•••

A troubled look crossed the Princess’ face, but the old lady behind her spoke before she could, “Princess, this is a man who won’t submit… no matter what you do.”

Eversnow looked towards the masked figure, trying to dissolve the mysteries surrounding him, she finally nodded her head.

“Alright, people from the Duan Clan do as you please. But keep within limits, the Duan Clan will only lose more face if you all gang up on a junior,” Princess Eversnow said sternly.

The Duan Clan retainer scrunched his face after he heard her words. The Princess had already given him face allowing him to proceed, but she still placed limits to what they could do.

He pointed towards two youths, part of the Duan Clan entourage, who were minor-grade World-Coalescing Realm cultivators, “You two, go cripple that punk’s dantian,”

“Young Master was hurt because he underestimated him, don’t do the same.” The retainer warned them.

Two some-what handsome youths walked towards Astrallis; they emitted killing-intent in an attempt to pressure him. The spectators couldn’t help but shout shameless seeing their actions.

Astrallis lightly smiled under his mask, as he felt their aura. It was impossible for such juvenile killing-intent to affect him.

“I am an inheritor of an Imperial Devil bloodline, killing-intent is innate to such a bloodline. Only someone who has killed hundreds of thousands could affect me.” Astrallis inwardly laughed.

Many of the spectators went pale in fear after feeling the killing-intent the duo emitted, while some even knelt in the fall.

All of a sudden a vast killing intent akin to a primordial Devil descended upon everyone around Astrallis, everyone below the Minting Realm crashed to the floor. They inner soul-beings began to shake as if they were about to be ripped asunder.

“Pathetic,” Astrallis voice seemed to originate from the abyss of hell.

Astrallis stared at the two youths who approached him earlier in disdain, as they lay on the ground cowering. It was evident to Astrallis that these two only managed to reach their level through the advancement of pills and earthly treasures.

If Astrallis directed his killing-intent at Princess Eversnow such an effect would not occur; although the killing-intent would affect her mind, it wouldn’t inundate her. She would still be able to fight. This all relates to having a solid foundation and a firm soul-being, such things can only be achieved through steady cultivation that isn’t rushed by medicines.

Everyone looked at Astrallis in fear and astonishment; the old granny was not excluded.

“How can a youth have such vast killing-intent, how many people has he killed? He must be even younger than Eversnow; surely he hasn’t killed so many people?”

“Adding in that he saw Eversnow’s constitution in a single glance, this boy must have quite the background. I’ll need to seek the Emperor’s guidance on this matter.” The granny quickly concluded.

She must make the Princess form a relationship with this youth.

“Old fool, get someone better to fight me. How about you? You’re at the Minting Path Realm, which is the first realm of the Minting Stage. Although you are a senior, it should be fine.” Astrallis said provocatively.

“It looks like you reached the Minting Stage through external means, your battle power must be around peak World-Creation. Wait a moment. If you’re following this Duan Yan around, he probably isn’t high up in the Duan Clan at all?” Astrallis asked inquisitively.

The Duan Clan retainers face scrunched up, Astrallis hit a sore spot. With their cultivation realm and talent, they were only qualified to follow this debauch Young Master around.

“That’s irrelevant; if you seek your death, I won’t stop you.” The retainer shouted, as his aura of a pseudo-Minting Path Realm cultivator emanate from him.

Although Astrallis was talking big, he still understood that he was fighting someone an entire stage above himself, he was only at the start of the World Stage while the retainer was a pseudo-Minting Stage powerhouse.

“An essence and body cultivator can generally fight around three grades above them themselves. But, the soul energy in my bloodline as a result of my Astral Blood allows me to connect both my essence and body in perfect unison. With all three aspects of myself; my soul, essence and body working in harmony my strength will be immense. I don’t even know how high it will go myself.” Astrallis mentally said to Bataar who was on his shoulder.

“Don’t forget your Dharma Qi. The amalgamation of your Astral Qi and Buddha Qi has ascended it to a whole new level. Your Dharma Qi will help you also fight a few levels above yourself.” Bataar chirped.

