“Bidding begins at 100,000 spirit stones!” The auctioneer didn’t have to shout, the words carried just fine to everyone within.

  Hearing the price Yu Chen’s eyebrows rose so high they nearly disappeared.

  What sort of sum was that? It was more than enough to outfit an entire fleet of spirit vessels! What shocked him even more was the number of boxes that lit up all around, glowing a bright green.

  Yu Chen barely had time to ride the high of his newfound wealth before being dropped back into reality. What were a few thousand spirit stones when a powerhouse threw out a sum so easily?

  “Do I hear 150,000?!” The auctioneer yelled, holding the box up high. Even he had to shrink back from the aura it emitted. What sort of power was contained in the fragment of a True Domain? If what Xiao Huang had said was true, then what the auctioneer held in his hand was a piece of crystallized power from someone two entire stages above a Golden Core cultivator.

  It was no wonder the Auction was bidding with such a frenzy.

  An uneasy feeling washed over Yu Chen as he watched a few of the cultivators around the auctioneer shift in place, frowning as they stared towards the ceiling. Even the auctioneer himself seemed to notice, suddenly stopping as he looked at a nearby cultivator in fear.

  Yu Chen exchanged a glance with Yan Ziqi.

  “Perhaps it’s time to go?” The artificer suggested.

  Yu Chen agreed. He would have loved to continue watching the scene, but if something happened it would be too late to cry. That fragment was something that could attract the attention of not only Golden Core cultivators and False Domain cultivators, but even True Domain cultivators as well. It wasn’t something to take lightly, and Yu Chen wanted to be nowhere near when things came to a head.

  Sun Yuan and Serbo au Serbo seemed to agree. They’d delivered Liang Hu to his father, and they’d sold the ship they’d come to sell and a few more things besides. There was no reason to stick around any further.

  One of the servants who stood nearby gave them a respectful bow as they left the box, preparing to leave the ship, but they hadn’t made it halfway down before a massive aura burst out from above, washing across the ship and stifling them.

  “Damn,” Yu Chen cursed under his breath as his heart sank. This was no Golden Core Cultivator.

  “Xiao Yue!” A voice called out from above, and though it was outside the ship and far away, it reverberated all around, as though the man was standing beside them. It was a smooth and silky voice, cultured but containing an unmistakable hint of menace. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d found something so nice?”

  “Ren Xiangjun.” An aged voice replied in an even tone as another aura erupted from deep within the ship and surged forward, pushing back the one smothering the ship. Yu Chen took a deep breath as the energy stifling him faded, and he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his chest.

  “Is it still best to leave?” Sun Yuan asked, his face fearful as he stared towards the ceiling as though he could see through it and into the night sky beyond. “Are we any safer with that man out there?”

  An answer never came, as a feeling of power welled in the sky. They instinctively flinched the moment before the attack hit the Auction Ship. The spirit vessel was massive enough to beggar belief, but the strike was powerful enough to send it rocking back and forth.

  Thankfully the shield surrounding the ship stopped the worst of the attack that fell over it, but the sound of shattering glass rang out as the force reverberated through the ship, exploding the boxes around them and revealing rooms full of startled occupants. The four boys exchanged a short glance before bursting into motion as they dashed towards the lower floors. The other cultivators seemed to agree, and soon the hallways were packed as they all rushed to escape the ship that had suddenly turned into a battlefield.

  Yu Chen might have found the sight of so many Golden Core cultivators running around in disarray funny, if the sight of Golden Core cultivators running for their lives didn’t terrify him.

  “You dare!?”

  The angered shout rising out of the bowels of the Auction Ship filled Yu Chen with dread and he stumbled to his knees, his heart pounding, as a force beyond any he’d ever felt erupted beneath him before shooting into the sky.

  The ship shook and the lights flickered as the man tore through it, rising high into the sky and paying no heed to the destruction he caused along the way.

  Deep in his heart Yu Chen cursed once again, this one for the bastard who’d brought the item to auction.

  “Do I dare?” Ren Xiangjun replied with a laugh; his cultured voice tinged with amusement. “Throughout the heavens and earth, what is there that I dare not do?”

  “Good, very good!” Xiao Yue yelled in rage. “Do not think that you can escape with your life!”

  “Come and take it if you can.” Ren Xiangjun replied in derision. “But bring that fragment with you when you do.”

  It seemed as though they’d had enough talking, as powerful attacks exploded like fireworks through the sky above them, and though Yu Chen couldn’t see them he could feel them. This was quickly turning into one the worst possible outcomes he could have imagined.

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  For better or worse Yu Chen no longer held much fear of Golden Core cultivators. Or, more accurately, he believed that as long as he could reach the deck of the Sleeping Lady, he had good odds of escaping or outlasting them.

  But against a practitioner who’d stepped far beyond the Golden Core and formed a False Domain of his own? Yu Chen had little hope. Still, he’d take his chances with the Sleeping Lady, rather than the Auction Ship which was quickly beginning to feel like a coffin as it shook beneath the powerful attacks that continued to strike it.

  Who knew how long its shields would last?

  They’d pushed and shoved their way to the bottom floors only to find they were more crowded than the ones above. Yu Chen and Serbo au Serbo formed the tip of the spear, using their size to fight through the crowd, even as the ship rocked and shook around them.

  At some point the cultivators around them had begun to fight each other, desperate to escape the auction.

  They moved faster, determined to escape the Auction ship before it devolved into a vicious melee, but not everyone was so lucky. A nearby girl fell back with a cry as she was struck by a slash from a wayward sword. Yu Chen was about to step past when the curious glance he tossed her way caused him to freeze.

