Morning arrived and the first burst of light from the sun descended. Dan's consciousness awakened from slumber, his expression flickered when he realized that he slept inside the guestroom.
Questions about yesterday's matter surged within his mind, but he shook his head and ran towards his room where Natalie slept. He couldn't help but shiver.by just imagining her fury when she finds out that he's not beside him.
Opening the doors of the master room. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that Natalie was still in deep slumber. Walking using the tips of his toes, he slipped beside her and awaited the dragon's awakening.
Several minutes later, the sleeping beauty finally woke.up and sweetly smiled when she saw his figure. However, she frowned when she realized that he looked pale and sweaty, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" She raised her arms and cupped his chin with her palms.
Dan felt her concern, however when he remembered about the matter that the old man George told him about Natalie's true bloodline awakening. His eyebrows knitted as he said, "Natalie," He stared right into her eyes amidst her confusion, "Why did you walk on the path of dual cultivation?"
His question struck her like a thunderbolt and she couldn't answer for a moment. Inside her mind, she knew that the matter about her being a demonic cultivator was something that could possibly make him hate her.
She became despondent, but as his wife, she had a duty of telling him everything that he deserved to know as she said, "Yes, I became a demonic cultivator," Her tone, bitter and full of concealed regrets.
She hung her head low, not knowing what to say. But her slightly trembling figure gave way about the upheaval that she felt concerning her emotions. Dan felt somewhat saddened about her condition. The time they spent together as one made him attached to her.
It was the first time that he felt such emotions, after all. No one had ever cared about him back at his previous life. Not even his parents.
He stared right into her eyes and said, "So If I didn't happen to know about this fact, were you planning on keeping it a secret?" His tone bitter and full of emotions that didn't conceal his disappointment.
Natalie fiercely shook her head, denying what he said as she replied, "No, I did not plan on doing that! It's just... It's just..." Dan revealed a small smile, his experience in dealing with women gave him an idea of what she felt. Although she was an assertive and quite domineering woman, she still possessed the innate fragility of a young woman.
In a much understandable term. She didn't want to be abandoned.
"Were you afraid that I will abandon you in hopes of preserving my life?" Dan asked in a soft tone, and in response, Natalie's figure fiercely shook, tears formed on the tips of her eyelids, it threatened to spill down her cheeks but Dan prevented it with a tight embrace.
"Are you goddamned stupid?! Why would I do such a thing?!" He inadvertently yelled, forgetting the fact that Juliet slept just beside them. As expected, the little girl awakened and when she opened her murky eyes, the first thing she saw was her Mama and Papa fighting against each other.
"Why is Mama and Papa, fighting?" She opened her cherry-like lips and spoke these gentle words. Natalie and Dan's expression softened, they forgot what they were discussing and stared at the teary-eyed young girl who wished nothing but their reconcilement.
"No, Juliet we aren't fighting, we're just talking about something," Natalie hurriedly carried her and placed her on her thigh, patting her head and placed her face onto her chest in an effort to hide her miserable visage. Dan sighed and said, "For the sake of Juliet, can we just make peace, and also, I told you already that I won't abandon you, do you really think that I am that unreliable?"
Dan said in a vexed tone, she didn't quite understand the emotions of the women in this world. Could it be because of the culture difference between this world and his previous world? He inwardly thought but soon dismissed the idea and focused on the task at hand.
Both of them talked for a moment. And with the help of Juliet who acted as a pacifier, the two smoothed their problems out and Natalie confessed that she was the Phantom Mistress, and the reason why she killed the members of the Night Rangers Association was first, she wanted to acquire strength for as soon as possible and second, she hated the Association due to the fact that they caused such widespread deaths.
Later on, at high noon, George arrived and joined their lunch. The old man talked about how Natalie was the Phantom Mistress which astonished the latter as Dan revealed a wry smile. Finishing their meals and after placing Juliet into sleep, George gathered the two of them in the front yard and said,
"Okay," He clapped his hands together and said, "From now on, according to the orders of the Master, I will facilitate both of your training."
