I Was Forced to Marry a “Trash” Cultivator, But She Turned Out to Be a Reborn Empress!

Guijiao stood at the prow of the flagship, his black robes snapping violently in the sea wind.

His face, crisscrossed with scars, twisted in apoplectic rage. The purple-gold bell hanging at his waist trembled madly, emitting a piercing, dissonant ring.

“You little bastard!”

Guijiao’s roar exploded like thunder, churning the sea into waves several zhang high.

“You dare touch my Vermilion Bird Essence Blood? Today, I will make you wish you were neither alive nor dead!”

With that furious command, twenty pitch-black warships simultaneously activated. A terrifying, unified aura rose into the air, suppressing the waves.

Each warship was manned by dozens of murderous Black Tide cultivators. The weakest among them were at the early Foundation Establishment stage, and the fleet was peppered with Golden Core masters.

Their eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty light, like a school of sharks that had caught the scent of fresh meat.

“Kill!”

At Guijiao’s signal, all twenty warships erupted with blinding spiritual light.

Over a dozen Golden Core leaders soared into the air, each summoning their life-bound magical treasures. More than three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators shifted into battle formations, their killing intent soaring to the heavens.

The five main warships lit up, their defensive barriers and offensive arrays priming for a fatal strike.

The entire sea area trembled. The overwhelming killing intent solidified into something heavy and tangible. Faced with this world-destroying onslaught, an ordinary Golden Core cultivator would seem as insignificant as a speck of dust.

Guijiao stood with his hands behind his back, his single eye filled with cruel satisfaction.

“Today, your soul will scatter to the winds!”

That Vermilion Bird Essence Blood was crucial to the great figure standing behind him. Without it, the consequences would be dire. He had to end this now.

In his view, his opponent was undoubtedly doomed. Unless a Nascent Soul True Lord intervened, surviving this barrage was impossible.

Yet, facing the overwhelming tide of the Black Tide army sweeping toward him, Shen Xian merely watched.

His lips curled into a cold, lazy smile.

He slowly raised his right hand. A crimson-red array pattern, the color of fresh arterial blood, materialized on his palm.

“You think numbers are enough?”

As the words left his mouth, he slammed the glowing pattern into the ground.

Boom.

In that instant, the entire Burning Heaven Island shook violently. The dormant volcanic crater erupted once more, spewing billowing smoke.

A crimson light pillar, a thousand zhang in diameter, shot up from the volcano’s mouth. It pierced the clouds, enveloping dozens of li of the sea in all directions.

Within the light pillar, countless profound array patterns writhed like living creatures, exuding a heart-stopping aura of destruction.

“This is… a fourth-tier array?!”

Guijiao’s face changed drastically, his voice cracking. “Retreat! Now!”

But it was already too late.

“Ember Tribulation Heaven-Melting Array… Activate.”

With Shen Xian’s soft command, the world turned red.

Countless crimson fireballs manifested in the sky, crashing down upon the Black Tide fleet like a meteor shower.

Guijiao’s pupils contracted to pinpoints. He frantically channeled all his spiritual power into the purple-gold bell at his waist.

Crack.

The bell shattered instantly, transforming into a thick bloody barrier that enveloped him.

“Blood Demon Disintegration Great Art!”

He roared, biting his tongue and spitting a mouthful of essence blood. His figure abruptly split into twelve bloody shadows, fleeing in twelve different directions.

This was his ultimate life-preserving secret art. Each bloody shadow contained ten percent of his original cultivation. Escaping with just one would ensure his survival.

However—

Sizzle!

Eleven of the bloody shadows were swept by crimson tongues of flame. They vaporized instantly, leaving nothing behind.

The final bloody shadow barely managed to escape the array’s range, but half its body was burned away in the process.

“Ah!”

Amidst a shrill scream, Guijiao barely managed to reform his human shape.

He was unrecognizable. His left arm and half his torso were charred black. His aura had weakened to the extreme.

He looked back, and his heart turned to ice. The sky had become hell on earth.

The twenty warships twisted and deformed in the rain of fire. The levitation arrays, painstakingly crafted from countless rare treasures, exploded one after another under the intense heat.

