Havoc erupted across the docks as more cultivators arrived, pouring out of the bowels of the auction ship. Wails of alarm and shouts of terror filled the air as the new arrivals looked around them in dismay, taking in the dire straits they were in.

  Fear took hold of the crowd at the sight of the reaver ships surrounding them, and panic began to spread, causing tempers to ignite as the cultivators jostled in place, pressing against each other.

  Yu Chen began to worry as he felt violent auras crackling to life nearby. His small group was powerful, at least relative to their level, but they were nothing special within the vast crowd of cultivators flooding the dock. A crowd that teetered on the very edge of erupting into a riot once again.

  The panic reached a peak, threatening to boil over into chaos once more. It never happened, as the oppressive aura of a Golden Core Cultivator fell over them, quelling the crowd.

  Two powerful cultivators flew out of the ship, hovering in the air above the docks and the nearby cultivators shrank back as the blazing auras fell over them. The two cultivators didn’t pay any mind to those beneath them, instead glaring out at the pirates surrounding the Auction Ship.

  More Golden Core cultivators shot out from within the ship, rising up to join the first two. Yu Chen’s body shook, threatening to come apart as no less than a dozen Golden Core cultivators arrived, spreading out to guard the auction ship on all sides.

  Yu Chen swallowed dryly, any saliva he might have produced having long since dried up in fear as the situation rapidly grew beyond his ability to control. His heart beat like a drum against his chest and he clenched and unclenched his hands helplessly by his side.

  Fearsome auras of energy erupted from the enemy ships as black robed cultivators leapt from the decks, soaring into the air to face down the Golden Core Cultivators who’d flown out to defend the Auction Ship.

  Yu Chen looked back and forth between the cultivators filling the sky, weighing his odds and finding any hope of escape diminishing by the second. Never mind the two old monsters fighting in the sky who could kill him with a glance, any one of these Golden Core Cultivators were well beyond his ability to face.

  There were dozens of them facing off in the skies above him, and fleeing a single one had already been difficult enough. Yu Chen didn’t see a way out of this that left his life intact, and he silently cursed the day he’d met Liang Hu.

  “Honored Guests.” A cold and even voice rang out across the Auction Ship, startling Yu Chen from his thoughts.

  “Apologies for the interruption, but it appears as though the Auction Ship has an unannounced guest tonight.” The cold voice continued, coming from a figure that slowly floated out of the Auction Ship and rose high into the sky.

  The figure emitting a bleak aura came to a halt near the two figures fighting through the sky, far above the Golden Core cultivators. His fine white robes swayed in the wind around him, and the gold trimming the edges marked him as a member of the Auction Ship.

  His were different from the others, however. Xiao Yue’s trim ran nearly halfway up his sleeves and looked as though they’d been dipped in gold, but the new arrivals trim was extremely minimal, a token gesture towards propriety and nothing more.

  “On behalf of the Auction Ship, I must ask for your assistance in handling this matter today.” He spoke again, and despite being so far away they could clearly hear his cold words as he impassively watched the two figures fighting through the sky.

  Xiao Yue was currently retreating, desperately dodging the waves of blood that swelled up from the river and threatened to swallow him whole.

  The austere cultivator cast a glance down. Yu Chen let out a sharp gasp, tingles of shock racing across his skin as he realized that he recognized the man. It was none other than Elder Liang, the father of the merchant they’d rescued before.

  When they’d met Yu Chen had felt as though his cultivation was unfathomable, but he truly hadn’t expected the man to be a False Domain cultivator, among those who’d formed their Conceptual Seed and taken a huge stride towards immortality.

  “Who among you stands with the ship!?” Elder Liang’s eyes flashed as his voice roared, crashing over those aboard and within. It was the first expression of emotion Yu Chen had ever seen from the man.

  “I will!” A voice rang out, and a shocking aura flooded out of the ship as another cultivator soared into the sky to float beside Elder Liang. The black robes he wore had been cut into ribbons, and they whipped about him, rippling in the wind. He wielded a long spear that shone with a wicked gleam, and his brows were tilted in a stern gaze as he looked towards Ren Xiangjun.

