Chương 433: The Rivers of Laws

The landscape had shifted dramatically since leaving the Mist Veil Mountains. The lush secretive valleys were gone and were replaced by a rugged expanse of karst topography known as the Pillars of Eternity. Massive limestone columns shot up from the ground like stone fingers trying to poke holes in the sky. Some were hundreds of feet tall and some were covered in hardy vines and moss. Others were bare grey monoliths that had withstood eons of wind and rain. It seemed like a place devoid of life yet also full of it.

It was a place of verticality and silence. The wind whistled through the gaps in the stone, creating a low mournful tune that never ceased. Li Yu moved through this landscape with a newfound ease, though he wasn't rushing. Since his breakthrough to the 5th Stage of Soul Formation his body felt different. It wasn't just stronger, it felt denser. The cosmic energy of the Moon and mainly the Star Qi he had absorbed had integrated into his marrow and body.

Since he was able to gasp at it now, it became a natural thing that was able to be absorbed by his Abyssal Leviathan Technique and Koi martial spirit naturally now. He stopped to rest atop one of the flat-topped pillars. He was sitting with his legs dangling over a drop that would make a mortal dizzy. He took out a spirit fruit pear he had brought a few towns back and took a bite.

"My eyes are sharper," Li Yu muttered to himself as he was watching a hawk miles away.

"But I feel like I'm still just looking at the surface and not truly seeing." As if responding to his thought, a familiar aura stirred within his Koi Sanctuary. A small streak of black light shot out from Li Yu's chest and quickly materialized in mid-air before landing with a heavy clack on the stone beside him. It was a miniature version of Khaos's true form, a small but malicing crab. It scuttled sideways and raised its claws at the horizon before speaking.

"Boy." The voice didn't come from the small crab mouth. It vibrated directly against Li Yu's skull and was deep and resonant. Li Yu looked down at the mini-Khaos.

"You haven't come out in a long time. I was beginning to wonder if the Sanctuary was too comfortable for you." The little crab snapped its claws and completely ignored his comments.

"I have been watching and pondering the laws boy," Khaos stated. His voice dripping with authority.

"I do not waste my time with idle chatter. I already wasted too much time on watching and waiting for you to become... capable."

"Capable?" Li Yu asked.

"Yes. Capable of handling the burden of real knowledge," Khaos replied.

"You have finally reached the stage where you can begin. You are no longer too fragile like glass." The crab turned its eyestalks toward Li Yu.

"You are finally ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Time to stop playing with mud," Khaos said.

"The time has come to learn how to build mountains. You have been using Qi like a child throwing water from a bucket. It is messy and weak. It is inefficient. It is time you learned to look at the Laws." Li Yu sat up straighter. He was curious about this before but was always rejected by Khaos.

"Laws? I thought that was for Divine Transformation cultivators?"

"Correct," Khaos said.

"For normal cultivators. For the trash that fills this realm and other realms. They have to wait because their souls are weak. If they tried to peer into the underlying laws of reality before their soul had sublimated and their bodies strength, their souls would shatter. But you... you are an anomaly. Your soul and body are a fortress. You can handle the burden." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Li Yu felt a thrill of excitement.

"So, what are they? And where do I begin?"

"You must understand the hierarchy," Khaos lectured, his miniature form pacing back and forth on the rock like a professor.

"The Laws are the steps before the Dao. To master a Dao, one must understand and master all the Laws that compose it." Khaos raised a claw.

"At the bottom, you have the Common Laws. Things like the Elemental Laws. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Metal. It also includes laws such as plants, spices that you love so much and so on. They are easy to see because they are everywhere. A fireball burns because of the Law of Fire. A rock is hard because of the Law of Earth and density." He raised a second claw.

"Then you have more Abstract Laws. Like Illusion, Sound, Magnetism, Poison and so on. These are slightly harder to grasp but still tied to the physical world." He waved both claws at the sky.

"And then, the Grand Laws. The Supreme Laws. Void. Time. Life. Death. Soul. Karma. Fate and so on. These are the framework of reality itself."

"So the Grand Laws are stronger?" Li Yu asked.

"Do not be foolish," Khaos snapped.

"A Law is merely a tool. Just because a hammer is bigger than a needle does not mean it is better for sewing. A master of the 'weak' Law of Dust could kill a novice of the 'strong' Law of Space if his understanding is deeper. A true master of the Law of Dust could kill a master of the Law of Space if his understanding was profound enough and under the right situation." Khaos tapped a rock.

"Furthermore, mastery is subjective. Two cultivators can master the Law of Fire but their fires will be different. One might understand Fire as 'Explosion'—violent and instantaneous. Another might understand Fire as 'Warmth'—enduring and life-giving. Their Laws are the same in name but their expression depends on their soul, their talent, their life experience and so many other factors."

"And remember this, boy," Khaos added.

"All paths lead to the same source. Understanding one Law helps you understand the others, some more than others. If you understand the flow of Water, you can better understand the flow of Time. If you understand the density of Earth, you can better understand the gravity of the Void. It is all connected."

"So," Li Yu asked, standing up.

"How do I increase my understanding?"

"You must enter the 'River,'" Khaos said ominously.

"We will start with what you and I know. The Void." Khaos pointed a claw at the empty air between the pillars.

"Look at the gap. Do not focus with your eyes. Focus with your Soul. Push your consciousness out until the physical world breaks. Look and feel the void laws that are everywhere." Li Yu closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and activated his Ocean of Qi. He pushed. At first, there was only darkness and nothing else. This went on for around 30 minutes but Khaos was patient, as if he was expecting this. Then a splitting headache assaulted him. It felt like his skull was being crushed in a vice.

But Li Yu gritted his teeth, the Fisherman and Koi Soul began to glow and actively surged their auras.. Li Yu pushed harder and did not want to give up. Suddenly the pain vanished. The sound of the wind in the area vanished. The feeling of the stone beneath him vanished. Li Yu opened his eyes but he was no longer on the pillar. He was floating in a vast and dark expanse. But it wasn't empty. He was standing on the surface of a massive flowing river.

The water wasn't water; it was liquid darkness and was shimmering with silver ripples. It flowed silently and stretched out infinitely into the distance. Li Yu looked down at himself. His body was translucent, he was in his spectral form. Floating to his left was the Fisherman, looking solid and calm. His bamboo hat casting a shadow over his eyes. Swimming in the air to his right was the Koi Soul. Its scales were radiant and shedding light that kept the crushing darkness at bay.

"This must be the 'River' that Khaos was talking about for laws. This is the River of Void," Li Yu whispered. Ahead of him, standing in the middle of the river was a figure. It had no face. It was made of distorted space and kept shifting and wavering like a living mirage.

"The Spirit of the Law," Khaos's voice echoed in his mind and appeared next to him in this place.

"Every Law has a Spirit. Fire has a Flame, Earth has a Stone. Void has... the Distortion."

"Walk forward, boy. But be warned. The further you walk, the heavier the current." Li Yu took a step. Immediately, a crushing pressure landed on his shoulders. It wasn't gravity; it was the sensation of being erased. The Void wanted to unmake him. It was a test of existence and the burden for understanding the Void. It was the burden for understanding any of the laws but the Law of Fire might try to burn you away.