The Shattered Vortex

Chapter 22 The Voice in the Glass

The silence of the dead engine room was broken only by the rhythmic dripping of condensation falling from the cooled copper pipes. Lu Chen stood in the center of the cooling chamber, his body radiating a dense, oppressive aura. Within his chest, the Golden-Crimson Cosmic Vortex spun with a slow, heavy hum, completely containing the titanic, refined lifeforce of thousands of liquidated souls and the Third Layer True Foundation base of Chief Engineer Boros. He was at the absolute peak of his realm, his physical body hardened into something resembling divine iron.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Lin Xue slid down the vertical iron ladder, her emerald-green hair matted with sweat and sea spray. She held her wind-inscribed daggers in her hands, her breathing ragged, but her green eyes went wide as she took in the scene. The forty-foot furnace was dark, the organic veins reduced to gray ash, and Boros was nothing but a pile of dust on the iron floor plates.

"The legionnaires on deck retreated the moment the ship's power grid died," she gasped, wiping a streak of black grease from her forehead. "They’re boarding their emergency skiffs. But Lu Chen, we have a massive problem. The other two battleships are closing in on our flanks. Without the engine core, this ship is a sitting duck. We're going to be blown out of the water in less than three minutes."

"The ship isn't dead, Lin Xue," Lu Chen said, his flat, layered voice echoing through the metallic room. "It just has a different heart now."

He walked over to the primary control console—a massive iron pedestal encasing a large, spherical crystal known as the Helmsman’s Core. This crystal was the neural nexus that directed the ship’s steering fins, its water-ballast lines, and its defensive weapons.

Lu Chen didn't use a command medallion. He slammed his bare, scarred palm directly onto the smooth surface of the crystal.

Thrum—!

Instead of drawing energy, he forced a massive, violent torrent of his newly evolved, peak-tier True Foundation Qi into the machine. The crackling emerald-crimson force flooded the network of rusted copper pipes, lighting up the dead veins of the ship with a terrifying, cosmic resonance. The massive, iron-hulled warship gave a violent, shuddering lurch as its mechanical gears began to grind to life, entirely powered by the manual direction of Lu Chen’s internal galaxy.

Suddenly, the massive communication mirror hanging above the console—a six-foot plate of polished obsidian used to receive orders from the imperial capital—violently crackled.

The dark glass didn't show the high governor’s palace or a naval admiral. The surface of the mirror warped, turning entirely pitch-black, casting a freezing, unnatural shadow over the entire engine room. From the depth of the dark glass, a pair of glowing, crimson eyes materialized, accompanied by the faint, distinctive silhouette of thousands of fluttering crows.

The air pressure in the room plummeted into a state of absolute, freezing dread.

"So, the stray dog from the southern mountains has finally found a throat to bite," a voice echoed from the glass. It was a smooth, melodic tone, completely devoid of anger, yet it carried an ancient, suffocating malice that caused the iron walls of the engine room to instantly frost over with ice.

Lin Xue instantly froze, her knuckles turning white as her wind Qi was forcefully suppressed by the mere sound of the voice. "The... the Grand Master," she whispered, her teeth chattering from the sudden drop in temperature.

This was the absolute ruler of the empire's underworld: Grand Master Corvus, a peak Core Formation master and the entity who had signed the execution order for Lu Chen’s family nineteen years ago.

"Jiang Chen was a weak old man who grew soft on mountain incense," the voice from the mirror continued, the crimson eyes locking onto Lu Chen’s unyielding features. "And Executioner Kuro was merely a tool to gather livestock. You have broken my toys, Lu Chen. You have devoured my assets. You think your little vortex makes you a hunter?"

Lu Chen didn't remove his hand from the console. He slowly raised his chin, his pitch-black eyes meeting the crimson gaze in the glass with an absolute, deadened intensity.

"I am not a hunter, Corvus," Lu Chen said, his voice carrying the terrifying, layered resonance of a collapsing star. "I am the debt you forgot to pay. Your assets are my food. Your elders are my fuel. Keep your neck clean, old man. I am coming up the river."

A low, haunting chuckle vibrated from the mirror, causing the polished obsidian to spiderweb with tiny, sharp cracks. "Arrogant beast. The Hall of the Five Crows does not hide from its debts. Enter the inland rivers if you dare. The entire northern legion is waiting to harvest your marrow. Let us see if your broken mirror can survive the anvil of the capital."

CRASH.

The communication mirror shattered into ten thousand glittering black shards, the dark shadow vanishing instantly and letting the blistering heat of the engine room rush back in.

Lu Chen closed his fist, a dark, predatory smile breaking through the coal dust on his face. The warning didn't fill him with fear; it fueled the spinning storm inside his chest. He looked at Lin Xue, who was staring at the shattered glass with her jaw completely slack.

"He knows you're coming," she said, her voice trembling. "They will turn the entire inland river into a meat grinder."

"Good," Lu Chen whispered, his emerald needle humming with a terrifying new volume as he forced a massive surge of his Qi into the helmsman's core. "That just means I won't have to look hard to find them. Set the coordinates for the inland gates, girl. We’re breaking through."

Outside, the Iron Sovereign let out a deafening, mechanical roar, its massive iron propellers churning the black ocean waters into a violent foam as the stolen flagship pivoted hard, accelerating straight toward the oncoming enemy battleships like a supersonic battering ram.