Chapter 672: The Wealth of the Cross
Chapter 672: The Wealth of the Cross
The first ray of the morning sun had barely touched the frosted roof of the mountain pavilion when the iron bolts of the main entrance smoothly slid back.
The massive, dense line of high-tier female clients and wealthy merchants had not shifted even a single millimeter during the freezing night. Hundreds of desperate individuals stood in flawless formation, clutching their copper queue numbers with white-knuckled grips. The moment Ethan stepped onto the threshold, his vibrant crimson robes catching the dawn breeze, a collective sigh of intense relief rippled through the gathered crowd.
He did not waste a single second of operational time. Standing directly behind him like a majestic, silver-clad statue of death was Elder Heidy, her hand resting casually on the hilt of her sword, her freezing gaze ensuring that absolute, unbroken discipline was maintained across the plaza.
"Let the intake initiate," said Ethan, his deep voice carrying a flawless, professional authority.
From that exact moment, the Immortal Doctor’s Pavilion transformed into a highly efficient, unstoppable resource-draining machine. One by one, wealthy noblewomen, elite inner female disciples, and wealthy matriarchs of powerful merchant clans were ushered into the private examination chambers.
As Ethan administered his unique treatments, utilizing his advanced needles and the potent Tiger’s Storm elixirs, his ancient Primordial nine yin Void Body and mutated amethyst eyes worked at absolute maximum efficiency. With every single high-tier female patient he treated, his hands harvested and devoured massive, pure torrents of dense Yin energy from their core pathways. The freezing, pristine essence cascaded down his arms, fueling the roaring vortex within his own Dantian.
Concurrently, the pavilion’s financial ledger exploded into a state of absolute absurdity. Contribution points from the Central Sect Headquarters fell into their accounts like a torrential summer rainstorm, accompanied by literal mountains of premium-grade spiritual stones.
In less than a single operational week, Ethan had completely and thoroughly recovered one hundred percent of his initial capital investment for the facility’s construction.
The watching spies from rival factions and the remaining local refiners could only watch from afar, their faces turning completely pale as they calculated the terrifying, utterly absurd quantity of wealth this rogue physician was legally swindling day after day. The pavilion’s private underground storage vaults were quickly filled to absolute maximum capacity with rare medicinal herbs, high-grade ores, and overflowing chests of spiritual currency.
But the true, most significant return on this operation was happening entirely within Ethan’s own flesh.
Driven by the constant feast of elite Yin energy, his internal cultivation base was violently skyrocketing, pushing with immense velocity toward the absolute, peak limit of the Golden Core Realm.
If any supreme elder or capital grandmaster were to successfully pierce through his concealment arrays and witness his true, unadulterated energetic output right now, they would completely lose their minds in sheer, trembling incredulity. This towering rogue, who was still registered within the official sect logs as nothing more than a small fry—a mere inner disciple who had recently arrived at the frontier—currently wielded the raw, terrifying combat power of a veteran capital elder.
Yet, despite the immense, intoxicating surge of power flooding his meridians, Ethan’s mind remained completely cold and calculated. Every single scrap of his newly acquired dominance was kept perfectly suppressed and hidden behind the dense layers of his Primordial Void mask. He was fully aware that the Alchemical Pavilion was still watching his territory like starving wolves; this small rogue fish had grown into a white shark, but he could not afford to expose his sharp teeth to the ocean too early.
Deep within the absolute isolation of his private training chamber, the ambient air violently rippled as Ethan slowly opened his eyes. The massive, roaring torrents of refined Yin energy had finally been perfectly integrated, flawlessly locking his cultivation base at the absolute peak limit of the Golden Core Realm.
"Crul, maintain a maximum-security surveillance sweep across the entire perimeter," said Ethan, his voice carrying a deep, gravelly resonance that vibrated the stone floor. "I am going to thoroughly stretch my limbs."
[Perimeter monitoring arrays are locked and loaded, kid,] said Crul, his voice echoing with tight, digital alertness inside Ethan’s mind. [Go ahead and cut loose. I’ve got the internal safety dampeners running at one hundred percent.]
With a sudden, violent expansion of his intent, Ethan completely released the suppressed restrictions on his evolving lineage. His unique Great Amethyst Devourer of the Nine Yin Bodies unleashed itself at absolute, unrestricted maximum potency.
In a single fraction of a second, his massive human frame completely dissolved into a terrifying, cosmic Void Nightmare. His flesh rapidly mutated, turning into an armored, obsidian-scaled monstrosity that absorbed the very light in the room. Heavy, razor-sharp claws erupted from his elongated fingers, and his human features morphed into a sleek, alien, elongated skull, splitting open to reveal a massive maw lined with thousands of serrated, saw-like teeth.
As he unleashed a guttural, primal roar from the depths of his monstrous throat, the sheer, unadulterated weight of his physical pressure caused the entire underground facility to violently tremble, the reinforced stone walls cracking under the localized gravity. Crul immediately pushed his energetic processing power to the absolute limit, forcing the internal sealing arrays to swallow the devastating shockwave before it could breach the surface.
Moving with a sudden, terrifying fluidity, Ethan began to dance through the vacuum of the room.
He didn’t merely sprint; his monstrous form completely vanished into the literal void, seamlessly tearing through space to reappear instantly in entirely different corners of the chamber. With every rapid displacement, his clawed hands executed highly concentrated, invisible sword strikes that silently sliced the air into vacuum pockets. His kinetic velocity was completely unhinged. Even a legendary warrior possessing an embryonic Sword Heart like Elder Heidy would be legally forced to deploy her absolute, life-saving defenses if she ever faced the unpredictable, brutal violence of this hybrid form. That was the raw, terrifying reality of the monster hiding beneath the physician’s crimson robes.
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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 ??
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Sword mastery levels
Sword Intent.
Sword Aura.
MMB