Empty Shells

Lang Tuyet did not continue using the formation from before.

Three silver beads flew from her palm and landed at different positions among the pirates closing in around them.

BOOM!

Cold energy erupted.

A layer of white frost rapidly spread across the surface of the sea.

The pirates charging forward immediately slowed. Their movements grew heavy, whether they were swinging sabers or trying to advance.

They were not destroyed.

But for the moment, they could no longer approach the Cosmic Ark.

Lanh Hoa seized the opportunity and stepped forward.

Sword energy swept horizontally, knocking back two pirates attempting to force their way through the freezing mist.

A third twisted aside and avoided the strike.

He immediately changed direction and attacked from the right, only to be forced back by one of Lang Tuyet’s talismans before he could reach the hull.

“Stop killing them.”

“Control them first.”

She raised her voice.

Hao Nhien nodded.

The Tieu Dao Sword circled the side of the vessel under his spiritual control, working together with the Fire Spirit Sword in his hand to prevent the approaching pirates from breaking through their defensive line.

The method worked quickly.

The freezing mist slowed the pirates at the front, while those coming from behind repeatedly collided with their companions, making their already disordered formation even harder to advance.

But the advantage lasted only a short while.

When the next group charged forward, they no longer passed directly through the freezing mist.

Some circled around both sides.

Others threw grappling hooks from a distance, attempting to drag the three silver beads out of position.

Lanh Hoa was about to strike when he noticed the change.

He stopped his sword midway and looked toward Hao Nhien.

Hao Nhien had seen it as well.

“It isn’t only the scarred one,” Lang Tuyet said softly.

“Mm.”

“The others are changing how they fight too.”

She watched the pirates spreading around the frozen region.

A thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.

“They learn from one another?”

“Or something is watching all of them.”

Lang Tuyet asked no further question.

She immediately adjusted the positions of the three silver beads.

The freezing mist shifted toward the areas the pirates had just chosen to avoid.

As expected, several failed to react in time and were immediately engulfed.

But those behind them began spreading their formation farther apart instead of concentrating on one route.

The change made Hao Nhien even more cautious.

He had fought many opponents.

He had encountered cultivators capable of observing and adapting extremely quickly.

But these pirates were different.

They did not communicate.

There was no obvious commander issuing orders.

Yet whatever had been learned by one group seemed to be reaching the others.

If the battle continued, methods that worked now might soon become useless.

At that moment, the drum aboard the dark-red vessel sounded again.

BOOM!

The pirates surrounding the Cosmic Ark immediately moved apart.

A clear path opened toward the decaying ship.

Three figures slowly emerged from its cabin.

The man on the left was tall and thin, carrying twin sabers. A long slash scar ran across the bridge of his nose.

The one on the right held a black spear. His eyes were deeply sunken, and his neck was wrapped in a layer of rotting cloth.

The final figure was much larger.

A massive black iron anchor rested on his shoulder, attached to a long chain coiled around one arm.

The three gave off noticeably stronger auras than the pirates before them.

The twin-saber wielder and the spearman both carried pressure comparable to early Golden Core.

The man with the black anchor was even closer to middle Golden Core.

Lanh Hoa’s expression changed slightly.

His grip tightened around his sword.

Hao Nhien felt the difference as well.

But he did not immediately judge their true strength based on aura alone.

The pirates they had already fought contained too many inconsistencies.

They could produce real saber force.

Real pressure.

Real impact.

Yet the way their power formed was not entirely like that of ordinary cultivators.

The Golden Core auras of the three newcomers might not correspond to genuine cultivation.

“Finally something worth more?” Lang Tuyet looked toward the three figures, the corner of her mouth lifting faintly.

A curious mismatch: this text was taken without approval, while the author's chapter appears on the NovelPhoenix site and supports them when read there.

Hao Nhien glanced at her.

“Winning doesn’t necessarily mean we earn merit.”

“Then we need to calculate even more carefully.”

She sighed lightly.

“Fighting without income is not a sustainable business.”

Before Hao Nhien could answer, the anchor wielder stepped forward.

The black anchor suddenly left his shoulder.

BOOM!

The chain snapped taut through the air.

The anchor carried crushing pressure as it flew directly toward the side of the Cosmic Ark.

Lanh Hoa immediately struck.

He did not attempt to meet the anchor head-on.

Instead, his sword energy cut toward the chain at an angle, trying to alter the direction of the attack.

The moment the sword energy touched it, a powerful force shattered the strike.

