Chapter 31: Divine Essence of the Azure Storm Tiger (01)

"Kael, honey..." Selene pushed against Kael’s chest with both hands, needing a little effort to create some distance between them.

Her palms stayed where they were, resting against the firm muscle.

"In a week, the Secret Realm of the Divine Mist will open. You need to get your head together and start training for real—your cultivation is—"

On reflex, Selene extended her perception to check his cultivation level, and the words died in her throat.

"You’re already at the peak of the Foundation Realm???" She almost shouted, her voice breaking with shock.

Seraphine, still trapped in Kael’s arms, let out a surprised gasp of her own. Her eyes widened just as much as Selene’s as her perception swept over his body.

How was this possible?

Just yesterday he had only been in the intermediate levels of the Foundation Realm!

How on earth had he reached the ninth layer just like that, overnight?

Seeing both of their gazes fixed on him, Kael puffed out his chest, brimming with pride, a smug smile spreading across his face.

"Yes. I had an epiphany during my nighttime fun with Seraphine and ended up advancing."

Seraphine felt her face flush all the way to the tips of her ears, but she said nothing, merely dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Oh... that’s wonderful, darling!" Selene declared emphatically, cupping Kael’s face with both hands and squeezing his cheeks, her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Ah, if your father weren’t such a filthy scoundrel who doesn’t even deserve his own dick, he’d be proud of you! Hahaha!" She laughed to herself, shaking her head.

"My little Kael is truly a genius! Fufufu~"

Selene gave his chest a light pat—more of a caress than anything else—her fingers lingering there for a moment before she finally pulled away.

"Come on, there are some meat-filled dumplings in the oven. As soon as they’re ready, you’ll eat them and then go meditate to stabilize your foundation," Selene said, tugging Kael by the arm and steering him toward a chair at the large round table in the center of the kitchen.

Seraphine sat down in the chair beside him, adjusting her dress somewhat hurriedly and smoothing out the wrinkled fabric over her thighs.

She would have liked to whisper a few threats into Kael’s ear, but she wasn’t foolish enough to do that in front of Selene.

That woman was a dragon when it came to protecting her stepson.

Of course, revealing their relationship would also be terrible for Selene, but at the end of the day, she was far too powerful for unproven rumors to go very far.

At best, Seraphine would suffer greatly at Selene’s hands for talking too much and end up dead. At worst, she’d end up begging to be killed.

Messing with a cultivator from the Realm of Spiritual Transformation was not at all smart.

Kael stayed very close to Seraphine, one hand resting casually on the generous curve of her hip, his thumb idly tracing the flare of it through the thin fabric of her dress. She stiffened at the touch but didn’t brush him off.

Selene had her back turned, humming to herself as she opened the oven.

When she bent down, her dress stretched taut over her huge, perfectly round ass cheeks, outlining every inch of them in a way that was impossible to ignore.

When the snack was ready, Kael ate it with a satisfied smile on his face.

After licking up the last bit of sauce from his fingers, he stood up and returned to the cultivation room, where he sat cross-legged on the cushion on the floor.

The air there was cooler and quieter, and only the faint scent of incense from previous sessions remained, soaked into the stone walls.

Taking a deep breath, he began his cultivation, feeling the spiritual energy flow slowly through his meridians, warm and steady.

Honestly, he was dying of curiosity to know what the Divine Mist Realm really was.

He’d already heard a great deal about it. He knew that the only member of the Ashen Family to ever reach the Mortal Tribulation Realm had been one who found the Golden Alliance Sect’s recruitment token there.

That ancestor had joined the sect about a thousand years ago and become a powerful elder, greatly aiding the Fallen Sword Sect with the weight of his name and power.

Unfortunately, he had died two hundred years ago while attempting to reach the Venerable Realm of the Nascent Soul.

Had he succeeded, he would have had the chance to become a core elder in the Golden Alliance Sect and perhaps elevate the Ashen Family to a level of power far beyond that of the sect they governed.

Even so, the memory of the glorious years they had enjoyed under that elder’s protection remained alive, and the family insisted that all its disciples try, at all costs, to obtain a token.

If a rival family were to obtain one, it would pose a massive threat to the Ashen Family, which had held control of the sect for many centuries.

The reason was simple. Entering the Golden Alliance Sect with a recruitment token guaranteed that the disciple would receive direct instruction from an elder for ten years.

They would enjoy the benefits of a temporary direct disciple, and at the end of those ten years, the elder could take them on as an official disciple.

Because of this, even the disciple sent by the Golden Alliance Sect—usually an external disciple—would try with all his might to obtain the token.

With a sigh, Kael pushed those useless thoughts out of his mind, focusing instead on the four mystery boxes he had received from the system.

One Rank S mystery box, one Rank A, and two Rank B.

Considering that the Rank B items from his first boxes were already enough to be treated as sacred treasures in the Fallen Sword Sect, Kael couldn’t wait to see what would come out of the Rank S one. His heart beat a little faster just thinking about it.

Without hesitation, he selected the Rank S mystery box and clicked to open it.

[Opening mystery box....

Congratulations, you have received: Drop of the Azure Storm Tiger’s Divine Essence (Rank S)]

[Spatial ring detected! Items have been automatically stored!]

For a brief moment, Kael choked on his own breath, coughing softly as his eyes fell on the item status screen.

[Name: Drop of Divine Essence of the Azure Storm Tiger

Description: The divine essence of the Azure Storm Tiger can be used to refine the body of a cultivator below the Dao Integration Realm. Depending on the cultivator’s level, even a single drop may be enough to bring about a massive qualitative change.

Purity: 99.4%

Rank: S]