"Trying to deal with my curse using only your spiritual power? Not bad, worthy of being called my disciple," the old man smirked, finishing the star chart. "But you're still a long way from being a teacher."
"Hahaha! Fun! Kid, you seriously can't break a couple of pathetic curses?" Asura's cheerful voice rang in my head, from which a faint spark, excitement, appeared in my chest, to break these bonds, to prove that I am stronger than this old man. "Let me help you; after all, we are one."
After his words, I felt the spiderwebs loosen slightly. Did he really decide to help me, in some unknown way? I gathered all my internal and mental energy into one and, with a powerful surge, tore apart all the webs holding me. At that moment, something changed within me; I felt a surge of strength, and also felt that space magic, as well as the spiritual world, had become stronger. After a little thought and analysis of my sensations, I realized that I had reached the second spiritual boundary out of nine. Now I can control the daggers of my artifact even better!
Following the internal energy, magic also erupted from my body; a chain of lightning spread twenty meters around me, the power of each at the moment was not inferior to the power of first-stage initial-level magic. And a powerful gust of wind kicked up dust, so I couldn't be seen. Even space magic manifested itself, swirling the dust into something like a hurricane, creating spatial disturbances. I realized that if this wasn't stopped, I would soon be left without magical energy, so concentrating on control, I quickly brought it back under my control, only weak electrical discharges remained throughout my body.
The old man was clearly in shock from what had happened; he certainly didn't think my strength would be so great. It would be a sin not to take advantage of such an opportunity, so I instantly created two gusts of wind. With the first, I sent a dagger towards the old man, which he easily defended against; with the second, I used it to get to where he was retreating. There, I combined a gust of wind and a step of wind, and also amplified my kick with space magic, which hit the old man precisely in the back. From this blow, he flew away like a bullet, unable to react to another equally fast attack. I had indeed become much stronger, and my main feature, speed, reached, in the best-case scenario, the level of a senior leader. And this blow, which I amplified with everything I could, using full concentration, could be compared to the blow of a supreme leader, perhaps, of course, the weakest of them, but it was still a supreme leader's blow!
A rather deep dent, about five centimeters, remained in the arena wall, although as far as I know, the walls in arenas are made of very strong material so that they can withstand a blow up to mid-level magic. The old man staggered away from the wall, his forehead, chest, arms, and legs were bleeding, multiple abrasions and bruises were visible, and it was also noticeable that a couple of his bones had cracked. No matter how special the body tempering was, it couldn't make a person's body as strong as a monster's body, otherwise, why was magic invented at all? Although if we believe what is written in the old man's books, as well as what he himself said, then by combining ordinary cultivation and body tempering at the semi-spell level, one could kill true commanders. Without using magic, the peak is supreme leaders.
The old man was undoubtedly one of the strongest mages using body tempering; such a blow could not harm him much, although he looked not very good. The old man took a couple of steps, stretched well, cracked his bones, wiped some blood from his hands and face. After that, a golden glow emanated from him, and literally before his eyes, minor wounds healed, and more severe ones gradually closed.
"I lost, you forced me to use instant regeneration, although you are only in the middle of the energy subjugation stage," the old man said, continuing to warm up and heading towards me. He was right; I was still a long way from the end of this stage. As for my direct physical strength, I think it's somewhere at a high level, even closer to a high servant.
"Master Gun Wei lost to him!" Gun Dan, who had fought Jiaxing Er earlier, suddenly exclaimed excitedly. "This simply cannot be! He's not even twenty!"
"Everyone can lose, especially teachers to talented students," the old man said with a slight smile, but his eyes were completely serious and full of thoughtfulness.
"The teacher let me win; I wouldn't have been able to handle him if he had decided to use all his strength," I said, smiling slightly. After my words, a light whisper went through the crowd. It mostly amounted to me giving my all, and the old man letting me win. And only a couple of people, and Jiaxing Er, guessed, but only two knew the truth: the old man and I.
The old man knew that he hadn't used a little of his physical abilities; after all, he wasn't at the peak of tempering, and magical cultivation hadn't given him much yet. The techniques he didn't use could help save his life and harm me, but nothing more. I also didn't use quite a few tricks that could have harmed him. The old man understands that if we continued to fight, he would suffer great losses. And now, guessing that I am not under his control, he understands that I am even more valuable, so he wouldn't dare to harm me; after all, I have already helped him a couple of times and don't intend to betray him yet. I think he will decide to leave everything as it is; only a fool would act differently in his place, as losing the trust of someone who helps you is very bad.
I, on the other hand, knew a little more and was sure that I could have killed him if something completely unforeseen hadn't happened, and my artifact would have helped me. Its piercing power is enough to wound a supreme commander; it would definitely pierce the old man. After the duel, we peacefully returned to the guest room, where we talked a little and said goodbye. Jiaxing Er and I immediately went to the airport and flew to Nanjing. I didn't ask the name of the family from Nanjing. Now he would be very cautious towards me, and this question of mine could be interpreted as possible betrayal, then nothing would save me.
