Spells and Holding a Blade (Thanks to Tokisaki Kyōrō for the Support)

Li Feng was no fool. He understood what the Demon was implying, but he knew even better how Ancient One felt about using Dark Energy. As for Mordo's thoughts? Who cares? Go question Ancient One if you've got the guts.

Li Feng said bluntly, "You want to teach me Demon spells?"

"If you want to learn," the Demon said with a deliberately generous shrug, "I don't mind being a human Mage's mentor. Of course, some spells are innate talents of Demons, so I can't teach those. And with how little Mana you have, there are only a few dark spells you can learn."

Li Feng rolled his eyes inwardly. Can you really only teach a few? More likely, you're afraid that if you teach me too many spells, I'll use them to threaten you.

Still, learning a few more dark spells would not be bad.

After prying several simple spells such as Burning Hands from the Demon, Li Feng smiled faintly and snapped his fingers. Amid the sound of shattering glass, an orange-yellow gateway passed through him, and the Demon's pupils contracted sharply.

Although Beman and the others still appeared to be sitting around the campfire not far away, with no obvious difference from what he had seen before, the Demon knew he had still underestimated Li Feng.

Just then, he had unknowingly fallen into Li Feng's Spatial Magic. Even if he was naturally insensitive to Space Spell, he should not have entered someone else's domain so easily.

Li Feng's spellcasting methods left the Demon with lingering fear. If this guy had trapped me in that Otherspace just now, escaping would have taken some effort. And if those Demon hunters ambushed me outside the Otherspace, my life would have been in danger.

As one man and one Demon exited the Mirror Dimension, Li Feng said leisurely, "Since you'll keep teaching me spells later, I won't imprison you in the Mirror Dimension. Remember, we're partners now."

With that, Li Feng ignored the Demon and returned directly to Mordo, who had been covering for him while he opened the Portal. A Portal made quite a commotion, after all. Without Mordo's cover, Li Feng did not think its noise could have escaped the others' notice. For the time being, neither Li Feng nor Mordo wanted Beman and the others to know they could use magic, especially when everyone around them was connected to The Church in one way or another.

With his back to the Demon, Li Feng quietly let out a long breath. Negotiating with a Demon was no easy matter. One careless move, and the Demon could have killed him.

Originally, Li Feng had only planned to trap the Demon in the Mirror Dimension and force it to reveal its true form. Then he would leave the Mirror Dimension himself, prepare a Portal for a quick escape, and watch Mordo battle the Demon. He had not expected an unexpected gain.

Because of his natural affinity with Mana, the only dark spell he knew, apart from Necromancy barely counting as one, was nothing. Balthazar Blake and Ancient One would never teach him dark spells. Now that a Demon was willing to teach him spells, why would he be polite? Of course, Li Feng would not learn any of them until Ancient One had examined them. Who knew whether the spells the Demon taught him contained fatal traps?

Back beside Mordo, Mordo glanced at Anna inside the Prison Wagon and asked quietly, "What did you discuss after entering the Mirror Dimension?"

Li Feng tossed a piece of firewood into the flames and rubbed his hands together. "Nothing much. We just talked about how she originally set foot on the path of becoming a Witch, a path of no return."

Not only did Mordo not believe that, no one warming themselves by the fire believed it either. They all rolled their eyes at Li Feng while wondering, Mirror Dimension? What was that?

With an expression that said believe it or not, Li Feng asked, "Who's keeping watch tonight?"

Mordo's mouth twitched. "They discussed that earlier. I originally wanted to keep watch, but they clearly don't trust us. Forget letting me stand guard—they'd be happy enough if they didn't tie the two of us to a tree to prevent any accidents."

Li Feng looked menacingly at the Priest. "Tie us up? That was your idea, wasn't it, you blind Priest?"

"Heretic!" The Priest sprang up in rage at Li Feng's form of address and roared at Li Feng and Mordo, "You still claim you aren't heretics? A black man and a yellow-skinned monkey dare address a clergyman like that? This is the greatest insult to God!"

Li Feng did not care whether the Priest was hopping mad. He drew his long blade and pointed it at the Priest, baring his teeth. "Say 'yellow-skinned monkey' one more time. Believe it or not, I'll chop off your head and use it as a piss pot."

Mordo also reached for his Magic Artifact with an unfriendly look. If Beman and the others dared harm the two of them, he would immediately show these ordinary people what the dignity of a Mage meant.

Beman looked at Li Feng, who held his blade like a street thug about to slash someone, and immediately judged that Li Feng was a greenhorn who had never killed with a blade. As for Mordo, although his weapon was a Short Staff, his whole bearing made him seem far more threatening than Li Feng with his long blade.

However, Mordo had merely touched his Short Staff without taking further action. Moreover, Beman knew the Priest had tortured Anna in the small town, so he already had a poor impression of him. As long as Li Feng did not actually chop down the Priest, Beman could not care less how Li Feng threatened or intimidated him.

Felson looked at Li Feng, whose eyes held no killing intent whatsoever, then turned and lay down on his prepared bedding. "If you want to argue, do it somewhere far away. Don't disturb me. I'm exhausted."

The sacrificial child Kay could not tell that Li Feng was merely intimidating the Priest. He stood and stepped in front of Li Feng. "Mr. Austin, threatening a Priest will send you to Hell. Please apologize to Father Dibochai."

