The long somber night finally gave way to a gray watery dawn. The last of the great pyres smoldered, their smoke rising in thin columns to join the morning mist. The vast dark lake was now covered in a galaxy of extinguished soul-boat lights and was quiet. The crowds were now exhausted and hollow. They had begun their journeys home.

Li Yu stood at the crater's edge, flanked by his friends and followers. The night of shared grief was over. The day of grim work had begun. He turned to Kui, who was already overseeing the Guild's cleanup efforts. "Kui."

Kui's face looked tired, his usual jovial business-like face was completely gone. "Wise Host!" He managed to say.

"I want this lake," Li Yu said, his voice flat. He gestured to the entire thing. "The whole thing. I want the entire lake and some of the lands surrounding it."

Kui blinked. His mind struggled to calculate the sheer scale of the request. "Young Master, that... that is a territory larger than some kingdoms. It’s also now completely empty and destroyed."

"I know. I want it," Li Yu repeated. His tone left no room for argument. "Please secure the rights to it. Whatever needs to be done. Whatever price needs to be paid. Buy the lands, when there was land here, from any surviving families. Pay them more than they are worth. Give them a new start. A good one. Let this be an end to their karma with this place."

Kui nodded, his mind now latching onto the task. "And... for the land that has no owner? The territories of the destroyed minor sects? The wildlands?"

Li Yu looked out at the water. "Then we claim it. We use the strength of the Golden Shell Guild. This is our new center. This is our new territory. Please get it done."

"It will be done, Wise Host!" Kui said and gave a small nod. Kui knew this would be a difficult task as finding and locating all the correct people will take time. It shouldn’t be too costly however, this land was now pretty much void. Those that want it should be similar to Li Yu, wanting it for sentimental reasons rather than strategic ones.

However, it was a vast amount of area so it will add up. The Golden Shell Guild was now more than capable of acquiring and keeping this kind of territory though. There didn’t seem like any kind of force on this continent, at least in the open, could content with Li Yu’s power now, Kui thought to himself.

With the funeral over, Li Yu's allies prepared for their own journeys. Jian Xuan clapped Li Yu on the shoulder. "Brother Li, my place is in the south. For now. But... if you ever need me, if you ever need this sword," he balled his fist, "I will tear a new hole in the sky to get back here."

“Take care of yourself Li Yu.” Were his final words to Li Yu.

Fengliu was quieter, his gaze fixed on Li Yu's. He had seen the vow of vengeance in this boy’s eyes. He had seen the same look in his own mirror for years. "The path of revenge is a cold one, Li Yu. Don't let it freeze you."

Several of the others looked at Fengliu as though he was saying something that Fengliu himself needed to hear the most, but it fell on deaf ears.

Li Yu nodded, understanding the warning but like Fengliu himself, he completely disregarded it. "Be safe, both of you."

He watched them fly away in the direction of the Gate Keeper’s array to return to the Southern Continent. His own people here returned to their task after some simple goodbyes. They could tell that Li Yu still wasn’t ready to have pointless but fun conversations so they left him be. Knowing that time will eventually heal the young boy’s wounds.

Two weeks passed.

The world moved on but Li Yu did not. He threw himself into the only thing that gave him a semblance of control: cultivation. He had Kui dedicate a staggering amount of the Guild's resources that it had built up—spirit stones, rare herbs, any natural treasure that could be found—to his personal use.

He sat in a temporary pavilion. It was a simple and hastily-built structure on the crater's edge. Then he began to absorbed spirit stones by the crate, their energy a torrent into his vast Ocean of Qi. He consumed rare herbs, their potent life-force a drop in his ocean. He found that instead of taking pills physically, he could have his Koi martial spirit just devour their energy all at once, saving him time.

But his progress was minimal.

His cultivation, his sheer level, was now so high that the Central Continent's resources were simply not enough. It was like trying to fill a real ocean with a single river. The natural treasures here were too weak. The spiritual energy was slightly thinner and the pills at the level that the guild was acquiring were too weak.

He realized this when he had used one quarter of the supply that Kui provided for him. Seeing that barely any progress was being made, he decided to stop and return the remaining back to the Guild’s storage. It was pointless to use the wealth if it had such a small impact on him.

If this was before, the speed would have been acceptable to Li Yu. The slow but steady increase from his Koi Sanctuary aquatic life, the qi in the environment and then those things were supplemented by pills. This would have been acceptable before but not now. Now, he was in a rush and his desire for power burned.

