Chapter 201 | The Sovereign’s Wrath

Chapter 201: 201 | The Sovereign’s Wrath

The foul laughter of the demonic commander echoed across the ruined left deck.

Black wind howled through the torn barrier array, carrying the stench of old blood and rotting bone. Around the breach, Crimson Nimbus disciples were being pushed back, their blades trembling against the ferocity of the boarding party.

Elder Bai pressed one hand against the spirit-wood pillar to keep upright. A thin line of blood stained her pale lip, her vision blurring at the edges from the violent soul strain of her Exquisite Spirit Body.

Down on the lower defense line, Instructor Qing’s crimson uniform was soaked with sweat and blood. Every swing forced the Lethal Fire-Poison deeper into her meridians, leaving her arms shaking.

Between them and the breach stood Elder Liu, green-gold Verdant Flame roaring along the edge of her combat brand.

The demonic commander licked his dry lips, his blood-colored eyes sweeping greedily over the three women.

"Array witch for the chains, alchemist for the bed, and the martial woman below to finish the set," he sneered, raising his long blade of fused bone and dark iron. "Once I break your spines, the black dens will pay a fortune to hear three high-and-mighty righteous women beg."

Down by the stairs, Lin Tian stopped.

Since waking in the Artifact Graveyard, he had survived by cold logic. He hid his strength when useful. But there was a line no one crossed. Elder Liu was already his. Instructor Qing and Elder Bai were marked by his web.

Hearing this filth speak of chains and beds lit a silent fury in his chest.

His golden eyes went utterly still.

"Die," Elder Liu said coldly from the upper breach. Her Verdant Flame surged toward his throat.

The commander grinned. He twisted his blade, striking the deck.

"Blood-Mire Splinter!"

A wave of black-red Qi exploded. The main surge locked Elder Liu in place, while two arcs of bone-shrapnel tore sideways—one aimed at the injured Elder Bai, the other plunging toward the exhausted Instructor Qing!

It was a vicious move. Elder Liu could not intercept both. Elder Bai’s strained mind couldn’t form a shield in time. Instructor Qing gritted her teeth, lifting her heavy sword as Fire-Poison tore at her chest.

Neither attack reached them.

Down by the stairs, Lin Tian released the Abyssal Shadow Veil.

He tore the restraint open.

BOOOOOOM!

A suffocating pillar of golden pressure erupted. The disguised Middle Stage aura vanished, replaced by the roaring tide of Peak Level 9 Foundation Establishment.

But this was no ordinary Peak Foundation. Forged across the ancient 13th Layer of Qi Gathering, his Liquid Qi was ten times denser than the modern standard, nourished by the pure Yin feedback of multiple Matriarchs.

The air distorted from sheer spiritual strength.

"Peak Level 9 Foundation?!" a steward murmure, dropping to his knees.

Even Core Disciple Gao Chen froze mid-swing.

Lin Tian didn’t waste a breath.

Abyssal Void-Shadow Empress Art.

His figure dissolved. Moving along the ship’s array, he crossed the distance in a heartbeat.

A dark-gold blur flashed past Instructor Qing.

CLANG!

With a one-handed sweep of the Profound Void-Yang Blade, Lin Tian crushed the descending shrapnel into sparks.

Before the ring faded, his shadow stepped upward, directly in front of Elder Bai and Elder Liu. He gripped his heavy broadsword with both hands and swung horizontally into the incoming blood-slash.

CRACK—BOOOOOOM!

The collision sounded like two mountain peaks slamming together. Backed by his Primordial Yang-Tyrant Body, the flat of the heavy blade smashed straight through the Core Formation Qi. Scorching Yang surged outward, burning the black mist into nothingness.

A shockwave ripped across the deck, sending three demonic soldiers flying into the night.

Lin Tian’s boots cracked the spirit-wood, yet his tall frame did not retreat an inch.

Behind him, Elder Bai stared at his broad back. The chaotic noise tearing at her soul suddenly went quiet, suppressed by the sheer stability of his golden aura.

Beside her, Elder Liu’s eyes widened before a deep heat rose in her chest. She knew that tyrannical Yang better than anyone.

The demonic commander’s grin froze.

"Peak Level 9 Foundation?" He stared in disbelief. "A mere Foundation brat blocked my strike head-on?!"

Lin Tian lowered the tip of his blade to the bloodstained wood. His golden eyes were colder than the high-altitude wind.

"You said quite a lot just now," Lin Tian said, his voice cutting clearly through the clash of steel. "Chains for one. A bed for another. Black dens for all three."