Li Feng was speechless. Didn't you hear that this guy was the one who insulted me first?

Li Feng turned to look at Mordo. Though Mordo was dissatisfied with the Priest's words, he did not want to meddle in Li Feng and Kay's business. He directly ignored Li Feng's gaze and merely shot the Priest a warning look: There won't be a next time, or you'll regret it.

Li Feng shrugged, lowered his long blade, and said to Kay, "You want me to apologize to this blind fool? Then teach me swordsmanship. When I can defeat Beman with swordsmanship someday, I'll apologize to that blind man."

Beman glanced at Li Feng speechlessly. What does this have to do with me? A guy like you will never defeat me in your life. If you don't want to apologize, just say so. Why drag defeating me into it?

Kay knew that Li Feng had joined the group under the pretense of wanting to learn swordsmanship. Seeing that Li Feng was still set on learning it, he hesitated before saying, "Apologize first, and I'll teach you Basic Swordsmanship. And even if you aren't afraid of going to Hell after death, aren't you afraid that The Church will hunt you down for threatening a clergyman?"

Li Feng glanced at the Priest with a half-smile. "Apologizing is impossible. At worst, I just won't learn swordsmanship. You aren't the only one in the world who can teach it. As for being hunted by The Church, with how blind he is, let alone seeing what I look like clearly, so what if he could? He calls everyone a heretic and a yellow-skinned monkey. He's probably the real heretic infiltrating The Church. Maybe he's even a heretic possessed by a Demon. Before The Church issues a warrant for me, they might even award me a medal for exposing a Demon infiltrating The Church."

The Priest was so enraged by Li Feng that he nearly launched into another tirade. But he could now see that Beman and Felson, the strongest fighters present, both disliked him. The remaining Knight, Ekkehard, clearly had no interest in joining this meaningless exchange of insults and had gotten up to walk toward the Prison Wagon, looking as though he was going to keep watch.

After shooting Li Feng a sharp glare, the Priest said to Kay, "You'll have to work hard tonight and keep an eye on these two people of unknown origins. Do not let them release the Dark Witch."

With that, the Priest sat back down, looking as though he was resting with his eyes closed to recover his energy before taking his watch.

Mordo gave Li Feng a puzzled look. He had many questions he wanted answered, but Kay was following the Priest's orders and standing firmly beside Li Feng. He decided that this was not the time for answers. While remaining alert to their surroundings, he sat cross-legged and entered shallow meditation to restore his energy.

Seeing everyone else resting, Li Feng poked at the fire and said to Kay beside him, "Kid, how about teaching me swordsmanship? I don't need you to teach me any secret techniques. Basic Swordsmanship will do."

Kay did not understand why Li Feng was so obsessed with swordsmanship. He subconsciously glanced at Mordo and said, "Why don't you learn from Mr. Mordo? I can sense that Mr. Mordo is very strong."

That guy is strong, sure, but he's better with staffs and whips. He knows blade techniques too, but...

Li Feng rubbed his cheek, recalling how he had been forced to leap around like a monkey by baseballs, and muttered, But I fucking don't want to face baseballs again. If I ask him to teach me blade techniques, I can already imagine that bastard hitting baseballs at me and making me split them with a blade as training.

"Just tell me whether you'll teach me or not," Li Feng said. Feeling a little cold, he pulled his collar tighter and rubbed his hands for warmth. "Be straightforward. Don't hem and haw like a woman. Be a man and give me a straight answer."

Damn it, everyone else is wearing long sleeves and wrapped in Cloaks, while I'm the only one in a thin sleeveless shirt. Fine, they didn't give me clothes during the day—at least moving around kept me warm. But at night, they won't even give me a blanket or anything. Are they trying to freeze me to death?

Or do they think I'm not cold just because Mordo isn't? The problem is, I don't have Mordo's Mana to protect me from the cold.

Kay thought for a moment, picked up two branches from the ground, and handed one to Li Feng. "All right, I'll teach you the most basic swordsmanship. We'll start with how to hold a sword."

After a long while, Li Feng, who was somewhat bewildered by what he had heard, finally learned that even holding a sword involved so many details: the differences between one-handed and two-handed grips, how to keep a sword from slipping free or injuring oneself when holding it one-handed, how to hold it so it could move more flexibly, and so on. He had never considered or understood any of these things before.

It was not until the latter half of the night, when the Priest rose to switch shifts with Ekkehard, that Kay yawned and said that would be all for today. He needed to rest.

Just as Kay closed his eyes and began softly snoring, Mordo suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the Prison Wagon. He then turned to Li Feng and said, "Now that everyone is asleep, and those farther away can't hear us talking, tell me honestly what you said to that strange girl earlier."

Li Feng glanced at Kay. He fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes? And you were supposed to be guarding us?

He then looked at Anna and, after making sure she could not see him, gently snapped his fingers and enveloped himself and Mordo within the Mirror Dimension.

"That little girl really is a Demon. But the Demon did not kill the little girl's soul. Instead, they share the same body."

Mordo froze for a moment, then said in realization, "The Demon is using the little girl's soul like clothing to wrap around itself. That's why I felt that the girl's Astral Body was somewhat strange."