Exactly twenty-four hours after the night adventure, we were already in Lhasa. Or rather, I was, Zhou Ming and Jiaxing Er were sleeping, or rather, unconscious. I didn't dare to enter the city with two girls lying unconscious, no, of course, I could say they were injured during a hunt. But going to the hospital would delay us, and it could be very inconvenient if they conducted analyses, it might turn out that they were hardening their bodies, and that's not necessary at all.
Yesterday, I received quite a few servant-level souls and three more pack leader-level fragments. This was the last straw for my tooth, and it finally broke through to the next stage, becoming a spiritual instrument of the nebula. I also managed to collect a couple of small spikes from the wolves. When I return to my master, I will use them to create artifacts. Perhaps I will give one to the old man.
The journey took much longer than I planned. Today we were supposed to finish our business in Lhasa and fly towards Qing-Lin. But largely due to my desire to check on the girls, we were delayed. Although it turned out to be very useful, as Jiaxing Er was able to awaken her inner energy and break through to the second stage of novice poison magic. Zhou Ming also progressed noticeably, but not as much as Jiaxing Er.
I settled in a clearing not far from the city, already within safe boundaries, so I was able to sleep myself. Fighting three true pack leaders is not an easy task. Although it might have seemed that I killed them easily, it was only thanks to their escape, and also because I used my full capabilities. Four mid-level spells within three minutes, that's no joke. Besides, before that, I used quite a lot of enhanced novice-level magic, and controlling three daggers at once is still difficult. After the battle, I could barely stand on my feet, and my head was slightly spinning! But fortunately, thanks to my inner energy, I was able to recover and do everything necessary.
Around three in the morning, Zhou Ming showed signs of awakening; I needed to explain my actions to her. Of course, I'm not afraid that she'll tell anyone anything; the contract won't let her. But to use her, I need to give reasonable explanations, which I have already prepared. The use of the contract yesterday slightly hurt her soul, so she shouldn't remember what happened before falling asleep, at least not clearly. But I controlled the process well, so she won't have any problems; she won't even feel it. At that time, she was so stressed and so tired that a slight push was enough for her to pass out. Why did I do it? It's simple, as I said, to defeat three true pack leaders simultaneously, I needed to use all my strength, and I absolutely don't want anyone to know my limit.
"Ah..." Moans came from where Zhou Ming was lying; this pulled me out of my thoughts and analysis of what had happened.
"Hello, how are you feeling?" I asked her, approaching and seeing that she was almost awake.
"Ah? Jiaxing Yun, I don't remember what happened last yesterday," she said, trying to get up.
"And my whole body hurts!" she complained, somehow managing to sit down and lean against a nearby tree.
"What's the last thing you remember?" I decided to ask, not knowing from what moment she lost her memory, it would be difficult to justify myself correctly.
"I remember Jiaxing Er falling unconscious, I ran to help her, and then you appeared and said some nonsense. Like you yourself set these wolves on us. After that, everything is like a fog," she answered honestly, thanks to the contract, I could unerringly determine her lies, very convenient, right?
"That's the absolute truth, I myself set those wolves on us," I admitted; hiding it by relying on her memory loss is foolish, and besides, sooner or later she might remember a little more, and then problems could arise.
"What! Are you serious-s-s-s! It hurts," she tried to scream but clutched her head.
"Why did you do that?" Zhou Ming asked more calmly, staring at me with eyes mixed with anger and tears from pain. After all, she took quite a beating yesterday.
"I tried to explain everything to you yesterday, but you fell unconscious when the spiky wolf arrived," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"What? There was a pack leader?!" she said in surprise, again clutching her head and falling silent due to the pain.
"Yes, but nothing terrible happened, I dealt with him," I said, handing her a bottle of healing potion.
"Here, this will relieve the pain."
"Thank you, but why did you do it? Why did you put us in such danger?" Zhou Ming asked calmly, sipping the potion and grimacing sweetly, the taste wasn't the most pleasant, but the effect was excellent; in a couple of days, she'll be like new.
"It's quite simple, fights at the limit of possibility give a strong push forward. It's one of the most effective training methods," I said with an expert's air.
"Besides, to awaken inner energy, one needs to be in a state close to death. Usually, this would happen from excessive training, but that's too long. So I decided to give you a shake-up. Jiaxing Yun was ready and managed to awaken it, as for you, you'll have to work and work, and then look for a new chance to do it."
"What? Are you serious right now?" she asked incredulously, staring at me as if I were crazy.
"What if we both died?!"
"You wouldn't have died," I said calmly, which caused another fit of anger and slight disappointment in her.
"I wouldn't have put you in such danger if I wasn't sure I could protect you. So I kept the whole situation under my control. You noticed how some wolves died from lightning flashes and wind gusts?" I asked her.
"And indeed, there was something like that," she said, thinking.
"I really had the feeling that the fights were controlled by someone. I practically never fought against two wolves simultaneously. And that's very strange, considering how many there were."
