Chương 31: Life and Death

The hull of the ship became a chaotic battlefield as the green-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators swarmed onto the vessel's decks and roof. The sound of clashing weapons and explosive qi techniques echoed through the air as the cultivation passengers fought desperately to repel the green robed men. Lord Marcus moved like a dancer of death, his sword work fluid and precise as he engaged three attackers simultaneously.

His blade sang through the air, leaving trails of golden qi as he parried strikes and countered with devastating ripostes. One green-robed cultivator lunged at him with a bone spear crackling with death qi, only to find himself stumbling forward as Marcus sidestepped with inhuman grace, his sword taking the man's head in a single clean stroke.

"Marcus, left flank!" Lady Elena called out, her lightning-wreathed spear spinning in deadly arcs as she held off four attackers on the ships roof. Lightning qi danced along her weapon's length, each thrust sending crackling bolts that forced her enemies to maintain distance. When one tried to close in, she planted the spear's butt against the deck and vaulted over it, her feet connecting with the cultivator's chest in a qi-enhanced kick that sent him screaming off the ship's edge.

The siblings fought with the polished skill of imperial court training, covering each other's flanks and moving in practiced coordination that spoke of years fighting together. Their techniques were elegant and efficient, wasting no motion as they carved through their attackers. But Lia was struggling. Her water serpent technique coiled around her in protective spirals, the liquid water and qi forming a defensive barrier that deflected incoming attacks.

A bone dagger struck the water and dissolved harmlessly; a death qi blast dissipated against the serpent's flowing form. But the technique was slow—designed for patient defense rather than active combat.

"Too slow!" snarled a green-robed cultivator as he feinted left, then struck right with a qi-poisoned blade. Lia's water serpent moved to intercept, but the attack was faster, the blade slicing across her shoulder and sending burning poison through her meridians. She stumbled backward, gasping as the corrupted qi tried to spread through her system. The shadow leech on her chest pulsed, seeming to absorb some of the poison, but she was clearly outmatched by her attacker's speed and experience.

Two more Corpse Cleansing cultivators landed behind her first opponent, their eyes gleaming with malicious anticipation as they saw her struggling. One raised a Human skull bone club wreathed in sickly green flames while the other began forming a death qi lance. That's when Lia felt it, a new presence materializing directly behind her, silent as a shadow and radiating killing intent. Her instincts screamed danger as she sensed rather than saw the attack coming.

Without conscious thought, Lia channeled qi into her staff. The weapon blazed with power as the shadow leech seemed to guide her movements, its alien understanding of spatial displacement flowing through their connection. She activated the Void Strider Steps stepping backwards though the void instead of forward. Reality seemed to blur for an instant as she stepped through the grey mist of the void, appearing directly behind her would-be assassin just as her staff completed its charge.

The man—clearly a higher-level Foundation Establishment expert—was still in the middle of his surprise attack, a wicked curved dagger extending toward where she had been standing. Lia's staff erupted with devastating force. With her massive qi reserves, amplified by the weapon's enhancement properties, condensed into a single qi infused ice spear. The projectile shot out a meter long and thick as her arm, its surface so densely packed with qi that it seemed more qi than ice.

The ice spear punched through the assassin's back with the force of a cannon shot, emerging from his chest in an explosion of crystalline fragments and frozen blood. The man's eyes went wide with shock as he looked down at the massive hole where his heart had been, ice already spreading through his meridians as Lia's qi invaded his system. He toppled forward without a word, dead before he hit the deck.

The other cultivators who had been advancing on her stopped in their tracks, staring in disbelief at their fallen comrade.

"Level 1 Foundation Establishment my ass," one of them muttered, taking an involuntary step backward. Lia stood over the assassin's corpse, her staff still crackling with residual energy and her purple eyes blazing with fury.

"Who's next?" she asked quietly, her voice carrying the cold promise of violence. The three remaining attackers exchanged uncertain glances. Blood was dripping down Lia's arm and she was breathing heavily. While she still had enormous amounts of qi, she was too slow and outmatched. More assassins joined the fray, their green robes billowing as they landed on the ship's hull with predatory grace.

Tim had been explaining the situation to Riku as they sat in his apartment, both of them watching through Lia's eyes as the battle unfolded.

