Sebastian let out a turbid breath. He could feel that his strength was much stronger than before. He still wasn't in peak condition, but it was still wonderful news to him. At least he had now restored more than half his powers. Sebastian had just gotten up and stretched when he heard a series of knocks on the door."Mr. Ballard, time to eat!" Scott said tentatively. He was terrified of disturbing him.Sebastian answered, "I'll be out soon!"When Scott saw Sebastian, he realized that the latter no longer looked as pale as he had at first, and there was a slight rosy tinge to his complexion. He smiled and said, "Mr. Ballard, you're looking pretty good today!"Sebastian only smiled impassively but didn't respond. They returned to the Martial Arts Court building, where a large platter of meat had already been placed on the table for Sebastian."Mr. Ballard, we don't have much to eat here. Apart from game, all we have is beef. I was afraid that you wouldn't be accustomed to it,
Sebastian looked up at the shadowy figures, among which there were children. They were probably the Flemin Village inhabitants who had disappeared without a trace overnight 30 years ago!"Not only did you commit murder, you even wanted to imprison them here forever! You're unbelievably cruel! Also, what kind of grudge does your family have against that young woman?" Sebastian asked accusingly as he pointed at Candy.Although Candy had been hostile toward Sebastian from the beginning, he knew that it wasn't out of her own will. It was the will of the snake that had merged with her soul. "You are far too nosy, young man. How do you know the young woman doesn't want to become part of our family? Perhaps she's thrilled at the very thought right now!" Violet cackled. Sebastian took a deep breath. He looked at the shadowy figures around him and at Candy, who was standing at the window."I'll give you one chance," he said. "Let them all go and remove the snake curse from that young wom
The dark green liquid was venom!Sebastian hastily leaped onto the roof of a villa to dodge the attack."Hey, you old hag! Aren't you afraid that you'll end up without any descendants if you treat your granddaughter-in-law like that?" Sebastian questioned mockingly. Violet wasn't angry at all. She laughed instead and said, "Ballard, your reverse psychology won't work on me. Let's see how you kill her!"She cackled again.Human life meant nothing to her, and Candy was just a puppet that the Berkeleys had found. They only wanted to use her body to raise the snake curse until it took over her body completely, after which she could give birth to a true snake spirit baby for them!"Don't regret it, you old hag!"Sebastian suddenly raised his hand, and a strong force immediately weighed down heavily on them."Restrain!"He pressed his palms down in the air as he spoke."Restrain?" A smile had just begun to flash across Violet's face, but then her expression stiffened.The stron
At the same time, clouds of dark energy flowed toward Sebastian and enveloped him.He felt a strong, restrictive power enveloped him, which made it hard to even lift a finger.It was a mystic spell unique to Violet. Anyone enveloped by the dark energy would have no choice but to stand still and wait for death to come, no matter how powerful they were. A mystic spell like that was similar to the one Sebastian had just displayed, but it was much more bizarre and harder to detect. Countless experts in the mystic spells had died from Violet's move. In the end, she had sucked up all their blood essence, and they had become nutrition for her.That was why she was sure that Sebastian would suffer the same fate. "Young man, are you unable to speak now?" Violet taunted as she circled Sebastian. She now felt that Sebastian was like a lamb to the slaughter—she could do with him as she pleased.However, she didn't want to let him die too quickly. He had committed an unforgivable sin in
"Violet!" Candy stared at Violet in terror, because the latter now looked frightening. The flesh and skin on her face were peeling off, and pale white bone was already showing on her chin.It wouldn't take long before she became a living skeleton.Violet glanced at her hands, of which only bone was left. There was a look of shock in her eyes, but she still had another trick up her sleeve.As she cackled sinisterly, her body began recovering rapidly. All her skin was growing back, and the new flesh and skin that grew was as smooth as that of a baby's."Young man, do you really think that I would have no way to break that spell?" Violet looked at her newly grown skin and flesh and laughed triumphantly. Sebastian waggled a finger slightly and asked, "Break it? It's not that easy. That was just the beginning!"As soon as he finished, he moved in a flash and leaped down from the roof. All Violet saw was a shadow flashing past her.There was a series of resounding slaps, and Violet f
The handsome youth's name was Lucius Vipera. He grinned evilly and said, "You're the first person who's had the guts to insult me. You will pay!""My lord!"Violet hastily bowed to Lucius, too afraid to even look up at him.Lucius ignored her and strode toward Sebastian."Young man, you are extraordinary. To have accomplished so much in your 20s isn't an easy feat. If you apologize to the Berkeleys and promise to never oppose us again, I can consider letting you go today!" he said coldly in a manner that brooked no argument. Sebastian scoffed and shook his head as he said disdainfully, "You're not also planning to make me grovel to you in apology, are you?"While they all looked on in shock, Sebastian seemed to flicker out of focus, leaving behind a line of shadows as he rushed toward Lucius.Lucius narrowed his eyes and huffed coldly. "With your paltry skills, are you really going to—"Before he could finish, Sebastian's slap landed. There was a cold flash, which Lucius has
"How is that possible?"Lucius looked as if he was in disbelief when he saw that Sebastian had cut through the coal-black silk threads so easily. Sebastian appeared in front of him in an instant, and he raised Purity to slash at him.Right at the moment when the sword energy was about to touch Lucius' clothes, the air around them seemed to ripple violently. Lucius shot backward several feet as if he were a phantom, and he dodged Sebastian's attack."You're truly extraordinary!"There was a gleam in Lucius' dark eyes. As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to blur out of sight before splitting into three identical figures! Even the coal-black knife in his hand was exactly the same. "You didn't expect that, did you, young man? That's our lord's secret cloning technique!" Violet laughed triumphantly. Sebastian now had to fight against three on his own, which would be certain to end in his death. So what if he could break through the binding of the coal-black silk threads?
