No one here believed that he could actually perform a spell that he had only glimpsed for a moment, so many couldn't wait for him to embarrass himself. Even the ladies who admired his beauty couldn't help but shake their heads at his bravado.
'I guess he's just a pretty face.'
For once since their game started, Shui let go of Cleia and looked at Trin. As Cleia hastily moved her hands to her chest to calm down her racing heart, she noticed how he quickly changed from a sweet gentleman to an aloof scholar. His eyes rapidly turned cold as he raised his right hand.
"The Light Transformation Spell right? Not a very practical spell but I suppose it might be useful in the right circumstances."
His hand that was lit by the light of the room, glowed in several different colours and then, when he only had his index finger extended, a concentrated needle of light came out from the tip of it. This needle of light was so bright that Trin had to shield his eyes with his hand. It irked him, but he knew that this was the spell he presented.
After showing off that he could perform the spell to everyone in the room, there was silence. Everyone thought he would embarrass himself, but judging from Trin's expression it was contrary to their expectations.
"See, I told you I could do it." Shui broke the silence with a confident grin.
"Youuu! You must have seen it before!"
"Hah! Is that really the excuse you want to use? Wasn't it basically obvious that one of us might know the other's spell beforehand? Really now, don't you have any shame?"
Trin's face couldn't look uglier as he endured Shui's stinging words. He couldn't accept this result but he remembered that he still had a chance.
'That's right. I messed up this time but there's no way he can show me a spell I haven't already seen before.'
"It's your turn!" Trin spouted from his gritted teeth.
In response, Shui threw out a jade plaque on the table. It was blank a few moments ago, but Shui only needed that short time to record the details of a spell. It wouldn't be enough to actually learn the spell, but he was confident that Trin wouldn't be able see past the framework.
Trin grabbed the plaque and examined it with his spiritual sense, but from the way his eyebrows twitched it was obvious what happened. He slapped the plaque back on the table and shouted while pointing at Shui.
"You cheat!"
"What's wrong with you?" Even against Trin's fury, Shui was completely unaffected.
"This is an advanced spell!"
Spells could be categorized into ten tiers starting from tier 0. Spells tier 0 to tier 3 were basic spells that Soul Realm warriors started out with. Spells tier 4 to tier 6 were intermediate spells used by Earth Realm experts while spells above tier 6 were advanced spells that only Sky Realm cultivators could master. Naturally, Trin would be incapable of comprehending such a spell, no one else in the room could do it either. They didn't think that Shui would be able to comprehend it either, but just the fact that he had it was worthy of admiration.
After all, this was the type of spell that their sect masters and clan leaders would use, how could they even touch something like that? Before, everyone thought he was a vagabond or came from some minor influence, but now they were wondering if he was the hidden child of a sect master or if he had a powerful master.
"Why are you so upset? It's not like we decided to only use a certain tier of spells."
Unable to argue against Shui's logic, Trin glared at him like he was his archnemesis. The ones behind him wanted to say something, but they were also stumped. Were they supposed to tell him that he wasn't being fair? However, their skin wasn't thick enough for such a line.
"Hmph."
Since he couldn't refute his loss, Trin got up and tried to walk away but Shui called out to him.
"Wait. Aren't you supposed to be doing some kneeling about now?"
Trin and his group didn't stop for a moment and no one dared to stop them as they rushed out of the room with ugly faces.
'Hmph, only at that level.'
After taking care of Trin, Shui once again held Cleia's hand gently.
"I'll be going now. Hopefully we can meet again in the future."
During this sweet moment, Cleia did nothing but lower her head while blushing to the tip of her ears. After seeing what he could do, many ladies were biting their lips because they weren't in her position.
As Shui left the gathering, all eyes were on his back, with one being particularly intense.
Outside the mansion, Shui hoped to get away, but there was a different carriage waiting for him. This time, there were four men with stony expressions, but they were also cordial.
"The boss would like to speak with you again."
Shui released a heavy sigh but he still entered the carriage.
'If he thinks he can keep ordering me around, I'll have to fix that.'
Soon after being picked up, for the second time in a row, he was facing Ulus in his office.
"What do you want?" asked Shui.
"I need you to join a tournament."
"Huh? What the heck are you talking about?"
Through the people he snuck in, Ulus learnt that there would be a martial gathering among the younger generation being held in Cyrus. If it was just that then there would be no need to interfere, but as the members would be elites from other cities, Ulus came up with an ambitious plan to make connections so that he could find an ally that could intimidate the mayor.
This wasn't the first of such gatherings, but the previous times he wasn't able to sneak in nor did he control anyone with enough status to get an invite. However, that was no longer the case with Shui around. Still, he had taken something for granted. While distracted by his own ambition, he didn't notice how cold Shui's eyes had gotten.
"That sounds like your problem, not mine."
"Huh?! Brat, do you think you have a choice?"
In his furious state, Ulus attacked Shui with the full pressure of his aura. He forgot for a moment that he shouldn't injure his sole hope, but that didn't affect the result. Shui stood against his pressure without flinching, and that sight snapped Ulus out of his irritation.
"Do you really think you're strong enough to force me?" Shui took a step forward and was straightforward in his refusal.
Ulus didn't know how Shui could take his pressure so well, but of course he didn't think he was even close to his strength. He figured the brat had a good artifact and was using it to defend himself. He now remembered that he couldn't be too rough with him, however, there was still a perfect way of controlling him.
He leaned back into his chair and responded with an aloof aura that fit his status as a gang boss.
"Sure, walk out the door. I won't stop you. Just don't say anything to me when a certain shop gets trashed."
"Tch."
Shui didn't need any further details. He knew exactly what Ulus was insinuating as well as how serious he was.
Shui grimaced but then he became stone-faced and said, "Fine, we'll do it your way."
"You should have said that from the start."
Shui then turned around and left through the door. Ulus couldn't tell whether or not he would learn his place from just this, so after he was gone he said something to the man on his right.
"Send some guys to wreck the place. They can have some fun too as long as they don't get caught."
"Understood."
As a cruel man who had risen to the top of the underworld, Ulus was definitely not going to let a disobedient dog off without punishment.