Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1062: The Spoils of Victory and Discovery

The thick dust from the ruined plains settled slowly back to the earth as the pressure of the Creation Lord finally vanished from the world. The chaotic energies that had torn the sky apart began to calm down and the natural flow of Qi returned to the devastated capital city. Grandmaster Orion floated near the edge of the deep crater and stared down at the broken earth with his mouth slightly open in awe. The moth martial spirit faded from his back as he lowered his trembling hands to his sides as he looked away from the lifeless body of Matriarch Olenna and turned his gaze toward the warrior hovering peacefully in the sky.

"I have lived a very long time and I have seen many brutal battles across these lands but I must admit that I would not even come close to doing what you just did," Orion said while shaking his head in disbelief. "The physical might required to shatter a domain with bare hands and tear a Creation Lord apart is beyond my comprehension. Your strength is truly terrifying to witness up close."

Zhan Chen floated there and casually brushed some loose dirt off his robes. He did not look winded or tired in the slightest. "Your path is one of subtlety and more control," Zhan Chen replied with a calm and even voice. "My path is just a bit more direct than yours. You did very well to survive her focus for as long as you did. Most would have turned to ash the moment she began targeting them."

Li Yu watched the exchange from his safe spot behind Krag and felt no real surprise at the final result of the fight. His older cousin was amazing after all, the title of heir wasn’t just given out for show. Zhan Chen was recognized by their grand family and clearly possessed the overwhelming power required to hold such a prestigious title within the Zhan Clan. Li Yu patted the side of the large stone beast to thank him for the cover and sent Krag back inside the Koi Sanctuary along with a lot of pills.

Zhan Chen did not linger in his floating posture for very long as he flew back over the ruined capital city of the Solaris Kingdom. His golden aura flared brightly once more to announce his dominant presence to everyone within the broken walls. Down below in the royal courtyard, the surviving members of the Solaris royal family had gathered together in a pathetic and trembling huddle. The king, the various princes and the remaining princesses were all just on their knees in the dirt with their heads bowed low.

They knew it was over for their family legacy now. Without their ancestor to lead their armies and without the hidden Matriarch to protect them from the shadows, they were going to be destroyed by the surrounding forces. The pride of their lineage was broken and there was simply no reason to fight back or resist, as doing so would only invite a faster death.

"The Solaris royal family is dead as of today," Zhan Chen declared with a heavy voice that echoed like rolling thunder across the silent capital. "Your corrupt reign over these lands is finished. I will be taking the contents of the royal vault as my personal prize for winning this battle. As for the lands, the local businesses and whatever else was controlled by this fallen kingdom, those assets will be split between the victors. Eighty percent of the territory will go to the Lunaris Kingdom and twenty percent will go to that dragon sect that has come here today."

Li Yu furrowed his brow and wondered why his cousin had done that since the Crest Spine Sect had not helped at all during the violent fighting. The dragon cultivators had merely watched from the northern horizon the entire time while keeping their weapons sheathed. However, Li Yu quickly realized that Zhan Chen must have his own intricate reasons for the specific division of power.

Zhan Chen was a much better ruler and was far more skilled with political maneuvering than Li Yu could ever hope to be. Giving a portion of the land to the dragon sect might keep them complacent or act as a political buffer against other greedy factions looking to claim the empty territory. Li Yu did not question the public decision and neither did King Sterling of the Lunaris Kingdom. The older king simply nodded his head respectfully from the deck of his warship to accept the generous terms.

The sect leader on the other hand was incredibly surprised by the sudden announcement though. Sect Master Korren hovered in the sky and exchanged confused glances with his draconic subordinates. They had not done a single thing to earn such a reward and yet they got to claim twenty percent of the lands and property of a fallen kingdom.

Korren knew they would need to talk it through with the Lunaris Kingdom later to determine exactly where their borders would fall and what specific resources they would get but it was an incredible windfall regardless of the details. The scarred sect master nodded his head toward Zhan Chen to show his gratitude for the unexpected gift.

Zhan Chen left the tedious clean up and the management of the conquered city to the Lunaris Kingdom and Crest Spine Sect. Since the neighboring kingdom already had a lot of their troops here with their flying fleet, they began to take over the capital immediately. Soldiers wearing silver armor marched through the broken streets to secure key locations and disarm the surrendering Solaris guards. The common people living here were now under a new ruler but their daily lives did not change that much in the grand scheme of things. Farmers would still farm and merchants would still trade their goods in the markets.

