The lanky man’s cold gaze swept across the deck as over forty pirates, fierce as wolves and tigers, pounced on the crowd.

The gruesome fate of those who had resisted earlier was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and now no one dared to move a muscle.

“Daddy… Daddy, where are you…”

A young, tearful child’s voice suddenly came from the direction of the cabins.

Zhang Xiaoyu stumbled out, her little face as pale as paper, her goose-yellow clothes stained with dust and tear tracks.

Her round eyes, usually full of laughter, were now filled with terror, her small body trembling uncontrollably.

“Xiaoyu! Don’t come over!”

Zhang Tieshan tried to rush forward but collided head-on with three pirates, forced to engage them in combat.

A flash of cruel amusement passed through the lanky man’s eyes. His figure flickered like a ghost, appearing instantly before the little girl.

Zhang Xiaoyu stumbled in fright and fell to the ground.

“Tsk tsk, what a lovely little girl,” the lanky man sneered, grabbing Zhang Xiaoyu by the neck and lifting her up. The little girl’s feet kicked helplessly in the air. “Such pitiful crying.”

“Let… let her go!” Zhang Tieshan roared.

Zhang Xiaoyu’s small face flushed red from suffocation, tears falling like broken strings of pearls.

She stretched out her small hands in a futile attempt to pry open that iron-vise-like grip, choked sobs escaping her throat.

The lanky man looked at Zhang Tieshan with a sinister smile. “I do love watching scenes like this.”

His free left hand suddenly formed a seal. A black mist, like a venomous snake, coiled around Zhang Xiaoyu’s slender arm.

“Ah—!”

The little girl let out a heart-wrenching scream. Several purplish-black bruises instantly appeared on her small arm, and her skin began to fester at a visible rate.

She convulsed in pain, her cries almost piercing everyone’s eardrums. “Daddy save me! It hurts so much, Daddy!”

“Stop! Stop it!”

Zhang Tieshan’s voice was now choked with tears. He was even stabbed in the abdomen by a pirate, causing blood to spurt out.

“Despair!” The lanky man trembled with excitement, tightening the black mist further. The girl’s cries grew even more miserable.

He stuck out his crimson tongue to lick his lips, his eyes gleaming with morbid pleasure.

“Please… let her go…” Zhang Tieshan’s voice was hoarse, veins bulging on his forehead, yet he could only watch helplessly as his daughter struggled in agony.

“Not enough, still not enough despair!” The man laughed maniacally. A strand of black mist suddenly separated and coiled around Zhang Xiaoyu’s other arm…

At this critical moment, a flash of sword light streaked through the air.

Clang!

A clear and melodious sword cry resounded across the deck. The Traceless Sword had somehow arrived on the scene.

In an instant, the temperature across the entire sea area plummeted. The lanky man’s movements froze solid.

Crack—

A crystalline sword energy pierced through the center of the man’s forehead. His expression was forever frozen in that moment of ferocity.

Frost spread from his forehead at a visible rate. In the blink of an eye, his entire body was frozen into an ice sculpture.

Bang!

Shen Xian rushed out from the cabins and landed on the scene. With a light flick of his finger, the ice sculpture shattered into countless ice crystals that scattered into the air.

He then raised his hand and released a gentle spiritual energy to shield Zhang Xiaoyu, dispelling the black mist from her body.

“Big brother…” Zhang Xiaoyu looked at that familiar face, her eyes red.

“It’s alright now,” Shen Xian said gently.

Suddenly, he turned his gaze toward the rampaging pirates, his eyes turning cold.

In that instant, it felt as if the entire sea had solidified.

All the pirates’ movements stiffened in place; their ferocious expressions were gradually replaced by terror.

To kill a half-step Golden Core cultivator with one sword strike—what terrifying strength was this?

Shen Xian’s gaze was sharp as lightning. The Traceless Sword hovered before him, its blade flowing with bone-chilling cold light.

