After the training battles in the Xi'an arena, we all went to a cafe to continue our conversation. Or rather, everyone went except Jiaxing Yun; he decided to visit Lin Yun'er. It had been almost four months since we first saw Asura. During this time, we became close with Se Lei, thanks to which he took us to a family tournament in mid-March. There we met him again; it turned out Asura was a disciple of one of Se Lei's relatives.
This surprised us all greatly, but it wasn't the only thing that surprised us then. Se Lei said that his family kept secrets of body tempering. We thought they would be only slightly stronger than ordinary people, and Asura was just a unique case. But no, almost everyone there, in terms of body strength, was at least equal to servant-level monsters! The fights were simply incredible; we watched them with our mouths literally agape. However, the ones Asura participated in were special, as he was on a different level than everyone else.
Although Se Lei explained that Asura was only in the second stage of body tempering and had not been practicing for long, he was still too strong. We came there not only to watch this spectacle, closed to the world, but also to ask for permission to receive the secret of body tempering ourselves. Se Lei helped us a lot with this; although he seemed self-centered at first glance, he cared about others even more than himself.
As a result, after the tournament ended, we were to be tested to see if we were worthy of receiving the secret. We expected anything but a fight with Asura. However, I wasn't going to be upset about it; I was curious to understand how different our strengths were in combat. And... I have to say, I was simply amazed, no, I was in complete shock! Asura turned out to be so much stronger than us that even though we were four against one, he simply played with us! If he had wanted to harm us, he could have easily done so! And that's not all; it seemed to me that he was hiding even greater strength!
This fight reminded me of Jiaxing Yun's battle. Asura had a similar strategy and fighting style. They also had in common that both seemed much stronger than they actually were. However, I think considering Asura and Jiaxing Yun as the same person is simply absurd. Jiaxing Yun, as far as I can tell, is just a little stronger compared to Asura, possibly hiding that he has surpassed us by one, or at most two, stages of development. Plus, Asura seemed like a bit of a fool, and his similarity with Jiaxing Yun ended only with strength and a similar fighting style. Asura seemed like a much worse person than Jiaxing Yun could be.
After our fight ended, we were still entrusted with the secret, receiving the steel body technique. It's slow, requires a lot of effort for the corresponding result, but what else could we expect? We are completely outsiders to them; it's good that they gave us at least this. But Mo Fan wanted to argue with them, to try to take something better by force. Fortunately, a reminder of the fight with Asura refreshed him, and he calmed down. Se Lei was also appointed our teacher and responsible for us.
After another two months, Xiao Hou and He Yu, Zhang Kong suggested enrolling in a military university. They had been considering this for quite some time, experiencing a certain lack of resources. Elder Zhang Kong had some connections at the Xi'an Military University, so the choice of our lovebirds fell on him. We decided not to take Jiaxing Xia with us, just like at the tournament; she is diligently studying and helping in the military hospital, preparing to enter Huangzhou University this year. Rumor has it that the best healing mages in China are trained there.
Upon arriving in Xi'an, Mo Fan decided to meet with old classmates, which did not cause objections from everyone else. To our great surprise, Jiaxing Yun decided to show up in Xi'an at that very moment. I'm not sure how he hides from the guardians, but I covered for him a bit in front of Mo Fan and the others when it turned out he didn't go straight to Xi'an but got lost somewhere.
On Mu Bai's initiative, we organized training battles. Mo Fan, who had long been eager to fight Jiaxing Yun, of course, took the opportunity and challenged him. However, the result was quite pitiful for him and quite expected for me. Mo Fan predictably lost, but their fight lasted quite a long time, which was unexpected for me, but I didn't notice Jiaxing Yun holding back. Next, Mu Bai and I fought. Victory was not easy for me; he used his own unique style, which made him difficult to hit.
I already thought that the rest of the fights would be uninteresting, but I was slightly mistaken. At the end of the fight between He Yu and Zhou Ming, the former used a storm wave and almost swept the latter away, breaking all her bones. Xiao Hou and I were about to rush to her aid, but we were too late. However, Jiaxing Yun, like lightning, dashed towards her. Not even I, not even Xiao Hou, had finished their star path, when he was already twenty meters above the ground, holding Zhou Ming in his arms, as if she were some princess. It was an incredible speed that was difficult to follow. Perhaps even the three-eyed wolf couldn't have dodged such a lunge from him. To our questions, he replied that it was due to the stressful situation, that he was so scared for Zhou Ming's life that he unleashed hidden powers within himself.
This maneuver by Jiaxing Yun reminded me of Asura. During the tournament, he used similar magic, so it was hard to keep track of him. But I diligently dismissed all such thoughts. After all, in my understanding, Asura and Jiaxing Yun are two different people, even if they have common traits.
We had been sitting for about an hour when Mo Fan decided to call and invite Jiaxing Yun back. During that time, we managed to exchange many not particularly significant news. In particular, Zhou Ming, Mu Bai, and Kun San were very surprised that Xiao Hou and He Yu were dating. They literally bombarded them with questions and teasing.
"Lin Yun Er broke up with Jiaxing Yun, he's wandering around the city now. He said he'll come in a couple of hours," Mo Fan said, finishing his phone call.
