I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 864: Battle Maniac

Because the two of them beside him were being altogether too sickening, Jie Ming instinctively shifted his gaze away.

He had meant only to let it wander idly, but it suddenly stopped.

Because behind Teacher Kastilla there were two more people.

They had been standing there all along, and yet Jie Ming had somehow not noticed them until now!

They were two wizards who looked utterly unremarkable.

One wore a grey-white long robe, his face calm, and yet his eyes were as deep as an abyss.

The other was a middle-aged woman, without any obvious fluctuation of energy about her at all.

But in the very instant Jie Ming looked over, the other party happened to raise her head as well.

Their eyes met, and Jie Ming's spiritual sea shook faintly.

In that instant, he was almost instinctively certain of one thing.

Eighth level.

Both of them were genuine, unadulterated eighth-level wizards!

The two wizards smiled amiably at Jie Ming, then turned their heads to look off to the other side.

There, Wizard Noren was likewise watching them, and the smile on Grand-Mentor Anton's face had contracted a fraction as well.

Only then did Jie Ming come to with a start. No wonder he had instinctively overlooked Wizard Noren and Grand-Mentor Anton a moment ago. These two had in fact been “squared off” against the other side for some time already.

Of course, calling it squaring off was one thing, but in truth the atmosphere between the two sides could even be counted as cordial

Yet although both sides had, by tacit accord, drawn in their own coercive pressure, merely by standing there facing one another they made the air seem to congeal.

Teacher Kastilla noticed the scene and walked over with a smile.

“I almost forgot to make introductions.” She pointed toward the two wizards.

“These two are the genuine summit of this school of ours. They are also my mentor and my senior aunt. Mentor Morin, and Senior Aunt Aislinn.”

Jie Ming felt a slight chill run through him.

Which was to say…

These two were the eighth-level wizards of Teacher Kastilla's own line.

“This is Wizard Noren.” Kastilla went on with the introductions. “And this is Wizard Anton.”

Wizard Morin nodded lightly. “A first meeting to you both.”

Wizard Noren nodded in the same way. “A pleasure, a pleasure.”

The four eighth-level wizards sized one another up. The scene could hardly be called drawn swords and bent bows, and yet that formless sense of oppression had Jie Ming and Viola both retreating several steps without a word between them.

Even Mentor Clark turned slightly to one side, drawing Teacher Kastilla a little way behind himself.

Neither side said very much, and it seemed the two of them must already have learned a good deal about each other beforehand.

Kastilla promptly began introducing Jie Ming and the others as well. “This is Clark. And this is his disciple, Viola.”

“As for this one…” She patted Jie Ming on the shoulder. “You should have heard of him already.”

The middle-aged woman looked over at Jie Ming. “Jie Ming?”

“Yes.” Jie Ming bowed slightly. “I greet Wizard Aislinn.”

She looked him up and down for a few moments, then suddenly smiled. “Just as they say, then. Exactly as in the rumors.”

Jie Ming was momentarily taken aback. “Rumors?”

“Indeed. You are quite famous these days.”

With that exchange, the atmosphere between the two sides grew markedly livelier.

At this point Wizard Morin raised a hand.

“It is nearly time. Let us go. I will take you all to the venue.”

The tone was offhand in the extreme, and what came hard on its heels was a power like heaven and earth changing in an instant!

Wizard Morin could not be seen to make any movement at all, and yet Jie Ming felt his breath catch!

The whole of heaven and earth seemed to have been seized abruptly in one invisible hand.

The next moment, an immeasurably vast spatial gate unfolded before them all.

“What formidable attainment in space.” Jie Ming was inwardly shaken.

He had thought Wizard Noren's level in space, strengthened as it was by the Reflection Prism, was already absurd enough.

But set beside the one before him now, it was a small wizard meeting a great wizard.

“Let us go.” Kastilla called to them all with a smile.

“Do not keep that side waiting too long.”

