"What's wrong?"
After returning to the material realm, Akali noticed something unusual about Luke and couldn't help asking.
"Nothing."
Luke turned around, his gaze darkening slightly as he thought back on what had just happened.
His senses would not deceive him. For that brief instant, something had definitely been watching him from somewhere unknown. The gaze had vanished almost immediately, but it had carried a faint trace of hostility.
At the same time, Luke was certain that whoever it belonged to had not been anywhere nearby.
So who had it been?
Some immensely powerful creature within the Void?
Even Luke knew very little about the Void. He had absolutely no idea how many powerful beings existed within it.
With no clues to work with, he decided not to dwell on it.
After all, if it really had been something from the Void, it would still take considerable effort for that creature to leave the Void and enter Runeterra.
Besides, Luke wasn't necessarily afraid of it.
Master Yi spoke up. "The danger here should be resolved now. Thank you for lending us your aid. I am Yi, a disciple of Wuju. May I ask your name?"
He turned toward the swordsman in the conical hat and bowed in gratitude.
"It was nothing. My name is Yasuo, just a wandering swordsman."
Yasuo answered calmly. Beneath the brim of his hat, his deep-set eyes turned toward Luke.
"I am curious. Who taught you your Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship?"
Someone else might have mistaken it, but Yasuo never could.
As a practitioner of the wind technique himself, he had recognized it the moment Luke began swinging his sword.
Seeing an unfamiliar face display such extraordinary mastery of Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship had naturally left him suspicious.
They had simply been too busy fighting for Yasuo to ask about it until now.
Hearing his question, the others also became interested. They had noticed that Yasuo's swordsmanship seemed to come from the same tradition as Luke's.
When Akali first met Luke, she had even assumed he was a member of the same school.
She later discovered that he wasn't.
Luke had always known a day would eventually come when a genuine practitioner of the wind technique questioned where he had learned it.
Still, he had nothing to feel guilty about. It wasn't as though he had secretly stolen the technique. He had obtained it fair and square from his system.
"I learned it while exchanging sword techniques with an Ionian I met some time ago. We went our separate ways afterward."
Luke smiled slightly as he answered.
Yasuo raised his eyes and studied Luke more carefully.
"When did you learn the wind technique?"
"About six months ago."
Luke met Yasuo's gaze.
He had to make the story consistent. If he claimed he had learned it two years ago, there would be no reasonable explanation for how he had acquired an Ionian sword technique while still in Demacia.
Talent alone could not explain that.
In truth, whether it had been six months or two years hardly made much difference.
Yasuo's composure finally cracked.
"Six months ago?"
He genuinely doubted what he had heard because it made absolutely no sense.
Only six months, and Luke had already mastered the wind technique to this degree?
Yasuo had begun studying it as a child. Many years had passed since then. Although he had occasionally neglected his training along the way, he had still eventually brought the technique to a very high level.
Yet the man standing before him had accomplished the same thing in only six months?
Yasuo himself had once been hailed as the most talented student of his generation. He had even received personal instruction from Elder Souma, the legendary master of the wind technique.
Even then, it had taken him close to twenty years.
Six months left Yasuo completely at a loss for words.
For a moment, he even wondered whether Luke might have been a secret disciple his master had taken in privately, but that was impossible.
Yasuo had been beside Elder Souma since he was very young. What could the old man possibly have done without him knowing?
He stared at Luke's youthful face for a long time before finally recovering.
Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship was not even the only sword style Luke knew. He had demonstrated two other sophisticated forms of swordsmanship as well.
For someone so young to have mastered several profound sword arts, extraordinary talent seemed to be the only explanation.
Unless Luke was actually some ancient monster who had lived far longer than he looked.
Six months ago had also been near the final stage of the war. Soon after the conflict began, many disciples of the wind school had left their home and scattered across the battlefields of Ionia.
Over the years, many had died.
Others had simply disappeared.
Perhaps Luke had encountered one of those wandering practitioners.
And perhaps the wind school was not the only place in the world where such swordsmanship existed.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter."
Yasuo suddenly sighed and dismissed the thoughts in his mind. He gave a self-deprecating smile.
"Thinking about it, I don't really have the right to interrogate you about this anyway."
He had already been cast out of his school.
What did any of it have to do with him anymore?