However, the wealthy nobles and other elite groups from the Solaris Kingdom would be suffering under this new regime as they had the most to lose and would likely be stripped of their hoarded wealth to pay for the repairs and reconstruction of the capital. How the Lunaris Kingdom decided to deal with the kneeling royal family was up to King Sterling and his advisors but Zhan Chen and Li Yu had much more important things to do than watch prisoners get shackled.

The two cousins met up in the air and headed deep into the ruined palace grounds together. Zhan Chen was going to loot the royal vault while Li Yu was going to see what was hidden down here that had successfully blocked his karmic senses. He was incredibly curious about the source of the concealment.

"How are your injuries holding up after that clash with the flaming crow?" Zhan Chen asked as they walked down a wide stone hallway adorned with scorched tapestries and broken statues.

"My Qi reserves are fine thanks to Krag but my internal organs are throbbing fiercely," Li Yu answered while pressing a hand against his bruised ribs. "That fire beam from the ancestor hit very hard and the recoil from my own soul technique gave me a terrible headache that refuses to fade. I will need a few days of quiet meditation to heal completely."

Li Yu looked over his older cousin and noted that the wounds on Zhan Chen were all superficial. A few dark scorch marks on his skin and some torn fabric on his sleeves were the only signs that he had fought a Creation Lord in single combat.

"You looked incredibly cool up there while fighting her by the way," Li Yu mentioned casually as they stepped over a fallen pillar. "Shattering her attacks, pushing her back and having the upper hand most of the time was amazing to watch."

Zhan Chen stopped walking for a second and a bright smile spread across his handsome face. He literally beamed with pride at the unexpected compliment. "You really think so? I thought the finishing move lacked a bit of power with the severed limbs but the impact felt very satisfying to deliver in the moment."

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Li Yu noticed the sudden shift in demeanor and began to wonder if his older cousin was trying to look cool on purpose during the dangerous fight. However, that thought quickly went away as Zhan Chen was the heir of the family and wouldn’t think like that. He probably had his own reasons for all of his actions but couldn’t possibly be it.

"It was very satisfying to watch," Li Yu confirmed with a small chuckle to keep the good mood going though.

They headed further down into the dark depths of the palace and eventually found the heavy doors of the royal vault. The entrance was protected by several glowing defensive arrays that hummed with lethal energy but Zhan Chen simply stepped forward and smashed his way in without a second thought. He drove his fist right through the center of the thick steel doors while shattering the door and breaking the arrays in a single brutal motion. He kicked the ruined doors aside and walked boldly into the cavernous room.

Inside the royal vault, mountains of hoarded wealth greeted their eyes. There were tall piles of glowing spirit stones stacked haphazardly in the corners while racks of gleaming weapons and sturdy armors lined the stone walls. Wooden shelves held rows of carved jade boxes containing rare herbs and precious medicinal pills. Tall bookcases were stuffed to the brim with cultivation techniques and forgotten martial arts manuals. The volume of resources collected by the Solaris Kingdom over the centuries was staggering to behold.

Zhan Chen walked to the center of the large room and dragged the toe of his boot across the stone floor, drawing an invisible straight line right down the middle of the vault to divide the treasure.

"We will just split the room in half," Zhan Chen said while gesturing to the two sides with open hands. "You take the left side and I will take the right side. We can let luck decide which one of us gets out with more value than the other."

Li Yu frowned and tried to tell his cousin to take more of the loot. "You should claim a larger share since you fought off the strongest enemy out there today. A Creation Lord is far beyond my current abilities and you handled her easily. You earned the larger share of this vault."

Zhan Chen shook his head and firmly refused the offer. "I would not even be here reaping these rewards if you had not invited me to join you on this journey. We share the spoils equally as the family should." He chuckled softly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, with this massive haul, the two of us have probably done the best out of all the clan members out here for training. Both the Li family and the Zhan family are probably struggling to secure a fraction of this wealth right now in their own adventures."

Li Yu pictured some of their cousins fighting over meager scraps in distant lands and could not help but smile at the thought. They both laughed together as each took their respective side of the room and began sweeping the vast treasures into their spatial rings to properly review later when they had more time.

Once the vault was entirely empty, they kept exploring the underground levels because Li Yu explicitly stated he wanted to find out where the Matriarch had been hiding for all those years. They walked past several empty storage rooms until they finally found a secret passage concealed behind a false brick wall. The hidden corridor led even further down into the damp earth.