One after another the party stepped into the gate.

…

…

When his sight returned, Jie Ming found they had been teleported into a magnificent garden.

Countless crystals suspended in midair gave off a gentle radiance, casting the great swathes of blooming flowers into something dreamlike and unreal.

It looked nothing whatsoever like a scene one could expect to find in the Crimson Court.

And within the garden, a banquet was in progress.

Jie Ming swept a glance over the guests present, and could clearly feel how formidable these guests were.

The number of wizards attending the banquet was not especially large. A sweep of the eye found no more than a few dozen. Yet the lowest among them were all high-level wizards of the sixth level, and wizards of yet higher level were to be seen everywhere besides.

Plainly this was no ordinary banquet, but a small gathering belonging to high-level wizards.

“They are here at last.”

As Wizard Morin led the party into the garden, the conversation, lively enough until then, gradually dropped away.

Gaze after gaze turned upon them all at once, carrying every sort of expression.

Jie Ming kept his face calm and followed behind Clark, though his mental energy had already swept instinctively across the entire garden.

What rather surprised Jie Ming was that he found no obvious hostility at all.

On the surface, at least, there was none.

“This is Wizard Noren of Noren Workshop, of the Star Ring Federation.” Wizard Morin introduced them to everyone with a smile. “And this is Wizard Anton.”

The two sides exchanged brief courtesies, and then it came around to Jie Ming and the others.

When Jie Ming's name was brought out, the wizards around them plainly gave him a second look.

Clearly, these people were no strangers to his name.

And just as the introductions ended, the crowd suddenly fell silent.

A figure came walking slowly from the other side of the garden.

The man wore a black robe, his face pale but handsome, silver-grey hair falling long about his shoulders.

His pace was unhurried, yet with every step that came down, the elements around him would produce the most minute of fluctuations.

And the people who had been conversing until then all made way for him. Not one of them showed any intention of obstructing him. There was even something of anticipation in a fair number of their eyes.

Seeing this reaction from the wizards around him, Jie Ming's eyes stirred faintly.

Put that way, no introduction was needed.

This would be that Azrael.

Azrael walked up in front of Clark and came to a halt.

“Wizard Clark.” His voice was low, and yet it carried no particular hostility. “Your reputation precedes you.”

Clark merely inclined his head slightly. “A first meeting to you, Wizard Azrael.”

The two of them looked at one another.

Afterward, Azrael's gaze passed over Clark and came to rest on Kastilla behind him.

“Kastilla.”

Teacher Kastilla watched him, eyes crinkling in a smile. “Well?”

Azrael was silent for a moment, then in the end withdrew his gaze and turned back to look at Clark in earnest once more. “You wish to take her away. Very well.”

“But since you mean to become her partner, you must produce proof that you are worthy of her.”

At those words from Azrael, the atmosphere in the garden changed abruptly.

Among the sixth- and seventh-level wizards especially, no small number had already turned sharp of eye, their expressions gone wary as well.

Yet beneath an atmosphere of that sort, Jie Ming noticed a very strange detail.

Those eighth-level wizards did not seem to care in the slightest.

That even included the two eighth-level wizards who, from the earlier introductions, plainly belonged to Azrael's own line.

One of them was deep in some engrossing conversation with Grand-Mentor Anton, the smile on his face not altering by the smallest degree.

The other stood holding a wine cup, watching the situation in the middle of the garden with evident interest.

Jie Ming grew thoughtful.

It seemed… this business was nothing like as serious as it appeared on the surface.

These eighth-level wizards had most likely known long ago what was going to happen, and had even prepared their handling of it well in advance.

Just as Jie Ming had anticipated, Azrael spoke again before long.

“In accordance with the traditions of wizards, we may as well settle this in the simplest fashion.”

He raised a hand, and a black rune rotated slowly in his palm. “By combat, to decide the outcome!”

“Each side sends out three people, who must be direct disciples of the parties to the betrothal, or else designated proxies.”

