The sky above the Eastern Central Domain ceased to exist.
Blue folded inward. Light twisted. Gravity screamed.
What replaced it was not a storm, but a vortex—a colossal knot of spatial distortion where distance, mass, and direction no longer agreed on their meaning.
At the heart of it hovered the Black Dragon Fortress.
It no longer looked like a ship.
It looked like a singularity wearing armor.
Inside the command bridge, Su Chen sat on his throne, fingers tapping the armrest in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
"Babata," he said. "Initiate the final stage of World Fusion. Integrate the Celestial Islands."
The red-haired AI appeared, posture formal for once.
"Acknowledged, Master. Warning: target terrain mass exceeds five hundred million tons. Internal dimensional expansion will reach small-continent scale. Energy draw will spike to ninety percent capacity."
"I have a Spirit Stone Vein," Su Chen replied evenly. "Burn it."
There was a pause.
"Executing."
Outside, reality began to scream.
The floating mountains of the Celestial Palace—those elegant peaks chained to the sky by runic iron—did not collapse. They translated. Matter unraveled into streams of golden data and light, flowing like reversed waterfalls toward the hull of the fortress.
Palaces, bridges, waterfalls that defied gravity—everything was stripped of physicality and devoured.
The ship groaned.
Deep within its core, the Dungeon Heart pulsed violently, expanding the internal pocket dimension again and again until the laws stabilised.
Inside the fortress, corridors stretched.
A new door manifested mid-hallway.
SECTOR: EAST
Su Chen opened it.
Beyond wasn't a room.
It was a world.
An artificial sky arched overhead. Floating islands drifted in controlled orbits. Water cycled endlessly through invisible systems. Spirit Qi was so dense it condensed into pale mist that clung to the air like breath on glass.
Albedo stepped in behind him, eyes widening despite herself.
"Nazarick has floors," she admitted. "But this… this is not architecture. This is abduction. You carry a kingdom inside your hull."
"It's not decorative," Su Chen said. "This is infrastructure."
He pointed toward the largest island, where the former Celestial Palace now rested intact.
"That's our residence. The truck cabin was getting old."
The Surgery of the Sword Saint
Before the jump, there was one task left unfinished.
The medical bay—now a full hospital wing—was silent.
Saeko Busujima lay on the operating table, body covered by a sterile sheet. She wasn't tense. She wasn't afraid. Her breathing was steady, eyes fixed calmly on the ceiling.
On a tray beside her rested the Supreme Sword Bone.
A fragment of sternum etched with natural Dao markings. It hummed softly, its presence sharpening the air itself.
"This belonged to the Child of Heaven," Su Chen said, igniting Lich Fire across his hands. "It carries the fundamental law of the Sword."
He looked at Saeko.
"Your Blood Asura talent gives you infinite killing intent. But intent alone is brute force. This will give you alignment."
Shizuka clasped her hands nervously. "Will it hurt?"
"Yes," Saeko answered without hesitation.
She turned her head slightly toward Su Chen, eyes unwavering.
"Pain is information. Use it. Make me sharp."
Su Chen nodded.
No scalpel.
No incision.
Reality parted under his will.
[Flesh Manipulation] layered with [Mosaic Organ Authority].
Saeko's chest opened. Her sternum was removed. The Sword Bone slid into place.
CLANG.
The sound echoed through the entire fortress like a blade being drawn across heaven itself.
Saeko arched violently, a silent scream tearing through her as her blood turned silver. Sword Qi erupted outward, slicing medical equipment apart like paper.
"Hold," Su Chen commanded, palm pressed to her heart.
[Mind Authority: Stabilize.]
"Accept it," he said calmly. "You are not the blade. You are the sheath."
Her body trembled—then stilled.
Her eyes snapped open.
Her pupils were no longer round.
They were vertical slits, thin and lethal.
The violent aura settled into something colder. Sharper. Controlled.
[Evolution Complete]
Saeko Busujima → Sword Saint of the Blood Asura
Talent Acquired: Supreme Sword Intent (Innate)
Potential: SSS (Valkyrie-Class)
Saeko sat up slowly.