“All-in-all, I feel that you could fight two realms above yourself. That’s eight grades. Even in the Central Realm, only the absolute top youths who are born in Eras of Geniuses can fight you.” Bataar continued.

Astrallis step forward, fighting spirit in his eyes, ”And, that's only fighting me. Matching is another story.”

“Come old-fool. I’ve been in the jungle fighting beasts with my body; I haven’t used my Qi for a while.” Astrallis shouted as he darted towards the man.

“Harmonious”, Astrallis shouted as he ran towards the man. He began activating the soul energy in his blood, his essence and body started combining. A perfect harmonisation of his three powers occurred, as a result, the ground began to shake and crack as he ran.

A menacing look appeared on the retainer’s face, noticing that Astrallis didn’t draw any weapons, he charged towards Astrallis, his fists at the ready.

Their speeds reached over 200 meters per second as their fists collided, a massive shockwave proliferated from the centre blowing away a few spectators.

•••

Everyone quickly moved back to a safer distance once they noticed the fight would become more dangerous, but at the same time, the crowd moved back. A few people with active auras stood sturdy like Mt.Tai. The power of the fight between the two didn’t affect them at all.

Two of those that didn’t move were both the Princess and her old servant.

•••

Astrallis and the retainer both took a few steps back after the initial confrontation.

Disbelief was expressed on the retainers face, “You are only a minor-grade World-Wandering Realm cultivator?!”

The retainer’s words struck the core of everyone spectating, no matter who they were. Astrallis’ concealing technique made it impossible for anyone to see his cultivation, lest they are an immortal.

Astrallis, seeing the cat was out of the bag, released his aura entirely. His minor-grade World-Wandering Realm cultivation base emanated off of him.

“His aura is only that of a minor-grade World-Wandering Realm practitioner, but it is incredibly firm and robust. Such energy makes it feel as if he is at the peak of Wolrd-Wandering.” An old man sitting on the wall of the city mumbled to himself, as he rubbed his long white beard.

“Enough, talking let’s fight,” Astrallis shouted as he moved again.

Astrallis sent a spinning kick towards the left flank of the man, the air made sounds of breakage as his foot tore through it. The man brought his arms up in defence just in time; the kick forced the man back multiple steps. When he looked up, he already saw Astrallis was upon him.

The two traded hundreds of blows over the course of a minute, from land to sky, from city wall to street, the two battle over all terrain applicable to them. Only destruction was left in their wake, but the buildings magically fixed themselves.

The two stood atop a large building, the wind flowing their robes in the air. Battle-intent radiated off of them in groves.

“Ha, boy. You are only a lowly World-Wandering cultivator. To be able to trade so many blows with me you should be proud, or though I have no idea how you did it… it ends soon.” The retainer laughed overbearingly.

A blue-fire began to surround the retainer. As a result, his fists began to explode with more power. The fire started burning the skin of Astrallis, the smell of charred flesh permeated the air. To the retainers surprise, Astrallis never stopped attacking and in fact only moved forwards.

“Azure Hydra Barrage,” the man shouted as began to spin repeatedly, the force of his incoming kick was multiple times larger than any of his strikes prior.

“Boy, remember not to offend anyone in the underworld!”

A grave look appeared across Astrallis face, even though this man barely had a Minting Path realm cultivation it was still almost three realms above himself, he had to take caution.

Suddenly an ethereal black tree appeared above Astrallis. There was a devilish beauty to the tree; it had obsidian bark with carmine roses growing from the branches. An archaic air of a devil began to permeate the air.

If one looked carefully, the roses resembled those etched upon Astrallis’ robe and mask.

The branches of the tree shot towards the man and entwined themselves around his limbs slowing down his assault. Allowing for Astrallis to block the attack with minimal damage.

The tree then flew into Astrallis body as he absorbed it.

•••

“What was that technique? I’ve never seen anything like it,” spectators animatedly discussed the fight.

