Turns out, my new master wasn't just some random wino who stumbled into a teaching gig. Azure Blades was historically one of the fastest-growing humans to ever exist, casually surpassing a whole roster of legendary warriors. He got the name "Azure" because of his deep blue eyes and his grey hair that fades into blue at the tips. He was so ridiculously strong and wise that even Jase Crimson—my 800-year-old, True Demon ancestor—openly admired the guy.
He was officially known as the Living Legend of the Empire of Razia. But as any successful CEO or high-level cultivator knows, fame is a double-edged sword that attracts way too many hostile takeovers. The sheer volume of enemies he made forced him off the grid. The public thought he died, but the reality was he just threw on a disguise, took a job as an Academy teacher, and aggressively played the role of the town drunk so people would leave him the hell alone.
Honestly? I respect the strategy. It’s an elite retirement plan.
Anyway, back to the present. I was standing there, having completely shattered his grand, months-long cultivation schedule in a matter of weeks, waiting for him to teach me how to break through to Formation Gathering.
Azure crossed his arms, clearly trying to scrape back a little bit of his mentor dignity.
"Alright," Azure started, his tone taking on that profound, lecturing quality. "You've surpassed even the previous heroes in cultivation. But everything in this world is made balanced by the gods."
I raised an eyebrow. I could already smell the copium.
"That, in my knowledge, means you are not very good at learning techniques," Azure declared confidently. "Because you are incredibly good at raw cultivation, and you're obviously good at battle too, as I've already seen. Therefore, you must lack technical application."
He actually raised his fist in the air, tilting his head back with a smug, triumphant grin, like he had finally found the one undeniable flaw in my flawless resume.
"So," he continued, practically beaming with anticipation, "I'll teach you a technique that needs so much pure focus that it will beat the shit out of your ass!"
I just stared at him. The imagery of a technique physically beating my own ass was a little redundant, but I let it slide.
"I think you are forgetting something?" I asked, completely deadpan.
Azure froze. His triumphant fist slowly lowered. He blinked a few times before the realization hit him.
"Oh! Right," he muttered, completely deflating.
With a heavy sigh, he waved his hand and summoned his spatial inventory. Instead of some grand, glowing vault of legendary armaments, a small, battered magic bag materialized in the air. Written across the front of it in messy letters was the word: "Trash".
He reached his hand directly into the "Trash" bag, rummaged around for a second, and pulled out a sword.
"This is..." Azure began, sounding like he was about to give the most unenthusiastic sales pitch of his life.
Azure quickly banished his little "Trash" bag back into the ether and squinted down at the sword in his hand. He turned it over a few times, looking like a guy trying to remember where he parked his carriage a decade ago.
"Um... this is... uh..." he muttered, scratching his head. Finally, a spark of recognition hit him. "Yeah. This is the Dawn of Zenith."
It was a sleek, pitch-black blade that emitted a faint, pulsing yellow light along its edge. I reached out and took it from his hands. It had a good weight to it. Without going full system-menu on it, I could instinctively feel its basic specs: a solid D-rank weapon with a neat little 15% boost to wind-element attacks, plus the handy ability to compress down into a ring for easy storage.
"This looks good. Thanks," I said, giving it a quick practice swing. "Alright, I like it. Now moving on to the technique—"
Before I could even finish my sentence, Azure casually flicked his wrist.
A massive, terrifying arc of black and purple energy erupted from him, flying directly at my face. My eyebrows shot up to my hairline in pure shock. I didn't even have time to dodge.
But instead of cutting me in half, the dark slash phased completely through my body like a ghost, continued on its path, and slammed into the massive boulder right behind me. The rock instantly blasted into a million jagged pieces.
I stood there for a second, making sure all my limbs were still attached.
Azure just smiled, looking incredibly pleased with his little jump-scare. "This is the Void Slash," he explained smoothly. "It can be controlled by the user in many ways. You can manipulate its direction, choose whether it hits the target or phases right through it, and dial the intensity of the damage up or down."
Okay, I had to admit, that was a top-tier combat utility. A targeted, intangible strike that ignores physical barriers? Overpowered.
"It took me three years to learn, and five to master," Azure continued, his chest puffing out with pride. He then looked me up and down, doing some mental calculations. "And in my thinking, even if you're highly talented, it would take you at least six years to learn."
