Chapter 22: The Expedition to the Western Empyrean Sea, the Nine-Abyssal Tide, and the Sovereign’s Awakening
The starry night over Chang’an did not dissolve into chaotic panic upon the departure of Envoy Ye Chuan; rather, it settled into a sharp, focused stillness born of total confidence.
In the three days that followed the arrival of the abyssal message, the vast machinery of the newly established Central Alliance Sovereign Council operated with flawless precision. Under the sharp, meticulous administration of Su Qingyao and the extensive financial logistics overseen by Huang Yanyan and her father, the entire military infrastructure of the Seven Dynasties was consolidated. Three thousand high-grade flying warships—each reinforced with Fourth-Rank defensive formations and powered by high-grade spirit stones from the newly liberated Central spirit mines—were stationed along the western borders, forming an impenetrable defensive line managed by Crown Prince Chen Tianfeng and General Li Tiangang.
Yet, as every veteran cultivator across the continent well understood, against an ancient threat such as the Abyssal Demon Gate, massive armies of ordinary Foundation Establishment and low-tier Golden Core soldiers were merely cannon fodder. The true pillar of the world rested upon a single man.
High above the clouds, thirty thousand feet above the westernmost mountain barrier of the Central Continent, a sleek, three-hundred-foot vessel cut through the high-altitude air at blinding speed.
This was no ordinary flying warship. It was the Sovereign Void Clipper, a floating vessel forged personally by Lin Chen over forty-eight hours using a combination of Void-Star Jade, thousand-year cold-iron, and the divine spatial runes of his Nine-Crown Sovereign Soul. It moved without the deafening roar of burning spirit-liquor; instead, it glided effortlessly along the natural folds of atmospheric space, covering ten thousand miles in a single hour.
On the open upper deck of the clipper, the wind whistled sharply against the protective transparent barrier of spatial light.
Lin Chen stood at the bow, his hands casually folded behind his back. He wore a simple, elegant traveling robe of pine-green silk, trimmed with white dragon-scale embroidery along the wide sleeves. His long black hair was tied loosely with a green ribbon, fluttering gently in the high wind. His deep, galaxy-gold pupils were locked onto the endless horizon ahead, where the lush green mountain peaks of the mainland abruptly ended, yielding to a vast, dark expanse of infinite black water—the Western Empyrean Sea.
Standing beside him, Su Qingyao wore her familiar ice-blue silk robe, her Nine-Ice Sword strapped firmly across her back. Her cold, clear eyes watched the dark waters below, her slender hand gently holding the hilt of her blade.
“The spiritual atmosphere has changed,” Su Qingyao remarked softly, her voice crisp and clear against the whistling wind. “The moment we crossed the coastal mountain range, the clean elemental energy of the mainland vanished. The air here is heavy with salt, primordial water essence, and a lingering, metallic scent of ancient demonic corruption.”
Huang Yanyan stepped up to Lin Chen’s right side, leaning lightly against his arm. Her crimson dress flared against the sea breeze, and her red lace fan was tucked casually into her gold-embroidered sash. She looked at the dark, turbulent ocean beneath them with a curious, sharp glint in her crimson eyes.
“It’s not just demonic corruption, sister Qingyao,” Huang Yanyan noted, her voice carrying a soft, purring undertone. “Look at the wave patterns down there. The currents aren’t moving with the wind. They’re spiraling inward, dragged toward a massive subterranean drain thousands of miles out at sea. The pressure of the sea floor must be staggering.”
At the rear of the deck, Envoy Ye Chuan sat cross-legged atop a meditation mat of deep-sea kelp, attempting to restore her consumed origin energy. Her pale face reflected deep amazement as she looked at the young man standing at the bow.
She had expected the expedition to take at least two weeks of grueling flight through the dangerous stormy skies of the Western Barrier, fighting off sea-beasts and atmospheric tornados. Yet, aboard Lin Chen’s spatial clipper, the ferocious oceanic gales were pushed aside like mere cobwebs. In less than half a day, they had already traversed the coastal boundaries and entered the deep waters of the Empyrean Oceanic Domain!
“Sovereign Lin,” Envoy Ye Chuan spoke, rising gracefully from her mat and walking forward, her sea-green hair swaying beneath her silver shell pins. “We are approaching the Tide-Shattering Trench—the outer gateway to the Empyrean Sea Dragon Palace. Beyond this point, the sky is blocked by the Nine-Abyssal Storm Barrier, an ancient weather array that prevents flying vessels from remaining in the high atmosphere. We must submerge.”
