Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

"What?" The star emperor asked while holding his hand to his itching cheek. 

Markus's attack wasn't serious. It was a simple bitch-slap, one he would serve a random civilian that would dare to insult him back in the time he was hailing from. 

In short words, Markus's attack wasn't aimed at hurting the man physically but at insulting his ego. By showing him how easy it was for the former saint to reach his face, something that most of the cultures across the entire world would grow to consider one's most honorable part, Markus only wanted to enrage the man. 

Not because he wanted to turn this place into a slaughterhouse. Markus did what he did, aiming to make the fight easier for Yelna down the line. 

After all, when compared to the former hero, he was but a weakling. 

"How dare you..." the youthful man asked, raising his furious eyes at Markus. "Just when the heck did you grow the balls to strike my handsome face," he uttered through his teeth, circulating his energy at the greatest pace that he could. 

At the same time, the world around man started to warp. It was as if his energy was so potent that the very fabric of space was unable to hold it any longer, making it twist and warp in order to accommodate the overreaching mana in the air. 

'No, that's not it,' Markus thought, keeping a close look at the man and everything that at least seemed to be connected to him. 'His energy isn't even that great,' he thought, unable to stop himself from comparing the guy ahead with the other man that he knew to be capable of wielding an extraordinary amount of mana. 'When compared to Layn, he is but a child in the dark... So how the heck can he cause effects like those?' Markus was puzzled by the situation, but that didn't mean he believed to have anything to worry about. 

Just like one wouldn't consider a circus' claun a threat only because they knew some tricks, Markus couldn't look seriously at this joke of a mage no matter what kind of tricks he had up his sleeves. 

After all, tricks are just that. Pitiful tricks. In the face of an overwhelming might and skill, they were nothing. 

"HOW DARE YOU?!" The man finally lost it, screaming the question from the bottom of his lungs. 

"Just like that," Markus countered without care, sending another slap in the direction of the man's face. 

This time, the connection between the magic that Markus absorbed and the mana of the Emperor was too weak to carry the true force of the attack. But it was still more than enough to change where the effect of Markus' slap ended up at. 

And once again, the face of the Star Emperor had to receive a huge dose of humiliation when Markus slap reached his other cheek. 

"As you can see, we have more than enough means to deal with you. So let's think together what choices do you have right now," Markus said with a wide smile as he opened his arms wide. For a moment, he looked like some kind of saint attempting to take all the sins and troubles of the world on his own shoulders in order to carry them all on his own. 

"The itch of your face is proof that we can reach you. No matter how fast, how agile, or how strong you are, you cannot match my strenght," Markus said as if it was the most obvious thing under the dome of the skies. "And that means you are nothing more but a pest in the eyes of my wife," Markus added while pointing his hand at Yelna. 

"That's what you want to believe in," the star emperor replied in a calm voice. In the short window that Markus used to speak up, this man managed to calm his senses and look with a cool head at the situation in front of him. 

'Impressive,' Markus thought, stopping the corner of his mouth from raising in satisfaction. 'It's nice to have an opponent that's competent enough to stay calm in the fight,' he commented in his mind before shaking his head and looking at the man again. 

"Look, I will be honest," Markus announced while crossing the arms over his chest. "Ever since your first bout with Yelna, my wife," Markus said before making sure that the man would understand that both Yelna and wife referred to the same person, "this fight was already settled," Markus announced, refusing to go into the details. 

"Do you take me for an idiot to believe that?" The man asked as his face darkened up a bit. 

"You will believe whatever you want to believe, but let me finish first," Markus squinted his eyes as he looked at the alleged Emperor with sparks of annoyance flying through his eyes. 

"Right now, you have three options. The first and the easiest one is to just let us go," Markus stated, relaxed to the point where he didn't mind closing his eyes for a little while. "We didn't steal from you. We didn't kill anyone yet. By doing so, you would gain our favor and possible concessions once we establish our camp on the desert," Markus explained the easiest way to solve the situation. "Of course, as you already made your stance, this would cost you quite a bit of your prestige, something that I believe you are more than willing to fight with your life on the line to preserve," Markus added as a wicked smile grew on his lips. 

