‘And you didn’t find that suspicious?’ Li Yu asked incredulously. ‘A Divine Transformation beast, paranoid enough to hide all the time for three thousand years, just accepted a free army?’

  ‘I… well…’ Tekton hesitated, feeling a bit foolish. ‘I thought they were awed by my majesty. I am very powerful and quite shiny, Li Yu. And they were useful. They are my pawns. Why question a gift? I finally attained Divine Transformation. I felt bold. I thought it was only natural that the lesser creatures would bow to me and gather under my banner. It was… convenient.’

  Li Yu shook his head and was smiling to himself. ‘Arrogance born of ignorance. Tekton, you were a beacon. Those beasts were likely created by the Sins or at least mutated by them or someone like them. They were probably then told or taught to latch onto the strongest beasts they could find. To sow chaos and destruction along with the powerful beast. You were the unwitting general of an army you didn’t build. They used you as a distraction most likely.’

  ‘So… I was used?’ Tekton asked, his tone sinking into depression. ‘Even before you caught me? I was just a tool? I guess it makes sense, everyone has their own agenda and I was too busy with my own. I wasn’t even thinking of the bigger picture. I thought I was invincible so I was going to do what I wanted.’

  ‘Most likely anyways. At least that is my thought. You were the distraction. While the Alliance focused on the big scary monster, the Sins were probably doing something elsewhere. Or at least getting those under them to do things. I have been told the Sins were greatly hurt recently and it will be a long time before they can recover.’

  ‘That is humiliating,’ Tekton grumbled, his massive head lowering even further. ‘I finally leave my hiding ways after three thousand years. I finally feel bold enough to show myself. And look where it got me. Captured by a human and used by shadows. It is ironic. Cruel, even. I should have stayed in my holes and gotten even stronger.’

  ‘Fate has a sense of humor,’ Li Yu reminded him, patting the cold metal plate. ‘But look at the bright side. If you hadn’t met me, you might have run into the people who actually created that army. And if they made those things—mindless, broken weapons—they might have ways to control you that are far less pleasant than my contract. At least I let you keep your mind. You also, for the most part anyways, have some degree of freedom.’

  ‘You have a point, Li Yu,’ Tekton conceded. ‘But we have a problem now. My “army” is still out there. Waiting for me to advance on the humans. I was going to have them engage the human forces while I went underground and feasted.’

  Li Yu stood up and walked to the edge of Tekton’s armored plating, looking around at the forests that surrounded them. His expression shifted from amused to calculating. He didn’t forget about them, they were resources after all. Not only were they resources, by using them as resources, he would rob his enemies of resources. It was a win-win.

  ‘That is exactly what we need to discuss,’ Li Yu said, his tone turning serious. ‘We can’t just leave that beast tide out there.’

  ‘Why not?’ Tekton asked. ‘They are leaderless now. If I don’t return, they will eventually scatter. Most likely to gather together with another powerful beast.’

  ‘Scattering is bad,’ Li Yu corrected. ‘If they scatter, they will roam the land and possibly kill innocent mortals and low-level cultivators. They will cause headaches for the Alliance. But more importantly…’

  Li Yu’s eyes gleamed with a familiar avarice, the look of a merchant eyeing a warehouse full of uncollected goods. ‘That is a lot of money running away.’

  ‘Money?’

  ‘Resources,’ Li Yu corrected himself. ‘Cores. Bones. Hides. Especially the mutated ones. Maybe I can study the forces that created them. They are my resources for getting even stronger. That army is a walking treasury.’

  Tekton felt the greed radiating from Li Yu’s soul and was slightly taken aback. ‘You want to… kill them all? Why not capture them and have them serve you as well?’

  ‘They are broken pawns. I can’t trust them and I don’t have space to keep them all. Perhaps if they were all aquatic bloodlines I would consider it. However, most of them are not. So, I will harvest them. I need the materials to strengthen myself. What I can’t use I will sell to buy things I can. I need the wealth to increase my own cultivation so I can get my revenge!’

  ‘A true scavenger,’ Tekton noted with a hint of respect. ‘You eat the meat, the bones and everything else. But aren’t you already incredibly strong? Who are your enemies that you need to get even stronger? The Seven Sins are that strong?’

  ‘They are that strong. I am told to not even ask about them until I reach the realm after Divine Transformation. I am only at the 5th stage of Soul Formation right now.’ Li Yu admitted.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  ‘5th stage of Soul Formation!? How dare you lie to me like this to make me feel even worse about my defeat. If you are only at the 5th stage of Soul Formation, then I am the Heavenly Emperor's long lost son! It’s easy to say whatever you want, but it doesn’t make it true does it?! I detected laws in all of your techniques earlier and not even common laws, most were high level laws. You are a bad liar! At least say something believable.’ Tekton raged.

  ‘I am only telling you the truth. It’s up to you if you want to believe it or not.’ Li Yu simply replied.

  Tekton was quiet for a while and decided to change the topic. He couldn’t process it right now. ‘Very well. How do we do this? Do you want me to crush them?’

