The infinite blue expanse of the Eastern Sea stretched out to the edge of the world.
The roaring river currents of the Central Plains were now far behind. Here, towering azure waves crashed against deep ocean trenches, and the salt-laden maritime wind carried the ancient, dense aura of deep-sea mana. Under the brilliant midday sun, the surface of the sea glistened like millions of sapphire scales, rolling rhythmically in an eternal ocean pulse.
Cutting smoothly through the deep azure waves was a colossal, double-hulled sea warship—the Ocean-Dragon Royal Flagship.
Forged from three-hundred-year-old iron-oak wood, reinforced with dark-blue dragon-scale steel, and powered by forty high-grade wind-element spiritual arrays, this vessel was the absolute crown jewel of the Eastern Dragon-Sea Sect. It was capable of withstanding hurricane-force oceanic storms and deep-sea beast tides.
Yet today, this proud flag vessel of the Eastern Realm did not carry imperial envoys or section commanders. It carried a single solitary traveler, a small girl, and an absolute silence that dominated the high seas.
On the massive, polished wooden bow of the flagship, Li-Wen stood straight against the strong maritime wind.
His heavy leather boots made no sound against the dragon-scale steel plating of the deck.
CRUNCH... CRUNCH... CRUNCH...
His dark traveler's coat, stiffened by fine salt crystals and faint sapphire frost, flapped steadily in the ocean gale. Across his broad back, the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade rested quietly in its iron scabbard, its unadorned dark steel absorbing the warm sunlight without reflecting a single ray. His short hair, heavily streaked with pure white roots, blew backward, revealing his flat, stern, iron-carved face.
His dark, void-like pupils stared into the endless horizon toward the Azure Abyss—the legendary deep-sea rift where ancient primordial herbs were said to bloom upon submerged dragon peaks.
In his left arm, he held little Xiao-Yue securely against his broad chest.
The small girl was wrapped comfortably in her clean white sheepskin coat, her dark eyes filled with pure delight as she watched white sea-falcons dive into the crests of the waves. In her small hands, she held her pink lotus lantern. The silver frame, bearing its faint hairline crack, radiated a steady, comforting ruby light that completely blocked the chilly ocean spray from dampening her clothes.
"Brother Li-Wen! Look over there!" Xiao-Yue squeaked softly, her clear voice ringing out over the sound of the crashing waves. She pointed her small index finger toward a distant, glowing blue spout of water shooting fifty feet into the air. "Is that a giant ocean fish breathing?"
"That is an Azure-Whale Sovereign," Li-Wen murmured, his deep, raspy voice flat, steady, and unyielding. "It lives three thousand feet beneath the waves."
"Is it bigger than the big stone bear at the mountain?" She asked eagerly, hugging her pink lantern close to her chest.
"Much bigger," Li-Wen replied, his broad hand gently patting her small back.
"Can it eat honey oat cakes?"
"It eats deep-sea spiritual fish," Li-Wen said flatly, a microscopic trace of soft warmth lingering in the depth of his dark eyes. "It would not like oat cakes."
"Oh," Xiao-Yue nodded thoughtfully, taking a tiny bite from the sweet dried plum stick she held in her other hand. "Then more oat cakes for us!"
Fifty paces behind them on the main deck, standing near the wheelhouse, were Captain Lin-Hai of the Dragon-Sea Fleet and twenty elite sea-cultivators.
Every single sailor stood in absolute, paralyzed posture. They did not dare to laugh, they did not dare to shout, and they handled the massive ship's rigging with microscopic care.
Ever since the news had arrived from Dragon-Wharf Port—that Third Prince Ao-Tian's right hand had been snap-froze into glass by a single tap of this broad-shouldered man's finger—the entire fleet had realized who their passenger was. The monster who had erased the four grand sects of the Western Continent was currently standing on their main deck!
Captain Lin-Hai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a trembling sleeve. He carefully held a heavy silver tray containing fresh sea-fruit and warm herbal tea, slowly stepping forward.
"M-My lord..." Captain Lin-Hai bowed deeply at a fifteen-pace distance, his voice trembling faintly. "We are currently passing through the Outer Boundary of the Azure Abyss. The deep-sea rift lies twenty miles ahead. The waters here are extremely turbulent, and deep-sea spatial beasts often surface to hunt..."
Li-Wen did not turn around. His dark eyes remained fixed on the horizon ahead.
"Keep the ship steady," Li-Wen said flatly.
"Y-Yes, my lord! Instantly!" Captain Lin-Hai bowed frantically, setting the silver tray down on a nearby wooden crate before backing away with slow, quiet steps.
As the flagship crossed the boundary into the Azure Abyss, the sky above slowly transformed.
The clear golden sunlight was gradually swallowed by dense, dark-purple storm clouds. The calm ocean waves turned into forty-foot tall, dark-blue mountain-like swells that slammed violently against the iron-oak hull!
BOOOOM—! BOOOOM—!
The ocean wind howled like millions of screaming ghosts, and the water below turned pitch black—a clear sign that they were now floating over an ancient underwater trench that reached a depth of ten thousand feet!
"WARNING! HIGH-GRADE DEEP-SEA SPATIAL VIBRATIONS DETECTED!" The lookout sailor at the main mast screamed in sudden, pure terror! "THE TRENCH IS MOVING!"
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAR—!!!!!
An absolute, primitive roar of ancient destruction erupted from the pitch-black depths of the ocean trench!
