"Then perhaps we should still see her in the mask?" the old man asked thoughtfully. "I would like to see the creation of my own hands." Jiaxing Er seemed about to ask me to return the mask after this, but she didn't.
"No, there is absolutely no need for that right now," I said confidently, smiling.
"Alright, but I hope to see her in this beautiful mask later," the old man said cheerfully. "Then let's show all these young guys how to really fight?"
"Are you sure you can handle me now? I've gotten stronger during this time," I said, thinking for a moment and scratching my head.
"Did you forget? My magic has been unlocked, and now I'm gradually regaining my level, so I'm now a mid-level mage, with all the consequences," he said confidently, proud of himself.
"And what are the teacher's elements?" I asked with interest. I had never thought about it before, and now, due to the high concentration of internal energy in him, I couldn't see his magic.
"Lightning and curse, both at the first stage of the first level. It's not easy to restore cultivation after it's been sealed for so many years. I think this time we can fight using magic," the old man said with a smile, stepping into the center of the training ground.
"As you wish, teacher," I said, shrugging my shoulders and heading after him.
Many may ask why I didn't want Jiaxing Er to wear the old man's mask. The answer to this question is incredibly simple. This mask contains a spiritual mechanism that automatically imposes a strict spiritual contract on the soul of the wearer, comparable to the one I made with Jiaxing Er. The very fact that someone puts on the mask serves as consent to this agreement, so as soon as you put it on, you are already someone's slave, a very dirty and vile trick. The person who puts it on won't even know what they've signed up for.
The old man is a huge swindler; he clearly realized that I wouldn't enter into a spiritual contract with him, which could cause huge problems in the future. So he decided to slip me such a mask. Yes, my Asura mask is the same; it had the same mechanism. Why "had"? The moment my mask fell into my hands, I felt that something was wrong with it. It wasn't difficult to get tools, and my knowledge at the time was sufficient to study the mask. It took a lot of time to determine the true reason for my discomfort.
It was then that I understood the old man's whole scheme; if I had put it on immediately, I would have already been his slave and couldn't say a word against him. Fortunately, my caution saved me. The mechanism turned out to be very strong, so it was incredibly difficult to hack it immediately. However, no one could stop me from simply blocking its operation, right? There was little time, and the problem had to be solved somehow, so I used the only method available to me at the time: I simply cut off the mechanism from the mask. No, it remained in it, only now if you put it on, nothing will happen.
Of course, this was a temporary measure; sooner or later, the connection would be restored, and if I were careless, I could become the old man's slave. It took me a couple of weeks to fully understand the mechanism and completely cut it out. Unfortunately for the old man, he did not provide a way to verify the concluded contract, so he has been happily thinking all this time that I am in his hands.
Now, he apparently decided to take Jiaxing Er too. How lucky that I was there at that moment. Although I'm not sure if the old man will succeed in making a contract with her this way, since she has already made one with me, and imposing another such complex contract on her will be practically impossible. Either her soul will simply be torn apart, or both contracts will be canceled, but she will suffer. There is also a third option, where both work in some incomprehensible way, limiting each other. But that's already in the realm of fantasy.
It would have been too dangerous before to even hint to the old man that I would obey him and that his contract didn't work. However, the situation has changed now. He needs me even more than I need him. Now, I am the genius of the Gun clan who has defeated all clan members under twenty years old without any difficulty. I am a full-fledged genius of the Gun family; I am the one to whom the old man owes his position. Without me, his position as elder would be shaken more than a small boat in a storm. And I already understood that the old man is not one to risk his position just to teach me a lesson. So even the threat of telling him that I took the family's techniques if he doesn't bring me the commander's head is a pure bluff. The old man is too pure and power-hungry. He says he doesn't want to become the head of the family; he wants to become the head of a sect created on the basis of these clans immediately.
If such a sect ever appears, it will definitely surpass the Zhao clan with its simply astronomical money, and even more so the Mu clan, which, by and large, would be weaker than even the Gun clan, the weakest of the three, let alone all of them together. However, the Mu clan has one significant advantage, and that is a curse mage. Clans have many strong mages, but none are at the curse level, however sad it may be.
I learned all this information by asking the guards about other families. I wanted to find out if Master Tan Tao belonged to the body tempering clan or not. Unfortunately, I never found out the truth. I was simply told that naming other clans is forbidden on clan territory. The old man definitely knows something, but I don't intend to ask him, especially after today.
I need the old man to be able to use the resources and knowledge of the Gun family with impunity, which is very important for me. The more support I have, the faster I can develop. So, we both need each other, and neither of us has any leverage over the other. So, we will have to come to an agreement with each other. He can't kill me.
If he had managed to make Jiaxing Er wear the mask, it would have been too late. Now I can easily destroy its mechanism, it just takes time, so after this fight, I will have a lot of work to do.