  ‘No,’ Li Yu said quickly. ‘If you crush them, you ruin the materials. I need clean kills. And I need to do it without the Alliance watching. If I go out there and start slaughtering high level beasts with my techniques, the Alliance scouts will see. They might even detect my laws. They will see my true strength. I want to keep it hidden for now, and be low profile. Show them strength but be mysterious so they are cautious of me.’

  ‘Low profile…’ Tekton projected an image of Li Yu’s killing intent aura from earlier—the twin souls, the different laws. ‘You have a strange definition of low profile, Li Yu.’

  ‘I mean publicly low profile,’ Li Yu clarified. ‘Here, in the dark, I can go all out. Eventually I will go all out there as well but not now. Out there, I am just someone with incredible strength and power but they have no idea the extent of my power. They will simply see that I subdued you and destroyed the beast tide without seeing me in action.’

  Li Yu began to pace back and forth on the beast’s head, his mind constructing the slaughter. He needed a way to separate the valuable elites from the rest of the beast tide. The elites were where the important cultivation treasures would be him to use. He had to kill them off first and collect them. Then, he needed a way to kill the trash efficiently while keeping the bodies intact for later harvesting.

  ‘Here is the plan, Tekton. Listen closely.’

  Li Yu stopped pacing and projected a mental image of the crater in the real world into Tekton’s mind.

  ‘First, you go back. Alone. I will stay here in the void and wait. You return to the crater with a bang. Act angry. Act like you just fought a terrible battle in the void and managed to escape back to reality.’

  ‘I can do angry,’ Tekton agreed. ‘I am actually quite frustrated right now, so it won’t be hard to act.’

  ‘Good. Once you are back, you summon the commanders. Specifically the Soul Formation leaders and the Core Formation elites. Ignore the remaining fodder for now. Call the leaders to you. Tell them you have urgent orders. Tell them to gather here to listen. Bring them into the center of the crater. Cluster them tight if possible.’

  ‘They will obey,’ Tekton confirmed. ‘They cling to me like moss on a rock. If I call them, they will come running.’

  ‘Once they are clustered together,’ Li Yu’s eyes flashed with a purple light, ‘I will activate the Void Law again. I will open the floor beneath them, just like I did to you. I will drop the entire command structure of the beast tide into this layer.’

  Tekton shivered, a massive metallic rattle. ‘You are going to bring them here?’

  ‘Yes. Once they are in here, they are cut off from the world. It will be a private execution. You and I will kill then kill them all. I need their bodies intact so use techniques that will not damage them. However, if you don’t have any of those, simply be my shield and distract them. In here no one will be able to see my techniques or methods.’

  ‘And the rest?’ Tekton asked. ‘There are millions of lesser beasts. The Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation ones. They are way too scattered and too many to bring here.’

  ‘Once the leaders are gone,’ Li Yu continued, his voice cold and pragmatic, ‘you will deal with the horde. You will turn on them. Go on a rampage. Act enraged, like something has upset you or whatever it is. Wipe them out.’

  ‘Wipe… them all out?’

  ‘Yes. But, and this is important, do not vaporize them. Do not crush them into paste. Kill them, but try to leave the bodies somewhat intact. I told you, I want to harvest them. Break their necks, stop their hearts, but leave the carcass.’

  ‘It is a ruthless plan. You really don’t look like your personality, did anyone ever tell you that?’ Tekton commented. ‘You lure them in, isolate the strong ones for harvest and use me to massacre the weak ones to cover your tracks. Li Yu, are you sure you aren’t a beast yourself?’

  ‘I am a cultivator,’ Li Yu grinned slightly but didn’t deny it. ‘Efficiency is a path to the Dao afterall. Besides, many of those beasts are mutated. They are probably suffering. They are being used. I am not justifying it but if they are going to be used anyways, they might as well be used by me. At least I am releasing them from that state, it is a mercy.’

  ‘If you say so,’ Tekton said, unconvinced but obedient. ‘But I understand the plan. I gather the tasty ones for you and I smash.’

  ‘Exactly. And then, once the deed is done, I will “appear” from the forest. I will follow behind your rampage. To the scouts it will most likely look like I have subdued you or am simply following you as you are rampaging.’

  Li Yu looked out into the grey void. ‘This way the threat is removed, the Alliance is happy, I get rich and no one knows my true abilities. Only that I somehow captured you using some unknown method.’

  ‘It is a solid plan,’ Tekton admitted. ‘Though I feel bad for the pawns. It is their bad fate to get caught up in this. All the lives that shall be lost.’

  ‘It is indeed a pity but we do not have a way to save them, Tekton. Save your mercy for others. We have a lot of work to do.’

  Li Yu floated up and detached himself from the beast’s head. ‘Are you ready?’ Li Yu asked.

  ‘I am ready,’ Tekton replied. The beast began to uncoil, its massive legs flexing, its aura building up. ‘I will be the angry king.’

  ‘Go.’

  Li Yu began his technique. The silver runes of the Void Law surrounded the massive beast. The plan was in motion. The Great Harvest was about to begin as he sent Tekton back to the real layer of the void.