Deep within the Twilight Mountain Range, patches of lingering snow dotted the forest floor, and the chill of early spring still enveloped the primeval woods.

At the foot of a leeward slope, in a cave half-hidden by withered branches and snowdrifts, a brown bear was stirring from its long hibernation.

Although the magnificent brown bear had grown leaner over the winter, its muscles were still solid and powerful.

It slowly opened its amber eyes, pupils adjusting quickly in the dim light.

A burning hunger gnawed at its stomach, awakening its instincts as an apex predator.

It deftly pawed away the snow and withered branches at the cave’s entrance, its massive body squeezing nimbly out of the opening.

Despite its weight loss, its nearly three-meter length still made it look imposing.

It took a deep breath of the crisp forest air, and its keen sense of smell immediately went to work, searching for the scent of any possible prey.

Just then, a strange scent caught its attention.

It wasn’t the scent of any of the forest dwellers it knew, but a foreign one, deeply etched in its memory.

It was the creature called human!

In its experience, some of these creatures were strong enough to drive it away, while others were weak enough to become its meal.

The brown bear immediately went on high alert, muscles tensing as it looked in the direction of the scent.

About fifty paces away, amidst a grove of white birches, a figure clad in deep blue Knight’s Armor stood silently.

The person stood tall and straight, calmly watching it.

The brown bear let out a low growl, a sound filled with menace.

It reared up on its hind legs, revealing the signature crescent-shaped white patch on its chest. Its nearly five-meter-tall body exuded an immense sense of pressure.

As the overlord of this territory, it would not tolerate any threats.

Yet the figure showed no sign of backing down.

A breeze lifted the deep blue fabric of his Knight’s Armor, revealing an empty scabbard at his waist.

The brown bear watched with growing agitation, unable to gauge the human’s strength.

The man neither exuded a fearsome aura nor showed any sign of cowardice.

Hunger and territorial instinct compelled it to act.

It let out a deafening roar, its powerful hind legs tensing as it prepared to lunge at the intruder.

But in that instant, the brown bear froze.

An instinct passed down from its ancestors made it sense an unprecedented danger.

The human was emitting a hair-raising aura, as if it were not facing ordinary prey, but some kind of being beyond its comprehension.

The brown bear’s amber pupils contracted sharply.

It didn’t even see what happened. A Dark Gold Longsword had appeared out of nowhere, hovering bizarrely to the figure’s right, its tip aimed directly at the bear.

The Longsword had no support, hanging in mid-air in defiance of all logic, its blade shimmering with a faint, Dark Gold sheen.

This was completely beyond the brown bear’s realm of understanding.

It let out a confused growl, its front paws scratching restlessly at the ground.

Though ravenously hungry, its survival instincts began to sound the alarm. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

In the instant it hesitated, the hovering Longsword suddenly emitted a clear, high-pitched hum.

WHOOSH!

The blade shot forward with a speed too fast for it to react, piercing its heart.

The brown bear felt the strength rapidly draining from its body as its vision began to blur.

It heard steady footsteps approaching, followed by a calm voice:

"Another Exotic Beast with an Extraordinary bloodline. A normal brown bear could never stand nearly five meters tall. As expected, the depths of the Twilight Mountain Range are full of them."

Through its dimming vision, the brown bear saw the figure in deep blue approaching.

Its survival instinct drove it to muster its last ounce of strength for a counterattack—

WHOOSH!

The Flying Sword flashed again, piercing through its skull.

The brown bear’s final consciousness dissipated in a spray of blood. Its massive body crashed to the ground, staining the snow a shocking crimson.

Murphy stepped forward slowly, gazing at the fallen brown bear. The Flying Sword traced an arc through the air and silently returned to the scabbard at his waist.

’So, the Flying Sword does have a speed limit—only a hundred meters per second,’ Murphy mused.

As a Spiritual Material that existed between the observable and the unobservable, the Flying Sword’s movement was completely unaffected by aerodynamics.

It produced no sonic boom and experienced no air resistance, as if traveling through a vacuum.

In fact, to be precise, the flight speed of any Dharma Artifact belonging to a Cultivator was unaffected by its shape, no matter how bizarre.

It only broke from this peculiar state and encountered resistance at the very moment it interacted with the physical world.

The most important factor influencing a Dharma Artifact’s speed was the Cultivator’s own Mana intensity.

And the formula for Mana intensity was:

Mana Intensity = Qi + Magic Power Quality.

After ten years of arduous cultivation, his Qi had reached 1.8, and his base Magic Power Quality had also risen to 1.8.

He was only 0.2 away from reaching the realm of First-Grade Mana.

His Black Light Mana, however, remained unchanged at 2.9.

As for the formula for a Dharma Artifact’s power:

Dharma Artifact Power = Qi + Magic Power Quality + Artifact Quality.

The Artifact Quality of the Flying Sword he had meticulously refined was 1.5.

In other words, his current base damage was 1.8 + 1.8 + 1.5 = 5.1.

If he were to use his Black Light Mana, the power would increase to 1.8 + 2.9 + 1.5 = 6.2.

Although this value already surpassed the 4 of a peak Wizard Apprentice, it was still a far cry from the 7 of an Official Wizard.

Each point represented a twofold difference in power; two points, a fourfold difference; and three points, an eightfold difference.

The power of an Official Wizard was truly that terrifying.

That was why Saren had said back then that Murphy would be no match for an Official Wizard, no matter what.

