Chapter 147: Tracking Bullets and Remote-Controlled Bombs

"Come on, Zichuan! Beat those Japanese ghosts!"
"Don't disgrace our martial arts school!"
"Tang Zichuan, you are the best!"
"..."

Before Tang Zichuan and Abe Island Fragrance could make a move, the disciples of the martial arts school in the audience erupted. The earth-shattering cheers tilted overwhelmingly to one side, filling the entire Japanese delegation with intense malice.

"Unalive the yellow-skinned monkeys with no class."

At the edge of the martial arts stage, Miyamoto Isshin sat hunched on the steps, a cold smile playing on his lips. Though he couldn't understand the shouts from the crowd below, the resentful expressions on their faces made their thoughts abundantly clear.

"Isshin-san, do you think Island Fragrance-san will lose this opening match to the opponent?"

Gomi Hyo was a delicate-looking young newcomer who had seen very little of the world. Dressed in a martial arts uniform with a long nodachi tucked into his waist, it was his first time participating in such an event. Inevitably intimidated by the fanatical cheering of the crowd, his face was pale, and his palms were slick with sweat.

Tang Zichuan was tall and robust, while Abe Island Fragrance opposite him looked like a petite porcelain doll, standing at least two heads shorter. The sense of oppression was instantly palpable... causing Gomi Hyo no small amount of anxiety.

Though Miyamoto Isshin was arrogant and held a deep prejudice against outsiders, he was surprisingly gentle toward his juniors.

"No need to worry."

He looked at Gomi Hyo, shaking his head lazily. "That sissy may not have much of a reputation, but he is still a member of the Abe family after all. How could he possibly lose to a yellow-skinned monkey? You're overthinking it..."

Although Miyamoto Isshin disliked Abe Island Fragrance's effeminate personality, as a member of an ancient native Japanese lineage of Onmyoji, the strength of the Abe family was quite formidable. Even with all his disdain, Miyamoto Isshin could not deny that fact.

Gomi Hyo still wore a worried expression. "But Island Fragrance-san's opponent looks so tall and imposing. He seems really powerful."

"Tall and imposing?" Miyamoto Isshin sneered. "That doesn't mean a damn thing. If being big and using a fierce appearance could easily win you a victory, then all our bitter, arduous training would become completely meaningless."

"This is your first time participating in such a competition, so you don't need to worry too much. Winning or losing doesn't matter; as long as you gain something, it's good... Besides, our goal isn't here anyway. It'll be fine as long as you don't get hurt," Miyamoto Isshin said lazily.

"Yes... Senior."

Reassured, the tender, green newcomer Gomi Hyo quickly calmed down. Meanwhile, the battle on the stage kicked off swiftly.

Because it was the opening match, both Abe Island Fragrance and Tang Zichuan appeared extremely cautious. As the fight began, the two of them moved gingerly, observing and probing each other's moves... seeking victory through stability.

Facing each other, they circled along the diagonals of the spacious arena. After a long while, the first to lose patience and launch an attack was Tang Zichuan.

He stepped forward, seemingly adopting a reckless brawler's approach as he charged directly toward Abe Island Fragrance.

Just when everyone thought a head-on collision was about to begin, Tang Zichuan, who had just lunged forward, suddenly retreated.

Immediately following this, he raised his hand, and nine pale purple flying needles shot out from his sleeves, hurtling toward Abe Island Fragrance in a triangular formation like bolts of purple lightning.

Swish—

The needles streaked through the air, their purple radiance dazzling.

Yet, Abe Island Fragrance on the other side was not fooled by Tang Zichuan's feint, remaining completely unmoved.

"Tricks and toys!"

Facing the incoming poisonous needles, Abe Island Fragrance let out a soft hunch, then slowly raised his hand. In an instant, a pitch-black light emerged from behind him.

[Shikigami: Inugami]

The black light hit the ground and materialized before him, transforming into a towering, malevolent spirit.

Standing in front of Abe Island Fragrance, the spirit was a tall, naked, single-eyed ghost nearly three meters in height. Its lips jutted outward, its fangs interlocked, and it grasped a massive spiked club in its hands.

As soon as the single-eyed ghost appeared, it used its massive bulk to block all nine flying needles that were hurtling in a triangular formation.

"Pfft—"

The toxic needles pierced its muscular chest, but failed to penetrate deeply; a few were even bounced straight off upon impact.

However, though the poison needles posed no threat to the single-eyed ghost, the miasma lingering around them exploded the moment the needles collided.

The purple poisonous mist churned, wrapping around the massive Shikigami instantly like a clinging bone. The dense, highly corrosive poison caused the Inugami's skin to crack inch by inch, blooming on the arena like a purple lotus.

