Although there had been a small incident when they first met, the communication between the Ancient One and Bayonetta in the following time was quite pleasant.
It was even better than Shi Xiaolei had imagined.
This could be seen from the topics of their casual conversation.
As a witch whose abilities were half dependent on her hair, Bayonetta directly asked without any attempt to hide her curiosity.
"Why were you willing to shave off your hair?"
What surprised Shi Xiaolei even more was that the Ancient One didn't mind this question at all.
Not only was she not angry, she even gave a very "serious" answer: "Initially, it was to make things more convenient when taking on disciples."
While speaking, noticing Shi Xiaolei somewhat bewildered expression, the Ancient One smiled again: "You know, going back several decades or even a century, women status wasn't as high as it is now. Moreover, Kamar-Taj is located within Nepal borders, where the problem of favoring sons over daughters was even more serious. If I hadn't shaved my head bald and created the appearance of a master..."
It wasn't natural baldness—it was shaved! And originally, shaving her head bald was to create the persona of an otherworldly sage?
In relatively backward regions where many bad customs hadn't been completely eliminated, and this was decades or even centuries ago.
From the perspective of time and geographical location, what the Ancient One did wasn't incomprehensible, but looking back on it Shi Xiaolei still felt that this reason had affected her image in his mind.
"After shaving it for so long, I got used to it. Now I actually think being bald is quite nice. It's cool, and it's also very convenient."
While speaking, the Ancient One rubbed her head again: "No need to worry about what hairstyle to do today, just wipe it while washing my face, and I even save the trouble of washing hair."
Hey, the master persona has been shattered to pieces—please stop!
Well, that was just internal complaining.
Shi Xiaolei wasn't as carefree as Bayonetta to dare say such things directly.
Speaking of which, some people might find it strange and think that Shi Xiaolei was being overly cautious and respectful in front of the Ancient One, even to the point of being servile.
In terms of strength, when they first met, with 2B and Kanna as support, the combined combat power of the family of three even if not equal to the Ancient One, wouldn't be much inferior to her.
And now, having personally witnessed the scene of Bayonetta fighting the Ancient One to a draw, his confidence should have grown even stronger.
Why did he still maintain such an attitude?
There were two reasons.
First, it was because Shi Xiaolei understood propriety.
Silently protecting Earth safety for several hundred years.
Moreover, for the sake of this job, she didn't hesitate to use herself as the price, borrowing power from extremely dangerous dimensional demons to extend her own life.
In the mortal world, there are some unnamed heroes who silently sacrifice for the sake of ordinary people peaceful lives.
Compared to them, the Ancient One had given more and persisted longer.
With this merit alone, calling her a "sage" wouldn't be excessive.
Although the first half of his life had been quite rough, it was precisely because of this hard-won daily life that Shi Xiaolei was filled with gratitude and respect for the behind-the-scenes heroes.
So, coming to the Marvel universe and combining his understanding of the Ancient One, he naturally lowered his status and regarded the Ancient One as someone he must treat with respect.
Second, it was due to the inertia of preconceived notions.
Strictly speaking, the Marvel movie series never truly demonstrated the Ancient One strength. And judging from the plot of "dying at Kaecilius hands" there was even suspicion of deliberately deducting points.
But as a forum visitor, Shi Xiaolei had learned some intelligence from the research enthusiasts.
Plus, he liked to read novels when he had nothing to do.
Almost all authors classified the Ancient One as "Heavenly Father level" considering her the ceiling of Earth combat power, so a very deep impression of "the Ancient One being extremely formidable" was left in Shi Xiaolei mind.
A giraffe weighing over a ton will still run away when it sees a lion.
Having reached a preconceived conclusion that the Ancient One absolutely couldn't be provoked, naturally he would appear more cautious when meeting her.
That's right, even after merging with the barbarian bloodline, he still didn't dare to act tough in front of the Ancient One.
After all, barbarians only excelled at close combat.
Facing a mage who specialized in magical damage and was a ranged profession, they were naturally at a disadvantage.
Think about the abilities the Ancient One displayed in the plot—if Shi Xiaolei dared to act recklessly, she only needed to open a Mirror Dimension to turn him into a "hamster in a treadmill."
Determining that he wasn't the Ancient One match, plus the respect for her in his heart.
Looking a bit cowardly was quite normal.
"Demons?"
Having honestly served as a listener, it wasn't until the Ancient One brought up serious business that Shi Xiaolei once again showed initiative and participated in the conversation.
"Yes."
The Ancient One nodded: "They look quite different from ones I've seen before, but the aura they carry isn't much different."
While speaking, she opened a small portal with a diameter of only about twenty centimeters, reached in to feel around and the Ancient One pulled out a red-black fragment, gently placing it on the coffee table.
"Bayonetta, do you recognize this?"
"Hideous tail."
Nodding and putting down her cup of black tea, Bayonetta eyes gained some gravity: "Yes, I'm very familiar with it."
Speaking of which, the entire plot progression of "Bayonetta 2" actually lasted less than a day.
In the game, to farm achievements, players might have controlled Bayonetta to hunt thousands or even tens of thousands of demon enemies.
But for Bayonetta herself, during that trip to hell, she had actually only killed about a hundred enemies—it really wasn't as exaggerated as all that.
Of course, her understanding of demons definitely didn't stem solely from that one event.
After all Bayonetta contract partner was Madame Butterfly, and she was a native resident of hell.
Angels who disrupted the world balance needed to be eliminated, and demons who left hell to cause trouble in the human world also needed to be cleaned up.
In Bayonetta witch career, she had faced demon-type enemies more than once, and some of the unfortunate ones with strong abilities not only lost their lives at Bayonetta hands, but even their corpses were sent to Rodin to be made into weapons.
When she first started out and was still a rookie, she once owned a set of curved blades made from Hideous tails.
Calculating it, that set of blade tools had accompanied Bayonetta for about two years.
Although she didn't have the habit of "taking out weapons to play with when idle" through battle after battle, Bayonetta familiarity with that set of blade tools certainly wasn't low.
"I'm suddenly feeling a bit nostalgic for those little treasures."
Running her fingertips over the crescent-shaped red-black keratin plate, Bayonetta lips curved slightly upward: "Where did you find this? Can you take me to see?"
"Of course, that's what I came here for today."
The Ancient One nodded and stood up, saying to Shi Xiaolei "The black tea is very good" while raising her hand to open a portal: "Follow me. By the way, Rock, do you want to come along?"
(T/N: Like the story fellow daoist?you can read 20 chapters ahead on my P@treon [p@treon.com/DaoistRongyi] Thanks for your support! 😊)