Immediately upon arrival, we rented a decent room, closer to the master's house. Jiaxing Er continued her training, regularly using quite expensive elixirs. However, this was not a problem, as there was enough money, plus Jiaxing Er's status as the old man's second disciple helped obtain a couple of important ingredients. I also told her about the possibility of arranging stars into different star paths, obtaining different spell effects. Her answer surprised even me; she replied that she had guessed about it and had even tried to find such things, but unsuccessfully. So I simply passed on my knowledge to her, allowing her to figure it out herself. She explained her knowledge by saying that she could communicate with her stars, but even that seemed unusual to me. However, I decided to observe further developments.
As for me, I began my duties as a personal disciple, namely, producing artifacts for sale, as well as fulfilling a couple of orders that I was entrusted with over these three weeks. I worked mostly alone, without surveillance, but Tan Yu sometimes came to check on me.
I really liked this freedom, as I could practice using internal energy; I didn't have to restrain it much. The master's technique turned out to be very useful for development; it greatly accelerated it, along with my elixirs. Also, during this month, I didn't forget about cultivation and regular training. With the achievement of the second spiritual boundary, controlling the daggers became much easier, although I still couldn't fully control three at once; more training was needed.
Three weeks passed quite quickly; during this time, I earned about ten million from selling my products. After all, during my studies, I created three to five artifacts a week, and all of them were of good quality. True, this money didn't stay with me for long; part was spent on herbs for Jiaxing Er's elixirs, and another part on documents for her.
After two weeks, the merchant finally called, saying that everything was ready. So I had to fly to Xiamen again and pick them up. After carefully reviewing the documents, I realized that I hadn't paid so much money in vain; everything was done in the best way, Jiaxing Er's entire history was written very well. As a result, I was very pleased; if someone were to look into the documents about me or her, they would have to spend a huge amount of effort to find inconsistencies.
Now I could fully concentrate on honing my artifact forging skills. The master's exam approached completely unnoticed. Three days before the first entrance exam in Mingzhu, where I had already submitted my documents, I went to the master's forge, where he was already waiting for me. As before, he provided me with a choice of all the materials he had that he didn't mind parting with, meaning they could be obtained relatively easily. Only the task was slightly different; I had to create any artifact of my choice.
I decided to practice creating a sword; after all, the time is not far off when I will have to forge a couple for Zhou Min. The element of my sword became ice, so I used the chitin of an ice scorpion and its stinger, fusing it with ice steel, a hardened version of ice iron. The ice scorpion is a senior leader-level monster; it lives on Mount Tian Shan, in the area where glaciers begin, but far enough from the summit—the celestial scar, where only creatures of at least the senior commander level can survive.
Melting these two materials was a very difficult task; usually, using only fire would take a week, or even a little more, but I used four at once! Fortunately, the master's furnace allowed it; by the way, he himself was very surprised by this. Although my furnace was very good, maintaining three fires, it was not easy to master. The more fires a blacksmith can use simultaneously, the better he is. However, I must say that it was not easy for me; after an hour, sweat was streaming down me, and after eight, I could barely stand. But I had a maximum of two days to finish everything.
"I thought you would decide to make something simple so I could see your skills. However, you have amazed me!" the master chuckled. After nine hours of melting, there was still an hour left! Instead of a week, just ten hours; this is truly talent. "If you can finish, you can keep it as a souvenir."
I didn't answer him, as I was absorbed in my work. I would have collapsed after ten hours of melting if not for one thing: internal energy, which I allowed to circulate in my body just a little, restoring my strength. The master undoubtedly noticed this, but even so, he probably decided that it was all thanks to his technique and my talent. After ten hours of melting, I poured out the blank and left it to cool in the ice chamber. The sharp temperature change, first, would show the level of fusion; if it didn't fall apart, everything was fine. And second, that the metal and the material with the ice attribute, so by placing it in the ice chamber, the alloy would only harden. I had a couple of hours before starting forging, so I sat by the ice chamber and began to cultivate, restoring my strength.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to distract yourself from such a complex process? Although everything is working out for you, this is clearly not your level yet. The slightest mistake can spoil the artifact," the master said skeptically, seeing my actions.
As he promised, he didn't speak for most of the time, only occasionally making some remarks, which I immediately corrected. Now, I was confident that everything would go smoothly; during cultivation, my perception even slightly improved. So I could feel everything happening in the ice chamber and take out the blank from there in time. Now, it was important for me to rest before forging, otherwise, I might really not cope. After more than three hours, I felt that everything was ready; it was time. Standing up, I took out the blue-tinged blank with tongs; it literally exuded cold. It was time to start tempering.