  Another False Domain cultivator, but the aura he emitted was beyond any of the others.

  “The Azure Waves Pavillion stands as well!”

  A commanding voice carried across the ship as another aura erupted within. A portly man wearing deep blue robes shot into the sky, revolving a trident through his hands. He blew past Elder Liang and the spearman as he swung his strange weapon in a sweeping circle, sending a wave of energy shooting out towards Ren Xiangjun.

  The black-robed cultivator backpedaled, surprised at the sudden attack, but only a moment passed before he enforced his will.

  The world itself bled, the bloody aura surrounding him gleaming with a viscous light as it exuded droplets of blood. He spun them into a tight circle, dissipating the energy that had been sent his way. He cast a ferocious glare at the incoming man, opening his mouth to say something, but before he could speak another voice floated out from within the massive spiritual vessel.

  “Now, now boys,” A feminine voice said, the words lilting up at the end in a teasing manner. “You can at least wait for me before you get started.”

  Yu Chen’s face grew red at the words, and his heart skipped a beat though he didn’t know why. His heart hadn’t stopped pounding, but now it felt different, in some strange way he couldn’t define.

  Try as he might, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the voluptuous figure rising out of the Auction Ship.

  She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, no thin wisp of a girl full of innocence and unspoiled charm, but a mature woman, well-endowed and in the full flower of her beauty. Her black hair stretched to her ankles, a shimmering river that danced entrancingly under the moonlit sky. It framed a doey-eyed face that was full of mischief as she stared towards the pirate who glared back at her in shock.

  Her bright red lips parted seductively as she came to a halt, before twisting into a soft smile as she met the eyes of the cultivator from the Bloody River Sect.

  “Why, Ren Xiangjun, it’s been so long!” She said with a soft laugh as she twirled a finger through her hair. “I must say, you seem to be doing well these days. Have you missed me?”

  A stormy look crossed the man’s face before twisting into a rictus of rage. “Y-y-you slut!” He sputtered in anger before gaining control of himself. “What are you doing here?”

  She filled the air with her tinkling laughter, but the humor didn’t reach her eyes. “Don’t tell me you are still mad at me Xiang’er, it was oh so long ago.”

  Her full lips turned downwards as she pouted at him, and Yu Chen couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Countless other cultivators did so as well, and the sound startled him, snapping him out of his daze. He looked around, seeing a few of the other cultivators looking around in confusion, but most continued to stare into the sky, entranced by the female cultivator.

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  Yu Chen cast a glance to the side, seeing Xue Lan staring at him with a frown. He raised a shoulder into half a shrug, an apology, though he wasn’t quite sure for what. He gave Sun Yuan a rough shake, waking up the boy who had a bit of drool forming in the corner of his mouth. He jostled Yan Ziqi slightly, getting his attention, but the boy appeared fairly clear minded and not deeply entranced.

  Surprisingly it was Serbo au Serbo who appeared to be the least affected. He paid the beautiful woman no mind at all, instead looking towards Xiao Yue in interest. Ren Xiangjun had been pressing him back before, but he was rapidly recovering now that their battle had reached a lull.

  “Good, very good!” Ren Xiangjun shouted as the five cultivators spread out, circling around him. He turned, watching them with a wary eye, but it was clear he was outmatched and outnumbered. “I was still going to offer you a path towards life, but that chance is gone! We will see who deserves to sit as the head of the Bloody River Sect after I torch this ship and feast on your Death qi!”

  “Attack!” He roared, madness filling his eyes as he activated a hidden technique. His aura rose until it was far beyond the others, pressing down upon the river with a baleful intent.

  Alarm shot through Yu Chen as he felt two more powerful auras erupt as a couple of False Domain cultivators flew into the sky to join Ren Xiangjun.

