Harpy Dragon Demon Harpie's advancement spread swiftly through the Thunderclap Network that night, throughout the entire Shadowflame Grand Duchy, then through the Thunderclap Conference, resounding across every human nation.
For a time, thunderclap messages of congratulations poured in without end.
Russell ignored them, merely having the duty Cabinet Minister handle them while he returned to Cigar Palace to rest.
It was already deep into the night.
He felt no desire to sleep. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the terrace, facing the incessant north wind as he silently reflected upon and summarized Harpie's advancement experience.
Harpie stood ramrod straight on the climbing frame.
Within their minds, Harpie communicated every detail to Russell, repeatedly describing the cultivation journey, as well as the details and mental state before and after advancing into a Phantom Dragon.
Under the lamplight, Russell wrote and sketched in his notebook, recording his and Harpie's insights before refining them further. He continuously crossed things out and revised them, summarizing old experience, deriving new understanding, then organizing it all into a system.
"Life and Death Dragon Tribulation... Red Dust Refining Heart... The body must endure a tribulation, and the mind must endure one as well... It is both a tribulation and a sublimation. One must overcome the tests bestowed by heaven and earth, as well as one's own will."
After writing at length until the latter half of the night, he finally completed an entire cultivation system for Dragon Domain Lords and Phantom Dragon Knights.
It applied to knights, but it also had to apply to Phantom Beasts.
"Only through the joint efforts of knight and Phantom Beast can they shatter the shackles of Phantom Beast Knights and march toward a new peak upon the Knight's Path!"
Back in his room, Russell named this cultivation system The Path of Man