The seventeen nightmares lining the ridge of the Razor-Edge Range looked down at the lone bloodied giant rushing toward them. They thought he was a fool just waiting to die. They simply focused their intent and attack together.

  The combined soul pressure of five beasts had been enough to cripple a Soul Formation expert. The pressure of seventeen was a physical weight of destruction. A crushing gravity that sought to flatten anything with a spirit into the mud.

  Vorgnir felt it hit him ten strides into his charge.

  It wasn't like a wall. A wall you could smash. It was like the air itself had turned to lead. His knees buckled. The roar in his throat was choked off, strangled by the sheer density of the malice directed at him.

  ‘Move!’ Vorgnir screamed internally. ‘Just one swing. Let me take one head.’

  He forced his leg forward with his boot sinking deep into the frozen earth but he couldn’t move it. His vision began to blur with the edges turning black. His twin greatswords which had felt like extensions of his arms suddenly felt impossibly heavy. He dragged them through the snow and the metal carved deep furrows.

  He made it two-thirds of the way up the slope. Then his body failed him.

  He fell to his knees and was vomiting blood. His soul felt like it was being put through a press. He looked up at the black-furred leader standing there. The beast looked down at him with no eyes and a mocking grin.

  ‘This isn't right.’ Vorgnir thought to himself. A tear of frustration mixing with the blood on his face. ‘This isn't a warrior's death. At least not the one I wanted…’

  He was trading his life for the others. That was noble. That was worthy. But deep down, in the place where his pride lived, he hated it. He didn't want to be a martyr. He wanted to be a killer.

  He wanted to go out covered in the gore of his enemies, not crushed into the dirt like an insect before he could even land a blow.

  His consciousness began to fade. The darkness of the void was calling him and promising an end to the pain.

  ‘At least the boy got away.’ Vorgnir thought as he was closing his eyes. ‘At least Magnar will live. Perhaps they can make a bigger difference one day.’

  Then, a hand grabbed his shoulder. It wasn't the cold claw of a beast. It was a human hand. It was warm and calloused.

  "You stubborn old rock," a voice whispered in his ear. "If you want to die, you'll have to do it when I'm not around."

  Vorgnir’s eyes snapped open as the pressure was removed from him as soon as the hand touched him. The world blurred.

  He felt the sickening lurch of high-speed movement. He was back at the bottom of the valley. Li Yu dropped him gently into the snow next to Magnar.

  Vorgnir stared up at him as his brain was reeling. "You... you idiot! I told you to run!"

  "I heard you," Li Yu said as he was turning his back to the group. He adjusted his grip on his staff. "But I realized something. If I let you die here, you'll probably haunt me. Asking me for things in the after life. And you're annoying enough when you're alive."

  Li Yu said that but what he was really thinking was that he liked this old man too much to let him die.

  ‘I know he wants to die. That is his goal. However, he will just have to do it when I am not around. I can’t just stand by and watch such an honorable legend die when I can prevent it. My own heart will not allow such a thing. Sorry old man. You’ll probably hate me even more after this but I’ll carry that hatred for the North.’ Li Yu thought.

  Vorgnir tried to stand but his legs wouldn't work. He stared at the young man’s back. "There are seventeen of them! Five nearly killed us! You can't fight seventeen! Just leave us and run away!"

  “He is right young man! Save yourself! Avenge us later when you have grown.” Magnar echoed Vorgnir

  Saving Vorgnir and this conversation happened in a matter of moments. Li Yu didn’t answer either of them but he tapped his chest.

  "I fight with this."

  Li Yu turned back to the ridge.

  To Magnar, Torsten and Vorgnir, the situation was hopeless. Seventeen Soul Formation-level threats were about to descend on them. All three of them were warriors of the north. They did not fear death. They only regretted not killing more and seeing this promising young man fall with them.

  But to Li Yu, this entire situation was different.

  If these creatures were physical juggernauts like a divine beast or demon lord, Li Yu would have grabbed the group and void-jumped away instantly. He wasn't suicidal. He knew his limits in a brawl.

  He had been beaten up before and hated that feeling. He wasn’t a proud warrior, he would run away as soon as there was trouble if he was by himself. If there were others that were easy to save like in this case, he would do the same.

  But these things here? Their ultimate weapon was the Soul. When it came to the soul, Li Yu held the confidence of the entire world.