  The new arrivals appeared to be twins. Their faces were identical in shape, although one had pulled their hair back into a tight ponytail and the others was kept long and flowing. The robes they wore were identical to those worn by Ren Xiangjun, crafted from fine black silks with the emblem of a bloody river streaked across the chest.

  They didn’t exchange words, pelting their foes with storms of bloody raindrops as they sprang into action.

  The battle in the sky began in earnest with their arrival, and the world shook with so much unleashed energy that Yu Chen felt it begin to bleed into the environment around them.

  To form a False Domain one had to first form a Conceptual Seed, a manifestation of one’s understanding of the laws underlying reality itself. This was only the first step towards the creation of a True Domain, a space where reality was nothing less than what you determined it to be.

  Strange things could happen in the presence of a person who’d taken this step, beginning to influence the world around them. Seven? Yu Chen wasn’t entirely sure reality was prepared to handle seven of them at once.

  Beginning with Xiao Yue, the invisible aura of power surrounding the cultivators in the sky crackled to life. The golden glow of his aura spread out, staining the world around him. Physical veins of gold continually blinked in and out of existence in the space that he’d claimed, appearing and disappearing in an uncertain existence, until the old man reached out a hand to grasp a strand.

  Then it was uncertainty that disappeared as the strand of gold manifested into reality, as real as the skin on Yu Chen’s body or the snake within his robes. Xiao Yue lashed out with it, furiously whipping it across the sky to slam into the domain Ren Xiangjun had suddenly manifested.

  Blood exuded from reality, forming a shell that encased him within, stronger and more well defined than any he had made before. It gleamed under the golden glow cast by Xiao Yue’s aura, reflecting the unfathomable depth of power within.

  The golden whip crashed uselessly against the shell, but Xiao Yue would not be deterred, swinging the whip again and again.

  As if on cue the other cultivator's domains erupted, flaring to life like children showing off their toys.

  The domain of the twins accompanying Ren Xiangjun appeared exactly like his, and they stained the world around them a bloody red, but the domains of the others were more varied and unique. The world around the man wielding the trident erupted, turning a deep blue the color of a winter pond. His domain raged around him like waves on a stormy day.

  The voluptuous woman’s was much more subdued, appearing as a faint rosy hue that outlined her figure and spread like spores throughout the world around her. She became even more alluring as her domain spread, to the point that Yu Chen could no longer bear to see her, and he tore his gaze away to stare at the last two.

  Elder Liang’s aura was… different. It was empty, cold and harsh, and the air around him became still as though the wind itself feared to move within. The air around him flickered as strange things came into being, expressions of a concept so esoteric Yu Chen simply failed to grasp it.

  As for his friend, the black robed cultivator whose clothes had been cut into ribbons, his aura filled with a piercing sheen, as though a literal edge had been made manifest in the world around him. Yu Chen didn’t consider himself an expert on such things, but he imagined the wicked spear gleaming in his hands was deadly beyond compare.

  He had to tear his eyes away from the battle above as the air around filled with thunderous roars. The cannons inscribed with elemental glyphs exploded from aboard the Reaver vessels, sending great burning balls of fiery qi flying towards the Auction Ship, alongside freezing shards of icy energy and literal bolts of lightning that zigzagged through the space between, showering the spirit vessel in a deadly storm of energy.

  Yu Chen had seen the power of the Auction Ship many times since he’d arrived here. He’d come from the Golden Mist Sect where he’d never even heard the term Domain, but the Auction Ship contained two cultivators at that level, and countless Golden Core cultivators besides.

  Did the Golden Mist Sect even contain half a dozen Golden Core Cultivators? Yu Chen wasn’t certain it did, but the Auction Ship had at least twice that many. Even so, it was clear the Reavers were a cut above.

  The Auction Ship responded to the incoming attack, its hull sliding back to reveal more spirit cannons than he’d ever seen, more than he’d ever even believed a ship could hold, before erupting in a furious blast of energy that sent the ship swaying back and forth. Yu Chen fought to hold his footing, but that was the least of his concern as another battle began taking place.

