A year swiftly passed.

In this one-year time span, during the first month, Davis started to teach Soul Forging Cultivation to Evelynn from the basics and not only did he teach her the basics but also practically demonstrated all he knew about the ins and outs of Soul Forging Cultivation to her level.

This tremendously helped her to increase her Soul Forging Cultivation at a stable pace.

While he taught Evelynn... Clara, Claire, Logan, Diana, and even Edward came under his tutelage to learn Soul Forging Cultivation.

After they sat in his lecture, they were in awe of his vast knowledge and the more they understood his teachings, the more they were in awe of the mysterious senior, who was also his non-existent master.

To this, Davis had been quite pent up and wanted to reveal that no such bastard existed but revealing such a secret was a headache rather than continuing to keep up with the lie.

In the second month, when the others learned about his classes in Soul Forging Cultivation, they came to Davis and pleaded to learn from him as well. The others were none other than his siblings from other mothers, even Hendrickson and Randal chose to attend his classes.

Davis felt reluctant at first but after his step-siblings kept pleading him plenty of times without any shame while displaying humility, he reluctantly agreed. In the time he spent here after coming from the First Layer, he heard that they didn't to take any harmful actions towards them so he had maintained a neutral disposition towards them but when he talked and conversed with them, he came to know that they were indeed not bad at all, though he felt that they were spoiled after coming to this Royal Castle.

His father was satisfied with his arrangement and encouraged him to continue to do so but as a result, his mother didn't like it but still helped him search for the two other ingredients required for him to make the Soul Emergence Pill.

He did indeed request his mother to search for these ingredients although he didn't get his hopes up for it.

In the third month, Davis completed teaching them the basics of both the Nascent Soul Stage and Infant Soul Stage while for his main family, he completed teaching till the basics of the Young Soul Stage.

The others who couldn't keep up gradually left after gaining comprehension of the Soul Forging Cultivation to the best of their ability.

Even Diana and Edward left since their level and cultivation were quite low, causing them to be no longer be able to keep up with his teachings.

Only Evelynn, Clara, Claire, and Logan were left but Evelynn and Clara did find it difficult to keep up in the classes as they also hit the bottleneck in her understanding.

Davis also gained one of the ingredients he needed for the concoction of Soul Emergence Pill.

With the help of his mother, he managed to obtain the Sunflower Bamboo Extract from the Claymore Empire in exchange for a hundred spirit stones which in his record was very cheap.

Although the Claymore's were greedy, they didn't charge them exorbitantly, so he let that matter go, otherwise for the matter that happened between Evelynn and them in the past, he would've personally visited them to show who's the boss.

In the fourth month, the tension between Claire and Logan increasingly worsened but didn't reach to the point of exploding. They quarreled and abused each other with words but most of it was Claire who could no longer bear his unfaithfulness and disloyal attitude.

Davis could only watch and do nothing. This matter brought a lot of damage to the harmony of the family members as things turned awkward and uncomfortable. However, the ones who were most affected were none other than Diana and Edward as they couldn't bear to see their father and mother fight with each other.

During this time, Clara was secluded in cultivation, so she didn't know about this matter, not until the time she came out after a few months.

Other than this unfortunate event, Davis made a breakthrough, entering the Mid-Level Body Transformation Stage.

In the fifth month, Davis completed teaching Logan, Claire, Hendrickson, and Randal about the Adult Soul Stage. During this time, he was able to keep their fights in check, however, it became a farce in his eyes when he thought that they needed someone to save their relationship.

In the sixth month, Claire and Logan's relationship increasingly worsened but Davis stepped in, temporarily stopping them from hell breaking loose.

On that day, it was only with the help of Edward was he able to placate them because Edward broke down and pleaded like a baby for them to not fight.

Even though their fights became a farce in his eyes, he still didn't want them to separate as a feeling of pain washed over him.

In the seventh month, Logan and Claire stopped seeing each other and closed themselves in cultivation, no longer bothering to see each other.

Although this gave Davis and the others a breather, it rather seemed like the matter got out of hand.

No longer bothered? That seemed like a bad sign in a relationship.

In the eighth month, Davis and Evelynn made a breakthrough, entering the High-level Body Transformation Stage and Low-Level Infant Soul Stage respectively.

Evelynn only learned till the basics of Young Soul Stage, so she was able to increase her Soul Forging Cultivation from nothing to Low-Level Infant Soul Stage within eight months.

At the same time, she managed to enter the Silver Stage with the help of the remnant potency of the diluted Earth Dragon Immortal Blood Essence.

Furthermore, Clara came out of seclusion and was shocked to hear the news about her parent's actions. She tried to contact both father and mother but was ignored instead, leading her to be dumbfounded.

When had they ever chose to not see her?

