Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!
Chapter 7: Cultivation Rank of Spirit Masters and Mystical Beings

Turning his attention to the demon moving against him, Liam knew he would not surprise his opponent as he had just done with the demon on the ground, who was being attacked by the boar.

He put up a defensive guard as he moved against his opponent, attacking him like an animal.

Liam didn't have strength on his side. He certainly had good speed, stamina and strength after becoming a Spirit Master, but he couldn't easily defeat an opponent with the characteristics of that demon when in its most cautious state. But no matter how powerful they were, at the level of that being, it had its flaws.

'Demons are strong and confident. But that's their biggest weakness. It'll be less inconsequential against me because of my previous move, but its forms of attack are more brutal and less refined than those of human warriors. I can win if I have the right plan!'

Liam acted as if he was going to attack the creature by preparing to cut it in half, a somewhat irrational contest.

The creature looked at him furiously, craving the blood of this novice Spirit Master. 'Trying to attack me? A mere human who only managed to awaken his spirit through a demonic ritual dares to attack me?!'

While glaring at Liam, it shouted as it slashed towards its opponent's jugular.

"It would be a good contest if you had your spirit's help. But being just a 5-Star Spirit Apprentice without the spirit on your side, you're nothing!

Die to me, human brat!'

The creature shocked Liam by speaking in human language, but the young man continued with his plans. Just as he was about to be wounded, he subtly manipulated his opponent's perception of reality by moving to deflect the attack.

Amid combat, the creature was overcome by a sudden influx of powerful desires that consumed its mind with forbidden thoughts.

Given its level of cultivation, it took only two seconds for it to regain control of its mind.

But as it pushed away the thoughts induced by Liam, the creature noticed the movement of its enemy, who was no longer in front of it, but on its right side, attacking with a stone dagger against its neck.

Unable to dodge the enemy's attack, the demon tried to defend itself by putting its arms in front of its neck.

"Aaaaagh!"

The scream of the other demon attacked by the boar rang out as Liam's opponent felt the actual strength of the seemingly slight boy.

"Aaagh!"

It screamed too, its arms being cut off at the elbows, causing a lot of blood to leave its arms while his bones were exposed.

Liam didn't miss his chance for fear of the enemy retreating or even counterattacking. He threw his dagger from one hand to the other before slashing at his enemy's neck.

Swooish!

Liam's movement was so fast the demon with the wounded arms couldn't react in time as it opened its eyes wide, feeling a cut on its neck.

'No! It can't be!'

The force of the boy's attack shocked it!

'How could this be happening? How can a brat at the same level as me have so much strength?'

Liam didn't know it now, but the hot spring had greatly increased his physical power. Not only had his resistance to high temperatures gone up a lot, his general endurance, strength and speed had all improved together.

Even without him using the true form of a Spirit Master—summoning the spirit to fight for him—he dealt a mortal blow to the demon!

As the demon wounded in the neck and arms fell in disbelief, Liam turned away from it, turning his attention to the boar and the other demon.

Luckily, the boar had been spiteful enough to bite the body of the demon Liam had thrown in front of it, using its sharp, large canine teeth to tear a chunk out of the gray creature's abdomen.

To the boar's misfortune, after tearing a chunk out of its enemy, the creature used its large, sharp claws to pierce the boar's skull, killing it instantly.

Seeing the creature grunting as it tried to get up, Liam didn't hesitate to attack it toward the boar's bite.

The demon moved to defend its wound, while Liam saw his opportunity, changing his attack by leading the enemy into a mistake.

Swooish!

He made another cut, this time reaching the femoral artery of the demon's right thigh, one of the main bloodways, which, when injured, could cause severe bleeding.

"Aaaagh!!"

The demon screamed as it swung one of its claws at Liam, while a subtle poisonous mist appeared in the middle of its sharp, dark claws.

Liam swallowed his saliva at the sight of his enemy's latest attack, unable this time to avoid his opponent's action as he moved to defend himself.

'Damn it!'

He wailed as he put his arms in front of his vital organs.

But to the surprise of both the demon and Liam, the creature's claws failed to scratch the skin on the young Spirit Master's forearms.

However, the force of the enemy threw Liam off balance, causing him to take steps backwards as he tried not to fall.

'Looks like that incubus gave me more than naughty skills!'

A smile broke out on Liam's face as he felt tremendous relief, with the creature in his vicinity seriously injured, while he was fine, despite his breathing and feeling of weakness indicating his exhaustion.

As he balanced himself, he kept his guard up, making sure there were no other enemies around.

Two minutes later, the two demons stopped breathing, and he approached their bodies to make sure they were dead.

With that done, he sighed, looking at the boar's body and returning his attention to his hunger.

He didn't want to stay there, so he improvised a rope, tying the boar's legs together and dragging it away.

On the way, he couldn't stop thinking about the battle and the things the demon had told him.

'5-Star Spirit Apprentice, huh? So those sensations I felt during my stay in the incubus cave were my advancements.'

He recognized what it felt like to advance, something important for him to know his strength compared to other mystical beings in this world through a more or less correct parameter.

To say that two 5-Star beings had the same strength was not correct. Each one had their own particularities, characteristics that could make them more or less strong. Some could be good at non-physical activities and therefore be terrible warriors, etc.

But in Twin Lands, most of the time, the cultivation realms, all of them divided from 1-Star to 9-Star, could be relied on to know who not to get involved with.

However flawed the system might be for telling the difference between two individuals at the same level, it was efficient for telling the difference between those of different levels.

For the vast majority of Spirit Masters and mystical beings in the Twin Lands, the difference of a single level was enough for the weaker side to stand no chance against the stronger.

The system was useful for comparisons of beings of different levels, such as a 5-Star being and a 6-Star being. Most of the time, the 5-Star had to be extremely careful with the 6-Star one!

Today Liam learned in practice the difference between those of the same level!

But that's not all he learned.

'That demon said something important. A Spirit Master who can't summon their spirit can't access the best they have!'

This worried him.

Spirit Masters could inherit abilities from spirits and use these abilities as Liam did. But the proper method of fighting as a Spirit Master was to command your spirits and lead them into battle without getting physically involved.

However, Liam had a big problem. He hadn't made the Spirit Pact with the incubus, but the other way around!

'I have to replace a way for me to negotiate with it in the future. If I die, so will it!'