525 Wrath of the Sea

Some time prior…

Ro Banshui’s face was lit and then fell back into near darkness.

“Gan Shihan, ah, Gan Shihan, are you ready to face your reckoning? I’ve wat-…”

“G-grand Elder!”

As the old swordsman looked toward the island, his eyes glowing with the light of its flames, he spoke as if able to see the face of his old rival, the day for two to meet in final battle and settle their score finally coming. But a shout from behind him caused him to slightly pause.

“…I’ve waited for this-…”

“Grand Elder Ro!”

“What?!”

He tried to continue, not minding the slightly rising mumbling around him as he was not the only Grand Elder here, but as he was called by his name he furiously turned to the man, whose expression was fearful and puzzled as he looked up.

“S-something is wrong up there…”

“What could be so wrong that you had to-…!?!?”

Ro Banshui barked at the subordinate in annoyance, jolting his head up and looking toward the place he last saw the five Monarchs and then freezing and fading to white in another brilliant lightning.

“Wh-what is that?! What is happening?!?!”

Grand Elder Ro shouted with bewilderment as he witnessed the rapid successionof deaths of the second and third Monarchs in the sky, and then his eyes revealed terror as they reflected one, and then the other of the remaining two Monarchs flying in different directions, with a very slight delay between the two as one was faster.

“I-it’s looking here!”

Grand Elder who spoke with Ro Banshui before shouted, seeing the mask turn down to the ships.

“A-abort!!! Turn around! Turn the ** around!!!”

Grand Elder Ro’s amplified voice reached all ten treasure ships, which formations glowed and then they all started maneuvering to turn course.

The figure up in the sky raised a hand in a motion as if it was beckoning something, and the currents of water beneath one of the ship started to change, streams of it rising to the ship to fill itand then a bolt of lightning struck the ship.

*BOOM!!!*

An explosive sound broke through the storm and light of flames tore through the darkness that followed the lightning strike, anguished screams of hundreds of people rising into the furious heavens right before, but abruptly being cut off.

*BOOM!!!*

Another ship went up in flames, three more suddenly being carried by strong currents. The water gave in, at the center between the three ships and was starting to form a giant whirlpool that was pushing them down into darkness.

“Get us out of here!!!”

Grand Elder Ro hysterically shouted at the Golden Ox mercenary controlling the ship.

‘This ship is a giant coffin!’

A thought flashed in his mind as he heard screams from another ship not far from them, water rising on both of its sides, as if a giant maw ready to swallow them.

*BOOM!*

A flash of light from the other side, and the shockwave which shook them to their core told him that another ship exploded, and then half of a burnt corpse fell onto their deck not far from him.

“We are doomed!!!”

Someone cried out behind him but Ro Banshui seemingly entered some kind of a trance.

“This is not right… this is not how it was supposed to be…”

He mumbled, his words not reaching anyone amidst the panic, shouts and storm.

Muted shouts of everyone around only entering his peripheral consciousness, while his true self became numb, a high-

pitched sound from the exploding ship before still ringing in his ears while the surroundings seemed blurry in his vision.

And then, a drop of water fell on him, waking him up followed by a rain so heavy as if there was a sea above those heavy clouds as well.

“Aaaah!!!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs, getting on one knee and after raising his arm up, slamming his hand against the wet deck.

His Spiritual Qi flowed into the ship, and seeing his actions someone started following as all of the people poured their Qi into speeding up the ship.

“I-it’s not designed for such strai-…”

“Screw your design! We’re getting out of here!”

As the one controlling the boat shouted with panic, feeling that the arrays of the ship were starting to become overwhelmed, but Ro Banshui shouted with no regard, as the three remaining ships sailed away, all picking different courses in hopes that chasing other ones would delay the ‘monster’ that for some reason no longer attacked.

But just as the people on Ro Banshui’s ship were starting to sigh in relief after sailing away at top speed for some time…

*Bam!*

A loud explosive sound resounded as something tore through the sky with the light of a lightning and landed on the front part of the ship, causing wood scraps and chips to fly in all directions.

The sound of pouring rain resumed after the briefest moment of being overpowered by the thunder and explosion of the front part of the ship, as everyone on the middle deck looked toward the elevated front deck with baited breath, their figures drenched in rain shuddering, whether that was from cold or something else unknown.

As the pause of them not moving became prolonged, they started breathing again, only the sounds of falling droplets and rough breaths heard by all of them as they seemingly had a tacit agreement.

And then…

*Step*

The sound of a boot hitting a wooden deck flooring reached the sensitive ears of the cultivators, and then another one, the eyes of people on the ship filling with dread.

Soon, the same ‘corpse puppet’ they saw in the skies with a bloody hand which was slightly red even in this pouring red came toward the railing of the elevated deck.

“I thought I recognized you, good thing I avoided striking this ship…”

A voice came from under the mask as the non-bloody hand rose up to it, and upon holding it, the whole figure of the man became blurry, changing the physique a little and the clothes becoming simple and plain navy-blue robes with no hat or anything to cover the head except for the mask with a crumbling talisman over it.

“T-that voice…”

Ro Banshui’s face revealed shock, disbelief, incredulousness, and denial at the same time, his eyes trembling as they reflected a slowly uncovered familiar handsome face, which was smiling with a hint of amusement in the eyes.

“I-it can’t be! It shouldn’t be!! It is impossible!!!

How! How… how is it you!!!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice capable of overcoming the storm to ring in the ears of each of the people around, whose heads were filled with the same words.

“The better question is… why is it a good thing I didn’t strike you down?”

Wu Long smiled, in quite a good mood as he had a vital breakthrough just now when he chased down one of the Monarchs.

“… because you would have died thinking I was a liar.

You see, while I don’t really care if you think I am a fraud, but Ziyan… someone dear to me was very dissatisfied with that fact. She was really upset”

He then explained, not waiting for an answer as he knew well they could not be aware of it.

“So…”

He chuckled, a sword appearing in his hand, and a discolored world appearing all around them as the raindrops froze in place when he took its handle and started unsheathing it.

“…what do you think this is?”

He then asked as the eyes of the people in front of him reflected a sea of emotions as vast as the one which waters they were currently traversing.

However, what he saw in those eyes was also surprise, surprise at something and his eyes narrowed down.

‘Tch… as I thought…’

He sighed, his sword moving slowly out of the sheathe and in the next moment, as if part of the sequence was cut out appearing by his side in a finishing motion.

The discoloration disappeared, and his figure rose into the air, disappearing into the distance.

But the area that was covered by the discolored world was still unmoving, creating quite a surreal scene as neither rain, nor wind, not even the roaring waves of the sea around affected a circular area the ship was in.

Thin red lines started appearing on the bodies of the still living people, their eyes widening and moving around as a realization was catching up to them. Dark lines were also spreading on the ship, crisscrossing and covering everything within. Even the drops of rain suspended all around had seemingly lines appearing on them formed by light reflections.

‘So… this is… Sword Domain…?’

Was the last thought of those belonging to the Cloud Piercing Sect, and then everything crumbled as the rain caught up and started falling while the waves of the sea rushed in to swallow any remains.

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