“Three bouts, one against one. Victory or defeat to be decided by the three bouts.”

As his voice fell, the auras of no few wizards in the garden turned heavy, and an excited light showed in the eyes of a great many of them.

Jie Ming raised an eyebrow slightly.

As direct as that?

Still, thinking it over carefully, it suited the style of wizards well enough.

After all, both sides commanded enormous power and neither could conveniently tear the surface off the matter outright. Finding a few representatives to fight it out really was the lowest-cost solution available.

After all, in whichever world one happened to be, the bigger fist held the right to speak.

Even high-level wizards had to abide by that logic.

And just as Jie Ming was thinking it through, he suddenly noticed an unusually excited aura coming from beside him.

He instinctively turned his head to look, only to find Kastilla staring at Azrael with her eyes fairly shining, to the point that she could scarcely keep the corners of her mouth down any longer.

Jie Ming: “…”

How was it that it felt…

as though this teacher of his was looking forward to this fight even more than the other side was?

“Teacher.” Jie Ming could not help asking in a low voice. “Are you not… enjoying this a little too much?”

“Am I?” Kastilla blinked at him. “I would not have thought so.”

Jie Ming fell silent.

Hey now, the smile on your face is very nearly spilling over.

Kastilla, however, did not mind in the least, and reached out to pat Jie Ming on the shoulder.

“Set your mind at ease. Whether Azrael wins this fight or loses it, it will not affect the final result.”

“Mm?” Jie Ming was slightly taken aback.

Kastilla's smile grew all the more brilliant.

“Being together with your teacher was my own decision, and it is not about to be influenced by anyone else. Beyond that, I long since cleared away all those tangled conflicts of interest inside the Hive.”

“That Azrael can still stand here and issue a challenge at all counts as leaving him plenty of face.”

Jie Ming was blank for a moment, then understood.

Just so. Without thinking about it, he had slotted this whole affair into the script of a story about a hero defeating the demon king and rescuing the princess.

And had very nearly forgotten that the person before him was the sort of hard case who, back in her early years, had left the Star Ring Federation alone and gone to study in the Crimson Court on nothing but her own will.

Setting aside this identity of hers as their teacher, she was a genuine, thoroughgoing high-level wizard who had slaughtered her way alive out of one brutal war after another.

And every high-level wizard had a way of their own for handling problems.

Plainly, Kastilla had already settled this business before they ever arrived.

Their coming this time really was nothing more than fetching the bride.

Small wonder the atmosphere here was so strange: the sixth- and seventh-level wizards were braced one and all as though facing a great enemy, while the eighth-level wizards looked more like an audience at a play.

Even Azrael himself had shown no genuine killing intent.

When it came down to it, this was not a war to decide the outcome of a marriage at all, but a “proper form” tacitly agreed upon among high-level wizards.

Put plainly, it was to give Azrael a way to climb down, and incidentally to give both sides a chance to display their strength.

More importantly…

Jie Ming looked over at Kastilla.

This teacher of his plainly did genuinely want to see the two sides fight.

“Still…” Jie Ming remained somewhat puzzled.

“Since the result is already settled, then why hold this fight at all?”

“Very simple.” Kastilla said it as though it went without saying. “A fight this splendid, and who would not want to watch?”

Hearing that answer, Jie Ming was left rather dazed.

Kastilla, watching his expression, laughed and seized him by the shoulder, saying excitedly:

“This is a rare fight between high-level wizards, and every one of them the elite among high-level wizards besides! If my position were not unsuitable, I would want to step in and take a piece of it myself!”

Watching her grow more excited the more she said, Jie Ming felt his gums ache.

A pure battle maniac…

“I understand completely now.” Jie Ming's expression was calm.

“A thing like combat, for you, is probably not much different from the desserts at a banquet?”

Kastilla went blank for half a second, then could not help bursting into laughter.

“Mm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm! That description of yours is really rather accurate!”