The battle formations of the Foundation Establishment cultivators collapsed instantly. Their protective spiritual lights shattered like paper.

Bodies carbonized within the flames. Screams rose and fell, creating a symphony of agony.

The fifteen Golden Core leaders fared even worse.

Their proud life-bound magical treasures had barely been summoned before they were ensnared by crimson chains shooting from the grand array.

These chains burrowed into their bodies, forcibly draining them of their essence blood and spiritual power.

A mid-stage Golden Core leader struggled frantically. His body swelled up like a balloon before finally exploding with a wet bang, turning into a mist of blood that fed the fire.

The entire sky had transformed into a giant furnace. The Black Tide cultivators were merely fuel.

The air filled with the foul stench of scorched flesh. Burning wreckage fell into the sea like rain.

“No… impossible…”

Guijiao’s single eye was filled with terror. His voice was hoarse and inhuman.

His proud pirate fleet—annihilated in breaths.

“Don’t worry,” Shen Xian’s voice drifted over, leisurely and calm. “You’re next.”

Shen Xian walked through the air. Each step left an ice lotus blooming in the void behind him.

Guijiao staggered to steady himself mid-air. Drops of black blood continuously fell from his charred body.

He stared fixedly at Shen Xian, his eye bloodshot, before letting out a beast-like roar.

“Want to kill me? It won’t be that easy!”

He fiercely slapped a spirit beast pouch at his waist.

ROAR!

A massive Fourth-Tier Blood Fiend Demon Flood Dragon burst forth!

The beast was crimson-red, its scales inscribed with eerie black curse patterns. Its ferocious head bore three curved horns, and it radiated a suffocating, baleful energy.

Its strength was comparable to a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.

“Hold him off!” Guijiao shouted, simultaneously biting the tip of his tongue to prepare another Blood Escape technique.

However—

Zheng!

A clear, melodious sword cry resounded across the heavens.

The Traceless Sword had already left its sheath. The characters “Wu Hen” on the blade shone with piercing cold light. A layer of icy-blue radiance, thin as a cicada’s wing, flowed along its edge.

Shen Xian simply thrust forward.

Pfft.

The ferocious charge of the Blood Fiend Demon Flood Dragon froze.

A tiny spot of deep red appeared between its brows.

In the next second, the spirit beast was cleaved precisely in two—from the top of its skull down to the tip of its tail—by an intangible thread of sword energy.

The dragon let out one final, shrill cry of despair.

Its two halves separated, spraying a sky-full rain of blood like a crimson waterfall. The scalding flood dragon blood splattered onto the volcanic rock below, hissing as it burned.

Guijiao’s pupils contracted.

He forgot to continue casting his Blood Escape technique.

His proud mountain-guarding spirit beast… couldn’t withstand even one sword strike?

He had completely underestimated the terror of a mid-grade spirit treasure paired with a supreme sword scripture.

“Your turn.”

Shen Xian’s voice sounded like a judge reading a death sentence.

Guijiao’s charred body trembled violently. Blood vessels bulged wildly in his remaining eye.

He stared at Shen Xian. A guttural rattle came from his throat before he spat out black blood mixed with organ fragments.

“You… killed me…”

Guijiao’s voice suddenly became unusually clear, each word dripping with bone-deep resentment. “But the Great One won’t… let you…”

Before he could finish, a cold light swept past his neck.

Swish.

As Guijiao’s head flew up, Shen Xian noticed an eerie curve form at the corner of the pirate lord’s mouth.

It looked like mockery.

“Hmm?”

Shen Xian summoned Guijiao’s storage bag through the air. A sweep of his divine sense revealed the anomaly immediately.

Inside the bag lay a white jade token.

The front was carved with the characters: “Ling Hai” (Spirit Sea). The back featured golden, wave-like designs.

“How interesting.”

Shen Xian lightly traced the token with his fingertip, sensing the residual spiritual fluctuations.

This was a specialized communication jade talisman used by the higher-ups of Spirit Sea City. And a top-grade one at that.

“So it seems…”

Threads of frost spread from Shen Xian’s fingertips, sealing the token in ice.

“Collecting this bounty won’t be so easy after all.”

He stored away Guijiao’s head, turned around, and strode away through the air.