The decision to send Li Yao to the Intersect Tournament sent a new, different kind of ripple through the Verdant Mountain Sect. It was one thing for a strange disciple to have an unorthodox defense; it was another for him to represent the sect on a world stage. The atmosphere around him became a mix of resentment, curiosity, and outright suspicion.
He was given a new robe, a darker green signifying his status as a tournament participant, but it felt no different than his old one. The void, after all, did not care for the color of its container.
A week before their departure, Elder Guo called him for a final briefing. With him was Liu Mei, the other sect representative. She offered Li Yao a small, respectful nod, which he returned.
"The tournament is held at Nexus Peak in the Central Continent," Elder Guo began, unrolling a simple map. "The journey is long. You will travel with a merchant caravan for the first leg, for safety and discretion. The world between our territories is not always friendly."
He pushed two small pouches across the table. "These are for you. Standard provisions for participating disciples."
Liu Mei accepted hers with a bow. Li Yao picked his up. It was light. Inside were three items: a small, grey Earthstone, a single, wilted-looking Jadeleaf Herb, and two pale Vitality Pills.
It was the kit for a Dust-Talent disciple. The barest minimum, meant for mortal-level conditioning. To anyone else, it would be an insult. To Li Yao, it was perfect. The Earthstone's faint life energy was a tiny flicker he could easily snuff out and study the process of its death. The Jadeleaf Herb was a specimen of forced energy flow he could observe becoming still. The Vitality Pills were concentrations of "life" he could practice disassembling.
"Thank you, Elder. These will be most instructive," Li Yao said, his sincerity completely disarming the Elder's expectant glare.
Elder Guo coughed. "Yes, well. Use them wisely. The caravan leaves at dawn from the western gate. Do not be late." He dismissed them.
Outside, Liu Mei hesitated. "Senior Brother Li... your provisions..."
"Are exactly what I need," he finished for her, smiling. "I do not cultivate in the conventional way, Sister Liu. For me, these are not resources, but textbooks."
She considered this, her intelligent eyes narrowing in thought. "You learn from their negation."
"Precisely. To understand a thing, sometimes one must understand how it ceases to be."
The journey began at first light. The caravan was a noisy, bustling affair of covered wagons, spirit-beast-drawn carts, and armed guards whose auras placed them at the Essence Refinement realm. They were hired by a coalition of smaller merchant guilds to transport goods—common ores, woven spiritual grasses, and low-grade talismans—to the Central Continent.
Li Yao and Liu Mei were given space in a simple, open-backed wagon. As the caravan rumbled out of the sect's territory and into the wild, forested foothills, Li Yao felt the world change. The stable, dense Earth energy of the Verdant Mountain gave way to a chaotic tapestry of untamed laws. The wind held a sharper, more careless edge. The life force of the ancient trees was vibrant and wild, not cultivated and arranged.
He spent the first day in silence, simply observing with his void-sharpened senses. He felt the "ripples" of hidden spirit beasts in the woods, their energies like bright, hot coals. He felt the gentle, flowing law of a distant river, and the sharp, metallic tang of a buried ore vein they passed.
Liu Mei, meanwhile, meditated, cycling the energy of the world to refine her essence. Her Mist Talent made it a slow, deliberate process.
On the second day, the caravan master, a burly man with a scar across his face named Bor, approached their wagon.
"You two are the Verdant Mountain hopefuls, eh?" he grunted, looking them over. His eyes lingered on Liu Mei's focused meditation, then on Li Yao, who was simply sitting, watching the clouds. "The girl has the look of a cultivator. You, boy... you look like you're on a sightseeing trip."
Li Yao smiled. "The world is very sightly."
Bor snorted. "Keep your heads down. The Serpent's Pass is up ahead. Bandits like to nest there. They'd love to snatch a young cultivator for ransom or... other purposes."
He stomped away. Liu Mei opened her eyes, a flicker of concern in them. "Bandits strong enough to threaten a caravan with Essence Refinement guards?"
"The world is large, and desperation can be a sharpener of talent," Li Yao remarked. He wasn't worried. Bandits would rely on force, on energy attacks, on overwhelming power. Against the void, such things were like trying to fill a bottomless cup.
He was, however, curious. A real fight, against true, lethal intent, would be a new test. The dueling circle with Zhang Fan was a game compared to the life-and-death struggle of the wild.
That afternoon, as the caravan entered a narrow, winding pass shrouded in mist, the attack came.
It was not a shout, but a whistle. A dozen figures dropped from the cliffs above, their auras flaring—a mix of Energy Perception and Essence Refinement realms. They were ragged but fierce, their energy sharp and hungry.
"Ambush!" Bor roared, drawing a massive blade that glowed with fire energy. The guards formed a defensive circle.
A bandit, a wiry man with knives coated in venomous green energy, lunged for their wagon, clearly aiming to capture the "weaker" disciples.
Liu Mei stood, her hands moving in a fluid pattern, gathering Earth energy to form a defensive wall.
Li Yao simply stood up.
As the bandit leaped into the wagon, his knives slashing, he crossed the three-foot threshold of Li Yao's Warding Emptiness.
The green, venomous aura on the blades died. The bandit's fierce expression turned to confusion as his well-practiced technique simply fizzled. His momentum carried him forward, but the power behind his attack was gone.
Li Yao sidestepped the clumsy lunge. As the bandit stumbled past him, Li Yao placed a single, gentle hand on the man's back. He didn't push. He simply channeled a pulse of void essence.
It was not an attack on the man's body, but on the energy circulating within it.
The bandit gasped, collapsing to the floor of the wagon. He wasn't injured, but he was utterly drained. His dantian felt hollow, his spiritual sense muted. He was, for a few moments, a mortal again. He looked up at Li Yao with sheer, uncomprehending terror.
Liu Mei stared, her half-formed earth wall dissipating. She had seen him nullify techniques, but to so effortlessly drain a cultivator of a higher realm... it was chilling.
Bor and the other guards made short work of the disoriented bandits. When the fight was over, the caravan master walked over to the wagon, looking down at the shivering, powerless bandit, then at Li Yao.
"What did you do to him, boy?"
Li Yao looked at the terrified man. "I... suggested he take a nap."
Bor stared at him for a long moment, then let out a short, sharp laugh. "Verdant Mountain is full of surprises. Alright, 'sightseer.' Maybe you're worth the escort fee after all."
As the caravan moved on, leaving the defeated bandits behind, Liu Mei sat back down, her mind racing. Li Yao's power was not just defense. It was a fundamental negation of cultivation itself. It was the one weapon every cultivator feared most: the power to make them ordinary.
And Li Yao simply sat back down, watching the scenery pass by once more. The test had been a success. His void was a shield, and now, a subtle, terrifying weapon. The path to Nexus Peak was looking more interesting by the mile.