Six years. Right. Because his track record of predicting my cultivation speed had been so devastatingly accurate so far.
I looked him dead in the eye, my gaze narrowing with absolute determination.
"What if I learnt it in this very moment?" I challenged.
Azure actually laughed. "I would do anything you wish wo—"
He didn't get to finish the word.
I gripped the Dawn of Zenith, tapped into that hyper-focused state I used to compress Qi spheres, visualized the exact flow of dark mana he just used, and swung.
A black and purple slash ripped from my blade. It wasn't a 100% flawless execution—let's call it half-perfect—but it was undeniably a Void Slash.
Stolen novel; please report.
I lowered the sword and smirked at him.
"So," I announced casually, soaking in the absolute silence of the moment, "I will call you 'old hag' from now on. Or whatever I want to, alright, ancient trash?"
Azure just stood there, his mouth hanging wide open in complete and utter disbelief. The Living Legend of the Empire, reduced to a buffering error.
"How..." he finally whispered, staring at my sword. "Just how."
It took me exactly one week to completely master the Void Slash. Azure, naturally, was having a phenomenally hard time believing it.
(What Ragna didn't know at the time while he was swinging his sword around was that he actually had an audience. From far up in the sky, a girl was observing his training with absolutely zero expression on her face. She looked young, probably around eleven or twelve years old. She had stark white hair and pitch-black eyes, and she was dressed in a deep blue cotton beanie, a grey sweater, and a purplish skirt.)
But back down on the ground, the next day at the training field, Azure was still actively trying to rationalize my absurd progress.
"I don't know what you are," Azure muttered, shaking his head. "But maybe you're just learning everything this fast due to being a True Demon."
I rolled my eyes. "Teach me a new technique, old hag," I demanded, ready to keep the momentum going.
Azure sighed, clearly fighting the urge to resign from his teaching post entirely. "Yeah, yeah, why not," he grumbled. I could practically read his mind; he was absolutely sick of this and clearly a little jealous of his own student. He suddenly pointed his weapon at me. "Today, you will fight me. Since you're so good at imitating techniques, you can just learn many of them at once by fighting."
"I'm not good at imitating," I corrected him, keeping my tone perfectly flat. "I learned it simply because you said the Void Slash could be controlled. So, I just took a normal slash, focused on it to an extreme degree, and forced it to become a Void Slash."
Azure just stared at me for a long moment. Then, he slowly tilted his head back, looking directly up at the sky.
"I never thought you would send the most genius hero this time, Talestia," Azure muttered to the Goddess. "Is it really going to be so hard this time?"
I wasn't about to stand around while my master had a philosophical chat with the arrogant lightbulb in the sky.
"Will you just start fighting already?" I yelled. I kicked off the dirt, launching myself straight at him with my sword drawn.
"Why not?" Azure smirked. He raised his own sword. And then, without breaking a single sweat, he casually summoned five perfect clones of himself to surround me.
"Be prepared," he warned.
"Shadow Clones?" I yelled over the clash of our blades, instantly recognizing the technique. My inner weeb was absolutely losing its mind. "Teach me how to make them, master. Please!"
"Alright," Azure agreed, parrying my strike and casually proceeding to explain the intricate flow of mana required for the technique while actively trying to beat me up.
I focused, mirroring the energy pattern he described. A split second later, a perfect duplicate of myself popped into existence right next to me.
"I got it!" I laughed, stepping back while my clone took the front line. "Ha, Ha... How cool. Give me more."
Azure smirked, his eyes flashing with a mix of annoyance and genuine excitement. "Taste this then. Spectral Sword Dance."
Suddenly, a blinding, colorful aura erupted around him. Dozens of ethereal spirits materialized in the air, swirling like a hurricane before seamlessly merging directly into his sword. The sheer density of the mana made the air heavy. He swung.
A massive explosion leveled the exact spot where I was standing, kicking up a thick, suffocating cloud of dust.
Azure lowered his sword, waiting for the smoke to clear.
But as the dust settled, he didn't see my battered body on the ground. Instead, he heard the crackle of energy right behind him. He spun around, only to see me launching the exact same Spectral Sword Dance attack right at his back.
The guy he had just nuked? That was my clone.
Azure's eyes widened in surprise, but the old man still had reflexes that defied physics. With a sharp, sudden smile, he casually caught me mid-air and effortlessly threw me across the clearing.
