the night went uneventful and everyone had a good time rest, at least that was what happened at the twin sword valley, meanwhile at the metal mountain valley things were quite different.

from within the main hall of a castle on top of a silver mountain, the sounds of things being thrown around and crashing could be heard, the three girls that were accompanying him were sat on a table watching from the sides.

the supreme elder from the blacksmith peak was also sitting with them, with a grim expression on her face, none of them said anything for the next ten or so minutes until edward calmed himself down.

"elder, i want to kill that bastard!", said both edward and the girl from the purple lotus faction.

the supreme elder sighed, she knew why these four ended up joining hands, they each had their own goals, some aligned and some didn''t, since her young miss was drove away by aster, she received the order to get back at him.

luckily she discovered edward and decided to invest on him, she then swayed others to her side, for now the only one who she is aware of what her thoughts are is the girl from the purple lotus faction.

"julia, i told you not to do anything drastic in either in the central or east sky cities where that brat can use the array of the twin sword valley to defend from anyone but the ancestors", she said with a dead serious voice.

julia gritted her teeth in response, her face twisted in hatred and some of her poisonous spirit energy leaked out of her body as she smashed her hand on the table.

"did you expect me to keep calm when i saw the bastard who probably killed my little brother!".

edward grabbed julia''s hand, and though the poison touched his skin it didn''t seem to affect him, something that didn''t escape the eyes of the other two girls who just snorted and then stood up, to leave.

the supreme elder noticed those two''s reaction and she frowned.

"where are you going, i thought you were going to move to the castle in the upcoming days?".

the girl from the yellow anvil faction glared at edward before saying.

"i joined the sect to work with the best spirit blacksmith, unfortunately the female disciples aren''t really good with it due to their yin nature, and the male ones whose natures align with the profession are too mediocre, today''s clash it was that guy''s defeat so i''m out for the time being, that''s all".

the girl from the white sword faction then added.

"i wanted a sword that could perfectly accommodate my style, just like that woman''s, i accepted to participate in this farse just for that reason since my blacksmith must be from my same range of age, i have been looking all over the place for someone who specializes in swords, elder didn''t mention the lord of the twin sword valley was one, despite knowing my requisites".

edward clenched his fists, he just recently became known, he could probably fool around with the inner disciples of the blacksmith peak or the new recruits, under the disguise of giving them "pointers", but these three that the supreme elder presented to him, let alone doing anything, they didn''t even allow him to lay a finger on them.

well, that was true until today, julia who noticed he also held a grudge against aster, apparently changed the way she saw him, so they got closer due to that, but in exchange his other two teammates were leaving.

edward saw them leave the castle and his expression became fierce, he only had to show them his growth and they would naturally fall for him, that''s what he thought when he saw three of the top five heavenly rank approaching him, but he now realized that wasn''t the case.

"mary, elizabeth... it seems i was too lenient in our agreement, it won''t happen again", said the supreme elder before she vanished, julia and edward stared at each other and then went to their room together.

...

esmeralda then smirked as she gazed at aster, before saying.

"okay then, first we need aster to get used to the distribution of your meridians and dantian, place your hands on her dantian area and then use your spirit sense to see".

aster nodded, and then with vivian''s permission, he placed his hand on her belly, and then slowly started advancing from that point, the very first thing aster noticed is that her meridians which for others are represented as yellow lines, for her they were white.

once aster got used to the pattern of her meridians, which is something every person has and can''t be repeated, it was time to go to the second step of esmeralda''s plan, this required her to show aster how to create a cycle.

esmeralda''s wind clone placed her hands on vivian''s back and then her spirit energy flowed into her, all this while aster was also in contact with her, so that he could watch the process from the beginning to the end.

aster saw a few green strings forming around some specific meridians in vivian''s body, the cycle esmeralda mentioned was basically a guide for her spirit energy to skip some meridians and put emphasis on others, a road so to speak.

after about twenty minutes, esmeralda''s clone let out a sigh of relief and then she disappeared returning to kana''s body, not without saying.

"that''s a fraction of the cycle, practice until you can do something like that and then we''ll go to the next step, also don''t forget to see her body''s reaction to your spirit energy, mine was attacked though i made it as neutral as possible, it will probably only last for the rest of the day".

aster noticed vivian being a bit tired of standing up during a slightly large amount of time, and he beckoned towards a table near them.

"unlike esmeralda, i think i''m going to take more time, let''s have a seat and a small conversation while we proceed", said aster.

"mm", vivian nodded and they sat together, then of course one of the subjects that vivian was curious about, was aster''s relationship with the girls, it took her by surprise that he was with sarina after all.

since she grew isolated her socializing skills were pretty dull, to put it in simple words, she was too direct and blunt, but that was also part of her charm.

"besides sarina, who else in the group is your lover, aster?", she straightforwardly asked, making aster bitterly smile.

"before i answer to that, can you tell me why do you want to know about it".

the question took vivian by surprise, she was lost in her thoughts for a moment before she shook her head.

"i don''t know, it crossed my mind when i was remembering those two luan girls we met at the secret realm, mylene and camila also seem to like you, so i got curious, if it''s something you don''t want to talk about, we can change the subject".

aster saw the genuine curiosity in vivian''s lavender toned pupils, and he chuckled.

"well, i''ll tell you the number is around 8".

aster couldn''t finish his sentence, when vivian''s eyes sparkled, she grabbed aster''s hands with her and then urged him to answer more questions.

"woah, what do you like about them, do you enjoy having so many lovers, do they know about each other, do they get jealous...".

vivian bombarded aster with so many questions, that she didn''t notice about an hour passed in a blink, and aster finally formed the fraction of the cycle esmeralda taught him.

vivian looked at her belly where aster created the first part of the cycle, she could feel her spirit energy twirling around aster''s, meaning it was working, her body didn''t attack the cycle either.