"It seems your cultivation has truly halted."

The three of them sat around a table, looking at each other with complicated gazes.

Seraph rolled his wrist and nodded.

"Although I can’t seem to break through into the King Stage again, this Peak Master Stage is enough."

Sylvia’s expression darkened, but she didn’t know what to say. For someone like Seraph to say Peak Master Stage was okay, she felt weird.

After all, he had already reached her sister’s level before his cultivation began to drop as he helped her carry the poison.

At first, the siblings would have preferred if he could teach Song the technique he was using to detoxify the poison absorbed into his body. However, they had learnt that it wasn’t a technique but something about his own body.

More specifically, it was all about Halo.

Although Halo was ’dissatisfied’ with Kaiser’s reckless actions, it had no choice but to continue to help him remove the poison in his body.

After all, he was still its host and his mission hadn’t been fulfilled.

"What is the situation on the outside?"

Seraph asked, closing his eyes briefly.

Song explained calmly, "I received report from the other elders. Apart from the Inferno Sect’s disturbances, the only major thing happened is the Spirit Beast Tide."

"Spirit Beast Tide? That sounds... interesting."

Kaiser’s eyelids lifted, revealing his rainbow eyes that glinted brightly.

Song continued to explain. "It’s not that simple. This tide only happens in decades, and it’s really dangerous for the common folk in the province."

Seraph’s expression slowly shifted, "So it affects them too?"

He could tell that the Moonveil Clan wasn’t strong enough to even stop a beast tide containing several Master Stage beasts so he was worried.

"Don’t fret. I have already sent some of our inner court disciples and a core disciple to go protect your hometown. Also, I’m sure that Granny Mei would have done the same for Ariana’s sake."

Seraph cast a grateful look at Song, then covered his face with his hands.

"Things are getting a bit complicated, and I can’t afford to miss it all, but..."

Song smiled. "Don’t worry. I can already feel that the poison left in me is faint. It shouldn’t be a problem for me to fight now."

The white-haired young man shook his head.

"No, I’ll remove it completely. However, I need a week before doing that."

Sylvia blinked. "Right. You still haven’t met with Ariana for over two months. She must be worried."

He agreed with her, then turned to Song. "You should still wait and don’t rush into conflict anytime soon. At most, it’ll take a week."

Being talked to like that, Song just smiled and nodded.

It had been a while she had been treated like a child by someone other than the Sect Master.

"By the way, the other core disciples keep asking that you show your face. I don’t know what’s wrong with them."

Sylvia harrumphed, folding her arms in displeasure.

Because he had always been treating Song, Seraph hadn’t appeared ever since he was declared as a core disciple.

This made the other core disciples skeptical about him and his qualifications.

"Don’t worry, I’ll go visit them too."

Seraph smiled, looking completely relaxed. Sylvia immediately felt her hair stand on end.

"What... are you going to do?"

Still smiling, Seraph asked curiously. "When you became a Core Disciple a few years ago, they didn’t ask you to perform any initiation rites, did they?"

She froze, glancing at her sister to help out. If Seraph really heard that she had gone through the rite too, then she didn’t know what he might do to those guys.

Song understood that and casually gave a warning. "Seraph, don’t injure anyone too badly. It wouldn’t be good."

He nodded, his tone completely respectful.

"Thank you, Elder. I will definitely be careful."

Sylvia looked at the two of them and felt like she was going crazy.

Song was supposed to tell him not to fight, but she was instead telling him not to beat them too much.

"You two..."

""Hm?"" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

They answered in chorus, turning to her with tilted heads.

"Forget it." She shook her head and stood up. "Big sister, just like he said, please don’t get involved in any battle or anything. Seraph will heal you completely."

Seraph also stood up. "Elder, I’ll be taking my leave temporarily."

The woman nodded, then closed her eyes as they left. Suddenly, the mansion didn’t seem so warm anymore.

............

Seraph and Sylvia didn’t visit the core disciples first. Instead, they went directly to the Winter Peak to see Ariana and her friends.

This time, no warden dared to stop them, as they were both wearing the gold and blue robes of core disciples.

They didn’t stop at the outer court area, as Ariana had become an inner court disciple already.

"She stays here."

Sylvia brought her over to the girl’s new house, and they were surprised to find her right outside, just gazing at the sky blankly.

As soon as Seraph stepped close, her head whipped towards him and her eyes widened.

She blinked a couple of time, then lunged at him with a cry.

"Big brother!!!"

Seraph welcomed her with a hug, holding her dearly and patting her delicate back gently.

Soon, Tamar rushed out too, shocked to see him.

She stood rooted to the spot, not knowing whether to approach him or stay put.

Seraph disengaged from Ariana and beckoned to her.

With hesitant steps, she approached Seraph and clasped her hands. "Senior Brother—ow!"

A hard knock fell on her head, making her since. She immediately looked up at Seraph, only for her nose to be pulled teasingly by him.

"Didn’t I tell you not to call me that? You’re older than me. Also, what’s with that formal greeting?"

He rolled his eyes, then pulled her into a friendly hug, ruffling her black hair fondly.

"W-wait! Not my hair!"

While Tamar struggled futilely in his grasp, he turned to Ariana.

"Where are your other friends?"

Just in time, he saw an avalanche of snow sliding down from the higher parts of the mountain.

"These girls..."