43- Fight between Falco & Adel (I)

-

-

As Adel was heading towards Falco, he realized something wasn't right.

Fiend cultivators understood how to hide their presence and their sacrificial rituals, but the one he was approaching was flaunting them like he didn't give a damn.

This implied that the cultivator was either powerful enough to disregard others' strength and also confident in his own, or that he was a novice fiend cultivator.

Though the former seemed more likely than the latter, as even third-step cultivators wouldn't have been confident in their strength to do a large display like this.

He further understood that the fiend cultivator with whom he was going to fight for more white karmic stars was most likely a novice fiend cultivator who was either forced to become one or chose to be one of his own accord.

He was well aware that he wasn't all that different from him, given that he was intending to kill him in order to gain the white karmic stars, and that he was a hypocrite.

He wasn't killing the fiend cultivator for the sake of the world's 'greater good,' but rather for the white karmic stars he'd acquire if he supposedly did.

So he intended to check his memories first with his mind-reading arts to determine whether he had been forced to become one or if he had become one mainly due to his weird mindset.

However, he was completely unaware that he was approaching someone who was a full step higher than him. Then again, just because he was a novice fiend cultivator didn't mean he'd suddenly underestimate him.

Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't kill him. The fight would only be a little more intense.

He was nonetheless even more wary since he was aware of the might of fiend cultivators when they displayed their maximum capabilities.

-

As Adel approached Falco warily, Falco's soul energy detected someone crossing his boundary, that covered the whole town, which startled him as he put up his guard even more.

Adel knew that concealing his energy made it extremely difficult for someone to spot him using their soul energy or other energies. But he had originally assumed that the fiend cultivator would be weaker than him, so he had unintentionally lowered his guard.

As such, the two of them were in close proximity but did not know each other.

Adel assumed Falco was some sadistic b.a.stard abusing mortals to gain greater power, and Falco assumed Adel was one of those righteous cultivators who would chase him down here and there.

Since this was the cultivation world, Falco knew Adel wouldn't approach him out of friendliness, but more out of a desire to seek him out and get revenge on someone he'd previously murdered.

Adel, on the other hand, was well aware that the majority of fiend cultivators were wicked and that the majority of them were not forced to be so; hence, he assumed Falco was the sort who enjoyed torturing mortals to increase their strength.

Therefore, the two of them had planned to fight each other from the time they met.

-

Adel noticed something was amiss when he was within 100 meters of Falco.

Falco wasn't carrying through the sacrificial ritual as usual, but instead was vigilant and moving to the sides to escape Adel's motions.

Adel was taken aback, th n realized what he'd done, causing him to sigh and shake his head, musing to himself, 'How long has it been since I underestimated someone after claiming I'd never do so? Sigh, it seems that this fiend cultivator is of the former type, with sufficient strength to defend himself against any attack... '

He recognized the other side was more powerful than him, so he shook his head again with a bitter chuckle before putting a serious expression on his face. He subsequently suppressed all of his energy fluctuations, deeming himself fully invisible to Falco.

Falco was caught by surprise. He noticed that the person pursuing him wasn't the kind to rush in and strike some sort of heroic pose before yelling his technique's name and unleashing the strike that would be weak.

Instead, it looked like the person pursuing him was being extremely vigilant in confronting him this time, which led him to start considering the other party seriously as well.

-

Adel sensed Falco's energy fluctations that were in the middle stage of the third step as he approached, which stunned him for a moment as he contemplated whether to leave or continue his attack.

Mid stage third step cultivators were patriach-level individuals, after all. So it explained

But greed got the best of him, as well as the large number of white karmic stars he could get by killing him. That led him to pause for two minutes before preparing enough martial arts to battle the other party.

When he was going to fight Falco, he was planning to employ the [Cankili] martial art to gain limitless energy, as well as utilize a martial art or two and a soul spell this time.

He would naturally battle with his soul cultivation, as this was the one field where he had an advantage over others in terms of power.

Martial arts were useful, but there weren't many of them. Adel himself only had about fifty or so in his arsenal.

Hence, he needed to employ a spell that could even defeat fourth-step cultivators this time.

That would indeed be the case, theoretically, if he were to get beat-*cough-fight the other party using the [Cankili] martial art.

However, he would suffer a considerable mental strain, requiring at least three days of recuperation, which he couldn't afford for the time being.

And it would be tricky for him because the other party was a fiend cultivator, and they were known for their ability to fight beyond their own stage, making it challenging even for him without using hidden techniques with massive backlashes.

He could, however, convert his energy to a higher leveled one to kill him. It would be far easier, but a bit exhausting.

He sighed, shaking his head, before he did various battle stances to adapt his body to the martial arts, and then unleashed the spells he'd learnt to affect the souls of others to adapt his soul with them before the fight.

Adel only sensed the energy fluctuations being at the mid stage of the third step, as Falco knew that if he disclosed that he could cultivate the soul pathway, many people would hunt him down to learn his secret.

As such, his cultivation technique kept others from finding whatever cultivation pathway he followed, making it advantageous for him...