And so, the brutal, unrelenting training continued.
In those five years, Ragna learned an absurd amount of things under Azure's tutelage, and not just combat techniques. He grew up. His white hair was now longer and silkier, waving freely in the wind. The rough edges of the feral twelve-year-old survivor had smoothed out, leaving behind the hardened, mature look of a true warrior.
Azure looked at him, feeling an overwhelming sense of pride for his impossible disciple.
Finally, the isolated training period was over. The time for the exams to officially choose the Core Disciples had arrived.
On the morning of their departure, Azure was standing in front of a mirror, aggressively dressing up and trying to look as impossibly handsome as he could. He called out for Ragna, and the two of them finally left their hidden sanctuary.
"Hah..." Azure sighed, running a hand through his blue-tipped hair as they walked. "My disciple is as handsome as his master."
Ragna, however, didn't reply with his usual snark. He actually looked nervous.
I stared ahead at the distant, looming towers of the Razia Academy. My stomach was doing flips.
"It has been five years," I muttered, my usual arrogant confidence nowhere to be found. "I wonder how much they have grown now." I gripped the hilt of the Dawn of Zenith. "I'm nervous too."
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Azure said, adjusting his collar and trying to look as profoundly wise as possible.
I exhaled a long, heavy breath. "Whatever. These five years passed way too quickly."
We reached the main courtyard of the Academy, and it was absolutely packed. The sheer density of Auras was enough to make the air feel thick. Disciples were everywhere, trailing behind their respective masters, all looking like they were marching off to war rather than a school exam.
Azure smirked, taking in the massive crowd. "Quite a lot of disciples this year, I would say. But don't worry, you're destined to be chosen."
"I know that," I said, leaning back with my arms crossed. "When we—"
Suddenly, the magical amplification array screamed to life, cutting me off completely.
"Alright, everyone!" the announcer's magically enhanced voice boomed over the courtyard, rattling my eardrums. "Today starts the battles to choose the Core Disciples! You should all know that these battles occur only once every five years. So, I wish you the best! Firstly, check out your teammates on the notice board, and then your schedule for the battle!"
I sighed, massaging my temples to stave off an incoming headache. "I really hope there are some people I know on my team. That would relieve a lot of the pressure."
Azure casually strolled over to the massive notice boards, scanning the towering lists of parchment while I hung back.
"Let's see your teammates then. Hmm..." Azure traced a finger down the board. "Ragna Crimson. Lior Varythys. Jade Tempest. Azra Velkryss. And lastly... Valerius Cinder."
I blinked. Wow. My old 'boy band' of hyper-aggressive elemental prodigies was back together. Plus a new guy.
"More than half of your team are demons," Azure noted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But the Magma clan, also known as the Firemasters, are pretty strong too. A very interesting team."
He paused, a wistful sigh suddenly escaping his lips. "Though it would have been much more interesting to see the last primordial descendant here instead of this Firemaster kid. The descendant of the Primordial of Purple, Alita Cosmos. She is a beautiful girl, I've heard. And fierce too."
I gave my ancient master a deeply judgmental stare. "Are you seriously scoping out teenagers, old hag? Keep it professional."
"I'm just appreciating the history of the bloodlines!" Azure defended quickly, coughing into his fist.
"Whatever," I grumbled, not buying it for a second. "Just tell me when the match is."
Azure looked back at the schedule, completely unfazed. "After the ongoing one."
My brain stalled. The courtyard was literally vibrating from the sounds of explosions coming from the arena right next to us. The current match was already happening.
"What?!" I shouted, my composed, stoic facade shattering instantly. "But I'm not even prepared!"
Azure raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I can't cooperate if I don't know my teammates' powers!" I argued, my tactical mind desperately trying to run combat simulations with zero data. "I haven't seen Lior, Jade, or Azra fight in five years! I don't even know what a Firemaster does! How are we supposed to coordinate attacks?"
Azure actually laughed. He looked down at me with a sharp, piercing grin that reminded me exactly why he was a living legend.
"Ah, you're wrong," Azure corrected, his voice dropping into a strict, undeniable tone. "It's not about teamwork. It's about your powers."
He tapped a finger firmly against my chest.
"You have to be the star of the show to be a Core Disciple. You don't cooperate. You have to obey your ego."