“You are also very strong.” Max’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. She smiled and was about to say something when a voice sounded.
“Both of you are strong. So, stop flattering each other. Most importantly, your fight was quite fun to watch. Are you going to continue it or not?”
The duo looked towards the source of the voice and saw Durden reclining on a wooden chair under a tree. He had a look of impatience and clearly wanted them to continue their fight so he could enjoy it.
Emily’s delicate brows furrowed slightly when she saw him. She then glanced back at Max and said, “You’ll not benefit any more if you continue to fight me. Find a stronger opponent. Alright, I’m going to rest. Don’t disturb me unless there is something important.”
After saying this, she walked away.
After she left, Max walked over to Durden and heard him murmur, “Strange. I didn’t do anything bad recently. So, why does she seem to dislike me?”
Max had a guess but wasn’t sure, so he didn’t say anything. Instead, he asked, “Since you don’t have anything to do now, why don’t you be my sparring partner? I need to test some things out and need an opponent who can give me pressure.”
Durden’s expression turned solemn which made Max think he said something wrong, but when he heard him, he didn’t know what to say for a while.
Durden stared at him in silence for a second before asking, “… Which bastard told you I have nothing to do? I’ve many important things to do and am very very.”
Max looked at him, then around him before looking at him once again.
“What’s with that look? I came out for, cough,a short walk and happened to see you two sparring. I was going to stop for just a minute before going back to cultivate but you two suddenly stopped.” Durden said with a serious look.
Max looked at him weirdly. Why was this guy trying to give him justification? If he didn’t want to spar, he could just say so. It’s not like he was going to or could force him.
But a moment later, he found out why.
“”Big brother!””
Durden flinched when he heard the shouts while Max looked over and saw Adam and Jasmine run over with stern and exasperated expressions on their young faces.
“What are you doing out here, big brother? Why aren’t you healing your injuries? Do you not know if you delay too much, they would affect your future cultivation?”
“If you don’t heal and recover your strength, how are we going to survive this mess, let alone return home?”
Adam and Jasmine complained.
Durden looked at the duo, his expression serious and said, “I’ve been focused on healing for the past two days, and it isn’t good for our bodies to stay cooped up in a room for so long. So, I came for a short walk for fresh air.”
Saying this, he pointed at Max, “I was going back but he stopped me. You can ask him if I lied.”
After watching this scene, Max finally understood why this guy was behaving so strangely. It turns out he was afraid of his siblings’ nagging. How… amusing?
The duo turned their heads and glared at Max.
Durden gave Max eye signals, telling him to defend him if he wanted to spar with him.
Max felt thrilled inside. Without feeling ashamed, he nodded at the duo, and lied . “That’s right. He only arrived a short while ago, but because I said I wanted to talk to him about something, he stopped.”
The young duo glanced at their big brother, looking suspicious. They felt these two were lying to them but couldn’t say anything now that they said he came out for just a walk.
They knew very well. He was a mischievous and impatient sort, and wasn’t able to stay in the same place or do anything he didn’t like for long, and would jump around. Back at their home, he caused many problems. If not for the fact that he was amazingly talented, their elders would’ve locked him up long ago.
They sighed. Why did we tag along when we already knew how troublesome he was?
Jasmine stared at Max and asked, “Are you done talking? If yes, we’ll take him away now.”
Max looked at Durden when he heard this but Durden only stared back at him, not willing to say anything.
So, Max gritted his teeth, and gave his best smile, “Jasmine, right? I want to need to spar with someone stronger than me, it’s very important. Apart from your big brother, no one fulfills the condition. Besides, he has already agreed to spar. So, how about you guys wait for a…”
Before Max could finish speaking, Adam and Jasmine cried out in anger, “Preposterous! Don’t you know he is injured? Yet, you still want to fight him? Get lost.”
Max’s face grew dark. When was the last time he was scolded like this? Not to mention, the people scolding him were just two kids. Alright, they were only 3-4 years younger than him, but his mentality had long transformed and he no longer thought of himself as a 18 year old teenager.
On the other side, Durden gave him a death stare when he heard that he had already agreed to spar. Wasn’t he just trying to bring him more trouble? These little fellows would nag him to death.
But he couldn’t say Max was lying because it’ll expose his earlier lie. Besides, he wanted to fight Max, and see for himself just what level of genius someone from this abandoned place could be?
When the duo scolded him, and Durden saw his dark face, he gloated inwardly. You deserve it.
Just when the duo turned their gazes towards him, he immediately raised his hand, and with a serious expression on his face, he said,
“Don’t be disrespectful, you two. I’ve already agreed, and can’t go back on my word. Besides, I’ll have to fight less, and focus more on healing my injuries if he can gain something after fighting me and become stronger.”
“But…”
“No, buts. I’ve already decided. Now, sit here and watch. Maybe you’ll learn something too.”
Adam and Jasmine sighed in resignation. They knew he wouldn’t listen now. So, they sat down and watched as Max and Durden moved away from them and stood facing each other.
“Don’t blame me later if I accidentally beat you too hard. Although this is just a spar, we have to fight as though it’s an actual battle to benefit more.” Durden said with a smile, but that smile gave Max chills.
Shit! He is going to take revenge. His expression changed, and he immediately tried to tell him they didn’t need to be so serious because he only wanted to familiarize better, get used to using his mana pathways in a battle.
“Hey, there is no need to be so serious. We can just…”
Whoosh!
But before he could finish speaking, Durden appeared before him like a ghost and sent him flying with a punch in the gut.
“Hehe, of course, we need to be serious.” Durden cackled and chased after him.
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The 10 Bonus Chapter Mass release between 10-15 November!
