Martial Emperor

"Hmmm~" Lyla hummed in contentment, feeling the surge of mana inside her core. As far as her domain was present, all the mana inside moved towards her core. Slowly, her domain started to shrink, before long it became a small dome of a hundred metre radius.

Lyla could feel that with just a thought from her side, she could triple the range of her domain. She quickly came back to her senses and her domain vanished. She could hear the locals going nuts over the sudden loss of mana in the surrounding area.

Thankfully, there wasn't anyone in the King's realm or above. It would have been pretty easy for them to identify her as the source of the domain. Lyla was an assassin, she didn't like it when people knew about her more than necessary. Her cultivation level was something she wasn't willing to showcase to others. She would hold the advantage as long as others didn't know her real power level.

[...]

Heartsbane was struck dumb by the events unfolding before her. Is it really so easy to advance in cultivation? She knew Lyla was in the later stages of her cultivation, on the cusp of reaching the next one but this was exaggerated.

[Damn, he is like a huge energy source! You can milk him to get stronger!]

Lyla's lips twitched hearing her spirit's words. 'Shut up! Don't call him that.'

[No, no, think about it. He can create an army of women who are Martial Emperors or more. Do you realise how many would flock to him with the promise of power?]

Lyla shivered, Heartsbane was right.

'Then it's a good thing that he doesn't need any army.' Lyla heaved in relief. She had to guard this secret with her life. If it became known that her darling had this kind of ability, then he would be chased around by women wherever he went.

That would be too annoying.

'It's a gift given to me by Darling. I need to cherish it and not let it go to waste!' Lyla decided. Only those who were worthy should be given this technique. She would need to talk with Jasmine and warn her to keep quiet about this matter.

[And not only that, this technique is absurd! As far as my knowledge goes, dual cultivation is only possible between people with the same or complementary affinities. Like a fire attributed cultivator can only perform dual cultivation with someone who has fire, wind, lava, or something along the line.]

'Really?' Lyla asked sceptically.

[Yeah, moreover did you feel the energy formed between you? It was raw mana that was not contaminated by the atmosphere!]

'Hmm, now that you mention it…' Lyla thought back on the theories she had been taught by her instructors. The mana would always be influenced by its surroundings. Considering the town they were in, the mana here was slightly water or wind attributed.

If not for the wonders of the magical core, she shouldn't be able to perform any advanced spells here. Her core was converting the absorbed mana into the darkness attribute. It was almost impossible to find a place with attributeless, pure mana.

[Ask him where he got that technique! I thought only his powers were absurd but I am not so sure anymore…he is surrounded by mysteries!]

"Darling, what was that technique? It felt so good." Lyla crawled onto his lap as he leaned against the headrest.

Raymond fondled her tushy and kissed her before whispering:

"That's something I found in this book." Raymond took out the book again and handed it to Lyla. "Oh, congrats on becoming a Martial Emperor! That effect was really dramatic. It's a good thing you don't have fire affinity or else it would have burned half of the town." Raymond chuckled.

"Hehe, it's all thanks to you," She pecked him on the cheeks and opened the book.

"Do you understand what's written there?" Raymond asked with hope. He had tried to make sense of what was written inside the book more than once but to no avail.

"No," Lyla replied flatly, flipping the pages. Her eyes landed on the only page that had something she could read.

'Spirit Convergence Technique.'

The more she read the more amazed her expression became.

"This is unbelievable…" She muttered. She had never come across any dual cultivation technique in her life. It was only mentioned in legends.

"Darling, it's not benefitting you in the least. I don't recommend using this technique again." Lyla said sincerely. Dual cultivation was held in high regard precisely for its nature. If only one of them gained benefit from it, then it wouldn't be dual cultivating. "You're being used as a human cauldron at this point and I don't like that thought."

"You're right, but I don't feel like I have lost anything." Raymond shrugged. "If I ever feel like I am being harmed by this technique, I will stop using it."

"But still…" Lyla trailed off, not sure how to convince him.

"Don't worry too much, just concentrate on your cultivation." Raymond suggested. "If you get stronger, that will only put me at ease. I won't have to worry about your safety all the time. You do realise that you have a big target in your head, right? At least, you should be strong enough to defend yourself against an empire!"

Lyla conceded to that point and perused the book. Whatever this spirit was, it was not simply made of pure mana. There was more to it than what met the eyes. Lyla realised her cultivation was too low to even begin comprehending what it was.

"You shouldn't casually show this technique to anyone!" Lyla's voice was sombre. "Even if you're strong, there will still be some people who would be stupid enough to try and steal this from you! Even if it isn't dangerous for you, it will be annoying to deal with them all."

"I know…" Raymond nodded. "I have even warned Jasmine to not tell anyone about this." He added as an afterthought and the book vanished into his pendant.

Again, Lyla was reminded of the things he had with him. That pendant was special too as it didn't require any mana to use.

[Keke, I can't wait for you to reach the Martial Monarch realm, Lyla.] Heartsbane snickered in her mind.

'Why?' She asked.

[Hehe, you can make your clone then. I will be able to have a body that way! It's really frustrating to see you get boned by him all day, you know? I am itching for some action too!]

Lyla scowled inwardly, her brows furrowing in annoyance. She was not at all happy at the thought of letting Heartsbane run wildly. She knew how much of a sadist it was. There was no guarantee it wouldn't start killing people randomly.

"I won't let anything bad happen to us, don't worry," Raymond assured her as he saw her frowning. "But first, let's see how much stronger you got by advancing to the next level!"

Lyla giggled, feeling his hard shaft poking her belly. "I would love that."

She sank her core into him, enveloping him in a pleasant warmth. Raymond gripped her ass nicely and rocked her up and down on his member, her silken folds spreading the pleasure through his body.

"Mmm…I can go on like this for days!" Lyla cooed in his ears.

"You know, the one who said that before is sleeping right next to us, right? How confident are you?" Raymond's lips twitched.

"Hmm, I can keep you occupied till the morrow at the very least," Lyla whispered seductively and started to bounce in his lap seriously, intending to milk him dry.

As long as he was here, he could keep Heartsbane in line. After all, even the mighty innate spirit was afraid of him.

*******

"Jasmine! I forbid you from drinking again!" Raymond said chidingly to the sobered up Jasmine.

"Eh? Master, where are we?" She blinked stupidly and looked around. "When did we get here in this room?" She asked.

"And why am I not supposed to drink? It was so good! I want to take a barrel of that ale with me. Who knows if I will come across something good like this again!" She whined.

"Jasmine, you slept like a log for the whole day after drinking!" Lyla informed her clueless sister.

"What? It's already been a day? But the sun is still rising!" Jasmine observed.

"Yeah, that's what she was telling you! This is a new day!" Raymond gave a chop on her head. "You shouldn't drink again!"

"I understand, master…" Jasmine nodded. She shouldn't have drunk so much as to lose track of time.

"Master, does that mean we are going to meet elves?" She asked excitedly.

"Indeed, let's go!" Raymond beckoned for them to follow him and led them out of the tavern.

Along the way, he stopped by a shop and brought them two fur coats made from the fur of Magma Bears— a level 6 beast. It was certainly expensive and he wouldn't have bought it if it was for him. But he had seen how much Jasmine was shivering in the cold.

They were on the opposite side of the forest and were protected by the mountain range. So, the cold here was still bearable. He could guess how much worse it would get on the other side.

He did not know what made the elves foolish enough to settle that far into the forest.