  Li Yu began to charge at the seventeen creatures.

  He thought about the River of Souls. He thought about how he had walked along its banks like it was nothing. Ignoring the currents that dragged stronger men into oblivion. He thought about the Koi Soul and Fisherman Soul. The Fisherman soul especially, who hooked gods and demons alike.

  He was a freak. Li Yu knew he was a freak. He didn't understand why his soul was so powerful or how he had these Nascent Souls. He had never met anyone, not even the old beasts of the cultivation world who possessed a soul like his.

  "Hey!" Li Yu shouted at the ridge as he charged.

  The seventeen beasts turned their heads. They had been confused when their prey vanished from under their noses. Now, the prey was yelling at them.

  As he charged, a bubble of laughter bubbled up in his chest. It was the maniacal, hysterical laughter of a man that was pumping himself up. After all, his soul was incredibly powerful but the most powerful parts he didn’t have any real control over. He just knew from experience that they would act.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  "THE CRAB CLAWS ARE COMING FOR YOU!" Li Yu roared loudly. The sound echoing off the canyon walls like a thunderclap and radiant for miles all around. It sounded like a shout from a deity descending from the heavens.

  Vorgnir’s jaw dropped as he listened. "He's lost his mind. The fear broke him."

  The seventeen beasts saw the lone human charging. They felt insulted but angry. They had sensed that this was the one that had destroyed their kind. They were looking to rip him to shreds after the others were dealt with. They didn’t underestimate him either.

  They focused their full soul power, unleashing every ounce of it and directed it at Li Yu. Seventeen minds synced up. Seventeen souls pushed.

  They unleashed a beam of spiritual pressure that should have drilled through any spirit. It was a beam of malice and destruction. A concentrated beam of "stop" directed entirely at the small figure coming at them.

  Li Yu hit the wall of pressure. And just as he thought, he ran right through it. He didn't slow down. He didn't stumble. He felt the attack wash over him like a cooling breeze on a hot summer day. It ruffled his hair. It cooled the sweat on his brow.

  ‘Is that it?’ Li Yu thought as if he was almost disappointed. ‘Is that all you have?’

  The seventeen beasts froze. Their ears twitched violently. They couldn't process it. Their weapon. The weapon that had consumed sects, won wars and the weapon that had killed millions across multiple realms was hitting this human and he wasn't even blinking.

  Panic rippled through the pack. The predator prey dynamic flipped in a heartbeat. They opened their mouths to scream. To channel their Qi and use their sonic attacks. Some prepared to use their claws and take this to a physical battle. To do something, anything. Their true weapon had failed so spectacularly.

  But they were too slow. No, Li Yu’s soul was too fast.

  The Fisherman was about to act. He was to hook the seventeen souls out of these creatures. It looked at them as though they were mere ants challenging a king. The Fisherman was insulted that they even dared to attack him. There was a look of anger on its face as if its own pride was wounded. But then, he stopped.

  The Fisherman paused with his hand hovering over the reel. He tilted his straw hat back and looked towards Li Yu. He looked deeper into Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi.

  The Fisherman smiled. A rare, knowing smile. He nodded once and then put its rod down. ‘Not my turn.’ The gesture seemed to say.

  Deep beneath the surface of Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi, in the crushing black depths where even Li Yu’s consciousness couldn’t venture, something stirred.

  It was ancient. It was vast. It was the soul that Li Yu had awakened but had even less control over. The soul that he couldn’t even sense where it was. Only feeling a connection that it is indeed one of his souls. The soul that simply existed as a titan in his depths.

  The Ancient Whale.

  It rose from beneath. It breached the surface of Li Yu’s spiritual ocean. Li Yu was closing in and ready to fight the beasts. His staff raised high and ready to smash skulls. The whale appeared well above his head.

  A shadow fell over the Razor-Edge Range. Or a shadow would have fallen over the area if the whale was visible to others.

  A phantom whale materialized above Li Yu. It was invisible to the naked eye but to the souls of the seventeen beasts, it was the coming apocalypse.

  The Whale looked angry, just like the Fisherman. As though it was insulted that these weaklings were challenging it to a battle. It inhaled.

  The massive soul pressure the beasts were projecting was sucked into the Whale’s maw instantly. It drank their attack like it was sipping water.

  But it didn't stop there.

  The suction continued. It reached past the attack. It reached into the beasts themselves.

