It seemed like the youth known as Skinny Face didn't seem to mind being called like that. In fact, he seemed proud of having such nickname as Damien saw his stupid smile plastered on his face when his lackeys were busy boot licking him.historical

The two lackeys were only at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm. But since they had Skinny Face who was at the third level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm, they were fearless facing Damien. Otherwise, they would have second thoughts about facing Damien even though they had the same cultivation as him.

Damien opened his mouth to speak in a low growl, "Go back where you came from or you won't live to see tomorrow."

Skinny Face and his lackeys got intimidated hearing his deep voice which sounded like the voice of a grim reaper. But remembering that Damien was weaker than them, they berated themselves inwardly for getting scared.

Skinny Face laughed, "Hahahaha, big words coming from a—"

Skinny Face's mouth froze when he suddenly heard a crackling jet black lightning bolt whiz right past him which branched in the air to strike towards the two lackeys, completely avoiding him.

The lackeys barely even expected an attack out of the blue and they could only helplessly watch as they saw the thick streak of lightning pass through their chest, completely obliterating their ethereal core!

Their eyes bulged in shock, unable to even let out a whimper as their skin around the gaping hole in their chest was charred beyond recognition which looked like it was decaying from within.

*Thud*

The two bodies dropped on the ground like dead birds.

Skinny Face couldn't even believe his eyes seeing what just happened. He tried to speak but strangely no sound was coming from his mouth.

Damien only planned to cripple them but he accidentally miscalculated his power since it had increased after his recent breakthrough. But he didn't care about the fact that he accidentally killed them. At least he was kind enough to give them a warning.

Damien's expressions didn't change at all and there wasn't even a ripple in his heart as he killed them. In his previous life, his hands were soaked with the blood of billions of people during the Great Calamity. Even after that, most of his remaining life was spent surviving by building a sea of corpses. He had simply killed too many that his eyes and expression would still be tranquil when killing his foes. To him killing was akin to weeding out grass; unable to stir up any slightest waves in his heart.

Skinny Face staggered backwards as he saw Damien slowly approaching him.

"Y-You m-monster...w-what did you do? Do you know who I am? I am an outer disciple in the Imperial Ethereal Court. They wouldn't let you off if you kill me." His voice sounded croaky and despair clouded his voice.

He didn't even have the will to fight back since he knew that even he couldn't one shot his lackeys to death with his cultivation.

But Damien was able to do it mostly because of the element of surprise. The lackeys weren't prepared and they didn't even have the time to circulate their ethereal energy to protect their bodies.

Damien took a deep breath and slowly said in a snarl, "You should have known better than to threaten me."

He was thinking that maybe this monster was hiding his true cultivation level just to have fun killing some ants. But he was too scared to notice that the ethereal aura behind Damien's attack was just at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm.

"Junior brother Skinny Face!" Damien heard a shout from behind as he saw a burly young man arriving on the spot.

"AHH, senior brother Igor, please save me!" Skinny Face cried like a child upon seeing his savior.

Igor was puzzled why he suddenly got a location transmission from his jade slip coincidentally right when he was on his way to the Dark Forest to hunt some ethereal beasts as per his usual early morning training. He had given it to certain close friends of his if there was any emergency.

"Why are you crying like a fool against someone weaker than you?" Igor couldn't help but blurt out those words.

Skinny Face didn't mind it and spoke in an edgy tone, "Senior brother, don't underestimate him. He is not simple...he killed my junior brothers with just one move. Please, seek vengeance for my fallen brothers." Tears and snot were mixed together as they dripped from his mouth.

'No wonder, our empire is at the bottom.' Damien wondered how a wuss like Skinny Face even made it into the Imperial Ethereal Court.

Igor was an inner disciple at the Imperial Ethereal Court and he befriended Skinny Face because of his wealthy family backing him. He was a hard working cultivator without much backing and he himself had to suck up to many influential people for resources to advance his cultivation.

