The Boundary Sea was not a body of water; it was an infinite expanse of void-fog, churning spatial tears, and high-gravity currents separating the outer continents from the central hub of the Upper Realm.
A solitary, reinforced void-cutter belonging to the Azure Cloud Sect cut through the violet mist. Its hulls were reinforced with thick plates of celestial iron, but the ship groaned continuously under the erratic, shifting atmospheric drag.
On the high bow stood Ren, his hands resting on the wooden railing. Beside him, Lin Xiu wrapped her icy white cloak tightly around her shoulders, her hair whipping violently in the chaotic spatial winds.
"Beyond this fog lies the Central Upper Realm," Lin Xiu said, pointing toward a faint cluster of distant, floating continental lights. "The atmospheric pressure there is thrice what it is at our peak. Without a solid foundation, ordinary cultivators choke on their own spirit pathways."
"Pressure is just energy waiting to be owned," Ren replied quietly. His dark eyes scanned the swirling fog ahead, where the spatial currents were growing unnaturally violent.
Suddenly, the void-cutter lurched to a violent halt.
The surrounding fog turned blood-red. From the depths of the void-sea, four massive, bird-like hulls equipped with jagged iron rammers glided out of the mist, surrounding the Azure Cloud ship in a tight quadrant.
Crimson grappling chains slammed into the deck with deafening thuds, dragging the ships together.
"Aether-Pirates," Lin Xiu warned, her hand clicking her icy sword an inch out of its scabbard. "Mercenaries who hunt void-ships in the spatial dead zones."
A hulking man with scar-pitted skin and a massive, barbed broadsword stepped onto the bow of the lead pirate vessel. His body radiated the volatile, unrestrained aura of a Peak Spirit-Vein cultivator.
"Hand over the Young Master’s token and the celestial iron from your hold!" the pirate leader bellowed, grinning through sharp, stained teeth. "Young Master Huo pays a handsome price for the heads of Azure Cloud trash who don't know their place!"
The deck crew of the Azure Cloud ship panicked, pulling their weapons as a dozen pirate raiders vaulted over the wooden railings, their blades dripping with wind-element Qi.
"Stay back," Ren instructed the crew calmly.
Ren took a single step forward, stepping directly onto the main deck. He didn't draw a weapon, nor did he form a hand seal.
Dense Domain: Hundred-Foot Sovereign Anchor.
An invisible sphere of absolute, crushed weight exploded outward from Ren’s core, encompassing all four pirate ships and the surrounding void.
The pirate raiders mid-leap froze in mid-air as if slammed by an invisible sledgehammer. Their wind-element Qi vanished instantly, crushed under the suffocating atmospheric drag. They dropped straight down onto the wooden planks like sackcloth filled with rocks, the force of their landing snapping their leg bones instantly.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The pirate leader’s face turned pale as his broadsword was forcibly dragged down, its tip sinking deep into the deck. His knees buckled, smashing through the heavy oak planks as his chest caved under fifty times his normal weight.
"What... what kind of monster—" the pirate leader choked out, blood spurting from his mouth.
"You're in my domain," Ren said softly.
Ren raised his left hand toward the lead pirate vessel and clenched his fist.
Spatial Anchor: Inverted Collapse.
The gravitational anchor beneath the four pirate ships completely inverted. The massive, iron-reinforced hulls groaned as localized mass pulled them inward toward a single central point in the void.
BOOM!
The four pirate vessels crumpled like thin paper, colliding into a ball of twisted wood and iron before plummeting straight down into the infinite, dark abyss of the Boundary Sea.
The spatial fog cleared instantly, revealing the distant, brilliant lights of the Seven Sky-Pillars shining across the horizon.
Ren lowered his arm, his black-and-gold robes settling smoothly over his shoulders. The crew of the Azure Cloud ship stared at him in breathless, reverent shock.
Lin Xiu sheathed her blade, a faint, rare smile touching her lips. "It seems we won't be delayed after all."
"Set course for the Seven Sky-Pillars," Ren commanded smoothly, turning back toward the bow. "It's time to see what the Upper Realm has to offer."