The heavy iron-reinforced doors of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion’s resource exchange hall loomed ahead. As Ethan and Mary approached the entrance, the very same guard who had denied them entry the previous evening stepped forward. Just yesterday, he had forced them to haul the massive carcass of the Silver-Horned Boar through the rear delivery gates due to its sheer weight, but today, his demeanor was entirely different.

"Well, look who it is," the guard called out, a hint of curiosity through his gruff voice. He looked between the two, completely bewildered as he racked his brain. He clearly remembered seeing them leave for the mountains just a few hours ago, yet here they were in the afternoon, carrying nothing more than two relatively small, nondescript leather pouches at their waists. "Did you bring something new today, or are you just here to browse the public mission boards? You two are moving awfully fast."

Ethan offered to relax, knowing smile as he adjusted the strap of his pouch. "We brought some good stuff. You won’t need to send us to the back alley today."

The guard chuckled, waving them through with a casual flick of his wrist. "Go on in then. Let’s see if the evaluator agrees with you."

Stepping inside, the chaotic noise of the bustling frontier market instantly faded, replaced by the clinical, quiet atmosphere of the sect’s local treasury. Cultivators and independent hunters lined the long wooden counters, turning in herbs, beast pelts, and low-tier cores for standard distribution stones.

Ethan stepped confidently toward the designated valuation counter they had visited the previous evening. Behind the thick iron grating sat the very same elderly receptionist scholar, his spectacles resting low on his nose as he mindlessly cataloged a basket of common cloud-grass.

When Ethan casually dropped the heavy canvas sack onto the wooden counter, the solid, dense THUD of bone colliding with wood drew the scholar’s immediate attention.

"Back so soon, young man?" the old man murmured, his voice laced with a hint of dry amusement as he recognized Ethan’s crimson leather armor. "Yesterday it was a pristine, single-horned steel boar—a textbook, heavy-labor hunt for a physical cultivator. What do you have for the Pavilion today? More common meat?"

Without speaking, Ethan reached up and unknotted the thick twine securing the top of the sack. He tipped the opening forward, pouring the contents directly onto the black velvet presentation tray.

CLATTER! CLATTER! CLATTER!

A literal mountain of dense, shimmering silver canine teeth cascaded across the counter. The ambient spiritual energy inside the hall noticeably fluctuated, the distinct, cold azure essence locked within the fangs sending a chill across the wooden desk. Hundreds of bottom-right fangs from standard warrior monkeys rolled across the velvet, followed by the five pairs of thicker, deeply saturated lower fangs of the Commanders. Finally, resting perfectly at the apex of the pile, were the four massive, translucent, silver-veined fangs of the three-meter Troop Leader.

The old scholar froze mid-motion. His quill snapped cleanly in his hand, a drop of black ink splattering across his ledger as his eyes bulged behind his spectacles.

"This..." the old man stammered, his fingers trembling as he reached out to pick up one of the massive alpha fangs, feeling the volatile, peak-tier spiritual core residue vibrating within the enamel. "A complete, decimated outer troop... and a peak-stage Troop Leader? Where did you scavenge these? Did a local mercenary company suffer a total wipeout on the eastern ridge?"

"We didn’t scavenge anything," Mary spoke up, her voice steady but her heart pounding with a mixture of pride and lingering awe as she stood half a step behind Ethan. "These were harvested directly from the nesting grounds this morning."

The scholar snapped his gaze toward the surrounding guards stationed at the pillars. The heavily armed sect enforcers immediately tightened their grips on their hilts, their eyes narrowing with profound suspicion as they locked onto the strange pair. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

An achievement of this scale was utterly anomalous for this sector of the frontier. A complete eradication of an organized primate nest was something only a major, established mercenary syndicate could pull off through extensive coordination and heavy casualties. Alternatively, a squad of high-ranking inner disciples from the main sect might accomplish it during a seasonal cleanup expedition. But for a solitary young traveling cultivator and a well-known local widow to bring in such a haul? It defied all logical parameters of the local economy.

"The registry indicates you dragged a high-grade boar through the southern gates just yesterday afternoon," the scholar whispered, his voice dropping into a sharp, interrogative hiss as he leaned against the iron grating. "And today, barely twenty-four hours later, you return with the entire leadership core of the eastern ridge primates? This is an entirely radical shift in output for a single day, young man. Who exactly is backing you in the shadows?"

Ethan didn’t flinch under the suffocating gaze of the enforcers. He simply offered a polite, entirely relaxed smile, his purple eyes gleaming with a faint, deceptively naive innocence. "The mountains are full of chaotic variables, elder. The mercenaries and the beasts happened to weaken each other to the point of collapse. I simply executed the final strikes and claimed the bounty before the wolves arrived. Is there an issue with the pavilion honoring its posted distribution?"

The scholar stared deeply into Ethan’s eyes, trying to detect a tremor, a lie, or a trace of forbidden aura, but he found nothing but an unyielding, calm lake. Slowly, the old man lowered the alpha fang back onto the tray, letting out a long, defeated sigh.

"No issue," the old man muttered, picking up his abacus with a sharp, professional click. "The Pavilion honors all verified tokens. But understand this, boy... a name that rises this quickly in the frontier will always draw the eyes of those who wish to clip a bird’s wings before it can fly."

-------------------

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 ??