But the chain still shifted slightly.

That single collision sent Lanh Hoa staggering backward.

The webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open.

Blood ran down the hilt of his sword.

“Back!”

Hao Nhien immediately called out.

Spirit Wings erupted behind him.

He shot forward and appeared in front of Lanh Hoa.

The Tieu Dao Sword, guided by spiritual sense, struck the connection between anchor and chain.

At the same time, the Fire Spirit Sword in Hao Nhien’s hand hit the side of the anchor at an angle.

BOOM!

The anchor was knocked away from the hull.

It crashed into the sea several zhang away, sending a column of black water high into the air.

Hao Nhien caught Lanh Hoa by the shoulder and pulled him back.

“Don’t block attacks like that directly.”

“Hold your position.”

“Observe first, then strike.”

“This subordinate understands.”

Lanh Hoa immediately withdrew to the defensive line.

True Qi circulated through his arm, stabilizing the injury.

He watched the black anchor being dragged back toward the enemy vessel.

His expression became even more cautious.

Hao Nhien turned forward again.

The twin-saber wielder was already charging.

He was faster than most of the pirates before him.

Each time his feet touched the sea, a small wave rose beneath him, creating the impression that he was borrowing the water’s force to accelerate.

Hao Nhien did not immediately counterattack.

He shifted slightly, using Wind force to adjust his position while observing the way his opponent moved power.

The two sabers arrived one after another.

The first aimed at his neck.

The second locked across his waist.

Together they forced the opponent to choose which direction to evade.

Hao Nhien sensed the Wind Momentum around him.

He guided his Wind force along the moving current and shifted smoothly to the left.

Both blades passed in front of him.

The pirate immediately changed direction and continued pursuing.

But after two exchanges, Hao Nhien confirmed what he had suspected.

The opponent carried the aura of an early Golden Core cultivator.

His techniques also possessed corresponding power.

Yet the feeling of Momentum around him was extremely faint.

The waves beneath his feet appeared almost simultaneously with his movements, but there was no natural connection between the water and the force within his body.

It was as though the pirate was displaying the result of a technique—

without possessing the actual process of comprehension and application behind it.

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes.

If that was true, he could test something else.

He deliberately exposed an opening before his chest.

At the same time, the Soul Art silently circulated.

The twin-saber pirate immediately took the opportunity.

Both blades slashed forward.

Hao Nhien shifted aside while condensing an extremely thin Soul Sword.

It struck directly toward the pirate’s brow.

But the instant the Soul Sword reached its target, Hao Nhien sensed something wrong.

There was no soul to answer it.

The soul force passed through the place where consciousness should have existed.

No resistance.

No fluctuation.

The sensation was as though he had thrust a blade into an empty shell.

Hao Nhien paused for the slightest instant.

The Soul Art had failed.

The two sabers were already upon him.

He twisted aside immediately.

Half a beat too late.

Slash!

Saber force tore across his left shoulder.

Blood sprayed outward.

Spirit Wings erupted.

Hao Nhien retreated more than a zhang.

“Hao Nhien!”

The moment Lang Tuyet saw the blood, she redirected a fragment of her jade ring toward him.

“I’m fine.”

“Only a surface wound.”

Hao Nhien quickly stabilized himself.

His eyes remained fixed on the pirate charging again.

The failed Soul Art had cost him a wound.

But it had also revealed something important.

Never before had Hao Nhien faced an opponent capable of fighting, using techniques, and carrying a Golden Core aura while his Soul Art could detect absolutely no trace of a soul.

The twin-saber pirate closed in again.

This time, Hao Nhien did not use the Soul Art.

He guided the Tieu Dao Sword low across the sea toward the pirate’s legs.

At the same time, Spirit Wings burst for a single instant.

His position changed abruptly.

The pirate raised one saber to stop the Tieu Dao Sword.

By then, Hao Nhien had already appeared on his right.

The Fire Spirit Sword swept horizontally across his neck.

Pfft!

Firelight flashed.

The pirate’s head flew from his body.

The remaining torso rapidly dissolved into black water, leaving only faint ripples on the sea.

Hao Nhien did not immediately move on to another opponent.

His spiritual sense followed the black water as it dispersed.

He searched again.

Still nothing.

No lingering thought.

No soul fluctuation.

“What is it?” Lang Tuyet asked.

“I can’t find its soul.”

She frowned.

“There isn’t one?”

“At least, I can’t sense one.”

