a demon in the chest. His magma-infused fist melting through the ice armor and blowing the creature apart.

  Li Yu landed on the right flank. He spun his staff into a blur of motion. He didn't use flashy techniques. He walked forward and smashed the Frost Demons on the head. Every tap released a burst of kinetic force that shattered their skulls instantly. The enemies here were only around the Foundation Establishment.

  Within moments the field was silent.

  The local clan leader, a man with a beard full of icicles, approached them while panting heavily. He eyed the giant centipede coiling protectively around Li Yu and then looked at the strange blue-and-black emblem on their cloaks.

  "Crab Claws?" the leader asked as he was reading the words on Tekton.

  "At your service," Li Yu said pleasantly.

  "We... we thank you," the man stammered. "We were losing ground."

  "No problem at all. We are mercenaries for the Central Command." Li Yu said as he was pulling a token and a scroll he had prepared beforehand. "We assisted in taking care of at least fifty percent of the enemies. We will take fifty percent of the loot distribution. However..."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He gestured to the piles of corpses.

  "Since these are Frost Demons, they drop demonic cores. Useless to you I would think."

  "Aye," the leader nodded.

  "We will take all the cores," Li Yu proposed. "As the first thing in our 50 percent. I think that sounds fair for everyone."

  The leader’s eyes lit up. He had thought that Li Yu was going to ask for all the good bits and leave them with trash. Given their difference in strength, there would have been little he could have done. He was already surprised that Li Yu was going to take 50 percent when they contributed more.

  “That deal sounds great to me. Are you sure about only taking 50 percent and on top of it in cores first?” The man asked again just to be sure.

  “Yes to both. I have a need for the demonic cores and I believe 50 percent is fair. After all, you risked your lives to be here and fight. You deserve it.” Li Yu smiled and replied.

  As Krell and Li Yu harvested the cores, the disciples were cheering as they too got to work. They had survived, they had profited and they didn't have to deal with trying to convert demonic cores into things they can actually use.

  "Another happy customer," Li Yu noted.

  Two days later. Another breach.

  This time the fight was against Magma-Spitters, bloated demons that lobbed balls of lava. The responding team was a group of mercenaries called the Iron Hawks. They were pinned down behind boulders and their barriers flickering under the bombardment. They kept stepping out to fight back where they could but they were being overwhelmed.

  "We need help!" the Hawk captain yelled into the command token. Hoping to get more forces here to reinforce.

  Li Yu appeared on the highest peak overlooking the ridge.

  "Tekton," Li Yu ordered.

  Tekton curled into a tight ball, his armored plates locking together to form a massive wheel. Li Yu gave it a nice kick to launch it down.

  Tekton shot down the ridge like a cannonball. He smashed through the Magma-Spitters' formation and scattered them like bowling pins.

  As the demons were regrouping, Krell leaped into the fray. As a magma demon himself of sorts, the lava attacks splashed harmlessly against his obsidian skin. He laughed as he was grabbing two Spitters and slamming their heads together.

  Li Yu moved through the chaos using his ice and water techniques. An ice javelin piercing one while a wall of frost and water appears around the trapped group to help defend. The fighting quickly ended.

  "Standard split," Li Yu announced as he took out his prepared scroll again. The stunned Iron Hawks read through it but were surprised by how fair it was.

  Pretty much the Crab Claws would take at most 50 percent of the loot if they contributed at least to 50 percent of the kills. If they did less, they would take less. If they did more, it still capped out at 50 percent. When fighting demons, demonic cores were prioritized first, much to the happiness of any group they met.

  "Are you sure about this?" The Hawk captain asked while staring at the crab patch.

  "We are the janitors of the North." Krell grunted as he was already ripping a core out of a carcass. "We clean up the mess." Krell liked the Northern Continent. Not only were the people here to his liking. He also had so many demonic cores to fuel his own cultivation.

  The reputation of the Crab Claws began to spread.

  In the taverns of towns, stories began to circulate. They talked about the young man with the staff who traded treasures for trash. They talked about the magma demon who laughed at fire and flew into battle. They talked about the giant centipede that had markings on its body for the Mercenary group it was a part of.

  All three of them are extremely strong but also extremely generous. They didn’t try to take everything and best of all, they valued demonic cores. Many thought they wanted the cores for Krell, thinking that he was the leader. It made sense that his presence was so overwhelming compared to Li Yu’s.

  The people thought they were also quite weird. They were mercenaries with such a terrible name. An even worse emblem, some thought. But, the overwhelming thought was that they were effective.