"Shit," Riku said, her face pale with worry.

"Hold on, I'm coming to help." Varek was close on his flying sword, having made better time than expected.

"Another 10 minutes and I can reach you," she said through gritted teeth, pushing the Flying sword to its maximum speed.

"That's too long," Tim muttered, feeling Lia's exhaustion and the burning poison spreading through her shoulder. In the cultivation world, Lia felt the shadow leech on her chest pulsing with increasing agitation. It was tugging at her consciousness, radiating hunger and... protectiveness? The creature seemed to sense her danger and was practically vibrating with the desire to act. She looked down at the writhing shadow tattoo on her chest, then at her water serpent coiling defensively around her.

An insane idea formed in her mind.

"You want to help?" she whispered to the leech.

"Then show me what you can really do." Lia pushed the shadow leech into her water serpent technique, feeling the parasitic creature flow like liquid darkness into the watery serpent qi construct. She opened her qi reserves completely, feeding the leech as much power as it wanted, letting it drink deeply from her massive dantian. Stolen story; please report.

"Protect me," she commanded, placing her trust entirely in the alien intelligence that had chosen to bond with her. The water serpent transformed. What had been clear, flowing water suddenly became something else entirely—a hybrid creature of flowing water, liquid qi and living shadow. The serpent's form writhed and shifted, growing larger and more aggressive as the leech's predatory instincts merged with Lia's defensive technique.

Dark tendrils extended from the water serpents body like grasping claws, and its movements became lightning-fast instead of the sluggish defense it had been before. The approaching Corpse Cleansing cultivators hesitated, sensing that something fundamental had changed about their target's technique. The shadow-infused water serpent struck first. It moved with impossible speed, lashing out at the nearest attacker with tendrils that seemed to exist partially in the shadow realm.

The man tried to dodge, but the creature's appendages passed through his defensive qi like it wasn't there, wrapping around his throat and arms. Where the shadow-water touched his skin, his life force began to drain visibly, his face growing pale as the leech's feeding instincts took over.

"What the hell is that thing?" one of the other assassins shouted, backing away as the hybrid creature tossed their comrade's rapidly weakening body aside. The shadow serpent coiled around Lia protectively, its form constantly shifting between liquid and shadow. When the next attacker launched a bone spear at her, the creature simply phased the weapon into the shadow realm where it then fell on the deck as a shadow.

Lia stood in the center of the chaos, her purple eyes wide with amazement as she watched her technique—no, her partner—defend her with terrifying efficiency. The leech had transformed her defensive water serpent into something that belonged in nightmares, a creature that could phase between dimensions and drain life force with every touch. For the first time since the battle began, she felt like she might actually survive this. The shadow-infused water serpent was consuming ridiculous amounts of qi though.

Lia could feel her massive reserves draining at an alarming rate as the leech gorged itself on her power, using it to fuel its terrifying hybrid form.

"Just maybe it will be enough," she thought desperately, watching as her qi levels dropped faster than they ever had before. Across the ship's hull, the battle had become a brutal melee of Foundation Establishment cultivators, with bodies from both sides littering the deck in growing pools of blood. Near the bow, Marcus had carved through six green-robed attackers, his sword work a masterpiece of deadly precision.

But the effort was taking its toll—his usually pristine court robes were torn and bloodstained, and a nasty gash across his ribs leaked crimson where a bone dagger had found its mark. He stood over the corpses of his enemies, chest heaving as he faced off against two fresh attackers who had just landed.

"Is that all the Imperial Palace can offer?" one of the Corpse Cleansing cultivators taunted, his own robes singed from Marcus's qi techniques.

"Pretty sword work, but where's the killing power?" Marcus's response was to blur forward with inhuman speed, his blade finding the gap in the man's defenses and opening his throat in a spray of arterial blood. The second attacker tried to capitalize on the opening, but Marcus spun with fluid grace, his sword severing the man's weapon hand at the wrist. At the stern, Elena was holding her own against overwhelming odds, but barely.

Lightning crackled around her spear as she fought a desperate defensive action against four remaining attackers. Two green-robed corpses lay at her feet, their bodies charred and smoking from her electrical techniques, but she was bleeding from multiple wounds and her qi was running low.