With a light wave of his hand, the sword light divided into thousands upon thousands of strands, enveloping the entire merchant ship like a sky full of flying snow.

Thump thump thump—

A series of sounds echoed as flesh was pierced.

Those pirates didn’t even have time to scream before identical tiny bloody holes appeared simultaneously in the centers of their foreheads.

Their expressions were forever frozen in terror as their bodies fell one after another like wooden stakes.

The surviving cultivators on the deck stood dumbfounded.

Someone tremblingly reached out to touch a pirate corpse beside them. That corpse immediately turned into ice crystals and dissipated, not leaving behind even a trace of bloodstain.

“This… is this a Golden Core True Person?” A Foundation Establishment cultivator muttered to himself, his legs giving way as he knelt on the ground. “No… more than that…” Zhang Tieshan clutched his abdominal wound, his eyes full of shock. “At least late-stage Golden Core…”

At that moment, Shen Xian’s gaze sharpened slightly as he looked toward the pirates fleeing in panic.

Those desperate men were frantically activating defensive formations on their black ship. A thick layer of black light instantly enveloped the entire vessel.

“Senior, be careful!” Zhang Tieshan shouted through gritted teeth against the pain. “That’s the Black Tide Pirate Group’s Profound Yin Sea-Protecting Grand Formation! It can withstand a full-force strike from a Golden Core True Person!”

A slight curve appeared at the corner of Shen Xian’s mouth as he lightly raised his right hand.

The Traceless Sword emitted a clear dragon’s cry. The ancient patterns on its blade lit up one by one as if some primordial beast was awakening within it.

“Break.”

With that single, softly uttered word, sword light erupted forth instantly.

In that split second, heaven and earth lost their color.

A snow-white sword radiance spanning across sky and sea tore through the firmament. Wherever it passed, seawater automatically parted ways, revealing deep trenches hundreds of fathoms below.

That so-called Profound Yin Grand Formation, capable of blocking Golden Core attacks, was pierced through effortlessly like thin paper, failing to hold back the strike for even a single breath.

Boom—!

Amidst a deafening explosive roar, the entire black ship split neatly into two halves down the middle.

The cut surfaces were smooth as mirrors; even the wood grain of the planks was clearly visible.

Frenzied residual sword energy waves ground the ship wreckage to dust. Those pirates fortunate enough to survive the initial strike didn’t even have time to scream before being shredded into a blood mist by the sword energy.

A rain of blood fell upon the sea surface for a long time.

Everyone on the deck stood dumbfounded, jaws slack.

Zhang Tieshan’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg, completely forgetting the pain of his abdominal wound.

Such mighty power—who could possibly match it?

Suddenly, Shen Xian’s gaze, sharp as lightning, abruptly turned toward a corner of the deck.

A gray-robed cultivator was stealthily moving toward the ship’s railing, clutching a communication jade talisman in his hand.

“Thinking of leaving?”

A light utterance, yet it sounded like a thunderclap explosion.

The gray-robed cultivator’s whole body trembled violently, the jade talisman clattering to the ground from his hand.

He looked up in terror, meeting Shen Xian’s bottomless eyes.

In an instant, a vast ocean-like divine sense descended, crashing down.

The gray-robed cultivator felt the world spin around him, his sea of consciousness struck by a ten-thousand-jun heavy hammer.

His pupils instantly dilated, blood seeping simultaneously from all seven orifices, his whole body collapsing to the ground like a broken-string puppet.

Under the spiritual impact of the Golden Core cultivator, he possessed no resistance whatsoever.

“Traitor!” Zhang Tieshan gnashed his teeth in hatred.

Shen Xian stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his robes fluttering without wind. That terrifying divine sense pressure didn’t dissipate; instead, it swept across the entire sea area like a tidal wave.

The sea surface within a ten-mile radius suddenly became calm as a mirror; even the waves were frozen mid-air.

All cultivators felt a suffocating sensation, as if an invisible mountain were pressing down upon their hearts.

This was absolute, overwhelming power!