Yet, enveloped in the toxic fog with its flesh splitting open, the Inugami seemed to feel no pain. Its scarlet eyes glowed with a bloody light as it hefted its massive bone spiked club and charged toward Tang Zichuan.

While Abe Island Fragrance was summoning his Shikigami, Tang Zichuan certainly hadn't been idle. His figure darted and paused across the arena several times before bypassing the poison-ringed Inugami to launch an attack on Abe Island Fragrance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Moving at high speed, Tang Zichuan looked like a miniature launcher... A continuous stream of toxic needles, poisoned darts, and concealed mechanism weapons poured out, blanketing the area below toward Abe Island Fragrance like a torrential storm, sealing off every possible blind spot.

Under the dense storm of hidden weapons, the Inugami released by Abe Island Fragrance looked like a giant ragdoll being pulled this way and that, riddled with holes in the blink of an eye.

Faced with this scene, Abe Island Fragrance showed not a hint of panic. He gently flicked open the folding fan in his hand, and a rich black light burst from the fan, rapidly shifting into a deep blue.

[Shikigami: Genbu]

An ice-blue hexagram array emerged from beneath Abe Island Fragrance's feet, resembling a surging column of water bursting toward the sky.

From within the current, a massive dark blue giant turtle bearing a heavy boulder on its back suddenly leaped out. Enveloped in a deep blue light, it shielded Abe Island Fragrance within, using its boulder-like shell to block all the incoming hidden weapons.

Those concealed weapons crashed against the turtle shell as if plunging into ripples of water, their momentum drained away as they clattered down around Abe Island Fragrance's feet.

Protected by [Shikigami: Genbu], Abe Island Fragrance gazed leisurely at Tang Zichuan, his expression deeply serene and relaxed.

"This is so troublesome!"

Tang Zichuan frowned tightly.

Although he had anticipated that someone from the great Onmyoji Abe family wouldn't be easy to deal with, these consecutive clashes left him feeling completely at a loss for how to proceed. Protected by the opponent's Shikigami, his hidden weapons struggled to inflict effective damage—getting close was already a monumental task.

"Don't waste your energy. You'd better try a different method. Your hidden weapons... are meaningless."

Protected by his Shikigami, Abe Island Fragrance and the moving Tang Zichuan presented two completely contrasting styles. Regarding the latter's futile and meaningless efforts, Abe Island Fragrance offered a playful piece of advice.

"Without trying, how can one know whether hidden weapons are useful or useless?"

Whether due to his nature or something else, Tang Zichuan showed no intention of giving up despite Abe Island Fragrance's discouragement, maintaining his rhythm of high-speed projectile throwing.

"Foolish behavior."

Inside the Shikigami's protective barrier, Abe Island Fragrance shook his head in disdain, making no additional moves.

He wasn't in the least bit anxious.

As long as the opponent's thrown weapons couldn't pierce his [Shikigami: Genbu], they were entirely meaningless to him. Maintaining such a high frequency of throwing and movement meant the opponent simply couldn't sustain it for long. He only needed to wait quietly until the opponent's stamina was completely exhausted, at which point he could claim victory in the opening match without breaking a sweat.

A blindly foolish monkey.

With that thought, Abe Island Fragrance couldn't be bothered to care what Tang Zichuan was trying to accomplish.

Let him be. The one who would get tired wasn't going to be him, anyway.

So he thought, and so he waited.

Tang Zichuan across the arena was like the old man moving mountains, persevering tirelessly and throwing concealed weapons in an endless stream.

As the number of thrown weapons increased, the pile scattered at Abe Island Fragrance's feet gradually formed a small mound.

Gazing at the carpet of fine flying needles, poison pills, and edged miniature daggers lying at his feet, Abe Island Fragrance finally realized something was amiss.

Able to step onto this stage, his opponent was definitely not someone with a defective intellect. Since he wasn't an idiot, such a time-consuming and exhausting endeavor must have a purpose.

Staring, staring... Abe Island Fragrance suddenly noticed that a deep purple poison pill lying near his feet twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Oh no!"

The moment he saw the poison pill twitch, Abe Island Fragrance's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively wanted to step back. But at that instant, Tang Zichuan's voice suddenly echoed...

"After laying the groundwork for so long, it's about time I let you witness the true power of Tang Sect's Object Manipulation."

[Object Manipulation—Detonate]

As the words fell, the scattered hidden weapons on the ground simultaneously glowed with a faint red light. Though the light was weak, gathered together, it resembled a giant ball of light.

