The Xun siblings woke up the same instant the old man released his power because of the oppressive aura that came with it, and it was just in time to see the magnificent scene for a split second.
The stone monument lit up like a sun with black-colored glow, even though black as a color shouldn't have any radiance because of what it is - black, the absence of any color. As if breaking the laws of the world, the black color was so strong that it seemed like a miniature black sun embedded in the ground before the mansion. The size reached just a bit over one kilometer in the radius but only Asura Ryuu and the old man saw it - Xun Bao and Xun Meng had their eyes closed because of how strong the piercing black light was.
They were already shaking because of the terrific devilish aura that Spirit Power radiated. They felt so cold, as if they were frozen in the coldest ice possible and felt scared. Everyone their age would feel scared if they felt even a tiniest hint of death, but even though they were pretty familiar with the feeling of danger, they never came in contact with the actual feeling of death until this moment.
The old man's mouth was so agape one could fit an egg inside. He was shocked silly. Even if her parents were those legendary Dragons, it shouldn't be like this.
"This... Black radiance... What the hell is going on?", he thought.
He didn't notice the two poor children trembling behind him until now and hurriedly shielded them with his Spirit Power. When it came in contact with Asura Tenka's Spirit Power, it felt like an enormous mountain was pressing down on his mind, threatening to collapse it any moment. The cause was the concentration of Asura Tenka's Spirit Power. It was thick enough to be considered somewhere between solid state and fluid state.
He felt genuine shock for the first time in many years. A little kid made him feel like that...
As he thought about it, he glanced at Asura Ryuu and a chill crawled up his spine once more. He didn't dare think what would happen when his turn comes.
Asura Ryuu glanced at the old man and smiled with satisfaction. The Dragon God was watching the event as well, but he wasn't shocked like the old man. He knew long ago how strong her Spirit Power was. Instead, he glanced at Asura Ryuu and wondered what would happen when he tries.
His small snake-ish mouth grinned with that thought. He couldn't wait to see the old man's reaction then because he knew what it would be. "Shock isn't enough to describe it for sure! Maybe 'Terror' is the word?", he thought.
Asura Tenka slowly removed her hand from the stone and only the remnant devilish aura drifted in the air under the golden-colored barrier in the sky. Asura Tenka glanced at the old man with an apologetical look in her eyes and bowed once again, for no particular reason. She just felt like she had to do that for the shock the old man had received.
She came to Asura Ryuu's side and grabbed his sleeve with an embarrassed expression plastered on her face. The kids of this world would jump in joy if this happened to them, but she was embarrassed instead! The restless look on the old man's face became dignified, and he glanced at Asura Ryuu, as if wanting to say "Your turn.", but having no words nor energy to do it.
That was truly the case because he focused all of his remaining attention on the barrier he had erected and made sure that it was stable enough not to leak even a bit of what happened here to the outside world.
Asura Ryuu came within two meters of the stone and it started shaking even harder than before. As he gradually closed the distance between the stone and himself, it shook even harder as the vibrations spread into the surroundings, creating the ripples on the lake in front of the mansion. Old man swallowed his saliva at the scene and cold sweat appeared on his skin after a long time of not having that happen to him. The last time he felt cold sweat manifesting was when he was very close to death.
Asura Ryuu's hand finally rested on the stone.
But instead of the glaring light the old man was expecting to see, the stone monument just shattered and fell apart. His 'shock reservoir' magically refilled and was once again emptied out in that same instant. That cracking sound of the stone was more shocking than the black-colored glaring light from a moment ago. What did it mean? It meant the stone couldn't measure this monster's Spirit Power.
The Dragon God loudly laughed as its small snake-like body twisted in the air. He was beyond happy when he saw the old man's expression. He couldn't resist commenting on the scene: "Where could mere stones and rocks of this lowly plane be worthy enough of measuring the Divine Power? Wanting to measure the strength of my successor? Hehehe, you wish!"
The old man limply fell on his butt as the golden barrier disappeared, both around the Lifeless Area and around the Xun Siblings. The two children were no longer shaking because the old man shielded them from Asura Tenka's Spirit Power.
Xun Meng saw the broken fragments of the stones and ran up to pick up one. The old man found a bit of strength within himself to raise his head and see what would happen when she touched it.
Xun Meng picked up a stone, and it reflected black-white glow about a meter in diameter but even though it was small - it was thick almost like it was a fluid.
The old man smiled this time and muttered to himself: "Black and White, huh? As expected."
His finger twitched slightly and one fragment shot towards the Xun Bao with speed high enough for the other to catch it. The same happened with him as well, but the size of the radiance was smaller than the one from Xun Meng. It was only a little, but it still meant he had a weaker Spirit Power nevertheless.
The old man let out a deep sigh and stared at each of the four kids for a moment: "Never ever in your life allow anyone to measure your Spirit Power!", he said.
His eyes fell on Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka and he added, almost with a scream as his high-pitched voice cracked: "Especially you two!!!"
Old man: "Do you understand?"
All of them nodded in approval, but Xun Meng suddenly asked: "But teacher, why?"
The old man looked at her with guilt in his eyes and there was a hint of sorrow mixed in but his face was calm: "If you don't want endless troubles you better not do it. As for them..."
As he stopped for a second, his eyes reflected great complexity hidden within because of the monstrous event he just witnessed a moment ago.
*sigh* "Forget it!"
Old man: "Sleep well tonight because tomorrow we will go to the main academy. You need to be calm and rested for the awakening ceremony. See you tomorrow."
As he said what he had to say, he just vanished once again because there was nothing he could say after what he had just witnessed. He needed some time alone to calm down because he felt that his pride was hurt and had a feeling that the Heavens were unfair. If Asura Ryuu was somewhere near Asura Tenka's level he wouldn't have had his pride shattered, but a child that didn't even undergo Awakening had Spirit Power much stronger than his own and it was a qualitative type of suppression he got the moment that stone shattered, unlike the Asura Tenka's that was based on pure concentration. The qualitative level can't be closed with mere quantity - it required understanding the ways of nature, something he didn't have and wished for day and night.
The type of jealousy old man felt was similar to the type of having your spouse cheat on you. That was enough to explain his feelings at this moment. But Asura Ryuu didn't blame him because he understood how hard it is for the residents of this world to advance, whether in Spirit Power or Spirit Energy. The level of life in this world was among the lowest ones, but luckily not the lowest.
Just like that, the last day they were supposed to spend together in that mansion was just another day where the four spent it alone without their adoptive teacher.