41 -

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Adel took the young woman who had collapsed on him and placed her on an adjacent sofa before leaving the alchemy alliance straightaway. He didn't want to get involved in other people's affairs, nor did he want to save the damsel in distress who had fainted after embracing her.

-

Adel went straight to an empty corridor after departing before regaining his former appearance.

Those in the alchemy alliance, unsurprisingly, decided not to follow him. They were convinced that someone was hiding, waiting to help him if he was ever in danger beyond his ability to bear.

And, moreover, he was a talented middle-aged man whom even the hidden clan would never want to forsake, so they would make sure that he was at least safe when he was alone.

Furthermore, his prior acts had confirmed that he was a member of a hidden clan. Who would have such pill recipes if it weren't for them? As such, when he returned to the store to work, they would regard him with the utmost respect.

-

After Adel got back his former looks, he went back to the clan. He needed knowledge first before he went to the blacksmithing alliane, arrays' alliance, and formations' alliance.

After all, the mind-door only gave him alchemy knowledge, and he had no experience with the other professions in his previous life. Hence , if he was to go to the alliances, he needed to self-study.

However, self-study was not the only approach.

He might display his talents before being groomed by a sect or even Katrina's clan, and that was exactly what he intended to accomplish before.

But first, he had to verify that such alliances existed. Because, after all, he could be mistaken.

It was probable that the Taube clan was the only one that specialized in alchemy, with the other three clans opting out of the other professions.

There were twelve different professions in the world:

Becoming an alchemist, a poison master, a formation master, a beast tamer, an array master, a blacksmithing master, a vocal master , a culinary master, a garment master, a rune master, and an enchanting master, and finally a seer, which were all professions that could be sought.

All of this information comes from his knowledge when he was in God's universe, so there might be other professions out there he wasn't aware of.

Adel wanted to acquire a basic grasp of every profession because they were all renowned and would at least be guests anywhere he traveled; making it simple for him to assume the identity of a secret "tinker master" once he reached the next plane.

(Tinker Master = Jack-of-all-trades)

Most likely, the clans on this plane only knew about three or four of these professions. After all, they were rare professions that required a significant amount of resources to become apprentices in.

All professions had three levels: apprentice, master, and grandmaster.

At least, that's what Adel knew from God's universe. But if he went to the next plane, he'd learn about the higher levels.

-

Back to the current time. Adel planned on going to the beast's clan first before heading back to Katrina's clan.

He needed more knowledge of the soul to learn mind-manipulation arts and to make sure that his plans were supported with enough strength.

Besides, he didn't know what the calamity was, and he needed to have enough strength to face it. All he knew about it was that he would have a large number of dark karmic stars. And who knew how many bad situations he'd face on the calamities? So, he needed to at least have learnt the mind-manipulation arts before he went on the calamity, and ascend to the next plane.

-

Hans was a young man in his thirties who was in the mid-stage of the second step.

He and his family, which comprised his wife, mother, and two sons and daughters, resided in a town.

Despite the two stages' difference, his wife was at the high stage of the first step, allowing her to bear Hans's seed inside her.

Hans's steady life took an abrupt change when a long-lost friend reappeared in his life after a long and complex absence.

The long-lost friend claimed to have met a secret master who had taught him how to cultivate, which led to his cultivation soaring until the early stage of the third step.

He also informed Hans that he was in terrible danger, as a natural disaster was about to destroy the entire town where his family resided, and that even with his cultivation. He wasn't sure he could save everyone, meaning that everyone needed to evacuate right away or risk getting caught in the disaster.

Hans easily agreed with what he said since he is certain of the truthfulness of this situation because of his deep trust in his long-lost friend.

It indeed seemed rather odd for this long-lost friend of his to appear out of nowhere to warn him about something like this, but there was no time to waste and a decision needed to be made.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, this long-lost friend of his was a fiend cultivator with no such master.

He requested that Hans' family leave town first since Hans was a friend of his and he didn't want to hurt them before consuming everyone in the town...

Hans, however, wouldn't meet Adel. The only drastic change in his life would be him being questioned by major top clans about the incident.

Even if Adel met him, he wouldn't care. He'd get the vibe of 'never meeting him ever again' from him even if he did so...

-

Meanwhile, after leaving the alchemy alliance and regaining his former appearance, Adel went directly to the beast's clan's location, which had been provided to him personally by the beast.

However, as he neared that direction, he frowned as he sensed massive energy fluctuations in a direction near to where he was heading.

He didn't want to get involved at first, but as he came closer, he frowned even more when he noticed blood all over the town, as well as a mass of children squeezed into an altar configuration.

He was aware of this situation: children were being sacrificed to the fiend cultivators in order to advance along the pathway!

He was never a saint, but he wouldn't stand by and watch it happen.

Besides, he knew that if he saved those children, he would be rewarded with a significant number of white karmic stars!

'Going against the pathways' ways would lead it to respond violently, bringing righteous cultivators who had cultivated the righteous way to save and gift them...' Adel smiled as he pondered his thoughts.

He wouldn't want to be on the right side of the pathway, but he wouldn't be against it either. So, he devised a plan to save those children and collect those white karmic stars, thereby boosting his chances of encountering more and more fortunate incidents...

But unfortunately, he didn't know that he was on the early stage of the third step!