The Legendary Ruler

Inside a poorly lit room made of brown bricks, Henry sat on the head seat of a long wooden table with eight chairs around it 

He was playing with a purple flame in his hands as he stared intently at it while remembering some pieces of information contained in the book: Introduction to Cultivation, written by a teacher of the Four Seasons Sect.

According to the book, this world's Cultivation is divided into five known major realms, each one separated from the first to the ninth level. They are:

The Awakening Realm. This stage is the beginning of the cultivation journey. It's where a cultivator awakens their meridians and gets ready to absorb the World Qi. The more meridians awakened in this realm, the fastest you will be able to absorb the Qi and the stabler will be your foundation, allowing you to reach new realms.

The Qi Condensation Realm. This stage is where cultivators absorb the Qi in their body and refine it.

The Fundamental Realm. This realm is attained once a cultivator's Qi reached a certain threshold, like purity, density and volume of the Qi.

The Lumen Realm. This level can be achieved by forming an illusory image based on the respective cultivation technique of the user. Every cultivation technique formed a different image.

The Saint Realm. It was attained when the cultivator succeeded in externalizing and utilizing this image in the real world for battles.

And lastly, the Ascending Immortal Realm. However, cultivators that attained this stage were less than five in the world's history, so the book didn't contain much information about this realm.

"I have already attained the sixth level of the Fundamental Realm"- Henry said as he waved his hand, extinguishing the fire.

In these eight years, Henry had cultivated like a madman. He spent two years in the Awakening Realm, opening ninety-nine meridians in his body. This number was unheard of in the entire continent. 

The records only showed the max of twenty-seven meridians opened and it was from a cultivator from the Stellar Sanctuary, an ancient organization that existed for thousands of years and produced the most powerful entities in history, three of the five Ascending Immortals came from there. 

Henry spent four years in the Qi Condensation Realm, refining and storing large amounts of Qi in his body. After he attained the Fundamental Realm, his reservoir of Qi was large as an ocean

"There is no one in those puny families that can compare to me...sadly, I cannot exterminate them"

Henry was afraid that if he personally moved, the other countries would be alerted and form an alliance to go against the Anvil Kingdom, even asking for help from the sects was a possibility.

Henry knew that not even those core disciples of the sanctuary were able to compete with him in terms of cultivation speed.

"My prince, I am here"

A gentle and seductive female voice sounded in the room. The voice was like an orc.h.e.s.tra played by angels and sirens, wanting to consume Henry's sanity and making him giving in to his most deep d.e.s.i.r.es.

"Stop playing Camille!"- Henry waved his hands and a mighty pressure covered the room, forcing the voice to stop.

"Humpf….you are no fun at all"- A blond-haired woman with a thin nose protested in a childish tone.

She was wearing a loosen purple linen tunic with high slits on both sides, that almost seemed to show her b.r.e.a.s.ts. When Henry looked at her, he couldn't help but remember those arts pertaining to the Greek Goddess of Love, Aphrodite. Camille was really too beautiful and seductive.

"Where are the others?"- Henry asked as he looked into her beautiful green eyes.

Perceiving those strange but mysterious golden eyes looking at her, Camille couldn't help but swallow. Every time he looked at her, she couldn't help but feel fear and also a strange attraction. It was really confusing to have those feelings at the same time.

"Brand just returned from his mission, he will be here at any given moment"

"The others I don't have a clue"- Camille said as she walked towards the seat on Henry's left.

"So, tell me about the casino"- Henry asked as he held his chin and looked at the woman.

"In these last few days, we had made almost one million gold coins of profit thanks to the scions of the Tang Clan, the Yi Clan, and the Sefris Clan"- Camille said as she took a piece of paper from God knows where.

In these eight years Henry, besides cultivating, Henry created the Imperial Umbra Organization to amass money and recruit capable people. This organization was like a massive conglomerate. It owned tens of businesses from a casino to a mercenary group.

Camille was the director of the gambling sector and she was responsible for everything related to it. The casinos already expanded throughout most of the major cities in the Anvil Kingdom. Camille was already planning the expansion of the gambling houses to the neighborhood kingdoms.

In Henry's eyes, she was a big deal when it came to business. She was one of the smartest and cunning people he had ever known. She could even convince a person to sell out their own parents.

"They sure are squandering the kingdom's money"- Henry said with a cold smile.

The kingdom had given them more money than ever and they were just gambling and losing the money that should be directed to improvements in the kingdom.

"I am here prince"- a deep and powerful voice resonated through the room as a man in his late twenties stepped into the room.

The man was almost two meters high and had a muscular body. In his face there was a scar that stretched from his eyes to his mouth, giving him a savage aura.

This man was a powerful swordmaster known as Brand. He achieved the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm two years ago with Henry's help. He was responsible for taking care of the mercenary group under the Imperial Umbra Organization.

"Prince, the others probably won't be able to be here. They are still taking care of their last assigned mission"- Brand said as he sat on the right seat.

"Oh... that's true"- Henry said, remembering that he assigned a mission that could take months to complete.

"Anyway, this time the mission will be fast and simple"

"We need to exterminate the three Noble families, but it needs to be swift and leave no traces of our presence."- The prince said with a slight smile on his face.

After eight years, it was finally time to get rid of those rats.