But power was not the only goal. This frenetic and desperate cultivation gave him something else: focus. It gave his mind something to do, a problem to solve, while his heart was still processing the loss of two of his lives.

Where he did make progress was on the techniques that he had acquired from the Forest before he left the southern continent.

While his primary consciousness focused on absorbing qi, his powerful second mind was at work, a separate thread of his consciousness running in parallel. It was wholly dedicated to processing the new jade slips he had acquired.

Within his vast Ocean of Qi, a new object began to take shape. Floating separately from the island where his Human Soul resided, an ethereal tool had materialized. It was currently just a faint, ghostly construct of pure soul energy.

This was the Mind’s Eye Lantern, taking form as a soul tool. However, it was not a lantern that had taken shape but it had manifested itself as a large staff, no, it was more correct to call it a pillar given its size.

It was massive and long. It seemed to reach down endlessly into his Ocean of Qi and went all the way to the very top, to the surface. The pillar was golden and red, similar to his Koi martial spirit and gave off a warm glow. It helped to strengthen his mind and soul. It was also acting to stabilize his Ocean of Qi but it was much too weak for that now, with its form still extremely faint.

Also during this time, his second mind made progress into mastering the Soul-Shear Needle and incorporating it into his own style. This was not a physical item taking form like the Mind’s Eye lantern but a technique, a method of applying soul-force. Li Yu had no need for a simple needle.

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His second mind was instead integrating this new piercing soul-based logic with one of his own core skills: the Abyssal Javelin. He practiced the fusion in his mind. The goal was a single unified attack. He would form a javelin of his Abyssal Koi Qi and simultaneously form the shearing power of the soul technique inside the javelin. It would be an attack that could pierce both a body and a soul simultaneously.

He was making progress but it was not completed yet. Li Yu had to create the principles and all the other factors considered but he could even try to use it. Jian Xuan’s reminder that soul techniques were extremely dangerous for both parties. Playing around with a soul technique and altering it was very dangerous. He had to have confidence in his approach before working with his Human Soul to practice it.

Finally, he had made progress on the most complex of the three slips: the Four-Armed War-Body. The demonic art was a blueprint, a "how-to" guide for a soul to build a temporary external and empowered body. His mind was running theoreticals, deconstructing the energy pathways and projection methods. It was learning the mechanics of how to build an avatar.

While Li Yu worked on himself and his inner world, his followers worked on the outer.

Krell had officially joined the Golden Shell Guild. Cyra, with her efficiency, had handled his integration. He was given materials and resources from this continent. Some he had seen before on his own world and some were new to him. Exactly what he wanted to experiment with and try out.

He was also given a set of new high-quality robes. Each one was subtly embroidered with the Guild's golden shell logo. It was his new passport, a symbol that would hopefully allow him to travel the Central Continent without being hunted as a rogue demon.

He had come to Li Yu before he left. "Boy," his red eyes burning through his shroud. "I am going off to explore like we talked about. I will find the materials of this world. I plan to create wonderful and amazing armors, weapons and whatever else I desire. Do not die while I am gone. I want you to see first hand what a demon is capable of doing!"

He had then simply walked away, his massive form disappearing over the horizon. He became a new wandering legend for the Central Continent to discover.

After two weeks of intense internal cultivation, Li Yu finally emerged. He had processed enough. It was time to act. He had decided to build a floating home over this small sea, he only had to pick the location now.

He flew over the vast new freshwater sea. He hovered over the location where the Green Mountain Sect had once stood. ‘It’s most likely my imagination but I can almost feel the echoes of the souls, the massive amount of lives lost here.’ Li Yu thought.

He felt the pain, the anger and the loss. He couldn't build his new place here. It felt... wrong. It felt disrespectful, like building a house on a grave.

Did it really matter? In the grand scheme of things, perhaps not. What place in this entire continent wasn’t a graveyard at one point or another throughout the long history of this place. However, it mattered to him.

He flew onwards, to the other side of the crater-lake. He went to the place where his childhood hometown had been. This area was different. It was not a graveyard in the same way, no one was here when it was destroyed. This place had been his past, a place of quiet memories. It felt right. This would be his new beginning as well.

He returned to their temporary place and found Kui and Cyra. "Kui. Cyra. We build it here," he declared as he pointed to the area on a map laid out.

