I followed the old man, thinking that it was hard not to guess the purpose of this place. Entering the courtyard, I saw many mannequins, both standard wooden ones and a couple of steel ones! Moreover, one of them was dented! This old man, capable of denting steel with his bare hands? There was also a small pond with crystal-clear water in the courtyard, some weights for training, and stone slabs; it was clear he trained his strikes on them when he got tired of the steel mannequins.
Entering the house, I saw a normal room, but upon entering the kitchen, I realized I was mistaken. In the kitchen, besides the usual utensils, there were various herbs hanging from the ceiling, stored in jars, or simply on shelves, and refrigerators of various sizes. I assumed they contained the insides of various monsters, but I couldn't even imagine what all this was for.
"Sit down if you want, or you can," the old man chuckled, pointing to a chair near the table, simultaneously putting the tea to brew.
While the tea was brewing, the old man took me to an adjacent room. It was a large training hall for martial arts, but besides various equipment, there were jars with some liquids and ointments on the wall opposite the entrance; this was quite strange.
"Take off your clothes," the old man said dryly, approaching and taking a jar of some green ointment and bandages.
I obediently followed his order, taking off the upper part of my clothes, and saw bloody streaks on my stomach and side, as well as quite a few bruises and abrasions. The old man opened the jar and began to smear the places of my wounds, then bandaged them, pressing the ointment closer to the body, literally pushing it into the skin. The ointment burned fiercely where it was applied, and the bandages, besides constricting, also intensified the effect of the ointment! It was almost more painful than the moment the injury was inflicted! This, considering that they still hurt and restricted my movements!
"Let's go, you'll drink tea," the old man said, returning to the kitchen, where he took the teapot and began to pour it into cups, saying, "This tea has healing properties. Considering your young mage body of average level, your injuries should heal in a couple of days."
"Thank you very much for your kindness to me, great master," I said, clasping my hands in front of my chest and bowing slightly. These actions sent a stab of pain through my stomach and back. Damn, how I was marked today!
"Now, regarding your second task, the test of abilities," he said, handing me a cup of tea. "It will consist of killing a certain number of beasts within a week and bringing me some of their organs as proof," he said, sitting down at the table.
"Yes, great master, what kind of beasts should be killed, in what quantity, and what should be extracted?" I asked after a few seconds of silence, also sitting down at the table.
"First—giant spiders, one hundred individuals, extract the venom glands and eyes, nothing else is needed," the old man began in a completely relaxed tone, causing me to almost choke on my tea. A hundred spiders? Of course, I can kill that many in a day, but there will be others; this is just the beginning! "Second—giant alligators, fifty individuals, extract the hearts, lungs, and gallbladders, nothing else is needed," the old man continued in the same tone as if he were sending me to the store for groceries! Fifty alligators! To hunt that many, I would have to crawl through the jungle for two or three days non-stop! And that's not counting the spiders! "Third—green-skinned snakes, twenty-five individuals, extract the venom glands," the old man said, and I just slumped in my chair. Green-skinned snakes, Xu Zhao Tin and I saw them a couple of times; they are beasts of the highest servant level, and sometimes even junior leader level! They are from four to ten meters long, very fast and venomous, with tough skin; killing one is very difficult, and here I need twenty-five at once! "And finally, red-eyed newts, ten individuals, extract the hearts and eyes." After that, I completely slumped, it was simply impossible to cope with this in a week!
"Understood, I will try my best, great master," I said, clasping my hands and bowing slightly. Well, what else can you order me to do? I still want to get his strength! "May I ask, I travel with a friend, and a couple of times a week, we go hunting. Are the beasts we killed together counted?"
"No!" the old man cut off sternly. "I am testing your strength, not your joint efforts; you are becoming my disciple, not both of you! So, be kind enough to deal with this yourself, and don't you dare deceive me that you achieved it all yourself; I will definitely find out if you are lying or not!"
"Yes, great master," I said, bowing again. I'll have to come up with something; it seemed to me that he could really find out. "Then I won't bother you anymore," I said, getting up from the table. My whole body was pierced with pain, but it was already bearable. What amazing tea and ointment he has!
"Go," the old man said dryly, continuing to sip his tea. "The week starts tomorrow; the organs must be in acceptable condition; take care of that yourself."
After all that happened, it was only about four in the afternoon, so I decided to go to the market and buy a large refrigeration unit and a couple of jars for the animal organs that I had to extract. There were no problems with this, so I hurried back home, where I met Xu Zhao Tin. When he saw me, he looked a little puzzled and worried.
