Two days after Sigrdrífa and Xuan Xi parted ways.
By the time the carriage stopped in front of the Edelstein family castle, the sky was already growing dark. Sigrdrífa stepped out of the carriage and strode purposefully toward the castle gates. The entrance hall doors stood open, and the butler was waiting inside. Seeing her arrive, he gave a slight bow.
“Young Miss has returned.”
“Is Mother here?”
“The Duke and the Duchess are both waiting for you in the study.”
Sigrdrífa nodded and walked along the corridor toward the study. The door was slightly ajar; through the crack she could hear her parents’ conversation. She raised her hand and knocked twice.
“Come in, Sig.” It was her mother Freyja’s voice.
She pushed the door open. Both elders were seated on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Freyja held a cup of tea, while the Duke leaned against the armrest, a confidential document in his hand. His silver-gray hair was combed meticulously, and the silver dragon-shaped brooch at his collar gleamed. He looked up at Sigrdrífa, his eyes full of concern.
“You’re back?” Freyja set down her teacup.
“Father, Mother.” Sigrdrífa did not bother with small talk. “I have good news for you.”
Freyja raised an eyebrow at her. “Go on. What good news is worth abandoning that little sweetheart of yours to come keep us old folks company?”
“The bottleneck in my bloodline has loosened.”
The study fell silent. Both of them stared at her in surprise. Freyja’s fingers froze on the rim of her cup; the Duke set down the document in his hand.
“The bottleneck from S-rank to SS-rank has been stuck since I was sixteen—you both know that. During the winter break, while Xuan Xi and I were cultivating together, she used water spiritual power to wash through my meridians and flushed out the impurities that had accumulated for years. That’s why I can break through to SS-rank now.”
The Duke was silent for a moment, a hint of doubt in his voice. “Are you certain?”
“Absolutely certain.” Sigrdrífa raised her right hand. A ball of lightning condensed at her fingertips. Silver-white arcs crackled in her palm, humming low, looking especially sharp in the firelight.
Freyja watched for a moment, then turned to her husband. The Duke stared at the lightning for a while before nodding.
“That is indeed the lightning of SS-rank. Tomorrow I will go arrange things with the Council of Elders.” His voice was full of delight.
With official business finished, it was time for personal matters.
“Thank you, Father.” Sigrdrífa dispersed the lightning.
“Sig, how was New Year’s Eve with that… Xuan Xi?”
“It was good,” she said.
Freyja chuckled beside them. “She specially came back just to tell us this. Do you think her winter break went well?”
The Duke did not press further. He only smiled, thinking that he really had grown old—he could no longer figure out such things. Freyja stood, walked over to Sigrdrífa, and plucked a dry blade of grass from her shoulder, tossing it into the fireplace. “Rest properly before the breakthrough. Don’t train too hard. The Council of Elders will definitely drag things out for a few days because you’re a daughter. Use the time to recover so you can slap them in the face later.”
Early the next morning the Duke went to the family Council of Elders. Sigrdrífa could not accompany him; she could only stand by the study window and watch her father’s carriage leave the castle gates. She knew what he was going to do, and she knew the elders would not agree easily. Breaking through from S-rank to SS-rank required a large amount of the family’s accumulated resources, every portion of which was carefully recorded. The elders would never approve it lightly.
But she also knew her father would force them to yield. The Duke spent the entire day at the Council of Elders; rumor had it he thoroughly thrashed the lot of them. Toward evening the butler knocked on her door and said the Duke had returned and was waiting for her in the study.
When she entered, the Duke was seated behind the desk with a document spread before him, already signed, bearing several seals of the Council of Elders—some old, some new. He turned the document around and pushed it to the edge of the desk for her to see.
“The breakthrough ceremony is ready. It begins the day after tomorrow.” His voice was full of pleasure.
Sigrdrífa picked up the document and glanced at it. “Thank you, Father.”
“Those old fossils stalled me for a whole day, but a day was all they could manage. Ah, I haven’t gotten any exercise in so long—took me an entire day of fighting to beat those old undying things into submission.” The Duke leaned back in his chair, silver-gray eyes on her. “Go to the cultivation chamber the day after tomorrow. I’ve already had the runes recarved. There will be people to guard you. Just hold on, and you will break through.”
Sigrdrífa nodded, turned, took a couple of steps, then stopped. “By the way—about Xuan Xi. I probably won’t be able to reply to her these next couple of days.”
