Chương 350: The Ravine's Purge

Li Yu and Jian Xuan stood amidst the carnage of their second engagement in the Ravine, the retreating forms of another allied patrol disappearing down the canyon.

"Well," Jian Xuan said, wiping his sword clean on the robes of a dead Human Faction cultist.

"That's one fire down. This is going to be tedious."

"We need to cover more ground," Li Yu said, his gaze scanning the labyrinth of passes and canyons.

"This ravine is long. As two people, we'll be here for a long time and the allied forces will be bled dry before we're a quarter of the way through." Li Yu then said, "We need more manpower." He stepped back, focusing his mind.

"And I have the perfect person for the job." He opened a portal to the Koi Sanctuary and a moment later Kael stepped out. The stoic warrior emerged, his heavy Tidal Cleaver already in hand, his presence as solid and imposing as a mountain. Kael blinked, taking in the white robes, the bloody battlefield, and the red-rock walls. He knew they were going to the southern continent but why are they in such robes now?

"Kael," Li Yu said, "Welcome to the Ironjaw Ravine. We have a job to do."

"A purge," Jian Xuan added, his eyes glittering.

"But first, your uniform, Brother Kael! One cannot purge the unbelievers without proper attire!" Before Kael could even ask, Jian Xuan was rummaging in his storage ring.

"I knew we'd need some spares!" he declared triumphantly, pulling out a third folded bundle.

"I had them make extras, just in case!" Kael looked at the pristine white robe, embroidered with the purple void and the black claw, then at Li Yu and Jian Xuan in their matching outfits. His normally stoic face twitched, a complex expression of confusion, bewilderment and reluctance.

"But... why?" Kael managed, his deep voice heavy with confusion.

"You have to look the part, my friend! We are the Abyssal Crab Cult! We must be a unified front! Now, put it on. We have work to do!" Jian Xuan tossed him the robes. Kael looked at Li Yu, as if for an explanation. Li Yu just shrugged, an expression that clearly said, 'It's easier to just go along with it.' With a heavy, long-suffering sigh, the warrior donned the robe, the enchanted threads stretching and shifting to accommodate his broad muscled frame perfectly.

"Perfection!" Jian Xuan roared.

"Now, the plan is simple. We act as we are: fanatical, overwhelmingly powerful and completely insane. We will sweep this ravine, save any allied patrols we find and slaughter every enemy we encounter. We'll look for clues to their leadership but mostly, we'll make so much noise the leaders come to us. Let's split up to cover more ground. I'll take Kael for the first leg to... initiate him. Young Master, you take the western passes. We'll take the eastern. Let's meet at the central spire at sundown!"

With that, the group split. Jian Xuan, already shouting a verse of his new creed, dragged a deeply uncomfortable-looking Kael to the east. Li Yu, shaking his head, vanished with a Void Step to the west. The purge began. Li Yu's path was silent and brutal. He moved through the winding canyons like a ghost. He would sense a skirmish, Void Step directly into the center of it and end it. His black staff was a blur, its every impact a concussive, final sound. CRUNCH. BOOM. SPAT.

His Seventh-Level Core Formation cultivation, combined with his unnatural strength meant that no one he encountered stood a chance. The highest-level enemy he found was a mid-Core Formation beast-handler and Li Yu had caved in his sternum with a single blow from his staff before the man had even finished raising his weapon. His quick movements and precise control ensured that the blood and gore of his enemies never even touched his immaculate white robes.

He was a phantom of death, arriving, cleansing and vanishing, leaving only destruction and a pristine white afterimage. He was ruthless, but he was also... collecting. As he passed a murky, stagnant river at the bottom of a deep canyon, his spiritual sense picked up movement. He paused his hunt to open up his Koi Sanctuary to take in the new aquatic lifeforms. Tiny shelled creatures, like shrimp but with glowing, phosphorescent antennae, darted through the muck.

He also saw small, ugly, black-toothed fish hiding in the rocks. They were all incredibly weak, barely even spiritual beasts, but they were new. He collected a few dozen of each, and deposited them into the Koi Sanctuary. They were a good, if humble, addition. He then continued his hunt. On the other side of the ravine, Kael's initiation was underway. He and Jian Xuan descended upon a warband of Human Faction fanatics.

Kael, a person of methodical combat, moved to intercept their charge, his Tidal Cleaver held in a low, defensive stance.

"No, no, no, Brother Kael!" Jian Xuan yelled as he simultaneously decapitated three men with his sword.

"You can't just block them! You must cleanse them! You must shout the words! It fills you with the God's power!" Kael, grunting as he deflected a blow, gave Jian Xuan a look of profound annoyance.

"I am fighting!"

"Fight with passion!" Jian Xuan roared, his Martial Spirit blazing.

"Shout it!

'PRAISE THE GOD CRAB!'" Kael, seeing another enemy lunge at his side, spun, his massive cleaver reaping the man's life. He roared, not in piety but in exertion: "... HIS MIGHTY CLAW!" He cleaved another, his cleaver's tidal-force enchantment sending a wave of energy that blew three more off their feet. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"YES! AGAIN!" Jian Xuan cheered, dancing through the enemy ranks like a golden cyclone. Kael was slowly getting into it. The raw, unhinged energy of Jian Xuan was infectious. He was a stoic, quiet man but he was also a warrior. This... this was somewhat fun, something he's never done before in his life.

"HIS BOUNDLESS VOID ARE OUR LAWS!" he bellowed, his voice a bass rumble that shook the canyon walls. He brought his Tidal Cleaver down and the earth itself split, swallowing the last of the warband. Jian Xuan landed beside him, clapping him on the back.