Lucius panicked at once. His clones couldn't make different moves, but Sebastian's attacks were all coming from different directions. How could he dodge them?A bolt of blue light slashed down on the head of one of Lucius' clones. He dodged to the side quickly while leaping up to dodge the other five swords. However, before he could land, he spat out a mouthful of blood.Although his original form had escaped from harm, his clones had been killed immediately. Although they were only his clones, they were very closely connected to his true form because of how truncated his Cloning Technique was compared to the original. That was why the backlash was particularly strong when his clones were killed."Just one move and both are already dead? Your Cloning Technique really isn't much!"Sebastian's 18 clones had surrounded the severely injured Lucius and were covering over a dozen different directions."How could this be? How could you have such an orthodox Cloning Spell passed dow
Even though Declan had already said that the old man was only in shock and didn't have a cerebral infarction, the middle-aged man still wanted to hear the opinion of a young traditional medicine doctor like Sebastian! He must be either crazy or an idiot!"If he applies that needle, your father's complexion will go from pale to dark at once. When that happens, it'll only be even more dangerous," Sebastian said impassively."Stop talking crap, Sebastian! My grandfather is the elder of the Healer Sect! Are you implying that he's not as good as you are?" Bryce yelled angrily, pointing at Sebastian.He was furious. "Sebastian, are you doubting my skills in medicine? You're a rookie in the medical field. I only complimented you at the dinner table out of politeness. Did it go to your head?" Declan demanded curtly, his expression changing."You're trying to prick the acupuncture points on the base of the patient's neck as well as in the center of his chest so that you can unblock his br
"Wow, it really is Mr. Byrne Senior! Hello, hello!" A slightly pudgy middle-aged man exclaimed. He hurried forward and shook Declan's hand heartily.Declan frowned and looked at him for a long time, but he couldn't remember where he had seen the pudgy man before.There were too many people who tried to flatter Declan every day, and he couldn't possibly remember every single one of them."Who are you?" Declan asked, his brow furrowed as he shook the man's hand. "Mr. Byrne Senior, you're so busy, so of course you won't remember me! I'm Fritz Thomson! I had the pleasure of meeting you two years ago while I was shooting a documentary about traditional medicine," Fritz said courteously.Declan finally nodded. Fritz was either a reporter or a director. It wasn't surprising that Declan had forgotten who he was.Although the Healer Sect was also among the mystic martial arts sects, it was very different from the Nine Sects. The Healer Sect had always had close connections with the sec
Sebastian waved a hand slightly at the middle-aged man and said, "I'm not a genius doctor. I'm just an ordinary traditional medicine doctor. However, that old man is in a very dangerous situation. You must not touch him!"He spoke urgently when he saw that the middle-aged woman was propping the old man up so that he was lying on her lap.The middle-aged woman looked up at the middle-aged man. She was clearly hesitant.They were on the top floor, and the tiled floor was so cold. She didn't think that it would be safe for her to let the old man just lie on the floor. "Listen to Dr. Ballard! You won't go wrong!" the middle-aged man said quickly to her."Dr. Ballard? He's nothing compared to my grandfather!" Bryce exclaimed. He was annoyed to hear the middle-aged man addressing Sebastian so respectfully.After all, Declan was the elder of the Healer Sect. There were even numerous sage doctors who had to treat Declan with respect as their senior in the industry!Who did Sebastian th
Since Declan had coincidentally met Sebastian at the dinner table that day, he had thought of bringing the latter over to his side. That way, Sebastian could work for him. "Sebastian, I'm planning to make an exception and take you as my apprentice. What do you think?" Declan asked again when he saw that Sebastian was ignoring him.Sebastian continued to ignore him. Did he really thought he could be Sebastian's mentor? The old man must be crazy!"Sebastian, you should hurry and kneel to my grandfather! You're lucky to get him as a mentor! My grandfather hasn't accepted any apprentices for 20 years!"Bryce glared at Sebastian, whom he felt was being far too tactless. There were countless people fighting to have Declan as a mentor."Mr. Byrne Senior, I don't wish to have a mentor. Besides, no one is qualified to be one," Sebastian said impassively. "You little—"Declan was furious. Sebastian was far too arrogant! He was already humbling himself by deigning to take Sebastian as an
