Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 894: The Domain of Four Pillars and the Relentless Assault

Gart’s roar of dominance echoed through the deep water trenches as he swallowed Vortos. Mire and Thalassa watched with a growing sense of despair because their combined forces were being slaughtered by the hidden rogue army. The situation was dire and the two rulers were wounded from the conflict already.From the shadows of a nearby coral ridge Li Yu observed the shifting tides of the battlefield. The trap had sprung and the rulers were desperate enough to accept any assistance.

"Now." Li Yu commanded his team as he drew Star Crusher. "Ouros and Zhan will intercept the rogue army and assist the siren and eel troops. Keep the swarm off our backs so we can focus on the main target."

Zhan and Ouros shot forward without hesitation to execute their orders. The mantis deployed his localized sword domain and wove through the dark water as a blur of metallic green. He bypassed the massive rogue sharks and targeted the dense clusters of enemy forces while his domain severed fins and tails.

Ouros crashed into the vanguard of the rogue army like a falling boulder. The iron plated bear used his physical mass to shatter the skulls of armored crabs and tossed enemy soldiers into the chaotic currents to disrupt their formations.

Li Yu and Talia bypassed the army clash and swam directly toward the broken edge of the coral fortress where Gart was gloating over his rivals.

Mire saw the human approaching and his glowing yellow eyes widened in recognition. The eel remembered the stranger who had warned him about the kidnappings just a few days ago in the toxic maze.

"You." Mire hissed.

"I told you I was here for Gart." Li Yu said calmly as he floated a dozen yards away from the massive shark. "I meant what I said but Gart is a Tribulation ruler and I need your help to put him down. We fight together or you both die here today."

Thalassa clutched the now stump of her shoulder and looked at the newcomer. She did not know who this person was but she could sense their strength. They were nowhere near the Tribulation realm but they were an additional force. Since they dared to appear here, they must be confident in something.

"He speaks the truth, Thalassa." Mire rumbled as he coiled his long body to prepare for another strike. "Gart will eat us all if we do not break him now."

Gart turned his massive head and his jagged teeth parted into a cruel grin. He looked at Li Yu and let out a booming laugh that vibrated through the dense water.

"More snacks!" Gart mocked the new arrivals while sweeping his heavy tail to anchor himself. "A fool and a viper think they can turn the tide? I am the sole ruler of these oceans! You are nothing more than my future meals."

Li Yu did not waste breath trading insults with Gart. He knew the gap between realms from where he was to a Tribulation beast was massive. Gart possessed a physical vitality that dwarfed anything Li Yu had ever faced personally so holding back was not an option. Gart was winning but he had spent a lot of Qi fighting two rulers and possessed several minor wounds that could be exploited.

Li Yu closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and activated his domain.

A pulse of conceptual energy expanded from his body and washed over the coral fortress. To the outside observers the domain looked like a sphere of shimmering and distorted water but the moment Gart was caught inside the zone the terrifying reality of the four pillars took hold.

The first pillar of Chaotic Time fractured the flow of reality around the Tide Shark. Gart swung his massive tail to generate a compressed water blast but the first half of the swing moved at a sluggish crawl while the final arc accelerated to ten times its normal speed. The sudden temporal shift threw his balance off and stripped Gart of his ability to predict cause and effect. The water blast missed Li Yu by several yards and slammed harmlessly into a stone pillar.

The second pillar of Crushing Soul descended upon Gart's mind. The combined weight of Li Yu's five Nascent Souls manifested as a suffocating spiritual pressure within the shimmering sphere. Gart felt his thoughts become thick and sluggish as the command to swing his fins took much longer to reach his muscles. It trapped the ruler in a nightmare where his body and mind refused to synchronize. Even with the pearl that he had, he was somewhat affected by this.

The third pillar of Nurturing Life flooded Li Yu with enhanced vitality while he fought within his own space. It synergized with the erratic time flow and allowed him to recover from minor strains at an accelerated pace. It also had the added benefit of helping his new allies as well.

The final pillar of Inevitable Death began its quiet work against the enemy. It was an ambient erosion that slowly drained Gart's Qi reserves and frayed the edges of his stamina. The longer the Tide Shark remained in the domain and tried to fight through the time chaos, the weaker he would become as the domain consumed his existence.

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Hidden within all of this was Li Yu’s martial spirit ability to drain Qi from aquatic bloodline beasts. This was what Li Yu was counting on to win him this battle. The longer it went on, the more drained Gart would be and the stronger Li Yu would become.

Gart roared in confusion and anger as he struggled against the erratic time flow and the heavy soul suppression. He was a beast of brute strength and this conceptual battlefield was highly disorienting.

Li Yu pressed the advantage and summoned his companions to join the fray. He opened a rift to his inner world and Muddy charged out into the oceanic battlefield. The water buffalo had grown significantly and matched Li Yu's current cultivation level as a fierce attacking companion. Muddy let out a deep bellow and activated his pressure. The water around Gart suddenly became a hundred times heavier and dragged the massive shark toward the seabed.

