Chương 412: The Shadow and the Light

Two days had passed since Li Yu first opened his humble stall in Goldflow City under the moniker of "The Quiet Physician." The sun was beginning to dip below the western horizon, casting long amber shadows across the bustling marketplace. Li Yu sat behind his simple wooden table, packing away his few tools. The line of people had finally dwindled. Over the last forty-eight hours he had treated over a hundred beasts.

He had untangled chaotic qi, diagnosed poor diets, soothed anxious minds and in a few cases simply eased a passing. As he placed his small sign into his storage bag, he felt a sensation he hadn't experienced in months. It was a quiet steady rhythm in his chest. It wasn't happiness, not exactly. It was peace. The crushing weight of the last few months had not vanished. It was still there, a heavy stone sitting at the bottom of his heart. But now the water around that stone was calm.

Helping these people, seeing the relief in their eyes when their companions were healed had acted as an additional balm. It reminded him that his hands, which he had recently dedicated to the art of killing and destruction, were still capable of healing. He stood up and began to walk around the town, taking in the sights and sounds of everyday life. He walked through the city streets. Goldflow City was entering its evening phase. Lanterns were being lit, casting a warm inviting glow over the cobblestones.

The smell of roasting meat, sweet dough and spiced alcohol filled the air. Li Yu watched the people. He saw a group of children chasing a stray spirit-cat, their laughter echoing off the walls. He saw merchants closing up shop, counting their coins with tired but satisfied smiles. He saw couples walking arm in arm, whispering secrets to one another. His mind, split as always between his primary consciousness and his second mind, began to both drift.

For the first half of his life, his world had been the simple air of his hometown. He had been a little boy trying to have fun wherever he can. He helped out his parents where possible and enjoyed their company but in the grand schemes of the world he was a nobody. That world was gone, erased by the Seven Fears. For the second half, his world had been the Green Mountain Sect. He had been a cultivator, a disciple and the Quiet Physician.

That world was gone too, only the Quiet Physician and a few remaining sect members alive. The core of the sect was gone and its legacy techniques destroyed along with those people. The Golden Shell Guild has put out notices everywhere, anyone that belonged to the Green Mountain Sect that was still alive are welcome to join them. If they didn't want to join, the Guild would still help them along on their journey, to whatever they wanted to do now.

Li Yu felt this was the least he could do for those that had survived. Many took up the offer, a split between joining the guild and going about their own lives. No one talked of trying to revive the sect, none of them could. Its legacy was destroyed, even if they revived the sect in name it would no longer be as it once was. It would simply be a shell with the name but not the history. His mind drifted back to the present. He was now in his third life.

The life of someone who wanted revenge for the destruction of his first two lives. And he was lost.

'I need revenge,' he thought, the familiar coldness touching his mind.

'That is non-negotiable. If I let them live, if I let the Seven Fears and whoever else is behind them sit on their thrones while my family lies in ash, I will never sleep again. It will eat me from the inside out.' But then, another thought arose, one that Cyra and the others had been gently trying to plant in his mind for weeks.

'But if I live only for that... what am I?' He thought of Fengliu. The cultivator was powerful, brilliant and driven. But he was also hollow. He was a man who had hollowed himself out until nothing remained but a vessel for vengeance. He was a walking shadow, a ghost haunting the living world. Was Fengliu wrong? Li Yu couldn't say. Perhaps for Fengliu, that was the only way to survive. It was actually what kept him going all these years.

But as Li Yu watched a father lift his daughter onto his shoulders so she could touch a hanging lantern, he knew one thing with absolute certainty.

'I do not want to be a shadow.' He wanted to enjoy the journey. He wanted to taste the different drinks, feel the sun and laugh with his friends. Even if the destination was a blood-soaked battlefield, did the road leading there have to be gray? He stopped on a small stone bridge overlooking one of the city's canals. The water below reflected the lantern light, shimmering like liquid gold. He realized he had been trying to ignore the pain. He had been trying to bury it under cultivation, under work, under rage.