“It sure is profound; it managed to stop one of the Duan Clan’s famous techniques, the Azure Hydra Barrage. This retainer must have performed many good merits to be able to practice such a technique. But alas, even one of the Duan Clan’s techniques was defenceless before this youth’s ethereal tree.” A fat middle-aged spectator lamented.

•••

“The underworld? I’ve never been there before, but I felt my blood churn with excitement when you mentioned it,” Astrallis husky voice entered the retainer’s ears.

A terrifying blood-aura emanated from Astrallis as he slowly walked towards the dumbfounded retainer, the newly absorbed Sanguinary Felicity Tree boosted his strength by almost two grades.

Before using it, Astrallis’ harmonisation of his three powers increased his power by four grades. Such a technique is something one can only stumble on, not learnt. There has never been a person who connected both their soul energy, essence and body before. There are only two entities in the universe with such intricate soul energy in their blood, who can perform such a feat, one being Astrallis and the other not even having a corporeal body.

Apart from harmonisation, Astrallis had also proliferated his Dharma Qi throughout his body, thus strengthening it continuously. Every time he hit the retainer, Astrallis would absorb an iota of the retainer’s essence, therefore, keeping his abilities at a maximum. Such an amount wouldn’t be noticed by Astrallis’ opponent, only until much later in the fight.

“This man doesn’t have a strong soul-being. Hence he won’t be able to resist my Dharma Qi’s the destruction of his Karmic Seeds if I use my Qi outside of my body the fight would over quickly. That’s not my goal though,” Astrallis mumbled quietly to himself.

A few old fogies fell over in astonishment when they heard Astrallis speak, a thought when through their minds, “Where did this freak come from? He’s fighting someone three realms (12 grades) above himself, and he still has time to ruminate, ah!”

“Kid, I was holding back. But it looks like I need to bring out my full power to kill you,” the retainer stoically said, as he pulled a blue rod out from his spacial ring.

“You weren’t the only one who was holding back,” Astrallis replied, as little spiky branches began to cover his arms and fists.

Eventually, spiked obsidian black gauntlets, from his Sanguinary Felicity Tree in his heart, covered his arms and fists.

“My harmonisation gave me fourth-grade battle power, my Dharma Qi also gave me fourth-grade battle power, and my Sanguinary Felicity Tree provided me with second-grade battle power. That is a full ten-grades of battle power. Exciting,“ Astrallis mentally ruminated as he stared at the rod-wielding retainer.

“There’s no need to use any more of my trump cards; my fist techniques should be enough to deal with him.” Astrallis thought as he charged at the man, his black robes flowing behind him.

The man swung his rod at Astrallis, which Astrallis easily dodged, he then sent a strike to the retainer’s flank. The man winced in pain and shot backwards, tumbling across the roof the building.

The man jumped off the roof and flew into the sky to escape Astrallis’ assault, Astrallis immediately flew into the sky in pursuit. A continuous barrage of exquisite footwork as well as fist techniques kept the man’s rod at bay.

“I can’t do any damage to this youth; his gauntlets block all the damage from my rod. What are they? They resemble the tree that appeared above him earlier, is it a technique or an innate constitution?” The man asked questions in both curiosity and fear.

If he lost this fight, there was only one option: death. Even if this youth let him off, the Duan Clan wouldn’t allow him to live.

The man began to absorb his blood essence, drastically increasing his attack damage. Absorbing one’s blood essence is equivalent to destroying one’s life, although one’s battle-power will increase, their vitality will weaken. Thus their life-span will decrease.

With the man absorbing his blood-essence the real power of a cultivator at the Minting Path Realm came to light. Astrallis began to feel pressure from the retainer.

“He’s burning his blood essence; he must really be on his last ropes.” The spectators all shook their heads when seeing this, at the same time the look which they gave the masked youth became even more fearful.

A youth who could fight twelve grades above himself was beyond scary, although there were a few geniuses in the kingdom who had higher cultivations than this mysterious youth, none of them had such battle-prowess.

If the spectators knew Astrallis' age, who knows how they would react.

