Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Dao Rankings
Sam descded to the dining hall.
As usual, it wasn't crowded; it was the ancestral manor, and only the main family members of the clan were allowed to stay there.
The occupants of the Ancestral Manor included Sam, his two aunts, his mom, his sister, his grandmother, and Lora Frir, who served as the personal maid for the matriarch.
Amelia was also staying there due to her special relationship with Sam, who was now the heir to the Hailstorm clan.
Sam couldn't help but notice the grim expressions on everyone's faces. Ev Ava, who was typically indiffert, wore a frown.
'It must be related to the Lord of the Abyss,' Sam smiled as he replayed the sce of him using the skill Shadow Emperor Incarnation to infiltrate the Hailstorm clan's prison and extract a doz shadows of death row prisoners.
He deliberately let a guard notice his Shadow Emperor Incarnation to introduce his new alter ego—the Lord of the Abyss.
Sam was ambitious, aiming for both power and authority.
With his Nine Heavs spiritual roots, unparalleled cognizant and comprehding ability, two supreme-grade physiques, and powerful bloodlines, he was already on the path to gaining significant power.
As for authority, the Hailstorm clan supported him, considered one of the strongest forces in the tire Azure Dragon contint, boasting a couple of boundary Emperors among their ranks.
However, Sam wasn't satisfied.
He understood that, despite the clan's strgth, it wasn't the absolute best.
What if they were confronted by a coalition of other Emperor orthodoxies? The Hailstorm clan, no matter how powerful, wouldn't survive without a considerable number of Sages and Boundary Emperors in their forces.
Unfortunately, the declining providce of the Zith Chi Dominion made such powerful cultivators scarce, especially in the Sage and Boundary Emperor realms.
Driv by ambition and unsatisfied with the Hailstorm clan's authority and strgth in the Azure Dragon contint, Sam decided to forge his own force.
With this new force, he aimed to gain the greatest authority over the Zith Chi Dominion and reshape the world to his liking.
His force consisted of shadow soldiers, including undead warriors almost invincible against cultivators lacking soul-related offsive and defsive techniques.
These shadow soldiers, capable of moving through shadows undetected, were perfect for roles such as assassins and spies.
Sam intded to strike fear into other forces, making them think a thousand times before ev considering a confrontation with him.
The mysterious leader of this force would be the Lord of the Abyss, a name meant to make emies tremble and spd their lives guessing the true idtity behind the macing shadowy mask.
These thoughts wer't solely driv by a desire for peace but also by instinct.
As a noble dragon with unparalleled pottial, Sam's natural pride and thirst for power motivated him to become a conqueror and dominator.
His pursuit of absolute power was reltless, as he believed that in the face of absolute power and authority, nothing else mattered.
Wh he achieved such heights, no one could question his choices or authority, except for his lovers, of course.
Adriana noticed her grandson descding the stairs, "Come here, dear. Sit with me so we can talk."
Lorraine's mouth twitched, and she complained in her mind, 'Isn't she being overly biased towards my nephew? She would never be that gtle with us, her own daughters.'
Ev Hela and Ava shared her thoughts, but they wer't jealous or anything; they were just surprised.
'Why does he look ev more ridiculously handsome than before? Ev I feel jealous of his good looks, and I'm a woman!' Lorraine screamed in her mind as her eyes glued to Sam, as if searching for the tastiest dish in the whole world.
Ev Hela and Ava were the same; they couldn't hide the overflowing desire for Sam from their faces.
Ava, who was usually indiffert and didn't talk unless she wanted to, found it hard to resist Sam's charm, which forced her to use her cultivation to bring out her strgth to ev focus.
It was just that Sam's charm had grown extremely powerful.
Sam naturally never bothered to control his overflowing charm.
Yes, he could control his charm however he wanted; it was just another one of his divine powers, after all.
"Grandma, what's going on? Why the long faces?" Sam asked, seemingly worried as if he didn't know what happed last night.
Grandma's face took a serious turn and adopted a stern expression. "Last night, someone broke into our clan's prison territory and killed a doz prisoners right under our noses."
Sam frowned, "Someone broke in? That ev you, a boundary emperor, wer't able to detect? How is that ev possible?"
Grandma looked solemn, "Yeah, I know. This is really bad."
"What was that person trying to do, killing prisoners? Did they steal something?" Sam, pretding to be oblivious, asked.
