The central plaza of the northern gate was bustling with activity as rogue cultivators and organized hunting parties gathered around the massive wood bulletin board. Ethan led his small group through the crowd, the sea of mercenaries automatically parting to make way for his striking figure in the midnight-black Star Iron combat suit.

He approached the board, his amethyst eyes sweeping across the various high-tier hunting requests before locking onto a specific parchment. He casually reached out and tore the notice from the board.

"Spiritual Web Spiders," Ethan murmured, scanning the details before sliding the paper into his tunic.

The requests were highly specific and highly lucrative. The local alchemy guilds were paying top dollar for the venomous stingers, the razor-sharp mandibles, and the compound eyes of the beasts. Furthermore, the merchant caravans were purchasing the raw spider silk by the kilogram, offering premium rates since high-grade silk was the foundational component for defensive robes like the ones sold in the commercial district.

Ethan turned and gestured for the family to follow him as they cleared the town gates. In his mind, this was the absolute perfect hunting ground for their current needs. Spiders were solitary pack hunters; the territory would be filled with large quantities of mid-tier targets alongside weaker, juvenile beasts. It was an ideal environment to test young Roy’s reflexes and force him to refine his sword forms under authentic pressure, all while Ethan collected enough raw materials to replenish their mountain of cash.

They marched for nearly two hours, leaving the main mountain trails behind as they descended into the low-lying, humid valleys bordered by massive, primordial trees. The sunlight grew sparse, filtered heavily by a dense canopy of dark, moss-covered branches. The air felt thick, damp, and stagnant.

Suddenly, Ethan raised his left hand, signaling an immediate halt.

Mary instantly dropped into a low crouch, pulling her longbow from her shoulder and nocking an iron-tipped arrow with practiced ease. Roy instinctively gripped the hilt of his katana, his eyes darting across the dark foliage. Louisa crowded closer to Ethan’s flank, her small hunting dagger trembling in her hand as the eerie silence of the valley pressed down on her chest.

Ethan knelt down, his fingers brushing against what appeared to be a patch of ordinary, dry gray leaves on the dirt path. As he lifted his hand, thin, translucent silver threads stretched out from the soil, clinging to his leather glove with an incredibly high tensile stickiness.

"Watch your steps," Ethan whispered, his deep baritone cutting through the quiet with absolute clarity. "The trap is already laid."

He rubbed the sticky fibers between his fingers, his mind instantly evaluating the structural pattern. "These aren’t common beasts. They possess a deceptive level of intelligence. They have systematically woven their web directly into the topsoil, camouflaging the silk with dirt, dead leaves, and decaying wood. The entire forest floor beneath us is a massive, interconnected network of sensory tripwires."

He stood back up, his purple eyes gleaming with a cold, predatory light as he looked deeper into the dark, misty valley ahead. "Step on the wrong patch, and you won’t just lose your balance—you will instantly broadcast your exact weight, coordinate, and spiritual frequency directly to every apex predator waiting in the canopy above."

Ethan looked back at Roy, with a freezing, unyielding intensity.

"Step forward, Roy," Ethan commanded softly, his voice devoid of any comforting warmth. "This is your arena. If you truly wish to walk the path of a true swordsman, you cannot simply practice your forms in a peaceful yard. You must learn to breathe, react, and strike while living entirely on the razor’s edge of death. Walk into the trap."

Mary’s breath hitched in her throat. She instinctively took a step forward, her fingers tightening around her longbow as every maternal cell in her body screamed at her to intervene, to pull her son back from the invisible snare. But as she looked at Ethan’s unyielding silhouette, she forced her boots to stop. Her lower lip trembled, but she bit it down. She knew Ethan was right. The frontier was a ruthless meat grinder; if Roy remained a sheltered boy relying permanently on her bow or Ethan’s shadow, the world would eventually swallow him whole. He had to become a man.

Roy swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. He looked at the camouflaged threads in the dirt, took a deep, ragged breath to steady his racing pulse, and deliberately took three heavy steps forward.

SNAP.

The moment his boots compressed the false soil, the entire web network beneath the clearing vibrated violently. A high-pitched, rhythmic hum rippled through the silver threads, broadcasting their exact coordinates straight into the dark canopy.

SCREEECH!

An eerie, clicking chorus of high-pitched shrieks immediately erupted from the dense foliage ahead. The thick bushes exploded outward as a hunting pack of juvenile Spiritual Web Spiders came bursting into the clearing, lured by the sudden vibration.

There were six of them in total. Though they were classified as juveniles, each beast was a terrifying monstrosity, measuring nearly a meter in length and standing over fifty centimeters off the ground. Their bloated, segmented abdomens were covered in bristling, needle-like black hairs, and their eight compound eyes gleamed with a sickening, predatory emerald light. Their jagged, dripping mandibles clicked rhythmically as they instantly locked onto Roy, their heavy legs skittering across the dirt with horrifying, unnatural velocity.

"Do not let your eyes wander," Ethan’s smooth voice drifted from behind, acting as a cold anchor amidst the boy’s mounting panic. "Focus on their center of mass. Draw your blade, Roy."

Roy’s knuckles turned entirely white as he gripped the handle of his katana, the six incoming monsters reflecting in his wide, terrified eyes as the hunt began.

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

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 ??