Cultivation Through Artifacts

Khal stood frozen in one place like a statue, fearing that if he dared to move or did something unexpected, his life will be reaped in a wink!

The reason why, because the creature before him not only was a True Beast that reached the Sixth Stage, but even was one of the scariest entities a Cultivator could fight with on Moon Mountain.

Shadow Claws, a Beast that could kill their preys through their shadows! They say, Shadow Claws can injure others by simply attacking their shadows, and kill them that way! An extremely terrifying ability that is extremely hard to counter!

Or at least, for those that were not Khal, as they didn't have what he had to win this fight.

However, because rumors said that the Beast was terrifyingly fast, Khal had no choice but to stand still and wait to see what will happen. Even Rubie, who was confident in her speed and maneuvers in the air dared not to approach Khal and the Beast, as she feared she will die if she do it.

Silence filled the air as the Beast and Khal stared at each other, both examining and evaluating the other with pair of sharp and cold eyes.

One minute... Five minutes... Ten minutes...

Almost when things seemed to go this way almost forever, suddenly the Beast's eyes moved slightly and vanished from its place as though it teleported right away!

Khal, however, already thought this will happen, and with extreme reaction, speed summoned his Chameleon Armor.

CLANG!

And exactly a millisecond later the armor wrapped itself around Khal's entire body, a sharp metallic resounded in the surroundings while Khal's 1050 Body Essence dropped to 610 in an instant!

"!?"

Khal feeling the drastic drop felt immensely shocked, as not even Logan was able to strike his armor to such degree. 640 units of Body Essence just because of a single hit... It was ridiculously strong!

However, because the Beast swung its claws for a second time, now aiming at his shadow, Khal had no choice but to activate his movements technique and with its Second Form, he vanished from the place he stood and reappeared behind the creature, his weapon already targeting the Beast's body.

But unfortunately, Khal was unable to land his strike as he wished as the creature was not slow either and had reaction speed on par with his, thus was able to spin around with lightning speed and deflect his weapon with its claws!

Clang!

BOOM!

Sparks appeared the moment the Devil Fangs and the creature's claws clashed, while a powerful ripple broke out, forming large and wide cracks on the boulders' and trees' surface in the distance.

"Strong!" Khal couldn't help but exclaim with shock as the Beast before him was no weaker than him at all, maybe even stronger a bit!

'Fast, strong and had a dreadful ability which can mean death right away if one doesn't concentrate enough. Truly a terrifying opponent to fight against...' Khal thought and with a serious complexion moved.

After exchanging several blows, cracking the ground below their feet, and sending powerful shock waves that broke down trees and boulders in the distance while also making sure his shadow was not reached, Khal used his Third Form to increase the distance and summoned a bow in his hands.

Grabbing the almost hair-thin string of his Soul Piercer, Khal pulled it back with no second thought and watched as black most in the shape of an arrow manifested between his fingers, ready to be fired.

"ROOAAR!"

The Beast seemed to feel the immense threat coming from the arrow, thus growled with a mixture of anger and fear before flashing with silver light and appearing before Khal with raised claws!

"Hmph!" with a cold sneer, Khal released his fingers from the string, and because the distance between him and the creature was extremely close, there was no way he could miss his target.

"Grrr!"

The Beast watched as the arrow was ready to pierce its head and even changed its attack into defense to deflect Khal's assault, but where could he have thought that the arrow would fly right through claws and head, ending its life right there and then!

Paff!

Falling lifelessly onto the ground, the Shadow Claws' body slowly turned into a familiar-looking Beast Essence, while Nova's voice appeared in his head.

[Congratulations! Cultivation Quest 'Kill 1 Beast on the Sixth Cultivation Stage' was successfully completed!]

[+1 to all Cultivation Traits acquired!]

Khal closed his eyes to enjoy the changes in his whole body, and a few minutes later he opened his eyes once again and glanced at his bracelet.

{Cultivator Status}

• Cultivation Talent: Talentless (Sealed)

• Hidden Talent: Lost 

• Body Essence: 1050

• Beast Essence: 694

• Cultivation Grade: Real Cultivator

° Physical Strength: 4

° Mental Strength: 4

° Soul Strength: 3

° Physical Resistance: 4

° Mental Resistance: 3

° Agility: 4

° Speed: 4

Except for Soul Strength and Mental Resistance, all of his Cultivation Traits reached 4, which maybe seemed insignificant compared to 1, they had a huge impact on him.

For example, he knew for sure that if it wasn't for his 3 points of Physical Strength, the moment he exchanged blows with the Beast he would have been pushed back or even worse, blasted away and killed without him knowing what happened.

But luckily that didn't happen, and one could even say that the fight against the Beast, where other Cultivators would struggle to remain alive, seemed surprisingly easy. It was indeed challenging and he had to use his Secret Art and also his Heaven's Eyes to avoid his shadow being hit, but except those two factors, Khal knew way too well that he didn't give his all during this fight, which in truth was great, but in a startling manner that's all.

However, Khal couldn't relish his strength for way too long, as suddenly his eyes noticed something in the distance, causing a deep and confused frown to form on his face in the very next second.

"What is that?" Khal mumbled, and watched as high above, almost on top of Moon Mountain, the clouds slowly vanished from sight, revealing a building that he has never seen before.