Accompanied by the red glow, cracks appeared across the surface of the hidden weapons scattered at his feet, and an even more intense, deep purple radiance burst from within. Before Abe Island Fragrance could react, the blooming light flared across his field of vision, swallowing him whole along with the [Genbu] defense.

Boom, rumbling—

Red light mixed with purple radiance swallowed more than half of the martial arts arena. Rolling explosions echoed in the ears one after another, resembling a daytime fireworks display.

......

......

"Master Wang, this young man's object manipulation technique is quite decent, isn't it? But to blow up so many special hidden weapons forged from rare materials just like that—he sure is wealthy."

The tedious battle on the stage lacked excitement, but Tang Zichuan's sudden shift to self-detonation instantly piqued Ye Yan's interest.

Zhang Wang nodded calmly, wearing the expression of an old man who had foreseen it all—provided one ignored the smile stretching to the corners of his ears, it might have looked convincing.

"Brother Yan, what just happened?"

Though Liu Han was an insider in the circle, he wasn't very familiar with the Tang Sect of the Shu region. He had been completely baffled by the battle just now, knowing only that Tang Zichuan kept throwing hidden weapons while Abe Island Fragrance hid inside a turtle shell, and then the weapons all over the ground suddenly exploded... As for how that operation was pulled off, Liu Han didn't understand at all.

Ye Yan glanced at Himayoshi Jun not far away before lowering his voice. "What Tang Zichuan just used is simply the exclusive object manipulation technique of the Tang Sect."

"Object Manipulation?" Liu Han was blank. He naturally knew what object manipulation was—for instance, the descendants of Wu Hou and the Jia family of the Northwest were both masters of it. Such techniques weren't too difficult to learn, but mastering them was far from easy.

Yet compared to the object manipulation he was familiar with, the Tang Sect technique before him fell entirely outside his sphere of knowledge.

Seeing his expression, Ye Yan smiled and explained, "The Tang Sect's object manipulation technique is different from those of other families."

"Take the Jia family of the Northwest or the Wu Hou school; their object manipulation focuses on the word 'manipulate', emphasizing control over the objects and the manipulation of Qi."

"The Tang Sect's technique, however, places far greater emphasis on the 'object' itself."

"These are two entirely different philosophies."

"..."

During his time staying in the Tang Sect, Ye Yan had been exposed to some of the sect's native martial arts. The unique object manipulation technique was one of them, which was why he could answer Liu Han's question.

"Is there a difference between the two?" Liu Han humbly asked for instruction.

"A difference?" Ye Yan paused. "Put it this way: the object manipulation you are familiar with uses Qi to control objects, focusing on the mastery of manipulation and the manipulation of Qi."

"The Tang Sect's technique, on the other hand, involves throwing these manipulated objects out like hidden weapons. Most of these items are forged from special materials that have a high conductivity for toxic miasma and Qi."

"Once the manipulated objects hit their target and embed themselves in the human body, they can be detonated to inflict massive secondary damage..."

"To put it in terms easier to understand: the Northwest Jia family's object manipulation is like a homing bullet, whereas the Tang Sect's object manipulation is a remote-controlled bomb."

"Understand?"

"Got it."

Ye Yan explained the characteristics of the Tang Sect's object manipulation and how it differed from other methods in just a few words, causing Liu Han to draw a sharp breath.

"Then, Brother Yan, which side do you think the victory of this battle leans toward?" Liu Han hesitated before asking softly.

As a top-tier sorcerer who possessed a relatively good understanding of Tang Sect martial arts, Ye Yan's perspective and insight were far more precise than his own—which was why Liu Han asked.

"Though I'd rather not admit it, that kid from the Abe family is no pushover. It will probably be exceptionally difficult for Tang Zichuan to win this match."

Liu Han and the others didn't know who was behind the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons that night, but Ye Yan did.

If nothing else... just that door of unknown origin and the staggering number of hundred demons—any single one of them was something Tang Zichuan couldn't easily resolve...

That many Japanese hundred demons were a problem even Liu Han and his group would find themselves at a wane against, let alone Tang Zichuan.

Even if the latter's mastery of the Tang Sect's object manipulation technique was already quite impressive, trying to defeat such an Abe Island Fragrance was no different from reaching the heavens.

At least, Ye Yan felt it was impossible.

Sure enough, not long after Ye Yan's voice fell, the brilliant fireworks on the stage dissipated.

In their place was a vast expanse of deep purple poisonous fog that occupied most of the arena and continued to expand outward.

Amidst the spreading toxic mist, a heavy set of footsteps echoed from within. Abe Island Fragrance walked out, his clothes disheveled and blood steadily dripping from both arms.

The squinted fox eyes he usually wore slowly opened at this moment, replaced by a fierce, vicious glint.

"You're quite good..."