The scarred bandit leader, whose name was Garo, lay on the cold canyon floor, his limbs bound by ropes of solidified abyssal water that were harder than steel. He stared up at the impossible menagerie of monstrous beasts that stood silent and watchful around the calm, smiling young man. His mind, which had known only the brutal calculus of strength and fear, had performed a rapid and definitive calculation: he had just met the new apex predator of the Ironmaw Range. Loyalty, for a man like him, was not a matter of honor; it was a matter of survival.
"I'll take you to him," Garo stammered, his voice a hoarse whisper. "I'll take you right to the King's fortress. Just… just call them off." He looked at the Stygian Maw-Lurkers, whose hypnotic lures were pulsing with a soft, hungry light, and a shiver of pure, primal terror ran down his spine.
"Good," Li Yu said cheerfully. He waved a hand, and the watery bonds dissolved. He did not recall his beasts. "You will lead. They will follow."
And so began the most terrifying procession the Ironmaw Range had ever witnessed. Garo, pale and trembling, walked at the front, his steps unsteady. A few paces behind him was Li Yu, his hands clasped behind his back, looking for all the world like a curious traveler on a scenic tour. And behind Li Yu came the army of monsters.
The two colossal Stygian Maw-Lurkers slithered in the rear, their immense forms scraping against the canyon walls. Flanking them were the unbreachable Aegis and Bastion turtles, their heavy, thudding steps shaking the ground. Fury and Rage, the Azure-Clawed Hydras, moved on the flanks, their multiple heads weaving and sniffing the air with predatory hunger.
In the center, the Abyssal Water-Drakes, Ying and Zhao, moved with a cold, regal grace, while Volt and Jolt crackled with contained golden lightning. Crimson the Marsh-Drake moved near the front, a low mist of condensed water vapor swirling around his powerful, low-slung body. It was not an army that marched; it was a living, breathing calamity.
Garo, to his credit, was a pragmatic man. He understood his new role perfectly. As they approached the first bandit outpost, a crude wooden fort built into a mountain pass, he cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed, his voice filled with a genuine, desperate terror.
"Stand down! By order of the King, stand down! We are escorting an honored guest to the fortress! Do not attack! I repeat, do not attack!"
The bandits in the fort, who had been preparing to rain down a volley of chaotic energy attacks, paused. They peered over the walls and saw the procession. Their hands went numb. Their faces went white. They could only stare, frozen in mute horror, as the river of monsters flowed past their fort, leaving them untouched.
The first few ambushes they encountered were not so lucky. A group of bandits hidden in a high ravine, who had not yet received the news, let loose a volley of fiery and corrosive demonic energy blasts. Before the blasts could even get close, Aegis and Bastion, the two Iron-Shell Guardian Turtles, moved to the front.
They slammed their massive bodies into the ground, and a shimmering, dome-shaped barrier of pure, earthy-yellow light erupted from their shells, enveloping the entire group. The demonic energy blasts slammed into the barrier, dissipating in harmless showers of sparks.
Before the bandits could even register their failure, a single, brilliant bolt of golden lightning from Volt arced into the ravine. A series of screams, followed by a sudden, choking silence, was the only result.
News, carried by terrified runners and panicked psychic messages, began to spread through the mountains like wildfire. A boy. A young traveler leading an army of demons. Invincible. Unstoppable. The ambushes stopped. No one was willing to throw away their life for a king they served only out of fear. Bandit groups, seeing the procession from a distance, would simply melt back into the mountains, their courage utterly broken.
After a full day of this grim, silent march, they finally arrived. The Bandit King's fortress was not a crude fort, but a masterpiece of pragmatic engineering. It was an old, abandoned mountain sect that had been refortified, its natural defenses enhanced with high walls, siege crossbows, and a powerful, shimmering defensive array. It was a fortress built not just for defense, but for business, overlooking the widest and most crucial trade pass in the entire range.
The great gates of the fortress were open, and the ramparts were lined with hundreds of the King's most elite forces. They were not preparing for battle. They were simply watching, their faces a mixture of terror, awe, and morbid curiosity. They parted like water as Garo led Li Yu and his monstrous retinue into the main courtyard.
Li Yu finally recalled his beasts, the sudden emptiness in the courtyard somehow more menacing than their presence had been. He left his new, terrified guide with a simple instruction: "Wait here." He then walked, alone, towards the grand hall at the heart of the fortress.
He stepped inside. The hall was opulent, filled with piles of gold, chests of spirit stones, and racks of high-grade weapons and armor—the accumulated wealth of a thousand plundered caravans. And on a great, iron throne at the far end of the hall, sat the Bandit King.
Li Yu's calm expression flickered for a fraction of a second. The man on the throne was portly, with a round, cheerful face, small, shrewd eyes, and a magnificent, well-groomed mustache. He wore the fine, silk robes of a wealthy merchant, and he looked for all the world like a younger, slightly more ruthless version of Kui.
