Chapter 9: Gains

Words : 1749 Updated : Mar 26th, 2026

Fabian Cutmore grew more and more exhilarated, as if he could already see it, himself replacing Santiago Cutmore and taking the seat as head of the Cutmore family side branch in Quirby. "You wretch. Come and die!" Fabian bellowed. His cultivation at the late stage of the First Level of Spiritual Master erupted without restraint, his fierce aura sweeping outward like a gale. He stomped hard and shot forward like a cannonball, charging straight at Archie Cutmore. Archie had wounded him earlier, but Fabian was convinced that had only happened because he had underestimated his opponent. Archie might have reached the First Level of Spiritual Master, yet from the aura he had released, he was clearly only at the early stage. Fabian, on the other hand, was at the late stage. If he got serious, dealing with Archie would be easy. "Good," Archie said, his eyes bright. There was no fear in them, only a surging, unrestrained battle intent. He had been planning to find a weaker low-tier second-rank demon beast to test himself against. This saved him the trouble. Using Fabian as a sparring partner was perfect. Archie stepped into Swimming Steps, his body blurring into an afterimage as he attacked first. In the blink of an eye, the two clashed. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A rapid string of impacts thundered through the forest. Archie's cultivation was a hair weaker than Fabian's, but he had trained Swimming Steps to perfection. His footwork was terrifyingly fast. Fabian had only reached the major mastery stage. After several exchanges, Archie remained unscathed, while Fabian took several heavy punches in succession, his old injuries worsening with each hit. "Damn it! How did Archie Cutmore perfect Swimming Steps?" Fabian's face twisted with shock and fury. If this continued, his wounds would only spiral out of control. Gritting his teeth, Fabian took one of Archie's heavy punches head-on, then retreated quickly to open distance. "You wretch," Fabian snarled, voice thick with hatred. "I'll admit I misjudged you. But today, you die!" "Tiger Claw!" Fabian roared and unleashed his strongest killing move. As the Third Elder of the Cutmore family side branch in Quirby, he had trained Tiger Claw to major mastery. Its power was ten times greater than the Tiger Claw Timothy Cutmore had used! With his full strength behind it, even cultivators of the same level could not withstand it. Fabian curled the five fingers of his right hand, driving his spiritual energy to condense around his claw. The strike ripped through the air as it tore toward Archie's throat. "ROAR!" A domineering tiger's howl shook the sky. A faint, translucent claw-shaped phantom appeared over Fabian's hand, sharp and vicious, radiating a killing edge. Its power was astonishing. "Third Elder," Archie said coolly, "if you'd perfected Tiger Claw, you might have beaten me. But you only reached major mastery. So the one who dies today is you." As the last word fell, Archie brought his right hand up, fingers together, and drove his palm forward with everything he had. "Fire Cloud Palm!" The air around them quivered violently. A massive palm print, nearly a meter across, condensed in an instant. It carried a fierce, tyrannical force that crushed the air itself as it slammed toward Fabian. "Boom!" A heavy collision rang out as the tiger-claw phantom met the palm print in midair. Fabian's confident expression shattered. His face drained, terror flashing in his eyes. The fearsome tiger-claw phantom did not hold for even a heartbeat. It was blasted apart. The palm print did not slow. It continued forward, bearing down on Fabian like a falling mountain. Fabian had no time to dodge. He threw up both arms and braced with all his strength. But he was not a body refiner, and his flesh had never been tempered. How could he possibly block Fire Cloud Palm? "Ahhh!" Fabian screamed as he was sent flying. He crashed through several ancient trees in a row. His arms were broken. His chest was deeply caved in. Blood poured from his mouth and splattered the ground red, leaving him in a miserable, horrific state. "Spare me, Young Master Archie! Spare me!" Fabian begged, his voice trembling with humiliation. He was so badly injured he could not even stand, let alone fight. Archie walked up to him and said flatly, "In your next life, remember to be a decent person." Mercy to an enemy was cruelty to oneself. Archie was certain that if he let Fabian go, Fabian would not feel gratitude. He would return later with even more vicious revenge. Fabian had to die here. Archie gave him no chance to speak again. His right hand flattened like a blade and swept across Fabian's neck. Fabian's head tumbled to the ground like a kicked ball, eyes wide open, unwilling to close even in death. He had never imagined that this trip into the Quirby Range would cost him his life. "On the road to the Yellow Springs, you won't be lonely," Archie said, glancing at the corpse with icy indifference. "Flynn Cutmore will be down there to keep you company soon enough." He crouched and removed a cloth pouch from Fabian's waist. It was Fabian's storage bag. With Fabian dead, the Soul Mark inside the bag dissipated. Archie's Soul Power slipped in effortlessly. "Not bad for a Third Elder," Archie murmured after checking the contents, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "He really was far richer than his son." The storage bag itself was low-grade, with only a little over ten cubic meters of space, but it was packed full. Most of it consisted of first-rank demon beast inner cores, natal essence blood, partial remains, and some grade-one medicinal herbs, likely gathered over the past few days in the Quirby Range. Besides that, there were five bottles of pills, a thick stack of silver notes, and two martial technique manuals. After counting, one bottle contained Rejuvenation Pills, while the other four were Energy Nurturing Pills. The silver notes totaled fifty thousand taels. As for the manuals, they were Tiger Claw and Mystic Fire Sword Finger. Both techniques were inherited arts of the Cutmore family side branch in Quirby. Tiger Claw was a High-tier Yellow Martial Technique. Mystic Fire Sword Finger, however, was a Low-tier Profound Martial Technique. It was the strongest technique of the Cutmore family side branch in Quirby, and only those at elder rank or higher were qualified to cultivate it. Fabian's talent was mediocre, and his cultivation ranked near the bottom among the elders of the side branch. After obtaining Mystic Fire Sword Finger, he had not rushed to train it. Instead, he had planned to perfect Tiger Claw first, then move on to Mystic Fire Sword Finger. "Good thing it was Fabian who chased me," Archie exhaled, a trace of relief seeping into his chest. "If it had been another elder, I might have been the one to fall." It only made him more aware of one thing. He had to raise his strength as quickly as possible. Archie lifted his gaze to the sky and muttered, "There are still more than six hours until noon. I can enter the first-floor space of the pagoda and cultivate for a while longer." The battle with Fabian had sharpened his combat experience by a wide margin. He needed time to digest it. And since he had obtained Mystic Fire Sword Finger, there was no reason not to train it. If he could at least grasp the basics before the life-and-death duel, his chances would rise dramatically.

Chapter 9: Gains

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