Chapter 631: Chapter 631: The Catalyst and the Doubt

Ethan withdrew his fingers from beneath her pale, trembling breast, his face remaining entirely detached as he watched the flush of pain slowly recede from her skin.

"The structural damage is severe, but entirely treatable," said Ethan, his deep voice carrying an unshakeable confidence. "To permanently dissolve the internal scar tissue and clear the pathway, I will need to perform a precise technique of spiritual acupuncture combined with a specific blend of raw medicinal herbs. However, while the medical procedure itself is entirely free of charge, I do not possess a personal treasury of ingredients to waste on outer disciples. You will need to source the catalysts yourself."

Maeve, her bare chest still exposed as her pink nipples caught the cool morning air, nodded frantically. At this point, she would have agreed to anything.

Ethan reached into his storage ring, pulling out a blank sheet of parchment and a charcoal brush. With swift, aggressive strokes, he scrawled down the names of two highly specific, dense spiritual plants:

Crimson-Veined Ghost Grass

Frost-Bitten Lotus Root

"Go to the logistics market and acquire at least two stalks of each ingredient," said Ethan, handing her the slip of paper. "Though if you truly desire an absolute, flawless success, five of each would be ideal to ensure the alchemical potency is sufficient to fully melt the blockage."

"I will return immediately, Senior Brother!" said Cynthia. She hurriedly pulled her inner tunic back over her shoulders, her heart hammering with a wild, desperate hope as she dashed out of her private courtyard.

Maeve practically sprinted down the winding mountain paths toward the outer peak’s main trading square. Because she was a well-known senior disciple who had been violently stuck at the peak of the Spiritual Gathering Realm for four years, her frantic, rushed demeanor immediately caught the attention of several passing cultivators.

"Senior Sister Maeve!" shouted a blue-dragon disciple from a nearby weapon shop, blocking her path with a curious smirk. "Where are you rushing to in such a hurry? We saw you leading that ridiculous frontier charlatan into your residential quarters earlier. Did he actually attempt to scam you?"

"Move out of my way," said Maeve, her breathing ragged as she clutched the paper tight. "The man is anything but a fraud. He successfully diagnosed the exact location of my structural meridian rupture using nothing more than a bare-handed physical inspection!"

The surrounding crowd of disciples instantly broke into a wave of loud, incredulous murmurs.

"Oh, come on, Senior Sister, you can’t possibly believe that theater!" sneered an orange-dragon elite, crossing his arms with a look of pure disdain. "It took the grand masters of the Alchemical Pavilion two full days of exhausting spiritual scans to uncover your condition. How could a dirty commoner from the borderlands do it in a few minutes? He obviously just bought the confidential medical reports from an insider to set up this pathetic little scam!"

"Watch your disgusting tongue!" barked a senior inner disciple from the back of the crowd, his face darkening with intense anger as he stepped forward. "To suggest that the Grand Medical Pavilion would illegally sell a disciple’s private records for petty spiritual stones is a direct insult to the entire sect’s honor! The Alchemical Pavilion’s tradition and respect are absolute and unquestionable. They would never lower themselves to such filth!"

The youth who had spoken instantly turned pale, shutting his mouth out of pure fear.

Maeve didn’t waste another second listening to their useless bickering. She shoved past the stunned crowd, rushing straight into the sect’s official herbal dispensary. Gritting her teeth, she spent a hefty chunk of her remaining points to purchase exactly five stalks of the Crimson-Veined Ghost Grass and five of the Frost-Bitten Lotus Root, ensuring the absolute maximum potency for her treatment. Holding the sealed jade boxes tightly against her chest, she sprinted all the way back to her courtyard, her mind entirely consumed by the looming prospect of her liberation.

The wooden doors of the courtyard burst open, and Maeve slid inside, her breathing shallow and ragged from the frantic sprint. She held out the sealed jade boxes with trembling hands.

"I managed to secure exactly five of each, Senior Brother," said Maeve, her eyes wide with a desperate, burning anticipation. "Please... tell me what I must do now."

"Remove your garments once more and assume the meditation posture," said Ethan, his voice flat and completely stripped of any human warmth. "We cannot afford to let the morning dew settle into your open pores."

Without a single word of hesitation, Maeve shed her inner tunic, letting the heavy cloth drop to the grass. Her firm, pale breasts were fully exposed once more, the tight, rosy pink tips twitching slightly in the cool air as her chest rose and fell with her anxious breathing. She sat down cross-legged on the central straw mat, closing her eyes tight and gritting her teeth as she prepared herself for the grueling physical pain she had experienced earlier.

Ethan stepped forward, his massive frame completely eclipsing her form. He opened the jade boxes, crushing the raw, volatile herbs between his large, powerful palms, letting his dark qi instantly liquefy the spiritual essence into a burning, emerald-tinted paste.

But instead of applying it to her spine, Ethan kneeled directly in front of her. He extended his right hand, his rough, calloused thumb and index finger wrapping directly around her erect, sensitive pink nipple, squeezing and rolling the soft flesh with a firm, rhythmic pressure.

Maeve’s eyes violently snapped open, a sharp, ragged gasp tearing from her throat as a violent jolt of pure electricity shot straight through her lower abdomen. Her entire body flushed a deep, vibrant crimson, her thighs twitching involuntarily as an intense, unbidden wave of raw heat pooled between her legs.

"S-Senior Brother...!" Maeve choked out, her voice suddenly thick and breathless as she tried to pull away from his touch. "What... what are you doing to my body?"

"Do not move a single inch," said Ethan, his piercing amethyst eyes staring into hers with a freezing, absolute professional detachment that completely contradicted the sheer intimacy of his touch. "The Yingxiang meridian is directly tethered to the secondary emotional nodes of a female cultivator’s physical core. By aggressively stimulating the sensitive tip of the breast, I am forcefully generating an internal biological friction. The localized heat will act as an absolute conduit, forcing your sluggish, icy blood to rapidly expand so the herbal essence can penetrate the scarred pathways without violently bursting your veins."

Ethan’s explanation was delivered with such cold, flawless, and clinical authority that Maeve’s rising panic was instantly stifled. To her naive, desperate mind, it sounded like a highly advanced, obscure medical science from the frontier.

Yet, beneath his mask of pristine professionalism, Ethan’s internal consciousness was laughing with a dark, predatory malice. He had zero medical need to play with her breasts; he was systematically and intentionally manipulating her nerve endings to forcefully induce a state of intense arousal, planting the dark, intoxicating seeds of physical desire deep within her subconscious.

His absolute goal was to eventually milk her pure, unrefined Primordial Yin energy using the Nine Body Yin Devourer technique, but he knew he couldn’t be too aggressive or reckless in his approach. He needed her to willingly crave his touch, completely rationalizing the intense pleasure as a necessary sacrifice for her martial advancement.

As his fingers continued to ruthlessly twist and roll her hardened pink bud, the burning emerald herbal paste began to sink into her skin, and Maeve let out a low, submissive moan, her mind completely blurring as the boundary between agonizing pain and forbidden ecstasy began to thoroughly dissolve.

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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.