  The Golden Core cultivators had flown off the reaver ship, flying through the air to attack on their own, and at the same time, the cultivators from the Auction Ship rose into the sky to meet them.

  Yu Chen had never felt more hopeless than in that moment.

  This was a battle beyond anything he could have ever imagined, taking place on three different levels, and he was among the weakest in the fight, unable to affect the smallest thing.

  In the skies far above the ship, high enough to border upon the heavens, the False Domain cultivators fought like gods as they warred to turn reality itself to their cause.

  Ren Xiangjun and the twins fought as one, their false domains combining to turn half the night sky the color of blood. The size of his original domain had vastly increased, approaching dangerously near to the yellow river below. This proved to be a great boon as they pulled upon the river, unleashing the signature move of the Bloody River sect.

  Three separate streams rose up from the river, twisting through the air as the cultivators pulled on it in unison, and the yellow waters of the river were dyed the color of blood as they entered the domain of the black robed cultivators. The technique ignited the latent energies that lay within the yellow river, causing the waters to emit a fearsome aura as they were sent to crash against their foes.

  Ren Xiangjun appeared crazed after his fearsome transformation. His bloodshot eyes glowed with intensity and the dark veins on his face bulged out against his pale, ashen skin as he sent the massive bloody wave he controlled crashing down on Xiao Yue.

  The old man hastily revolved the gold around him into a shield, but the energy crashing down upon him was far greater than anything Ren Xiangjun had sent before.

  The energy from the attack began to overwhelm Xiao Yue, causing cracks to begin appearing in the golden shield, but Elder Liang arrived just in time, reinforcing the older man. Yu Chen didn’t know what strange concept the elder cultivated, but his false domain seemed to overlap the others, creating a complimentary effect. The golden shield suddenly gleamed, beginning to repair itself, and it seemed to take even less energy to do so than before.

  Working together, they barely managed to withstand the powerful technique the reaver sent their way, but the mysterious cultivator wielding a spear had to join the fight, before they could take the upper hand. He flew in close, his spear flickering across the intervening space in sharp stabbing motions that forced Ren Xiangjun to retreat. The sharp aura he emitted enhanced the attacks, allowing them to tear through the bloody aura itself.

  He was the real deal, and Yu Chen felt a deep sense of respect as he watched the spearman carve a path across the sky, pressing back the powerful cultivator despite his transformation. There was no stopping his sharp aura as it cut a path forward through the bloody domain in the sky.

  While the three cultivators fought together to oppress Ren Xiangjun, holding him back until his transformation ran out, the other two had paired off against the twins, fighting very different battles within the night sky.

  The man with the trident sent azure waves of his own crashing against the bloody waves a twin sent his way, while the voluptuous woman played cat and mouse with the other. Each cultivator fought in their own way, walking the path they believed would take them closest to heaven.

  The second battle took place beneath this, as the Golden Core cultivators skimmed across the river and flew through the air above, exchanging devastating attacks that contained the hint of concepts that had yet to solidify. They fought in their own way as well, and for many this fight was an opportunity, a chance for them to pit their ideals against one another as they fought for the day where they could take their rightful place even higher in the sky.

  But it was the third battle that concerned Yu Chen, the one that took place upon the river as the Auction ship exchanged blows with the dozens of pirate vessels surrounding it.

  More and more guests flew forward to defend the Auction Ship, as the heads of various sects and groups flew into the sky to fight against the pirates. Even the Foundation Establishment cultivators seemed intent on doing their part, as they boarded or brought forth the spirit vessels they owned.

  Yu Chen exchanged a glance with the others before casting a wary glance towards the sky.

  This third battle wasn’t very important. In the end, everything would be decided by those up above.

  He cast a glance at the armada before them, filled with black robed reavers who lived for the death and destruction of others. Reavers who had killed more than a few people he knew.

  The fight might not determine the future, but Yu Chen wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to remove a few more of these pests from the river.