Soon, we boarded a plane and headed to Xi'an. I had warned Zhou Ming yesterday that I would arrive today, so she should be waiting for us at the airport. Perhaps I should have told her to pack her things, but I thought it would be good to meet Mu Bai, and Xiao Hou and He Yu should also be here in the military university dormitory. Although they are still on vacation, they don't have much to do, so with a high probability, they are sitting in the dorm and studying.
Exiting the airport terminal, we quickly found Zhou Ming, who was standing at the exit. It was clear from her that she was looking forward to our meeting. However, when she saw Jiaxing Er, who was silently following me, her mood plummeted. I quickly understood the reason for this when she approached me and whispered in my ear:
"Are you serious about bringing your sister? Aren't you afraid she'll reveal your secrets, or did I sign that contract in vain and you're not afraid of anything?" she asked in a rather anxious voice. I could clearly smell her hair, which literally got into my nose. And her chest was pressing against mine, stirring my nerves quite a bit. But if this could throw me off balance, I would never have dared to play the games I am playing now. However, besides excitement and arousal from the fact that such a beautiful girl as Zhou Ming is standing next to me, I felt immense sadness, remembering that a month ago, in this very city, I lost all chances to restore my relationship with Lin Yun Er.
I often wondered why I loved her so much. Of course, she was essentially the only girl who decided to start dating me just like that, but that's certainly not a reason to worry about her so much. It's also worth mentioning that it was her first that I stopped considering an ordinary character and worthy of living, just like me. Perhaps for this reason, she got so stuck in my soul? Or is it just ordinary foolish youthful infatuation with a young girl? Although, considering my past life, I am over thirty years old. But on the other hand, it cannot be said that I experienced feelings like love and friendship at all in my past life. Many complex questions, the answers to which are too long and difficult to find.
"Hey, get away from brother!" Jiaxing Er's ringing voice broke me out of my thoughts, pushing Zhou Ming away from me. And I didn't even notice that we were essentially hugging in full view of everyone, ha, funny. Although the pain in my chest became even greater and more unbearable because of this.
"Ah, what difference does it make to you? You're his sister, not his lover," Zhou Ming retorted, quite indignant.
"Alright, that's enough," I interrupted them, coming to my senses. "Zhou Ming, pack your things, we're going hunting."
"What?" she blurted out in shock, and Jiaxing Er stood behind me with a triumphant expression. "Hunting for what?"
"To Mount Tian Shan, brother took another order to create artifacts, and we need to get the necessary materials," Jiaxing Er said in a very proud, confident, and smug voice. I thought that because of the obvious infatuation of these two with my person, I would suffer the most. And most importantly, this wasn't even in my plans! What the hell!
"Jiaxing Yun, is this true?" Zhou Ming asked uncertainly, looking at me with hope.
"Yes, don't worry, we'll conduct your training in the process, we have enough time," I said, waving my hand indifferently. "Better tell me, where is Mu Bai now?"
"Ah, well, as far as I know, he entered Xi'an University, one year younger than me. But after that, he immediately left for family business," Zhou Ming said thoughtfully.
"I see, too bad," I said, I didn't really want to spend time communicating with Xiao Hou and He Yu. "Alright, pack your things and come here, we'll set off immediately."
"Eh, alright," Zhou Ming said, hesitating a little, but then deciding. I should have warned her to bring her things right away. "Do I need to bring a lot of things?"
"As much as you want, I have a spatial bracelet, there's enough space in it," I replied, looking around for where to wait for her.
Zhou Ming ran off, and Jiaxing Er and I sat in a cafe and had a good time chatting about nothing. As far as I could tell, she was very happy about the situation when meeting Zhou Ming. Perhaps I'll leave it at that. Even for me, trying to get involved in these disputes would be dangerous. All that remains is to minimize the damage to myself from the ricochets of their battle.
A couple of hours later, Zhou Ming returned, dragging a huge suitcase filled with who knows what. Well, I tactfully left this question and hid the suitcase in my spatial bracelet so it wouldn't get in the way. By the way, I should look for a new one for myself, as this one will soon no longer hold everything I need. After that, we had to wait in the same cafe for a couple more hours for a flight to Lhasa, which is the closest city to the city of hope, which was at the foot of Mount Tian Shan. Fortunately, we didn't have to go there, the necessary monsters could be found near the city of Lhasa. During this time, I studied all the notes that Zhou Ming had made, and also learned that she had, according to her, learned to control reactive flame from her legs quite well.
After several hours of flight, we arrived in the holy city of Lhasa. Here stood the holy Potala Palace, which was connected to the Parthenon, the Holy City, and the Court for Special Cases. I remember that it was here that Mo Fan first met the mage Wu Ku, who could summon rain over a vast territory. It was also here that he first met the inquisitor of the Holy City, and also understood the situation he was in. Fortunately, neither I, nor Jiaxing Er, nor even Zhou Ming, are yet in the crosshairs of the Holy City, and it will remain so for a very long time. As far as I can judge, Mo Fan himself got caught when he went to destroy the Parthenon, saving Jiaxing Xia from execution.
"Jiaxing Yun, will we stay at a hotel and go to the arena to train?" Zhou Ming naively asked immediately upon arrival. Jiaxing Er chuckled a little, covering her mouth with her hand, as she knew about my plans.