"Maybe we should go look for him?" I suggested, as I was worried he might run into the guardians. Of course, I didn't know much about such an organization, but considering that Jiaxing Yun had been hiding from them in the forests for four months, it could be assumed that they could easily find him in the city. "What if he decides to do something rash."
"Yes, perhaps we can, and we'll see the city too," said Mu Bai, the organizer of our fun today.
"He said he wouldn't harm himself," Mo Fan scratched his head. "But I don't mind seeing the city."
"Xiao Hou, I think we need to find him and support him, otherwise what kind of friends are we then," said He Yu, hugging Xiao Hou. Over the past hour, everyone had gotten used to this more or less.
"Well, I think you're right, I don't know what I would do if you left me," he replied, not at all embarrassed. Knowing his character, it's not like him, have their relationship gone that far? Although dating for a year is quite logical.
"Yes, I agree too, Jiaxing Yun shouldn't be alone at this time!" said Zhou Ming, blushing slightly. Could it be that after that incident, warm feelings for Jiaxing Yun awakened in her? Now that's interesting.
"Well, where do we go then?" asked Wang Pan, agreeing with everyone.
"Let's go to the north wall, I heard there aren't as many undead there as on the west wall. Just so we can stretch our legs after a long conversation and walk," I suggested, thinking that Jiaxing Yun would go there to vent his frustration after the breakup, and the undead would take the brunt of his broken heart.
"Why not?" said Mo Fan, and the others had no objections either, so after paying, we walked towards the north wall.
We didn't walk fast, after all, Jiaxing Yun said everything would be fine, so no one was worried. After about an hour, we were at the wall and leisurely strolled along its base, intending to join one of the towers to defend the city from the undead. Mo Fan started arguing with Mu Bai, Kun San added fuel to the fire. Xiao Hou and He Yu walked a little behind everyone, cooing at each other. Zhou Ming walked alone a little to the side. We, along with Wang Pan, walked ahead, exchanging the latest news. Mostly I told him about our hunts with Jiaxing Yun, which shocked him deeply, he simply couldn't believe we hadn't died of exhaustion.
Suddenly, our relaxed atmosphere was shattered by a male scream from the top of the wall. We rushed to find a way up without thinking, which turned out to be not as far as we thought, it was a regular metal ladder. I climbed first, and when I was almost at the top, I saw a black silhouette with burning red eyes, which seemed to see through you, jump off the wall onto the roof of a neighboring house and rush somewhere into the city at tremendous speed.
"Did you see him? Who do you think it was?" asked Zhou Ming, following the silhouette with her gaze, which was no longer visible.
"I don't know, I've never seen such a monster before, maybe we should inform the mages? If such a thing starts to rage, the city will be in trouble," said Mu Bai, also following the silhouette.
"I think it was Asura," I said, shifting my gaze to the top of the wall and continuing to climb.
"Who?" Kun San asked again, not understanding me. Xiao Hou, Mo Fan, and He Yu looked at me with bewilderment, but I paid no attention to them and finally reached the top of the wall.
The sight that greeted me was amazing, I can't find another word. It was simply amazing, not terrible, not scary, but simply amazing. Well, how else can you describe the fact that a huge pool of blood had spread across the wall, and there was no hint of body parts nearby? As if they themselves had turned into blood, or someone had spilled a packet of it. Where the bodies went, one could guess from the bloodstains that stretched to the edge of the wall. Apparently, they were thrown over the wall using spatial magic. So it wasn't Asura after all? After all, he doesn't have space, Asura has the same elements as me and Jiaxing Yun, lightning and wind, although much stronger than both of us combined. But that certainly doesn't give him the power of the space element!
"What happened here?" Zhou Ming wondered, climbing up behind me and staring at the bloody puddle. "Who could have done this, and so quickly?"
"Is that what we wanted to ask you?" a voice came from the right. Due to the shock of what they saw, none of us noticed the guards arriving.
"We don't know. Hearing the scream, we immediately hurried to go upstairs and find out who was screaming. But when we got up..." I said, glancing at the puddle.
"We only saw a puddle of blood," the guard finished for me. "We'll talk to you later, you're mages, aren't you? What's your approximate average level?"
"Six of us are at the first stage of intermediate, and two are at the initial second stage," Mu Bai replied calmly, who had been standing behind me the whole time. "Did something happen?"
"Someone threw bait from here, and now there are a lot of undead below. If they're not all killed, there could be problems with the wall, or they could even break through," said the guard. Only after his words did we realize that the screams of the undead shouldn't be heard here, and we had been hearing them clearly since we came up here!
"We are ready to help you," Mu Bai said confidently, taking a step forward. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Good, afterwards we will interrogate you thoroughly about what happened here," the guard replied, turning to his men.
For about an hour, we spent it dealing with everyone who came for the bait. Because even the senior leader came, we were helped by mages at the peak of the intermediate level. After that, we were taken to one of the towers and interrogated until dawn. We told them everything we knew, about looking for our friend Jiaxing Yun and about the mysterious silhouette that jumped off the wall when we had almost reached the top. Both of them were searched for throughout the city as the main suspects in this case. In the morning, mortally tired, we parted ways. Mu Bai, Zhou Ming, Kun San, and Wang Pan went home. Mo Fan, Xiao Hou, He Yu, and I quickly found an inexpensive hotel, took a quick bath, and went to sleep. I could only hope that Jiaxing Yun was not involved in this.