"What!" Zhou Min and Jiaxing Er shouted together. "This is not funny at all! How am I supposed to fight her? Did you think about it? I'm a mid-level mage, I'm even physically stronger than her!" Zhou Min began to protest. "I'm willing to take any punishment, but this is just ridiculous! You should punish her rather than me!"
"Brother, this is very unexpected, are you sure this will discourage her from sleeping on duty?" Jiaxing Er asked, with a stony face.
"Yes, if she gets beaten up by you, she won't want to repeat it," I said confidently, taking a bite of my meat. "You don't have to hold back with her."
"What?!" Zhou Min shouted in surprise. "She shouldn't hold back with me? Jiaxing Er, are you sure you haven't lost your mind?"
"No, I've weighed everything and decided that this is the right way. Let the one who could have suffered because of you beat you up," I said, shrugging indifferently. "I won't fight you, it's too cruel, but Jiaxing Er is perfect for this. So don't argue, get up and go fight."
"Fine, as you wish," Zhou Min threw, put down her plate of meat, and moved away from the fire to a place with more space. "Jiaxing Er, let's start," she said, her irritation and indignation clearly visible, not only at me but also at herself for falling asleep on watch during the night.
"Coming," Jiaxing Er said cheerfully, also putting down her plate and running up to her, standing opposite her a few meters away.
"Alright, begin!" I shouted, settling comfortably and taking more meat as a snack for the upcoming spectacle.
Jiaxing Er moved first. Of course, I slightly exaggerated her abilities when I told her not to hold back and beat up Zhou Min. But I wasn't that far off; after a month of training her absolute poison body, she had become stronger than ordinary mid-level mages, but she still hadn't reached the strength of a low servant. Although I think this is a matter of the coming days, or weeks at the very least.
Jiaxing Er took a couple of steps forward and punched forward, aiming for Zhou Min's face. The latter literally froze in surprise and didn't react in time, missing the blow and stumbling back a few meters. Jiaxing Er was about to continue the attack with a kick to the back, but Zhou Min managed to dodge the blow, simultaneously bringing up her hand for a punch to the stomach. This time, Jiaxing Er took the hit, but unlike her opponent, she held her ground and continued the attack, directing her knee to Zhou Min's side.
"Damn! What kind of abs do you have, it's like hitting concrete!" Zhou Min shouted, jumping aside and stepping back a couple more steps by inertia.
"Don't get distracted, you'll lose your balance and you're dead!" I shouted cheerfully from behind her.
"And you..." she started, but Jiaxing Er didn't let her continue, directing her next blow to her stomach. "Damn it!" Zhou Min shouted, jumping aside again, but this time it wasn't so smooth for her.
Suddenly, Jiaxing Er swung the hand she was about to use to hit the stomach in the same direction Zhou Min was dodging. The latter definitely didn't have time to defend against this, so the blow hit her stomach, tossing her a couple of meters up and throwing her ten meters back. Zhou Min coughed, falling on her backside, and as soon as she recovered, she saw a foot raised above her for a strike.
Without thinking, she broke into a run, trying to dodge, which she managed to do. Jiaxing Er no longer had time to stop her blow, so it simply hit the ground, leaving a rather large crater. Zhou Min could have retaliated, but due to loss of orientation and rhythm, she couldn't. Jiaxing Er, not losing her composure, quickly shifted her weight to the leg that created the crater, spun on it, and kicked her opponent in the back with her second leg, forcing her to take a couple of steps forward, and then fall to the ground altogether.
However, the price of this blow was quite high, as Jiaxing Er herself fell, losing her balance. This gave Zhou Min an opportunity to jump to her feet and prepare for the next blow. This time it was again directed at her stomach, but she managed to dodge in another direction, so Jiaxing Er could no longer send her flying with a swing of her hand. Zhou Min thought she had managed to turn the tide of the battle and start counter-attacking, but Jiaxing Er didn't lose her composure and still swung her hand, standing on the tip of one foot, and raising the other so that it, by inertia, hit her opponent's side during the rotation, still pushing her back, preventing her from landing a blow.
Zhou Min had to take about five steps to avoid falling, while Jiaxing Er simply turned by inertia, stood on both feet, and maintained her balance. It was clear that this fight wasn't as easy for her as it might have seemed; after all, controlling your opponent when you're roughly equal in strength is quite difficult. However, Zhou Min suffered much more; in addition to the usual exhaustion, she was also badly battered, as Jiaxing Er's blows were quite heavy for her.
"What the hell!" Zhou Min cursed, turning to Jiaxing Er, who had stopped to catch her breath. "You're just a beginner-level mage of the first stage, how can your body be so strong!"
"Brother knows a lot, be grateful to him, and maybe he'll tell you the secret too," Jiaxing Er replied with a sneer.
"I want to remind you that this isn't a verbal duel, but a real one," I shouted, finishing my piece of meat.
"And you, shut up!" Zhou Min snapped, quickly shooting me an angry glare. She definitely didn't like my idea, though I was having a lot of fun.
