Li Yu finally looked up. "It feels... quiet here," he noted, oblivious to the silent exchange that had just occurred.

After observing for a while he finally decided to take the first step forward. He braced himself for the pressure. In the Void River, every step was a battle against erasure. In the Destruction River, it was a battle against pain.

He stepped forward. Nothing.

There was no weight. No resistance. It felt like walking through a gentle morning fog.

"Strange," Li Yu murmured. "I thought this would be one of the hardest ones. The soul is so abstract and no one seems to really understand it. Even those that seem to understand it say each one is so different, so unique that they rarely share the same path."

He took another step. Then another. He began to walk briskly down the river. Ten steps. Twenty steps. Fifty steps. Two hundred steps.

The Spirit of the Law floated silently behind him and was keeping a respectful distance. It seemed like it was doing everything it could so that none of the pressure from this place was directed on the boy who walked with Him.

Li Yu frowned as he walked.

"I am moving far," Li Yu thought, watching the mist swirl around his ankles. "I am walking further than I ever have in the other rivers. But..."

He looked at his hands. He tried to grasp the essence of the Soul Law.

"It feels empty. I am moving, but I am not... learning as much. It’s like reading a book with only a few words on each page."

‘Just like with the River of Time, where the Koi's protection bubble had insulated me from the aging effects but also dampened my comprehension? Without the resistance of the Law, without the struggle to understand the weight of the soul, I am just a tourist walking down a scenic path. But why is there no resistance here? Is it like this for everyone?’ His thoughts went back to what had happened in the River of Time.

He understood that the Soul was vast. He understood it was the container for the self. But the deeper secrets slipped through his fingers like smoke.

"Maybe that is just the nature of the Soul," Li Yu mused. "It is easy to have but hard to know. Perhaps this all anyone who had made it this far would comprehend."

He walked for what felt like an hour, reaching an unknown distance as he had lost count. His understanding of the soul deepened during this time but not as much as he thought it would given how far he’s walked.

Li wasn’t disappointed however, any progress was still exciting. As long as he was progressing it meant he wasn’t stagnate. Improvements were surely being made even if he couldn’t point out exactly what it was. Suddenly, the world flickered.

His time was up. Even without the pressure crushing him, his connection to the Law River had a limit as all the others did.

Snap.

Li Yu was back in his courtyard. He opened his eyes and was feeling perfectly fine. No nosebleed, no exhaustion.

"A bit underwhelming," Li Yu admitted to himself. "But I do feel... more stabilized. My two souls feel more settled and my mind seems stronger. Perhaps it had more of an effect than I realized."

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He didn't know that the walk he had just gone on might have taken others countless of years to make. The struggle that others would have had to put in to get to where he went, the countless tears that were shed to make it even hundred steps. If those beings knew what Li Yu was thinking right now they could curse him for ten generations!

Deep within Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi, far beneath the surface where the Fisherman sat and the Koi swam. There was a silent phenomenon that was taking place, no it has been taking place, without Li Yu knowing about it.

Li Yu was aware of his progress in the laws but he was unaware of one of the mechanisms driving his terrifying comprehension speed. He assumed it was his talent, body and soul strength, or perhaps the cumulative effect of the beast gifts.

But the truth lay deeper.

In the crushing depths of his Ocean of Qi, the mysterious ethereal hook that was at the end of the Fisherman's line. It was still glowing with a soft persistent light.

As Li Yu comprehended the Laws outside, threads of them grew longer and longer at the bottom of his Ocean of Qi. A black thread for the Void. A Green-Gold Thread for Life. A Purple Thread for Destruction. A Translucent White Thread for the Soul and so on.

These threads didn't float aimlessly. They were drawn to the hook and were still circling it.

Slowly, rhythmically, like planets orbiting a sun. The threads of Law wrapped around the Hook. They didn't touch it directly but they resonated with it, spinning in a tight orbit that condensed their essence. The orbit was incredibly slow and if watched it looked like they were barely moving at all.

Every time a thread completed a circle, the hook pulsed. And with every pulse, Li Yu’s comprehension of that Law deepened.

It was a catalyst. A teacher and a form of a shortcut to understanding the laws.

The hook was weaving the Laws into Li Yu’s very existence and understanding. Besides for the laws of Time and Soul which his two souls provided him advanced levels of advancement for. It was the Fisherman and his hook that allowed Li Yu to make so much progress into the other laws during this time. It was translating the chaotic language of the universe into something Li Yu could understand subconsciously.

Deepening his understanding of the world and the laws themselves. He was making slow progress consistently and it all added up together. One law built upon another and that was built upon another. It went on endlessly as his understanding of laws he didn’t even focus on was further expanding.

He couldn’t use those laws directly but subconsciously they were building his foundation for understanding the laws he was focused on. Li Yu couldn’t pick them out of his brain and use even if he willed it but the innate understanding was there.

Li Yu was sitting in his courtyard and sipping his tea to relax. He simply thought he was making smooth progress in his understanding of the laws. It wasn’t too fast but it didn’t seem slow either. He felt smarter, sharper.

"I really am improving," Li Yu mused aloud while admiring a perfectly brewed cup of tea. "The tea even tastes better today."

In the distance, the sun began to set and was painting the jungle in hues of orange and violent violet. He finished his cup and stood up. He had been here too long. His soul was aching to travel more and see more of the world. It was time to move.

He dismantled the simple furniture he had made and returned the wood to the forest floor to decompose. It was his small tribute to the cycle of Life and Destruction.

He stood at the edge of the valley and was looking back at the spot where his hut had been. The grass was already springing back up. In just a few days nature would erase the evidence of his stay.

"Time moves on, as all things do." Li Yu whispered.

He turned his back to his home of several months. It was time to continue his journey west.

Li Yu took a step. He wasn’t going to walk and he didn't fly. He stepped onto a ripple in the air.

Slip.

He vanished from the valley and then reappeared a ten miles away on a mountain peak.

He looked toward the horizon. Somewhere out there, beyond the jungles and the mountains lay the answers he sought. And somewhere out there were the Seven Fears.

Li Yu’s eyes flashed with a purple light.

"Hide well," Li Yu said to the wind. "Because I am getting faster."

He stepped again, a ghost moving through the machine of the world, heading deeper into the unknown.