Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

While she considered her options, Liam continued, saying, "You owe your promotion to 8-Star to me. With the resources that should have been mine, you would never have reached your current level."

She looked at him, feeling she had to be firm or he would think he could demand things from her. "All right, I won\'t pretend I didn\'t do anything. I had a chance, and I took it. Now what?"

"Now you owe me a lot."

She shook her head and said, "You can\'t ask anything of me. Don\'t forget how you had to kill them... If you\'re not careful, the sect Officials will arrest you and cut off your head." She pointed to some men dressed in black at the edge of the area where they were standing.

\'Oh? Threatening me?\' Liam narrowed his eyes and used a fraction of his charm against her.

"You\'re playing with fire, Ester."

His voice echoed in her mind as she became less aware of the visual and auditory information of her surroundings, focusing only on him.

Her heart beat faster, her back sweating from the sudden heat she felt.

"I can tell the city\'s factions what I saw... Even Leopards will see trouble in what you\'ve done," she said, panting, but still rational enough to threaten.

She really could do these things to him, which could range from increasing the hatred of some factions against him to even getting the sect to sentence him to death.

His powers of seduction were stronger now. Liam could feel it as he influenced Ester, just as he had noticed how much more resistant he was to Felicity\'s seduction earlier.

But his abilities weren\'t the kind that brainwashed his targets. His powers caused increased attraction and sexual desire, but they didn\'t change a person\'s personality or primary interests. Even if he successfully seduced Ester, it would be enough for her to stay away from him so that she could stab him if she wanted to.

That was the truth, given his current cultivation.

The only safe way for Liam at the moment was some kind of non-disclosure agreement, like the ones he had with Electa, Mary, and Felicity.

"If you want to take me down, I\'m afraid it won\'t end well for you either. I may die, but you\'ll die with me," he said, making her shiver.

Ester didn\'t doubt it. She knew Liam was stronger than he looked and that he really could find a way to kill her before he died.

Pale and with a hint of nervousness, she asked, "What do you suggest? I can\'t give back what I\'ve taken. I\'ve already used up some of it and sold some others."

Ester had gained as much or more than Liam had in his last hunt. But not only had she used up some resources left in the forest, she had sold others and had used up most of the merit points and gold coins she had earned by buying resources for the future or by gaining access to the Lotus Temple.

Liam imagined this and had no intention of getting what she had stolen from him. He said to her, "You will sign an agreement with me, guaranteeing that you will never speak of what happened that day, and you will pay me back the equivalent of what you stole. In exchange, I will take no action against you, and I will not name you as an accomplice to the murder of those seven people."

"Accomplice?" She felt her mental state, stirred by his powers, stabilize, suddenly becoming more rational.

He smiled at her and continued, "You were the one who sold the dead disciples\' belongings, Ester. We met in the Missions Hall a few days ago, and now we\'re here, together again...

What will happen if I say that you helped me with everything for the death of those seven disciples?"

She clenched her fists, seeing that she could be involved in all of this somehow.

Once again, she regretted he hadn\'t died in the forest, while her head hurt at this difficult moment.

"I can\'t repay you." She reiterated. "I have no factions, no support in the city. If I compromise with you like this, I won\'t be able to arm or protect myself. So this condition of the agreement must be different."

"Don\'t worry, instead of giving me resources, I want you to give me the equivalent of what you stole from me in services, partnerships, and support." He said, releasing one of her fists, confident enough to let her go.

"What exactly do you want?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, with doubts in her heart.

"You can help me get information that will help me, but you can also do some work for me." He smiled mischievously as he said, "You\'re a beautiful woman, you know that, Ester?"

"You..." She didn\'t like where this was going.

He laughed when he saw she had misunderstood. "I\'m sure some of my enemies will let their guard down for you. I want you to do something like that for me and help me solve some problems."

She understood and became even more worried, imagining that this would put her at great risk.

Liam added, "As long as you help me take down a big \'fish,\' we can even share their resources."

That was a much better offer. Just risking to pay for what she had stolen didn\'t sound good to her. But if she could gain more resources, things would be different.

"Who do you have in mind?"

"At the moment, no one. I have several enemies I know almost nothing about. Your first mission would be to help me understand who my enemies are and who might be a good target for us to act against together." He said, being honest with her.

As she sighed, feeling that she could overcome the \'storm\' that had overtaken her, two men from Emerald Owls approached Liam and Ester.

"Is there a problem, miss?" One of them asked with a troubled look on his face, looking for an opportunity to take action against Liam.

Liam looked at the two 8-Star Spirit Lords and remained calm.

Ester looked at him, feeling that she couldn\'t escape even if these two individuals were close enough to Liam to stop him if she wanted to run or talk.

\'I can\'t risk it. He\'s strong enough to get past those two, and even if they beat him, they won\'t kill him. The Emerald Owls might want to torture him slowly. But if he has time to involve me in his problems, I might lose my head as well.\'

She thought about using the opportunity to escape from him, but quickly changed her mind.

"It\'s all right. We are just talking about the ongoing battle." Ester smiled and showing her beautiful white teeth as she pointed to the fighting platform.

The two didn\'t enjoy hearing that, but Liam made them leave quickly. "If you gentlemen have nothing else to do here, don\'t get in the way of our fun."

"That..."

Neither of them wanted to leave, but they couldn\'t act against Liam. There were Officers nearby and Liam had done nothing wrong in this place.

After an initial hesitation, the two members of Emerald Owls left, leaving the two to return to their important conversation.

"Let\'s get out of here and sign this agreement," she said to him, afraid of bigger problems.

His proposal wasn\'t that bad. She could investigate his enemies and decide together against whom to act.

That was the best she could do without causing more damage!

"By the way, since we\'re going to sign an agreement, I want to include that you can\'t use that aura of seduction on me again." She added on her way out of the grandstand.

"That\'s a shame, but if you want to, I\'m not against it." He accepted her condition.

Liam wasn\'t looking for partners at all costs. If Ester didn\'t want it, and since he needed this deal with her, he wouldn\'t make it difficult. The most important thing for him was to stop her from saying compromising things about him and to turn this rival into an ally.

\'I already have too many enemies to make new alliances difficult.\' He silently followed the brown-haired woman out of the arena.

Surrounded by enemies, Liam had thought that the time would come when he would need allies beyond his cultivation partners and Felicity. Hence, he saw no problem in starting with Ester.

Even though what she had done to him infuriated him, the truth was that he needed to take a step back with her. Killing her would only get him into more trouble, while keeping her alive and using her to his advantage could pay off handsomely.

Soon, the two made their way to a private place where they could sign their agreement, making clear the conditions that each of them needed in order for such an alliance to be worth starting.

The two made life easy for each other, accepting each other\'s terms before leaving their mark on a contract that could only be undone by both of their will.