The wide, roaring currents of the Silver-Stream River slowly expanded into the boundless, shimmering blue expanse of the Eastern Sea Delta.
Here, the fresh river waters met the salty tides of the vast ocean, forming a grand estuary covered in sea fog and lined with towering wooden lighthouses and high stone sea-walls. Hundreds of massive sea-faring vessels, iron-clad warships, and long-distance merchant barges moved across the bay, their sails unfurled against the clear blue sky.
The Eastern-Gull Express slowly glided into the main deep-water dock of Dragon-Wharf Port—the primary coastal metropolis bridging the Central Plains with the maritime empires of the Eastern Sea Realm.
On the third-deck balcony of the barge, Li-Wen stood perfectly still.
His heavy leather boots made no sound against the polished cedar floorboards. His dark traveler's coat, unbuttoned at the chest, fluttered gently in the fresh, salty ocean breeze. Across his broad back, the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade rested quietly in its iron scabbard, its dark steel unadorned, radiating an absolute, invisible density that kept the surrounding sea mist from condensing on his shoulders. His short hair, heavily streaked with pure snow-white roots, fluttered in the sea draft.
In his left arm, he held little Xiao-Yue securely against his broad chest.
The small girl was wrapped in her clean, white sheepskin coat, her dark eyes wide with unbridled excitement as she stared at the vast, endless blue horizon of the ocean. In her small, gloved hands, she held her pink lotus lantern. The silver framework, bearing its faint hairline crack, shone softly under the bright morning sun, while its central lotus flower emitted a warm, steady ruby glow that kept the chilly ocean breeze away from her small face.
"Brother Li-Wen! Look! Look!" Xiao-Yue squeaked softly, her clear voice full of pure joy as she pointed toward a pod of white sea-dolphins leaping out of the blue waves near the bow of the ship. "The water is so big! It doesn't have any mountains on the other side!"
"That is the Eastern Sea, Xiao-Yue," Li-Wen murmured, his deep, raspy voice flat, calm, and steady. "It goes on for thousands of miles."
"Does the ocean have sweet honey oat cakes too?" She asked eagerly, looking up into his stern, iron-carved face.
"The ocean has sweet sea-sugar cakes and fried fish rolls," Li-Wen replied softly, his broad, calloused hand lightly adjusting her sheepskin collar to protect her neck from the sea spray.
"Yay! I want fish rolls!" She giggled, hugging her pink lotus lantern close to her chest.
Behind them, Captain Lin slowly walked up the wooden stairs of the third deck. The grey-bearded captain bowed his head with profound, quiet reverence, keeping a respectful ten-pace distance from the broad-shouldered man.
"My lord," Captain Lin said humbly, his voice low and steady. "We have reached Dragon-Wharf Port. This is as far east as the river barge can travel. If you wish to travel further into the Eastern Sea Realm, you will need an ocean-going passage token from the Dragon-Wharf Alliance."
Li-Wen slowly turned his dark, void-like eyes toward Captain Lin, offering a brief, polite nod.
"Thank you for the passage, Captain," Li-Wen said flatly.
"It was an honor to serve you, Northern Sovereign," Captain Lin replied, bowing even deeper. "May the sea winds be forever calm beneath your feet."
Li-Wen stepped off the wooden gangplank onto the bustling stone pier of Dragon-Wharf Port.
CRUNCH... CRUNCH... CRUNCH...
His heavy leather boots clicked rhythmically against the damp, salt-encrusted granite cobblestones.
The port city was immense, built across three massive coastal hills. Tens of thousands of sailors, sea-merchants, wandering cultivators, and coastal guards crowded the wide stone avenues. The air was thick with the scent of roasted sea-fish, boiling herbs, ocean salt, and wet pine wood.
As Li-Wen walked down the main pier carrying little Xiao-Yue, the crowd of sailors and merchants naturally parted ways. Though the ordinary folks did not recognize his face, his sheer, unyielding physical presence—his white-streaked hair, his frost-dusted traveler's coat, and the massive, pitch-black heavy blade on his back—instantly signaled to every experienced cultivator in the area that this was an entity of supreme, terrifying power.
"Brother Li-Wen! That shop smells so good!" Xiao-Yue pointed her small finger toward a large, bustling open-air eatery near the harbor square, where fresh white sea-fish rolls were being fried in large brass cauldrons of sesame oil.
"We will eat there," Li-Wen said.
They walked up to a sturdy wooden table near the edge of the eatery overlooking the harbor bay. Li-Wen placed his two warm wooden boxes of oat cakes on the table and carefully set Xiao-Yue down onto the wooden bench.
"Welcome, noble sir!" The eatery master, a jovial, fat man with a white apron, hurried over, bowing respectfully. "What can I fetch for the young lady and the master today?"
"Four plates of fried fish rolls," Li-Wen said flatly, placing two silver coins onto the table. "And a pot of hot sweet-barley tea."
