The attacks from the humanoid fire elemental grew increasingly rapid, and Seilapeisi found himself struggling to hold on.
Xiao Xun, growing more anxious with each passing moment, lost his composure. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he urged the High Priest beside him, "Quickly, think of a way! I, I really can't control it."
Seilapeisi flicked his shield, which had already turned a fiery red, and drew the Holy Flame Sword from space. With the might to cleave mountains and sever seas, he unleashed a sharp blade aura towards the humanoid fire elemental.
The powerful sword aura cleaved the fire elemental in two, and the impact also shattered the sturdy glass of the balcony.
"CRASH!"
Shattered glass rained down, bouncing on the floor like hailstones. Guards from downstairs rushed up, and upon seeing Seilapeisi holding the sword, they immediately knelt on one knee, heads bowed, and asked, "Your Majesty, are you unharmed?"
Seilapeisi wiped the sweat from his brow, planted the sword point-down on the ground, gripped the hilt, and waved his hand, "I am fine. You may withdraw!"
"Yes!"
After the guards departed, Xiao Xun felt compelled to return to Seilapeisi's side to clear his name. "Are you alright? I truly don't know what happened. When I told it to attack, it obeyed, but when I told it to stop, it wouldn't listen."
Seilapeisi gazed at the flames still burning on the ground. "Why haven't they extinguished yet?"
As he spoke, the two flames transformed into two humanoid fire elementals, identical in height to the previous one.
Both of them widened their eyes, and Xiao Xun exclaimed, "It can do that too? This is too much..."
Before Xiao Xun could finish, the two fire elementals attacked simultaneously. Xiao Xun cried out in alarm, "Didn't I summon you? Why are you attacking me too?"
The High Priest hurled his staff, blocking the fire elementals' assault, and then dashed behind the staff with incredible speed.
Chanting incantations, his eyes shone with an unusual light. A massive hexagram descended from the sky, extinguishing the fire elementals.
Xiao Xun inwardly cursed him, thinking, If he had this ability, why didn't he reveal it sooner, forcing me into such an awkward situation.
After extinguishing the fire elementals, the High Priest slowly returned to his normal form and turned to face them, his gaze primarily on Seilapeisi. "Your Majesty, do you remember the prophecy of that ancient seer?"
Seilapeisi remained silent. Xiao Xun glanced at him, then back at the High Priest, asking, "What prophecy?"
"When Chaos descends, disaster will reappear upon the mortal realm."
The High Priest uttered these words slowly, his eyes fixed on Xiao Xun.
Xiao Xun met the High Priest's gaze, his wrinkled but sharp eyes fixing on him. Pointing at himself, Xiao Xun asked, "You're saying this Chaos… it can't possibly mean me!"
"From the current situation, we cannot rule out this possibility, as you are fundamentally unable to control the energy contained within your body."
Xiao Xun patted his body. "What 'energy' are you talking about? If I were really as powerful as you say, would I have fractured my bone from a slight fall?"
Seilapeisi walked in front of them. "Teacher, you should go back first. I have my own plans. If the prophecy you speak of is true, then it is unavoidable. We can only take things one step at a time."
The High Priest nodded, gently tapped the floor with his staff, and vanished in a beam of light without a trace.
Seilapeisi walked to the bedroom door. "Stop standing there like an idiot. Come back in!"
Xiao Xun followed him into the bedroom, closed the door behind him, his eyes alight with undisguised excitement.
Mu Jiahe thought he was still bothered by the High Priest's earlier words and tried to comfort him. "The seer's prophecy that teacher mentioned is just one of many, and it might not specifically refer to you. It could mean something else entirely. Similar things have happened before, so don't take it to heart."
Xiao Xun suddenly looked up, his face beaming with excitement. "I'm a magical prodigy, one in tens of thousands! I knew my life wouldn't be ordinary."
Mu Jiahe held his forehead, utterly defeated by Xiao Xun's naivete. "So that's what you were thinking about! Yes, Chaos mages are extremely rare, but you have no spells to learn and can't control your body's energy. You probably won't pose much of a threat to other mages."
Xiao Xun looked at his hands. "I can't wait to participate in those three competitions. By the way, when did those old men in the House of Representatives set the date?"
Mu Jiahe smiled. "Didn't you say you didn't want to participate?"
"That was before. Now that I'm such a powerful genius mage, if I don't show them, they'll think I got this title through flattery."
As he spoke, he even hopped in place, throwing punches and looking eager to compete.
Mu Jiahe checked the time. "I really don't know what to do with you. Are you going to sleep, or not? If you're not, I'm going to sleep first. I was almost exhausted to death earlier."
Xiao Xun waved his hand. "You go ahead and sleep! I'll see if I can control the energy within my body."
He then pushed his hands forward in a palm strike. Mu Jiahe, half-reclining on the bed, said, "Practice if you must, but don't set the bedroom on fire."
Xiao Xun directly pushed open the door and went out into the hall. Looking at the mess, he fumbled, trying to see if he could mobilize the energy within his body.
After much effort, all he managed to produce was a loud fart, nearly making the guards downstairs think something had happened upstairs again.
Xiao Xun slowly walked to the castle balcony, a place only Seilapeisi could access, and gazed at the scenery outside and the bright moonlight.
"It seems I'll have to visit the library again tomorrow to find out what this so-called Chaos magic means. Perhaps there will be a method to practice it."
Time passed, and the two returned to their original world. Mu Jiahe got up and first looked at his large doll, holding it in his arms and caressing it. He buried his face in the doll's fluffy body, unable to put it down.
Xiao Xun was still lost in the thought of being a genius mage who appeared only once in thousands of years. He kept providing his own voice-over, like a child imitating characters on television, performing various strange and unusual movements.
Mu Jiahe, hugging the doll, said to Xiao Xun, "Stop playing around and go make dinner!"
"Yes, sir!"
Xiao Xun executed a front roll, nearly twisting his neck, but it felt like a stiff neck – any movement caused discomfort.
He clutched his neck and stood before Mu Jiahe. "Mr. Mu, please use your magic to heal me..."
Unexpectedly, Mu Jiahe flung the covers aside, kicked Xiao Xun, and said, "Heal your own damn head! Serves you right. You're always messing around without thinking. I can't heal this. Hurry up and make dinner."
With no other choice, Xiao Xun tilted his head, rubbing his neck as he went to cook.
After they finished eating, Xiao Xun, still enduring the pain, drove Mu Jiahe to the company.
As they rode the elevator, all the supervisors saw Xiao Xun with his head tilted and clutching his neck. They asked with ill-concealed amusement, "Director Xiao, what happened to your neck?"
"Nothing, just a stiff neck."
Director Liu patted his shoulder. "You need to pay more attention to rest! Health is the foundation of all endeavors. While others work 996, you can't be working 007!"
Xiao Xun had just managed to say, "Thank you for your concern," when he felt something was amiss. Before he could explain, the elevator doors had already opened.
Upon returning to the technology department's office area, all the employees and the department manager stood up as usual and bowed slightly to Xiao Xun, greeting him, "Good morning, Director."