Li Yu did not stop there as he summoned his Sentry. The Qi clone materialized beside him the Sentry drew upon the laws of ice, water and destruction to form a swirling vortex of freezing currents that slammed into Gart's flank.

Despite the domain suppression and the heavy gravity, Gart was still a Tribulation expert. He flexed his powerful muscles and began to push through the restrictive layers with physical force. His dark blue scales glowed with deep sea energy as he prepared to launch a devastating counterattack using his massive jaws.

Li Yu knew he had to break the shark's strongest defense to give the other rulers a chance. He channeled his soul power and called upon the Golden Koi Spirit dwelling within his mind. The massive ethereal fish materialized above Li Yu and unleashed Death's Roar. A terrifying wave of sonic and soul energy blasted through the water and struck Gart directly in the head.

The Tide Shark grunted in pain but the octopus pearl he had swallowed flared with a bright light. The pearl weakened the soul attack significantly and allowed Gart to endure the roar without losing his consciousness or suffering heavy internal damage.

"Your tricks are useless!" Gart yelled while snapping his jaws at the floating clone.

Li Yu remained cold and calculated as he launched the second phase of his assault. His own Half Soul emerged from his body and hovered in the dark water next to the Koi Spirit. The Half Soul coalesced its mental energy into a glowing javelin and hurled it at the Tide Shark with immense force. The soul javelin pierced through the physical water and slammed into the exact same spot where the Koi Soul had struck.

The combined pressure of the two soul attacks was too much for the treasure to bear. A loud cracking sound echoed from within Gart's chest as the rare pearl finally shattered into dust. The Tide Shark let out a genuine howl of agony as the residual soul damage tore through his unprotected mind and scrambled his senses further. He did not expect that someone with the Law Integration realm would have such a domain and impossibly strong soul attacks.

Thalassa saw the pearl shatter and her cold eyes lit up with renewed vengeance. She did not hesitate to capitalize on the opening Li Yu had created for her. The Abyssal Siren channeled her vast mental power and unleashed her own soul attack. The ethereal wave crashed into Gart's fractured defenses and staggered the massive beast heavily. Gart’s eyes rolled back for a brief moment as the mental shockwave disrupted his Qi flow and left him paralyzed.

Thalassa surged forward with incredible speed as her soul attack washed over him. She gripped her deep sea silver saber with her remaining hand and drove the blade deep into Gart's chest. The silver weapon bypassed his hardened scales and drew a thick cloud of dark blood that clouded the water in an instant.

Mire pushed his beast form to the extreme limit as he saw his enemy falter. The colossal eel darted through the water and clamped his massive jaws onto Gart's side. Mire tore a massive chunk of flesh away and injected a huge dose of his most potent poison directly into the Tide Shark's bloodstream.

The agonizing pain snapped Gart out of his mental daze. The Tribulation ruler realized he was being cornered and his survival instincts took over. He let out a furious roar and thrashed his body wildly to shake off his attackers. The Tide Shark unleashed a massive burst of compressed water from his gills that forced Mire and Thalassa to retreat to avoid being crushed by the pressure.

Talia saw an opening and struck from the flank. The void viper slipped out of a spatial fold and drove her hardened scales into the bleeding wound Thalassa had just created. Her attack dug deep and caused Gart to roar again but the Tide Shark was far from finished.

Gart whipped his massive tail around with terrifying speed while ignoring the gravity fields pulling at him. The heavy appendage slammed into Talia before she could retreat back into the void. The force of the blow shattered her scale armor and sent her flying across the battlefield like a broken doll.

Li Yu reacted instantly and commanded his Qi clone to intercept. The Sentry darted across the water and caught the falling viper in mid air. The clone was able to absorb the brunt of the kinetic impact. The Sentry successfully reduced the damage but Talia was still heavily bruised and coughing up blood from the brutal tail strike. The difference in realm was clear for all to see even with how wounded Gart already was.

The battle reached a fever pitch as the three sided war raged around them. Zhan and Ouros were holding the line against the rogue army alongside the surviving siren and eel troops but the main focus remained on the clash of rulers near the fortress.

Li Yu and Muddy did not give Gart a single moment to breathe. They attacked him from all angles in between the coordinated strikes of Thalassa and Mire. Muddy used his gravity fields to drag Gart's tail down while Li Yu rained abyssal javelins from above to pierce the weakened defenses. The heavy impacts of Star Crusher pounded against the Tide Shark's scales and left deep craters in his natural armor as the destructive laws wreaked havoc on his body.

The effects of the relentless assault were adding up rapidly. The toxic poison from Mire was spreading through Gart's veins and slowing his reaction time while causing his muscles to spasm. The deep stab wound from Thalassa bled continuously into the ocean currents and drained his physical vitality. The chaotic time and soul suppression of Li Yu's domain eroded his stamina and sapped his Qi reserves with every passing second. Li Yu’s martial spirit was also draining him further while keeping Li Yu in good condition.

Gart was still fighting back with the ferocity of a supreme predator but the minor wounds and the heavy energy expenditure were finally taking their toll. The gluttonous ruler was visibly weakening under the combined might of his enemies as the relentless pressure threatened to crush his oceanic reign.