5 A New Destination

Shura instantly felt the strength of the unwanted newcomers. There were two that he couldn't sense, they must be Fiend Nobles. The other eleven were all strong Fiend Masters.

Shura felt longing. He was just one step away from becoming a Fiend Noble himself. Although the gap between a Fiend Master and a Fiend Noble was only one level of difference, the difference between status and power was very large.

A Fiend Warrior was one step above a normal-turned cultivator who were no different than the mortals of the past. They could fend for themselves and had the basic qualification to survive, but their strength was limited.

Above them was the Fiend Master, a Fiend Master was stronger than a Fiend Warrior, but there weren't too many differences between a Fiend Warrior and a Fiend Master other than further strengthening of the body and obtaining the ability to precisely control minute details of the body.

The next level above Fiend Master was Fiend Noble. A Fiend Noble could now form and control the demonic energy in his body. They could use it to defend themselves or empower their attacks. Some were even capable of using it to manipulate the elements and cast spells.

Shura looked at Claira, and then the merchant. Shura was at the peak of the Fiend Master level while Claira was at the late-stage of the Fiend Master level.

The merchant Helson should be a Fiend Noble judging by how Shura couldn't sense his level either.

He must be, otherwise there wouldn't be Fiend Nobles coming for them in the middle of nowhere at night. Shura did not doubt that these people were coming for the merchant at all. Why else would they be here?

"I think this might be too much for us to handle," Shura said as he stared at the merchant.

"So it seems," Helson said.

"What do we do?" Shura said, now looking at Claira.

Before Claira could reply the enemy had already reached them and began their attack.

All Shura saw was a bunch of blurry and vague figures coming at them from every direction with weapons in hand. Were their weapon as good as his? His was a supreme weapon of the Celestial Demons from beyond the sky itself. Or at least he would like to believe that.

His sword left his sheath and he swung it at the nearest enemy. The sword moved with great speed as if it was hungry for blood. Although it didn't move as fast as a lightning strike, it was still very fast.

A Fiend Master was instantly cleaved into two on the spot.

Shura felt very rested and energetic at that moment. He was like a nocturnal animal, vigorous and vigilant in the night.

The pale white sword flashed again in the dark and another Fiend Master fell to the ground, unmoving.

Claira covered his back and her kill count was no lesser than his own. Here twin daggers landed a fatal blow every time they flashed in the darkness.

Compared to the fight between Fiend Masters, the Fiend Nobles were quite quiet. The two Fiend Nobles stood in front of Helson. Neither made a move. The two sides eyed each other in silence. No words were spoken at all.

While the Fiend Nobles continued to have a staring contest, Shura was in the midst of fighting. The world hadn't changed much. People were fighting the exact same way he had heard when he listened to the exploits of some famed cultivators and massive battles.

An intense and urgent feeling welled inside of him as he lost himself in the calm and focus of the fight. It was a wondrous sense of excitement and desire. He really wanted to become stronger. Stronger then Fiend Master, stronger than a Fiend Noble, and even stronger than a Fiend King. But not purely for strength's sake.

If he became strong he would be able to travel the world unhindered and be capable of living anywhere. He wanted to see this world for himself. Whether it was a world of the cultivators. A grand and magnificent world of people having the strength to shatter mountains or split seas, and to live forever. Or even a ruined world where death and destruction had reduced magnificence to near nothingness.

He wanted to become strong and see and experience this world and its everything. Shura had never felt so strongly about anything before.

After a time the battle had concluded. All the Fiend Masters were dead. The two Fiend Nobles were dead as well. Shura didn't see how they had died, and not even a corpse was left. This made him even more wary of the merchant.

But if Helson wanted to do anything to the two of them, could they even defend themselves? Shura really wanted to get this mission over with.

The next day they continued their journey. They encountered more assailants again. And then they continued with their journey.

Finally, on the evening of the fourth day, they had arrived at their destination. Entel was a small settlement. Size was relative. It was smaller than the city that the two of them had been living in, but it was not entirely right to call it small. It could even compare to the size of a town before the Great Destruction.

They parted ways with the mysterious merchant. In the end, they never found out who Helson was, and why people were after him. A Fiend Noble wasn't a small figure at all. A few of them had died under Helson's hands. The whole story behind it was mysterious.

Who was Helson? What was he up to? Did he even need someone to escort him? Shura looked at Claira. He didn't know the answer to any one of them.

They had finished a mission and in accordance with the city rules they would be able to continue to live there for a time. But Shura didn't care about it at all anymore.

All he wanted right now was to increase his strength and explore the world. He decided he would tell Claira his thoughts.

"I want to break through to the Fiend Noble level, and then… well, I'll continue to increase my strength and explore the world. I want to see what's out there and what still remains. What about you? What do you want to do?" Shura asked.

"I'll go with you," she replied.

"Really?" Shura never knew what she was thinking. She was a mystery to him. But he did know one thing about Claira. She was someone who he could trust with his life and believe in wholeheartedly.

"What? You think I'll be a burden to you? Just what will you do without me anyway? I bet you'll have a rough time without me around."

Shura nodded. She was right. He would be worse without her.

"No, no. I'm quite lucky to have you. All right, it's decided. Now I just need to break through to Noble Lord. What about you, are you close to becoming Fiend Noble?

Claira shook her head. "I'm still at the late-stage. I'm still quite a way from the peak. But once I get there, I shouldn't have any problem with breaking through."

Claira was right. The only special one here would be him. After his body had been changed by the mysterious object he was different from other people.

For them to make a breakthrough it relied on many factors, but for him, those factors didn't exist. As long as there was enough resource, he could instantly reach the next level.

Resource, of course, referred to demonic energy and any items that contained it. Ever since the Great Destruction, demonic energy had pervaded the entire continent. It had replaced the qi of heaven and earth. A cultivation method utilizing demonic energy than came to be. Some people called it different things, but it wasn't too different from the previous cultivation in essence.

One could absorb the demonic energy instead of the qi of heaven and earth to strengthen themselves. Demonic energy was violent and sometimes caused rejection in certain people. Those unlucky ones would either die or be turned into ghouls.

Everyone who was still alive on the continent was people who could accept and cultivate with the demonic energy.

Absorbing demonic energy with the body had its limit. There was only so much one could draw from the atmosphere. If he were to rely on that then he wouldn't ever get anywhere. He needed precious objects filled with abundant demonic energy, like the core of demons. The other alternative was to kill demons and ghouls and absorb their demonic energy along with using their cores.

All of these methods relied on having strength. He needed to possess strength capable of strengthening himself. It was an endless cycle. Perhaps it would end one day when he finally reached a point where he couldn't get any stronger, and no amount of strength would matter to him by then.

Shura and Claira traveled back to the city. They turned in the mission at the mission hall and began their preparation for their next journey.