Bryce saw the anger in Declan's face, so he said reluctantly to Larys, "I'm sorry, Mr. Compton. I've acted impulsively."Acted impulsively? It would have been better if Bryce hadn't apologized at all. His apology had made Larys even angrier. He clearly had no respect for Larys at all if he could slap him just out of a moment's impulse. Larys was the mayor of Steinberg. How could he just let things go just because Bryce had said that he had been impulsive? "Mr. Compton, my grandson is young and ignorant. Please don't hold it against him." Declan had no choice but to speak up and apologize to Larys on Bryce's behalf. Larys could only nod. He smiled slightly and said, "Forget about it. Make sure that it doesn't happen again."Once everyone was seated once more, Bryce continued staring viciously at Sebastian. It was all Sebastian's fault that he had been slapped twice by Declan!He couldn't just let him go, but he didn't dare to cause any more trouble at the dinner table. Howeve
"People always say that you can see what a person is like from looking at their family. I can see that it's true," Sebastian said impassively.That was a harsh insult to Declan. It implied that Bryce's rude behavior was a reflection of Declan's lack of good character, and that their family didn't have good manners.Declan turned purple with rage. Ever since he had become one of the esteemed members of the Healer Sect, everyone in the martial arts community always spoke respectfully to him, especially those of the traditional medicine community. All of them were polite whenever they met him.However, Sebastian had insulted him thrice in a row, and each insult was worse than the last. Rosalie couldn't help but laugh. She leaned on Sebastian's shoulder and turned her head away, her slender figure trembling with the effort of not laughing out loud."You're terrible! You've insulted them so slyly!" Rosalie whispered in Sebastian's ear.Sebastian reached out to put an arm around her t
Sebastian's expression turned cold at once. What was so important about an elder of the Healer Sect? Was there any reason for him to make so many people wait?Besides, the banquet had been set at 9:00 pm, and both he and Rosalie had arrived on time. Why should Declan be treated differently?Sebastian had never had any patience with people who used their age as an excuse to do whatever they wanted to."Forget it. Calm down, both of you, and let's both refrain from saying anything else."Larys stood up quickly to smooth things over. Both Sebastian and Julian remained silent out of respect for him. However, they both exchanged icy looks.Now that the conflict had subsided, Larys leaned closer to Sebastian and whispered, "Mr. Ballard, I'll be honest with you. I can't afford to offend either you or Mr. Byrne. Please help me out and refrain from pursuing this matter further."Larys was being sincere. He was in awe of Sebastian's allies, but Declan had equally powerful allies supporting
Upon hearing Rosalie's words, Sebastian laughed wryly and shook his head.The Nine Sects wouldn't dare to say a thing to the Ballard Estate, who in turn thought nothing of the Healer Sect.Andreas snorted in laughter and said, "If you had said so 100 years ago, even I would have had to concede. However, times have changed now.""What do you mean?" Rosalie looked curiously at Andreas. It seemed that Sebastian's cousin was very familiar with the Healer Sect. "About 12 years ago, they went on the wrong path. If you check thoroughly, you'll probably find that the development of many new medicines was related to the Healer Sect. However, they are not the refiners!"Rosalie seemed to be deep in thoughts. Her brow darkened as she said thoughtfully, "Do you mean to say that the Healer Sect has abandoned the art of medicine and has decided to go in the direction of the art of pill refining instead?"This made Andreas see Rosalie in a different light.Medicine and pill refining were very
"Are you talking about your cousin? He doesn't look like a businessman at all, though. He looks more like…"Rosalie put her chin in her hands, her brow tightly furrowed. However, she couldn't find an appropriate way to describe Andreas.He felt very strange to Rosalie. There was a kind of energy he had that was difficult to express in words. "It doesn't matter whether he's a businessman or not. He just has to have money. Why don't we discuss it with him tomorrow? I think he'll probably support you unconditionally," Sebastian said confidently."Really? But if we develop a similar medicine, won't we be going against the Croydons? That doesn't seem right."Lorcan was a friend of Oliver's, after all. That meant that he was a friend of the Griffins. Rosalie didn't want to make such an important family their enemy in business. "With that contract, we have to show the Croydons that they shouldn't become ungrateful, nor should they use their force against us!" Sebastian exclaimed in a