6 Chapter 6: Pristine Mind

"Of course, the water element expert. Water can extinguish any fire. It is the direct nemesis of the fire element." Jason instantly replied with full confidence in his deducing abilities.

"Absolutely incorrect. Did I not say that they fought each other to a standstill? Are you totally dumb or what? At least put in some effort!!!" The old man could not help but scold Jason severely.

"Ah ok, let me think, let me think" cried Jason frantically while cursing the old man in his mind.

'Damn this old man. Why not just give me the answer if you know it? Why make me go through all this trouble?'

As Jason started thinking, he observed another strange occurrence. He could subconsciously feel his mind getting calmer and calmer as every second went by. All the thoughts about his past, the black skull, the old man, his future cultivation road etc., everything started to disappear one after the other. They were cast out as if they were something very trivial and unimportant at this point of time.

Soon, his pristine mind had only one question.

'Who would win the duel?'

…

Suddenly, a source of inspiration flashed in his mind. He started recollecting a scene in his mind from an anime that he had seen during his college days. The main character was fighting a huge ape which was about 10 times bigger than himself and much stronger as well. The MC had already exhausted most of his martial powers and exhausted himself to limits using a technique that put enormous pressure on his body.

The MC and his friends had somehow already figured out that they needed to cut the ape's tail in order to reduce his power. So, they devised a plan. The MC would distract him, his friend would cut the tail.

The scene continued as the MC ran circles around the ape, staying out of reach by evading and running away whenever an attack was about to hit him. This cat and mouse game continued for quite a while.

Suddenly, the MC stopped abruptly, his back facing the sun. Facing the giant ape, he slowly brought his fingers to his forehead and shouted a very small incantation while shutting his eyes tight. And then there was a bright light. S bright that it felt as if the entire world would get shallowed by this light

….

The scene slowly faded from his mind as the question resurfaced.

'Who would win the duel?'

"Master," Jason started answering, " Since the two experts have fought each other for quite some time now, and yet there was no clear winner, they must be experts who are very similar in terms of strength. In such a situation the expert who would have the upper hand in the final moments would be the one whose 'secret' is more powerful."

Reed, puzzled by Jason's sudden change in the manner of speaking, was confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Their 'secret', master. It could be a treasure, a battle technique, an escape technique. Anything works, as long as it is not expected by the opponent."

Jason took a slight pause and then continued.

"But the 'secret' would be useless if the element required to activate it would be the same as the one that the expert is already using in the fight. For example, if the fire element expert takes out a secret treasure or battle technique that uses the same fire element, it will not be very effective as the water element expert would already be on guard against the fire element."

"Continue, boy" Reed urged.

"But the story would totally change if the fire element user used a technique of a different element. Say, as the fight gets more and more intense, suddenly the fire element expert uses a light element technique that blinds the enemy temporarily or an earth element technique that roots the enemy. Even though the damage done by that particular technique might not be very high, the distraction caused by the technique would be enough for the fire element expert to completely overwhelm his enemy."

"Of course, if the water element expert was much stronger, or had a passive technique that granted status resistance, the efforts would have been futile. But for opponents with similar cultivation levels, the 'secret' would probably be the only deciding factor."

The old man was shocked to the core. 'How did this brat give such a flawless answer? He has never known anything about cultivation, much less ever see two cultivators fight. Yet he has understood a concept that takes brats of his age decades to figure out. Some of them only get to know about the importance of having a secret moments before their death. Yet this brat...'

While the old man was lost in his thoughts, Jason was absorbed in thoughts of his own.

'What on earth just happened to me? Why did I blank out all of a sudden? Ah, that's not correct. I clearly remember that I was thinking about something. What was it? Damn, the past few minutes are really hazy in my mind'

"Brat, maybe you are not too bad." Finally, the old man said in a calm manner.