Lang Tuyet looked toward the place where the twin-saber pirate had disappeared.

Her expression gradually became serious.

“Then these things…”

“May not be complete living beings.”

At that moment, Little Spirit’s childish voice came from the bow.

“Empty.”

Hao Nhien turned.

“You sensed it too?”

The child nodded.

His eyes remained on the black water spreading across the sea.

“Shell.”

That single word made Hao Nhien fall into thought.

If the enemies before them were merely bodies created within the Void Realm, then their auras, techniques, and strength might also be reproductions formed through some unknown method.

If that assumption was correct, their Golden Core aura might only represent a recreated level of power.

It did not necessarily mean they possessed the cultivation foundation of genuine Golden Core cultivators.

Even so, the wound on Hao Nhien’s shoulder proved that their attacks could still cause real damage.

He looked toward the dark-red ship.

“If these are only shells…”

“Then what is maintaining them?”

Before Lang Tuyet could answer, she noticed movement in the black water.

She pointed immediately.

“Look.”

The black water left behind by the twin-saber pirate had not fully dissolved into the sea.

A tiny portion of it was slowly traveling across the surface.

It formed a thin line leading back toward the dark-red vessel.

Hao Nhien focused.

The black stream passed over the waves.

Reached the ship.

Then disappeared into the wooden hull.

Almost at the same moment, a small mark on the dark-red mast flashed.

Only for an instant.

Then the light vanished.

Hao Nhien and Lang Tuyet looked at one another.

“The mast,” Lang Tuyet said softly.

“Mm.”

“It may be receiving something from the pirates after they are destroyed.”

Hao Nhien still did not know what role the mark played.

But for the first time, he had found a clear connection between the enemies fighting them and the dark-red vessel.

He was about to extend his spiritual sense when the torn flag atop the mast suddenly pulled taut.

Black patterns that had been hidden within the cloth began to move.

They crawled slowly down the mast.

Then spread across the entire ship.

The drum sounded again.

BOOM!

Not once.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sea around the dark-red vessel suddenly began to boil.

Streams of black water left behind by the destroyed pirates started gathering toward the ship.

From them, new figures emerged one after another.

But this time, their forms were no longer as complete as before.

One possessed only half a face.

The other half was a shifting mass of black water.

Another had grown an extra arm from his shoulder solely to hold a grappling hook.

One figure had no legs at all.

Its lower body connected directly into the dark water rolling across the sea.

They no longer maintained complete human forms.

Their movement and attacking ability, however, had not weakened in the slightest.

Lang Tuyet looked across them.

The corner of her mouth lifted faintly.

“They’ve become uglier.”

Hao Nhien had noticed the change as well.

These new forms were abandoning parts that were unnecessary for battle.

Some began attacking the instant they formed.

They no longer needed to stand.

No longer needed to orient themselves.

“They’re changing faster.”

“And they no longer seem interested in preserving their original appearance,” Lang Tuyet replied.

Hao Nhien looked at the figures continuously rising from the sea.

Their numbers were increasing.

Those destroyed could be reconstructed after some time.

If the three of them continued defending from the same position, eventually they would be worn down until they no longer had enough strength to resist.

Lang Tuyet understood the same thing.

“We can’t drag this out.”

“Mm.”

Hao Nhien’s gaze settled on the black mark upon the mast.

“I want to attack that.”

“The mast?”

“The black water is returning to the ship.”

“The mark flashes whenever it does.”

“It may be an important link.”

Lang Tuyet considered quickly.

Then nodded.

“All right.”

“You open the way.”

“I’ll help break the encirclement.”

The jade ring in her hand split into nine smaller pieces that floated around her.

“Lanh Hoa.”

“Hold the Cosmic Ark.”

“This subordinate obeys.”

Lanh Hoa moved into a defensive position.

His sword was held horizontally before him.

The injury between his thumb and forefinger had been temporarily sealed with True Qi, but his arm still trembled slightly after colliding with the black anchor.

Hao Nhien glanced at him.

“Don’t chase them.”

“Only hold the hull.”

Lanh Hoa nodded.

“Clan Chief, don’t worry.”

Hao Nhien said nothing more.

The Tieu Dao Sword flew beneath his feet and stabilized in midair.

He stepped onto the flying sword.

His spiritual sense adjusted its direction.

At the same time, True Qi began circulating in preparation for Spirit Wings.

The Fire Spirit Sword remained in his right hand.

“Go.”

The Tieu Dao Sword shot away from the Cosmic Ark.