"Perfection, Brother Kael! You are a natural! I can feel the Crab God smiling upon you!" Kael, his chest heaving a wild uncharacteristic grin on his face, actually nodded.

"I... I think I felt it too."

'Huh?' Jian Xuan thought, 'is this guy crazy? Feel what?' For the next four days, the trio tore through the Ironjaw Ravine. They were an unstoppable force. The enemy, used to fighting small weary patrols of disciples, were suddenly facing three monsters who were all at minimum, at mid Formation realm or well beyond. The sporadic, guerrilla war they had been winning was turned against them but with a new terrifying and insane twist.

The legend of the Abyssal Crab Cult spread through the ravine like wildfire over the days. Three days later in a hidden cave, a group of battered Human Faction cultivators huddled around a low fire. A man with a fresh raw burn mark on his face, was shivering despite the heat.

"I'm telling you, we have to abandon the ravine," he said, his voice a terrified whisper.

"They... they're not human."

"They are human," another argued, his voice cracking.

"Just insane! I saw the Loud One as he is known now. I even know his damn name because he's always shouting it, Jian Xuan. He was... singing... while he cut down Captain Grok's entire warband. Singing about claws and voids!"

"It's the chant!" the first man insisted.

"The chant is what gives them power! The soldiers from Aethelgard... they said it too!

'Abyssal... Crab... Cult...'""Shut up!" a third man, their new captain, hissed, slapping him.

"Don't say those three words! It's a trick! A scare tactic! The Silver Serpent disciples tried it on my brother's warband yesterday. Shouted 'Crab God' and charged them. My brother's group fled away in a panic at the mention of the crab god and several of them were killed as they ran away!"

"Later that day, another band of disciples tried doing the same thing, chanting the cult's chant. However, this time they didn't flinch! They knew it was a fake!" The first man, clutching his cheek, looked up.

"So... they won?" The captain's face went pale, his bravado vanishing. It was replaced by a deep, hollow terror.

"... No. Because as they were fighting the fakers... the real one showed up. The Quiet One. The young one. My brother said he just... appeared. He just stood there, in his white robe and watched them for a second. And then... everyone died. My brother only escaped because he was in the back. He... he said the kid just used a black staff. And every time it hit, people just... caved in. And his robe... my brother swore it... it was still perfectly white. Not a speck of dust." A horrified silence filled the cave.

"So... what's the new order?" the first man finally whispered. The captain's expression was grim.

"The new order is: You hear 'Abyssal,' you hear 'Crab,' or you hear 'Cult'—you don't check. You don't wait. You don't ask if it's the Loud One or the Quiet One. You just run. We can't take the chance anymore." In a newly-secured watchtower, Corina was tending to her patrol after a fight they just had. Their spirits were, for the first time in weeks, impossibly high.

"My legs are still shaking," a young disciple said, sipping from a water skin.

"I thought we were dead. That Beast Faction alpha was a mid Core Formation... it would have torn us apart."

"And then I heard it," Corina said, a small, awestruck smile on her face.

"'... HIS RULE SHALL REIGN!' I've never been so happy to hear a madman. It was the other one this time, not Commander Jian. The bigger one, Commander Kael."

"I heard he was with the Loud One for two days and got... infected," the young disciple whispered, as if sharing a great secret.

"He's just as fanatical now. He and Commander Jian were in a contest to see who could shout the creed the loudest while they were purging the northern pass."

"I'd rather be saved by them than the Quiet One," another disciple muttered from the corner.

"He... he scares me."

"Commander Li?" Corina asked.

"He's been nothing but kind. He was just here an hour ago, cleared out a nest of cave-crawlers for us and even asked about our patrol routes."

"I know," the disciple said, shuddering.

"But he's too quiet. And he's a kid! He looks younger than I am, but he's a Seventh-Level Core Formation expert! What in the name of the ancestors are they feeding them in that cult? I heard a patrol from the Stone Binders Sect got saved by him. They said he just appeared, didn't say a word and smashed the enemy leader with that black staff. Then, as he was leaving, he just whispered, '... praise the crab...' and vanished. It's terrifying." Corina just smiled.

"I'll take terrifying over dead. Thanks to them, we are taking over this area again. Whatever their methods, the Abyssal Crab Cult is a beacon. They're saving lives." Four days later the week closed. Li Yu, Jian Xuan and Kael stood on the central spire of the Ironjaw Ravine. The wind whipped at their robes but after a solid week of constant brutal warfare, their uniforms were as pristine and immaculate as the day Jian had them made.

Not a single speck of dirt or drop of blood had managed to stain the enchanted white fabric, a testament to their untouchable power and control. For the first time in what felt like an eternity to the disciples around the area, the ravine was silent. There were no signal flares. No distant screams. No roar of beasts or clash of steel. It had been a full twelve hours since the last reported skirmish.

"A full half-a-day with no fighting," Jian Xuan said, his voice a little hoarse from a week of constant shouting.

"I think... I think we're done here." Li Yu nodded, his spiritual sense spread out across. He felt the allied patrols moving confidently and securing the passes. The threat it seems was neutralized. He looked out over the vast, complex, and now-pacified region. A flicker of deep weariness, not physical but mental, touched him. He thought of the sheer, grinding effort it had taken.

It had taken three cultivators of their immense power an entire week of nearly constant non-stop fighting just to pacify this one region. Crushing a single grand army would have been far easier. This... this was a war of a thousand cuts, a pestilence of guerrilla skirmishes spread out everywhere, all at once. The true scale of the problem on this continent, the sheer manpower and time it would take to fix it, settled on him with a crushing weight.

"Well!" Jian Xuan said, breaking the silence as he clapped his hands together.

"A good week's work. My throat is sore. The Crab God is pleased."