For the next three days Li Yu played the part of a diligent mercenary that was taking on some modest tasks.

  He rented a modest room at The Gilded Leaf. It was a cleaner establishment than the Grey Hearth. He spent his mornings at the Commission Hall picking through the lower ranked tasks that wouldn't draw too much attention.

  He cleared a nest of Obsidian Vipers from the southern geothermal vents. He gathered Ash Lotus seeds from the edge of the magma lake. He escorted a local alchemist to harvest Sulfur Moss from the lower caves.

  It was honest work as he was learning more and more about his surroundings. It was also excruciatingly slow.

  "Seventy five points," the clerk at the counter droned. The clerk handed him a slip of paper. "Current total: one hundred and fifty."

  Li Yu pocketed the slip. At this rate he would earn his audience with City Lord Taren sometime in the next century.

  'The ladder of merit is long,' Li Yu thought. He then went and stepped out into the bustling street. 'Perhaps too long.'

  He was considering taking on a higher level bounty. Something like hunting a Magma Turtle King. He calmed himself down though. There was no need to rush, he had plenty of time. As he went to buy some meat skewers at a stall, the air in the city changed.

  It wasn't a subtle shift either. A siren erupted from the central Citadel. It was a sound that vibrated in the teeth. It could probably wake the dead.

  WOOOO-OOOOOO.

  The street traffic stopped instantly.

  "Code Red!" A shopkeeper yelled while slamming his shutters closed. "Border breach!"

  Li Yu looked towards the Cinder Peaks. Several signal flares, blood red and frantic, were arching over the mountains. They were coming from Fortress Iron Wall.

  "The Fortress is under attack!" A man screamed. The city garrison mobilized instantly. Soldiers in white and gold armor poured out of the barracks. Some mounted swords while others mounted their armored drakes.

  Li Yu didn't wait around either. Void Step and he blurred away. To the civilians around him, he simply vanished. Leaving behind a small gust of wind in his wake.

  When Li Yu arrived at the ridge overlooking the valley, the scene was chaotic. The massive walls were under siege. A demonic force, easily five thousand strong, was swarming the defenses. They weren't the ragtag mercenaries of the Beast Army he had witnessed before. These were Nether Corrupted Demons. Creatures with translucent purple skin and extra limbs that seemed to phased in and out of reality.

  Siege beasts were also present. Massive, lumbering turtles with cannons mounted on their shells were pounding the gates. The defensive arrays were flickering and were overwhelmed by the barrage of corrupt Qi.

  Li Yu scanned the battlefield. His eyes narrowed.

  'No Demon Lord,' he assessed quickly. 'But strong. Very strong.'

  He saw the defenders on the walls buckling. A section of the rampart exploded and a squad of winged demons poured into the breach and was slaughtering the humans defending there. With no Demon Lord in sight or an extremely powerful general, Li Yu took action.

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  He leaped from the ridge and he descended like a meteor. He was aiming for the breach in the wall. He slammed into the ground amidst the squad of winged demons. The impact created a shockwave that pulverized the stone beneath his feet.

  "Who—" a demon captain started to hiss. Li Yu didn't let him finish. He spun his Star Crusher staff.

  CRUNCH.

  The captain’s head vanished.

  Li Yu became a raging storm. He was using brute force and speed. Every swing of his staff was a death sentence. He moved with a fluidity that belied the weight of his weapon. He was dodging claws and blades by millimeters before delivering bone shattering counters.

  "Push them back!" Li Yu roared to the stunned human defenders. "Fill the gaps!"

  Seeing an unknown expert decimate the enemy, the soldiers rallied. "For the Iron Wall! For humanity!"

  Li Yu didn't stay to lead them. He saw the real threats. Floating above the battlefield and directing the siege beasts were two massive figures. They were clearly the ones in charge. Both radiated the oppressive aura of the 1st Stage Divine Transformation realm. One was a hulking mass of purple muscle with four arms. The other was a slender robed figure wielding a staff of bone.

  They were tearing through the fortress's aerial defenses and anyone that came up to challenge them. They were swatting human Core Formation captains out of the sky like flies. Li Yu tightened his grip on his staff.

  'Two of them. 1st Stage.'

  It was slightly risky but if he didn't stop them, the fortress would fall in minutes. Li Yu wasn’t sure why there weren’t more powerful humans here. They were either away from this area or something else.

  He checked his escape route and he was constantly scanning the horizon. His nerves were pulled taut from the threat of the unknown. If a Demon Lord appeared, if he felt even a whisper of that pressure, he would be gone before the echo faded.

  Li Yu launched himself into the air. He bypassed the fodder and was aiming straight for the four armed General. The General saw him coming. "A human fly?"

  The General swung a massive hammer made of black nether steel. Li Yu didn't dodge it. He channeled his Opalescent Qi into his staff. The black staff hummed with increased power. Staff Art: Splitting the Mountain.

  Li Yu swung upward to meet the blow.

  CLANG.

  The collision was deafening. The General's hammer shattered under the impact. The force of the blow continued upward and smashed into the General’s chest. The General’s eyes bulged. His ribs collapsed. He was launched backward and crashed into the canyon wall with incredible force.

  The second General shrieked. "How dare you! Do you not know who we are?!"

  He waved his bone staff. A swarm of spectral skulls erupted from it and came screaming towards Li Yu. Li Yu spun his staff in front of him and created a shield of spinning Qi. The skulls smashed against it and dissipated.

  He pushed through the cloud of necromancy. He closed the distance. The Robed General tried to retreat, long since realizing this "fly" was a dragon in disguise.

  "Too late," Li Yu said.

  He threw his staff. It spun like a buzzsaw through the air. It caught the General in the midsection and severed him cleanly in half. Li Yu caught the returning staff and landed on the rampart. Two Divine Transformation experts, beings that could rule entire cities in the wilds were dead in seconds.

  The demon army wavered at their leaders falling. Their commanders were gone. But then the ground shook. From the rear of the demon formation, a third presence emerged.

  This one was different. It wasn't loud. It was heavy.

  A Demon Titan. A creature the size of a large hill and covered in weeping sores and purple crystals. The Demon Titan stepped forward. Riding on its head was a figure clad in armor that seemed to be made of liquid darkness.

  Peak of the 2nd Stage Divine Transformation. Possibly touching the 3rd. The figure pointed a curved blade at Li Yu.

  "Impressive," the voice boomed. "But insufficient. You humans will always be flesh for us demons to devour."

  The figure leaped. The killing intent locked onto Li Yu. It was sharp, focused and overwhelming. Li Yu gritted his teeth. He prepared to Void Step away and regroup. He didn’t want to be facing an unknown 3rd Stage of Divine Transformation. If there was one thing he had learned in this realm was it was always better to run away.

  He had also done his part. He had killed two. He wasn't going to die for a fortress he just met. But before he could step, the sky above them turned white. It was a blinding light. A sword intent so sharp it cut the clouds.

  "You overstep, filth!"