Chapter 394: Incredible Progress

Chapter 394: Chapter 394: Incredible Progress

Chapter 394: Incredible Progress

Rhain gently held Seris’s small hand in his palm, leading his wife away from the bustling plaza and walking quietly toward the warm sanctuary of their secluded guest courtyard.

As soon as the courtyard doors opened, a beautiful figure dressed in an emerald dress came into their view.

"Rhain!" Liana let out a massive breath of relief, "You are finally back!"

For the past three months, she had been trapped in a state of endless anxiety. Seeing that Rhain was unharmed,, the heavy boulder pressing down on her heart finally vanished.

But immediately afterwards, her emerald eyes slightly misted as she bit her pink lip and lowered her head, " "I... I felt so useless. When Dean Carmilla and Matriarch Seraphine mobilized the rescue party, I wanted to go with them so badly. But they didn’t allow me, because I was too weak. If only I was as strong as sister Seris, I could have joined the rescue party with Dean Carmilla and Matriarch Seraphine to look for you."

Rhain looked at the guilt-ridden girl. He stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Liana," Rhain spoke gently, "I asked you to stay here and watch over Seris. You fulfilled your task perfectly. That alone is more than enough."

Hearing his comforting words, the tight knot in Liana’s chest loosened slightly, and a faint smile bloomed on her lips.

Seris tugged on Rhain’s hand, her pale purple eyes sparkling with eagerness. "Come, husband! Sit with us! You have to tell us everything!"

The three of them moved to the table in the center of the courtyard. Seris and Liana eagerly flanked him, their eyes fixed intently on his face, curious to know exactly what he had faced in the infamous Sunless Umbral Basin.

Rhain looked at their expectant faces, and out an amused chuckle.

"It wasn’t as exaggerated as the rumors claim," Rhain replied, deliberately adopting a casual, unbothered tone. "We hunted a few mutated beasts, wandered through the petrified forests, and managed to track down the multi-headed fire python to secure the core. It was just an extended training session in a slightly toxic environment."

He easily downplayed the horrific reality of the death zone.

He entirely left out the sky raining flaming meteors, the slaughter of a thousand Domain Master beasts, the deadly confrontation with the Level 8 Domain Master eagle, and the brutal assassination attempt by Lucius’s five late-stage Domain Master executioners.

There was absolutely no need to burden their minds with those gruesome details. He just wanted them to be at ease.

"Really?" Seris blinked her beautiful eyes, looking slightly skeptical but overwhelmingly relieved. "Just a training session?"

"Just a training session," Rhain confirmed. He then smoothly shifted the topic, turning his gaze onto both of them. "But enough about me. I left you two with a mountain of flawless Epic and Mystic-Grade pills. What have you been doing during my absence?"

The moment he asked, Seris’s breathtakingly beautiful face lit up with a proud expression.

She puffed out her chest, tilting her delicate chin upward.

"I haven’t slacked off for a single day, husband!" Seris declared proudly. "Thanks to the pills you left behind, I shattered my bottlenecks. I have successfully reached the late stage of the Core Formation Realm!"

Rhain nodded approvingly. "Late stage of the Core Formation Realm in just three months. Your progress is exceptional, Seris."

"Hehe... but that is not all!"

Seris smiled mysteriously, her pale purple eyes flashing with an unearthly light.

She slowly stood up from the stone table.

Buzz—!

Without any warning, a chilling, unbelievably pure energy erupted from her slender frame.

The temperature in the courtyard plummeted instantly. Frost began to rapidly crystallize over the stone table, the grass, and the surrounding walls.

Rhain was genuinely astonished.

His dark grey eyes widened slightly as he looked at the frost domain enveloping the courtyard.

"A Domain..." Rhain murmured, a rare look of marvel crossing his face.

To form a Domain at the Core Formation Realm was the ultimate mark of a peerless prodigy.

In the entire Solathane Dynasty, Rhain had believed that he, and Lyra were the only anomaly capable of such a feat. Yet here stood his wife, effortlessly projecting a domain of frost.

It was glaringly clear now. The innate potential of her True Heavenly Physique was finally beginning to awaken its true monstrous capabilities!

"You truly never cease to amaze me, my wife," Rhain praised wholeheartedly, causing Seris’s cheeks to flush a charming rosy pink.

Rhain then turned his gaze toward Liana.

Liana took a deep breath, "I have also shattered my bottleneck, Rhain. I officially stepped into the Core Formation Realm, and my foundation is perfectly solidified!"