Lin Chen did not turn his head, but a calm, amused smile touched his handsome lips.
“Submerge?” Lin Chen murmured smoothly. “There is no need to lower our vessel into the water, Envoy Ye.”
“No need?” Ye Chuan blinked her violet eyes in confusion. “Sovereign, the Nine-Abyssal Storm Barrier consists of localized spatial lightning and water-pressures exceeding thirty million jin per square inch! Even Late-Stage Nascent Soul warships are crushed if they attempt to fly through the storm upper layers!”
Lin Chen turned his head slightly, his golden pupils glowing with a serene, sovereign light.
“Then we shall simply remove the storm.”
BOOM!
Before Envoy Ye Chuan could even comprehend his words, the Sovereign Void Clipper slammed directly into the edge of the Nine-Abyssal Storm Barrier!
The sky instantly turned black as midnight! Massive waves of dark purple lightning, three hundred feet thick, roared through black storm clouds that stretched down to touch the turbulent ocean surface! The physical water pressure of the roaring winds generated violent vortexes capable of ripping low-tier Golden Core cultivators into red mist!
“CAREFUL!” Ye Chuan cried out instinctively, her hands reaching for her abyssal crystal token to activate a protective water shield.
Lin Chen slowly stepped forward, reaching the absolute tip of the clipper’s bow.
He did not raise a weapon. He did not channel a defensive spell.
He simply raised his right hand, extending his slender index finger, and pressed it lightly against the roaring, black atmospheric wall directly in front of the ship!
[System Interface Active: Sovereign Void Domain (Level 2)]
[Target: Nine-Abyssal Storm Barrier]
[Operation: Spatial Dispersal & Re-alignment]
“Clear,” Lin Chen whispered.
CLICK.
A microscopic, silver-and-gold spatial wave erupted from the tip of his finger!
It was as if an invisible, divine hand had taken hold of the five-thousand-mile black storm clouds and simply… torn them open!
WHOOSH!
In less than a tenth of a microsecond, a clean, circular tunnel of pristine, golden sunlight three miles wide was cut cleanly through the center of the black storm barrier! The dark purple spatial lightning froze, dissolved into sparkling silver dust, and vanished into the atmosphere! The terrifying wind pressures were instantly neutralized, leaving the sky around the ship as calm and smooth as a polished mirror!
The Sovereign Void Clipper glided through the three-mile sunlit tunnel effortlessly, leaving the screaming storm behind as if it were nothing more than a passing summer breeze!
Envoy Ye Chuan stood frozen on the deck, her mouth slightly open, her violet eyes wide with total, speechless disbelief!
He… he destroyed a natural ancient oceanic barrier that has stood for ten thousand years… with a single finger?!
Beside her, Su Qingyao gently tapped her shoulder with her sheath, smiling softly. “Do not be alarmed, Envoy Ye. You will get used to it.”
An hour later:
The ship arrived directly above the central sea region known as the Abyssal Dragon Trench.
Down below, the sea was no longer blue or black—it was a deep, radiant shade of shimmering violet, illuminated by massive subterranean spirit-veins beneath the oceanic crust. Floating three thousand feet below the surface of the water was a magnificent, breathtaking underwater metropolis that spanned over two hundred miles across—the Empyrean Sea Dragon Palace!
The city was enclosed within a grand, transparent dome of ancient dragon-scale glass. Inside the dome stood hundreds of soaring crystalline towers, grand coral palaces, and glowing jade avenues illuminated by thousands of floating deep-sea pearls.
However, the beauty of the underwater city was currently overshadowed by an atmosphere of intense, bloody combat!
Surrounding the outer perimeter of the dragon-scale dome were millions of hideous, black-scaled creatures with razor-sharp claws, glowing red eyes, and monstrous mouths filled with rows of jagged teeth—the Abyssal Sea Demons!
Four massive black sea-demon lords, each as tall as a mountain peak and radiating the terrifying aura of Peak Nascent Soul Masters, were continuously hammering their massive, spiked clubs against the transparent defensive dome!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Cracks three hundred feet long were spreading rapidly across the dragon-scale dome! Inside the city, hundreds of thousands of dragon-folk citizens and sea guards were screaming in panic, while the defensive formations flickered weakly!