"I don't know. Whoever broke in did not steal anything, except for killing those twelve prisoners. Not just any prisoners, the most wicked and malefict ones who don't ev deserve life," Adriana spat in disgust.
"What's more interesting was the way the prisoners were killed," Adriana, the matriarch, continued as she noticed her personal maid coming down, looking a little confused.
Adriana had st her to summon Sam half an hour ago, and she only arrived after Sam did.
From her expression, the flushed face, and the way her eyes glued to her grandson, Adriana realized something. 'So there is something going on betwe Lora and my grandson? Looks like Lora is up for a promotion.'
"Oh? How did they die?" Sam's interest became visible on his face.
"They didn't die from physical injuries, but their souls were completely destroyed."
"A soul cultivator? How rare," Hela commted.
"Interesting, a soul cultivator who is strong ough to sneak into our territory, kill a bunch of unforgivable prisoners, and th slip out without making so much as a sound right under the presce of strong Boundary Emperors like our mother. I've got to say, they should not be tak lightly," Lorraine clicked her tongue.
"Are soul cultivators really that rare?" Sam asked, noticing that his older sister was nowhere to be se.
Ever since that day wh his older sister, Sophia, caught Sam and Amelia together in the same bed naked, she had be giving him the cold shoulder. She wouldn't speak with him, wouldn't ev be in the same room as him. Honestly, Sam was getting really frustrated.
It wasn't long before he discovered he ev had an older sister and met her. He was just getting to know her, and he had already grown to love her so much. But now that she had be avoiding him, he was feeling helpless and sad.
He already had a good idea why she was behaving like that. He wasn't that dse, but he just didn't know what to do.
Sophia had lustful inttions toward Sam. Of course, there was love too, but Sam was new to the cultivator realm and was just exposed to the cultivator's customs and norms. He couldn't just accept the type of relationship Sophia was hoping to have with him.
He was really helpless in this situation.
"Yes, they are super rare. There ar't many cultivators who specialize in soul Dao or possess soul-related skills or techniques in the currt Zith Chi Dominion. Moreover, there ar't ev techniques that truly exist now. If they do, they're either incomplete or fake," Hela explained.
"It is one of the Transcdt-grade Daos, after all. Not everyone gets to comprehd the Dao of souls," Lorraine agreed.
The Daos were ranked in four grades based on various factors: Supreme, Transcdt, Promint, and Ordinary.
The Dao of Souls was a Transcdt-grade Dao.
"The Daos are ranked based on their rarity, and the harder it gets to comprehd the Daos, the Daos like sword dao and sphere Dao, which were comprehded through war weapons, hce these martial Daos and elemtal Daos were ranked as the Ordinary-grade Daos .
Th there are those Daos that were a little more complicated than martial Daos , like the Dao of poison, Dao of music, Dao of Runes, Dao of Destruction, etc. They were ranked as Promint-grade Daos ," Hela continued.
There were some greater Daos too; they were not just complicated but also incredibly hard to comprehd. It has be said that the methods to ev gain insights into those Transcdt-grade Daos were lost or incomplete.
Transcdt Daos were more mysterious; they were a higher form of Ordinary and Promint-grade Daos .
For example, the Dao of War: this Transcdt-grade Dao could only be comprehded if one had mastered the ordinary martial Daos that correspond to martial war weapons.
Another example would be Dao of Chaos: only after mastering the elemtal Daos could one hope to gain insights into the Dao of Chaos.
As for supreme-grade Daos, they were considered more mysterious, and it has be said that comprehding a supreme-grade dao was akin to comprehding the laws of the universe.
"Did you guys have any idea who could have be the perpetrator?" Sam asked.
"No, not a single idea. However, one of the guards who was on night duty in the prison area saw someone or...something. From his description, it seems what he saw last night was like a figure made out of shadows with blood-red eyes or something. He was scared out of his wits, and he is probably traumatized very badly," Adriana shook her head, disappointed at the guard.
As if remembering something, she continued, "This shadowy figure revealed the guard his name."
"What's his name?" Sam asked as if he didn't know it already.
"The Lord Of The Abyss,"
...
[A/N: If you joyed this chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones. And if you absolutely loved it, you can ev contribute a Gold Ticket. Your support means a lot to me! Thank you very much! - Arigato! 🙏]