The surrounding sea water suddenly boiled with dark crimson spatial energy! The forty-foot waves were shattered into thin mist as a colossal shadow—over two thousand feet long—rose rapidly from the ten-thousand-foot deep abyss!
SPLASH—!!!!!
A terrifying, mountain-sized sea dragon with four giant black wings, covered in thick dark-red spatial scales and possessing three glowing crimson eyes, burst out from the ocean waves, blocking out the sky above the flagship!
It was the supreme overlord of the Azure Abyss—the Stage-6 Peak Crimson-Void Sea Dragon!
The massive creature had been awakened from its hundred-year slumber by the heavy spiritual arrays of the flagship! Its three crimson eyes burned with cruel, primitive hunger as it looked down at the tiny wooden vessel floating below!
"A STAGE-6 PEAK ANCIENT BEAST!" Captain Lin-Hai shrieked in sheer, hysterical despair, falling to his knees on the wet deck! "THE SHIP CANNOT WITHSTAND ITS SPATIAL BREATH! WE ARE DEAD!"
The twenty elite sailors dropped their ropes, their faces completely drained of blood, paralyzed by the overwhelming, suffocating pressure radiating from the Stage-6 sea dragon!
The sea dragon opened its massive, cavernous jaw—lined with thousand-foot razor teeth—and summoned a colossal sphere of dark-red spatial void fire!
HUMMMMM—!
The sphere of void fire condensed to fifty feet in diameter, radiating enough heat to vaporize an entire coastal city in a single second! It aimed directly at the bow of the Ocean-Dragon Royal Flagship, preparing to incinerate the ship and its passengers into microscopic ash!
Xiao-Yue looked up at the sky, her small eyes widening as she saw the dark-red sun of fire descending toward them. She didn't scream, but her small hands instinctively held Li-Wen's coat tightly. "Brother Li-Wen... the big dragon is very loud..."
Li-Wen stood on the bow of the ship.
He did not draw the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade from his back. He did not step into the sky.
He slowly adjusted Xiao-Yue in his left arm, holding her small frame securely against his broad heart.
He turned his dark, void-like eyes upward, looking directly into the three glowing crimson eyes of the Stage-6 Sea Dragon.
The absolute-zero kinetic density sleeping deep within his Stage-5 Peak Sovereign marrow flared for a microsecond.
"Down," Li-Wen said softly.
His deep, raspy voice carried no anger. It carried no theatrical shout. It was simply an absolute, cosmic physical command that resonated through the spatial fabric of the atmosphere.
He raised his right hand and executed a casual, downward press of his open palm.
PRESS.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!
An absolute, terrifying wave of invisible kinetic gravity slammed down from the high atmosphere directly onto the Stage-6 Crimson-Void Sea Dragon!
The fifty-foot sphere of dark-red spatial void fire didn't even detonate—it was instantaneously crushed into non-existence by the immense kinetic mass!
CRUNCH—! REPRESS—! SHATTER—!
The two-thousand-foot ancient sea dragon, capable of fighting Stage-7 Ancestors in the ocean, let out a muffled, agonizing whimper as its dark-red spatial scales, its massive black wings, its bone structure, and its Stage-6 core were violently compressed downward by millions of tons of kinetic pressure!
SPLASH—!!!!!
The entire two-thousand-foot creature was violently slammed back down into the pitch-black ocean trench, sinking five thousand feet deep into the dark waters in a microsecond!
The ocean waves that had been churning violently forty feet high were instantly flattened into a smooth, mirror-like sheet of pale-blue ice that stretched for ten miles around the flagship!
The dark-purple storm clouds in the sky above were completely torn apart by the upward kinetic shockwave, revealing a wide, golden ray of sunlight that shone brightly onto the bow of the ship!
Silence— absolute, pristine, and terrifying silence—descended upon the Azure Abyss.
The twenty sailors and Captain Lin-Hai sat on the wooden deck, their eyes wide, their mouths wide open, staring at the ten-mile mirror of pale-blue ice that had replaced the terrifying stormy sea.
A Stage-6 Peak Ancient Sea Dragon... crushed into the deep ocean trench with a casual downward press of a palm!
Not a single drop of water had touched the flagship's deck. Not a single wooden plank had creaked under the impact.
Captain Lin-Hai fell onto his knees, banging his forehead onto the deck boards in absolute, trembling reverence. He did not dare to utter a single word, fearing that his breath might disturb the absolute quiet around the man on the bow.
Li-Wen slowly lowered his broad right hand back into his traveler's coat pocket.
His face remained flat, smooth, and completely undisturbed—like an ancient, iron mountain towering over an frozen ocean.
Xiao-Yue raised her head from his broad shoulder, looking around at the bright golden sunlight shining through the clouds and the sparkling blue ice surrounding the ship.
"Brother Li-Wen! Look! The water turned into a big blue mirror!" She squeaked with a sweet, joyful smile, pointing her tiny finger at her own reflection on the smooth ice surface below. "It's so pretty!"
Li-Wen looked down at the pale-blue ice mirror, his dark pupils reflecting her warm, bright smile.
"Yes," Li-Wen murmured softly, his raspy voice flat and steady. "It is quiet now."
He gently held her small frame close against his chest as the heavy iron-oak flagship glided smoothly over the icy path, heading toward the deep sea islands of the Eastern Realm under the warm, golden sun.
See you in next chapter...