But burying grief was like burying a fire; it didn't go out, it just heated the ground until everything burned.

'It hurts,' he admitted to himself, allowing the feeling to wash over him.

'It hurts so much that I can barely breathe sometimes.' He took a deep breath, letting the evening air fill his lungs.

'And that's okay. It's okay to hurt. It means it was real. It means they mattered.' He wouldn't forget. He wouldn't "move on" in the sense of leaving them behind. He would carry them with him. But he would carry them as memories, not as chains. He reached into his robes and pulled out a communication token. He poured a sliver of qi into it.

"Kui," he said softly. The response was immediate.

"Wise Host! I am here. Is everything alright?" Li Yu smiled faintly at the guild master's immediate protective instinct.

"No trouble, Kui. I... I just wanted to apologize." There was a pause on the other end.

"Apologize? Whatever for?" Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"For the last few months," Li Yu said, looking down at the water.

"I have been... distant. Harsh. Commanding. I threw myself into cultivation and ignored everything else. I made you and the others worry. I am sorry."

"Wise Host," Kui's voice was softer now, lacking its usual booming cadence.

"You lost everything. If you had been cracking jokes the day after, that would have worried me. You are human, Li Yu. You are allowed to bleed." Li Yu closed his eyes for a moment, grateful for the man.

"Thank you, Kui. Truly." He opened his eyes.

"I also wanted to check on the project. The altar."

"Ah, yes," Kui said, his business tone returning.

"The Floating Memorial. It is technically complete, structurally speaking. We used the white Spirit-Jade you requested. It is anchored right above the coordinates of the old sect leader's peak."

"Good," Li Yu said.

"I want... I want to make sure it is open. Not just to cultivators. Not just to those with status. I want anyone who lost someone from the Green Mountain Sect or wants to come honor them be allowed to do so. The Guild absorbs the maintenance cost."

"Consider it done, Wise Host," Kui said firmly.

"I will have the decree sent out tomorrow. It will be a sanctuary for all who wish it to be."

"Thank you, Kui. For always taking these tasks on. I know they distract from other things you want to be doing."

"Profits come and go, Li Yu," Kui chuckled.

"But a legacy? That is forever. Leave it to me." Li Yu cut the connection and began to contact the others that had been by his side. He was using his communication token because not everyone was bound to the Koi Sanctuary, such as Mo Ling. He thanked everyone for being there for him and he chatted with each of them for a bit. Li Yu finally put the token away after a while. He felt another layer of tension dissolve. The altar would be a place for the dead.

He, however, had to remain in the place for the living and extract his revenge. Li Yu turned to walk away but noticed someone. Walking towards him along the canal path was a familiar figure. It was the burly, scarred mercenary he had helped the day before—the owner of the Three-Eyed Wind-Wolf. The man wasn't wearing his armor today. He was in simple tunics, looking far less intimidating.

Walking beside him was a woman with kind eyes and flour-dusted hands and trailing behind them was a young boy, maybe seven years old, who was excitedly holding the leash of the now-healthy Wind-Wolf. The wolf, which had been a snarling monster yesterday, was trotting happily. Its third eye was clear and bright. The mercenary spotted Li Yu and stopped. His eyes widened slightly and he nudged his wife. They approached quickly.

"Master Physician!" the mercenary called out. He hesitated, then bowed awkwardly.

"I... I didn't expect to see you here." Li Yu stepped off the bridge to meet them.

"It is a pleasant evening for a walk. How is your companion?"

"He's a new beast," the mercenary said, grinning and looking at the wolf.

"Better than new. He tracked a scent for me this morning that was three days old. I've never seen him this sharp." The man looked at Li Yu, his expression turning serious.

"I... I was rude yesterday. I was desperate and I took it out on you. You saved my livelihood and I didn't thank you properly."

"You thanked me enough," Li Yu said gently.

"Seeing the beast healthy is payment enough."

