Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

In a dark area of the forest, far away from City Thirteen, closer to City Twelve and City Eleven, there was a shadowy area of the forest.

Five outer disciples, residents of City Twelve, were now lying on the ground, their eyes wide open as sweat dripped from their pores. Their legs were powerless as they ignored the wet soil. Meanwhile, they were braced against the ground as they stared at the shadow creatures in front of them.

The place where they had watched for months a valuable medicinal plant grow was now engulfed in an eerie darkness, sending shivers down their spines.

They felt a surge of terror as the sinister whispers of the shadow demons merged with the chilling night breeze.

They wanted to get out of there; they wanted to use their backgrounds against the one behind it all, but would their fear let them?

Their mouths and throats were parched, adding to their overwhelming desire to vanish and evade whoever was responsible for these unsettling emotions.

Amid these six poor mid-level second realm cultivators, a man with short black hair was finishing gathering the herb that had caught his attention.

In the midst of the frightening darkness of this enclosed forest, which was extremely humid and hot even at night, Liam finished what he was doing, ignoring the people nearby.

In his hands was a Third Class medicinal herb, Shadowleaf. It could be consumed by demonic cultivators to purify their elements and refine their powers, or even used to make pills, potions, ointments, etc.

But even after obtaining it, Liam did not bother to murder the six disciples of City Twelve who stood in his way.

After allowing Thal'Korr to absorb the Arcane Crystals of the women of Abyss Matriarchs, the Shadowfiend demon evolved to the Middle-level of the Ancestor-grade.

The Spirit also achieved a cultivation breakthrough, reaching the beginning of the 8-Star level.

Thal'Korr's qualitative improvement increased all of Liam's attributes, helping him improve the level of his Shadowfiend powers, his natural senses, his strength, and also his cultivation.

Now, Liam was at the beginning of the 9-Star of the Spirit Lord Realm!

But his strength hadn't just improved by one step, it had changed so much that he could simply ignore those six while his shadows protected his identity and frightened those people.

After collecting the plant that had caught his attention hours ago, he left the area and finally made his way back to Peak Thirteen!

With almost six days of hunting through the forest of Reidway Fjord, he had completed everything he had planned to do in the area.

He now had 44 Middle-level King-grade Arcane Crystals, 26 High-level Kind-grade crystals, 6 Low-level Ancestor-grade and 2 Middle-level Ancestor-grade ones in his spatial ring.

For the last two days, he had been hunting a bit more, focusing on getting more crystals to have a safety margin to complete his quests for this month and the next, but also to have some crystals to use in Thal'Korr.

Now that he had completed everything he wanted, strengthened himself, and dealt with many enemies, it was time for him to return to the city and continue dealing with his problems.

As the dark shadows in the previous area dissipated, they followed him, leaving the previous terrain behind as he made his way along a safe path.

Even though Thal'Korr had evolved again and Liam was at a higher level, he still couldn't underestimate this forest. Third realm creatures would still be deadly to him, so he still used the map of the area to follow the zones of sightings of second realm creatures.

The Mana Mask was activated, with a 7-Star cultivation exposed.

After days of acting in this forest, Liam had concluded that if he returned to City Thirteen with a plain cultivation of only 6-Star, people would doubt his true strength.

To avoid questions that would lead to his genuine power being revealed, he decided it was worth revealing a little more power than before.

Besides, he needed something to "convince" Ester that his power was no greater than that.

Even if it wasn't realistic for a 7-Star Spirit Lord to beat a 9-Star Spirit Lord—Levi—it was less ridiculous than a 6-Star Spirit Lord doing it.

But besides Ester, the Crimson Rebels, Abyss Matriarchs, and Emerald Owls would probably suspect him of being responsible for the disappearance of their companions.

'I'm going to be in a lot of trouble as soon as I get back to the city.' He sighed as he thought about the challenges ahead.

Liam was at an interesting point in his journey in City Thirteen. He was no longer so weak that he was defenseless, but he wasn't so strong that he didn't have to worry.

His situation was not that much better than before. He still had enemies who could kill him, and he had to be careful. His only advantage was to hide his true power and surprise those who underestimated him.

'I need to focus on becoming a Second Class Runemaster in the next few weeks. That's the fastest way to get out of trouble.'

He was thinking about the possibility of advancing with each quality upgrade that specialty experts underwent.

Special resources, dual cultivation, or combat would hardly force him to advance from the second realm to the third in the short term. Recently, he had used several types of stimulations to advance, and it was unlikely that the same would produce quick results in the short term.

'With rune inscription, I can get closer to the beginning of the third realm, but that's not all. By becoming a Second Class Runemaster, I can gain influence and resources by trading in enchanted items.'

Runemasters made a lot of coins from their profession, even at low levels. Thinking about those coins and how they could help strengthen him, his companions, and potential allies, Liam couldn't help but put his hopes in that profession.

'But I'm going to do what Ann recommended. I'll train in secret and only bring my doubts to her in the first days back in town. One of my three competitors might see me as a threat and start plotting against me if I show them rapid progress.'

He planned in silence, carefully making his way through the forest in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, he now had several gold and silver coins to buy the resources he needed to improve his training. Besides, he could go another week without going to the Beasts Hall, and the people from Emerald Owls wouldn't be able to force him to fight again for at least the next two weeks.

'I will take advantage of this time and train hard while keeping a low profile. In another week, it will be time for me to collect my next wage.'

At the level he was already at, Liam could take the test to become a Senior Initiate. But he didn't want to do that, no matter how much it would increase his wage. Since he wanted to hide his strength, and was close to the third realm, he wanted to get the direct promotion from outer disciple to inner disciple by achieving the third realm before the age of twenty.

That was his current plan, and with that in mind, he would soon return to his town!

...

"Looks like a disciple is returning." Said one Officer stationed at one of the entrances to Peak Thirteen, alerting his companions to a lone figure coming 200 meters ahead.

"In the middle of the night? He's got guts," said one of the masked men in the area.

One of Cyrus' observers recognized Liam and frowned when he saw the boy was now stronger. He couldn't sense Liam's level exactly, but he could tell from the boy's appearance, body movements, and expression.

'He was successful in his hunt and had dealt with his rivals.' The man thought to himself, ready to report this to his superior later.

Under the watchful eyes of half a dozen Officers, Liam made his way through the dark, poorly lit lane at the end of the forest and the beginning of the town, arriving at the entrance post he had passed earlier.

This time, no one was following him, and the area was relatively quiet. City Thirteen was busy 24 hours a day, but at night, the exit to the city and some of the shopping streets were deserted.

"Officers, I'm returning from my hunt. I would like permission to enter the city and complete my mission." Liam greeted the men, quickly pulling out his identification badge.

An Officer answered him, removed the warning from his ID, and then handed him back the permit to leave the city.

With that in hand, Liam thanked the Officer and made his way to the top of the peak, towards the Records Hall, to complete his mission of collecting Arcane Crystals for the sect.

He had a lot to do tomorrow, so he decided to do it all at once and go back to his room to rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, no doubt about it!