"Yes, I specifically filtered out all the extraneous ones so that you could reveal your full potential without dying," I said, scratching my head.
"I can't let all my efforts go to waste just because I make such a mistake."
"I understand, but why didn't you warn us that you were going to conduct such training!" Zhou Ming raised her voice again, clearly the potion had started to work and she felt better.
"Then its entire meaning would be lost," I said calmly, spreading my hands.
"Haven't you honed your skills and actions better in the face of a surprise attack?" I asked, staring at her.
"Well, yes..." she answered thoughtfully.
"Then if you knew everything in advance, could you fight the same way?" I asked, her next question.
"No, probably..." Zhou Ming answered uncertainly, understanding what I was getting at.
"Besides, Jiaxing Er wouldn't have been able to break through if she knew I was backing you up," I added, finishing my justifications.
"I understand, and is she still sleeping?" Zhou Ming asked, glancing at Jiaxing Er lying next to the campfire.
"She awakened her inner energy and also broke through to the second stage in poison magic. So she used a lot of strength. Plus, she was on the verge of death after the fight, she overexerted herself greatly," I began to explain.
"It's natural that she'll wake up after you."
"By the way, how long was I unconscious?" asked Zhuo Ming.
"A little over a day," I answered indifferently, waving my hand.
"So long! Then how long will Jiaxing Er be unconscious?" she asked worriedly, concerned for her like a mother for a child.
"I don't know, but when I awakened my inner energy, I was unconscious for two days," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Seriously! What will we do then? And yes, where are we now?" Zhou Ming asked, realizing she didn't know where she was.
"We are in a safe zone of Lhasa," I answered.
"I think we'll wait here until she wakes up, and then we'll head to the foot of Qing-Lin; we still have business there. Since you're awake, you'll look after Jiaxing Er; I need to go to the city, I have some things to do."
"Okay. You mean you dragged us here yourself?" Zhou Ming asked in surprise.
"Yes, it was quite simple, though a bit inconvenient," I answered, lying down on the ground.
In the morning, I went to the city. To be honest, I didn't have much to do there except go to the market. Firstly, it was necessary to sell all the servant-level souls; I earned about twenty million for them, which I spent on buying another vessel for pack leader-level souls. And secondly, I had long wanted to buy a new spatial bracelet. As always, finding a good one was incredibly difficult; I spent about five hours on it! After all, these bracelets are more of an auction item, and it's lucky that they are even found in the market. But getting to a good auction is quite difficult; you need to be either someone significant or have connections with large families.
However, I have absolutely no intention of publicizing all or part of my connections. This could put me in danger; it's best for me now not to advertise them, because if one becomes known to others, the whole situation will escalate. But this doesn't mean I won't get access to elite auctions; if everything goes according to plan, by October I will have access to all Shanghai auctions, but no one will know about it, and I am almost certain that everything will go according to plan.
Returning, I began to cultivate and, in parallel, train Zhou Ming, who was gradually recovering. I transferred all the items from my old bracelet to the new one, which cost a hundred million yuan! But it had a capacity of thirty cubic meters, six times larger than the previous one. But I was left with only seventy million again, a truly inexhaustible sum, ha.
Jiaxing Er slept for another two days and only woke up on the third. Like me, she couldn't even move until I gave her the same potion that the old man had given me back then. After that, we finally reached Lhasa, rented a room in a hotel, and the girls took a healing bath. They needed to recover, as we would soon go hunting again.
"Brother, what happened then?" Jiaxing Er asked, coming out of the bathroom in a robe. Zhou Ming had already left, saying she was going to walk around the local shops and buy souvenirs. Just like some tourist.
"I set a bunch of beasts on us to help you break through," I answered honestly, not having much desire to repeat what I had told Zhou Ming.
"I see, I thought so. True, when I couldn't find you, I started to worry a little, and then I noticed how some wolves died as soon as they approached the clearing, and I calmed down," she said, sitting down next to me.
"I believed that no matter what happened, you would be able to protect us. But I still tried my best because I didn't want to disappoint you, brother," she said, turning her head to me and smiling sweetly. Her sweet, smiling, happy face made me shudder slightly, but I didn't show it outwardly. I put them in incredible danger, they almost died. Even if she believed in me, it's still that now there's not a shadow of doubt on her face, only pure happiness! She just didn't want to disappoint me and almost died because of it! It wasn't the contract's action, but her own impulse. However, I would have easily understood it if she had been even slightly offended by me, saying something like: "But don't do that again, please." Yes, it's not in her position to say that, but at least not be so happy!
"Here, take this. I bought myself a new bracelet, you can use this one," I said, handing her my old spatial bracelet.
"You performed well on the hunt, especially during the wolf attack."
"Oh, thank you, brother!" she said, grabbing the bracelet and hugging me like a younger sister, after which she went to her room. It was very strange, pure sincere happiness and her incredible eyes. I think she's completely lost her mind...