Is there anything you want?
Zani’s mind racing at the Chaao’s question.
Why is he asking me this?
Does the Mayor’s Manor want to purchase my equipment?
Or perhaps they want to force all my future graduates to join their ranks?
As the silence between the two men stretched on, Zani weighed his options.
The reality is, he desperately needed help right now.
To be precise, he needs money.
Silver, or perhaps even gold.
In the end, Zani simply stated what was on his mind.
“Brother Chaao, I do, in fact, need some help.” “Hmm.” Chaao nodded slowly, not surprised in the slightest.
According to the Mayor, Zani is an Immortal’s puppet.
His most important duty should be to ensure his hidden master is not disturbed by mortal trivialities.
Now that a local bandit group is planning to attack the Gym, Zani could either beg his master for intervention or ask for external help.
Since the Manor is offering assistance upfront, it only made sense for the proxy to accept.
“Tell me, Brother Zani, what kind of help do you need?” Chaao asked, leaning forward intently.
“We from the Mayor’s Manor will try our absolute best.” After a brief moment of hesitation, Zani finally spoke.
“It is not much.
I just want you to help me host a competition.” “A…
competition?” Chaao blinked, entirely derailed.
“Yes,” Zani smiled, his eyes curving into sharp crescents.
“From your side, I only need the financial backing.
Everything else can be handled by us.” “You can handle everything else?” “Yes.
Do not worry on that front, Brother Chaao,” Zani assured him smoothly, pouring them both another cup of tea.
“I already have a solid, foolproof plan ready.” For the next half-hour, Zani passionately explained the logistics of a grand tournament, complete with entry fees and prize pools.
Chaao was so taken aback by the bizarre direction of the conversation that he simply sat in his chair, bobbing his head like a hen to everything Zani said.
In the end, Chaao departed the Gym with a thoroughly muddled mind.
Is there really an immortal backer?
I am sure mayor is mistaken.
Should I attack him?
Watching him leave, Zani stood alone and chuckled.
“Hahaha!
I really am heaven’s favorite.
With this funding secured, I can move straight to my next plan.
Who would have thought the Mayor would offer to help on his own!” Carefree as always, he enter the main hall to continue his training.
An hour later, inside the Mayor’s office.
Standing before the massive wooden desk, Chaao dutifully reported everything about the bizarre conversation.
Because he himself was entirely unable to make any strategic sense of it, he laid out the facts exactly as they occurred.
“Hahaha!
You did well, Chaao!” Mayor Salam laughed heartily, stroking his beard.
“I…
I did well?” “Yes, you did, my son,” the Mayor nodded profoundly.
“But there were some minor mistakes in your conduct, which I must correct.” For the next ten minutes, poor Chaao was ruthlessly lectured on how he should have been infinitely more humble.
“Listen closely,” Mayor Salam said, his eyes gleaming with political fanaticism.
“When he specifically told you that he would ‘take care of everything else,’ it means the Immortal already knows about our elite guards shadowing his Gym!
He knows we intercepted those scouts.
This ‘competition’ is not a request for money – it is a test.
The Immortal is giving us an opportunity, to prove our sincerity.” “An opportunity?” Chaao wanted to ask for clarification, but he swallowed his words, terrified of triggering another lecture.
Seeing his son-in-law in such a bewildered state, Mayor Salam sighed and decided to explain the grand reality of the world.
“You might be thinking, why would an Immortal want to hold a mere competition?
Right?” “Y-Yes, Mayor.” “The ways of the Immortals are unfathomable,” Salam said, looking out his window toward the heavens.
“I heard once that all Immortals follow different Daos.
Some focus purely on strength, while others focus on different things.
But all of them have one ultimate goal: to reach even higher heights.” The Mayor turned back, his gaze heavy.
“The reality is, our region is barren.
It cannot sustain an Immortal, much less help them grow.
You might see them once in a while in the Capital, but they never speak with mortal martial artists like us.
That is exactly why I am so crazy about this one-in-a-hundred possibility!
If there truly is an Immortal playing a game behind that Gym, we must be the most useful pieces on his board!” “I understand,” Chaao bowed deeply.
