Chapter 154: The Twelve Talismans

"Olaf, have you been going to the arena again?" Jax asked as he looked at the bilingual document written in Earth’s Chinese from Asgard, addressing Olaf who had just walked in.

"Yeah, I quite like it here. Once things settle down, I want to build an arena of my own," Olaf replied, sitting across from Jax. In his mind, he was calculating how much it would cost to construct an arena similar to the one he frequented.

No, it couldn’t be just like this arena; it had to be better—at least stronger in terms of structural defense.

Otherwise, if he let other legends loose, the newly built arena would be ruined immediately. And if he couldn’t step into the ring himself, just watching others fight wouldn’t be nearly as fun.

Jax looked up and glanced at Olaf. "Did you use your ultimate? Who was your opponent today?"

"Oh, it was Thor, who just recovered. He insisted on sparring with me, so I had no choice but to step in and practice with him," Olaf explained.

"What? You put someone in the hospital again?!" Jax set the document aside, exasperated. "If this keeps up, when are we ever going home?"

"No, this time I controlled my strength well," Olaf said, a bit aggrieved. "I only managed to chop off one corner of his hammer before stopping."

"What?! Just one corner?!" Jax couldn’t sit still. "Do you know how expensive it is to repair a divine weapon? We haven’t even finished paying off the last loan, and now we have to cover everything again, plus some extra!"

"This won’t do. We have to leave quickly; we can’t stay any longer!" Jax was starting to panic. Olaf, however, was less concerned. Having fought many matches in the arena, he understood the rules: all damages caused were the responsibility of the participant; the opponent wasn’t liable. Otherwise, who would dare step into the arena?

Still, it was better to return soon. The young fighters in Asgard were fragile and their skills crude. It was better to go back and pester the resting legends for a match.

He heard the Knight King of John Bull Nation had ascended to legendary status, and Olaf hadn’t yet faced her, so he had no idea how strong she was.

Also, the legendary Sword Immortal Li Xiaoyao from Shushan Mountain, who belonged to the Heavenly Court, was reportedly on Earth. Olaf hadn’t challenged any of the Heavenly Court’s experts yet.

If he could go to Earth, that would be much more entertaining.

Ah-choo!

On Earth, Li Xiaoyao sneezed loudly.

"What’s wrong?" Zhao Ling’er asked.

"Someone must be talking about me. Probably your fans," Li Xiaoyao said helplessly.

Zhao Ling’er lowered her head, feeling embarrassed. Her fanbase had surpassed ten billion online, and combined with Artoria’s fans, that was almost three times the entire population of Earth.

How to put it? It was outrageously unbelievable!

Back in Asgard, Jax’s departure request was swiftly approved. The staff at Asgard must have been troubled; Olaf’s damages were tremendous—medical bills, repair costs—this year’s expenses were surely over budget.

Yet they couldn’t complain much. Olaf hadn’t broken any rules, and unlike some countries with ever-changing orders and shameless behavior, Asgard was more consistent.

Jax and Olaf’s small cargo shuttle slowly left the Asgard spaceport.

The energy cores on board were too many and overweight. To cram everything in, Jax even dismantled some weapons. But with two legends on board and still within Asgard’s territory, nothing would go wrong.

Once inside the faster-than-light travel lane, the shuttle sped toward the Clock Tower. Kieran’s temporal powers shortened their return time, and they were expected to reach the Oort Cloud from Asgard within a week.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Yang Qiu was troubled by something.

The old man Mephisto was once again infiltrating. He just wouldn’t learn and kept making the same mistakes!

Maybe with the recent death of Ancient One, he had gained extra confidence. Within less than a year, his shattered clones hadn’t recovered, yet the man was already causing trouble again.

No, this couldn’t go on!

Yang Qiu shook his head. He had no interest in playing tit-for-tat with Mephisto. He needed to find something to occupy that guy. Otherwise, a bored Mephisto constantly eyeing Earth was unacceptable.

As for what to do, Yang Qiu had already laid some groundwork. If Mephisto hadn’t provoked trouble, he wouldn’t have activated his backup plan. Now, every resource had to be conserved.

But if Mephisto couldn’t see the situation clearly, even if it was wasteful, he would have to use it.

In Hong Kong, the old man hurried back. He hadn’t been to his shop for over a week, busy with other teachers compiling textbooks at the school.

Of course, conflicts arose during the compilation. This wasn’t the old man’s fault; he simply couldn’t accept the minimal coverage given to Qi Magic—a small section with a simple introduction.

Indeed, Qi Magic wasn’t outstanding in terms of lethality, but its low threshold, ease of learning, minimal consumables, and versatility were exactly what the current curriculum needed most.

Only the modern life magic modified and created by Dumbledore at Hogwarts could compare to the old man’s Qi Magic in terms of practicality and low consumption.

"Master, you’re back," Tru peeked outside.

Seeing Tru’s attention diverted, Xiaoyu secretly flipped open the textbook that Cheng Long had specially written for him and quickly filled in three multiple-choice questions on his worksheet.

Xiaoyu had now roughly memorized where content was located in the book, though the details themselves were still shaky.

Under Tru’s watchful gaze, the old man rushed into the library, dismantled a complex array of magic circles, and took out a set of hexagonal talismans from a chest. Each talisman bore simple animal engravings.

"One, two, three... twelve..." The old man sighed in relief—none missing, very good. He had dreamt the previous night that the sealed demons had suddenly appeared, scaring him enough to rush home and check.

"Old man? What’s wrong?" Cheng Long called down from the second floor, knocking on the door after the sudden noise.

The old man replaced the talismans, reactivated the magic circle, and then stepped out, giving Cheng Long a swift tap on the head.

Cheng Long held his head and took a step back. What had he done now?

"You were careless last night in my dream, letting someone steal the talismans!" the old man said angrily.

"Old man... that was just a dream..." Cheng Long protested, feeling wronged.

Smack! The old man tapped him again. "Old man knows it was a dream! Just reminding you~"

"And one more thing~ Hurry up and help me finish the report. I’m planning to submit this to the school~"

Tru shuddered, startled by the old man’s fiery temper.

Xiaoyu poked his head out, curious, looking toward the library.