Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Liam looked at her lips and nodded. "Yes, this is my first time. I'm here with Felicity."

"You know Felicity?" She opened her eyes wider and raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, we've done some business, I'd say." He laughed, looking at the dimples forming on the silver-haired beauty's face. "My name is Liam, by the way."

"Liam, huh? Interesting. I'm curious to talk more with you. But I'm afraid there are some people waiting for me." She took a step back, reducing the intensity of his seductive aura around her. "Use the meeting to talk to the older people at the symposium. There's a lot here for talents like you."

"Hmm, I'll certainly do that. I hope I get a chance to talk to you more, Grace."

At being called by her name, Grace looked at Liam a little longer and couldn't help but feel provoked. But she liked the fact that this total stranger called her intimately after only a few words between them. Something about him made her feel like she was playing a fun game, and as she walked away to meet the symposium co-hosts, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

After she left, Liam watched her, seeing Grace's beautiful curves and still smelling her sweet perfume.

"It looks like Miss Carson has taken a liking to you, rookie," a young blond man said as he stopped next to Liam, holding a glass of wine. "That's not so common. She rarely speaks to those who aren't from her faction or old acquaintances."

"Is that so? How well do you know her?" Liam looked into the blue eyes of the short young man beside him.

"Of course I do. Who doesn't? Grace is a senior, even to the oldest Senior Initiates in the city. Practically every leader in the top ten this year and for the last five years has courted her and failed.

You, however, a complete novice, seem to have accomplished what many have failed to do after years of trying." He laughed, a little jealous of Liam, but also interested.

He, too, had tried to win Grace's favor, but with so many good women in town, there was no reason for him to keep trying with someone who had no interest in him.

After a few failures, Ancel had learned that Grace valued training and meditation more than romantic relationships. He didn't want someone like that, so even if she changed her attitude towards him, he didn't know if he would aspire to be with her.

Still, Ancel couldn't deny the beauty of Grace and the attraction anyone would feel for her.

"Take your chance and go for it. Just don't be disappointed afterwards." Ancel grinned.

"Why do you say that?"

Liam had already heard the names of everyone there and knew who this boy was. They had exchanged some information a few minutes ago and even talked about the strange fact that the disciples and members of Demon Gate didn't follow the common notion of demon cultivation.

Many people outside of Demon Gate believed the sect focused on cultivating demons, and that their members possessed only demonic Spirits, which had made them famous. But the sect used demons for their potential to raise weak Spirit Masters and force them to grow beyond their limits.

Demons consumed more mana than other types of Spirits and were more difficult to control. Therefore, they strengthened their masters, increasing the chances that they could surpass their limits and advance in their cultivation.

It happened at both low and high levels, and it had built up this famous continental power.

However, one demon was enough for one to feel these effects. The vast majority of the members of the force had only one demon Spirit.

Liam already knew the importance of cultivating different abilities, which was unlikely to come from someone who only had demons as their Spirits. Because of this combination of factors, Spirit Masters really liked to have variations with their Spirits.

Finally, Ancel answered the young man's question with a sigh. "Such a woman is a machine, in a bad way, I mean. She's very professional and competent. Whoever is with her probably won't have access to the feminine traits we all like. Her priority is cultivation, and she's cold about everything else."

"I see..." Liam looked back in the direction she had left, but he couldn't see her there anymore. But whether those words were true, he didn't care.

'Ancel is funny... He thinks of romance in a place where he could be killed at any moment for the slightest offense. What kind of idiot puts it above things like power?' Silently, he thought about the situation while listening to the blond boy.

'Romance is for a person who doesn't have a noose around their neck and has minimal options at their disposal. 'Servants' who can't even leave their masters' domain and can be killed by the strongest with the slightest movement don't have that luxury.'He thought comparatively, realizing his harsh reality.

Love was good, but like everything else in life, it had its downside. The feeling brought weaknesses, vulnerabilities to those who had it. Was that enough not to want to love at least once in your life? Liam didn't think so. But he was young. At his biological age of 18, he was more concerned with not being killed by his many enemies than finding a good woman to be with.

Perhaps one day, when he was older, when he had succeeded in his escape and was no longer pursued by mortal troubles, he could devote himself to that feeling. But now was not the time.

"... Don't you agree with me?" Ancel asked, looking at the surrounding girls.

"Whatever you say, mate." Liam smiled and took another sip of the good wine available at this gathering.

