The golden glow rising from the abyssal depths of the Sea of Despair was not the light of salvation; it was the bioluminescent hunger of a creature that had predated the first cultivators. The Silver Wing groaned as the liquid shadows beneath its hull began to swirl in a massive, mile-wide vortex.
[WARNING: Calamity-Class Entity Detected.] [Target: The Ancient Deep-Walker (Early Gold Core Realm equivalent).] [Hazard Level: Lethal. Host is advised to utilize 'Dual Core Resonance' immediately.]
Manager Su Meiling stood on the deck, her face drained of color, her fan falling to the wood with a hollow clatter. "Impossible... the Sentinel only rises once every thousand years. Why now?"
"It's the Sunderer," Ye Chen said, her voice steady but her hand white-knuckled on the hilt of her blade. "Qin Feng, the evolution of your weapon released a pulse of 'Overlord' energy. To this beast, you aren't a guest; you are a rival predator entering its territory."
The sea exploded.
A massive, armored head, resembling a cross between a dragon and a prehistoric crustacean, burst through the surface. Its scales were plates of obsidian, and its eyes were twin suns of baleful golden light. With a single movement of its tail, a hundred-foot tidal wave of shadow-liquid surged toward the ship.
"Ye Chen, take the defense! I'm going for the core!" Qin Feng shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of the crashing waves.
[ACTIVATE: Dual Core Resonance!] [Status: Infinite Mana pool shared for 300 seconds.]
Ye Chen leaped into the air, her Moon-Severing Blade glowing with an intensity that rivaled the beast's eyes. "Lunar Bastion: Frozen Firmament!" she cried. She didn't strike the beast; she struck the air. A wall of absolute-zero ice erupted in front of the ship, freezing the shadow-wave mid-air and shattering it into harmless shards of dark glass.
Qin Feng didn't use the stairs or the deck. He kicked off the railing, his Eclipse Overlord Qi forming wings of violet flame at his heels. He soared toward the monster, the Eclipse Sunderer trailing a wake of black lightning.
"You want my energy?" Qin Feng roared, his eyes turning solid purple. "Then come and take it all!"
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Vein Seeker — Divine Tier.]
In his vision, the beast's obsidian armor faded into transparency. He saw the complex network of golden veins pumping ancient spirit blood, and at the very center, beneath three layers of reinforced bone, was the Calamity Core.
The Sentinel opened its maw, a black hole of crushing gravity forming within its throat. It fired a beam of concentrated shadow energy, a strike that could have wiped a mid-sized city off the map.
Qin Feng didn't dodge.
"Eclipse Inversion: Void Shield!"
He held the Sunderer in front of him. The black crystal head of the pickaxe acted as a lightning rod, absorbing the massive beam of energy. Qin Feng's muscles screamed under the pressure; the "Pill Poison" scars on his back flared with heat, but he didn't give an inch. He was no longer a miner digging for stones; he was a master refining a god.
[SYSTEM: 80% of Enemy Attack Absorbed. Transmuting to Attack Power...]
"Give it back!"
Qin Feng slammed the Sunderer into the beast's skull. The absorbed energy, multiplied by his own Foundation Qi, exploded in a localized burst of violet destruction. The obsidian plates shattered. The Sentinel let out a scream that resonated in the souls of every sailor on the Silver Wing, its massive head slamming back into the sea.
But a Gold Core-level beast did not die so easily. It lashed out with its barbed tail, catching Qin Feng in mid-air. He was slammed back onto the deck of the ship, the wood splintering beneath him.
[WARNING: Physical Integrity at 60%. Internal bleeding detected.]
Ye Chen was at his side in an instant, her hand on his chest. "Qin Feng!"
"I'm fine," he panted, coughing up a glob of golden-violet blood. He looked at her, a wild, defiant grin on his face. "The System says its core is exposed. We need a combined strike. One hit to shatter the bone, one to take the heart."
Ye Chen nodded, her expression turning into one of divine fury. She stood over him, her sword pointed at the sky. "Then let us show this 'God' why the Moon was meant to be the master of the tides."
They rose together, their hands intertwined. The Dual Soul Resonance reached a new peak. The sky above the Sea of Despair actually cracked, revealing a glimpse of the true starry sky beyond the mist.
"Final Art: Eclipse Devastation!"
A beam of light, neither gold nor violet, but a shimmering, transcendent white, shot from their combined hands. It pierced through the Sentinel's neck, bypassed its defenses, and struck the Calamity Core with the precision of a surgeon's needle.
The golden light in the beast's eyes flickered and died. Its massive body began to dissolve, turning back into the very liquid shadows it was born from.
[DING! CALAMITY SLAIN!] [EXP Gained: 100,000!] [LEVEL UP: 6th Layer Foundation Establishment!] [Loot Acquired: 'Heart of the Deep-Walker' (Legendary Crafting Material).]
The Sea of Despair fell silent. The Silver Wing, though battered and bruised, was still afloat. On the deck, the crew fell to their knees, not out of fear of the monster, but in awe of the two figures standing at the bow.
Manager Su walked forward, her hands trembling as she adjusted her crimson silks. She looked at Qin Feng, the "penniless miner" and Ye Chen, the "disgraced Empress."
"The City of Nine Cauldrons is only three days away," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "But I fear the Central Continent is not ready for you. You don't just cultivate... you rewrite the world."
Qin Feng leaned his Sunderer against the railing and looked at Ye Chen. Her face was pale, but she smiled, a real, genuine smile of victory.
"Three days," Qin Feng said, looking toward the horizon. "I hope they have good spirit wine in that city. I'm tired of the taste of blood."