"No, we'll go straight to the forests, in the direction of the city of Hope, the necessary beasts are found there," I replied dryly, indifferently, and as if in passing.
"What?" she said again in shock. "Are you serious? You didn't warn me about this!" she began to protest.
"You asked me to train you, right? I'll teach you just like I learned myself. Besides, look at Jiaxing Er, she's not afraid even though she's only a first-tier beginner mage," I said, nodding towards Jiaxing Er. Their confrontation could sometimes be used to our advantage.
"What? She's coming with us too?" Zhou Min asked in surprise.
"Didn't you know?" I replied, equally surprised. "Since she's my sister, I'll teach her everything I know. Otherwise, I'll constantly worry about her. And I don't want that."
"No, I thought you'd be afraid to take her with you outside the safe zone," she said uncertainly.
"Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll have enough strength to protect both of you," I said dryly, moving forward. "Here, you can take this shield, it will help protect you from unexpected attacks," I said, handing Zhou Min one of the shields I had shown to Luo Sun.
"And you won't give her one?" Zhou Min asked, pointing at Jiaxing Er.
"I already gave her one a long time ago, so don't worry," I replied, speaking the pure truth. Back when I was training with the master, I made a special shield using the scales of a green-skinned serpent that had reached the level of a junior leader. So her shield should easily withstand the onslaught of even a senior leader.
"I see," Zhou Min said, lowering her head and placing a spiritual seal on the shield. "Did you make this shield yourself?"
"Yes, I told you I know how to make artifacts. By the way, one of your swords is almost ready, only the hilt needs to be made and the magic formulas engraved. We're also going for the materials for the hilt," I said, in passing.
A couple of hours later, we were already in the forest. Although I said Jiaxing Er wasn't afraid, she was noticeably scared. After all, this would be her first real encounter with a monster, as far as I knew. Zhou Min behaved more calmly, but was also very worried. Why did I go into the forest at night? It's simple, before starting the training, I intended to scare these two by making them spend the whole night in danger. If I had done it later, it wouldn't have had the same effect.
"You two will take turns on watch," I said, a couple more hours later, when we had set up camp. "I'll be cultivating all night. If anything happens, wake me up immediately."
"Okay, brother, I'll try," Jiaxing Er said confidently, although her voice trembled at the end, and fear and hopelessness were visible in her eyes.
"Are you serious?" Zhou Min flared up after my words. "According to the guide, there could be creatures of the junior and true pack leader level here, how are we supposed to wake you up in time!"
"I think everything will be fine," I shrugged indifferently. "I've slept in forests a lot, so I'm almost sure no one will attack," I said innocently, though at the same time I was contemplating whether to use a lure to make things much more fun. However, for now, I still leaned towards it being too dangerous on the first night.
"You're serious! Almost sure!" Zhou Min continued to be angry. In fact, according to the contract, I could order her to sit still, and she wouldn't be able to disobey me due to a spiritual attack, but her behavior amused me greatly, so I decided not to use my trump card.
"You're a mid-level mage, you should be able to at least raise an alarm. Jiaxing Er is confident in her abilities, but you're not? Then how can I train you?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to the side.
"Uh... I don't know," she could only answer. "I hope you'll be on guard and won't go into deep cultivation."
"Alright," I said, smiling.
After that, I sat in the middle of the camp, crossed my legs, and began to cultivate. My wind and lightning elements were gradually approaching the second stage, so I wanted to reach it by the end of summer. A couple of months in the forests, and everything will be ready. Naturally, I didn't leave them to their own devices, and while cultivating, I monitored the surrounding environment.
I was curious to see how they would behave in such a situation. In fact, at first, everything was very simple and logical. Jiaxing Er decided to take the first watch, and Zhou Min took the second. The first half of the night was very calm, partly thanks to Jiaxing Er, as she had been training in the use of poison magic and also training her body with absolute poison. It was quite pleasant to watch, but tomorrow I should tell her that it's better not to do physical exercises in the forest when anyone can attack you.
The second half of the night was Zhou Min's watch. She also tried to train fire magic, but quickly gave up on the idea. And soon she fell asleep under a tree. I wasn't going to wake her up; she would get it from me tomorrow anyway, so at least she would sleep, and her guilt would be greater.
Before dawn, an interesting incident occurred: a shelled Kibang came out to our camp, a monster of high servant level, with quite tasty and useful meat, according to the books. It was a herbivore and rarely attacked people, and now it wasn't particularly aggressive. But I was aggressive towards it; it's a sin to miss breakfast, especially when it came to you, right? And its shell can be used for cheap artifacts.
Stopping my cultivation, I opened my eyes and looked at it. At that moment, it was approaching Jiaxing Er, who was sleeping in her sleeping bag. Raising my hand, I pointed at it with two fingers, deciding to test a new trick. I formed the star path of lightning's wrath and compressed the energy as much as I could. Usually, lightning's wrath consists of several lightning bolts directed in one direction, following different paths. I usually compress them so that they form a directed stream of lightning. This time, a single stream of lightning energy about five centimeters in diameter shot out from my two fingers. This beam pierced the Kibang's head, leaving a through hole.