Taking advantage of Zhou Min's distraction, Jiaxing Er resumed her attack, quickly closing the distance and aiming a punch upwards, so it was supposed to hit her jaw. It would have been a clean knockout. But that wasn't the case. Zhou Min managed to react in time and crossed her arms in front of the punch, thus defending herself. But the blow was still very strong. She was thrown into the air about two and a half meters, and her face showed that her arms were not doing well.
Landing on both feet and maintaining her balance, Zhou Min immediately dodged a direct blow to the stomach. Jiaxing Er tried again to use her rotational momentum and kick her opponent. But stepping on the same rake twice was not in Zhou Min's plans. She grabbed Jiaxing Er's leg with her hand and, using her own rotational momentum, threw her aside, though she herself almost fell.
Jiaxing Er, however, after a somersault in the air, landed neatly on both feet, crouching, or rather, pressed to the ground. Immediately after that, she shot off like a bullet towards Zhou Min, who looked on in shock, trying to regain her balance and prepare to block the blow. However, the result was not encouraging. Jiaxing Er's fist hit her crossed arms again, only this time there was no chance to defend. Jiaxing Er continued her attack without slowing down an inch.
Next was a side kick to Zhou Min, who was retreating, then a jump spin and another kick, this time to the back. After that, Zhou Min could no longer stand on her feet. She tried to get up, got on her elbows, breathing heavily and coughing up blood, and was about to get up, but she wasn't allowed to. Jiaxing Er's strong kick to the stomach sent her a couple of meters up, so she flew about fifteen meters, rolled another twenty, and ended up sprawled at my feet. By this time, I had finished the meat and, lowering my head, looked at her.
This last blow took Zhou Min out of the game, in other words, she simply lost consciousness. I turned my gaze to Jiaxing Er, who was still standing with her leg raised in a kick, breathing heavily. Gradually, she lowered her leg and stared at me in silence.
"So, how did you like this battle?" I asked, smiling. "Of course, she hasn't tempered her body yet, but she's a mid-level mage, so she has enough strength. But unfortunately, she lacks experience in hand-to-hand combat, otherwise you might have even lost."
"Brother is right as always," Jiaxing Er replied modestly, returning to her seat, breathing heavily.
"Here, take this," I said, handing her a bottle of healing potion. "It will help you recover. And with this, you'll smear all of Zhou Min's wounds. We don't need her to be so badly beaten," I said, placing the jar next to me on the ground.
"And what will brother be doing that he can't treat her wounds himself?" Zhou Min asked in surprise.
"You want me to treat her wounds? Don't forget she's a girl, and I'm a guy," I chuckled, standing up.
"Oh," Jiaxing Er covered her mouth with her hand, realizing what she had said, but this slight confusion after the fight was quite normal, one can't always adjust immediately. "I somehow forgot."
"It's okay. Besides, I'm going to walk around and survey the area," I said, stretching. "It was dark yesterday when we arrived, so it was hard to see."
"What if some monster wanders in here?" Jiaxing Er asked worriedly and quite reasonably.
"Don't worry, I won't be far, I'll come back after she wakes up," I said, then looked at Zhou Min and added, "Tell her I'm sleeping nearby. I don't think she'll be able to get up and look for me right away, and in the meantime, I'll set up a surprise."
"Brother, aren't you being too cruel?" Jiaxing Er became even more worried, looking at me with concerned eyes, likely understanding my intentions. "Fine, her, but what if I get hurt, or am I as unimportant to brother as she is?"
"No, of course not," I chuckled, smiling. "However, I'll be nearby, so nothing terrible should happen."
"Well, if brother says so, then fine," she said doubtfully and hurt, lowering her head and looking at the open bottle of healing potion.
"Alright, good luck," I said, waving my hand and heading into the depths of the forest.
"Do you really want to unleash a monster on them?" Asura asked cheerfully, perfectly understanding my plan.
"This will be a good lesson for Zhou Min about what can happen if you fall asleep on duty," I replied seriously. "If I weren't watching them, we could have really died. If she were with someone who didn't live alone in an unsafe zone, among beasts that could kill him and hadn't developed the ability to sense the situation around them while sleeping and cultivating, even an armored Kibang could be deadly for them."
"Well, you're right about that. It's better to teach her this in safety than for her to learn it the hard way," Asura agreed, then asked with interest, "So, what kind of beast are we going to look for?"
"I don't know, I think a mid-to-high servant level," I said, shrugging.
After an hour of searching, not far from where we stopped, I found a giant Tibetan wolf, a high-servant level monster, quite dangerous. It was about three meters tall, had a powerful jaw, and was a great threat to ordinary beginner-level mages, largely due to its extraordinary speed, which they often couldn't keep up with. However, to its deep regret, it was chosen by me for Zhou Min and Jiaxing Er's training.
Dealing with such a monster would have been no problem for me; it was harder to make it obey me. However, this problem was easily solved by simply beating it up until it wanted to run away from me. But I quickly approached its jaw, grabbed it with my hands, pressed it to the ground, and had to use space magic to keep it closed.
It took quite a lot of effort and preventive blows to calmly bring it to our campsite. But it was definitely worth it. I anticipated great fun when this wolf, trying to escape, would run towards Jiaxing Er and Zhou Min. Although the wolf tried to break free and run away, or to resume the attack, it could no longer do so. My grip was too strong for it.