About two weeks passed after Xu Zhaoting and I started hunting again at Taihu Lake. During this time, my finances had almost recovered, reaching about three million. As for souls, over all this time, including the fights in the first few days, I managed to obtain only two servant-level souls, and I'm not in a hurry to sell them yet; I still have two vessels for servant souls and one for a pack leader. I also haven't risked going after pack leaders yet, partly because I've been trying to devote more time to cultivation to be sure of my victory.
By the way, my cultivation is growing at a good pace after absorbing the inner lightning core. Wind magic has advanced significantly, and in lightning magic, I have subdued twenty-six stars. In space magic, there were only four; they were very difficult to subdue. The second reason I didn't want to go after pack leaders was that I was still plagued by nightmares. They were mostly related to hunting, on the same day as the nightmare.
For the most part, I've been handling these better, partially accepting my inclinations towards monsters. But on rest days, and sometimes on hunting days, the nightmare with the murdered people in Yueyang repeated itself, which again threw me off my already shaky mental balance. Nightmares about killing Bao Qing Che's team also repeated, and a new one appeared about my exploits during the tragedy of Bo City.
In the latter, I watched as the pseudo-me killed the servants of the black church, black monsters, one-eyed wolves and rats, and a three-eyed wolf. All this time, there was a devilish smile of pleasure on his face; he enjoyed every kill. I wonder if this is true, why didn't Lin Yuxin tell me about it? She seems to admire me, or does she like such a sadistic, devilish smile? But none of this was as scary or as repulsive to me as watching the pseudo-me observe Jiaxing Xia sitting in the shelter under the shopping center, and also watching Mo Fan save her.
At the end of each nightmare, if I hadn't woken up earlier, the pseudo-me would stand opposite me with his arms folded across his chest and stare intently at me, smiling devilishly. However, there were changes in this scene, but not significant ones. They all concerned the pseudo-me; his silhouette became clearer. If before he was slightly blurred, now he was sharp, and I could see him in all his details.
His skin was just deathly white and essentially stretched over his bones! However, his fingertips were red, as if from blood, and instead of nails, he had small claws; with such hands, daggers weren't needed. In all other respects, he was no different from me: the same longish black hair, and black eyes, only his were bottomless, and it seemed that if you looked into them, you could fall into the abyss of a dark dimension.
Today was another day off, so I was planning to go into the jungle and meet the red-eyed triton. I had been postponing the meeting with him for two weeks, trying to strengthen my cultivation and understand all the intricacies of my new shield. I warned Xu Zhaoting that I might be back late, so why should I listen to his complaints again that I was back late, like from my mother?
My target was the red-eyed triton, but I decided to warm up on a couple of alligators resting near the lake. I had killed quite a few of them in the last two weeks, sometimes killing groups of five or six individuals with the help of mid-level wind magic. It's just a shame that after that, you could sell very few items from them.
Walking towards the lake's surface, I heard an alligator's roar, filled with either fear or anger; it's hard to distinguish animal roars. Without thinking, I decided to see what caused this roar. Fortunately, the alligator was not far away, and I managed to reach the place quickly. Climbing a tree near the alligator, I saw a small clearing, at one end of which was the beast I needed. It was tense, as if it had encountered an opponent that would be very difficult to defeat. Its eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and determination.
I became curious who could evoke such emotions in a giant alligator, a beast considered a high-level servant. Of course, there are many creatures stronger than it, but here at Taihu Lake, it represents the peak of strength, and the only ones who can scare it are pack leaders. However, if it were a pack leader, the alligator would have simply fled, as it couldn't defeat such a powerful creature, but here it understood that it could die, yet it was going to fight to defend its life.
I slowly shifted my gaze to the opposite side of the clearing and saw an old man of medium height there. He had a small gray goatee and long, gray hair reaching slightly below his shoulders. His body was quite emaciated; his skin literally clung to his bones. He was dressed in black linen pants and a jacket with white stripes on the sleeves and collar. He was barefoot, and there were a couple of scratches and calluses on his feet, but he stood calmly on a considerable number of branches. The old man's face was serious and focused on the alligator; there wasn't a drop of fear in his eyes, but rather complete confidence in his victory.
At first, I thought it was an old mage who, in his twilight years, had managed to break through to the intermediate level and came out to fight the alligator to test his strength. However, upon closer inspection, I didn't feel any magical energy in him, absolutely nothing, not a single drop, no traces! Either he was truly just an ordinary old man, or he was a mage of at least the peak of the highest level, otherwise I would have sensed at least a few fragments of his cultivation. But I must say that I felt some kind of incomprehensible and completely unfamiliar energy in his body; it circulated throughout the old man's body, literally saturating him with strength. After just a couple of seconds of observing the old man, I myself began to fear him. What instilled even greater fear in me was that I didn't understand where such strength came from in an old man who looked half-dead?!
