He knew there was one more person he needed to see, one more secret he could no longer keep. The next morning, he traveled alone to Azure Cloud Peak.
He walked the familiar path up the mountain, his steps light. He arrived at the nine-story pagoda to find Elder Ning in her personal garden, tending to her spiritual herbs. She looked up as he approached, her usual stern expression softening into a warm genuine smile.
"Look at you," she said, her voice filled with a motherly affection. She put down her tools and walked over, her eyes scanning him from head to toe. "You've been in seclusion for six months. I was beginning to worry. Did your study of the founder's dao bear fruit?"
"It did, Master," Li Yu replied, a soft smile on his face.
"Good, good," she said, nodding in satisfaction. She placed a hand on his shoulder, a familiar gesture. "Your foundation feels even more stable than before. Your body… it seems stronger as well. It seems your training with that strange pressure method of yours is paying off."
She looked at him, her eyes filled with pride. "You are at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm now, are you not? I have no doubt that within the next decade, you will be ready to attempt your own breakthrough. You have made your master very proud."
Li Yu looked at the warm, proud woman before him, the person who had taken him in when he needed it the most. The person who did what she could to help him through his journey. He knew he could not keep this secret from her.
"Master," he said, his voice quiet but clear. "I have already broken through."
Elder Ning's smile faltered. "Broken through? What do you mean? To the peak?"
"No, Master," he replied, his gaze steady. He relaxed the perfect, absolute control of his «Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art».
The full, unrestrained power of his First Stage Core Formation cultivation washed over the garden. The air grew heavy, the spiritual energy of the peak itself seeming to bow in submission.
Elder Ning's hand, which had been resting on his shoulder, flew to her mouth. Her eyes, which had been filled with a warm pride, now widened into circles of disbelief. Her own powerful Foundation Establishment aura felt like a flickering candle in the face of the depth of his.
"Core… Formation…?" she whispered, the words a breathless, impossible sound. She stumbled back a step, her mind unable to process what her senses were telling her. "How… how is this possible? You are so young…"
Her eyes, which had been filled with shock, now began to well up with tears. She looked at the young man she had taken in as a scrawny, ten-year-old orphan, the boy she had protected and nurtured, and a great, shuddering laugh of pure, overwhelming joy and pride erupted from her.
"You little monster," she said, her voice choked with emotion as she pulled him into a fierce, motherly hug. "You truly are a monster."
They stood there for a long moment, master and disciple, mother and son.
"Your foundation…" she said finally, pulling back, her hands still gripping his shoulders as if to make sure he was real. "It is… perfect. More stable than the Sect Master's. How?"
Li Yu told her the truth, or at least, the version of it that he could without just bringing about more questions. He spoke of his final, desperate compression and the paradoxical state he had entered. He told her of the fusion of life and his own abyssal Qi. He did not speak of Khaos. He did not need to.
Elder Ning listened, her expression shifting from shock, to awe and finally, to a grim, calculating seriousness. "This changes everything," she said, her voice now a low, urgent whisper. "To be a Core Formation expert at your age, with a foundation like yours… Li Yu, this is a secret that must be kept, even from the sect council for now. Come. We must see the Sect Master. He is the only one who can be trusted with a secret of this magnitude."
Together, they made their way to the Sect Master's private, secluded courtyard at the very peak of the central mountain. The Sect Master was there, tending to a small, spiritual herb garden, his expression as calm and benevolent as ever. He looked up as they approached, a warm smile on his face.
"Elder Ning. Disciple Li. It is good to see you. I trust your seclusion was…" His words trailed off as his gaze truly fell upon Li Yu. The smile on his face froze, replaced by an expression of dumbfounded shock. His ancient eyes, which had seen the rise and fall of generations, widened in disbelief.
Elder Ning simply gave a solemn nod. "Sect Master. He has succeeded."
Li Yu relaxed his suppression once more, allowing the profound, deep aura of his new realm to fill the courtyard.
The Sect Master's own Core Formation aura, as vast and powerful as the sky itself, flared instinctively. He took a half-step back, his mind reeling. He closed his eyes, his spiritual sense a fine, probing needle that gently, cautiously reached out to touch Li Yu's foundation.
He felt… nothing. And everything. He could sense the aura of a First Stage Core Formation expert, but when he tried to probe its depths, his own powerful spiritual sense was like a drop of water falling into a black, bottomless ocean.
He could not feel its limits. He could not feel its bottom. He could only feel an absolute depth that seemed to devour his own senses. He knew that this boy's true power was far, far greater than the First Stage he was displaying.
"The heavens have truly blessed our Green Mountain Sect," the Sect Master whispered, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and a dawning, terrifying sense of responsibility. He looked at Elder Ning, then back at Li Yu. "You are right, Ning. This changes everything. This secret must be protected at all costs."
He was silent for a long moment, the only sound the gentle rustling of the spiritual herbs in the wind. "To reveal this truth would bring disaster upon him and possibly this sect as well. But to hide it completely is to starve a divine beast of the resources it needs to grow. He needs to know the sect's depths."
He looked at Li Yu, a new light of respect in his eyes. "Li Yu. Your talent is a treasure beyond measure and your loyalty has been proven in the fires of battle. You are far too young and inexperienced for the public duties of an elder still. Your public status will remain. You are the master of the Deepwater Menagerie, a monstrously talented Seventh Stage Foundation Establishment genius. That is the face you will show the world. But in secret… in secret, you will be something more."
He paused, a strange, mysterious light in his eyes. "Now that you have stepped into this realm, there are some secrets of the sect that you are now entitled to know." He looked at Li Yu, then at a stunned Elder Ning. "Ning, I must ask you to wait here. The knowledge I am about to share is known only to myself."
He led Li Yu not to a grand hall but to a simple, unadorned rock wall at the very back of his courtyard. He placed his hand on the rock and with a low, grinding sound the wall slid away revealing a dark hidden passage that led deep into the heart of the mountain.
They walked in silence for what felt like an eternity, the passage spiraling down into the silent depths of the earth. Finally, they arrived in a simple, massive, unadorned stone chamber. The spiritual energy here was so dense it was almost taking form, and the air was filled with a deep, ancient and sleepy pressure.
Sitting in the center of the chamber, in deep meditative trances, were two ancient, wizened figures. One was an old man, his skin as wrinkled and gnarled as an ancient tree, his aura as deep and steady as the mountain itself. The other was an old woman, her hair as white as snow, her aura a sharp, piercing presence, like a sword sheathed for a thousand years.
The moment Li Yu entered the chamber, their eyes snapped open. They looked at him, and their ancient, sleepy gazes were instantly filled with a profound, soul-shaking shock.
"This… is impossible," the old woman whispered, her voice a dry, raspy sound.
"These," the Sect Master said, his voice filled with a deep, profound reverence, "are the true, hidden pillars of our Green Mountain Sect. Grand Elder Chen and Grand Elder Mei."
He looked at Li Yu. "Grand Elder Chen is at the Third Stage of the Core Formation Realm. Grand Elder Mei is at the Fifth Stage. They are our sect's ultimate guardians, our final line of defense against any and all threats. And you, Li Yu, are now one of them."
Li Yu stood, his mind reeling. He had just stepped from one secret into another, deeper one. He had thought he was a hidden power. He had just discovered that he was merely the newest and youngest member of the sect's true, hidden court.