“Good.
So, be ready to make another trip to the Iron Core Gym,” Salam ordered.
“This time, make it absolutely clear that we only have a humble favor to ask after everything is completed.
Tell him we do not need the split of the profits he mentioned.” “Tell him the Manor will quietly handle the hiring of workers and the spreading of news across the city and it’s surrounding.
They just need to prepare the prizes and host the event.” Salam slammed his fist on the desk.
“Make it absolutely clear that we are merely an invisible sponsor.
The Iron Core Gym is the main and only host!” “Should we appear as if we want to try and steal glory from an Immortal?
No!
All prestige shall fall on them!” “Yes, Mayor!” Bowing again, Chaao swiftly exited the office.
As he walked down the opulent halls, he kept his most burning, treasonous thought entirely to himself.
Is my father-in-law going crazy?
Can’t he see the flaws in what I said to him.
Two days later.
Behind the main hall of the Iron Core Gym, there was an isolated, walled-off area where no one usually went.
Currently, both Leo and Zani were standing there in the morning shade.
“Are you ready?” Zani asked, his voice deadpan and serious.
“Yes,” Leo nodded.
She had discarded her mask for this, her small face set in lines of determination.
Zani raised a thick, unyielding wooden staff and struck Leo who was standing before him, fully bracing her small body for the impact.
THWACK.
The first heavy blow struck her shoulder.
“Ah!” Leo gasped.
Although a fierce red welt immediately bloomed across her pale skin, Zani did not stop.
His eyes were entirely devoid of pity as he began ruthlessly beating her in a highly specific, rhythmic pattern.
The way of Skin Tempering is that the foundation must first be violently destroyed from the outside so it can be mended stronger from the inside.
For half an hour, the rhythmic thud of wood striking flesh echoed in the area.
Finally, Leo’s knees buckled.
She could not take it anymore.
“Enough!” she cried out, collapsing onto the dirt.
Haa…
haah…
haa…
Panting heavily, her entire body trembling in agony, as she looked over her shoulder.
“Did…
did Elisi come?” Zani calmly lowered the bloodstained staff and looked toward the corner of the courtyard.
Sure enough, Elisi was standing there, with the tub he asked her to prepare, heavy tears streaming down her face as she watched her best friend suffer.
“Elisi, come here,” Zani commanded.
Elisi hurriedly ran out, dropping to her knees beside Leo, her hands hovering nervously as if afraid to touch the girl’s bruised skin.
“Are you alright?!” Elisi sobbed.
“The first time…
is always the harshest,” Leo grunted, trying to sound tough despite the tears in her own eyes.
“Now…
I need to endure the pain using the breathing technique.” Standing up with Elisi’s support, Leo looked at her friend.
“Take me to my quarters.” “Why?” Zani’s voice suddenly cut through the emotional moment, stopping them in their tracks.
“Where do you think you are going?
You need to soak in a medicinal cauldron right now.” “A medicinal cauldron?” Leo froze, staring at him in utter disbelief.
Of course, Leo knew what a medicinal cauldron is.
Aside from it being mentioned in passing within the Top-Grade breathing manual, it was common knowledge that specialized medicinal baths were required to drastically speed up the recovery process.
However, medicinal cauldrons are astronomically expensive, tightly controlled resources, only available for purchase in major cities or the Imperial Capital.
A single, cauldron costs at least 10 silver coins, and they are exclusively sold in bundles of ten!
How could a peasant who constantly cries about a lack of funds, use 100 silver coins to buy medicinal resources?!
Ignoring her dumbfounded stare, Zani simply reached into his robes.
Using the cover of his garments, he smoothly extracted one of the reward cauldrons directly from his System storage.
As he unsealed it, the incredibly potent smell, instantly filled the area.
Zani then dumped the pungent drug into a large wooden tub filled with the boiling hot water Elisi had prepared earlier.
As the medicinal mixture began to bubble and steam, Zani clapped the dust from his hands.
“Elisi, help her bathe so the medicine seeps into the bruises,” Zani instructed before turning his back on them.
“I am leaving now.” _________________________________ [Question: What do you think the competition will be about?]