Five days later, Sato and his group slip into Saisei City one by one, blending into the crowd as they regroup anonymously.
By the ti they arrive, the plan to exterminate the Cui family is already a failure.
During the last monts of the battle, one of the Cui clan advanced to the Ascension Realm, creating another Ascension-level half-yao and tipping the scales in their favour.
Despite this, Sato’s side had been winning until then; they had the strength to overpower cultivators of the sa realm equipped only with external treasures.
Yet, with this new Ascension Realm mber, several Cui escaped, ruining Sato’s plan to wipe them out entirely.
That night, Sato and his people gather at their designated eting spot to drink in silence and numb their disappointnt.
A few minutes later, the official joins them and reports that his attempt to kill Cui Ying, the last Cui in Saisei City, failed as well.
He adds that soone must have been secretly protecting Cui Ying.
The room falls silent as everyone’s thoughts darken with worry and unease.
They planned to eradicate the Cui clan, loot all their treasure, and buy up their properties once the governnt nationalised them.
Although they successfully raided the outer treasuries, they never reached the clan’s inner vaults.
More troubling, as long as Cui Ying and other Cui family mbers remain alive, the clan cannot be declared extinct, and the governnt cannot nationalise their assets.
Sato sighs and says he will consult his master to find whoever is shielding Cui Ying.
He tells the group to return ho and lie low for the ti being.
Sato reminds them that even without acquiring the Cui property, they have already profited from the looted treasures.
With that, Sato forces a smile, steps out of the room, and as soon as the door shuts behind him, his hands clench into fists and the smile disappears.
He quickly departs the Silver Moon Pavilion beneath the night sky and walks in silence.
After so ti, he reaches one of the towers, pushes the door open, and enters.
Inside the tower, a chill bites into his skin, making him shiver as he stands still, waiting.
Footsteps echo through the dim halls, and a figure soon erges.
The figure looks pale as a corpse with no trace of vitality, yet his bright eyes reveal he is very much alive.
Seeing him, Sato bows deeply and says, “Elder brother, I want to see the teacher.”
His elder brother’s lips do not move, but a voice rings out, “Master is busy with an experint and has shut himself away. Tell what you need him for.”
Sato quickly explains that so Cui family mbers escaped, and Cui Ying in the city is protected by soone unknown.
His elder brother responds, “I’ll see what I can do. You may leave now—remaining here will drain your vitality.”
Sato nods and hastens out of the tower, and as the door closes behind him, he exhales in relief and draws in the surrounding energy to recover the vitality he lost inside.
The tower belongs to the Decay Master, who has turned the concept of Decay into a rule, and all who enter lose their vitality every passing minute while inside.
His elder brother can endure the tower’s power because he practises a secret technique created by their teacher.
Sato himself was given the technique too, but he never dared to practise it.
The teacher had devised it after gaining inspiration from the Transformation technique, calling it the Corpse Transformation technique, which could be cultivated up to the True Core Realm.
Yet the technique’s greatest price is losing all joy of life, which Sato cannot accept.
He sighs quietly and walks away into the dark.
----
rin leans back in his chair in the lab, eyes closed as he runs through the Water Python transformation from start to finish in his ntal scene, mastering it entirely without lifting a finger in reality.
The process is easy for him because the Water Python’s life origin is highly similar to the Red Jade Python's.
He’s already perfected the Red Jade Python’s transformation, so only the Water Python’s unique ability requires his attention.
With his mastery of water energy from lizard beasts, it takes him only a day to master the ability, and two days total to master the Water Python’s transformation.
Having perfected three snake-type beasts’ transformation techniques, rin’s goal is to master at least seventy per cent of all snake-type beasts.
From these, he will draw inspiration to create a Level Three peak Snake-Dragon transformation technique.
He’s already created a Level Three peak Lizard-Dragon transformation technique.
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Once the Snake-Dragon technique is complete, he plans to move on to scaled water beasts and craft a Level Three peak Fish-Dragon transformation technique.
Combining all three will allow him to finally produce a Level Four Dragon transformation technique, or so he wishes.
More than anything, rin wishes he could leave the academy to roam the world and hunt every snake-type beast himself.
But he cannot, as obligations keep him where he is.
He rises and walks to one side of his lab, where countless glass cages house different snakes.
He opens the cage of an Ice Poison Cobra and lets the snake strike him.
Its fangs snap against his skin without leaving a scratch, and the cobra writhes in pain.
rin picks it up calmly and carries it to his experintal table.
This is why he stays at the academy — every kind of snake beast is sent to him, and he never needs to leave his research.
The next day, Nora and Kuro stand among the crowd, watching the ranking fight in the arena.
Esil, ranked 86th, faces Maze, ranked 80th, and she’s clearly winning.
Her upper body and arms have fully transford according to the lizard body technique.
Every one of Maze’s spell attacks is blocked by the mist swirling around Esil, which solidifies into a water shield whenever sothing cos too close.
Finally, Esil defeats Maze with a powerful blow that knocks him out of the arena.
Kuro hears a classmate say, “Kuro, your elder brother is the Dragon Master — why don’t you just learn the transformation technique from him? You could easily make it into the top 10.”
Kuro stays silent and simply walks away as it’s ti for the next class.
After all the lessons end, Nora and Kuro find themselves facing each other at the mouth of the corridor leading to rin’s lab.
They smile at one another and head to their elder brother’s lab together.
Ignoring the guards hidden in the halls, they knock on the lab’s door.
A few monts pass before the door automatically opens, allowing them inside.
They enter and see rin standing calmly behind an experintal table.
On the table lies the corpse of a snake, but they hardly pay it any attention.
Nora rushes over and hugs him.
