Outside the heavily warded training chamber, the sudden, violent atmospheric shift caused by a cultivator stepping into the Golden Core Realm had sent imdiate shockwaves rippling across the elder quarters.
Ethan stood in the center of the damp room, his muscles instantly locking down as his newly awakened spiritual senses picked up the terrifying reality outside. Decades—no, dozens of sharp, piercing auras were rapidly descending upon the pavilion like a swarm of hungry locusts. Senior Elders and elite enforcers from the upper peaks were closing in at a breakneck velocity.
Ethan’s knuckles turned white, his athyst eyes flaring with a dangerous, defensive light.
[Calm down, Ethan! Do not lose your composure or flare your aura!] Crul’s voice echoed sharply inside his mind space, panting heavily as he struggled to maintain the foreign matrix. [They are not coming for you. I successfully enmasked the primordial malice of your true breakthrough. If any supre master on this mountain forcefully scans your Dantian right now, they will only see the stable, pristine frequencies of a standard Spiritual Core ascension. I have aggressively reinforced the ancient Dragon Seal to completely lock away your Awakening. Act entirely normal!"]
Ethan let out a long, silent breath, forcing the violent, apocalyptic pressure of his newly awakened soul to sink deep beneath the golden runic barriers Crul had established. His tense shoulders relaxed, and his face instantly morphed back into a cold, completely unreadable mask of absolute indifference.
He glanced down at the stone table. Elder Hestia was completely dead to the world, her mature, naked body shivering with minor aftershocks as her newly ford Golden Core rhythmically vibrated within her lower abdon. Ethan briefly considered covering her up, but a cynical, predatory thought crossed his mind. Trying to clean the room or dress her now would only make it look like a cri scene if the guards burst through the doors. It would be far more difficult to explain a cover-up.
Instead, he decided to play the part of a flawless, unbothered professional.
He casually smoothed down the wrinkles of his white outer disciple robes, stepped toward the heavy ironwood doors, and unbarred them with a loud, deliberate thud. He threw the doors wide open, stepping out into the pavilion’s central courtyard as if he were simply taking a mundane break in his own backyard.
The mont his boots cleared the threshold, Ethan felt it. Dozens of hidden, piercing eyes were locked entirely onto his fra from the shadows of the black bamboo thicket and the rooftops. The sect’s elite shadow enforcers were fully deployed, weapon hilts cleared, watching his every move. But because they were technically concealed, Ethan maintained his stoic deanor, acting as if he hadn’t noticed a single microscopic trace of their presence.
He walked calmly over to a stone table in the courtyard where a crystal pitcher of mountain water rested. With agonizing slowness, he poured himself a full glass. He raised the cup to his lips, taking a long, casual drink, letting the cool liquid soothe his throat. Once finished, he poured a small handful of water into his palms and thoroughly washed his face, shaking the droplets from his hair with a perfectly serene, relaxed expression.
Through the wide-open doors of the training chamber, the hidden enforcers and descending elders used their advanced spiritual sight to peer inside—and the sight that t their eyes left their highly trained minds completely and utterly shattered.
The fierce, terrifying Elder Hestia—a woman known for her cold, rciless deanor and iron-fisted governance—was lying completely naked on a stone slab. Her voluptuous body was thoroughly drenched, resting in a massive, unmistakable puddle of thick, sweet bodily fluids that stained the entire table. Her wide hips were twitching rhythmically, her chest heavily heaving, and her head was thrown back with her mouth wide open, her pink tongue lolling out helplessly in a state of absolute, brain-lting ecstasy. Yet, despite the incredibly lewd, chaotic state of the room, her aura was undeniably vibrating with the radiant, golden pressure of a flawless [Golden Core Realm] breakthrough.
And right outside the door stood the towering outer rookie, calmly wiping his face with a towel, completely acting as if treating a Senior Elder until she squirted her way into ascension was the most normal, mundane Tuesday afternoon in the world.
The absolute, profound confusion radiating from the hidden eyes in the shadows was thick enough to cut with a blade.
The birth of a Golden Core Realm cultivator was a cause for massive, earth-shattering celebration across the entire peak. Within this isolated, harsh frontier zone, the hierarchy was absolute—only the Grand Branch Leader himself possessed a cultivation tier superior to the Golden Core. In these dangerous borderlands, a powerhouse of this caliber represented the absolute military deterrence needed to keep the heavily armored escorts of the rival *Soaring Dragon Army* completely at bay, effectively preventing any sudden, unexpected incursions into the sect’s territory.
But as the hidden elders and shadow enforcers stared into the damp chamber, a single, burning question consud their shattered minds.
If that massive, radiant explosion of energy was indeed Elder Hestia’s divine ascension... what in the absolute hell had that young man just done to her?
Whispered rumors of the legendary and forbidden path of Dual Cultivation imdiately flashed through their thoughts. They had all read ancient records of such esoteric arts, but according to every known text, those unholy techniques could only brutally rob a partner’s vitality, leaving the victim a withered, decaying husk. Yet, as they looked at the towering rookie standing in the courtyard, Ethan Brightsword didn’t look a single bit weakened or drained. On the contrary, his physical fra was practically bursting with a vibrant, fiercely alive energy, his newly ascended Spiritual Core humming with an almost terrifying density.
High above the pavilion, hidden within the swirling mountain clouds, a massive, oppressive silhouette materialized.
The Grand Branch Leader stood with his hands tucked deep into his long robes, his sharp, narrow eyes peering through the dense mist as he stared directly at the unbothered youth wiping his face below. A deep frown creased his forehead as his overwhelming consciousness locked onto the scene.
"What the absolute demons did this brat just accomplish...?"
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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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Sword mastery levels
Sword Intent.
Sword Aura.
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