Cassian couldn’t be bothered to waste breath explaining himself.
Those three crusty old men-Max, Alaric, and Vince-were clearly in cahoots with Bryce.
They were all the same breed of rat.
“I’ve no idea what nonsense you’re babbling,” Bryce said coolly.
Even if everyone present could see through the act, he wasn’t about to admit a damn thing with the patriarch, Charles, still in the dark.
“You killed your own handmaiden, Lily?” Max barked coldly.
“As the second son of the Faradays, have you forgotten our family rules?”
It was true-the clan had stern rules against mistreating servants, let alone murdering them.
Max was obviously trying to trap Cassian by dragging this so-called crime into the spotlight.
“You think just because the family head favors you, you can do whatever you damn well please?”
Alaric jumped in, his tone laced with anger.
“Never in the history of our family have we had such a blood-soaked heir.
If by some misfortune you become the next clan head, what do you think’ll happen to the rest of us?”
Vince snorted and added, “At least City Lord Elwood’s daughter Hannah hasn’t sealed the engagement yet.
Would’ve been a mess if she had.”
Everyone in the Faraday clan knew about the planned union with Lunaris’ city lord’s household.
Charles originally wanted Cassian to take over and marry Hannah, but after endless arguing from the elders, he decided to let Cassian, Bryce, and Noah compete at the succession ceremony in two days.
Whoever proved strongest would earn the right to propose to her-though just having the right didn’t mean the marriage was a sure thing.
Families lining up for the Elwoods weren’t exactly few.
Cassian scanned the three with unhidden disgust.
“Are you done running your mouths?”
The three elders were all at the third tier of the spiritblade realm.
Their only edge was their seniority.
In the Faraday clan, that counted for much-usually enough to suppress the younger generation, even when they were weaker.
But Cassian wasn’t buying any of it.
He knew damned well they wanted him dead.
“What did you just say?!” Vince snarled, stepping forward and raising his hand, aiming to slap Cassian across the face.
Most clan disciples would’ve dropped to their knees by now.
But Cassian wasn’t most.
As a fourth-tier spiritblade realm cultivator, he reacted faster than Vince could’ve imagined.
Before Vince’s hand got halfway, Cassian’s had already reached his face.
SMACK!
Cassian’s slap landed hard, smacking Vince so clean his head twisted and he stumbled, crashing to the side like a sack of rocks.
“You insolent brat!
You dare strike an elder?!” Max roared, fury tearing through his voice.
As he shouted, he swung his palm down, channeling blinding green light between his fingers.
The strike came crashing for Cassian’s skull, packed with enough raw spiritforce to shatter stone.
Cassian didn’t dodge.
Instead, he stepped in towards Max, grabbed his glowing hand in one swift motion, and with his other hand, slapped him clean across the face.
“Crack!”
The sound echoed sharp and loud-blood gushed from Max’s mouth and nose.
“You disrespect the young, trample the old?
You damn geezer, I’m beating the hell out of you!”
Cassian snarled, and before the old man could react, another slap landed on the opposite cheek.
Max’s body trembled uncontrollably in Cassian’s grasp, like he’d just touched a thunderbolt.
“Hm?
My sea of vital energy…
it’s overflowing?”
Only then did Cassian realize-this Grand Spirit Devour Art from the Bloodthirst Emperor wasn’t just a legend.
Max’s spiritforce was storming into his body like a raging river.
“Boom!”
In just two heartbeats, Cassian’s entire sea of vital energy was overflowing, roaring like muffled thunder through his limbs and bones.
He felt his power stretch and pulse through every inch of him, a rush so fierce he nearly gasped aloud.
Spiritblade Realm, Fifth Tier.
“Damn…
that feels unreal…”
Excitement surged through Cassian’s chest.
For the first time, he realized-cultivating could be this savage, this exhilarating.
“You…
what did you do to me?”
Max’s eyes widened with pure horror, his body crumpling limp to the ground.
He looked drained, hollow, his voice barely more than a whisper.
“He advanced his tier outta nowhere?!”
Alaric, ready to spring into action, halted mid-step.
His face blanched as if he’d just seen a ghost, stumbling back several steps.
Bryce’s eyes darted in panic.
His mind screamed confusion, but his feet moved fast-he turned and tried to bolt.
Cassian had already been stronger than him-now, he was a full tier ahead.
No way was Bryce stupid enough to stick around for that fight.
“I told you!
Today, one of us dies.
Think you can run?!”
Cassian lunged, covering multiple yards in a heartbeat like a pouncing beast.
His foot came crashing down toward Bryce’s back.
Bryce twisted sideways just in time, dodging the kick and launching himself toward the yard’s wall, trying to leap over.
But right as he took to the air-Cassian’s hand snapped out, seized his ankle, and yanked him down like a hammer swinging from the skies.
Bryce’s back slammed into the ground with a brutal crack.
His spine shattered, organs wrecked, blood gushing from his mouth.
The sight was gruesome.
“Boom!”
Still gripping Bryce’s ankle, Cassian felt another wave of wild spiritforce flood into him.
His pulse thundered.
In the span of five seconds, his sea of vital energy had filled up to eighty percent, fed by Bryce’s drained core.
Another push, and he’d reach Spiritblade Realm, Sixth Tier.
But there was nothing left.
Bryce’s spiritforce was all gone.
His heart was still.
Breath-gone.
The man was finished.