Several days had passed since the explosive night at the capital auction, and for Ethan, every single hour had been a living hell. The moment they returned to the manor, the Captain hadn’t offered congratulations for their successful acquisition; instead, he had thrown Ethan directly into a second round of specialized torture, viciously disguised as "pre-departure conditioning."

They had pushed his body and soul so far past their limits that by the final night, he was a hollow, twitching wreck on the floor. Only then did the Captain feed him a high-grade Recovery Pill, specifically engineered to heal his internal pathways while leaving his outer appearance looking like a battered, desperate peasant. Even if a high-level cultivator scanned his soul right now, all they would see was a deeply exhausted, weak-willed boy. The facade was flawless.

To ensure his true origin was completely untraceable, the White Unicorns had sent him through a labyrinth of interconnected teleportation matrices across the realm. At the final checkpoint, they triggered a deliberate, localized mana failure, entirely wiping the log data of his previous transits. As far as the kingdom’s bureaucracy was concerned, Ethan was dead. He was a ghost.

Now, Ethan walked along the dusty perimeter road of the frontier town designated by the Princess. His clothes were ragged and covered in grime, and his skin was pale from the intense strain of his training. Slung across his back by a cheap, frayed rope was the blackened piece of scrap metal he had won at the auction. He carried no coin—only a meager handful of low-quality Spirit Stones, barely enough to buy a stale loaf of bread.

"Crul... give me a sweep. What’s the status of this city?" Ethan thought.

["Master, despite your pathetic appearance, I can detect multiple subtle auras scanning the perimeter from a distance"] Crul’s voice resonated inside his mind, sharper than usual. ["The local authorities and the resident sects are far more paranoid than the Princess anticipated. We need to stick strictly to the script. Do not look up, do not make eye contact, and do not change your stride."]

"Understood," Ethan replied mentally, dragging his feet through the dirt. "I’ll suppress my Sword Intent even deeper. They won’t find a thing." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

That Sword Intent was the very reason he was in this ruined state. During the brutal final days of his training, when his body was broken and Crul had systematically shut down his assistance protocols to force a breakthrough, Ethan had been driven into a corner. Facing a lethal combination attack from three White Unicorn guards, something inside him had snapped.

Drawing upon the deep, ancient fragments of the Sword Ancestor’s legacy buried in his consciousness, Ethan had let out a raw, unrefined burst of Sword Intent. The invisible, razor-sharp aura had sliced through the specialized armor of the lead guard, nearly cleaving the elite soldier in two. If the Captain hadn’t stepped in with the speed of lightning to deflect the residual energy and heal the man, the guard would have died on the spot.

Instead of praising him for achieving a legendary breakthrough at the Core Awakening stage, the Captain’s eyes had gone cold. He had immediately stripped Ethan of his remaining premium rations, shortened his recovery time, and sent him out into the world with less than the bare minimum.

"If you’re a genius, you don’t need my help to survive," the Captain had told him before pushing him into the teleportation array. "A true sword is forged by hammering the iron, not by wiping away its sweat."

Ethan gripped the frayed rope of his blackened blade, a dark smile forming inside his mind. The Captain had wanted to break him, to make him hungry enough to do anything to survive. Well, it had worked. He was starving, he was exhausted, and he was surrounded by hidden eyes.

Ethan arrived at the outer sector of the town, his boots caked in thick, gray dust. Hidden beneath his tattered tunic, the white pearl given to him by the Princess rested against his collarbone. The artifact was supposed to signal his presence to her deep-cover spies within the Azure Mist Province, but relying solely on that mechanism was a fool’s dream. He had been intentionally deployed several weeks ahead of schedule to minimize any sudden spike in local surveillance, which meant he was entirely on his own until contact was established.

He dragged his feet down a narrow alley until he reached a weathered wooden structure with a faded sign hanging by a single chain: The Traveler’s Rest Inn.

The heavy wooden door groaned as he pushed it open. Inside, a wave of noise, stale ale, and the sharp scent of roasted meat hit his senses. For a brief second, a multitude of sharp, hardened eyes darted toward the entrance. Cultivators, mercenaries, and local thugs sized him up instantly. However, the moment their gazes swept over his tangled hair, his dirt-smeared face, and the unrefined, blackened rod of iron wrapped in cheap twine on his back, they dismissed him. He was completely ignored, categorized as just another displaced refugee fleeing the border conflicts.

Ethan squeezed past a row of rowdy mercenaries and approached the scarred wooden bar counter. He cleared his throat, forcing his voice to sound weak and trembling. "Excuse me... how much for a hot plate of food?"

A young woman with a tired face looked up from wiping the counter, her eyes taking in his pathetic condition. "A standard ration of meat and broth is twelve low-grade Spirit Stones, traveler."

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, frayed leather pouch. He deliberately emptied the contents onto his palm, counting out a few dull, cracked crystals with trembling fingers. "I... I only have eight small stones left. Could you please give me whatever that can buy? Anything at all?"

The young woman looked at the meager handful of stones, then back at Ethan’s pale face. A flicker of genuine pity crossed her features. Before she could speak, she slipped a clean wooden bowl onto the counter. "It’s fine," she whispered softly. "Keep your stones for now. You can just pay me back later when you find work—"

"Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!" a harsh, booming voice roared from the kitchen behind the bar.

-------------------

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

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

Prime 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 ??