The air grew cold and smelled of decay as they descended a long staircase carved from raw stone. Down below the royal foundations, they found a sprawling network of dark and rusted dungeons. The iron cages were packed full of miserable people wearing ragged clothes. Li Yu felt a chill run down his spine as he realized the horrible truth of the situation and what was actually going on down here. The royal family was sacrificing the innocent people within their own kingdom or kidnapping from others to further strengthen the dark flames of that Matriarch. They were using an entire kingdom as a mere farming tool just for her personal power growth.

It would seem that to mask the entire area from outside discovery and hide their sins, there was a complex formation set up down here that successfully blocked karmic tracing and divination. It would explain how the scouts of both families were not able to detect her and her cultivation level.

Zhan Chen ran his hand along the glowing blue runes carved into the dungeon floor and nodded his head in appreciation. "This concealment technique is very advanced and even more expensive to set up. A kingdom like this one should not possess such knowledge. Something else is going on here."

"How did they get their hands on such an array formation then?" Li Yu asked while looking at the intricate lines of power pulsing in the dark.

"That is unknown to me," Zhan Chen replied while studying the flow of energy moving through the floor. "But there should be a very nice treasure sitting at its core and is the catalyst for the entire thing. Let us find it while we clear this place out."

They searched around the sprawling dungeon while breaking the heavy iron locks and freeing the trapped people down here. As they moved through the cages, Li Yu noticed there were people that looked like they were from that dragon sect based on their physical features and lingering auras. The two cousins did not know if that was really the case since they had never interacted with the Crest Spine Sect closely. The two simply freed everyone they found and told them to head up and out of the dark tunnels.

"The Lunaris Kingdom has taken over the city above," Zhan Chen announced to the trembling crowds of exhausted prisoners. "Keep walking toward the surface. King Sterling will see to your care and safety now."

The prisoners wept tears of joy and bowed in gratitude before rushing up the stairs toward freedom and fresh air. Once the dungeon was clear of innocent lives, Li Yu and Zhan Chen followed the thickest lines of glowing runes until they reached a small circular chamber at the very back of the prison block.

Just as Zhan Chen had predicted, they found the power source sitting on a raised stone altar at the very core of the formation. It was a single radiant flower glowing with a soft ethereal light. The delicate petals shifted through colors of deep purple and pale silver while weaving together like threads of destiny.

Zhan Chen stepped up to the altar and his eyes widened in genuine surprise. "A Fate Weaving Petal Orchid. I have only read about these in the library back home. That flower and a few other similar treasures are what can be used as the core of such powerful concealing arrays and formations."

"What makes it so special?" Li Yu asked while feeling the strange energy washing over his karmic senses. It felt like the flower was constantly rewriting the rules of the space around it, blinding the eyes of heaven itself.

"It is incredibly rare and valuable," Zhan Chen explained while carefully preparing a specialized jade box to harvest the glowing plant. "These orchids can usually only be found by pure chance as the exact conditions required to grow them are entirely unknown to cultivators. They just randomly spring up in isolated corners of the cosmos but they take tens of thousands of years to grow to full maturity."

Li Yu stared at the shifting petals and felt a respect for the ancient treasure. "So the Matriarch used it to hide her bloody sacrifices from the rest of the world."

"Exactly," Zhan Chen nodded as he carefully sealed the flower away inside the jade box and caused the glowing runes on the floor to instantly go dark as the core was removed. "Besides being used in these types of concealment arrays, they are used to create a legendary pill that allows a cultivator to bypass their karmic severing trial when breaking through to the next realm."

Li Yu widened his eyes at that revelation, the Karma Severing realm was notoriously dangerous because facing one's own past sins and karmic ties often led to death or madness. A pill that bypassed that trial was an incredibly valuable treasure that any rising genius would kill to possess.

"But since the flower is so incredibly rare," Zhan Chen continued while putting the jade box away. "Not many people would ever use it in such a wasteful way. Most experts would rather use it for how it was used here today, to protect important treasures or hidden locations from the divinations and karmic probing of their enemies for generations to come. I intend to hand this over to the family and let the ancestors decide where best to use it for the Zhan Clan. With this treasure secured, the Clan will give us both an incredible amount of merit points. We will need to remove the ‘poor’ from your moniker now." Zhan finished while chuckling.

Li Yu couldn’t help but laugh alongside his cousin while shaking his head at the ridiculous nickname that he had developed. The two began sweeping through the rest of the dungeon and freeing anyone else still alive within. The Matriarch had built an empire of blood and hidden it behind a miracle of nature but her reign of terror was finally brought to an end this day.