God Of Crafting

Chapter 256 A solution so simple, no one noticed it before

"Okay then, I think that settles it," Claire suddenly announced in a voice loud enough to make it clear it wasn't just her disciple that she aimed those words for.

"Hmm?" I turned my eyes toward Claire's mom, quite curious about what kind of new idea she had for her voice to sound so excited.

"It doesn't make sense for any of my men to risk their health just to help you test the limits of their strength," Leila stated, shaking her head as if she were admitting to her own faults. "I didn't expect it to be the case, but it seems they are too weak to properly serve this purpose. And so," she paused for a second only to place a huge, vibrant smile on her face, "I will be your target."

"Hell no."@@@@

It didn't matter whether Claire's mom genuinely wanted to help me or if she was trying to progress some sort of scheme.

"It was already a stretch to have me punch a woman, practitioner or not. But to strike at my woman's mother?" I asked, squinting my eyes only to then let go of Claire's hand just so I could cross my arms over my chest and shake my head. "There's absolutely no way in hell."

This wasn't up for discussion.

Not because I feared that someone would somehow record it and then use it as evidence to slaughter my name and sully my reputation. Not even because I disliked the very idea of striking a woman, even if it was just a friendly spar.

Leila, for better or worse and regardless of her true intentions, was Claire's mother. That meant, for me at the very least, that unless she openly tried to do Claire, Chihiro, or me personal harm, I considered her to be untouchable.

"Do you really think you can punch hard enough, even with all of your cultivation, to pass my guard?" Leila mirrored my stance as she crossed her own arms over her chest, raising her left eyebrow while lowering its right twin.

She was someone who actually trained in the arts of cultivation, which included both the arts of using the spiritual energy and the methods of infusing it into one's own martial arts.

That, all in its own right, made her actually quite a bit more dangerous to an average opponent than me, even if she lacked the singular attack that could reach the same prowess as my punch.

"That's..." At first, Leila was so taken aback she literally retreated a step. Yet, when faced with the determined look in her daughter's eyes... Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"That's actually a good idea," she stated, conquering the very same step that she had just retreated, only to cross her arms over her chest as she defiantly looked back right into Claire's eyes. "So," she spoke, only to suddenly explode her cultivation, filling the whole area with enough pressure to actually make it difficult for me to breathe, "how do you want to test your limits, dear?"

Even with all of this pressure, however, Claire didn't buckle.

Instead, she simply raised her hand and then pushed a streak of her hair out of her face, as if making sure there was nothing to obscure her view of her target—her very own mother.

'What does she hold against her,' I thought to myself, taken aback by the sheer amount of joy in Claire's eyes and soul I could feel through our bond when it finally came the time for those two to confront each other. 'Could it be... is she angry about those plans to marry her off just to bring her over to this part of the world? Or maybe...'

I gulped my saliva down.

'Or maybe there's something else that sours their relationship?'

This question, however, would remain unanswered for the time being, for rather than solving their conflict through words, Claire was clearly much more interested in letting her fist do the speaking.

"Just the way it was happening before," she stated with a smile as she lowered her hand and then shook them a little to warm her arms up before the exercise. "I will throw a series of strikes, infusing each successive one with more and more of my spirituality, all the way to the point where I either reach the limit of how heavily I can punch out," she paused for a second only for the look of determination in her eyes to give way to the look of strangely vile excitement, "or you reach the limit of what you can defend against and surrender!"