"A mortal?" Flav looked at Xuan Li with questioning eyes. "Do you want to tell me that a mortal got his jaw dislocated and fixed? Do you take me for an idiot?"
Flav's voice lost its neutrality and took on a somewhat hostile tone. Xuan Li's actions offended him. If he didn't hit him, Flav might have believed that he was a mortal.
Yet, to claim that he was a mortal after the slap made Flav feel like shit. If he wanted to lie, he should at least make it a believable lie.
As if he could read what was on Flav's mind Xuan Li spoke, "You don't believe me? Is it because I healed right after you hit me? Well, the truth is, I can't die. Although I am a mortal, I seem to be immortal!"
Xuan Li was trying to dismiss the misunderstanding, yet his tone became sad and frustrated near the end. Flav also noticed this peculiarity. Even if he didn't believe him, he had to admit it.
When he checked Xuan Li's body for any Mana or Qi, he didn't find any. No traces at all! This was really strange but still doesn't clarify how Xuan Li's 'immortality' works.
Flav's mind went through everything he knew to see if something like Xuan Li's situation had happened before, yet no matter how much he searched he didn't find anything similar.
Xuan Li calmed down after he saw Flav look at him, lost in thought. "Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked before a disgusted expression covered his face. "I-I told you I am not gay!!"
Flav broke out of his chain of thoughts at Li's screams, his face darkening. He raised his hand again ready to slap Xuan Li but he took a deep breath and calmed down.
With a vicious glint in his eyes Flav slowly pronounced, "Do. You. Want. To. Die?" Just as he was about to continue threatening, he received an answer that made him surprised.
"YES!!" Xuan Li screamed with every ounce of being in him.
"Stop screaming!" Dumdum who was enjoying the show commented.
Flav who heard Dumdum was surprised. 'What's with this guy? He wants to die even though he's immortal. He has a panther that can talk as a pet. How can someone who has good things like that say he wants to die? What a crazy man.'
Although Flav felt it was weird, he didn't care. 'Wait I could do this…' Flav thought with an evil glint in his eyes. "So, you want to die?" he asked Xuan Li, a diabolical smile etched on his face.
Xuan Li had caught on to Flav's thought process and excitedly replied, "I will give you Dumdum if you can kill me!"
The baby panther got mad seeing Xuan Li trading him like merchandise and calling him Dumdum, "You bastard human! How dare you!?"
Already enticed by the thought of having Dumdum. "This isn't enough," Flav negotiated.
Seeing that Li could give away Dumdum so easily, Flav wanted to see if he could extort more things out of him. Killing Xuan Li was no big deal for him as he felt how easy it was to injure him, if he could gain more stuff before that he would have an advantage when he joins the Ascension Academy.
Xuan Li already grasped everything that went through Flav's mind and didn't care, if he could die, he would give everything to the other party. Though he didn't give away that he didn't have anything to appear more mysterious.
"Alright. I will give you something else if you manage to kill me," Xuan Li enticed. He hoped that the greedy state Flav was in hindered his mental processes and made him fall for this. "Dumdum knows where that thing is, if you kill me, he will give it to you."
Dumdum, who calmed down after thinking through the conversation between Xuan Li and Flav, figured that there was nothing tying him down. If Xuan Li died, it would just leave. Xuan Li probably thought of this when he offered to give it away. Dumdum didn't mind it that much.
It also wanted to see if this guy who was a Qi Manifestation martial artist could kill Xuan Li or not. So, it agreed to play along and nodded its head cutely, implying that it would give Flav something if he killed him.
Sealing the deal, Flav and Xuan Li left the inn with Dumdum in tow to see if Xuan Li could die.
***
After her talk with Charles, Iris left his villa with a hint where she might find a clue to the Ascension Academy's location.
"Charles told me before I left that the way to Ascension is where the Moon and Sun meet. In that place where the purple shadow covers the sky, the first trial will appear!" Iris repeated what she had heard, aloud, while pondering where to go.
She decided to get a map to check and cross places that might lead her to the first trial. She went to the market in town and found a map and scrolls seller and bought a map that covers a general overview of the Lands of Wylde.
Iris went through the place where she fought Xuan Li, the inn she had stayed at, using some money that she found on her body. There wasn't much, but she wasn't planning to stay for long anyway. After renting a room for a night, Iris went and entered the room and flopped on the bed.
Looking up at the ceiling many thoughts went through her head. 'Today was eventful. Reincarnating, meeting someone that looked like 'him', and even having to plan what to do now. I have too many things to do.' While she was lost in thought, fatigue hit Iris like a hammer, making her fall asleep.
Like that, the night went and another day came.
Iris groaned, "Ahh," waking up.
Quickly getting up, she looked around the room, confused, before realization hit her. "So, it wasn't a dream," Iris muttered as pain struck her, reminding her that this really wasn't a dream.
Iris sorted through her thoughts before getting out of bed. She sat down in front of the desk in the room and spread the map on the table. She contemplated as she looked at it trying to find where the place Charles hinted towards might be.
There were four places with purple color that indicated possible sites to the place Charles mentioned. 'Though it might not be literal but figurative,' Iris eyed the map while thinking.
She decided to first check the four sites before taking any other measures. Marking the places, Iris deduced that it would take her about two weeks to cover all four of them as they were near each other and maybe even less if she used Magic.
'If they aren't the places, I will have to think about this again. This might be a waste of time. My body won't allow me to do much when it's in this state. So, it's better to take time exploring these locations and relieve some stress while I'm at it.' Iris decided before stretching her body and leaving the inn.
The first place she was visiting was the purple hills, the place closest to the town and would take less time to get to the other locations from.