But Igor saw the charred corpses of the two lackeys and even he felt a chill go down his spine seeing that sight.

But he again thoroughly spread his spiritual perception and confirmed if Damien was really at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm. He wondered if Damien was using some treasure to hide his cultivation but then he thought if Damien was truly strong, why would he roam around the outer regions of the Dark Forest.

Something was telling him from within to not provoke the ominous looking person in front of him. But then, he also saw the Earth Grade flower a few meters away from him. Greed shone in his eyes as he knew how popular that flower was even though he wasn't an alchemist.

Also, seeing his two junior brothers dead, anger surged inside him. It was as if Damien was looking down on their Imperial Ethereal Court.

"You should not pick a fight with him now. He's at the tenth level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Remember, you have to get back to the palace soon." Luna's warning sounded in his mind.

Damien wasn't that surprised since he saw the confident look on Igor's face. He knew that Igor must have sensed his cultivation level and must already be thinking of fighting him.

Even though he could fight or even kill someone easily a few levels above his cultivation. He had absolutely no confidence in fighting let alone kill someone at the tenth level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm with just his ethereal arts.

Igor made a choice in his mind as he slowly took out a mace.

"Whoever you are, you should have never killed the practitioners nurtured by our great Imperial Ethereal Court. Don't worry, I will try to leave an intact corpse so that the bereaved families of the people you killed can vent all their hatred on your corpse." Igor snarled.

'Shit..this busybody.'

Skinny Face was jubilant seeing how things have turned out. He already imagined Damien getting smashed like a bug by his favorite senior brother in his mind.

If it was an ethereal beast of the same cultivation as Igor, Damien would at least be confident of throwing it off his trails. Since, ethereal beasts didn't have much intelligence and most of all they had possessed no ethereal arts and only relied on pure ethereal strength.

But human cultivators were different. They were intelligent, had ethereal arts to take full advantage of their ethereal energy and elemental seeds, and most of all, they were cunning and tricky.

But he knew he hadn't fully recovered his ethereal energy to execute Mirage of Myriad Phantasms long enough to reach the Imperial Palace. After all, he had been speeding through the forest before he came upon the flower.

If he makes a dash for it now, he was sure Igor would catch up as soon as he gets tired.

But Damien wasn't able to keep up his brainstorming session when he saw Igor speeding towards him swinging his mace.

Damien narrowed his eyes and instantly executed Mirage of Myriad Phantasms. Igor swung the mace aiming for Damien's head but he was stunned when he literally saw Damien disappear from where he was. His mace only swung at the empty air and he almost lost his balance.

Skinny Face was slack jawed to see his senior brother missing his attack. He felt as if Damien teleported from his position.

Igor got angry since Damien made him look stupid. He was a proud inner disciple of the Imperial Ethereal Court. How could a mere level one Nascent Ethereal Realm cultivator fool him?

*Crackle~*

But just as he turned back, he saw a jet black lightning bolt speeding towards him. Igor instantly put up his ethereal defensive cover over his body and tried to block the incoming bolt with his mace.

Even though he was confident that the attack from someone at the first level of the Nascent Ethereal Realm is barely harmful, he still didn't want to take any risks seeing the charred corpses and the ominous aura behind the incoming lightning bolt. He felt a faint chilliness emanating from it even with his ethereal energy cover protecting him.

The lightning bolt struck the mace but Igor wasn't pushed back and his feet were still firm on the ground. The lightning bolt dissipated after hitting the mace leaving a sizzling sound. Igor looked at his mace and his eyes widened to see that a part of the head of his mace was scorched faintly leaving behind some black marks.

The mace he was holding was a top notch Nascent Ethereal Grade weapon. It should be absolutely impossible to even scratch the weapon from a Nascent Ethereal Realm cultivator's attack let alone someone at the low levels.

But another fact surprised him as his finger shook pointing at Damien, "You have a lightning elemental seed??"