Li Yu stepped forward from the line of leaders to go meet with this Xylarri that was coming down. He didn’t think he would be in danger, not after everything was said by that being in the sky.

His heart was still beating incredibly fast and hard. It was like a hammer in his chest but the gaze of the divine beings above gave him a strange courage. Jian Xuan moved with him, placing himself just a step behind and to the side. He was a silent guardian and even better friend.

"Brother Li," Jian Xuan whispered, his voice for once not a boom but a low intense rumble. "The Crab God’s trials are often... strange. Be ready for anything."

The Xylarri leader and the great Qilin landed with impossible gentleness on the packed earth, perhaps fifty yards in front of Li Yu. The air crackled with a tension so thick it was suffocating.

Theron, Zaltar and Lady Vyltra watched on with their faces an unreadable mask. Theron’s mind was not on what was currently happening but what that being said.

'Tradition. They have traditions. They are not mindless creatures. They are a civilization. A civilization of... slaughter and death. That is infinitely worse. It means this is not a random invasion by chance. It is a war and they have rules, strengths and infinitely many things we cannot even guess at.'

The Xylarri leader, without a single sound, took out a pulsing object from what seemed like thin air. It was a sphere the size of a fist and it was made of a material that looked like a captured swirling nebula of purple and black. It simply released the object and it floated towards Li Yu.

Li Yu’s hand shot out and caught it as it neared. He didn't hesitate. The god-like beings above, who had just stopped an apocalypse were supervising this meeting. This was not a moment for tricks. The orb was cool to the touch and it thrummed with a power that made his own souls feel a strange resonant hunger.

It was the Qilin who finally spoke. Its voice was a deep, resonant and undeniably male sound that was ancient as stone and warm as the first spring.

"That orb," the Qilin said, its emerald eyes fixed on the sphere in Li Yu's hand, "is a Soul-Core. A rare treasure even in their world. It is formed from the natural essence of their world. It can be used to refine and enhance one's soul."

The Qilin then turned its magnificent head to the silent Xylarri. "It is, as the one above said, per their tradition of slaughter. A trophy, of sorts, for your kill. A sign of respect for an enemy who proved worthy."

The divine beast's gaze then swung back to Li Yu and all warmth was gone from its voice. "But, as the one up there also said, it is not only a gift. It is a promise. The one you killed was its sworn sister. That one and its entire lineage, will now hunt you to the ends of existence. It is a promise that it will kill you."

Li Yu stared, first at the orb, then at the Qilin, then at the Xylarri. His mind, which had just begun to process the existence of divine guardians and ten continents, simply... broke.

'What?!' His Mind One and Mind Two were in perfect, stunned unison. 'A gift? A promise to kill me? What in all the Daos is this culture?! Why is everyone... why are you...' he internally yelled at the Qilin, '...treating this like it's a normal, afternoon transaction?! It's a XYLARRI! It's the ENEMY! It just threatened my life! KILL IT! Why is no one KILLING IT?! Why is this allowed to happen?'

Jian Xuan, for his part, was vibrating in excitement. 'A trophy! Won in a glorious battle!' his thoughts were a roar of exultation. 'The Crab God blesses his followers with such challenges so they can overcome them and get stronger! This is a dark blessing, Brother Li, a mark of your greatness! To be hunted is to be acknowledged as a threat!'

The Qilin didn’t seem to know or understand Li Yu’s thoughts. It huffed a breath of life-aspected air and continued speaking. "It is safe to take, young one. There is nothing but what I said. A treasure... and a promise. The choice was never yours to make. The hunt was declared the moment you killed its sister."

“Thank you for telling me all of these things senior and thank you for helping me all of those times before.” Li Yu finally mustered some words out of his own confusion and the insanity that is the cultivation world.

Numbly, Li Yu went to put the orb away in his storage ring. Before he could do so, his human soul flicked its rod and hooked onto the orb, draining it completely of its powers. The orb broke apart into dust but it looked like it was simply stored away.

‘This again!?’ Li Yu thought his Human Soul was out of control and insanely greedy. ‘What if that thing was trapped! Are you crazy? Well the being above said it wasn’t and the Qilin said it wasn’t either. These are all beings that could kill me easily so they shouldn’t need to trick me.’ His thoughts finally ended.

The energy from the orb went down the fishing rod but to Li Yu’s surprise as he checked on it, the fisherman split the energy in half and threw one half into the water where the Koi Soul ate it in one big bite. Nothing seemed to happen afterwards so Li Yu stopped looking inward.

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The Xylarri leader stared at Li Yu for a long, silent and unblinking moment. It was a look of pure, cold and analytical intent. It was as though it was etching Li Yu’s form into its memory for the rest of its life. Then, without a sound it turned its powerful legs and launched it into the air in a purple streak. It rejoined its thirty-two companions, who had been waiting for it in the sky.

