Seraphina nodded, her eyes reflecting a complex light.
Leo, curious, asked, “Seraphina, how did you come to the Southern Marches Realm? What brought you here?”
“I was born into the Blue Phoenix Clan of the Central Realm. I ended up in the Southern Marches Realm due to internal strife within my family,” Seraphina said, her delicate hand slowly clenching as if recalling something unpleasant.
“Blue Phoenix Clan?” Leo had never heard of the family Seraphina mentioned.
However, Leo remembered seeing Seraphina in action for the first time at the Golden Snake Valley in the Azure Dragon Mountains, where she used an extraordinary technique to deal with the Three-Crowned Golden Flower Python.
At that time, Leo was puzzled by how someone younger than him could possess such a high-level technique.
Now it seemed that Seraphina’s background was indeed not simple.
“Family strife? Did something happen to your family?” Leo continued to ask.
Seraphina nodded again and then fell silent, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes.
“Can you tell me more about it?”
Seraphina looked deeply at Leo before slowly beginning, “Eight years ago, when I was fourteen, my innate talent awakened, causing a sensation throughout Tidesworth. That day also marked the beginning of disaster.”
Seraphina’s once ethereal voice now carried a tone of somberness and coldness.
“Tidesworth?” Leo tried to recall.
The Central Realm was vast, divided into nine continents by tributaries flowing into the boundless sea, with Tidesworth being one of them.
As for the awakening of her physique that Seraphina mentioned, Leo knew exactly what it was-the Icesoul Physique!
“Was it then that your Icesoul Physique awakened?”
Seraphina acknowledged with a soft “Mm,” and continued, “My Blue Phoenix Clan is one of the five major families in Tidesworth. Although we rank last among them, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to target me.”
“Among the five families, members from the other four came to propose marriage, but my father refused them all.”
“And then?” Leo’s expression turned serious.
Though Seraphina spoke simply, Leo understood the immense pressure she faced.
The Icesoul Physique was extremely rare, found in only one in a million cultivators, and only appeared in women.
Women with this physique nurtured a powerful yin essence within them.
If one were to cultivate with a woman possessing the Icesoul Physique, the yin essence would nourish their golden core and spirit core, greatly aiding in advancing their cultivation level.
Therefore, women with the Icesoul Physique were considered unparalleled partners in cultivation.
It was easy to imagine the sensation Seraphina’s talent awakening caused in Tidesworth.
“Later, this matter reached the ears of the highest ruling power in Tidesworth, the Divine Sword Pavilion,” Seraphina’s eyes grew colder.
“Divine Sword Pavilion?” Leo committed these words to memory.
“A vice-master from the Divine Sword Pavilion personally came to my family and demanded that I marry into their pavilion. But my father cherished me and resisted the pressure to refuse,” Seraphina recalled with a heavy expression on her brow.
“What happened after refusing Divine Sword Pavilion?”
“After refusing them, although they didn’t say anything openly, three of the other four families began to crazily suppress and ostracize the Blue Phoenix Clan.”
“Were those three families acting under the orders of Divine Sword Pavilion?”
“Yes. Although our Blue Phoenix Clan wasn’t weak, those three families would suffer significant losses by joining forces against us. Without directives from Divine Sword Pavilion’s higher-ups, they wouldn’t dare act so recklessly.”
“Divine Sword Pavilion did this to wait until your family couldn’t bear it anymore and sought help from them?” Leo’s voice deepened.
“Yes, but my father withstood both internal and external pressures and even prepared to forcibly break through to the Spirit God realm.”
“Internal and external pressures?” Leo’s eyebrows twitched. It seemed that besides external threats from those families and Divine Sword Pavilion, there was unrest within Seraphina’s family as well.
“My second uncle had always been at odds with my father and coveted the position of family head. Just a day before my father planned to go into seclusion, he was sneak-attacked and severely injured by my second uncle. After that night, my father disappeared, and my second uncle replaced him as head of the family.”
At this point, Seraphina’s hands clenched slightly, her eyes flashing with cold light.
“With external threats unresolved, instead of uniting as one, they engaged in internal strife. Your second uncle truly deserves condemnation,” Leo said with a hint of coldness in his eyes.
“The first thing my second uncle did after becoming head was to offer me to Divine Sword Pavilion,” Seraphina’s tone turned icy cold.
The fact that Seraphina was in the Southern Marches Realm at Falling Blossom Palace indicated that her second uncle hadn’t succeeded in offering her to Divine Sword Pavilion. So Leo directly asked, “How did you escape?”
“It was thanks to an old woman who had watched over me since childhood. She protected me with her life and helped me escape to the Southern Marches Realm. During the pursuit, not only were those three families involved, but Divine Sword Pavilion also sent a half-step Spirit God realm expert.”
As Seraphina recounted this part, her tone became somber: “In the final moments, that old woman self-destructed so that I wouldn’t be captured by Divine Sword Pavilion and those three families.”
Leo could sense that Seraphina’s emotions were unstable at this point. The scene of her caretaker sacrificing herself must have left an indelible shadow on her young heart.
“My father and that old woman were my closest kin. I will definitely avenge them,” Seraphina’s voice turned icy once more.
Leo looked into Seraphina’s eyes and then reached out to grasp her hand.
“What are you doing?” Seraphina symbolically tried to pull her hand away.
“Your enemies are my enemies. Let’s uproot those three families and whatever Divine Sword Pavilion together!” Leo said solemnly.
Seeing Leo’s expression and hearing his words, Seraphina felt a slight stir beneath her veil, her eyes showing a complex emotion.
Whether it was Divine Sword Pavilion or those three families, all wanted something from her. Yet by some twist of fate, she had given her first time to this young man before her.
From their journey starting at Azure Dragon Mountains to Falling Blossom Palace where he sought her out, then together going to Pill Sovereign Island, and finally fighting against Runecarver Sect’s forces in Clearwind Town-there was no doubt that this young man had gradually entered her once-closed heart like water.
“Alright then, stop staring. Let’s go together to Central Realm!” Leo smiled as he noticed Seraphina gazing at him intently. He took her hand and soared into the sky.
“Wait! I haven’t said goodbye to my master yet,” Seraphina quickly said as she came back to her senses.
“Oh right, I forgot about that.” With one step forward, Leo brought Seraphina to Falling Blossom Palace’s main hall.