The rest of the evening passed without any further disturbances. Once the heavy emotions of the oath settled, Roy rose from the floor, his face flushed with wine and determination. He gave a respectful bow toward Ethan, squeezed his sister’s shoulder, and bade them goodnight, eager to return to his room to ditate and prepare his mind for the trials ahead.
Mary stood up shortly after, a wide, thoroughly pleased smile gracing her features as she began to gather her things.
"Well, I believe it is ti for this old woman to make herself scarce," Mary said with a playful wink, casting a highly aningful look at the young couple. "I’ll head over to the adjoining room and leave you two to enjoy so well-deserved privacy. I certainly have no intention of becoming a ddleso, intrusive mother-in-law on your very first night."
Ethan let out a soft, genuine chuckle, leaning back in his chair with an easy, relaxed posture. "You could never be ddleso, Sister Mary. To be honest, you are the best mother-in-law a man could ask for. Your wisdom is what kept this family together on the frontier."
Mary laughed heartily at the flattery, her cheeks turning a light pink with pride. "Oh, stop it, you smooth-talking devil! Just take care of my girl."
With a final, affectionate glance, Mary glided out of the suite, closing the heavy wooden door firmly behind her. The click of the lock echoed through the room like a definitive gavel, instantly plunging the space into an absolute, suffocating silence.
The mont they were completely alone, the fragile mask Louisa had been wearing shattered. Her entire fra began to tremble violently, her fingers gripping the fabric of her skirt so tightly her knuckles turned a ghostly white. She stared fixedly at the empty table, her breath shallow and uneven, completely paralyzed by the shifting reality of her situation.
Ethan watched her for a quiet mont. He stood up smoothly, his bare, powerful chest catching the flickering amber glow of the dying candles as he walked over and sat down in the chair directly beside her.
"Am I really that terrifying to you, Louisa?" Ethan asked softly.
Louisa didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her throat felt completely constricted, clamped shut by a heavy, invisible weight. The sheer aura radiating from him—the mory of the abyssal void devouring the battlefield, combined with the raw, masculine heat of his physical presence—left her feeling utterly oppressed, trapped in a cage of her own making.
Seeing her frozen state, Ethan let out a quiet, tranquil sigh. He reached out, his large hand hovering near hers for a second before he gently stood back up, giving her space to breathe.
"Rest easy," Ethan murmured, his voice steady and reassuring. "No one in this room will ever force you into anything you do not desire. I give you my absolute promise on that. I am going to practice my forms for a while; I will be out on the terrace."
Louisa still didn’t offer a response, her mind too chaotic to process the sudden drop in tension.
Ethan turned away and walked toward the heavy glass doors leading to the balcony. Outside, a small, open-air terrace overlooked the sprawling, jagged landscape of the frontier citadel. The night air was crisp and biting, cutting through the humid heat of the lower districts, and the view from the top floor offered an unobstructed glimpse of the thousands of flickering torches and spiritual lanterns illuminating the dark streets below.
Drawing his plain iron blade, Ethan stepped into the center of the terrace. He closed his eyes, took a deep, asured breath, and began to move.
His movents were aggressively slow. He didn’t execute the explosive, shielding speed he used in mortal combat; Instead, he drifted through the basic stances with deliberate precision, practicing his forms under the silver moonlight. As he moved, a faint, translucent blue aura began to coat the steel of his sword. The Sword Intent danced along the edge like a flickering fla, but it was visibly unstable, hissing and popping against the night air as Ethan struggled to smooth out the jagged edges of his depleted spiritual reserves.
Inside the suite, Louisa finally found the strength to move her legs. She quietly stood up, intending to find a blanket or a place to hide her face, but as she passed the large glass doors, her gaze was instinctively drawn toward the balcony.
She stopped in her tracks, watching him through the glass.
Ethan moved like a beautiful, bloodthirsty ghost under the moon, his sculpted muscles flexing with every slow extension of his blade. The scene was breathtaking, yet her heart remained locked in a tight, confusing knot. Her mind raced with a torrent of unanswerable questions.
What was she to him now? Was she a hostage ant to ensure her family’s silence? Was she rely a slave bound by a terrifying secret? Or was she truly his woman, protected by the shadow of a monster? She stood in the darkness of the room, completely lost, staring at the enigmatic youth who held her entire destiny in the palm of his hand.
Ethan paused his blade mid-air, the flickering blue aura dissolving back into the steel with a quiet, hollow hiss. He wiped a thin layer of cold sweat from his forehead, looking up at the silver moon. He had spent hours out on the crisp, open-air terrace, forcing his empty ridians to slowly circulate the ambient spiritual energy, gradually stabilizing his shattered core.
Sheathing his plain iron sword with a faint click, Ethan turned and slid the heavy glass doors open, stepping back into the warm, candle-lit quiet of the suite.
Louisa, who had been standing frozen in the shadows of the room for hours, watching his every movent through the glass, flinched violently the exact second he stepped inside. The mont her wide, anxious eyes t his athyst gaze, a fresh wave of panic seized her. Before he could even utter a single word, she spun on her heel, her skirt rustling loudly as she fled blindly down the corridor, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her.
Ethan stood completely alone in the center of the dark dining area, watching the empty hallway as the echoing sound of her door faded into the night. He let out a long, heavy sigh, his shoulders dropping slightly as a trace of genuine weariness crossed his handso features.
"I didn’t want things to turn out this way," Ethan thought, a tight, bitter frown twisting his lips.
He truly hadn’t intended to beco an object of absolute terror to the girl who had looked at him with such innocent devotion just hours prior. But out here on the brutal, lawless frontier, survival left absolutely no room for sentintality. Mary, Roy, and Louisa were already directly, inextricably linked to his identity and his actions. If he allowed her to run away now, or if he tried to distance himself from them, their sudden movents or her inevitable disappearance would imdiately alert every sword pavilion mber.
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From this mont forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.
Note: These are only the ranks ntioned so far to avoid spoilers.
Body Refinent Realm
Skin Refinent / Bone Refinent / Organ Refinent
Spiritual Gathering Realm
Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation
Spiritual Core Realm
Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)
Spiritual Soul Realm
Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion
Golden Core Realm
Pri Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction
Spiritual Sea Realm
Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??
Dao Manifestation Realm
Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??
Spiritual Transcendence
Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??
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