For a slight moment, the face of the Star Emperor twitched. It was just a simple hint for anyone watching, but for Markus, this small tingle of the man's eyebrow was as good as a solid proof that he struck the jackpot with his guess. 

'So it was really this kind of magic,' the former saint thought before moving on to curse himself in his very own thoughts. 'If only I actually cared about those lessons back then,' he lamented in his heart, voluntarily assuming all the blame for the situation. 

"While you might not recognize the word, what you are using is called renown magic. Something that even in our place belonged to the theoretical magic, as the situation at the time it was discovered didn't allow for any extensive testing of it," Markus explained before shaking his head. "But that's not the point here. Your second option is to fight, end up losing, and be humiliated even more than in the first option. In this way, we will leave just like planned, but there will be no goodwill between us. As such, you could forget about any sort of cooperation that would make your lands flourish otherwise," Markus explained the other possibility... But his mind already wandered off. 

'The renown magic... In this time, it wouldn't be all that much of a problem to work on it,' Markus thought, already passionate about the possibility. 

There was a certain theory within the orthodox circle of the mages within the Imperial Academy. If one gathered enough renown to make rumors about him turn into legends, the common perception of his achievements would let him achieve what he was rumored to accomplish. That and the fact that the rumors of one's deeds were often greatly exaggerated made it the only magic in existence that seemingly didn't have any limits. 

Sadly, due to the massive war that shook the entire world back then, there wasn't any time to conduct proper experiments. As such, by the time Markus entered the academy, the group of the old mages that gave birth to the idea of renown magic was no longer amongst the living, burying the last hope of the Imperial Academy to ever match the Royal academy. 

'I know it's silly, but the spirit of competition from back then is still burning in my veins, I guess,' Markus thought, recalling all the sleepless nights that he had while trying to come up with some kind of genius invention that would let his academy finally overtake their competitors. 

Sadly, every single one of his magical achievements turned out to be overshadowed by the insane achievements of the arcana team of the royal academy. A team that Markus later learned Layn hailed from. 

"I doubt that he still even remembers that race... But it would be nice to learn more about this magic, even if just for the sake of surprising him later on," Markus muttered under his nose, only realizing that he voiced his thoughts when both Yelna and the Star Emperor alike sent him weird looks. 

"Woops, sorry for that," Markus instantly lowered his head and apologized. "I allowed my thoughts to wander. But now that I'm back at the topic, there is the third path you can take," Markus said, raising his head and looking the Star Emperor right in the eyes. 

"That is, refusing to cooperate and refusing to surrender," Markus said as a cold glint flashed through his eyes. "In that case, I will only leave my followers alive while letting both Yelna and the Cultivators hunters off the hook to slaughter everyone else," Markus said. 

'Even though I would like to avoid this option as it's unpractical, I can see how useful this town could be as a border fortress guarding our camp,' he thought to himself, ready to make the best use of any of the possible scenarios. 

"I really hate that arrogance of yours," the youthful man said while clenching his teeth. "But please, can you tell me just how did you come to the conclusion that you could win a bout against me?" he asked before moving his eyes on Yelna. "I don't know if you still remember, but she failed to as much as delivering a single hit!" 

Yelna squinted her eyes a bit when the man pointed his finger at her. Noticing this, Markus froze in place for a moment. "Man, are you seeking death?" he asked in a trembling voice, terrified by the girl even though she had yet to make a single move. "But let me humor your curiosity," Markus added as he moved forward to stand between the alleged Emperor and his wife. "From the very moment that she touched you, she has this and any of the future fights with you," Markus said, not bothering to hide what in another scenario could become quite a secret to keep hidden. "That's why she acted rashly before, just to get a hook on you," Markus shrugged his shoulders. 

"As if I would believe that," the man replied, pulling out his sword. So far, he only used his hands, his mana, and martial arts that mixed the two. But now he was going to get serious. 

Markus sighed. 

"Well, I guess you are not that smart as you looked to be," he said as he stepped to the side. "Dear, if I may ask..." 

Yelna leisurely took a step forward.