News of the Night Queen’s return swept through the Demon Realm like a tidal wave and carried with it the terrifying implication of an absolute, unseen backer. Warlords trembled in their strongholds and the remaining Demon Lords braced themselves for an apocalyptic campaign of conquest.

  They fully expected Queen Morrigan to leverage her newfound, untouchable status to sweep across the lands of her slain enemies. That she was going to claim everything the five deceased apex predators had left behind. But the apocalypse never came.

  Instead, the House of Night demonstrated something entirely unexpected in the brutal landscape of the Demon Realm: restraint.

  Queen Morrigan did not march her newly swelling armies into the distant bordering regions. She did not attempt to swallow the vacant territories left behind. Instead, she methodically reclaimed her ancestral borders and then expanded outward just enough to secure key strategic chokepoints and vital resource veins. After that she simply stopped.

  She fortified her new borders with lethal defensive arrays and focused inwardly. Recovering her land and making it even better than before. She made no aggressive moves beyond them.

  This calculated restraint sent a collective sigh of relief rippling through the remaining Demon Lords and the ambitious new warlords. The Night Queen had expanded her empire, yes, but she wasn't being overly greedy or overbearing. She had taken her due and left the rest of the massive global carcass for the others to fight over.

  Because she hadn't pushed them into a corner, the other lords felt no desperate need to form a risky coalition against her. They felt good or at least okay about the boundaries she had set. The unspoken agreement solidified instantly across the realm: the Night Queen stays in her lane and absolutely no one bothers her.

  This mutual understanding brought an eerie and unshakeable peace to her domain. It was providing the House of Night the exact breathing room it needed to fully rebuild its infrastructure and integrate the tens of thousands of refugees flocking to its banners.

  The Demon Realm was busy tearing itself apart outside her borders and rebuilding within them. The person that had caused all of this geopolitical shift was sitting quietly in a desolate ravine and was entirely oblivious to it all. He was focused on just himself.

  Li Yu had not moved from the campfire for days. He was deep in a state of uninterrupted meditation.

  Stepping into the Divine Transformation realm was not merely a matter of increasing the capacity of one's Qi pool; it was a fundamental paradigm shift in how a cultivator interacted with the universe. Li Yu was meticulously taking inventory of his new vessel, the Devouring Abyssal Leviathan Physique. The first thing he noticed was the ambient, passive absorption. It had gotten stronger than before and not just with Qi anymore. It was also taking in littles bits of laws that his body instinctively knew it needed to get stronger.

  He could feel the heavy law of Earth grounding his stance. It was making his connection to the bedrock beneath him feel absolute. The sharp, resilient law of Metal was passively weaving itself into his skeletal structure and hardening his bones beyond the durability of defensive artifacts.

  But it didn't stop there. As he sat in the silence, he identified three other elemental concepts being slowly and steadily drawn into his physical vessel to enhance his defense and power.

  The first was Wood. The conceptual essence of extreme vitality and regeneration was seeping into his cells. It was constantly knitting and refreshing his muscle fibers so that fatigue became an entirely foreign concept.

  The second was Gravity. It wasn't just holding him down; his body was passively absorbing the law of suppressive mass.

  The third was Magma. Not just fire but the volatile, churning power of molten rock under immense pressure. It hummed in his bloodstream and was granting him a terrifying baseline of explosive physical output and an increased resistance to extreme heat.

  This passive absorption was a slow but steady process. It was constantly tempering him. Ensuring that even if he slept for a hundred years, he would wake up physically stronger than when he closed his eyes. It was one of the biggest advantages of the Divine Leviathan Awakens stage.

  Once Li Yu fully understood his physical baseline, he shifted his focus to his active cultivation.

  His mind was tempered by the Divine Transformation realm and his soul vastly expanded and stronger. He was gaining insights into the active laws of the universe easier. The cosmic rivers of laws used to feel like raging torrents that threatened to sweep his consciousness away. Now, they felt like more navigable and familiar streams. It still wasn’t easy to make progress but everything felt a tad easier.

  He waded into them. His mastery over Water deepened. His insight into Life surged forward and was heavily catalyzed by the colossal jade lotus blooming in his Koi Sanctuary. He understood the genesis of growth and the blooming of spiritual energy in barren places.

