Yu Chen watched in awe as the Riverlord went about his work.

  He wasn’t simply fixing the spirit vessel, but rebuilding it, turning it into something greater than it had been before. More spirit stones flew into the sky as he set the first mast aside, slowly combining together into a second mast even taller and thicker than the one before.

  That feat only took a fraction of his attention, as he simultaneously pulled the first of the planks out of the forge. They flew through the air, massive pieces of metal twenty feet long or more, designed to run the length of the hull of the vessel. Yu Chen knew that even with his tempered body he’d have no chance of denting one, they were thick and heavy, made from rare deep-earth metals.

  The same couldn’t be said for the Riverlord. A single gesture sent hundreds of tiny holes spiraling through the metallic planks, riddling them like weevils through a loaf of bread. Flames roared from another forge as thin snaking tubes of metallic alloy flew out, exactly like the ones running into the caged energy source above. A flick of his fingers sent the tubes plunging through the planks as he lined them up, creating a web of meridians that tied the ship together.

  Yan Ziqi sucked in a breath.

  “It’s beautiful.” He whispered.

  Yu Chen couldn’t help but agree. This… this was the pinnacle of power. How much energy, how much strength was required to do so much at once? What level did one have to reach? He didn’t know, but more than ever, he was determined to find out. His weakness prickled him, like a burr he couldn’t peel off, and he swore to advance to Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

  The Riverlord never paused, doing a dozen things at once. His hands twitched as though conducting a masterful symphony, sending various mystical goods flying off of the shelves. Metal was sent racing into the forges as fast as it raced out, while strange powders flew towards the ship slowly taking shape in the air. A snap of his fingers sent the powders spreading out across the creases between the metallic planks, and a surge of power ignited them, seamlessly forging the disparate planks into one continuous whole.

  For all the reverence Yu Chen felt, it was nothing compared to Yan Ziqi who stood beside him. The young artificer was enamoured, staring slack-jawed at the display of pure mastery taking place before them.

  The half-built ship revolved in the air as more metal planks, newly threaded, flew up to join the rest of the ship. It didn’t take long before the entire hull was rebuilt and the work on the inside began. The captain’s room came first as the space below decks began to take shape, lonely and towards the back. Then more planks arrived, forming the long hallways that ran the length of the ship. Bedrooms began to take shape on the right, and the more communal rooms on the left. A galley, a workshop, what looked like an alchemy lab.

  The Riverlord didn’t leave them empty. He created fixtures as well, tables and chairs, workbenches and toolboxes, a built-in pill furnace and inscription desk made out of the same strange metal as the rest of the ship. The Cargo hold came together in a flurry of activity as the goods their old one had unceremoniously expelled came racing forward to fill it again. They’d been hovering nearby, waiting patiently after the Riverlord had ripped the ship apart.

  No detail was left out as he continued his work, the Riverlord going far beyond in order to remake the spiritual vessel into something that was fit to carry his wife’s soul. Nothing about the ship was utilitarian, dull but functional, built to a purpose. No, this was a work of art, all soft curves that looked like poetry in motion, obviously crafted with a loving touch.

  Once it was finished, he began laying down the deck of the ship. New planks flew out of the forges, somewhat smaller than those before, landing on top of the ship and lining up end over end. staircases were built, railings as well, running the length of the ship and up and down the forecastle and quarterdeck. Then the two gigantic masts of Spirit stone, stretching higher than ever before, fell into place, connecting with the tubes threading throughout the ship. The entire vessel flashed, thrumming with energy.

  Then came the weaponry.

  The ballista on the forecastle was the first thing assembled, larger and more dangerous than ever before. At the same time, an invisible force carved windows out of the side of the hull, from which monstrous cannons emerged. A section beneath the bow of the ship peeled back, right below where the figurehead of the Sleeping Lady lay. The gleaming tip of an elegant harpoon appeared, blended from a fusion of deep-earth metals and spirit-rich stones.

  Yu Chen marveled as the deadly weapons faded away from sight, sinking into the depths of the ship.

  For a moment, the Riverlord paused his work.

  The Sleeping Lady hung in the air, gleaming, metallic, perfect, fully a third larger than before, if not more. To the naked eye she looked nearly the same, but Yu Chen could feel the difference. It was as though the Riverlord had taken Elder Ming’s design and improved on it in a million tiny ways, creating something that was now beyond compare.

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  For a moment Yu Chen believed it was finished.

  Then the Riverlord clapped his hands, his brows furrowing as he looked towards the ship. More materials flew off the shelves, things stranger still than anything Yu Chen had seen before. Not Xue Lan, apparently. The young girl shouted in recognition as the materials exploded in midair, covering the ship in a shimmering haze.

  Yu Chen had no idea what material it was, but he didn’t have time to worry about that as a streak of fire roared to life. It swept about, racing along the side of the ship like a quill in the hand of a mad god, scrawling some infinitesimally small script across the hull of the vessel. Dense formations sprung into being as it passed, written in the same strange, looping patterns they’d seen upstairs.

  Archaic and advanced, all at the same time.