Before the Duke could speak, Freyja’s voice came from the sofa: “Reply after the breakthrough. She isn’t going anywhere, and she should know you’re about to break through, right?”
Sigrdrífa did not answer. She pushed open the study door and left. The corridor was quiet. When she passed her own room she did not stop; she walked all the way to the window at the end of the corridor and stood there looking out at the night.
She patted her pocket and only then realized the communication slate was not on her. She had left it on the nightstand in her bedroom.
On the third day, Sigrdrífa stood in the cultivation chamber on the top floor of the castle. The stone room was not large; the walls were covered in all manner of runes. One by one the runes lit up, rings of light climbing the stone walls until the entire chamber was as bright as day.
Sigrdrífa sat cross-legged on the central stone platform, palms facing upward on her knees, fingertips slightly curled.
“Are you ready, Sigrdrífa?” An elder standing at the doorway confirmed with her.
She nodded. “Yes. I’m ready. Begin.”
The door of the stone chamber closed behind her. The light of the runes grew stronger and brighter, turning into a dazzling pure white that swallowed even her own shadow. Spiritual power pressed in from every direction, pouring into Sigrdrífa’s body through the entrances of her meridians. The process was not gentle in the least—it felt as if it meant to force her entire meridian system wide open. Sigrdrífa’s whole body tensed as she resisted the spiritual power flooding into her.
It was completely different from ordinary cultivation. In cultivation she herself directed the spiritual power within her body; now the runes were forcing the spiritual power of the entire space into her, without caring whether she could endure it.
Her meridian walls were stretched to the limit. A continuous dull pain began at her fingertips and spread upward, gradually filling her entire body. She clenched her teeth, jaw tight; sweat beaded at her temples and slid down her cheeks, dripping onto the stone platform.
The pain deepened, pressing down from her shoulders. At last her shoulders could no longer bear the pressure. Her spine bowed, her chest pressed toward her knees, and she curled up in agony.
Just as Sigrdrífa was about to give up, she suddenly remembered something Xuan Xi had said—in that cave during the winter break, while the two of them were dual cultivating.
“Your spiritual power is too tight, like a clenched fist that refuses to loosen. If you keep going like this you’ll only hurt yourself.” At the time she had not fully understood; she had thought Xuan Xi was simply describing the state of her spiritual power.
Now she understood. Her spiritual power really was like a clenched fist. Since the age of sixteen she had been stuck at this bottleneck, her meridian walls clogged with accumulated impurities. She tried to loosen a little and guide the flow of spiritual power within her. The light of the runes blurred into hazy spots before her eyes. She could not clearly tell what was happening, but something inside her shattered into tiny, glowing fragments that were swept away along the flow of spiritual power and vanished at the ends of her meridians.
Even the pain throughout her body began to fade, leaving only a comfortable, open feeling—as if an entire river channel had been widened. Spiritual power now raced through it far faster than before, without the slightest obstruction. She straightened her back once more. Around her the light of the runes dimmed; they had completed their task.
The door of the stone chamber was pushed open from outside. The elder stood in the doorway, sensing her aura, and had no choice but to nod. “SS-rank. Success. Truly a blessing for our clan.” There was little emotion in his tone, yet praise for Sigrdrífa could still be heard.
Sigrdrífa stood and walked out of the stone chamber. The moment Freyja saw her she hurried over and brushed the sweat-damp strands of hair behind Sigrdrífa’s ear. “How do you feel? What is it like after breaking through to SS-rank?”
“My spiritual power flows more smoothly, and my strength has improved quite a bit,” Sigrdrífa answered honestly.
The Duke stood at the far end of the corridor. He did not come closer, nor did he congratulate her the way Freyja did. He simply stood there, the faint approval on his face making his thoughts clear enough.
Sigrdrífa did not linger. She walked through the corridor and returned to her room. Pushing open the bedroom door, she quickly picked up her communication slate.
The ice-blue screen lit up. Several unread messages from her special contacts appeared. Without question they were from Xuan Xi:
“When are you coming back?”
The second was also from her: “I’ve already cleaned the dorm. You can rest as soon as you get back.”
The third, sent much later: “Are you busy?”
The last was from Elsa: “When are you coming back? Xuan Xi seems really worried about you.”
She stared at those lines, thumb hovering above the screen, wondering what to reply to Xuan Xi. She typed a great deal, thought it over, then deleted it all. In the end she sent only one sentence—
“I’m back.”