Chapter 703: Chapter 703: The Layout of the Board
Inside the highest-security war room of the Impenetrable-class flagship, the atmosphere was suffocating. The two generals, the Vice Sect Leader, and Heidy sat around a reinforced map table. Every face was incredibly grim, looking exactly like high-tier commanders who were about to be deployed to a certain death on a bloody battlefield.
Ethan looked at them, completely relaxed as he leaned back in his chair.
"Calm down," Ethan said, his gravelly voice breaking the heavy silence. "The situation is not as catastrophic as I made it appear to the lower ranks. However, what is down there is extremely... highly valuable. Before I detail the exact nature of this component, I need to know the absolute political truth. What specific factional conflicts exist within the main pavilion headquarters? I need to know which forces are powerful enough to pose an immediate threat to us, especially if I execute a highly lucrative business operation."
He paused, his amethyst eyes locking directly onto the old master.
"Let us be entirely clinical and honest, Vice Leader. I am deeply grateful for the exceptional terms of my initial recruitment. But believe me when I tell you that if this black fluid is what I am certain it is, and I successfully refine the compound inside that vault, the Heavenly Sword Pavilion will cease to be a mere regional sect.
It will possess the material wealth to directly rival the sovereign kingdom itself. Now... I do not execute my medical and alchemical services for free. So, let us drop the political masks and speak with absolute truth."
The exact millisecond the words left his mouth, Heidy took a smooth step forward. She positioned herself right at Ethan’s right flank, her fingers gripping the hilt of her heavy blade as she violently unleashed her cold, terrifying killing aura. Her martial posture made her alignment flawlessly clear—she was with her master to the absolute death.
The Vice Sect Leader stared at the young girl’s aura, then let out a low, grim chuckle.
"Very well," the Vice Leader said, leaning forward as he folded his hands. "Since the young doctor wishes to converse without diplomatic masks, let us lay out the baseline of the pavilion. Inside the headquarters, there are currently two massive, opposing forces, and a third emerging faction."
He pointed to himself, then toward the veteran commander beside him. "The first is the supreme faction of the Sect Master. By divine law, the Sect Master possesses the absolute administrative right to personally select his Vice Sect Leader to ensure he has a completely trusted right hand. I am that man. General Henry, who has expertly escorted you throughout this entire frontier deployment, is a core member of our faction and operates directly under the Sect Master’s military seal."
He then shifted his sharp gaze toward the newly arrived commander sitting across the table. "However, General Boros right here belongs entirely to the emerging power block. A group of highly aggressive, newly appointed grand elders recently consolidated their strength to form an independent faction. They officially designate themselves as the ’Blade of the Heavens.’ In absolute combat metrics, they are completely equal to our veteran forces. They utterly loathe political intrigues and administrative games; they live exclusively to execute slaughter. Consequently, every single member of their circle is a high-ranking general or an elite front-line officer stationed along the most lethal borders of the continent."
Ethan turned his head, his sharp gaze landing squarely on General Boros.
The reinforcement commander didn’t flinch; he merely offered Ethan a highly polite, gentle smile that looked exactly like that of a scholarly philosopher. However, that calm demeanor contrast sharply with the incredibly dense, suffocating aura of slaughter and fresh copper blood that permanently enveloped his physical vessel.
"And finally," the Vice Leader continued, his expression darkening significantly, "there is the precise faction you are rightfully calculating to be an issue. The Alchemist Guild Faction—or as we internally define them, the wealth engine of the pavilion. Every single lucrative trade route and business transaction inside our borders has their greedy fingers wrapped around it. The rest of us consider them an absolute plague, but unfortunately for our administrative goals, they are exceptionally brilliant at executing logistics and generating resources. They possess an absolute veto power within the elder council."
He tapped his fingers against the slate table. "Lately, however, they have grown entirely unsatisfied with their position and have begun aggressively attempting to devour the smaller, unaligned factions to seize absolute control. Right now, only our three main forces remain standing. The Alchemist Guild is mortally terrified of the War Faction, so they never approach General Boros’s men, while our faction maintains a strict strategic status quo to prevent the pavilion from completely fracturing into civil war."
Ethan nodded slowly, his amethyst eyes remaining perfectly flat as he absorbed the layout of the pavilion’s inner court. "Is there any other detail I should be aware of before I reveal the contents of that vault?"
"Nothing else of significance," the Vice Sect Leader replied firmly. "I can personally assure you that those old mans will not dare to interfere in this unless it becomes a literal matter of operational life or death for the entire pavillion."
"I choose to believe your evaluation, Vice Leader," Ethan said, his gravelly voice smooth. He then shifted his sharp gaze directly onto the philosopher-like commander sitting across the table. "And what about you, General Boros? Do you possess the authority to represent the Blade of the Heavens in this discussion?"
"I certainly possess the physical rank to do so," General Boros replied, his gentle, scholarly smile contrasting sharply with the thick scent of blood radiating from his uniform. "But in all honesty, I highly prefer not to execute that responsibility. I am not particularly brilliant when it comes to long-term logistical thinking or administrative calculations. I would much rather immediately transmit a communication to Tarsh. He is the undisputed operational brain of our faction; I merely handle the slaughter."
Ethan didn’t answer right away. Instead, he slowly turned his head to look directly into the Vice Sect Leader’s old eyes.
"What is your opinion on this matter, Vice Leader?" Ethan asked, his tone deceptively casual. "Can your flagship safely establish contact with this individual named Tarsh? Do you wish to officially invite the brain of the War Faction to join our inner circle for this discussion?"
As Ethan launched the question, his amethyst eyes tracked the old master’s micro-expressions with clinical precision. He was deliberately executing a psychological probe—he wanted to see if there was even a single shred of factional jealousy or administrative friction between the Vice Leader and the emerging War Faction that he could exploit to penetrate deeper into the core of the pavilion’s high command.
-------------------
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 ??
------
Sword mastery levels
Sword Intent.
Sword Aura.
Comments