"Right away, sir!" The vendor picked up the silver and rushed back to the brass cauldrons.
Xiao-Yue rested her chin on her small hands, her dark eyes sparkling as she watched the steaming plates being prepared. Beside her, the pink lotus lantern sat on the wooden table, its warm ruby light casting a comforting, tranquil glow over their meals.
However, while Xiao-Yue was happily munching on her first fried fish roll, the peaceful atmosphere of the harbor square was suddenly broken by a commotion near the main dock gates!
"GET OUT OF THE WAY! THE THIRD PRINCE OF THE DRAGON-SECT IS ARRIVING!"
A group of thirty heavily armored sea-guards wearing golden scale mail and carrying heavy trident spears marched arrogantly down the pier, violently shoving aside local merchants and knocking over fish crates!
At the center of the guard formation was a tall, handsome young man dressed in luxurious blue-and-gold silk robes—Third Prince Ao-Tian of the Eastern Dragon-Sea Sect, the ruling power that controlled Dragon-Wharf Port and the maritime trade routes of the Eastern Sea!
Prince Ao-Tian was a Stage-5 High Sovereign, his posture brimming with absolute, unchecked arrogance. Beside him walked an old, withered man dressed in dark gray robes—Elder Sea-Ghost, a formidable Stage-6 Early-Grade Sovereign who served as the prince's personal protector!
"Prince Ao-Tian," Elder Sea-Ghost whispered in a low, raspy voice as they walked through the market square. "The report from our spy network in the Western Province has been confirmed. The four major ruler sects of the West... have been completely wiped out."
Prince Ao-Tian paused, his eyebrows furrowing in disgust and disbelief. "Wiped out?! By whom?! The Imperial Court of the Central Realm?!"
"No, Your Highness," Elder Sea-Ghost replied, his cold eyes scanning the harbor with deep unease. "It was done by a single man—a wandering monster called the Northern Sovereign. He drew his heavy blade nine inches and shattered Gold-Sovereign City. The central guilds have issued a continental blackout order. He is said to be traveling east with a small girl holding a pink lantern."
"Nonsense!" Prince Ao-Tian sneered arrogantly, fanning himself with a golden jade fan. "The Western Continent cultivators are soft weaklings! How could a single man erase three Stage-6 Sovereigns?! If this Northern Sovereign dares to step into our Eastern Sea Realm, my Dragon-Sea Sect's ancient Ocean-Dragon Array will turn him into fish bait!"
As Prince Ao-Tian spoke, his eyes casually scanned the harbor eatery near the pier... and suddenly stopped!
His gaze locked onto the quiet corner table near the sea-wall.
He saw the broad-shouldered man in the frost-dusted traveler's coat.
He saw the short hair streaked with pure, snow-white roots.
He saw the massive, pitch-black heavy blade resting across his broad back.
And right beside the man, sitting on the wooden bench, was a sweet little girl in a white sheepskin coat, holding a fried fish roll in one hand... and a glowing pink lotus lantern on the table!
STIFF.
Elder Sea-Ghost, standing beside Prince Ao-Tian, froze mid-step!
His Stage-6 spiritual perception—far more sensitive than the arrogant prince's—instantly detected the terrifying physical reality of the man sitting at that corner table.
It was not a wave of spiritual Qi. It was an absolute, cosmic physical mass—a dense, bone-snapping kinetic vacuum that absorbed every grain of heat, sound, and spatial movement within fifty paces of his seat! The entire harbor bay behind the man seemed to groan under the sheer, microscopic gravitational weight of his unsealed primordial marrow!
Elder Sea-Ghost's face flushed completely white, cold sweat bursting from every pore on his forehead! His knees began to tremble violently inside his dark robes!
"E-Elder Sea-Ghost...?" Prince Ao-Tian noticed his protector's sudden terror, frowning in confusion. "What is wrong with you?!"
Before Elder Sea-Ghost could answer, Prince Ao-Tian's eyes fell upon the pink lotus lantern resting on the wooden table.
"Wait..." Prince Ao-Tian's eyes lit up with sudden, foolish greed! As a Stage-5 cultivator who specialized in aquatic spirit artifacts, he recognized the pure, ancient spirit-marrow radiating from the pink lotus flower instantly! "That lantern... it's a Supreme-Grade Ancient Spirit Artifact!"
"YOUR HIGHNESS, NO! DO NOT—" Elder Sea-Ghost shrieked in sudden, desperate horror, reaching out to grab the prince's shoulder!
It was too late.
Driven by his lifelong arrogance and greed, Prince Ao-Tian pushed Elder Sea-Ghost's hand away and stepped arrogantly toward the corner table!
"Hey! You there, traveler!" Prince Ao-Tian barked loudly, slamming his golden jade fan onto the wooden table right beside Xiao-Yue's plate! "That pink lantern on your table is a contraband spirit artifact under the maritime laws of the Dragon-Sea Sect! Hand it over to the court immediately, or face arrest!"