"Nonsense," the woman spoke up. She stepped forward, holding out a woven basket covered with a checkered cloth.

"My husband told me what you did. That wolf helps to put food on our table. Please, take this. It's not much, just some Sweet-Bean Buns and Spiced Nut Cakes. I baked them fresh an hour ago." The smell wafting from the basket was incredible. It was warm, sugary and comforting. He smiled at the woman and took a few of each from the basket.

"I would be honored to accept. They smell delicious." The woman beamed.

"They are best while they are still warm!" Li Yu looked at the family. The father, scarred and rough, making a living in a dangerous world. The mother, supporting them with her warmth and skill. The child, growing up in the safety they fought to provide. They were normal. They were fragile. A single stray technique from a cultivator battle could wipe them out. And yet, here they were. Laughing. Eating. Living. Li Yu reached into his storage ring. He couldn't just take their food without returning the favor.

It was not the way of the Golden Shell Guild and certainly not his way. He pulled out a small triangular talisman made of yellow paper, inscribed with shimmering blue ink.

"For you," Li Yu said, handing it to the mercenary.

"A Minor Barrier Talisman. It won't stop a dragon but it will deflect a strike from a Core Formation beast. It might buy you the time you need to get home." The mercenary's eyes went wide. A talisman of that level was worth months of his wages.

"Master Physician, I... I can't..."

"Take it," Li Yu insisted, pressing it into the man's rough hand.

"And... if the work ever dries up..." Li Yu pulled out a second item. It was a heavy silver token embossed with a roaring white bear paw.

"Go to the nearest Golden Shell Guild branch. Show them this. Ask for the 'White Paw Company.'" The mercenary stared at the token.

"The White Paw? The group of elite mercenaries that have been making a name for themselves?"

"The Commander is a woman named Xylia," Li Yu said. His mind conjured the image of the Beast King. The tall, powerful and white-haired barbarian queen.

"She is... intense. She is cold, stoic and respects only strength. But she is fair and so is the company. And she has a soft spot for those who work well with beasts. Tell her the Quiet Physician sent you. She will find a place for you if you ever need it." The mercenary looked from the talisman to the token, then back to Li Yu. He looked like he might cry. He grabbed Li Yu's hand and shook it vigorously.

"Thank you. Thank you."

"The baked goods were enough," Li Yu said. The family slightly bowed again, the little boy waving enthusiastically at the "magic doctor," and they continued on their way with the wolf trotting faithfully beside them. Li Yu stood there for a long time, holding the baked goods in his hands. He watched them until they disappeared into the evening crowd. He took a warm bun and ate it. It was indeed delicious.

'They have little to no cultivation,' Li Yu thought to himself as he was taking another bite of the sweet fluffy dough.

'They have no divine beasts. If the sky falls, they have no way to hold it up.' He chewed slowly, savoring the taste.

"And yet," he continued, looking at the spot where they had vanished.

"They get up every morning. They face a world filled with monsters and gods that could crush them by accident. And they still find the courage to bake cakes and raise their children." He looked at his hand, the one that could summon abyssal water and shatter souls.

'I have been looking for strength in ancient manuals and divine bloodlines,' Li Yu continued to think.

'But that man... that family... they are doing their best with nothing but their own two hands. They are continuing onward, despite the fear.'

'That is true resilience. Not the inability to be hurt but the will to keep walking even when you are.' He took another bite of the bun. As he walked back through the darkening streets of Goldflow City, Li Yu didn't feel magically healed. The grief was still there. The anger at the Seven Fears was still there, burning cold and deep. But the frantic, drowning desperation was gone. He had a destination: Vengeance. But he also had a path: Life.

He now felt like he could walk that path without losing himself to the shadow. It was at that moment, unknown to even himself. He had stepped from the 1st level of Soul Formation to the 2nd level. His two souls inside his Ocean of Qi glowed and then quickly went back to normal. It wasn't an earth shatter change but it was the first step on his way towards revenge.