The Bandit King watched Li Yu approach, a sharp, calculating glint in his eyes. He waved a hand, dismissing his lieutenants. "So," his voice was a surprisingly cheerful, high-pitched tenor. "You are the one who has been making such a mess in my mountains. A brave little fish, swimming so far upstream. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You are the Bandit King?" Li Yu asked, his composure returning.
"The one and only!" the Bandit King declared with a proud puff of his chest. "A self-made monarch! A true entrepreneur in the field of wealth redistribution!"
"Your business is causing a great deal of suffering," Li Yu stated, his tone not accusatory, but one of simple fact. "The common people in this region are starving. The local clans are being strangled. This instability is… inconvenient."
The Bandit King laughed, a high, wheezing sound. "Suffering? Inconvenience? My dear boy, that is the price of progress! My progress! I am building an empire here! The weak suffer, the strong thrive. That is the way of the world."
"Perhaps," Li Yu conceded. "I am not a hero seeking to save the world. But I am a cultivator who seeks a peaceful life. Your actions are creating chaos, and chaos has a tendency to spread. If I learn of a problem that I can solve, a problem that is within my power and does not endanger me, then I will solve it. It is a simple matter of maintaining the peace I desire."
The Bandit King's cheerful expression slowly faded, replaced by a cold, dangerous glint. He finally understood. The boy was not making a threat. He was delivering a diagnosis. He was looking at him, a 1st-level Core Formation expert, a king who had crushed another of his rank, and he was classifying him as a 'problem he could solve.' The condescension, the absolute, unstated confidence in that assessment, was a greater insult than any curse.
"So, you think I am not a threat to you?" the Bandit King asked, his voice losing all of its cheer.
"I think you are a disruption to a peaceful and profitable region," Li Yu corrected gently.
That was the final straw. The Bandit King's face turned a furious, mottled red. "You arrogant little brat!" he screamed, leaping from his throne. "You walk into my hall, with your menagerie of pets, and you dare to lecture me? I will teach you the true meaning of power! I will flay you alive and feed your skin to my hounds! MEN, TO ARMS! KILL HIM!"
From the side chambers of the hall, a hundred of the King's most elite warriors, a mix of Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment experts, poured into the room, their weapons drawn, their killing intent thick enough to taste.
Li Yu simply sighed. He raised a hand, and the shimmering, watery portal to his Koi's Sanctuary opened behind him. His entire army of beasts rematerialized in the vast hall, their unified roar shaking the fortress to its foundations. At the very back, the ancient, parchment-skinned human form of Spine stepped out. He stood silently, his aura completely retracted, appearing as nothing more than a frail, harmless old man.
"Spine," Li Yu said calmly. "Ensure my beasts are not fatally injured. But do not interfere in my own fight. The King is mine."
Spine bowed his head. "As you command, Master."
The bandits, seeing only another old man appear in the chaos, paid him no mind, their attention focused on the real threat. The battle erupted.
Fury and Rage, the Hydras, charged into the thickest group of bandits, a whirlwind of snapping heads and tearing claws. One of the bandit lieutenants, a powerful 8th-level expert, roared as his martial spirit, a great, hulking Crimson Ape, materialized. He met the Hydras head-on, his ape spirit's crushing fists clashing with their venomous fangs in a brutal display of power.
Another lieutenant, whose spirit was a swift and silent Gale Falcon, tried to attack from the air, only to be met by a blinding flash of golden lightning from Volt & Jolt. He fell from the sky, his body smoking and paralyzed.
Aegis and Bastion moved forward, a living, unbreakable wall, allowing Ying and Zhao to fire devastating blasts of abyssal water from behind their cover, their attacks coordinated with a general's terrifying precision. A group of bandits led by an expert with a Stone Golem spirit tried to halt their advance, but the Golem's mighty punches simply glanced off the Iron-Shell Turtles' carapaces with a deafening clang, before the golem itself was shattered by a concentrated blast from the two drakes.
In the midst of the chaos, the Bandit King ignored his own men. His shrewd eyes were locked on Li Yu. From his storage ring, he produced his weapon. It was not a sword or a spear, but a heavy, nine-pronged iron rake, the kind a farmer might use, but this one was forged from black, demonic metal and hummed with a greedy, violent energy.
"I will tear your flesh from your bones and till the earth with your blood!" the Bandit King roared, his voice a high-pitched shriek of fury. He held the rake in a strange, unorthodox stance and charged, his portly form moving with a surprising, deadly speed.
Li Yu's calm expression did not change. He finally drew his own weapon, the heavy, black staff of Condensed Sea Iron Ore appearing in his hand. He looked at the charging, rake-wielding merchant, then at the chaotic, swirling battle of beasts and men filling the hall, and a slow, excited smile touched his lips.
His week of training was over. It was time for the final exam. He took a deep breath, his own condensed, 1st-level Core Formation aura finally flaring to life, a deep, abyss-black ocean meeting a raging, muddy river. He spun his staff once and moved to meet the Bandit King's charge.