The Dust Lands did not have a sky. It had a ceiling of choking grey haze that trapped the heat and the smell of sulfur against the cracked earth.

  Li Yu walked through the shantytown. He kept his aura suppressed to not draw any attention. Given the strength of those around him, he settled on Peak Foundation Establishment.

  He saw the poverty of the region again. It wasn't the romanticized poverty of ascetic monks living simply. It was the grinding and dehumanizing poverty of those forgotten by the world.

  To his left, a Goblin with a missing ear was trying to patch a hole in a tent made of giant insect wings. The Goblin’s hands shook, likely from damage or starvation, but a human child that was barely six years old was holding the fabric steady for him.

  "Higher, Uncle Grix," the child whispered. The child’s voice was raspy from the dust. "The wind comes from the ridge."

  "I know, boy, I know," the Goblin grunted with frustration but only towards himself. His voice was thick with gratitude for the child’s help.

  Further down, Li Yu saw a group of Kobolds huddled around a small fire fueled by dried dung. They were sharing a pot of soup that smelled of boiled roots and shoe leather. When a lame beastman limped by, leaning heavily on a crutch made of bone, the Kobolds didn't snarl. One of them, a female with dull scales, ladled a portion of the broth into a cracked clay bowl and held it out.

  The Beastman took it while nodding silently. There were no words. Words wasted breath and breath was precious here.

  Li Yu felt a heavy stone settle in his stomach.

  'The Infernal Court calls this the trash bin,' Li Yu thought. 'They throw away anyone too weak, too broken or too different to serve the war machine. But in the trash the discarded parts have learned to fit together.'

  He extended his spiritual sense and swept it over the sprawling settlement.

  The energy signatures were faint. Most of the inhabitants were barely at the Qi Condensation stage. Just strong enough to survive the ambient pressure of the realm but too weak to fight.

  He searched for the strongest presence.

  He found it near the center of the camp. Within a structure made of reinforced scrap metal that looked slightly sturdier than the rest.

  Early Core Formation.

  It was a human. An old man with his life force flickering like a candle in a gale. He was likely the "Protector" of this settlement. The only thing standing between these people and the wandering monsters of the wasteland.

  'Core Formation,' Li Yu thought with a grimace. It was a miracle they hadn't been wiped out yet.

  Li Yu watched as a team of scavengers returned from the wastes. They were dragging the carcass of a giant centipede. It was poisonous meat, tough and acidic, but the camp celebrated as if they had brought home a dragon.

  Men and women, humans and demons, rushed forward with knives to butcher the kill. There was no fighting. No greed. Just an orderly but desperate distribution of resources.

  "The chitin goes to the armorer!" A woman shouted. She was human, missing an eye and her face a map of scars. "The meat to the soup kitchens! The poison sacs to the traps!"

  Li Yu watched her. She commanded respect not through fear but through necessity.

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  'They are impressive,' Li Yu admitted to himself. 'To have this much perseverance when the sky itself wants to crush you... it is a Dao of its own.'

  He wanted to help. The urge to pull out his storage ring and dump a mountain of food and clean water was overwhelming. But the image of the burning valley stopped him.

  'If I give them treasure, I give them death,' Li Yu reminded himself. 'Warlords smell wealth like sharks smell blood. If this settlement suddenly flourishes, the forces would come. And they won't ask nicely. That is probably why the stronger human nations haven’t tried to help this place. It is probably too small for their worries. Or too far from where they are. Or they have similar thoughts like me. Forceful changes wouldn’t accomplish much in this realm.'

  He needed a way to change the equation. He needed to strike at the root of the problem. The demons who forced these people into the dust in the first place.

  He moved toward the edge of the camp which was near a watering hole that was little more than a muddy puddle filtered through layers of charcoal. Three figures sat on rocks nearby and were cleaning their weapons.

  One was a human with a prosthetic arm made of rusted iron. One was a Lizard-Kin sharpening a serrated dagger. The third was a massive, hulking figure wrapped in a cloak. Likely an Ogre or a Troll.

  They were mercenaries. Low-level, desperate swords-for-hire who likely protected caravans or hunted beasts for scraps.

  Li Yu listened in on their conversation as he was walking.

  "The pay is garbage," the human mercenary spat. "Five cores a month? I can make that scavenging in the ruins."

  "Scavenging gets you eaten by spiders," the Lizard-Kin hissed. "And five cores is base pay. You didn't hear the rest."

  "What rest?"

  "The loot rights," the Lizard-Kin said. "General Krog is desperate. He needs bodies to throw at the lines. He declared 'Open Season.'"

  The human paused. "Open Season?"

  "Whatever we kill, we keep," the Lizard-Kin said. "You kill a supply officer? His ring is yours. You raid a depot? You fill your pockets before the quartermaster takes inventory. Krog doesn't care about the loot; he just wants the territory."

  The massive figure in the cloak grunted. "Dangerous. Krog fights against powerful foes. They have heavy armor."

  "High risk, high reward," the Lizard-Kin shrugged. "Better than starving here in the dust. Besides, the Beast Nations are pushing hard. The Infernal Court is stretched thin. If we hit a caravan while the main armies are distracted... we could retire."

  The human looked at his rusted arm. He clenched the metal fingers.

  "Where is the recruitment?" the human asked. Desperation overriding survival.

  "The Sky Gorge," the Lizard-Kin replied. "Two days East. Look for the banner of the Twin-Headed Lion."

  Li Yu had heard enough. He walked away from the settlement. He climbed a ridge that overlooked the valley of hovels.

  'General Krog,' Li Yu mused. 'A Beast Lord. Fighting the Infernal Court.'

  It was perfect for his idea. This was his cover.

  Every demon he killed would be blamed on the Beast Nations. Every supply line he severed, every officer he assassinated and every fortress he leveled. It would all be tallied as an act of war by the Beasts.

  The humans in the Dust Lands would remain invisible. Trash. Not worth noticing.

  'I become a sword in another man's hand,' Li Yu thought. 'I use their war to hide my own.'

  And the loot rights... that was the cherry on top.

  Li Yu needed resources.If he could plunder the Infernal Court's supplies under the banner of a Beast Lord, he could stockpile a fortune without drawing suspicion to his true identity.

  He looked back at the shantytown one last time. He couldn't leave them with nothing.

  He moved to a cluster of rocks upwind of the settlement. He retrieved a large sack from his storage ring. It was filled with dried meat. It wasn't flashy like cores or pills but it was food. Enough to feed the settlement for a week.

  He placed the sack under a ledge where it would be found by the scavengers.

  "Survive," Li Yu whispered. The landscape changed as Li Yu traveled East.

  The grey dust gave way to red rock. The earth here was fractured and split by deep canyons that looked like wounds in the world's flesh. The air was hotter, smelling of iron and blood.

  The Sky Gorge was a massive canyon and it was filled with an army. Li Yu stood on the rim of the canyon and was looking down.

  It was a sea of tents, beasts and fire. The banner of this warlord flew everywhere. A stylized Twin-Headed Lion on a field of orange.