She extended one finger.
Schwing.
The air split.
A black vacuum line lingered for several seconds before sealing.
"I see it," she whispered. "Everything has seams."
"Good," Su Chen said, patting her shoulder. "Get dressed. We're leaving."
The Gate of the Perfect World
The fortress hovered before the ancient Gate left behind by Lin Feng's failed ascension.
This one wasn't unstable.
It was heavy.
Pressure radiated from it so intensely the Spirit-Fusion Drive stuttered.
"Analysis," Su Chen ordered.
Babata's usual levity was gone.
"Unknown energy framework. Physical laws on the other side are extremely dense. Estimated gravity: five hundred times Earth standard. Atmospheric pressure exceeds deep-sea thresholds."
Jiang Rou swallowed. "That would crush me flat."
"Stay inside," Su Chen said. "No one disembarks until I confirm survivability."
He looked at the Gate.
"This is the Perfect World. A place where blood can shatter mountains and grass can sever suns."
He smiled faintly.
"We are not apex predators there."
"Engage."
The fortress surged forward.
Reality folded.
The Great Wilderness
The transition was not gentle.
The ship was thrown out of the Gate.
A vast, savage sky stretched overhead. The sun burned enormous and merciless, ten times the size of Earth's, its light heavy enough to feel physical.
Below, mountains stabbed upward, some reaching heights that defied imagination.
The fortress creaked.
Five hundred times gravity slammed down.
Anti-gravity engines howled as Spirit Stones were burned by the thousands.
"Stabilize!" Saya shouted.
The ship halted just above treetops—trees that were actually ancient vines thick as highways.
Then—
ROAR.
A shockwave rippled through the air.
On the horizon, a Suan Ni the size of a mountain clashed with a Golden-Winged Peng. The impact erased a mountain range like chalk on stone.
Su Chen wiped sweat from his brow.
"Random wildlife," he muttered. "Planetary-tier."
Esdeath stared through the viewport, eyes wide.
"The mana… it's solid."
"Primordial Qi," Su Chen said. "Wild. Unrefined. Absorb too much and you explode."
He scanned outward with [Mind Authority].
His range was brutally suppressed—barely a hundred kilometers.
"There," he said. "A village. Weak barrier."
Albedo scoffed. "Primitives?"
"No," Su Chen replied, standing.
"They're guarding something that terrifies gods."
The Willow at the End of the World
Stone Village sat quietly in a valley, surrounded by monsters that could erase cities.
Primitive huts. Bone weapons. Children strong enough to lift boulders.
At its entrance stood a tree.
Charred. Blackened. Struck by heavenly lightning.
Only a single green branch remained, glowing softly.
[Target Identified: Liu Shen — Willow Deity]
Former Rank: Immortal King
Status: Nirvana Rebirth (Critical)
"There," Su Chen whispered. "The strongest guardian this world has ever known."
Serana frowned. "That dead tree?"
"That 'tree' ruled the Nine Heavens."
Su Chen descended alone.
Gravity crushed him.
His bones creaked.
Then adapted.
Hulk genes reinforced structure. Dragon blood stabilized pressure.
He landed.
The village stirred.
An ancient consciousness brushed his mind.
"You carry the scent of many worlds," a voice echoed. "And the seed of my kin."
Su Chen bowed.
"I come to trade."
Dragon Heart Blood.
Spirit-Fusion Crystal.
The branch glowed brighter.
A second bud formed.
"You may stay," Liu Shen said. "But the Wilderness shows no mercy."
"I don't plan on dying."
The Reset
That night, Su Chen sat alone.
[Current Cultivation: Star Traveler (Flawed)]
[Target: Moving Blood Realm — Perfect]
He shattered his own foundation.
Not destroyed.
Compressed.
Power dissolved into blood.
His heart thundered.
Runes ignited.
"Moving Blood Realm," Su Chen whispered.
"With this body…"
He smiled.
"I'm aiming higher."
The Wilderness had no idea what had just arrived.