Seeing someone of unknown origins wield such sophisticated wind techniques had merely made him suspicious.
But after everything they had gone through together, Yasuo was already certain Luke wasn't an evil man.
If that was the case, what did it matter that he knew the wind technique?
A great sword art had fallen into the hands of a worthy swordsman.
If his master were here, he would probably only be pleased.
The atmosphere fell slightly quiet.
Anyone could tell from Yasuo's expression that the man carried quite a story.
Akali barely managed to suppress her curiosity. She vaguely remembered hearing that something had happened within the wind school.
At the time, however, the Kinkou Order had been dealing with plenty of problems of its own, so she had paid little attention to outside affairs.
Now that she thought about it, there had to be a reason Yasuo did not introduce himself as a disciple of the wind school.
As far as Akali was concerned, Luke was obviously the questionable one, while Yasuo was unquestionably the genuine article.
"Anyway, let's leave Mistfall first."
Luke looked at the sky. Evening was already approaching, so he decided they could discuss everything else after leaving.
According to Linju, Mistfall was originally supposed to close the following day.
But with Linju dead, that arrangement obviously no longer mattered.
No one objected. Both threats they had encountered inside Mistfall had been resolved. Carrying the bone saws that contained Xolaani's sealed consciousness, they began making their way out.
Leaving Mistfall took quite some time.
By the time they reached the entrance, the sky was already beginning to brighten. Morning had arrived.
The surviving disciples of the Ancient Sword School were still there. They had buried Linju's body within Mistfall and apparently intended to continue guarding the place.
That was no longer Luke's concern.
His group did not linger and soon left Mistfall behind.
A little farther down the road, they found a fairly large village. Since none of them had properly rested since the fighting ended, they decided to spend the day there.
By the following morning, it was time to say goodbye.
"We won't be able to continue traveling together from here. I will return to Wuju and guard this weapon. Until we meet again."
Master Yi stood at the village entrance alongside Wukong as they bid farewell to Luke's group.
"See you, Uncle Yi."
Akali flashed a bright smile, then turned toward Wukong.
"Monkey, next time we meet, I'll be way stronger than you."
"Hah!" Wukong snorted proudly. "Next time we meet, I'll leave you so far behind you won't even see me!"
Akali chuckled. "With your vocabulary, I'm impressed you even managed to come up with that phrase."
Wukong immediately glared at her.
Ahri gave them a slight bow. "Goodbye, Master Yi. Goodbye, Wukong."
Luke smiled at Yi.
"Once I've finished dealing with everything, I'll come to Wuju to find you."
"Good."
Yi nodded, then turned toward Yasuo.
"I wish you a safe journey as well. Sometimes, the key to a lock within the heart is hidden in the very place we are most reluctant to face."
Yasuo paused.
After a moment, he bowed slightly.
"Perhaps you're right. Until we meet again, Master Yi."
"Until we meet again."
Although they were saying goodbye, no one felt particularly reluctant to part.
This was only temporary.
There would always be another chance to meet.
They watched Master Yi and Wukong gradually disappear down the road until their figures vanished beyond the horizon.
Luke then turned toward Yasuo.
"We're preparing to continue our journey as well. Where are you headed next?"
Yasuo raised his head toward the rising sun. Its slightly dazzling light fell across him, but it could do nothing to dispel the melancholy in his heart.
"I suppose I'll return to the place where that key is hidden. You're heading to the Placidium, and that's not the direction I'm going, so this is where we part ways."
He smiled at the three of them, adjusted the conical hat on his head, and walked away, leaving only a lonely figure behind.
After witnessing something as terrifying as the Darkin and the Void, how could he allow himself to remain trapped in the past forever?
They had known each other for only two days and had barely spoken outside of the fighting.
Yet strangely enough, none of them disliked him.
Anyone could see that Yasuo carried an unresolved burden within his heart. He was a man with a complicated past. Master Yi's final words had been an attempt to help him finally move beyond it.
Luke knew Yasuo would keep moving forward.
Half a year earlier, Elder Souma, the legendary master of the wind technique, had been killed. Through a series of unfortunate coincidences and misunderstandings, Yasuo was accused of murdering him.
He was cast out of his school and hunted as a fugitive.
Yet even that had failed to break him.
In the end, he would become Yasuo, the Unforgiven.
