System S.E.X. (Seduction, Expansion, eXecution)

Chapter 624: The Prey and the Predator

Roy walked toward his quarters in absolute, stunned silence, his mind completely consumed by the image of the old man’s finger flick. The strike had been so devastatingly fast that he hadn’t actually seen any trajectory or energy—only the slight twitch of a wrinkled knuckle, followed by the massive ironwood tree sliding apart with a terrifyingly clean edge. To a youth raised in the rugged frontier, that level of destructive precision didn’t even seem like something a human being should be capable of achieving.

Yet, what shook Roy the most was not the blind elder’s power. It was his master’s reaction. Ethan hadn’t looked shocked or humbled by the impossible display; his piercing amethyst eyes had only flared with a deep, burning hunger, as if he already knew that exact realm existed and was simply eager to claim it for himself.

Meanwhile, Ethan made his way back toward his standalone courtyard, his steady boots crunching against the gravel paths of the outer peak. As he neared one of the central training plazas, the low, murmuring sound of a dense crowd caught his attention. Dozens of newly admitted disciples were gathered in a wide circle, their faces filled with cheap excitement and twisted amusement as they spectated a completely one-sided confrontation.

Ethan pushed his way through the onlookers, his massive frame naturally causing the weaker cultivators to step aside.

In the center of the clearing, a young noble master was fiercely and relentlessly attacking a defensive female disciple. Standing desperately behind her were two even younger girls, their white outer robes completely slashed to ribbons from previous sword strikes. The torn fabric hung loosely from their frames, exposing their pale, pristine chests to the open air. Despite their frantic, tearful attempts to cover themselves with their hands, the sharp morning wind occasionally parted the cloth, revealing the rosy contours of their skin to the mocking jeers of the crowd.

"Is this the absolute best the low-born trash can do?" shouted the attacking youth, letting out a loud, arrogant laugh as he leaped high into the air, his qi flaring violently around his longblade. "Descend! Crying Water Crane Strike!"

As the noble descended at a terrifying velocity, his weapon formed a sharp, piercing spear-point of concentrated blue energy. The spiritual pressure expanded, manifesting the ethereal image of a massive, predatory crane diving out of the clouds with its beak locked tight, aiming to completely impale the pale, defenseless girl below.

The young woman turned entirely white, her legs trembling as she realized she couldn’t block the sheer kinetic force of the descending strike. None of the surrounding spectators moved a single inch to help her; they only watched with cold, mocking grins.

With absolutely no other choice left, Ethan took a single, explosive stride forward, entering the boundaries of the clearing.

His hand wrapped around the hilt of his newly issued katana, drawing the steel in a fraction of a millisecond. He leaped directly into the path of the diving beast, his body rising like a dark mountain to intercept the assault. Rather than clashing against the tip directly, Ethan’s blade caught the heavy blue aura at a precise, calculated angle, executing a brutal, sweeping parry that completely stripped the attack of its offensive momentum.

Clang!

The massive spiritual crane was violently deflected off to the side, exploding harmlessly against the stone floor in a shower of useless blue sparks.

The noble youth frozen mid-air, his eyes widening in absolute, horrified disbelief as he found himself hovering completely defenseless after his ultimate technique was shattered. Before he could even attempt to swing his sword again, Ethan’s heavy boot launched forward like a battering ram, slamming directly into the center of the youth’s arrogant face.

CRACK.

The devastating impact shattered the noble’s nose and jaw instantly. His body was sent flying like a broken ragdoll across the entire plaza, traveling dozens of meters through the air until he violently crashed into a reinforced stone wall, leaving a deep web of fractures in the rock before he slumped into the dirt, completely unconscious.

Ethan landed flawlessly on his boots, his single-edged katana already back inside its sheath with a sharp, heavy click as his amethyst eyes coldly scanned the stunned, silent crowd.

Ethan stepped past the shattered fragments of blue energy, walking directly toward the pale, trembling girl. He held out his large, calloused hand toward her.

"Are you alright?" said Ethan.

The young woman completely froze, staring up at his massive frame and sharp, dominant features as the morning sun illuminated his white robes. To her, in that exact moment of absolute despair, he looked like a flawless, saving prince descending straight from a legend.

Ethan noticed her dazed expression, a dark, dangerous smirk playing on his lips. "If you keep staring at me with those wide eyes, I might just turn into that crane myself and decide to thoroughly devour you."

The girl’s cheeks instantly flushed a deep, burning crimson. She hurriedly scrambled to her feet, flustered as she tried to smooth down her robes. "Y-You... you just brutally struck down the grandson of the Head Elder of the Discipline Hall! You are going to be severely punished by the law enforcement division, and you still have the luxury to make crude jokes?"

"I fail to see what one thing has to do with the other," said Ethan, casually shrugging his broad shoulders. "But I suppose you have a point. Though that brat was far too weak to be throwing around his grandfather’s title anyway."

A low, agonized groan cut through the tense silence of the plaza.

Dozens of meters away, the noble youth was slowly dragging himself out of the rubble. He was limping heavily, his face a bloody, swollen mess as he used his longblade like a crude crutch, leaning his entire weight on the steel just to stay upright. Every step was a torture of cracked bones, but as he neared the center of the clearing, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull with pure, unadulterated fury.

He saw Ethan casually laughing and joking with the exact girl he had been trying to conquer.

The entire conflict had started simply because the two younger maids had fiercely rejected his advances, and then this proud elder sister had stepped in, thoroughly wounding his massive ego as the grandson of the Discipline Hall. He had intended to humiliate them all to re-establish his dominance. However, Ethan’s sudden intervention had caught him completely with his guard down. The noble youth wiped the blood from his shattered nose, his mind reeling as he stared at Ethan’s deep blue dragon sleeves. He wasn’t entirely a fool; to flawlessly deflect a high-tier aerial strike and counter with that level of devastating speed, this newcomer had to possess a raw combat foundation equal to the senior orange-dragon brothers.