The thirty golden scale guards immediately surrounded the eatery table, their heavy trident spears pointing straight toward Li-Wen's back!
The surrounding harbor square fell into a dead, suffocating silence. The local merchants and sailors gasped in terror, quickly backing away fifty paces!
Xiao-Yue stopped eating her fish roll. Her small hands instinctively pulled her pink lotus lantern close to her chest, her dark eyes looking up at the arrogant prince with a hint of timid unease. "Brother Li-Wen... the bad golden man wants to take my lamp again..."
Li-Wen slowly set his tea cup back down onto the wooden table.
He did not turn his head to look at Prince Ao-Tian. He did not draw the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade from his back.
His dark, void-like pupils remained flat, calm, and undisturbed as he reached out his broad, calloused hand to gently pat Xiao-Yue's small head.
"No one is taking your lamp, Xiao-Yue," Li-Wen murmured, his deep, raspy voice flat, steady, and terrifyingly quiet.
He slowly turned his face toward Prince Ao-Tian.
The moment Li-Wen's pitch-black abyssal eyes locked onto the prince, the ambient temperature of the coastal harbor dropped by two hundred degrees in a single microsecond!
The bubbling ocean waves along the pier snap-froze into solid, pale-blue glass! The steam rising from the brass cauldrons turned into brittle ice crystals mid-air, falling to the floor like frozen rain!
"W-WHAT?!" Prince Ao-Tian gasped, his arrogant smile vanishing instantly as an absolute, bone-crushing physical weight slammed onto his broad shoulders! His Stage-5 Sovereign energy collapsed like paper under a mountain!
"SENIOR! SPARE THE PRINCE!" Elder Sea-Ghost shrieked in pure, hysterical desperation, throwing himself onto both knees right on the frozen cobblestones, slamming his head repeatedly until his forehead split open! "HE IS YOUNG AND FOOLISH! WE OFFEER OUR DEEPEST APOLOGIES! THE DRAGON-SEA SECT WILL GIVE YOU OUR LARGEST OCEAN WARSHIP! PLEASE SPARE HIS LIFE!"
The thirty golden scale guards instantly dropped their trident spears, falling to their knees in paralyzed, trembling horror, their scale mail rattling loudly against the ice!
Prince Ao-Tian stood frozen, his eyes wide with unspeakable, hysterical terror as he finally realized who was sitting before him!
This was the monster who had erased three Stage-6 Sovereigns and an entire imperial capital in three days!
Li-Wen looked at Prince Ao-Tian's pale, trembling face.
He did not strike with his heavy blade. He did not execute a destructive physical punch.
He simply raised his left index finger and lightly tapped the edge of the wooden table.
TAP.
A microscopic ripple of absolute-zero sapphire kinetic energy traveled up Prince Ao-Tian's golden jade fan resting on the table.
CRACKLE—!
In less than a microsecond, the golden jade fan snap-froze into pale-blue glass, before disintegrating into fine frost-dust! The pale-blue frost expanded instantly, wrapping around Prince Ao-Tian's right hand, freezing his fingers solid!
"AHHHHHHH—!" Prince Ao-Tian screamed in pure agony, stumbling backward five steps, clutching his snap-frozen, shattered right hand!
"The next time your hand touches her table," Li-Wen said softly, his deep, raspy voice carrying an absolute, unyielding coldness that cut through the ocean air, "your head will follow."
"YES! YES! THANK YOU FOR YOUR MERCY, SENIOR!" Elder Sea-Ghost shrieked, grabbing the screaming Prince Ao-Tian by his collar and dragging him backward in frantic, pathetic panic, while the thirty guards scrambled away on their hands and knees!
In less than ten seconds, the entire golden patrol had vanished from the pier, leaving behind only the shattered frost-dust of the golden fan.
The quiet serene atmosphere returned to the harbor eatery.
The frozen sea water along the pier slowly thawed under the gentle warmth radiating from the pink lotus lantern on the table.
Li-Wen picked up a warm, fried fish roll with his broad fingers, placing it gently onto Xiao-Yue's plate.
"Eat your food, Xiao-Yue," Li-Wen murmured, his raspy voice dropping into its gentle, quiet tone. "It is getting cold."
"Okay, Brother Li-Wen!" Xiao-Yue squeaked sweetly, taking a big, happy bite of her fish roll. "Mmm! This one is super crispy!"
Li-Wen sat quietly on his wooden bench, taking a small sip of his warm sweet-barley tea.
His pitch-black, abyssal eyes looked out across the vast, blue expanse of the Eastern Sea. The path ahead was long, and the uncharted waters of the maritime realm awaited them. But beside him, the pink lotus lantern burned bright and warm, illuminating the steady, unyielding path of the Northern Sovereign as they stepped into the boundless horizons beyond.
See you in next chapter...