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"Hey, stop taking Azmodeus's attention away from me, father! He's my friend, not yours!" Yang Hua exclaimed with a small pout on her face, her body snuggling even closer to the boy beside him.
"...Hey, beloved disciple, are you already making moves on my daughter?" Yang Fa questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Screw you, old dude! I have made no such moves on anyone!" Azmodeus responded while pulling the girl away from him.
However, when he saw the chipmunk-like girl tear up again, he furrowed his brows before letting her latch back onto his arm.
"Ho?" The Sect Leader wore an amused expression as he chortled a little before saying, "Sure, sure, beloved disciple, just remember to take care of my daughter in the future."
"I-I... Y-You old bastard..." Azmodeus was at a loss for words, as he had never met someone so annoying in his entire life.
It's decided; this old fart will become a loot bag-
However, he was suddenly taken out of his thoughts by a thin yellow book with a cloud on the front being thrown in his direction.
*Pat*
As soon as he caught it, a wizened voice sounded out:
"Take this and comprehend. It should help you become even faster as long as you obtain enough insights into it," Yang Fa said while continuing to read his book.
Azmodeus took one good look at the middle-aged man before turning his head down to the manual. He muttered, "The Cloud Chaser Steps..."
For some reason, he felt like this technique was something far beyond his capabilities to understand.
He also felt like they were equally beyond the capabilities of the Sect Leader, so how was he in possession of the technique?
"I know what you're thinking, but you will understand exactly what you wish to know the day that you're able to fully comprehend the technique. But for now, let's just say that I'm doing a favor for an old friend." Yang Fa interrupted his thoughts with an extremely ambiguous explanation.
An old friend...? What does he mean by that??
Azmodeus found everything this Sect Leader said to be something that only further deepened the mystery surrounding his past.
Why do I feel like something is attempting to come back in my memories, but before it can, it gets blocked by something that I can't see...?
Even though he could feel the existence of something interfering with his memories, it felt like he was trying to understand what the essence of heaven was as a mere mortal.
Something is wrong with my memories, but what is it??
However, the moment this thought entered his mind, he completely forgot what he was thinking about.
Yang Hua turned her big, bright eyes up toward the black-haired boy as she saw various emotions conflicting with each other inside that sharp gaze of his.
Is my new friend okay...?
She was beginning to get worried as she placed her hand on his forehead.
"???" Azmodeus was surprised by the sudden coldness as he looked down at the anxious expression on an adorable girl's face.
"What are you doing?" He asked with his head tilted to the side a little.
"I'm helping! My mother always used to do this for me when I looked like you just did, so I figured you could use it as well!" Yang Hua responded with a light, heavenly giggle.
Azmodeus observed the cheerful girl as he shook his head a little before refocusing back on the Sect Leader.
"Oh, please don't mind me! Treat me as nothing more than thin air and continue!" Yang Fa spoke with a slightly mischievous look on his face, one of his hands covering his mouth while the other waved a little in front of him.
*Tick!*
"I swear I'll leave you half naked with all your possessions in my pocket, old bastard!"
Azmodeus's perturbed voice echoed out as he was prepared to unleash all of his strength in order to knock some sense into this old dude!
"Haha! Nonetheless, little guy, you will want to check out that technique soon, for it's quite useful to the current you, and especially so for that little conundrum you found yourself in with the Black Tiger Family of Spirit River City." Yang Fa interrupted his growing anger with a slight chuckle and a serious tone toward the end.
Azmodeus's irritation calmed down at these words as he asked, "You aren't going to help your disciple out when he's in trouble?"
"Why of course-... I won't!" The Sect Leader replied with his serious facade breaking apart right then and there.
You know what? Screw this! I'm going to kill this master of mine!
Azmodeus was once again put on edge as a deadly aura erupted from his small frame, startling Yang Hua a little.
But regardless of the scary aura, she felt that there was too much kindness in his eyes for him to be a bad guy. Hence, she snuggled even closer to him with a content look on her face.
"..."
Azmodeus realized he might've gone a little overboard as he reigned his aura back in before asking, "Why is it that you won't help me, even though we both knew you possess the strength to?"
Yang Fa watched the interactions between his daughter and his disciple as a slight smirk emerged on his expression. He said, "Of course I have the ability to assist you, and quite easily at that, but where's the lesson in that? I mean, how else are you going to be able to become stronger? Or were you expecting me to bring the members of the Black Tiger Family to your doorstep and make you more powerful without any effort on your part?"
"What do you mean by that?" Azmodeus questioned with a mildly dangerous tone.
He can't possibly know about the system, so what exactly is he talking about?
He wasn't one to jump to conclusions; however, the Sect Leader was being oddly mysterious with all these vague words.
It's almost like he knows something about me from my past-
Before that thought could even enter his mind, it disappeared, leaving his train of thought where it was at previously...
......