“Isn’t the Second Miss even more pitiful? I heard... the family head once promised David Carter that next month, on the Second Miss’s fifteenth birthday, she and Ryan Carter would get engaged first? You’re a native of Lingjia Town—did that really happen or not?” Grace Harper suddenly lowered her voice, leaned in close to William Harper, and whispered, “How could the family head agree to let the Second Miss get engaged to Ryan Carter? Isn’t that pushing her into a pit of fire?”

“I’m not sure.” William Harper was equally puzzled about this matter.

In his view, even if the family head had once made an agreement with David Carter, now that David Carter had passed away, that agreement probably no longer counted.

……

Ling Family Dining Hall.

Three square wooden tables were pushed together to form a long dining table. On the tabletop were buns, porridge, and side dishes. The Ling family head, John Harper, sat at the head seat. On either side were his sister-in-law Linda Foster and his third brother Robert Harper. Next to Linda Foster sat her two sons, Brian Foster and Kevin Foster, while the two girls beside Robert Harper were his eldest brother’s daughters, Sarah Harper and Emily Harper.

The three Ling brothers were: the eldest, John Harper; the second, James Harper; and the youngest, Robert Harper. Ten years ago, James Harper suffered a fatal backlash while breaking through to the Kaiyuan Realm, dying from an explosion of his own body. His wife, Linda Foster, brought her two sons, Brian Foster and Kevin Foster, who took her surname, to stay with the Ling family, relying on the family’s resources to continue their cultivation.

In this world called the Spirit Domain, there are boundless oceans, upon which lie many continents. On these continents live all kinds of sentient races, who constantly temper themselves with the omnipresent spiritual energy, eternally pursuing the ultimate mysteries of heaven and earth.

Here, the strong stand tall like towering mountains, with world-shattering spirit artifacts that awe the heavens and earth, and strictly hierarchical martial forces that spread like a web into every remote corner of the world!

Here, not only do martial artists and spirit artifacts have clear ranks, but the complex powers formed by families, sects, and merchant guilds also have rigorous class structures.

Cultivation in the Spirit Domain is divided into ten realms: Body Tempering, Kaiyuan, Myriad Phenomena, Profound Connection, Wishful, Shattering, Nirvana, Immortal, Void, and Domain Origin. The basic Body Tempering Realm is divided into nine levels, and the subsequent realms are each split into early, middle, and late stages.

Likewise, magical spirit artifacts and powerful artifact refiners are also clearly ranked: Mortal, Profound, Earth, Heaven, and Divine, with each level further divided into seven grades.

Even more remarkable, the families and sect powers themselves are strictly ranked: Bluestone, Black Iron, Red Copper, Silver, and Gold, layered like a pyramid.

The lowest Bluestone-level powers are the most basic in the Spirit Domain, as numerous as grains of sand in a desert, surviving only by relying on stronger powers, their dignity trampled at will.

As for the Gold-level powers at the top of the pyramid, they are the most dazzling and supreme. They possess the mightiest martial artists, the most magical spirit artifacts, the broadest territories and mineral veins, the most mysterious forbidden lands and secret realms, and command countless Silver, Red Copper, Black Iron, and Bluestone-level powers!

A single command from them can change the color of the heavens and earth, stain mountains and rivers with blood, and annihilate billions of living beings!

As for the Ling family, it is merely a small clan not even reaching Bluestone level. Together with several other small families nearby, the Ling family relies on the Bluestone-level power Xingyun Pavilion of Bingyan City, paying enough tribute every year to receive Xingyun Pavilion’s protection and maintain their foothold in Lingjia Town.

“Tap tap!”

Footsteps approached from afar, and soon, Ryan Carter appeared on time, mechanically coming to the seat opposite John Harper at the table, sitting down woodenly, picking up his bowl, and starting to eat.

For five years, every morning Ryan Carter had arrived on time for breakfast. Although in the eyes of everyone in Lingjia Town Ryan Carter was just a fool, his habit of punctual meals had never changed. For the first three years, David Carter brought him along; after David Carter passed away, for the past two years Ryan Carter came alone, still maintaining his good habits.

Every morning after breakfast, Ryan Carter would enter the medicine mountain behind Lingjia Town, going into the mountain mines, and wouldn’t return until dusk, just in time for dinner with the Ling family. After dinner, he would return alone to his residence to rest.

Day after day, year after year, this was how he lived, his life never showing any ripples or change.

For five years, no one knew what he and his grandfather spent so much time doing in the medicine mountain mines. Even the family head John Harper was always puzzled.

“Hey!” Kevin Foster suddenly couldn’t help but snicker, glancing sideways at Ryan Carter and mocking, “My future brother-in-law’s table manners aren’t bad. Next month, when Emily gets engaged to him, it’s no big deal—just like raising a well-behaved, quirky pet dog.”

With that, Kevin Foster gave a strange laugh and looked at Emily Harper.

Emily Harper, dressed in fiery red leather armor, already showed the graceful curves of a young woman. Her delicate, beautiful face was bright and intelligent, and at only fifteen, her reputation for beauty was already widespread.

“Bang!”