However, I didn't have long to ponder; the alligator rushed at the old man, gradually opening its mouth, aiming to finish off its opponent with a single bite. The alligator's speed was quite high, and the distance between them was small; I would have only barely managed to jump aside, escaping the alligator's jaws! But the old man stood calmly; at the last moment, he jumped up! He didn't use any magic at all, but he flew up three meters! It was simply incredible; how could an ordinary person do that? Why did I decide that he was still an ordinary person? It's simple: if it were a peak-level mage, the alligator would have fled, tail between its legs!
The old man was in the air for a short time and landed on the alligator's back a moment later. It was clear that his kicks when he landed were so strong that the alligator literally roared in pain, arched its back, and opened its mouth very wide! The next second, the alligator swung its massive tail at the old man, trying to knock him off its back and crush him at the same time. But again, the old man didn't think of dodging; he simply raised his fist forward to meet the tail, getting into some kind of stance.
A powerful sound of impact and the crunch of bones echoed. At first, I thought the old man had broken completely, but upon closer inspection, I saw the alligator's tail fly off from the old man. It was bent at an unnatural angle, indicating that it was broken right where the old man had struck! The half-dead old man, as I initially thought, managed to break the alligator's tail with his hand! And I am almost one hundred percent sure that he is an ordinary old man, not an incredibly powerful mage!
The alligator roared in pain and tried to break free and escape the dangerous old man. But the old man stomped his foot, another loud thud echoed, and the alligator collapsed to the ground, and cracks appeared on its tough skin at the point of impact. I dread to imagine what its internal organs turned into from such a blow!
The old man walked up to the alligator's head; its mouth was wide open, as it continued to roar from the ever-increasing pain. The old man assumed a stance, slowly clenched his hand into a fist, and using his whole body, struck the monster's head, right between its eyes. Another even louder thud, crackling, and crunching of bones echoed, and an explosive wave spread out. Blood mixed with the alligator's brains splattered onto the old man's black clothes, drenching him almost completely.
After his skull was crushed and his brains were churned like cream, the alligator, weakened, collapsed to the ground, its mouth snapped shut, its tail fell to the ground with a dull thud. The old man jumped off the alligator, landing about five meters away from it, and shook off the blood and brains. After that, he folded his hands behind his back, turned around, and approached the alligator, beginning to examine its body intently. Then, from the sleeve of his jacket, a knife made from the teeth of a similar alligator appeared. It was quite worn, and it was evident that it had been sharpened many times, which had not favorably affected its cutting qualities.
The old man approached the crocodile's mouth and, using the knife, separated its fangs from its gums. He put the fangs into a pocket on his jacket, then proceeded to cut out the alligator's internal organs; he took the heart, lungs, and gallbladder. This set of organs puzzled me greatly. Firstly, nothing from them would be bought at the market, and they would be considered useless junk. Secondly, although the gallbladder is taken as proof of killing monsters, I haven't heard of anyone offering a reward for exterminating giant alligators.
This old man greatly interested me, and not only because of the inexplicably cut-out organs, which he placed in a small refrigeration unit he took from a backpack lying nearby under the tree. I was interested in the old man's strength; he was definitely an ordinary human without a drop or even a hint of magic! How, just tell me how! Can an ordinary person have such a powerful and strong body? And what if I follow his training methods? And what if I also become a high-level mage, let alone a spellcaster? Is it possible that my physical strength could compare to that of supreme commanders or even generals?
I couldn't continue sitting in the tree and observing the situation from the sidelines. I had to find out the old man's secret at all costs, even if I had to kill for it! Although I'm not sure about the latter, considering my nightmares and the subsequent shaken spiritual balance, but for such strength! It's simply incredible! I jumped down from the tree and walked at a leisurely pace towards the old man, who stood with his back to me, putting the refrigeration unit into his backpack.
"Ha, decided to come down, you pathetic boy? Did you like the show the old man put on for you?" the old man asked in a slightly hoarse, but at the same time strong and confident voice, slowly straightening up and turning to face me. I saw his sly smile, as if he were looking at some fool who dared to contradict a great scholar. This made me shiver, and I froze in a stupor, not understanding what was happening at all. Noticing this, the old man smiled even wider and said, "Didn't you want to ask me something?"