He took one step forward. The heavy weight of his ancient foundation pressed down like rising iron.

"Repeat it."

The demonic cultivator’s face twisted with humiliation. A junior was speaking like a judge passing a death sentence!

"Arrogant bastard!" he roared, releasing his full Core Formation pressure. "I’ll tear your limbs off and make them watch!"

He lunged, pouring his entire Core reserve into his bone blade. A thirty-foot phantom of a rotting blood-serpent tore toward Lin Tian’s neck.

"Lin Tian, careful!" Instructor Qing shouted from below.

"Stay back," Lin Tian said calmly to the women behind him. "He is mine."

Crimson runes flared deep within his golden pupils.

Insight Eye.

The terrifying phantom stripped away in his vision, revealing the raw structure beneath. The commander had forced his way into Early Core Formation through blood-refining, leaving his Golden Core riddled with impurities and a severe circulation lag near his left ribs.

Slow. Impure. Full of holes.

Inside Lin Tian’s Dantian, the Primordial Yin-Yang Imperial Sutra spun at full speed.

He did not dodge. Just as the jaws reached his face, Lin Tian vanished into a half-step shadow slide. He slipped along the thinnest seam of the enemy’s pressure, appearing half a pace to the man’s left—right inside his blind spot.

"What?!" The demonic cultivatore’s pupils shrank.

Golden Yang fire wrapped around the Profound Void-Yang Blade. Lin Tian swung the heavy broadsword directly into the center node of the bone blade.

KCHHHK—CLANG!

Under the devastation of Void-Steel, ancient Liquid Qi, and pure physical tyranny, the Core Formation weapon could not hold. With a deafening snap, the blade shattered in half!

Before the he could flee, Lin Tian released one hand from his hilt and stepped straight into his chest guard. Pure, condensed Primordial Yang gathered in his left palm.

"You wanted to touch what belongs to this ship?" Lin Tian whispered.

His palm struck the exact flawed node beneath the cultivator’s left ribs.

BOOM!

The protective Core aura shattered. Ribs caved inward, and a torrent of scorching Yang fire blasted straight into the man’s Dantian, igniting the impure blood-core from the inside out!

"Gaaahhh—!"

The cultivatore puked burning black blood as he was launched backward. He slammed into the broken rail, his chest caved in and his Core completely ruptured.

Before his twitching body could slide off the edge, a golden flame leapt from Lin Tian’s fingertips and landed on his cloak.

FWOOSH!

In three breaths, the tyrannical Yang fire reduced the Core Formation expert to fine gray ash that scattered into the wind.

Silence dropped over the breach.

The remaining demonic soldiers froze, staring at the empty spot.

"The Commander is dead! Run!"

Panic shattered the attackers’ ranks. They scrambled desperately toward the broken barrier, while Elder Liu swept forward with her flame brand, cutting down the fleeing stragglers without mercy.

Yet even as she fought, her heart beat fast against her ribs. He had dropped his disguise in front of the entire ship—not for glory, but because someone had dared to threaten them.

[Target 4 (Elder Liu) Obsession Level: 90% → 92% (Deeply Moved by Host’s Protective Wrath)]

Down on the lower line, Instructor Qing slowly lowered her bloodstained sword.

The overwhelming wave of pure Yang aura radiating from Lin Tian had washed across the deck, forcing the raging Fire-Poison in her meridians into quiet submission. She stared up at the young man strapping the heavy dark-gold broadsword back across his shoulders.

A strange, unfamiliar heat gathered low in her stomach, making her fingers tighten around her hilt.

[Target 5 (Instructor Qing) Obsession Level: 31% → 35% (Shaken by Host’s True Strength & Dominance)]

By the broken support post, Elder Bai slowly stood straight, her eyes fixed on Lin Tian’s calm profile.

The tearing pain in her consciousness had completely receded the moment his ancient foundation opened near her. In her calculations, a Foundation cultivator overpowering a Core Formation enemy was an impossibility—yet Lin Tian had just done it effortlessly.

[Target 6 (Elder Bai) Obsession Level: 12% → 16% (Deeply Fascinated by Host’s Unfathomable Foundation)]

Surviving disciples and stewards stood among the blood, every pair of eyes locked onto the quiet figure at the upper breach.

No one whispered about an "ordinary Middle Stage" anymore.

Restraining his boiling golden aura back beneath his robes, Lin Tian turned away from the torn barrier and walked calmly toward the three women.?