"Sister i am coming!" Marcus called out, noting Elena's deteriorating situation, but he was immediately forced to dodge as another wave of Corpse Cleansing reinforcements landed on the deck between them. The ship's own defenders, the Foundation Establishment passengers who had chosen to fight were faring worse. A young foundation cultivator who had tried to help Elena lay motionless near the port railing, his body drained to a withered husk by death qi poisoning.

Another defender, an independent cultivator in simple brown robes, was locked in a losing battle against a Corpse Cleansing expert whose bone armor seemed to absorb every attack.

"Chen's holding his own up there," Elena gasped between parries, glancing up at the aerial battle where silver and green lights continued to clash, "but we can't keep this up much longer!" Bodies continued to fall on both sides. The deck was slick with blood and scorched from countless qi techniques. Bone weapons lay shattered beside severed limbs, and the acrid smell of death qi mixed with the metallic tang of spilled blood created a nauseating fog that hung over the entire battle.

Despite their skill and determination, the defenders were slowly being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. For every Corpse Cleansing cultivator they killed, two more seemed to take their place. That's when Lia's shadow serpent struck. The hybrid creature suddenly expanded its range, its shadowy tendrils reaching across the deck to grasp a green-robed attacker who had been pressing Elena hard.

The man screamed as the shadow-water wrapped around him, his life force visibly draining as the leech's feeding instincts took over. Within seconds, he collapsed as a desiccated corpse.

"What in the void is that thing?" Elena breathed, staring at the writhing mass of darkness and liquid qi that had just saved her life. Marcus used the distraction to finish off his own opponents, then rushed to his sister's side.

"Whatever it is, it's on our side," he panted.

"Miss Lia's technique, I think." But Lia herself was swaying on her feet, her face pale as the shadow serpent continued to gorge on her qi reserves. The technique was devastatingly effective, but it was burning through her power faster than she could sustain. Even with her massive dantian, she could feel the bottom approaching.

"Can't... keep this up... much longer," she gasped, watching as her qi levels plummeted toward critical levels. The shadow serpent seemed to sense its host's distress and began to contract slightly, reducing its area of effect to conserve power. But even that might not be enough. There were still so many enemies, and Lia's reserves were nearly exhausted. Through a massive effort, they managed to defeat the last of the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Bodies littered the ship's deck, green robes mixed with the blood of defenders in a grisly testament to the brutal battle. Marcus and Elena stood back-to-back, both wounded and exhausted, while Lia swayed dangerously as her shadow serpent finally dissipated, her qi reserves nearly depleted. But their victory was short-lived. High above, Golden Core Chen crashed onto the ship's deck with bone-jarring force, his usually pristine robes torn and bloodied.

The Golden Core cultivator's qi flickered weakly around his form as he struggled to rise, a massive gash across his chest leaking spiritual energy along with blood.

"Chen!" Elena cried out, but the older cultivator could barely lift his head. Zhao Venom descended slowly from the sky like a harbinger of death, his green robes billowing around his tall frame. The Corpse Cleansing Sect elder was wounded too. One arm hung useless at his side, and sickly green blood dripped from multiple cuts, but his eyes burned with malicious triumph. His gaze fixed on Lia with predatory hunger.

"I will Teach you to steal from us Bitch." He sprayed spit out as he snarled. Lia tried to raise her staff, but her arms felt like lead. Her massive qi reserves were completely drained from feeding the shadow leech, leaving her defenseless against a Golden Core expert. The shadow serpent was gone, and she barely had enough energy to stand. Zhao Venom raised his hand, death qi funneling into a spear of concentrated corruption aimed directly at her heart.

"Time to collect what belongs to my sect." Just as he was about to strike, the sky above them erupted in a thunderous sound. A streak of crimson fire tore through the air at impossible speed, moving so fast it created a sonic boom that shattered windows across the ship's hull. To Lia's tired eyes, it looked like a meteor of pure flame racing toward them. It was beautiful and terrifying in its raw power. The flaming projectile formed into a figure riding a sword.

It was young man in flowing desert robes, standing on a sword that blazed with fire-attributed qi. His hair whipped in the wind of his passage, and his handsome features were set into a scowl of fury.

"NOBODY TOUCHES MY WOMAN!" Varek's voice boomed across the battlefield as he struck.