Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

"Hi, I want to do my challenge of the month." Liam said to the Officer, who was available to help him.

"Do you have a name in mind, or would you rather let the hall choose for you?" asked the masked man on the other side of the counter.

Liam had already thought about who would be his opponent in this next match. He didn't want to provoke the Abyss Matriarchs and the Crimson Rebels now, so as not be overwhelmed with enemies. These groups wanted to eliminate him during the hunt for the Silver-Winged Leopard, and he preferred their plans. Hence, he wanted to stay away from them for the time being.

His choice of opponent was then left to a member of Emerald Owls if he wanted to further weaken the faction, or an outsider who was not yet an enemy if he wanted to avoid Enos' plots to bring him down.

Liam didn't know Enos, but he had experienced enough of this world to know that the enemy was surely plotting a revenge against him. He himself had used a substance to strengthen himself before facing his first opponent in the Arena, so it was likely that his next opponent would use something like this at Enos' behest.

After thinking about it for several hours the night before, he came to a decision.

"I want to challenge Rauf Summerfall," he said the name of an 8-Star Spirit Lord of Emerald Owls.

'Rauf is the best choice for me. Even if he uses something to strengthen himself, he will hardly be able to challenge an opponent in the third realm. And during our battle, I'll have Thal'Korr at an advanced level.' Liam thought to himself as the Officer issued the challenge.

"Very well. In three days, you'll be able to climb onto the battleground. Be ready to fight shortly after dawn." The Officer confirmed as he gave Liam the date and time of the fight.

The man who was there to guide him to his responsibility today listened to his choice and narrowed his eyes, not expecting Liam to choose one of them.

'What is he planning? Does he really think he can beat Brother Rauf? Even if you're at the same level as Rauf, you won't be able to do much against him if he forcibly increases his cultivation.' The blue-haired man approached Liam and mustered up the courage to carry out his mission.

"Liam Porter, the head of the Arena has assigned you to fight a training match. Come with me. Your contest is about to begin."

Liam said nothing, not even bothering to ask who his opponent would be today. This time, he was prepared to deal with the conspiracies of this place.

'Let's see who gets hurt this time, Enos.'

When they reached the basement of the grand building of the Arena, Liam once again came upon the large training area where several platforms gave way to simultaneous fights.

Following the blue-haired man, he spotted the location of his match today, where a 2-Star Spirit Earth cultivator was already waiting to watch the upcoming match. Aside from this person, all the others in the vicinity were 9-Star cultivators from the Spirit Lord Realm.

Each of them looked at Liam's face when he arrived, their gazes serious and sharp.

Liam didn't bother to greet Hannibal's replacement. He just climbed onto the platform and waited for his opponents.

The Spirit Earth cultivator of Emerald Owls clenched his fists and said, "Liam Porter, you and three others from the hall will train the Disciple Jame." He pointed to a man with a shaved head dressed like a paladin.

'Looks like this guy is scared.' Liam laughed as he nodded in his opponent's direction, imagining that there was no other reason for this Jame to be dressed in such a large suit of armor.

The Spirit Earth cultivator also introduced the training 'companions' who would join forces with Liam to put pressure on Jame. But Liam paid no attention. He just nodded and said he was ready when the man stopped talking.

The four Spirit Masters climbed onto the platform, but they didn't look too happy about it. Obviously, the fall of Hannibal's group had upset some members of Emerald Owls, especially those in a position to confront him.

But they were being paid handsomely to act on Enos' behalf and really had no choice. Positioning themselves at the edge of the platform, the four of them prepared to act while the Spirit Earth cultivator spoke the rules.

"You may begin!" He ordered after a minute, allowing the five to summon their respective Spirits.

The three men who were supposed to be Liam's allies in pressuring Jame immediately kept one of their Spirits at their side, sending their weaker Spirits into battle.

Liam summoned Thal'Korr and showed everyone there an 8-Star Spirit Lord cultivation for his Shadowfiend demon, while Jame sent his two Spirits into battle, confident, of course, that Liam's three 'allies' wouldn't act against him.

In the blink of an eye, the five Spirits of these Spirit Masters were closing in on Liam, two of them 7-Star, two 8-Star, and one 9-Star from the Spirit Lord Realm.

Liam held his position for a moment, then, waving to Thal'Korr, he moved his demon against the five approaching opponents, or rather, against the two enemy Spirits surrounded by his three 'allied' Spirits.

'You want to play, so let's play.' Liam summoned his sword and moved towards Jame.

Thal'Korr followed with an attack against Jame's Spirits, but his movement wasn't as clean as his 'allies' would have liked. By attacking with his claws while subtly suppressing his opponents--so that they did not notice his superior level--he 'unintentionally' endangered the Spirit of one of his 'allies'.

Jame's two Spirits narrowly averted Thal'Korr's attack, but a black bear belonging to one of Liam's 'allies' didn't escape. Its face slashed by Thal'Korr's claws, the creature yelled in pain as it rolled backward.

Thal'Korr did not stop as Liam smiled. "My bad. My control over my Spirit isn't that good. If you get too close to him, I can't guarantee that he won't hurt my allies!" Liam said helplessly as he saw it.

He used Thal'Korr to escape the Spirits already fighting and get to the side of the platform where Jame was standing.

'Shit! This wretch is plotting against us!' The bear's Spirit Master gritted his teeth as he felt dread in his soul.

Seeing Liam approaching Jame, another of them shouted as he moved. "Let's join Brother Liam! Jame put himself in this situation, so let's finish training quickly!" A man with a slim build and a seemingly frail body shouted.

His strongest Spirit at his side moved in the direction Liam was going before the other two, waiting to act, did the same.

Liam's three 'allies' obviously didn't want to go near Jame. They stayed behind, commanding their Spirits to fight around Thal'Korr and toward Liam and Jame.

Jame broke into a cold sweat as he sensed something strange about Thal'Korr's movements, noticing that every few moments his two Spirits seemed to freeze, mistiming their movements and the best moment to attack or dodge.

While his two Spirits seemed to be more and more suppressed by Thal'Korr, the Spirits of the other three Spirit Masters suffered attacks or were forced away.

But he couldn't worry about that for long. In less than a minute from the start of the training, Liam had made it all the way to him.

Faced with a Spirit Master wielding a Third Class sword, Jame shivered as he summoned his own weapon and prepared to fight.

The three strongest Spirits of his allies arrived at almost the same time as Liam, but the first one to move didn't have the expected effect. Attacking with a freezing blow, the blue-skinned demon missed Liam's body and struck Jame's armor.

"Wretch!" Jame shouted as he felt frostbite run down one of his arms.

If it weren't for the armor he was wearing, this attack could have frozen his entire body!

Liam almost couldn't contain his laughter as he used his power advantage against these enemies, avoiding attacks that could reveal his strength and using his dodge to deflect blows from his opponents against each other.

"Older Brothers, you're the best allies I've ever had," Liam said aloud, continuing the little game this group was playing.

Fortunately for him, even inside the Battle Hall, these individuals couldn't brazenly act against him. Forced to pretend to be his allies in training against Jame, these three Spirit Masters would suffer as their Spirits were hurt by Thal'Korr, Liam, Jame himself, and his even this man's Spirits!

Though they didn't want to, after two minutes of training, the match that was supposed to send Liam to the Infirmary turned out to be a real training match in which the four members of the hall would train the Disciple Jame!