"Die, you backwater rat!" said the youth. He drew his gleaming steel sword with a sharp hiss, lunging forward with a ferocious, direct thrust aid straight at Roy’s chest.
"Do not move, Mother!" said Louisa. She quickly pulled Mary back as the crowd gasped and scrambled away from the sudden fight.
"Watch and learn, boy," said Roy. He did not panic; instead, he took a deep breath and drew his katana, instantly dropping into the exact fluid blocking stance that Ethan had drilled into him.
"What an amateur strike," said Roy. As the noble’s sword rushed inward, Roy executed a perfectly tid parry, letting the enemy’s heavy blade slide harmlessly down the sleek curve of his katana’s edge with a loud tallic screech.
"Impossible!" said the youth. His balance completely broken by the redirection, his montum forced him stumble forward.
"Too slow," said Roy. With a single, fluid motion, he spun half a turn on his heel, shifting his weight gracefully. Before the noble could even recover his footing, the cold, razor-sharp edge of Roy’s katana was pressed firmly against the side of the young man’s throat.
"Release the Young Master this instant, or you will die where you stand!" said the first heavily armored bodyguard. His hand slamd onto the hilt of his massive greatsword, his face twisting into a furious snarl as he prepared to draw.
"If you draw that weapon, there will be no rcy," said Ethan. In a fraction of a second, before the tal could even clear the scabbard, Ethan vanished from his spot and reappeared directly between the two towering guards, his piercing athyst eyes flashing with a cold, lethal light.
"How dare a filthy backwater peasant like you insult the great Red Lion family!" said the second guard.
"We will butcher your entire bloodline for this insolence!" said the first guard. Completely ignoring the warning, both n roared in unison and yanked their heavy swords free, swinging them downward in a vicious, coordinated execution strike.
"I gave you a choice," said Ethan. His hand moved like a flash of lightning, executing a single, blindingly fine crescent cut through the air.
"Ahhhhhhh!" said both bodyguards simultaneously. Their heavy weapons clattered uselessly onto the stone pavent, followed imdiately by four severed hands. Both n dropped heavily to their knees, clutching their bleeding wrists as blood poured onto the street like a rushing river.
"There will not be a second warning for anyone else," said Ethan. He wiped a microscopic drop of blood from his fingers, his dominant aura completely crushing the surrounding crowd into absolute silence.
"Should I finish this arrogant brat off, Master?" said Roy. He kept the edge of his katana pressed tightly against the trembling noble youth’s throat, his eyes bright with adrenaline.
"No, just teach the brat a proper lesson and let us go," said Ethan. "We have debts to settle before sunset."
"With pleasure," said Roy. He flashed a mischievous, confident smile and began to slowly pull his weapon away from the young man’s neck.
"You backwater trash will pay for this! My family will hunt you down!" said the young noble. He let out a sigh of relief as the blade left his skin, instantly believing the frontier cultivators were backing down out of fear of his clan’s na.
"You speak too much," said Roy. Before the youth could even finish his threat, Roy fluidly inverted his grip and swung the katana backward.
Smack!
"Ugh!" said the young noble. He flew backward onto the blood-stained pavent, clutching his shattered nose. Roy had struck him directly across the face with the blunt, unsharpened spine of the blade. For a proud swordsman, receiving a strike from the back of a weapon was the ultimate, soul-crushing humiliation, proving he wasn’t even worth a real cut.
"Let us move out, the air here is starting to sll foul," said Ethan. He turned his back on the groaning noble, walking away with a calm, dominant stride while Louisa and Mary followed close behind, completely unfazed by the sudden violence.
"That was incredibly satisfying," said Roy. He wiped the spine of his katana clean with a cloth, sheathing it with a crisp click before rushing to catch up with his master.
"Look at that magnificent boy," said an old evaluator. High above the plaza, standing on the open balcony of the outpost’s central tower, an elderly man stroke his long beard while smiling from ear to ear as he watched the group disappear into the crowded streets.
"Giving him that subtle warning was an absolute stroke of genius, Elder," said a young evaluator. He stood right beside the old man, a wide, thrilled grin splitting his face. "And look at that, the very first idiot from the core families already ran straight into his blade."
"That young man is exceptionally sharp," said the old evaluator. He leaned over the stone railing, his eyes reflecting the pool of blood left behind on the pavent. "The Brightsword family is legendary within this frontier sector, even if the rest of the cultivation world has forgotten their na. However, they have always been characterized by their hot-blooded nature."
"You knew exactly how he would react," said the young evaluator.
"Of course," said the old evaluator. "If I tell a boy like that that there will be trouble ahead, he won’t hold back for a single second. Did you feel that heavy pressure just now? That brat possesses an incredibly dense blood aura. He has definitely tasted human blood before. Soone without extensive experience on real, brutal battlefields cannot possibly generate such a suffocating, murderous intent."
"The main sect elites are in for a very rude awakening during these trials," said the young evaluator.
"They truly are," said the old evaluator. He let out a deep, booming laugh that echoed in the high tower. "Let the chaos begin."
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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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