The construction began. It was a fortress. Using the combined wealth of the Golden Shell Guild and the expertise of its array masters, they began to build a floating island on the water.

Formations were laid and anchored to the bedrock deep below the new lake. An island a full kilometer wide was created and set to float just off of the top of the water surface. It would be a permanent, immovable and defiant new landmark.

While the island fortress was being built, Li Yu began two more personal projects. First he asked to have a large floating altar be created where the Green Mountain Sect was. It would be a place where others can go to pay respects to the Green Mountain Sect directly.

The second personal project was he asked for the construction of vast underwater aquatic pens to be set up and sectioned off in the lake itself. He no longer needed to raise beasts outside his Koi Sanctuary. The sanctuary was now vaster and more efficient than any physical farm. But he wanted to.

It brought him comfort. It reminded him of his beginning. It was a simple act that connected him to the life he had lost, to the simple fish farmer he had once been. Their presence, the simple act of feeding and raising them when he had time, was an anchor to his past, a piece of his old life he could rebuild and control.

Of course, they would also be used to sell and trade in the Golden Shell Guild, a large and profitable venture. They had already set up several different areas to raise aquatic beasts and fish to sell. The Deep Water Menagerie couldn’t keep up with all of the demand a while ago.

During the construction, he remembered what he had said to Kui before he had come back here. He went into his Koi Sanctuary and found Ying and Zhao. The generals of Kui he had taken so long ago. He brought them out and presented them to Kui who was overseeing the construction.

"Ying! Zhao! So the Wise Host has kicked you out now and you will need to come with me again" Kui joked as he welcomed his old subordinates back.

The two beasts roared with warmth and care, nudging Kui affectionately.

"They are yours again, Kui," Li Yu said. "Let them be the guardian beasts of the Guild. If they ever gain sentience you can assign them roles as you see fit. Do what you have always done, you’ve done a wonderful job. Thank you once again for everything."

The construction proceeded smoothly. Within a month the floating fortress named "Crater's Edge," was mostly complete. It was a black, imposing and well fortified island in the sea..

One evening as Li Yu stood on the edge of the island and was looking down at the growing aquatic pens, a familiar divine presence appeared.

Viridius, the Qilin, materialized before him. It was no longer wounded and looked how it did the very first time Li Yu had seen it. Its scales were pristine, its green life-aspected aura was whole and pure.

"You are building in the very same place that brought you so much pain" the Qilin's voice rumbled.

"I am," Li Yu said. "Welcome to my new home, Senior."

"It is a good place… or was…" Viridius said while looking at the water. "I, too, will remain here. The node... the subspace... is still here, though it is shattered. It is a naturally forming node. Perhaps with time and with my presence, it will heal."

"I hope it can be done. It is this junior’s honor to be able to share this area once again with Senior."

They stood in silence for a long moment while watching the moon rise over the new vast sea. ‘Once again I am spending so much time with this little boy, I wonder what has gotten into me lately. Have I grown too old?’ Viridius thought to himself.

"Senior," Li Yu finally spoke again. He turned and gave the divine beast a deep formal bow. "I must apologize. My actions, my words, at the crater's edge... I was lost. I was disrespectful. You... you were right to be harsh. You did it for my own good. I have had time to think and to reflect. I... understand now."

The Qilin's ancient and wise eyes regarded him. It could feel the change in him. The hot brittle anger was gone. In its place was a deep and patient resolve. This was far more dangerous for his future enemies.

"Think nothing of it, young one," Viridius rumbled. "You were in pain. And... you have potential. Perhaps... perhaps you truly will be able to get your revenge."

The Qilin turned its great head, looking out at the darkness. "When that time comes, Li Yu... I will be happy to help you fight. The Seven Fears are my enemies, too. And I... I owe them a debt of pain."

What Li Yu didn’t realize was that Viridius was still here for two reasons. The first reason was exactly what he had told Li Yu, hope that the node will restore over time with his presence here. The second reason was to keep an eye on Li Yu. The demonic qi and that insane killing intent made him curious about Li Yu and above all, a bit cautious of the young boy.

He didn’t know if he was going to become a savior, failure that could never reach such power or worse cast scenario a calamity. Viridus would keep a watchful eye on this young boy to see what kind of person he would become.

Li Yu continued to look out at the water. His new home and his new purpose laid out before him. His eyes reflected the moonlight as they both continued to stay where they were.

"In time," he said, his voice a quiet and unbreakable promise. "I will definitely get my vengeance."