He was one of the champions Luke respected greatly.
It was only unfortunate that they had not spent much time together.
Still, there would inevitably be another chance to meet in the future.
For now, Luke had his own road to follow.
The Darkin could be set aside for the moment, but the danger posed by the Void was clearly something he needed to start taking seriously.
After finishing his business in Ionia, he would also have to make time for a trip to Shurima.
Thinking about everything he needed to do only made his schedule feel even tighter.
Still, Luke had gained quite a lot from his journey through Mistfall.
His greatest prize was naturally the Void Riftblade.
A weapon capable of endlessly growing and evolving had already proven extraordinarily useful.
It also perfectly fulfilled Luke's need for a second weapon.
"We should get moving too."
Watching Yasuo disappear into the distance, Luke stretched lazily.
"Yeah."
Akali and Ahri nodded.
The three continued toward the Placidium of Navori.
Nothing else delayed them this time. After taking a boat to Ionia's primary island, there was not much distance left between them and the Placidium.
Another week passed.
At last, the scenery surrounding the Placidium gradually appeared before them.
An enormous mountain range stretched into the distance, its peaks appearing and disappearing through the clouds and mist. Plants growing across the mountains painted the landscape in brilliant shades of every color, while colossal arches towering as high as the mountains themselves hung suspended in the sky.
At the foot of the mountains stood a vast settlement that seemed to have grown naturally from the land itself. An endless stream of people passed through its entrances, making the entire place look prosperous and lively.
Guyuan had already been a sizable town, but the Placidium was more than ten times larger.
It truly deserved its reputation as Ionia's most important city.
Even compared with the Great City of Demacia, it did not seem small in the slightest.
However, while the Great City carried an atmosphere of solemn grandeur, the Placidium felt much freer and more unrestrained to Luke.
Even its walls did not look as though they had originally been built to defend against invading armies.
Of course, Ionia had paid dearly for that attitude.
When Noxus occupied the Placidium during the invasion, it had required relatively little effort.
This was Ahri's first time visiting the Placidium. Seeing the enormous crowds surrounding them left her visibly startled.
"There are so many people."
"Of course there are. This is the Placidium, one of Ionia's most sacred places. People travel here from all across the land every day."
Akali smiled at Ahri's astonished expression.
Ahri looked at her curiously. "Have you been here many times?"
"Not that many. I used to come here every year or so."
"Why are those arches so enormous? They look amazing, but they're practically as tall as the mountains."
Ahri pointed toward the colossal arches and asked curiously.
"Oh, those? They're not just decorative."
Akali looked upward and explained with a smile.
"The arches can gather magical energy from the world around them and filter it into pure magic that isn't dangerous. This is the heart of Ionia, after all. There's so much magic here that sometimes having too much of it can actually become a problem."
"Oh."
Ahri nodded in understanding.
There was certainly no doubt that the area was saturated with magic.
Even here on the outskirts of the Placidium, they could already feel an extraordinary concentration of magical energy.
The Placidium was also renowned as one of Ionia's greatest places for meditation and was home to several famous schools.
Supposedly, that was another reason Noxus had coveted it so fiercely. Despite the empire's reputation for conquest and destruction, even when the Noxians occupied the Placidium, they had refrained from causing excessive damage to the place.
"Still, there are way more people here than I remember."
Akali looked around. The crowds were far larger than during any of her previous visits.
Luke smiled.
"It might have something to do with the Great Stand."
"Very possible."
Akali nodded in agreement.
The Great Stand at the Placidium was one of the most famous battles in Ionian history. More importantly, it marked the moment when the people of Ionia truly began fighting back against the Noxian invasion.
Without the Great Stand, Ionia might still have been suffering beneath Noxian occupation, with its people trapped in constant misery.
And that legendary battle had taken place here at the Placidium.
Because of it, the Placidium had gone from being merely one of Ionia's famous sacred places to perhaps the most renowned location in the entire land.
"Come to think of it, what exactly are you planning to do here?"
As the three walked along the road, Akali finally asked the question.
She knew Luke had come to Ionia in search of a way to deal with the Shadow Isles.
But she still had no idea why he specifically needed to visit the Placidium.
Luke had no reason to hide it.
"I want to build a Hexgate here and connect Ionia with the rest of the world."
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