"Excellent," Rhain nodded. "You both have exceeded my expectations."

At this moment, Seris reached into her spatial ring.

With a delicate movement, she brought out a beautifully crafted, handmade pendant.

The blue strings were woven meticulously, holding a polished jade stone that radiated a cold but gentle aura.

"I spent the past three months carving this and infusing it with my aura," Seris whispered affectionately, her pale purple eyes gazing deeply into his. "So that even when you are far away, a piece of me will always be with you to remind of me."

She leaned forward, her intoxicating fragrance brushing against his nose, and gently placed the pendant around Rhain’s neck.

Rhain touched the cold jade, feeling a profound warmth flood his heart.

"It is beautiful. I will never take it off," Rhain promised, pulling her in for a tender kiss on the forehead.

Meanwhile, Liana fidgeted awkwardly on her seat.

She was clearly hiding something behind her back, her slender hands clutching a small object, hesitating entirely on whether she should give it or not.

Seris caught the movement and let out a melodious laugh.

"Sister Liana," Seris teased mischievously, leaning over. "Aren’t you going to give husband the present you worked so tirelessly on every single night?"

Liana’s face instantly flushed as red as a tomato.

"S-Sister Seris! You promised you wouldn’t say anything!" Liana squeaked in a panicked voice.

"What present?" Rhain asked, looking at the blushing girl with a curious look.

Completely exposed and unable to hide any longer, Liana shyly brought her trembling hands forward.

Resting in her palms was an exquisitely braided wristband, intricately woven from high-tier silver spiritual silk, meticulously designed to calm the mind and repel negative energies.

"I... I made this for you to wear," Liana stuttered, her emerald eyes darting nervously toward the ground. "It isn’t as grand as Sister Seris’s pendant, but... I hoped it could bring you peace after all your battles. I hope you like it, Rhain."

Rhain gently took the woven wristband from her hands, admiring the painstaking craftsmanship that had clearly taken countless hours of dedication to braid perfectly.

"It is perfect, Liana," Rhain said warmly. He casually slid the band onto his right wrist, where it adjusted seamlessly. "Thank you. Both of you."

Under the warm atmosphere, the three of them sat around the stone table, sharing quiet laughter and basking in a peaceful, affectionate evening that completely washed away the blood and slaughter of the past three months.

--------------------

At the exact same time, miles away in the Imperial Capital.

Within the opulent chambers of the Royal Palace, the atmosphere was completely different.

Lucius paced back and forth across the extravagant carpet.

"Three months..." Lucius muttered, his amber eyes bloodshot. "Three whole months!"

It had been exactly ninety three days since he had dispatched his elite execution squad to the Sunless Umbral Basin.

Five late-stage Domain Master assassins.

An overwhelming force capable of annihilating even a noble family overnight.

Yet, he hadn’t received a single transmission talisman, not a single report, not even a whisper of their movements for the entire duration!

"They should have returned by now! Or at least sent word that the bug was dead!" Lucius roared to the empty room, his fists clenched so tightly his fingernails dug into his palms.

Just as his anxiety was threatening to boil over into pure madness—

"Your Highness!"

The heavy chamber doors were shoved open. A royal spy draped in shadow-grey robes rushed in, instantly dropping to his knees, trembling like a leaf.

"Speak!" Lucius demanded fiercely. "Have my men returned?"

The spy swallowed hard, cold sweat pouring down his face.

"Y-Your Highness... we have received no word from the execution squad. But..."

The spy pressed his forehead against the cold marble floor, terrified of the wrath he was about to unleash.

"Our informants in the Outer Frontier have just sent an urgent transmission! Rhain Voss... he has been spotted returning to the Stormveil Academy! He is alive... and entirely unharmed!"

The words dropped like a meteor into the chamber.

Lucius froze, blood draining from his face.

"Alive?" Lucius whispered darkly, "And unharmed?"

For a second, he couldn’t even fathom what he was hearing.

How could a Core Formation youth survive three months in a notorious death zone?

And more importantly... if Rhain Voss had walked out of the Sunless Umbral Basin alive, then what happened to the five late-stage Domain Masters he had sent to hunt him?

A horrific realization crashed down upon Lucius.

Dead.

His elite assassins, men who had cultivated for over a century, were dead!

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

Lucius roared with unbridled fury, his peak Core Formation aura erupting violently and blasting the kneeling spy backward.

His handsome face twisted into an expression of indescribable ugliness.

"HOW DID HE SURVIVE?! RHAIN VOSS, WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE?"