Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Clothed only in their garments, their bodies toiled while they slumbered. Their minds diligently processed newly acquired knowledge, discarding insignificant memories and mending minuscule wounds.

The bodies of the Spirit Masters were not exactly like those of ordinary humans, but they were not completely different, either. Liam and Mary still had a long way to go before they would no longer need to sleep, eat, or take part in other mundane activities.

Until the day they no longer required them, ordinary tasks could bring them as much benefit as they did to mortal humans.

Unaware in their slumber, they failed to notice a sudden, dry, monotonous sound emanating from the window. A figure, swathed in cloth from head to toe, materialized outside the bedroom window and paused, observing the room's interior.

In the next instant, the newcomer extended one hand to slightly widen the vertical window, creating enough space to enter the room.

Upon hearing the creaking sound of the old window, they swiftly entered the room. In an instant, a metal dagger materialized in one of their hands as they advanced towards Liam. Inside the target's room, there was no room for doubt. With a swift strike to the jugular of the sleeping black-haired man, they continued to eliminate this potential adversary.

'Die!'

'Wake up!'

While Liam slept, completely unaware of the imminent danger to his life, he heard a piercing scream in his dreams.

Although he didn't wake up immediately, his instincts kicked in, prompting him to shift just enough to evade the impending attack aimed at his neck.

It was in that precise moment that his skin underwent a startling transformation, turning crimson as wisps of purple smoke billowed out from his pores. The ethereal smoke swiftly engulfed the assassin, who had approached to end his life.

'Wake up!' The incubus shouted again to wake Liam, while the assassin seemed stunned as they observed their target, this tall man with a prominent Adam's apple.

Gulp!

They swallowed their saliva, feeling a little different. For a moment, they felt warm and couldn't help but admire Liam's good looks!

But being a 7-Star assassin, they weren't completely fooled by their target's seductive powers. After a moment's hesitation, they made another move with their dagger, determined to kill even if it was a waste.

This time, at the moment of the fatal attack, Liam opened his eyes, brought back to consciousness by the repeated calls of the incubus.

At the sight of this person in black swinging a dagger at him, Liam shivered as he rushed, his mana coursing through his arms and legs as his heart pounded.

For a moment, he forgot to breathe as he saw the blade of his enemy's weapon coming at him.

'Shit!' He jumped up from where he was, narrowly escaping but feeling his long hair cut in half.

"Aaaaaagh!"

Then, facing away from the bed, Liam was startled by the sound of a woman's scream. Mary had just woken up to find herself in a dire situation, a dagger impaling her abdomen at her navel.

"Mary!" Liam shouted, but he wasn't slow. Taking advantage of his enemy's inattention, subtly affected by the incubus' powers, he used his ability from Thal'Korr, Force Amplification.

With no time to summon his Spirit, he summoned the dagger he had won as an initiation gift into the sect, increasing his speed and strength as he moved against the enemy's back.

"NOO!"

A woman's voice sounded before the sound of flesh being pierced rang out over Mary's cries of pain. The assassin could not react in time to Liam's point-blank attack!

Liam's dagger entered the black-clad woman's back, piercing her right where her heart was.

The assassin's eyes widened as strength faded from her hands and legs. She involuntarily released the dagger as the taste of blood filled her mouth.

As much as she acted as an assassin today, she wasn't a professional killer. Without using her Spirit for fear of alerting her target, she made the grave mistake of giving Liam a chance to counterattack!

As Liam removed his dagger from the assassin's back, he threw her against the door, getting one last cry of pain out of her mouth before the wound in her heart took her life.

"Mary!"

Liam hurried over to his companion, who had ceased screaming after jolting awake in shock. She attempted to channel her mana to ease the pain, but a grimace as the wound in her stomach oozed, staining the pristine white sheets of the bed.

'Shit! She's in mortal danger!' He swallowed his saliva as he scooped her up in his arms, then ran down the corridors of the dormitory, leaving his enemy's body behind.

As soon as he saw an Officer patrolling the street in front of the dormitory, he called out to the man for help.

"Someone has attacked me! Please, you must save my companion!" Liam exclaimed urgently, his face glistening with sweat. Mary lay unconscious, her complexion alarmingly pale.

Just as Ann had informed him, Demon Gate was not the chaotic place that many people believed it to be. Despite the fierce competition and the cultivation of demons, a superior would not simply ignore the predicament that Mary and Liam were in.

The Officer had no reason to harm these people. As soon as he saw them, he motioned to Liam, "Let's go to the Infirmary on Street Twenty-Two."

The two ran toward it, with the Officer taking Liam's first statement on the way, hearing from the young man how he was related to Mary, what had happened, and where his room was.

When they reached Street Twenty-Two, they ran into a small three-story building where the wounded from City Thirteen could receive medical attention.

A group of assistants and a third realm Healer rushed to Mary's aid as soon as they saw the newly arrived trio, asking almost no questions as they began their emergency care.

It was clear what the issue was with this woman. A dagger had pierced her abdomen, and blood was seeping from the wound.

The doctor on duty remarked as he extracted the dagger from the assailant who had attempted to harm Liam, "You reacted quickly, boy. Had you removed the dagger or taken a minute longer to bring her here, she would have lost her life."

Liam clenched his fists in fear, feeling the adrenaline in his body wear off as the fatigue of climbing hundreds of steps so set in.

He crouched down and took a deep breath as the team worked to close Mary's wound.

The Officer looked at him and said, "I want you to stay here with your partner until I get back. I'll go to your dorm and check out what you said. For now, give me your ID."

Liam did what he had to do. Victim or not, he was now a murder suspect, and even Mary's situation could fall under his responsibility if the evidence in his room contradicted what he told the Officer.

Until the Law Enforcement Hall resolved his situation—of which this guard was a member—he would be prevented from doing anything officially within the sect.

But that didn't bother Liam. He knew the procedure from reading the sect's rulebook, and he also knew that inner disciples ran the Law Enforcement Hall in the outer disciple cities. It was unlikely that an outer disciple would influence anything, so it was most likely that someone would judge fairly and rid him of this problem.

What worried him now was the assassination attempt, just as the man who had approached him earlier had warned him!

'There is no way I can escape the power struggle in this place. Today they sent a woman to kill me... Maybe that's why I'm still alive. But what about tomorrow? If things continue like this, I won't last long here. I need to join a faction and get protection from a group!'

He decided to stay with Mary tonight, wait until he could get his badge back, and then concentrate on seeing which of the three invitations he had received so far was the best option for him!