"Haaah?" Dan opened his mouth, looking somehow astonished,
"Don't be so shocked, young master, the first two stages of cultivation are the most vital stages that will determine, how far will a cultivator go on his path towards the peak. If your foundation is shaky, then you will be unable to build a tower that could pierce through the heavens..."
Dan nodded his head, indeed. According to the information from the wuxia novels that he read, a cultivator's foundation should be firm if he wanted to achieve the peak of cultivation. Else, it wouldn't sustain the strain of the cultivator's increasing power and would collapse.
"Particularly you, Young Mistress! Although the First Stance of our True Divine Art can make you stronger, that doesn't mean that it will solidify your foundation! From what I can see, your foundation is dotted with several cracks and if you kept on doing it without any intervention, you will surely become a cripple in the next several months!" George declared and this piece of news astonished Dan and Natalie.
The latter's expression turned pale as she asked, "Then, George...What should I do? I don't want to be a cripple!"
George revealed a small smile, "That's simple since you're already at that stage, the only thing that you can do is to suppress your next breakthrough and make sure to solidify your foundation for as long as you can..." He clapped his hands once again, "I'll teach you the intricacies about it later, but first I want to get a close look about your technical abilities," He waved his hand as two bamboo swords fell on the ground.
George picked a bamboo sword and handed the other to Natalie, "If you can manage to hit me, then you pass and we will go straight to solidifying your foundation..." Natalie revealed a small smile upon receiving the sword, she was a low-key competitive woman and having challenges like this, made her excited.
Dan observed on the sidelines as the two of them walked, a certain distance between each other. Taking a stance, his expression flickered when he realized that the air that surrounded the two, changed.
George suffused a solemn expression and Natalie also had the same visage. The air of battle intent surrounded them, making Dan feel like he wasn't observing a practical training, but a true battle on the battlefield.
Natalie bent her knees as her figure swept past George's body and reappeared behind him, attacking with a thrust, George casually leaped and turned around in mid-air along with an upward swipe which disrupted the trajectory of Natalie's attack.
This created an opening which he could use to counter-attack, but he didn't do so. Instead, he just kept his defensive stance and waited for Natalie's next offensive.
That single attack made Natalie understand that her enemy had a mechanical advantage. Smiling to herself, her determination ignited and she turned into a blur, flickering before George along with a fierce attack which tore the air itself.
Dan's eyes widened as he bitterly smiled, although he knew that his wife was stronger than him, he didn't expect that the difference was this huge. He was ashamed and became despondent. But soon, he lifted his head and became captivated at the scene that unfolded itself before him.
George leisurely avoided Natalie's attacks, although he looked nonchalant, the fierce short burst of movements that he made indicated that he had quite a hard time in dodging Natalie's attacks. In a battle of endurance, the young would always win and as a result, George's movements revealed a slight opening which Natalie took advantage of to slam a horizontal strike at George's torso.
A slapping sound echoed along with the sound of a whistling wind, Dan's visage revealed his admiration towards the feat that Natalie achieved. Clenching his fists, he thought to himself that he would never lose to his wife, no matter what.
"It seems like the saying that the young would definitely replace the old is quite accurate, my skills have also become quite rusty, to think that a youngster and a woman at that would defeat me, an old man titled as a Deity Executioner, back then..." He mumbled and when he reached the end of his sentence, his expression turned somewhat melancholic.
Natalie and Dan who heard his words were taken aback, to think that such a decrepit and subservient old man had such a fierce past! The latter thought, 'As expected, it seems like my family, really isn't that ordinary, just from the fact that our true roots came from a Demonic Clan is something astounding alone, yet we also have an old man, titled as a Deity Executioner as a servant,' Dan chuckled, his longing towards the truth became emphasized and he would definitely ask George about everything after all of this training was done.
Natalie bowed her head and said, "This one, thanks Senior for his pointers," George glanced at her and nodded his head in satisfaction. His gaze swept over Dan and a vicious smile lifted on his lips.
Witnessing the vicious smile that contrasted the old man's normally gentle attitude, Dan had a premonition in his mind as George called for him.