As they talked, a few girls looked at him, mesmerized by Liam's manners in a way that soon made Ancel feel uncomfortable being around someone who attracted so many stares.

With an excuse, Ancel moved away from Liam, giving him room to approach other people there, especially women who were interested in getting to know him.

'It's a shame my incubus skills aren't as positive for women as they are for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to worry about being hunted and could act with all of them at my disposal.' He continued to chat with the beautiful ladies who were interested in meeting him, playing games with them while exchanging information, but he was not passionately interested in cultivating with them.

He could try to get them into bed. It would be easy for the current him. Some 1-Star and 2-Star Spirit Earth cultivators were vulnerable enough that he could seduce them. But after that, he would probably have to force them to sign contracts with him, and he didn't like the sound of that.

He had asked Mary and Electa to sign contracts, but the two women had wanted to be with him since their first results. They didn't need to be forced to sign anything. They did it because it would give him the security he needed and allow them to continue to get what they wanted.

It would be a different situation if Liam had a woman who didn't want to cultivate with him and he had to use coercion to avoid being exposed.

In any case, Liam was no fool. He didn't want to cultivate with those women he didn't know, but he didn't have to reveal that feeling. He played around with a group of four women, talking to them separately and flirting with them while building up his contacts.

Whether they would become his cultivation partners didn't matter. He could have friends who were in love with him, and that would give him extra information and opportunities!

...

An hour and a half after the meeting Felicity had brought him to, Liam walked down a corridor on the second floor of the event building.

After entertaining a few women who were interested in him for quite some time, he finally escaped the ladies who were eager to be with him and went in search of his target.

He saw Felicity doing business with some strong female cultivators in the area that didn't interest him, so he didn't approach her. Continuing his search for Grace and the opportunity Felicity had told him he would surely have in the meeting, he spotted a woman on a balcony in the distance, dressed in a dress the same color as her hair, showing off her perfect white legs.

Liam approached Grace on the balcony of the room at the end of the corridor.

"Am I bothering you?" he asked as he unceremoniously walked into the room, causing her to turn and realize who it was.

"Liam." Grace had a perfect memory and recognized him after only that last brief conversation. "No, I'm just looking at the moonlight." She looked to the sky, where a red moon brightened the Demon Gate night.

Curious, he stopped next to her and let his seduction skills intensify as he asked, "Grace, you look different than what they say."

She let out a subtle laugh and asked, "Is that so? What do they say?"

"In a nutshell, they say you are a serious and dedicated cultivator who has no interest in anything other than cultivation."

Taking it as a compliment, she asked, "Then how am I different? I have to admit that I see myself that way."

"You really have to focus on cultivation. Where we are, we have no choice but to cultivate ourselves. Either that or we'll be finished sooner or later." He agreed with that part, while she nodded at him.

He continued to look at the beautiful and magnificent crimson moon and said, "But I feel that there's more to it than cultivation. I wonder where you came from. Not everything about you is Demon Gate, right?"

She sighed. "I've been here for so long that part of my former life is slowly fading into my memories. There is a before, of course, but I'm less and less Grace Carson and more and more the leader of the Scarlet Sharks, Demon Gate's outer disciple, Senior Initiate Carson."

There was a melancholy in her words that made Liam stop watching the beautiful night for a moment and look into her eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this, you know. There are ways to break free. I can show you."

He showed her one of his hands, smiling, but with a seriousness in his eyes that mesmerized her.

"How?"

"The how is complicated. A house does not build itself, it needs a foundation. It's a long process until it has its shape and purpose. For now, why don't you allow yourself to come with me? Let me take you to my hometown."

"Hometown? I'm afraid that won't be easy." She liked Liam's manner, but couldn't help but be interested in how he was going to get her and himself out of Demon Gate for a meeting somewhere outside of headquarters.

"That's a date for the future." He agreed with the difficulty of his plan. "But what's wrong with accepting such a compromise? Close your eyes for a moment and try to take a chance on something completely uncertain."

Taking his words more seriously than he had suggested, she came face to face with Liam as she closed her eyes.

When he touched both of her hands and held her where she was, she bit her lip and felt an electric current running through her body. From this sensation came a strange and new movement for her.

For the first time, the heat and an unusual emotion overcame her more rational thoughts and blocked out her constant preoccupation with cultivation. Burning flames spread around the two people who soon was hugging each other tightly.