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In the desert east of the Phoenix Sect's domain.
The once calm and desolate area of the desert was now a scene of chaos and destruction.
The small hills that used to define the landscape had been leveled, the previously untouched ground now marked by craters and massive gashes resembling the slashes of a giant blade.
At the center of this disorder stood two figures.
They were none other than the culprits behind all this havoc.
One of them, a refined and handso man, floated leisurely in the air, gazing downward at the other figure, a woman.
Unlike the composed man, the woman was panting heavily, using her longsword as a support while staring at him with a complex expression.
"I… was defeated so easily?"
Feng Huang, who not long ago had boldly challenged Ethan to a duel, now found herself reflecting on the events of the past few minutes.
From the start, she had given it her all, unleashing her most powerful techniques without holding back.
But to her shock, none of her attacks had managed to harm Ethan. He remained aloft, casually deflecting every single strike.
Even when she engaged him in close combat, her sword was effortlessly stopped by the palm of his hand, which seed less like flesh and more like iron.
From sword techniques to close combat moves, nothing seed to faze him.
In fact, every attack she launched was brushed aside as if it were nothing.
Halfway through the fight, she decided to release her beast form, transforming into a massive and majestic phoenix in the sky.
Ethan, watching this transformation, displayed a fleeting look of interest before returning to his usual calm deanor, as though waiting for her next move.
Irritated by his nonchalant attitude, she charged at him at full speed, her confidence fueled by her flas.
If there was one thing she was certain of, it was the strength of her fire.
Few knew this, but the beast she had subdued had not only granted her its soul but also a rare fla, one so extraordinary that even among mortals, it was a treasure possessed by only a select few.
This fla had drastically enhanced the power of her beast form, which, being aligned with the fire elent, gained an unparalleled advantage from it.
This alone had established her as one of the strongest fifth-stage cultivators on the continent. With it, she could even outmatch other sect masters who were at a similar cultivation level.
Only against the emperor, who was at the peak of the fifth stage, did she stand no chance.
But against any other fifth stage cultivator, she believed she could prevail, at least in a one on one fight.
Or so she thought.
Ethan, who had been motionless throughout, simply repelling her attacks, finally chose to counter.
Just as she closed in on him, he moved his hand, summoning an invisible, overwhelming aura. In an instant, it enveloped her beast form.
She wasn't sure what happened next. The mont the aura engulfed her, she lost all control over her beast soul, and within seconds, she was forced back into her human form.
Before she could even process what had happened, a crushing pressure pinned her to the ground out of nowhere.
The ease with which he had rendered her powerless made her grit her teeth in frustration.
Various emotions flickered in her eyes as she stared at Ethan, who had begun descending.
Surprisingly, none of these emotions were negative.
Apart from frustration, her feelings ranged from admiration to joy, even excitent.
"..."
Ethan, observing her reaction, didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He was certain she was already thinking about their next battle.
'As expected of a combat maniac.'
Ethan had speculated before that the Phoenix Sect Master might be a reckless person who loved fighting and growing stronger. After today's brief duel, he was sure of it.
This woman was truly obsessed with battle.
Though he thought it was risky to associate with soone like her, he also felt it might work to his advantage.
He had already defeated her, so she wouldn't refuse to form a soul contract with him. That alone made things much simpler.
Her relentless desire to beco stronger was an added bonus, making it easier to convince her to follow his guidance.
He had promised to help her correct her cultivation foundation, but "correct" wasn't entirely accurate.
It was more like dismantling her flawed foundation entirely and rebuilding it from scratch.
This ant erasing decades, if not centuries of cultivation, only to repeat the process with an even more complex thod.
No cultivator would agree to sothing like that easily, but Ethan believed that after seeing how effortlessly he had cornered her, Feng Huang wouldn't refuse.
And just as he predicted, she ultimately agreed to form a soul contract with him, as promised.
The contract's conditions weren't overly complicated.
It essentially stated that he would help her and her sect grow stronger in exchange for her not divulging his thods or information.
The most critical point of the contract was the confidentiality clause.
Ethan knew that helping her within a year or two wasn't feasible.
At the fifth stage, even minor adjustnts required a lot of ti.
So he decided to use the ti difference in his minor dinsion to speed up her cultivation after the procedure.
To keep this thod a secret, he proposed the soul contract.
Otherwise, he would have simply aided the sect with a few defensive and enhancent arrays and left.
But he knew that wouldn't help the sect much in the long run.
With this settled, Ethan could finally move forward with the rest of his plans.
The next step was to assist the sect.
He had already provided Feng Huang with a complete and accurate cultivation thod.
This thod was designed to adapt to the cultivator's elent and other unique traits.
After that, he erected several arrays across the entire Phoenix Sect's territory.
Many of these were level-three defensive arrays, sufficient to protect the sect from a fifth-stage mortal cultivator.
He then enhanced the spiritual vein beneath the mountain where the sect was located.
This spiritual vein, being of the fire elent, would primarily benefit fire-aligned cultivators.
However, Ethan modified his enhancent array so that it could transform the spiritual energy into a more versatile form.
Once absorbed by the disciples, it would adapt to their elent and unique physique.
So the rest of the month passed in this way.
By the end, the entire Phoenix Sect noticed a drastic increase in the spiritual energy in the air.
The commotion was contained by Feng Huang, who, after handling so matters, visited Ethan's residence.
Together, they finally departed for his minor dinsion.
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