High above the central palace tower, a stunning woman dressed in imperial dragon-scale armor of pure gold stood holding a massive trident forged from oceanic star-steel. She had shimmering silver hair, brilliant violet eyes, and a majestic dragon aura that proclaimed her identity—Palace Lord Ye Shumin, ruler of the Empyrean Sea Dragon Palace and a Peak Nascent Soul Master!
Her face was pale, blood trickled from the corner of her lips, and her golden scale armor was dented in five places. She was single-handedly holding off two of the mountain-sized sea-demon lords, but her origin energy was rapidly draining!
“Palace Lord!” a dragon commander shouted frantically from behind her. “The third array layer has failed! The Eastern Gate is breached! Envoy Ye Chuan has not returned from the mainland! If the barrier falls within the hour… our city will be butchered!”
Palace Lord Ye Shumin wiped the blood from her lip, her violet eyes flashing with unyielding, stubborn pride.
“Hold the line!” Ye Shumin shouted, her voice echoing through the cracking glass dome. “Even if the Dragon Palace falls today, we shall take three million of these demonic beasts down to the depths with us! Strike!”
She raised her star-steel trident, preparing to burn her own dragon core to unleash a final, suicidal strike!
Right at that desperate, absolute moment—
HUMMMMMM!
A divine, heavenly sound—like the ringing of a golden bell from the highest peak of the heavens—echoed through the ocean depths!
The sea water, three thousand feet deep, suddenly parted!
A three-hundred-mile column of pure, radiant golden starlight sliced straight down through the ocean, hitting the water right above the Abyssal Dragon Trench!
The millions of swarming black sea-demons, the four mountain-sized peak Nascent Soul demon lords, and the exhausted dragon guards all looked up in absolute, stunned shock!
Floating smoothly down through the parted sea water, surrounded by an impenetrable three-hundred-foot circle of dry, golden-lit space, was the Sovereign Void Clipper!
Standing at the bow of the ship, white silk robes fluttering gracefully, was Lin Chen.
“Ye Chuan,” Lin Chen spoke calmly, his magnetic voice passing effortlessly through three thousand feet of water and dragon-scale glass, echoing directly inside the mind of Palace Lord Ye Shumin. “Is that your palace lord?”
Envoy Ye Chuan stepped forward to the bow, bowing deeply. “Yes, Sovereign Lin! That is Palace Lord Ye Shumin!”
“Good,” Lin Chen nodded slowly.
He stepped off the bow of the ship, taking a single step into the open ocean water!
BOOM!
The moment his foot touched the sea, he did not sink. He did not get wet.
A three-mile wide, golden-and-silver spatial domain expanded from beneath his boots, forcing millions of gallons of heavy sea water to instantly retreat three miles in every direction, creating an absolute dry vacuum domain in the middle of the ocean floor!
One of the mountain-sized peak Nascent Soul demon lords—a hideous, eight-armed sea demon covered in barbed black scales—turned its bloody red eyes toward Lin Chen, letting out a deafening, psychotic roar!
“HUMAN BRAT! DARE TO INTERFERE WITH THE ABYSSAL LORDS?! DIE!”
The eight-armed demon lord slammed its four massive spiked clubs down toward Lin Chen’s head with enough force to shatter a continent’s continental shelf!
Lin Chen didn’t even look at the descending monster.
He simply reached into his green tunic sleeve, casually withdrawing his left hand, and performed a single, downward wrist flick!
“Extinguish,” Lin Chen whispered.
BANG!
A single thread of silver spatial aura, thinner than a strand of silk, shot forward!
It passed through the four spiked clubs, passed through the mountain-sized demon lord’s body, and extended three miles behind it!
PAUSE.
The eight-armed peak Nascent Soul demon lord froze mid-strike.
In the next microsecond, its four massive weapons, its indestructible barbed scales, its massive head, and its entire peak Nascent Soul body… silently split into two perfectly clean halves!
BOOM!
The two halves of the mountain-sized demon lord collapsed into black dust before they even touched the ocean floor, its Nascent Soul completely obliterated before it could even attempt to escape!
Silence!
The entire underwater battlefield—millions of sea demons, thousands of dragon guards, and Palace Lord Ye Shumin herself—went dead, horrifyingly quiet!
A Peak Nascent Soul Demon Lord! Killed in one second… by a casual flick of a young man’s wrist!
Lin Chen slowly turned his golden-and-silver eyes toward the remaining three mountain-sized demon lords, his calm, magnetic smile unchanged.
“Now then…” Lin Chen spoke softly, his voice echoing through the ocean depths like the decree of a god. “…who among you wishes to try next?”
[End of Chapter 22]
