Chapter 199 | Cracks in the Barrier

Chapter 199: 199 | Cracks in the Barrier

Night settled over the northern route in a thick, colorless haze.

Inside the Flying Spiritual Ship, the decks were still orderly. Spirit lamps burned along the corridors while disciples moved between rest chambers and practice areas with the loose calm of people who believed the most dangerous part of boarding was already behind them.

Lin Tian stood near the rail of the lower spirit deck, watching the dark clouds slide past the outer barrier. The barrier light looked thin from this angle, like a sheet of pale glass stretched around the hull.

He felt the change before the alarm sounded.

A heavy, unclean pressure struck the left side of the ship.

The first impact made the rail tremble under his hand. The second came harder, close enough that several disciples staggered and grabbed for support. Spirit lamps flickered across the deck.

Then the ship alarm erupted.

A sharp bronze tone rang through every level at once, repeating until even the slowest disciple understood this was no drill. The outer barrier flared under another blow, and the light across one section of the hull cracked into uneven waves.

"Enemy strike! Barrier array under attack!"

The lower spirit deck shifted from quiet travel space into a tense field of drawn weapons and pale faces. Some representatives moved with discipline. Others froze too long before forcing themselves into motion.

Lin Tian’s eyes narrowed at the impact pattern. The attackers were striking the left barrier section repeatedly. That was the rear flank, the same flank he had identified during the Weeping Cloud Rift crossing, where the main flight core pushed seventy percent of its power forward and left the rear protection thin. Someone had studied this ship’s formation layout before attacking.

Another strike landed. Then another. And another.

The attackers were relentless. Each blow targeted the same weakened point, hammering it without pause. Black aura rose beyond the barrier wall, thick enough to stain the night. Through the unstable light, figures became visible. Cultivators in dark, broken patterns of armor and bone-threaded cloth, their energy carrying the foul edge of demonic methods. They moved in coordinated groups of three, one pressing while the other two recovered Qi, rotating with drilled precision.

Twelve figures in the first wave. The timing was patient, practiced, and lethal. These were raiders who had hit trade ships and sect transports along the northern route before.

Gao Chen moved to a position three steps from Lin Tian without being told. His long sword was already drawn, the blade resting at a natural angle across his shoulder. The two men stood side by side in silence, watching the barrier crack under each successive blow.

Instructor Qing’s voice cut through the noise from the central platform.

"Representatives hold the lower assembly points! No one runs without order! If you break formation before the barrier falls, I will treat you as a greater danger than the enemy!"

Her crimson uniform stood out under the shaking lamps. Even with the foul pressure leaking through the damaged barrier, her command presence held the nearer disciples in place. She assigned stewards to the stair routes, forced panicked juniors back into groups, and kept the lower deck from collapsing into chaos.

Higher up, Elder Bai reached the left barrier formation array with her sleeves drawn tight and her expression carved clean of everything except work. The rune channels linked to the left barrier were no longer steady. Several pulsed out of rhythm. One had gone dim almost to black.

She placed her hands above the nearest channel junction and forced her Exquisite Spirit Body through the full structure at once. The reading came in a painful rush. Rune paths, damaged connections, broken force return, and outside impact points all poured into her senses together. Soul strain bit down hard behind her eyes, but she pressed through it.

"Support the third and fourth channel junctions first," she ordered. "If those collapse, this whole branch fails."

Stewards moved.

On the service deck, Elder Liu turned the recovery station into emergency preparation with the same cold speed. Junior alchemists were sent for trauma bottles, blood-stabilizing pills, and clean cloth seals. "When the barrier breaks, wounded will come in waves," she said. "Hold the top-grade pills for real injuries. Panic wastes nothing."

Her public face remained pure. Only the sharpness in her eyes showed she already understood what kind of night this could become.

Back on the lower spirit deck, Lin Tian finally left the rail and took a position near one of the likely breach lines. The Profound Void-Yang Blade remained wrapped on his back for now. His hand moved to his storage ring, checking the two jade bottles Elder Liu had given him during recovery verification. Sealed and ready. He also checked the wrapping around the blade. The cloth held firm. The blade’s dense spiritual pressure stayed contained until he chose to release it.

Around him, disciples gripped swords and spears with damp palms. One youth kept swallowing as if air itself had grown too thin.

Outside, the attackers struck again. And again. And again.

Each impact bent the left barrier section further inward. Light splintered across its surface like fractured ice. The Tier-4 construction held firm through the first ten strikes. The eleventh left a visible crack. The twelfth widened it. The thirteenth sent a shower of broken formation sparks cascading down the hull.

Elder Bai’s voice carried faintly through a transmission mark near the stewards.

"Left branch is failing. I can slow the collapse. I cannot restore it to full strength in time."

That single report changed the posture of every trained fighter on deck.

Instructor Qing raised her arm. "Combat lines ready! If the barrier opens, demonic cultivators will push for the lower decks first. Hold the stairs. Protect the inner corridors. Stay inside the hull."

Lin Tian breathed once and let his weight settle into his feet. His public identity sat around him like a thin cloak. Middle Stage. Controlled. Enough to fight, not enough to explain everything he could truly do. When the clash began, he would have to measure every movement. Save lives where he could. Avoid turning the whole ship’s attention onto the depth of his foundation.

The next strike landed with a deep, ugly crack.

Across the left side of the hull, the barrier array split open along a torn line of light. Damaged rune channels linked to that section went dark one after another. Foul black wind screamed through the gap and rushed into the outer decks, carrying demonic aura with it. Alarms rose to a higher pitch. Somewhere a steward shouted that the branch had collapsed.

Through the broken barrier, the demonic cultivators surged forward.

Their eyes locked onto the ship’s exposed deck lines. Weapons of bone, blackened steel, and blood-tempered wood lifted as one. The distance between outside night and inside ship vanished in a breath.

Instructor Qing’s sword left its sheath.

Elder Bai still fought to hold what remained of the neighboring channels, blood-flecked strain already hidden at the corner of her mouth. Elder Liu sealed the first emergency boxes and turned toward the coming flood of wounded. On the lower spirit deck, disciples raised their weapons with both courage and terror in the same grip.

Gao Chen shifted his sword into a forward stance, his breathing controlled and even. His eyes tracked the nearest group of three attackers as they crossed the gap.

Lin Tian’s hand closed around the hilt of the Profound Void-Yang Blade.

The barrier had broken, and the first wave of demonic cultivators was already through the gap.