  Ice came next, cold and absolute. He grasped the concept of stealing kinetic energy from objects. Freezing not just water but the very movement of Qi in the air around him and plunging his immediate surroundings.

  Then came the Storm. He didn't just see the storm as a single entity anymore; he saw the violent, beautiful marriage of howling Wind and crackling Lightning. He learned how to weave the speed of the gale with the destructive and instantaneous smiting power of the thunderbolt. He began fusing them into a singular power.

  His understanding of the Void took a massive leap forward. The withered hand of the void assassin that Khaos had thrown into his breakthrough had left an imprint on his foundation. Space felt less like an empty distance and more like a fabric he could pinch, fold and tear.

  The law of Destruction, heavily influenced by the shattered core of Demon Lord Balor, pulsed in his mind. It was the antithesis of his Life laws. It was a cold and uncaring certainty that all things must eventually break, decay and end.

  Finally, Li Yu touched more upon Karma. It was only a tiny bit of insight, a mere scratching of the surface but it was there. He could faintly perceive the ethereal, shimmering threads of cause and effect that tied the universe together better than ever before.

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  He saw the thick, golden threads binding him to Vespera and Queen Morrigan through their soul contracts.. He couldn't manipulate Karma yet but simply being able to perceive it gave him a terrifying advantage in understanding the flow of destiny. Having cataloged his growing mastery over the laws, Li Yu turned his awareness entirely inward.

  He briefly checked on the new, independent inner world located in the microscopic point near his heart. The 100x100x100 meter cube of space was still barren but the mystical bridge connecting it to the Koi Sanctuary was steadily pumping rich lifeforce into the soil. It was a long term project. One that would require time and immense resources to cultivate but it was stable.

  Floating above the barren ground was a large sphere of condensed Qi and essence. It was the leftover from all of the treasures that he had absorbed. His body couldn’t handle taking in all of that power even during his breakthrough. The combined wealth of five of the top beings in this world was incredibly vast. Not to mention the sneaked in materials from the Veiled Lotus and Khaos.

  It would take quite some time for his body to take it all in. He wouldn’t need resources for quite some time. It wouldn’t stop him from looting everything he could but he at least wasn’t in a desperate struggle for resources in the immediate future.

  He was stunned that there was such a massive sphere here, not knowing exactly what he was given. Since he was much too weak to help them now, he put this within his heart and mind. A debt to be repaid later.

  Satisfied with his gains here, Li Yu finally projected his consciousness up into his Ocean of Qi. The island where Vespera and her followers were was now empty. They had left along with her. Within the expanse of the area were just his four Nascent Souls, a sight that would stun anyone across all the realms.

  The crimson gold Koi swam lazily through the spiritual ether. The massive blue Whale was as usual nowhere to be seen. The Fisherman sat on his island as he always did. With a fishing rod in hand and fishing into the ocean below. But now there was the fourth. The Water Buffalo.

  It stood near the Fisherman, its dark coat gleaming, its large, soulful eyes calm and unbothered.

  Li Yu focused his mind entirely on the Water Buffalo. The moment his consciousness brushed against the sturdy beast, a massive flood of information erupted directly into his brain. It was a torrential downpour of instinct, mechanics and ancient knowledge imparted by the soul itself.

  Li Yu gasped, his physical body shuddering in the ravine as he rapidly processed the revelation. This was the first time he had gotten any information from his souls.

  "It can... it can manifest?" Li Yu whispered out loud and opened his eyes in the physical world.

  He sat completely still, stunned by the information. In the world of cultivation, a Nascent Soul was the absolute core of a practitioner's existence. It was their life, their connection to the Dao and their very being.

  Because of this, sending the actual Nascent Soul, not just a spiritual projection, outside of the physical body was an act of extreme desperation or a critical strike. It was a final, suicidal gamble. Outside the protective shell of the body and the physical flesh, a Nascent Soul was incredibly vulnerable to ambient laws, hostile Qi and spiritual attacks.

  If a Nascent Soul was damaged in the outside world, the cultivator's foundation would shatter. If it was destroyed, the cultivator died a true death. You simply never wanted a soul to physically manifest in the outside world. But the Water Buffalo he had was different. It was special.