  The seventeen "Ghosts.” The very creatures that had terrorized a continent and beings that fed on the souls of others felt it. A sudden and violent lurch in their chests.

  They didn't have time to scream or react. They didn't have time for anything besides a split second of regret to come here.

  THWUMP.

  Seventeen souls were ripped from seventeen bodies simultaneously.

  They were dragged out like krill caught in a baleen filter. The dark, writhing bat-souls were pulled through the air, screaming silently and vanished into the phantom Whale’s mouth.

  The Whale closed its jaws. It instantly sank back down into Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi. Disappearing into the depths with a satisfied ripple.

  The effect was instant and total. Li Yu was still charging, his muscles coiled to jump the final distance.

  Ahead of him, the seventeen beasts simply... stopped. Their eyes rolled back. Their knees gave out. Like marionettes with their strings cut by a single blade, they collapsed.

  They tumbled down the ridge and rolled. Their massive black bodies limp and lifeless.

  Li Yu skidded to a halt as he had seen what just happened. It was the very thing he was counting on. He was surprised to see the whale again and how it handled things but it went more or less like he expected.

  He stood there with his staff raised mid-strike and staring at the pile of corpses that had accumulated around him. That was how quickly things had happened.

  He lowered his staff slowly. He looked inward at his Spirit Sea. The ocean was calm. The Fisherman had returned and was now napping. The Whale was gone.

  "Oh," Li Yu whispered to himself. "So you finally decided to show yourself again?”

  He looked back down. At the bottom of the valley, Magnar, Torsten and Vorgnir were frozen in a tableau of absolute confusion.

  They hadn't seen the Whale. They hadn't felt the suction. They didn't have the spiritual perception at the level required to witness the clash.

  All they felt was a massive soul force surrounding Li Yu and then it was gone. All they saw was Li Yu charging up a hill, screaming "We are the Crab Claws," and laughing like a maniac. And then seventeen monsters just... died.

  They didn't explode. They didn't burn. They just fell over as if the universe had decided they were no longer necessary.

  Magnar blinked and kept looking back and forth. "Did... did he just yell them to death?"

  Vorgnir pushed himself up to a sitting position and wincing as his ribs shifted. He stared at the boy standing on the ridge, silhouetted against the moon.

  "He yelled 'Crab Claws,'" Vorgnir muttered to himself. His voice filled with disbelief. "And they died. You saw that too right?"

  Torsten looked at his Command Token and then back at Li Yu. "That... what was that? Was it a sonic art? A word of power? Some kind of worship to a deity?"

  "I don't know," Magnar whispered. "But remind me never to make fun of his mercenary name again."

  Li Yu walked back down to them and stepped over the carcasses of the creatures that had terrified the Northern Continent. He began collecting them into his storage ring casually, as if picking up firewood. He wanted to study them. He would give one or two to Central Command to investigate later.

  He reached the group at the bottom. He looked tired but no more tired than he was after the fight with the five initial creatures. In fact, it seemed like he was in much better shape. The soul power absorbed had lifted his fatigue and strengthened him.

  "You're still here?" Li Yu asked while tilting his head at them. "I thought I told you to run."

  Vorgnir stared at him. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

  "You!" Vorgnir pointed a shaking finger at Li Yu. "You are a freak. A complete, unnatural freak."

  "I get that a lot," Li Yu smiled. He offered a hand to Magnar. "Can you walk? Or do I need to carry the Thunder King like a sack of food?"

  Magnar laughed and took the hand. He used it to pull himself up. He looked at Li Yu with a mixture of fear and hope.

  "I can walk," Magnar said. "But I think... I think Central Command will have a lot of questions."

  Li Yu looked back up at the empty ridge. The pressure was gone. The valley was silent. If there were more of these creatures, they were too afraid to show up now.

  Just then several teams of cultivators arrived. They were all cultivators that had much weaker cultivation. Ranging from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation.

  This really showed the spirit of the Northerners. The message was clear that this area was where the Thunder King’s group was ambushed. A force that could do such a thing to the Thunder King was massively stronger than anything the teams coming now could face.

  Yet, here they were. They had responded when they had gotten the message and were here to help. What they would actually do, even they themselves probably didn’t know. However, they came nonetheless.

  ‘The mental fortitude of these people is incredible. Their spirit, their will. My expectations are blown away time and time again.’ Li Yu thought to himself with a wide smile.