And the stronger the Mana intensity, the more precise the control over the Dharma Artifact, and the faster its flight speed.

It was like controlling a puppet with invisible strings; the strength of the strings and the skill of the puppeteer determined how fast and precise the puppet’s movements could be.

Second was the Dao Pattern within the Dharma Artifact.

A Dao Pattern was a special runic system unique to Spiritual Materials, like an atomic structure carved into the Dharma Artifact’s interior.

Arranging the same basic Dao Patterns in different combinations could produce vastly different effects.

Furthermore, when different types of Dao Patterns were combined, like atoms forming molecules, they could give rise to entirely new properties.

This multi-layered, progressive structure formed the unique system of Dao Patterns.

Murphy had inscribed a meticulously designed arrangement of the "Wind Chasing Dao Pattern" into his Flying Sword.

This Dao Pattern didn’t directly generate thrust behind the Flying Sword. Instead, it optimized the flow efficiency of Mana within the blade, allowing every bit of Mana to be more effectively converted into the sword’s kinetic energy.

It was like digging new tributaries in a river channel to make the water distribution more rational and the overall flow smoother.

A Dao Pattern was useless when inscribed on observable matter; it only worked on Spiritual Materials and unobservable matter.

Murphy had verified this characteristic countless times.

He had once tried carving a Dao Pattern into ordinary steel, but the markings were just like any other engraving, with no special effects whatsoever.

Only on a Spiritual Material like Refined Gold could the Dao Pattern be activated, initiating a flow of Energy and producing its special effect.

Murphy circulated the Mana in his body, and the Flying Sword left its scabbard once more, circling slowly around him.

He carefully sensed the path of the Mana flowing through the Dao Pattern.

Each line of the pattern resonated at a specific frequency, converting his Mana into motive force for the Flying Sword.

One hundred meters per second—that was the maximum speed Murphy’s current Mana could support.

He knew full well that while this speed was incredible in the eyes of mortals, it was merely entry-level for a true Cultivator.

The mighty figures recorded in *Celestial Craftsmanship* had Dharma Artifacts that could cross vast distances in an instant; those were the true methods of an Immortal Family.

Murphy recalled his Flying Sword and cast his gaze deeper into the Twilight Mountain Range.

More Exotic Beasts with Extraordinary bloodlines were hidden there.

According to the knowledge in *Celestial Craftsmanship*, the blood, bones, or organs of certain special Exotic Beasts could indeed be refined to produce corresponding Spiritual Materials, which were helpful in crafting Dharma Artifacts.

However, the process of harvesting and refining these Spiritual Materials was fraught with risk, and the rewards were inconsistent.

Murphy’s main purpose for coming here today had been to test the Flying Sword’s performance in actual combat.

Now that his goal was accomplished, he had no intention of staying any longer.

Before leaving, Murphy collected some tissue samples from the brown bear.

He took out a special glass vial and carefully collected the bear’s gallbladder and the essence blood from its heart.

Afterward, a faint, eerie green light flickered at Murphy’s fingertips, and the surrounding air began to ripple.

Wisps of pale green mist rose from the ground, coiling around the brown bear’s carcass like living tentacles.

Wherever the mist passed, flesh and bone dissolved at a visible rate with a faint SIZZLING sound. In just a moment, the entire bear carcass had turned to green smoke and vanished, not leaving even a single trace behind.

Having done all this, Murphy turned and left.

The figure in deep blue soon disappeared into the dense forest, leaving only the gentle breeze rustling through the trees, as if nothing had ever happened here.

...

「One month later.」

Murphy and Aurora were enjoying lunch, the gentle clinking of silver cutlery against porcelain plates creating a pleasant sound.

"The roasted venison is cooked to perfection today." Aurora elegantly cut a small piece of meat and looked up at Murphy. "I heard you went to inspect the dam again this morning?"

Just as Murphy was about to answer, there was a soft knock on the dining room door.

The old butler, Bernard, walked in slowly, his silver hair glowing softly in the sunlight.

"Sir, Madam," Bernard bowed slightly. "Her Highness Princess Elizabeth has come to visit again. She is currently waiting in the drawing room."

Aurora’s knife paused for a moment, and she exchanged a look with Murphy.

She gently set down her silverware, the snow-white napkin lingering at her fingertips for a moment.

"This Princess is rather persistent," Aurora said, her voice still composed. "It’s been less than a month since her last visit."

Murphy wiped his mouth, a flicker of contemplation in his dark eyes.

He remembered the Princess leaving with tears in her eyes last time and hadn’t expected her to visit again so soon.

"Please ask the Princess to wait a moment," Murphy said to the butler, then turned to Aurora. "What do you think she’s here for this time?"

Aurora shook her head gently, her golden hair shimmering like honey in the sunlight. "What else could it be?" She gave Murphy a meaningful look, the corners of her lips curling into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. "Speaking of which, Eleanor’s birthday is in a few days."

Murphy’s movements clearly faltered. He unconsciously rubbed the rim of his wine glass, a flicker of barely concealed awkwardness on his face.

Seeing this, Aurora’s tone was gentle yet firm. "Remember to take the gift I prepared."

"Alright..." Murphy fell silent for a moment before finally replying.

He stood up and instructed the butler, "Have the Princess wait in the drawing room. I’ll be there shortly."

"Yes, Sir." Bernard bowed and retreated, his footsteps fading into the distance.