  The information flooding Li Yu's brain confirmed that while the Water Buffalo was born of his soul space and tethered to his lifeforce, it possessed a unique, insulated duality. It was, in effect, a tamed beast that he could summon into the physical world at any time.

  If Li Yu summoned the Water Buffalo to fight beside him and the Buffalo was struck, burned or even physically torn apart by an enemy, Li Yu would suffer absolutely zero backlash. His own soul would not splinter. His foundation would not crack.

  If the manifested Buffalo "died" in combat, its physical form would simply dissolve into spiritual motes and return instantly to his soul space. There, it would enter a state of dormancy, naturally healing over time using his ambient Qi until it was ready to be summoned again. It bypassed all the fatal flaws of a manifested Nascent Soul.

  "An almost free and respawning partner," Li Yu muttered as the revelation. A grin slowly spread across his face.

  To make the revelation even sweeter, the Water Buffalo was not a static entity. Because it was intrinsically linked to his cultivation, its physical manifestation possessed the exact same realm of power as Li Yu himself.

  Currently, that meant Li Yu could casually summon an unyielding Divine Transformation realm beast to fight alongside him or on his behalf. As he grew stronger and broke through to higher realms, the Water Buffalo would seamlessly advance alongside him, forever maintaining pace with his own terrifying strength.

  This was one of the biggest issues Li Yu had faced with keeping his tamed beasts. The beasts couldn’t keep up with his cultivation speed and there was always the concern that it would get hurt. This water buffalo finally allowed him a companion that would grow alongside him. Letting him use a tamed beast to fight alongside him once again at all times.

  Thoughts of a tamed beast made his mind drift towards all the beasts that he had acquired through the years. Tekton being the most recent and most powerful. They were all back on his home world.

  ‘I hope they are all living a good life and doing things that are meaningful to them…’ Li Yu thought before his thoughts shifted back to the matter at hand. Li Yu couldn't resist. He stood up from the stone bench in the ravine.

  He tapped into the connection within his soul and willed the manifestation. A heavy, earthen yellow and blue light pulsed from his chest and struck the ground a few yards away. The spatial fabric rippled and with a deep, resonant moo that shook the loose pebbles in the ravine. The Water Buffalo materialized.

  It was large, easily the size of an average bedroom. Its dark, leathery hide looked thicker than forged steel and its wide, sweeping horns crackled with latent, earthly power. Its hooves glowed blue with water Qi. It stood there in the ashen clearing and was unbothered by the harsh winds of the Demon Realm.

  Li Yu walked up to it and patted its broad snout. The Buffalo leaned into the touch, huffing a breath of warm air that smelled faintly of sweet grass. It looked at Li Yu lovingly and its eyes seemed to almost water at the sight of him.

  "Incredible," Li Yu smiled. He closed his eyes while keeping his hand on the beast's snout and analyzed the final piece of information the soul had imparted regarding it.

  While the Buffalo was a juggernaut when manifested physically, it still retained its ability to be used for pure and incorporeal soul attacks. Striking directly at an enemy's mind and spirit from within his soul space.

  Li Yu evaluated the power output. When used purely as a spiritual weapon without physical manifestation, the Water Buffalo's soul attack was weaker than as the golden Koi and the crushing Whale. Roughly fifty percent weaker. It would seem as though it traded its soul power strength for its other ability.

  Li Yu opened his eyes and gave the Water Buffalo another pat. Li Yu felt he needed to give it a name since it would be coming out to help him. Something he never thought of giving his other souls. Something was calling to him, like the Water Buffalo itself wanted a name. ‘Muddy’ was the name that came to his mind.

  “I guess I will call you Muddy, it seems to be what you want to be called. Let’s do great but fun things together.” Li Yu said to it before willing it back. In a flash of warm light, the large beast dissolved and returned safely to the glowing expanse of his Ocean of Qi.

  He stood alone in the ravine once more with the desolate winds howling around him.

  He had successfully digested his breakthrough after all this time now. His physical body was a passively evolving fortress. His grasp on the laws of the universe was widening at a steady pace. He possessed an embryonic inner world and an arsenal of Nascent Souls that defied the logic of the heavens.

  Li Yu took a deep breath with his eyes calm and focused. The time for isolation was over. He was finally ready to step out of the ravine and see what the Demon Realm looked like in the wake of his ascension.