The collapse of the shield was the tolling of a funeral bell.

As the Invictus lay exposed, the black ships of the pirate fleet didn't hesitate. They closed the distance like starving sharks, firing boarding harpoons that bit deep into the crimson wood of the hull. Chains rattled, pulling the dark vessels flush against the titan.

"Board them! Kill the men, save the treasure!" Captain Iron Hand's voice roared over the wind.

Hundreds of pirates, hardened by a lifetime of lawless slaughter, leaped onto the deck of the Invictus. The remaining Crimson Sect disciples, exhausted and demoralized, tried to form a line, but they were cut down in a whirlwind of steel and chaotic spells.

Elder Xuan Ni stood on the elevated command deck, his breathing ragged. The internal injuries he had sustained when the lightning ancestor hurled the ship across the horizon were flared up; his meridians felt like they were filled with broken glass.

"Iron Hand!" Xuan Ni bellowed, drawing a long, crimson-jade saber. "You think a wounded lion is easy prey? Come and see!"

The pirate captain landed on the deck with a heavy thud, his metallic hand sparking. He was also at the Half-step Spiritual Sea realm, but unlike the Elder, he was at his physical peak, fueled by the scent of victory.

"You aren't a lion anymore, Xuan Ni," Iron Hand sneered, lunging forward. "You're just a corpse that hasn't realized it's dead yet."

The clash of their weapons sent shockwaves through the ship. Under normal circumstances, Xuan Ni's refined sect techniques would have overwhelmed the pirate's cruder style. But today, every time the Elder tried to circulate his energy, he coughed up a spray of dark blood. Iron Hand's metallic fist slammed into Xuan Ni's ribs, the sound of breaking bone audible even over the roar of the battle.

The massacre on the deck was absolute. Disciples who saw their Elder being pushed back lost all hope. Some, in a fit of pure desperation, threw themselves over the railing, choosing the ocean over the pirate's blades.

But the ocean was not a refuge.

As the first few disciples hit the water, the sea beneath the Invictus began to churn. Massive, dark shadows, some hundreds of meters long, rose from the abyss. Abyssal Sea Serpents and Bone-Crushing Krakens, drawn by the scent of spiritual blood, breached the surface.

A disciple screamed as a row of jagged, serrated teeth the size of shortswords clamped around his waist, dragging him under in a spray of red foam. The water around the ship became a boiling cauldron of gore.

On the bridge, the situation turned terminal. Elder Xuan Ni and Venerable Open Sky stood back-to-back, surrounded by a sea of black-clad pirates and the looming figure of Captain Iron Hand.

"You think you can take us?!" Open Sky roared, his hands trembling as he activated his final trump card. He slapped a forbidden Void-Burst Talisman onto the deck, and a wave of destructive energy rippled outward, vaporizing a dozen pirates instantly. Beside him, Xuan Ni's crimson-jade saber hummed with the last of his spiritual core's essence, decapitating the Vice-Captain of the pirate fleet in a single, desperate arc of light.

Captain Iron Hand surged forward, his metallic fist clashing against Xuan Ni's blade. The impact sent a shockwave that cracked the deck boards. Despite his wounds from the lightning humanoid earlier, Xuan Ni fought like a cornered beast, his blade carving a deep, smoking furrow across Iron Hand's chest.

"Die, you sea rat!" Xuan Ni hissed, his eyes bloodshot.

But the pirates did not fight fair.

Seeing their Captain wounded, the remaining dark ships adjusted their aim. They didn't fire at the hull; they aimed directly at the command deck. A massive, concentrated blast of spiritual energy—a "Traitor's Salvo"—tore through the air.

Xuan Ni and Open Sky had no time to react. The explosion engulfed the bridge in a blinding white sphere of heat. When the smoke cleared, the two elders were broken husks. The blast had torn away the lower half of their bodies, leaving only their mangled torsos sprawled amidst the wreckage of their pride.

Xuan Ni coughed, his life force fading into the salt spray. He looked at the sky one last time, seeing not the glory of the Crimson Sect, but the cold, indifferent eye of the pirate flag.

Deep below, the tremors of the ship's destruction shook the very foundation of Ethan's cell. The guards were long gone, fleeing for the lifeboats, leaving Ethan alone in the dark.

He remained suspended by the heavy iron hooks, his body a map of unhealed agony. The Iron Mask of Suppression continued to drive its needles into his skull, the poison keeping his mind in a state of fractured delirium.

He felt the death of his captors. Through the chaotic vibrations of the ship, he felt the spiritual resonance of Xuan Ni and Open Sky vanish.

Ethan's head hung low. He was a prisoner of a sinking tomb, his limbs shattered and his power sealed by the cruelest artifacts of the higher realms.

But in the center of his chest, beneath the layers of Void energy and scorched flesh, the Lightning Seed hummed.

Not yet, a voice whispered in the back of Ethan's mind—the echo of the ancestor or perhaps just his own iron will. The hunt hasn't ended. It's only moved to the deep.

-------------------

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??