Maeve stood beside the central training mat, her hands resting nervously against the hilt of her blade as she looked back at Ethan’s massive fra.
"Before we begin, we need to settle the ledger," said Maeve, her voice tight with caution. "How many sect points will this treatnt cost ?"
"Since you are the very first client to have the courage to step forward, the procedure will be entirely free of charge," said Ethan, his face a calm, unreadable mask. "I only require one simple compensation from your end. Once the treatnt is complete and your bottleneck is broken, you will assist by spreading the word to every single cultivator you know. You do not need to invent elaborate lies or praise my na; simply tell them exactly what you felt inside this courtyard."
Maeve blinked in utter astonishnt, her guarded posture softening just a fraction. Free? He wasn’t demanding a single point of her hard-earned savings. If he was truly a fraud, a scamr would at least try to extort an upfront deposit before fleeing the area.
"Sit down," said Ethan, his deep voice carrying an absolute, unquestionable authority. "And remove your outer robe. I require direct access to your bare skin to precisely trace and inspect the damaged ridian lines."
The air in the tranquil courtyard instantly turned freezing cold.
Maeve’s eyes widened into sharp slits, her knuckles turning completely white as her grip tightened violently around her katana. A dark wave of deep mistrust and raw suspicion flooded her mind. Remove my robe? A dangerous, feral instinct scread inside her chest. Was this entire grand display nothing more than a ticulously crafted trap? Was he just a disgusting, perverted degenerate who used the guise of a miraculous physician to systematically strip down and take absolute advantage of desperate junior sisters?
For a split second, her spiritual energy flared, her mind screaming at her to draw her steel and cleanly sever his head from his shoulders for the blatant disrespect.
Yet, as she looked into his piercing athyst eyes, she saw absolutely zero lust or stray desire. Ethan stared down at her with the cold, detached gaze of a supre executioner looking at a piece of wood on a chopping block. Her desperate, burning desire to break through her four-year stagnation and her raw curiosity to see if he actually possessed the legendary power of a frontier champion fiercely fought against her pride.
"If this is rely a sick, calculated ga to catch a glimpse of my body, I will personally ensure you never leave this peak alive," said Maeve, her voice trembling with a mixture of raw warning and intense vulnerability.
"Your body holds zero value to ," said Ethan, his voice flat and entirely unbothered by her threat. "Do it now, or leave."
Maeve let out a long, ragged breath. Gritting her teeth, she slowly unfastened the silver silk sash of her outer sect garnt. She let the heavy fabric slide down her shoulders, exposing the smooth, pale contours of her upper back and the delicate slope of her neck to the cool morning air. She sat down cross-legged on the central mat, her entire fra tense, ready to unleash a lethal strike at the first hint of an improper movent.
Ethan stepped forward without a single trace of hesitation. He extended his large, calloused hand, his long fingers pressing firmly against the bare skin right between her shoulder blades.
The mont his skin made contact with her flesh, a deep, primal tremor rippled through Maeve’s entire soul. It wasn’t the touch of a man; it felt as if a cold, primordial abyss had suddenly latched onto her spine.
Ethan calmly withdrew his fingers, his expression remaining as rigid and professional as stone despite the palpable tension vibrating through her flesh.
"The blockage is deep," said Ethan, his deep voice carrying an absolute gravity. "The node between your shoulders is rely a symptom. I will require direct access to the secondary channels on your torso to finish the diagnostic routing."
Maeve let out a shaky, submissive breath. Realizing she had already crossed the threshold of her own pride, she fully loosened her grip on the torn fabric. With a soft rustle, her inner tunic slid entirely down to her waist, pooling onto the grass. Because she was a dedicated martial practitioner who spent twelve hours a day swinging a steel blade, she wore absolutely no bras or restrictive undergarnts beneath her martial robes.
Her bare chest was fully exposed to the crisp morning air. Her breasts were firm and beautifully shaped, swaying slightly with her rapid, nervous breathing. In the cool breeze, her pale, pert pink nipples hardened into tight, inviting buds, shaking gently as if tempting the massive cultivator standing over her.
Ethan’s athyst eyes didn’t flicker with a single trace of vulgar hesitation. He stepped around her fra, kneeling directly in front of her. Without asking for further permission, he raised his hand and extended his index and middle fingers, pressing them firmly into the soft, yielding skin right at the base of her left breast, just inches below the swollen pink tip.
Maeve let out a sharp, involuntary gasp, her back arching instantly as a deep, agonizing wave of white-hot pain shot straight through the core of her column.
"Keep your breathing steady," said Ethan, his fingers sinking deeper into the soft flesh, manipulating the stagnant spiritual nodes beneath her breast. "Just as I suspected. You suffered a catastrophic internal rupture during a high-tier combat encounter years ago. Your Yingxiang ridian and the vital canal connecting this frontal node to the back of your spine were severely fractured. When your body attempted to heal itself without proper alchemical guidance, the tissue scarred horribly, permanently closing the primary gateway."
Maeve’s eyes widened in absolute, breathtaking shock, her initial defiance completely evaporating into pure reverence.
He was entirely correct. Every single word he had just spoken matched the exact, confidential diagnosis she had received from the Head Alchemist of the Grand dical Pavilion. But to obtain that answer from the pavilion, she had been forced to undergo two consecutive days of grueling, exhausting spiritual scans and invasive core examinations. Yet this man—this frontier champion—had uncovered the deepest, most agonizing secret of her cultivation path using nothing more than two bare fingers pressed against her back and the base of her exposed breast.
-------------------
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 ??
------
Sword mastery levels
Sword Intent.
Sword Aura.
User Comments
0 comments from readers