I think that the hint I just gave the old man, that I don't obey him, will be even useful. He will treat me with a little more caution, most likely with greater loyalty, at least as long as he needs me. And there can be no question of quietly eliminating me; after all, finding a second person like me who can pass all his trials is quite problematic.
For now, in battle with him, I must show everything I have achieved up to this moment. I am more than sure that my progress exceeds his expectations, so this will also be a light prophylaxis for him against the desire to purely use me. And so, in his eyes, I will become more useful.
We stood opposite each other, determination visible in his eyes, without a hint of uncertainty; he was definitely going to teach me a lesson. I'm interested to see how he'll manage that now. A cry was heard: "Begin!" and the old man immediately rushed at me. His speed was incredible, but alas, not so much that I couldn't handle it. Activating the boots of wind, I easily dodged his first direct lunge, jumping back five meters.
However, he didn't stop there but continued to pursue me, trying to hit me. But catching up with me, who was using the boots of wind, was impossible for him. The star path seemed to require no effort to form; there was plenty of energy, so we could play this cat-and-mouse game for a long time until he gave up himself.
But the old man was clearly not satisfied with this, so he began to use lightning magic, bombarding me with lightning's wrath, accompanying almost every one of his attacks with it. It was quite unusual when he made a lunge forward with his hand, and a spell flew out of it. A kick—lightning followed its direction, and no matter how it was delivered, it continued to move as if the leg or hand were continuing their movement.
It became harder to dodge such attacks, so to make my life easier, I also started using lightning magic. It was clearly harder for him to dodge my attacks, as the intervals between them were much shorter. An old monster who recovers after a fall or a new monster climbing to the top using all available means; I think it's clear who has the advantage here.
This again began to annoy him, and he interrupted his series of attacks. It was my turn to attack, but I didn't let my guard down. Using a gust of wind and accelerating my flight even more with a step of wind, I threw my right fist forward, preparing to attack with my leg as well. The old man pretended that everything was going according to plan and was about to easily dodge, but my fist still grazed his cheek. Lightly, it just passed by; there wasn't even a mark, but it was enough to throw him off balance. The old man's eyes showed genuine surprise when he realized what had happened.
And this became his fatal mistake. He knew I would attack with my leg; he was preparing to catch me with his hands and send me flying. I saw it clearly. But due to the shock of my essentially first hit on him, he slightly paused his actions, and that was enough for me to land a blow, amplified by both space magic and a gust of wind.
The old man flew at incredible speed into the arena wall, literally embedding his face there. He naturally tried to slow his movement, assume a more stable position, and maintain his balance, but he failed. A moment later, just about two seconds, as he began to recover and move away from the wall, my lightning strike was already heading towards him. I wasn't afraid to kill him. Even after such an impact, only his nose was bleeding, and otherwise, he was fine. As I said, he's an old monster, his body tempered to the limit. His only weakness is magic; I far surpass him in its mastery.
However, the blow did not reach its target; the old man literally accelerated at the last moment and dodged the strike. But after the first lightning strike, a whirlwind of wind blades followed, which he also somehow dodged, and then another lightning strike, followed by another whirlwind of wind blades. After so many spells in a row, I already felt mental fatigue, but I continued to literally bombard him with lightning's wrath and wind blades, while using the boots of wind to approach him.
Now the cat and mouse had switched places. Thanks to the unusual effect on the stars of internal energy, I could now cast slightly more spells than usual. But even this was not enough to trap the old man; an old monster is an old monster, this must be understood and admitted. This old man is worthy of being my teacher.
Suddenly, after another dodge, he stopped. Black and red magic of curse appeared in his eyes, and I felt as if I were entangled in spiderwebs. The old man breathed heavily after the long run, but still smiled faintly. The old scoundrel lied; the curse is at least at the intermediate level! However, long ago, I had secured myself against such things; my pendant, the one I had almost forgotten about, the one bought to protect my soul, began to work, gradually defeating the curse. However, the old man was not a fool and cast another one. No matter how strong the pendant was, it was still quite cheap for its counterparts, so it couldn't fully protect me from two such spells.
"Hahaha... You surprised the old man, now try to defeat this!" the old man said, smirking, like a small child rejoicing in his small victory.
The curse began to gradually penetrate my soul, starting to destroy it. My mind began to gradually cloud over; at this rate, I would soon lose consciousness. However, if I allowed that to happen, all my efforts would be in vain. I would simply lose to myself! Gathering all my resolve, I began to resist the curse, and gradually, clarity of mind returned to me. Internal energy helped to neutralize the effects on my inner world, but the web that bound me did not allow me to move; it was very difficult to break. Moreover, the old man did not stop at just intermediate-level curse magic; he was also finishing the star chart of the lightning demon, and here he lied to me, how funny it was.