  “Xue Lan?!” He yelled out in surprise, but his voice couldn’t penetrate through the din around them. He leapt towards her, bending down to lift up the wounded girl who stared up at him with pain-filled eyes.

  Men continued to jostle around him as they fought to free themselves, but they might as well have been leaves in the wind for all they managed to move him. His fearsome physique rooted him in place, and the others split around him like a rock in a stream.

  “Yu Chen?” She whispered, as she looked up at him in disbelief. “Is it really you?”

  “Xue Lan!” Another boy called out as he leapt forward, but he came to a sudden halt as Yu Chen looked towards him with danger in his eyes. He cast a wary glance at the others as they hurried over to surround Yu Chen, keeping them safe in the midst of the brawl.

  “It’s ok.” The girl said as she pushed herself out of his arms with a grimace. She’d taken a vicious cut, but determination shone in her eyes as she fumbled out a pill and swallowed it. It did little to staunch the bleeding, but she fumbled a piece of cloth from somewhere as she spoke again.

  “I know him.” She said, but it was impossible to tell if she was talking to Yu Chen or the strange boy at that moment.

  Yu Chen frowned at the other boy, looking him up and down. Recognition flickered in his eyes as he realized he’d seen him before. It was none other than the strange boy he’d seen inside the Secret Realm, the member of the sword sect who’d carried three swords with him.

  He was surprised to see him here.

  The rest of his sect had littered the ground with their dead, appearing to have fought to the last man. Well, it turned out at least one of them had survived, although he hadn’t seen the boy since the last time the reavers had attacked, forcing them into the trials.

  “Yu Chen.” Sun Yuan spoke as he looked around, his eyes filled with worry. “Perhaps you can catch up later?”

  “Do you have a ship?” Yu Chen asked Xue Lan, ignoring the other boy for a moment.

  She shook her head to the negative.

  “Not of our own. We were hired to guard a merchant ship, but I have no idea where they went to.” She cast a glance around her but there were no answers to be found. The auction ship was a den of madness, and there was no telling who was where within the chaos.

  “Come with us then.” Yu Chen said, lifting her to her feet before casting a glance at the other boy. “Your friend as well. It isn’t safe here any longer.”

  At some point members of the Auction Ship had arrived, doing their best to quell the riot that had occurred. Yu Chen and the others didn’t stick around to see what happened however, making their way towards the docks where they froze, staring into the sky in awe.

  Yu Chen shivered as the cool breeze of the night air caressed his skin. Somehow it felt out of place, too normal when faced with the spectacle in the air up above.

  Two cultivators floated high above the Auction Ship, exchanging lightning-fast attacks that caused the air around them to crack and explode. They were like gods in the young boy’s eyes, and their attacks caused the very world around them to shift and transfigure as they bent it to their will.

  One of the cultivators was much older than the other, and a long grey beard covered his wizened and ancient face. It was hard to look directly at him. He’d suffused the world around him with his power, causing him to appear like a radiant sun in the night sky, lighting up the world around him. It wasn’t just him either. The space surrounding him glowed with a golden hue, as lustrous veins of metallic gold flickered into existence all around him.

  He grabbed them as they appeared, seizing hold of that crackling energy and using it like a whip to lash out against the man he was facing.

  Yu Chen assumed the other man was Ren Xiangjun. His long, flowing black robes were high necked, rising right up to a pale face filled with an expression of cold amusement as he watched the attacks coming his way. With a wave of his hand the world around him turned a deep red the color of blood, before condensing and whirling around him in a thick viscous form.

  The whips of gold fruitlessly slammed against the revolving shell of blood, but try as they might, they just couldn't break through.

  “Come now!” Ren Xiangjun’s mocking voice rang above the open river as it sounded out from within. “Is this the might of the Auction Ship?”

  The blood rotating around him came to a halt before vibrating, filling the air with an audible buzz. Ren Xiangjun let out a sudden shout and the blood shot forward, blasting across the empty space towards the old man. A crimson hue stained the air around him, a remnant of his false domain.

  An unsightly frown crossed the old man’s face as he hurried to revolve his qi. This time the gold surrounding him condensed, forming into a golden shield that intercepted the blood streaking towards him.

  “What does a dog know of might?” The old man yelled as his face twisted into a rictus of rage. “You’re just a bitch who sniffs at the ass of its betters!”

  Ren Xiangjun’s face flushed red at the insult, but a tightlipped smile crossed his face as he dashed forward, closing the distance. The false domains crackled around the edges as they met, red and gold warring in the sky for dominance.

  “How is your Patriarch doing?” Xiao Yue cackled as he danced back from the other man, raining Ren Xiangjun with a golden shower of crackling energy as he approached. “I heard he made you bark real loud the last time you failed your challenge!”

  Ren Xiangjun let out an indeterminate noise of rage, something halfway between a cry and a howl as he threw a hand up, pulling a massive wave of water up from the river itself. It rose high into the sky, high enough to touch the tip of his domain which rapidly stained the yellow waters blood-red. It was as though a reaction was ignited, and the waters of the yellow river erupted as the fearsome wave crashed down upon the old cultivator.

  “We have a problem.” Sun Yuan said quietly.

  “What is it?” Yu Chen said, tearing his eyes away from the fight above.

  “That.” The navigator said, pointing out at the river before them.

  The Auction Ship was surrounded, encircled by dozens of ships flying a black flag. A flag Yu Chen recognized. It was a simple design, with only a single streak of vibrant red the color of blood piercing the blackness. No, not a streak.

  A river.

  “Damn.” Yu Chen whispered as Xue Lan let out a horrified gasp by his side.

  The reavers had arrived at the Auction Ship.