After greeting his brother and sister, rin asks, “Why have you both co to see ?”
Nora looks up and grins, “Brother, you don’t like us visiting you?”
rin smiles faintly. “Why wouldn’t I like my lovely sister coming to see ? But I can sense you two want sothing.”
Nora leans closer and says, “Brother, among your thirty students, ten have already entered the academy ranking.”
rin tilts his head. “So, you want to learn the transformation technique, too.”
Nora nods eagerly like a chicken pecking rice, her bangs bouncing. “Yes, brother! Can I?”
rin doesn’t answer her directly and turns to Kuro. “And you? The sa reason?”
Kuro nods.
Nora glances at him and asks, “You’re already ranked 15. Why do you need the transformation technique?”
Kuro answers calmly, “I want to enter the top ten, maybe even take first place before I graduate. Plus, the youth competition is coming.”
rin nods and asks, “Then tell — how well do you two understand the human body?”
He questions them thoroughly about the bones, muscles, ridians, and vital points.
At first they answer confidently, but as the questions grow more detailed and complex, they begin to hesitate, then give up entirely.
rin says calmly, “If you want to learn the transformation technique from , then first, you must truly understand the human body.”
They both look dejected.
Nora pouts, eyes turning misty as she looks up at him.
“Brother, it would take months to learn all that knowledge,” she whines. “Can’t you help us?”
rin sighs. “How can I help you?”
Nora’s face brightens. “Brother, I heard you can transfer knowledge directly into soone’s mind. Why don’t you give it to us that way?”
rin looks at them for a mont and finally relents. “Alright.”
Nora cheers, and Kuro allows himself a small smile.
Nora clasps her hands together. “Brother, what do we have to do?”
rin waves his hand toward the chairs. “Go sit down and close your eyes.”
They do as instructed.
rin then divides his knowledge of the human body into three parts and sends them the first part, enough to help them master the transformation technique up to the second stage.
He streams that knowledge into their minds.
Both slump unconscious as the information floods in.
rin watches them thoughtfully.
He had already decided he would not let them learn the lizard, snake, or fish techniques.
If they followed those paths, they’d never grow beyond his shadow — and that wouldn’t help him.
His Rule of Vitality is only at 0.19%, and reaching 10% will take a long ti.
He needs help, and for that, they must cultivate techniques outside of his existing lineage.
Several minutes pass before they finally stir.
They wake up groaning, hands pressing against their temples as waves of pain subside.
rin infuses a trace of vitality energy into them to soothe the headache.
When they recover, rin looks at them seriously and asks, “What beast do you want to transform into?”
Both look puzzled.
Nora blinks. “You an… we can choose a different beast? Not the Lizard Body transformation technique?”
rin nods.
Nora brightens and begins listing one beast after another, her excitent evident.
Kuro interrupts gently, “You have to choose one beast.”
Nora’s face falls.
She looks at rin and says, “Brother, we have to choose only one?”
rin replies, “At the beginning, yes — you must master one transformation first. Once you do, you can add other beasts and eventually combine them.”
Nora thinks for a mont and says, “Then I choose Gryphon.”
rin answers, “All Gryphons are at least level two beasts. To reach that stage, you must first master a level one beast — either a lion-type or eagle-type.”
Nora nods slowly, a thoughtful expression on her face.
rin then looks to Kuro.
Kuro ets his gaze. “Brother, can I choose to transform into an Iron Ant?”
rin smiles faintly. “That will be a challenge, but yes — why not?”
He continues, “Both of you take one of my n to the market. Buy the beast you intend to practice with and co back tomorrow after class.”
They nod and rise to leave.
As they reach the door, a knock sounds.
rin, already aware of who it is, opens the door with a thought.
Yanli steps inside, graceful and lovely as always.
Seeing her, Nora grins. “Sister-in-law.”
Yanli smiles warmly. “I’m not married to your brother yet.”
Nora giggles. “It doesn’t matter — there are only five months left.”
rin waves them off.
Nora throws him a playful look before she and Kuro slip out, the door closing behind them.
rin’s gaze settles calmly on Yanli.
He arches a brow and asks, “Why are you here?”
Yanli replies, “After advancing to the Ascending Realm, my practice slowed.”
rin says, “The academy now offers the practice for half-yao to control their bloodline. It can be exchanged with rit.”
Yanli raises her hand, and a faint mist of blood gathers in her palm.
rin observes. “So, you’ve already mastered the Blood Control Technique.”
Yanli answers, “Xialing helped .”
rin tilts his head. “Xialing is here in the city. She hasn’t co to see .”
Yanli says, “She isn’t here, but we exchange letters.”
rin remarks, “I didn’t think you two were friends.”
Yanli replies, “We’re not. But she’s friends with Asuna, and Asuna and I are friends. Asuna helped get Vitality Fruits through her.”
rin asks, “When did you beco friends with Asuna?”
Yanli says, “Four years ago, when we t at your ho.”
Yanli asks, “And when are you going to marry Asuna?”
rin looks at her calmly. “I thought won don’t like sharing their man.”
Yanli replies, “My thoughts don’t matter to you. Besides, Asuna is my friend. If you don’t marry her, she’ll never marry anyone.”
rin nods. “Then a year after ours.”
Yanli smiles. “I’ll send her a letter telling her that.”
rin asks, “Is that why you ca?”
Yanli shakes her head. “No. I heard you were creating a technique for half-yao to beco spiritualists.”
rin’s thoughts drift to the technique. Its concept is clear; all that’s left is soone strong enough to practice it. Yanli is perfect — with her strength and his support, it will be safe.
He says, “Let’s go downstairs.”
And he turns, already walking.
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