Inside the quiet cabin of the black car, the air felt unusually heavy.Leon placed the jade-lined box on the seat beside him, his brows narrowing into a thin line as he stared at Dark Knight.Anyone who knew Dark Knight well knew that the man was an unshakeable mountain even when facing an army of thousands. Yet right now, his fingers were gripping the edges of the encrypted tablet so tightly that his knuckles had turned pale."What happened?" Leon asked, his voice dropping low.Dark Knight swallowed the lump in his throat and handed the encrypted tablet straight toward the back seat."Master, Reaper just sent an emergency transmission from the Battlefield," Dark Knight spoke in a tight, solemn tone,"The signal came through our shadow satellite three minutes ago before it was abruptly cut off.""From the Battlefield?" Leon's heart skipped a beat as he reached out and took the tablet from the latter.Ever since Leon cured Reaper's old internal wounds and pushed him into the Heavenly R

Inside the locked underground cultivation chamber, the air had grown so dense with spiritual pressure that it crackled with tiny sparks of static lightning.Within the massive bronze cauldron, the dark-gold medicinal liquid was boiling like lava, yet a thick crust of emerald frost clung stubbornly to the rim of the vessel.Leon sat cross-legged in the center of the cauldron, his upper body covered in a thin film of crimson blood as his brows narrowed into a thin line.Deep inside his Dantian, the clash between the Jade Fruit's berserk spiritual tsunami and the ninth layer of his sister's seal had reached its absolute boiling point!Wave after wave of freezing-and-burning energy slammed against the golden rune barrier like a relentless warhammer.A crisp sound, audible only to Leon's inner spiritual sense, echoed from the very core of his Dantian.A single hairline fracture appeared right across the center of the golden rune barrier!"It's cracking..." Leon muttered through clenched te

Chapter 35By the following night, a calm breeze blew across the quiet streets of Oakdale.Earlier that evening at Camila's villa, Leon had spent a peaceful dinner with Camila, Aunt May, and Allen before stepping out.Under Number Five's ruthless, bone-grinding training and Leon's medicinal baths, Allen had shed every trace of his weak playboy past and broken into the ranks of a Level Six martial artist in record time!When Allen excitedly showed off a punch in the courtyard that cracked a stone tile in front of his sister, Camila's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.Nora on the other hand had also broken through her own martial bottleneck after practicing Leon's pointers in the dojo.Between Allen, Nora, Number Five's covert squad, and Lucas Miller's unified Martial Arts Union watching over the city from the shadows, the Ashford family was now an unshakeable fortress in Oakdale.Even if Leon wasn't sitting in the Bio Pharmaceuticals infirmary every single hour, nobody in this c

Inside the underground training chamber of the Capital manor, the heavy stone doors were sealed shut to keep any spiritual fluctuations from leaking outside.Dim yellow lamps lined the stone walls, illuminating the wide room where Dark Knight had already taken off his shirt and sat cross-legged on a round meditation mat in the center.Across his broad back and chest, dozens of faded scars criss-crossed his skin, each one a reminder of the bloody battles he had fought for the Shadow Reapers over the years.Leon stood beside a wooden table nearby, calmly unrolling his leather pouch of gleaming silver needles while opening a carved jade box filled with dried spirit herbs he had brought with him from Oakdale."Supreme Commander, are you sure doing this won't strain your own meridians?" Dark Knight broke the silence, turning his head slightly to look at Leon with concern in his eyes,"You only just broke the ninth layer of your seal back in Oakdale, so your body is still adjusting," He add

Inside the grand ballroom on the top floor of the Grand Imperial Hotel, crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, bathing the entire hall in dazzling golden light.Soothing violin music floated through the air as hundreds of wealthy businessmen, socialites, and minor clan heirs from across the Capital mingled around the banquet tables with glasses of vintage champagne in hand.Up on the central red-carpeted stage, a handsome young man in a custom white tuxedo stood beside a stunning young woman in an evening gown, soaking in the envious gazes of the crowd.This young man was none other than Victor Sterling, the proud young master of the Sterling Family.Standing right beside him with a wide, beaming grin was his father, Patriarch Harold Sterling."Congratulations, Young Master Victor! Marrying Miss Song and signing that new shipping contract in the same week, the Sterling Family is truly soaring into the heavens!" A middle-aged merchant raised his glass from below the stage, fla