Chapter 538: Chapter 538: Shadows of the Brilliant Sword

When the front door clicked open, Mary and Louisa rushed into the main room, their faces pale with anxiety. Ethan stepped over the threshold with his characteristic calm, effortlessly handing the heavy sacks of premium meat and fresh greens to the stunned mother.

"Everything is perfectly fine now, Sister Mary," Ethan said, his voice returning to its gentle, reassuring tone. "You don’t need to worry about a thing. It has all been thoroughly settled."

Behind him, Roy silently drifted toward his bedroom. The boy’s eyes were wide, staring blankly ahead as he processed the sheer terror and absolute liberation of the night’s events. Without saying a single word to his mother or sister, he slipped into his room and closed the door, desperately needing time to digest the lessons Ethan had drilled into him.

While Mary hurried into the kitchen area to prepare the high-quality ingredients, Ethan took the opportunity to explore the humble home. He walked over to a small, weathered wooden bookshelf in the corner of the living room, casually pulling out a few local texts and documents. Among them, he discovered a meticulously drawn topographical map of the surrounding mountain ranges, charting a significant portion of the Azure Mist Province. His analytical mind immediately began recording the geographical layouts, mapping out the local sects, trade routes, and natural boundaries.

"Was your home beautiful?"

Ethan glanced down to find Louisa standing beside him, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her apron as she looked up at him with innocent curiosity.

Ethan paused for a fraction of a second, his mind instantly accessing the precise photographic intelligence reports Princess Isabella’s network had gathered about the region. "It was entirely mountainous," he replied softly, crafting a look of bittersweet nostalgia. " Lush forests and rolling hills of vibrant, deep emerald. That is exactly why it was called Green Mountain Village."

Louisa’s eyes drifted over his pristine white and gold practitioner’s tunic, her curiosity deepening. "And your clothes? You looked so different when you first arrived."

Ethan offered a small, sad smile. "I kept it carefully folded and hidden beneath my tattered outer rags in a protective leather pouch. It is the very last memento I have of my past. This is the official attire of my family’s disciples."

Mary walked out of the kitchen, carrying a large, steaming wooden bowl filled with the rich, aromatic stew made from the horned-deer meat and Star-Mist Grass. Overhearing the conversation, her curiosity was piqued as she set the food down on the table. "What was the name of your family, Ethan?"

"We were known as the Brilliant Sword family," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a solemn, respectful tone. "We were once a powerful lineage with a proud history. However, many centuries ago, an ancient ancestor deeply offended an incredibly powerful entity. The clan was completely broken, our main branches were exterminated, and the survivors were forced to flee into hiding. My sole ambition is to one day elevate my family name back to the absolute heights it belongs to. That is the exact reason I train so relentlessly in the way of the sword."

Mary and Louisa blinked in profound surprise, their gazes naturally shifting to the twine-wrapped, blackened iron rod secured to his back. "You train in the sword?" Mary asked, her voice filled with wonder. "But... we didn’t see you draw it today against the boar or mention it at all."

Ethan let out a self-deprecating laugh, shaking his head with a look of genuine frustration. "That’s because I am absolutely terrible with the blade. I was born with a freakishly strong physical body, which allows me to handle raw weights and close-quarters combat, but my comprehension is severely lacking. No matter how many thousands of times I swing, I have completely failed to develop even a single shred of Sword Intent."

The moment the words passed his lips, both Mary and Louisa froze, their expressions turning entirely blank with sheer, unadulterated shock.

To common frontier citizens and low-level hunters like them, Sword Intent was a concept whispered only in myths and legends. It was an advanced level of conceptual mastery that belonged exclusively to core elders and transcendent geniuses. If a young cultivator in the province ever managed to manifest even a microscopic trace of true Sword Intent, the Heavenly Sword Pavilion would instantly dispatch their highest-ranking grandmasters to recruit them, showering them with unlimited resources and absolute authority.

Yet, this mysterious young master spoke of his failure to achieve Sword Intent with a look of casual misery—as if manifesting the highest laws of the blade was an expected, ordinary benchmark he should have already achieved.

"Wow..." Louisa whispered, her eyes wide as she stared at the blackened iron rod on his back. "Your family must have been incredibly powerful if that’s the kind of standard you’re held to."

Ethan offered a modest, self-deprecating smile, scratching his cheek. "We had our moments, but power means nothing if you can’t protect what matters. Right now, I’m just a survivor looking for a fresh start."

Mary finally managed to snap out of her shock, smoothing down her apron as she quickly served the steaming deer stew into wooden bowls. "Well, standard or not, a strong body and a good heart are what kept us alive today. Come, sit down and eat before it gets cold. You’ve done more than enough manual labor for one day."

They gathered around the small wooden table, the atmosphere shifting into a much lighter, comfortable rhythm. To keep his cover perfectly intact, Ethan carefully steered the conversation toward mundane, everyday topics, masking his sharp analytical mind behind the curiosity of a traveling youth.

"Is the winter usually this damp around the lower ridges?" Ethan asked, blowing on a spoonful of the rich broth. "Back north, the cold is much drier. The humidity here makes the air feel heavy."

"Oh, this is nothing," Mary replied, a warm smile returning to her face as she watched him eat. "In another two months, the mountain mists get so thick you can barely see your own hand in front of your face. That’s when the trading caravans slow down, and we have to rely strictly on preserved meat."

"I’ll have to make sure I stock up on charcoal then," Ethan noted with a chuckle, looking toward Louisa. "And what about the town market? Is it always that chaotic, or did we just happen to catch the mercenaries on a bad night?"

Louisa giggled, her initial nervousness completely melting away. "It’s always a bit rowdy near the taverns, but they usually don’t cause trouble for the locals unless someone flaunts a shiny Spirit Stone. You really handled them well."

"Just old training reflexes from the hauling crews," Ethan lied smoothly, his tone perfectly matching that of an innocent youth unaware of his own exceptional talents. "My instructors used to throw wooden beams at us to make sure we stayed alert. If you didn’t duck, you didn’t eat dinner."

They shared a few more casual laughs, talking about the local prices of grain, the best paths to avoid the territorial monkey tribes, and the eccentricities of the outer disciples who ran the Pavilion’s exchange hub.

Once the bowls were cleared, Ethan stood up and stretched his arms, letting out a genuine yawn as the fatigue of acting all day finally caught up to him. "It has been an incredibly long day, Sister Mary. If it’s alright with you, I think I’ll head to bed. We have a lot of hunting to do tomorrow if we want to keep making that kind of coin."

"Of course, go rest," Mary said, her eyes filled with maternal warmth. "Your cot is all set up. Sleep well, Ethan."

"Goodnight, Ethan!" Louisa called out cheerfully.

"Goodnight," Ethan replied with a polite bow.

He walked into the small guest room and shut the heavy Azure Mist wooden door behind him. The moment the latch clicked, the soft, naive smile vanished from his face. He sat cross-legged on the simple canvas cot, closing his eyes as his internal amethyst core began to pulse silently, absorbing the ambient energy of the room. The camouflage was flawless, the locals were completely captivated, and his foundation in this new territory was officially secure.

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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 ??