  The thrum of power around the ship only grew stronger as the raging fire went to work, weaving a trail of runes that controlled the energy flooding through the ship. Yu Chen might not be able to read them, but he could recognize the effects well enough. The cannons hummed to life and the ballista crackled with power, while a dense shield, many times more powerful than they’d possessed before, sprung into being.

  Then the fire raced below deck, writing scripts he couldn’t see, but covering every inch of the spiritual vessel with densely packed looping patterns that fed back into each other. Only then, with a low sigh, did the Riverlord come to a halt. He turned, bringing his full attention to bear on them.

  “It's over,” he said, closing his eyes with a sigh. For a single moment the oppressive aura surrounding him vanished. Despite his age and infamy, he looked like any other man who’d carried a burden for far too long, weary and yearning for rest. Then his eyes opened, two icy pools of wisdom deep enough to drown in.

  “It’s… unbelievable.” Xue Lan said from the side, her voice low and reverent.

  Yan Ziqi nodded, agreeing with her, and even Serbo au Serbo was clearly in awe. Sun Yuan was the only one who appeared unsure.

  “Is that, is that the Lady?” he asked, his voice hesitant.

  “Near enough.” The Riverlord replied, frowning at the boy. “You can feel her, can’t you? I never severed your bond.”

  “I can.” The young boy replied, running a hand through his hair. “It’s just…”

  “Beautiful.” Yan Ziqi breathed, repeating himself.

  The Riverlord snorted. “As is my wife.”

  He paused, looking around at them all, but it was Sun Yuan his gaze lingered on now.

  “She’ll like you I think.” he said, a slight smile playing at the edge of his lips. “We never had a chance with a child of our own.”

  Sun Yuan didn’t reply, looking uncertain. “What do you me-” he began, but the Riverlord cut him off, waving away his questions.

  “You're the one bonded to the ship, so she will be in your care,” he said, “as the price of your passage.”

  His brows furrowed together as he examined Sun Yuan, some thought crossing his mind.

  “You're responsible for her safety.” He said, his frown deepening. “I have built in safeguards; do not think you can tarnish her body like before and hope to live. If you ever allow something like that to happen again then your life will be forfeit.”

  Sun Yuan whirled around, looking at the rest of them in panic as he sputtered, protesting. “Wha-”, but the Riverlord cut him off again, His aura deepening until it pressed against them with a palpable weight.

  It’s only the actions of your friend that have stayed my hand this far,” he said coldly, nodding towards the barbarian standing nearby, “do not test my patience. It was his offer to carry my spirit from here that showed me the way to give my wife another chance at life.”

  He stepped forward, looming over Sun Yuan. The shadows in the room darkened as his menacing form moved closer to the boy. Yu Chen’s senses screamed, warning him of danger as something, some intangible thing just beyond his senses played around the edges of reality.

  Sun Yuan opened and closed his mouth, looking around him for help, but the Riverlord's aura had already fixed the rest of them in place, leaving them unable to move. Left with no choice, he gave up, hanging his head meekly as he accepted his role.

  The Riverlord observed him for a moment before nodding. Yu Chen gasped for air as the hold on them was released, allowing them to breathe freely once more, but Han Moxuan paid them no mind, raising his hand and gesturing upwards.

  The spirit of the woman appeared once more, rising out of the ground below.

  The man took a step, moving closer to her, near enough to touch. He raised a hand, brushing it against her cheek before dropping it and taking a step back. He said nothing, staring towards the ground. The way his hand balled up was the only sign of his pain. Yu Chen sighed in his heart. He’d never known love, nothing close to it, so he couldn’t imagine what the Riverlord felt in this moment. But in some way, he understood. He knew the lengths his father would go to if something ever happened to his mother. They were but mortals, what was that to a love that had lasted centuries, or perhaps millennia?

  Yu Chen didn’t know, and he didn’t plan on finding out. Love was the last thing on his mind, instead he watched as the Riverlord gestured, sending the spirit floating through the sky to rest within the figurehead of the Sleeping Lady. For a brief moment she hung in the air above them, superimposed over the top of the statue. Yu Chen hadn’t noticed it before, but the figurehead had been remade in her image. Every detail was now a perfect match of the sleeping spirit, from the curve of her lips to the way her hair fell in waves around her elegant form.

  The Riverlord began speaking, the light in the room flickering as his words tumbled over each other. It was a deep resonant language, one Yu Chen had never heard before. A low whine filled the room as he spoke, coming from the caged energy floating in the air far above them. Whatever he was doing was powerful, powerful enough to rattle that cage and fill the air with a thick energy that sent static was racing across Yu Chen's body.

  Energy continued to flood into the room until not only the hairs on the back of his arms rose up, but the hair on top of his head as well. The spirit flickered, once, then twice, then a thousand thousand times, moving so fast it almost appeared not to move at all. She shimmered, as the light in the room played across her form before slowly fading away, disappearing from view.

  For a long moment, they all held their breath, wondering if the Riverlord had succeeded in his mad plan. Nothing happened, the ship appearing much the same as it had before, and Yu Chen began to fear that everything had been for naught, that the Riverlord, despite all his power, had managed to fail.

  He blinked, and the Sleeping Lady did as well, opening her eyes as she awoke for the first time.