The lead Anti-Duplex figure voice rang out once again. Its dual-toned voice echoed across the world as a final and unassailable command.

"Leave. Now."

The thirty-three Xylarri leaders turned and flew off, a wave of purple energy, back towards the dying rifts. They were finally leaving and going back to whatever hell they had come from many thought

The leader of the Anti-Duplex then turned its attention to the ten silent beasts. "That is the end of it here. Do your jobs now. Reverse the rifts. Send them back."

The Qilin, still on the ground, looked at Li Yu one last time. A flicker of... something... crossed its ancient gaze. Approval? Pity? "You did not disappoint, little one," it said but this time its voice was a private thought in Li Yu's mind.

With a push of its hooves, it launched itself back into the sky, a green line of light rejoining the circle of gods.

The ten beasts released their auras yet again. But this was not the crushing weight of their arrival. This was a focused and harmonized power. A great, multi-colored wave of energy—life, fire, storm, metal, earth, ice, lightning, illusion, darkness, force and a few others—shot from the ten beasts.

It did not strike the rifts. It enveloped them.

From the First Defensive Line, the army watched as a new event began. All of the Xylarri were seen flying up and back into the rifts. What was terrifying was that a large army of Xylarri appeared out of the ground a few miles from where they were and were all heading back.

They were moving at an impossible speed, most likely from the draw of the rift or through some kind of special technique the beasts used. It was not a retreat. It was an exorcism. They were being pulled against their will back to their home.

"They... they are reversing it," Lady Vyltra whispered. "They are not just sealing the rifts. They are cleansing the world. This... this is truly an impressive display of power and techniques."

Zaltar merely nodded, his eyes reflective, his mind grappling with the scale of what he was seeing. His ambition for land, his plans for the suicide mission... all of it suddenly felt so small. They were at their wits end to try and survive but now they were saved. ‘It was a good thing I didn’t go on that mission, I doubt I would have made it back or even made a difference after seeing those thirty-three monsters.’ He thought to himself.

The process was slow. The beasts held their positions, their power a constant relentless river, as millions of Xylarri were sucked back through the trembling purple wounds.

As the last of the invaders were purged, the lead Anti-Duplex figure spoke one last time, its dual-toned voice washing over the now-silent, now-saved army. It was not a voice of triumph. It was a voice of terrible, somber warning.

"Oh, heroes of this land... the great and immediate threat is going away. But the damage is done. The lives lost cannot be brought back. You must continue to move forward. This... this disaster... happened because a time of great unrest is coming."

A cold dread began to replace the relief in Theron's chest.

"Danger and tragedy is coming for all realms, all places. So much is happening... so many fires... that we only got here now to prevent this world's consumption. We have done what we can. The rest... is up to you."

The leader's shrouded head turned, as if looking at a future none of them could see.

"Prepare yourselves. Prepare for potentially worse things to come. Next time, we may not be able to protect ourselves, let alone you."

The cultivators on the ground did not know what to think. The Xylarri were gone. They were saved. They should be cheering. But the leader's words were a new, heavier burden. The immediate, suffocating threat was gone, only to be replaced by another greater looming threat that felt just as, if not more suffocating.

Theron's mind was sober. This was not the end. It was a reprieve.

After a while the last Xylarri was pulled through the rift.

"It is done," the Anti-Duplex leader said.

It raised its arms. The two souls pulsed with power. It brought out a new artifact, a complex astrolabe of crystal and light. As the leader poured its dual-souled energy into the device, the ten beasts intensified their own. The purple rifts began to close one by one.

They zipped shut like wounds being sutured, the fabric of reality healing itself until only the sky remained.

Having expended their energy the two souls dimmed visibly. They began to retract as their light and dark energy was fading.

And in that exact moment…

Deep in Li Yu's Ocean of Qi, the fisherman who had been sitting, digesting and quietly observing this entire spectacle moved.

The Human Soul stood up and with a flick of its wrist it cast its line. But it wasn't one hook this time. Two hooks shot from Li Yu's Ocean of Qi. They phased through his body, invisible to all, and crossed the sky in an instant.

Before the Anti-Duplex leader's two souls could fully retract to its body, the hooks latched.

Thwip. Thwip. The lines went taut and the world stopped. The leader of the three who had just been turning to leave, froze.

The two companions behind it, who had been silent observers this entire time, jolted, their light-and-dark auras flaring in shock and anger.

The ten divine beasts' eyes widen in surprise, their divine gazes instantly locking on Li Yu.

And Li Yu... Li Yu's mind exploded.

Both of his minds, which had been processing the leader's warning, now united in a single, silent, soul-tearing scream.

'NO! WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET GO! LET GO! YOU'RE HOOKING A GOD!!'