"Where did you manage to get so injured?" he asked, stunned, staring at me with saucer-like eyes.
"Oh, it's nothing serious. I decided to get some fresh air, go hunting, and somehow miscalculated my strength," I replied awkwardly. After he saw through my lie about the guardians, I decided, first, to trust him a little more, and second, not to lie unnecessarily just in case. But I will never tell him about my connection with the old man! It's too big a secret.
"Are you crazy? You went hunting alone? You can barely kill even an average servant without me, and there are quite strong monsters here! I heard there are even high leaders here!" Zhao Tin said worriedly, almost shouting. I smiled slightly; how mistaken he was about my real strength!
"Yes, it's nothing serious; it was just a couple of red foxes. They caught me off guard and scratched me a little, after which I easily finished them off," I said, smiling. "These bandages are just dramatizing the picture; calm down."
"I see, but don't go hunting without me anymore. What will I tell Mo Fan, and Mo Jiaxing, and Jiaxing Xia? They are all worried about you," he said sternly, calming down slightly. "I think we shouldn't go hunting after tomorrow; you need to rest."
"Ah, yes, speaking of which," I said, as if remembering something and hitting myself on the forehead. "I only have a little bit left to control all forty-nine stars of wind and seven stars of lightning. I thought I would cultivate in a secluded place, in a separate apartment, so that neither you nor I would interfere with each other," I smiled from ear to ear. "I realized the urgent need to acquire offensive magic, because with such sudden attacks, who knows what could happen; it's better to be able to fight back. Of course, I have a shield, but it can only be used for defense, not for killing enemies."
"Are you sure you don't want to go hunting alone again?" Xu Zhao Tin asked suspiciously, contorting his face and looking at me strangely. Damn! When did he start seeing through me? Okay, kid, I lived in Russia, I know how to lie to people's faces!
"What makes you think that? Even though the wounds from the foxes are not that serious, they will take at least a week to heal! I'll practice during this time, day and night. Why would I go into the jungle again? Do you think I'm a suicidal person?" I asked, slightly defiantly and raising my voice.
"No, well, only a little. Sometimes I think there's something crazy about you, forgive my rudeness," he said with the same strange expression. My heart skipped a beat; do I really have the same smile during hunting as my pseudo-self? Damn, I'm starting to scare myself! Even though I'm quite cold-blooded, even so, I can't stand the death of innocent people, as it was in Yueyuan when ordinary people died because of me. But I also can't stand seeing someone kill people and enjoy it; I find it a bit disgusting, don't you think? And now it turns out I'm doing it myself, without even realizing it! This can drive me crazy!
"So, are you against it?" I asked with a maximally indifferent expression, clasping my hands behind my head.
"No, I'm not against it," he said calmly, shrugging. "Actually, I also wanted to spend a week in deep cultivation; I think I'm close to breaking the middle-level barrier!" he declared confidently, raising his fist.
"I see..." I scratched my head, a little taken aback. He's indeed a very determined and cheerful guy, although cheerful is just a mask. In reality, he has incredible sadness in his heart, which even touches me a little! It's a pity that he will die in just over a year and a half; I liked him quite a lot; he would have made a good companion. "So, we have an agreement? I'll take some things tomorrow and find myself a place to live, okay?"
"Yes, of course, but is it necessary to move out?" he asked, looking at me with surprise.
"It'll be more convenient for me," I said, shrugging.
"Ha! Said the one who can cultivate in the forest with monsters!" Xu Zhao Tin burst out laughing, then, calming down, added with a smile, "Although I don't care, the main thing is that you are safe, otherwise how will I explain myself? Be careful, brother Jiaxing Yun." Having finished speaking, he patted me on the shoulder and returned to the bed, starting to cultivate.
I also sat on my bed without thinking, crossed my legs, and began to develop my control over the stars of space, and although I had only subdued four of them, the fifth should surrender soon. I also read that if a mage is injured and starts cultivating, the wounds heal faster; this can help me a lot, considering the difficult week ahead.
I don't know what kind of ointment and tea the old man has, but I could literally feel my scratches, bruises, and abrasions healing on my body, my bones normalizing, getting rid of cracks, and the pain gradually disappearing. I am also sure that the tea somehow affected my cultivation, accelerating it, or was it the meeting and battle with that old man? But it doesn't matter; I was able to subdue the fifth star quite quickly and, by evening, had progressed quite far with the sixth, which, of course, made me happy.