  Wherever the Crab Claws went, fewer people died. And secondly, the headache of exchanging demonic cores, when there were any, vanished. This left only a profitable haul of materials.

  Li Yu’s Koi Sanctuary was becoming a singularity of chaotic energy. He had collected a massive amount of cores. But he knew it wasn't enough. For Divine Transformation, he needed more. He wanted to be safe. He also knew he needed more than just cores. He needed natural treasures to help give him a more stable foundation.

  A week into their campaign, the token vibrated with a strange urgency. This time there was a breach but whether it was a beast or demon was unknown. The first time they had seen this.

  "Unknown?" Krell asked as he and Li Yu were looking at the projection. "Why wouldn’t the people reporting it not know?"

  "I don’t know. Maybe they can’t tell," Li Yu said. "Or maybe it's something new."

  "Let's go," Krell cracked his knuckles. "I'm hungry for more battles."

  They flew North, crossing a range of jagged mountains until they reached Pale-Wind Pass. It was a strategic choke point in the area. A narrow valley that led toward one of the major mining settlements.

  According to the network, a response team from the Glacial Sky Sect, a team of thirty elites were the ones that found it and reported it. Li Yu and Krell descended through the cloud cover.

  "I don't hear fighting," Krell noted. “Do you think Vorgnir is here and has finished it already?”

  Usually a battle of this scale would be a cacophony of explosions, screams and roaring of beasts or demons. Here, there was only the wind.

  They landed at the mouth of the pass. The snow was pristine white and undisturbed by craters or scorch marks. But it wasn't empty.

  Thirty cultivators lay in the snow.

  They weren't scattered in a chaotic retreat. They were lying in attack formation. There were no signs of battle.

  It looked like they had simply... fallen over.

  "Tekton, defensive perimeter," Li Yu ordered quietly. The centipede expanded instantly. It coiled in the sky with his mandibles clicking a warning.

  Li Yu walked toward the nearest body. It was a shield bearer, a large man in heavy plate. His shield was still strapped to his arm. His sword was still in his hand.

  There was no blood. No claw marks. No burns. Li Yu knelt down and removed the man's helmet.

  The face was frozen in a mask of absolute terror. His eyes were wide, the capillaries burst, turning the whites red. But the skin was intact.

  "Soul attack?" Krell asked as he was scanning the ridge lines. "It’s the only thing that makes sense."

  Li Yu placed a hand on the man's chest. He sent a pulse of spiritual sense into the body.

  "I think you are right. Everything is fine. It could only mean a soul attack." Li Yu whispered.

  He moved to the next body. Same thing. And the next. The thirty high-level cultivators ranged from Foundation Establishment all the way up to peak of Core Formation.

  “They were all wiped out. It must have happened instantly as well with how they were all still in formation.” Li Yu concluded. “And strangest of all... they hadn't been eaten.”

  Beasts eat to get stronger. Demons killed and often consumed the flesh or blood. Once again, for power. To kill thirty cultivators and leave the bodies perfectly intact... this was not the work of a mindless horde.

  "Look at the snow," Krell pointed.

  Li Yu looked. Around the formation of dead men, the snow was undisturbed. There were no tracks leading in. No tracks leading out. There was not a single beast or demon in sight. It was flying from the start and didn’t leave any traces.

  Li Yu scanned the pass using his void abilities. Peeling back the layers of reality to look for residual energy signatures. Perhaps it went hiding within the first layer of the void.

  He found nothing. He looked back at the bodies.

  "This wasn't a battle, Krell. It was a harvest. Then whatever killed them left instantly and avoided both our detection."

  The wind howled through the pass and was sounding less like a whistle and more like a moan. For the first time since arriving on the continent, Li Yu felt a prickle of genuine unease. This was much too strange.

  The North was used to blood. It understood violence. But this clean, silent death... this was new. At least Li Yu hadn’t seen it since coming here.

  Li Yu contacted Central Command and marked the location on his map. He let them know what happened here and so Central Command could come here and investigate what happened. So that the sect could come and reclaim the bodies.

  He took one last look at the frozen and terrified faces of the Glacial Sky disciples. He felt a sense of unease about this. That this was much more dangerous than what it seemed.

  They waited there for investigators to arrive. They retold what they saw and what their thoughts were. Soon after the sect leader from the Glacial Sky arrived. Li Yu retold the story again since his disciples were involved.

  Once that was done, the Crab Claws finally left the area.