Although Clara couldn't understand why she was denied an audience, Davis had the feeling that they didn't want to be seen through by Clara, they and their self-centered thoughts.

Other than that, he received information on the last ingredient from the intelligent department which Claire had established. He needed it to concoct the Soul Emergence Pill.

In the next three months, Davis personally went to the location where the Fallen Extinction Lightning was procured.

Searching deeply, he was able to find the Bronze Lightning Fruit entrenched on a tree in a cave that was underground from the place where lightning struck down like raindrops.

It was what the place where Fallen Extinction Lightning grew and became powerful by absorbing the lightning energy from the area.

He faced no difficulty since his body was at the Peak-Level Gold Stage, but at the same time lamented how easy it was to traverse in this place yet his paternal grandfather died by succumbing to injuries caused by the Fallen Extinction Lightning.

...======

In this one year, everything seemed to quickly happen but there were a few things which Davis couldn't afford to take his eyes off.

For example, the increasingly worsening situation between his father and mother.

In Davis's room.

There were five people in this room but the atmosphere was quite down as if there presence and mood fell into the gutter.

"Is there nothing we can do?" A soft yet anxious voice echoed. It was none other than Evelynn.

The other four looked at her while Davis who was in the four shook his head.

"Big Brother, please do something..." Edward said while his eyes looked moisty, wet with tears.

Likely, he was the one who was most affected by those two, Claire and Logan. It was obvious that these two were going to separate if anything wasn't done in the first place.

Long years of being in a submissive position with Claire brought dissatisfaction to Logan. Besides, with his harem consoling and treating him better than Claire, he found it incredibly hard to tolerate her insults.

On the other hand, Claire became quite ill-tempered and was no longer her elegant self in these few months. It was like she had lost her soul and every time she looked at Logan, only annoyance and dissatisfaction would remain in her eyes.

He couldn't see her as his world anymore and she couldn't digest him being with other women.

This situation created a deadlock and a cycle of resentment between them, creating a barrier that didn't let them interact with each other by letting their hearts out in the open as they did in the past.

Davis sighed as there was nothing he could other than advising them. He had already tried it but it didn't seem to work like the last time.

He could try getting being forceful but that would just make things even worse in most cases. However, if the relationship between them sailed at this pace, it was obvious that it was bound to sink.

Davis's eyes flashed as he saw his little brother weep. It looks like he had to decide to be forceful right now or never.

"This can't keep going on, I don't want them to separate..." Diana had a solemn expression on her face unbefitting of her age.

Davis looked at her and measured that she was the one with the most mature thoughts about this matter. But in those small eyes of hers, other than maturity, he saw sorrow as well.

He caressed her head and uttered, "Alright, I'll do somethi..." Davis suddenly stopped.

"What is it, brother?" Clara asked with a concerned expression on her face. No matter how she tried to ask, her parents simply seemed to not give answers to her.

Davis slowly smiled, "I just thought of an idea that might work out... but I need all of your help..."

The other four were stunned into silence.

"Listen..."

A short while later.

Clara, Diana, and Edward all left with a confused expression engraved on their faces. It was like they were unsure of the plan that their elder brother told them about.

Evelynn looked at Davis as she asked, "Husband, are you sure this is going to work?"

"It should..." Davis offhandedly replied as he smiled weakly. Even he had no confidence in this matter as it might backfire if things shifted south. He absolutely understood what he was going to do was stupid and even crazy, but that also could be the opportunity needed to connect them together.

"Don't worry, I have fifty percent confidence in my chances..."

"Eh? Fifty percent? Doesn't that mean that the chances of the plan failing are the same as succeeding?" Evelynn uttered with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

Davis nodded his head and knew why she was so worried.

He already learned that Evelynn became close with Claire as the former had previously explained about their close mother-daughter relationship to him.

Evelynn let go of her worry and leaned on his shoulders as if trying to put her burdens on him as a form of mental self-defense.

She had thought that Claire and Logan had renewed their love for each other at that time but who knew that they still held resentment for that matter. She had once thought that the matter would blow up and to her nightmare, it really became true.

She slightly moved her head and gazed at Davis's face wondering if she would act the same if he got another woman by his side.

Suddenly feeling insecure, she wrapped her hands around him as she took in his warmth.

Davis's heart pounded at a rapid pace as he felt her soft skin and her body warmth. It was already months since he had bedded her and so couldn't help but feel heat rising in his loins.

Wrapping his arms around her, he slightly lifted her up and took her lips, tasting and teasing her soft crimson texture.

Evelynn was surprised but she accepted his advances as her worries escaped to the back of her mind.

'Yes, I shouldn't worry about those things right now...'

In no time, their two bodies became naked, rubbing each other's skin like snakes twisting on the bed.