Chapter 38: Secret Realm of the Divine Mist (01)

Kael took his time bathing with Seraphine.

After the bath, he even combed her hair for her. The young woman watched him through the mirror with flushed cheeks, biting her lip every time their eyes met.

Only after making sure every part of his beautiful concubine was clean did Kael return to his cultivation room.

Seraphine’s acceptance rating had not yet surpassed eighty percent—the level at which he could, in fact, fully trust her. For that reason, he kept her gains locked.

Without hesitation, he clicked to accept all the stolen cultivation and talent.

His breathing quickened at once. A burst of power coursed through his veins, heating every muscle in his body.

His cultivation shifted once more, but did not advance.

It was like a hammer shaping the steel of a door—not to break it down, but to force it to become thicker, harder, more perfect.

Each strike echoed within him, engulfing his entire body. It overshadowed even the sensation of his spiritual roots shifting, of all that stolen training being converted into spear Qi.

His foundation was advancing to the Earth level!

Kael clenched his fists, fingernails digging into his palms as he struggled to contain the elation threatening to shatter his concentration.

An Earth-level foundation was rare in the Fallen Sword Sect.

Even in the Golden Alliance Sect, only the most talented disciples managed to form one.

It wasn’t as rare as a legendary Golden-level foundation, but it was more than enough to make Kael very happy.

’System... when will my cultivation advance to the Golden Core Realm?’ Kael asked mentally.

[When your foundation reaches its maximum level. This applies to all realms that are generated with varying quality.]

"Great!" Kael let out a joyful laugh that echoed through the empty room, then refocused on everything he was absorbing.

Time passed without him noticing. Sweat soaked his clothes, and the Qi around him swirled like a whirlwind, pressing down on his skin like the heavy stillness before a storm.

A little over six hours later, his eyes finally opened.

[Congratulations, your cultivation foundation has been upgraded! High-level Foundation -> Earth-level Foundation]

[Congratulations, your spiritual roots have been upgraded! D+ -> C]

Kael felt the change in his body immediately.

The power in his muscles surged, and the amount of Qi he drew from his surroundings simply doubled, seeping in through his pores like water into a dry sponge.

With Rank C spiritual roots, he was now among the most talented cultivators in the entire sect.

Considering the level of his foundation and his constitution, he was, without a doubt, the most powerful.

Standing up, he looked at his status screen.

[Name: Kael Ashen

Age: 20

Cultivation: Ninth Layer of the Qi Foundation Realm (Earth-Level Foundation)

Constitution: Higher Spiritual Constitution (100% Human)

Race: Human

Spiritual Roots: Spear Spiritual Roots (Rank C)

Talent: Talented

Qi: 5,000/5,000

Strength: 1,203

Agility: 1,300

Intelligence: 1,100

Vitality: 1,450

Martial Potential: 150

Soul Potential: 125]

Not only had his Qi reserves nearly doubled, but his attributes had risen by an average of 10% to 20%, with some climbing even higher.

It was, without a doubt, incredible.

Kael was especially pleased with how much his martial potential had grown, and he was already eager to return to studying his cultivation technique.

With potential this high, mastering it would be even easier.

With a sigh, he looked down at the clothes clinging to his body, torn in places and drenched in sweat.

He cleaned himself with Qi, put on a fresh set of clothes, and left the cultivation room.

As he stepped out, he spread his Qi senses and realized Selene had also emerged from her solitary cultivation.

She was now standing beside Seraphine in the pavilion’s courtyard, on the arena.

Seeing them training together came as a surprise to Kael, even if the training wasn’t particularly intense.

Selene was simply teaching Seraphine—a sword user—some blade dances she herself knew, even though she wasn’t a sword cultivator.

The morning sun beat down on the stone arena, warming the ground. The high-pitched whistle of steel cutting through the wind mingled with the rustling of leaves around the courtyard.

Under Selene’s guidance, Seraphine’s body moved with elegance. Her feet glided across the stone in light steps, her blade gently slicing the air with each turn.

With every step forward, her heavy breasts swayed inside her dress. Whenever she stopped suddenly, they bounced with a delightful lag—one still rising while the other was already falling—before settling into a slow, heavy sway as she swiveled her hips into the next movement.

Each pivot sent a soft tremor rolling through them, and when she lunged, they lurched forward together, then dragged back against her ribs a heartbeat later than the rest of her body.

The fabric—now a deep blue instead of the pink she usually liked to wear—stretched and clung to them, pulling taut across her chest and tracing every quiver of her voluptuous flesh.

Her pink hair was carefully tied back. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, slid slowly along her cheek to her chin, and dropped into the warm valley between her breasts.

She trained until her eyes met Kael’s. He was leaning against a pillar, watching them with a smile on his face.

Seraphine froze mid-swing, her sword suspended in the air, and her cheeks flushed red.

Selene, who had noticed Kael’s presence long ago, simply smiled and pulled a recovery pill from her spatial ring.

With delicate fingers, she placed the pill against Seraphine’s lips—a gesture that only made the beauty blush deeper as she swallowed it and lowered her gaze.

Soon after, Selene flew straight toward Kael, soaring through the air with her robes billowing behind her.

"Kael, my love, I’m so glad you’re back!" She landed in front of him, light as a feather, her eyes sparkling.

She couldn’t sense anything unusual about him, yet something in his aura had changed.

It was far more powerful, and far sharper, like a newly forged blade.

Her Kael truly never disappointed her.

"Let’s just wait for Seraphine to rest a bit, okay? In thirty minutes, we’ll head to the entrance of the Secret Realm of the Divine Mist! Remember, once you enter the realm, your safety is the most important thing."

She placed her hand on his chest, her voice growing a little more serious.

"If you manage to get a token from the Golden Alliance Sect, great. If you don’t, your master will take you to the Divine Light Land one way or another, so it doesn’t matter."

Kael nodded, covering her hand with his.

He would do anything to get that token, since his master was a fraud. Well, his stepmother didn’t need to know that yet.

A few minutes later, with Seraphine rested and her face back to its normal color, the three of them set off for the entrance to the Secret Realm of the Divine Mist.