Although Astrallis was pressured, he didn’t fall back in the assault, if anything the sense of danger increased his prowess. His movements became even more graceful and fast; his techniques became more powerful and firm. With each passing moment, his actions grew more refined.

“Good, only during life-and-death moments can only thoroughly comprehend their actions,” the observing Bataar praised Astrallis.

Horrifying lacerations began to appear on the retainer’s skin as the spiked gauntlets tore him to shreds, pitiful yells rang throughout the air.

Many spectators went pale witnessing the brutality of the masked-youth before him. All a sudden an even mightier devilish aura began to permeate Astrallis being, his eyes began to turn red; he released a heaven-warping killing-intent.

The old fogies spectating the fight went pale in fright, even them, with long lifetimes and bountiful experience and never seen such killing-intent.

They all could surmise that the youth before them hadn’t killed a human before, as there were many killing blows that the masked youth could have performed but didn’t.

Therefore, there was only one answer; the killing-intent was part of his bloodline.

Although the youth was tearing the man to shreds, it was apparent, to their trained eye, that he was still hesitant on whether to kill the man.

What they didn’t know was that an inner-turmoil was occurring inside of Astrallis mind.

His devilish bloodline was in the midst of fighting his innate Buddha personality. The man’s life-and-death relied on whichever one won.

“Kill, kill, kill!” A voice, laced with excitement, chanted throughout Astrallis’ spiritual consciousness. His devil bloodline churned with enthusiasm, while the indifferent Astral Blood just watched the happenings.

“No! There is no need for me to kill this man, one can always find a new path. People can be returned to the correct path.” Astrallis shouted in protest.

An incredibly large man, in a long blue robe, with a hydaa etched into the front, observed the fight. Once he noticed the inner struggles of youth, as he attempted to restrain himself from killing the man, the blue robed-man came to a decision.

He instantly appeared in front of Astrallis.

“Little-brother, it’s alright. I’ll take it from here.” The large man said.

The man struck out and knocked the retainer unconscious in one hit. The devil bloodline noticing that there was no chance of killing the man receded into his body, lying dormant for another time.

Astrallis sighed in relief. He was fine with killing unintelligent beasts for food and sustenance to his techniques, but killing a human was something he was currently not prepared for.

He wasn’t even classed as a teenager yet; such malicious actions were also against his innate Way of Buddha.

"Controlling both the Way of Buddha and Way of Devil, these two opposite paths, is going to be difficult for Astrallis. But, I'm sure he can overcome it, and when he does his mentality will only improve." Bataar thought, as he casually sent the recordings of the fight to Grandmother Anemone.

Astrallis turned to look at the man, with hydras on his robe, before him. The gaze he gave the man was evident.

“Haha, little-brother, don’t worry. I’m the Vice-Patriarch of the Duan Clan, Duan Tian. I came to apologise for the rash actions of the young members of my clan. They have eyes, but they cannot see Mt. Tai. Luckily I was on my way back to the Imperial Capital and saw this fight, otherwise who knows how my clan members would have turned out,” Duan Tian said in a friendly manner.

“Here’s a little-token of compensation, I hope this amends the hostilities between us. Do come to the Duan Clan when you have time, we will make sure to make up to you properly.” The man passed a spacial ring to Astrallis.

He immediately vanished afterwards with the unconscious man.

All the old fogies nodded their heads in understanding; it wasn’t worth offending such a genius and the background behind him. So, Duan Tian instead tried to amend the relationship and even make a friendship if possible.

Astrallis inspected the spacial ring and was surprised at the contents, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. There were a plethora of rare wines within.

“This Duan Tian must be a drunkard,” Astrallis shook his head slowly, amusement in his eyes.

Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, Astrallis moved into the city. The guards didn’t even bother trying to get compensation from him, instead looked at him in reverence. Such a youth would be a character who could reign in the four-directions in the future; one should only make a good relationship with such a figure.

“Brother Astrallis, wait!” Princess Eversnow ran after him.

•••