Chapter 148: Storing Power in the Wind, Killing Without a Trace

"Shikigami: Azure Dragon"
"Shikigami: White Tiger"
"Shikigami: Vermilion Bird"
"Shikigami: Ksitigarbha"

Walking out from the toxic mist, Abe Shimaka's eyes were filled with anger, completely shedding his previous lazy demeanor.

The moment he appeared, he summoned all his beast-class Shikigami except for the "Black Tortoise," alongside a gigantic Ksitigarbha evil spirit.

The Ksitigarbha crawled up from beneath the arena, its rumbling movements making the earth tremble continuously, while howling Yin winds swept in from behind Abe Shimaka.

In an instant, the vast expanse of poisonous mist deliberately laid out by Tang Zichuan was instantly dispersed. Driven by the howling wind, it blew toward the surroundings, and the open martial arts arena quickly returned to its original state.

Following the roars of dragons and tigers, an ice-blue Azure Dragon, a translucent White Tiger, and a Vermilion Bird wreathed in flames appeared beside Abe Shimaka. Terrifying spiritual energy erupted from his body, pressing down heavily upon Tang Zichuan below. The visual impact was extreme, causing the audience offstage to hold their breath involuntarily.

"Damn it..."

Suppressed by the spiritual energy, Tang Zichuan felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss. The immense spiritual energy was like a pair of giant hands pressing him firmly against the ground.

At this moment, the immense gap between the two was instantly revealed.

Overwhelmed by Abe Shimaka's terrifying spiritual energy, Tang Zichuan forced his body to obey, but his limbs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

Meanwhile, within this brief span of time, the Ksitigarbha evil spirit had completely dragged itself out from underground.

Towering in the center of the martial arts arena like a ferocious totem, the Ksitigarbha evil spirit radiated a pitch-black halo all around. Just looking at it gave one a creepy, hair-raising sensation...

At the same time, the Four Divine Beasts launched their attacks on Tang Zichuan from various angles.

A sky full of ice prisms, roaring gales, scorching flames, and the mind-disturbing sinister laughter brought by Ksitigarbha echoed continuously around him. For Tang Zichuan, these were all terrifyingly lethal entities.

He was like a man cast into hell.

He could find no opportunity for counterattack whatsoever.

"He's lost!"

Ye Yan sighed from the viewing platform.

The next second, Tang Zichuan was heavily struck and sent flying off the arena by a tail sweep from "Shikigami: Azure Dragon," landing on the ground unconscious.

Clean, decisive, and without a shadow of a doubt.

From the moment Abe Shimaka launched his counterattack, the outcome of this battle had been completely sealed.

There were no surprises.

In the arena,

Absolute silence reigned.

The Tang Sect disciples, who had previously cheered like roaring waves, fell into a prolonged silence at this moment.

It was hard to imagine that Tang Zichuan, the senior they were so proud of, had been defeated just like that.

Without even a chance to fight back.

For a moment, a pall of gloom settled into the depths of everyone's heart, casting a haze of uncertainty over the entire battle.

Losing the opening match was unacceptable to the Tang Sect disciples who had pinned such high hopes on it.

Yet, facts were facts.

Compared to the defeated-dog appearance of the downcast Tang Sect members, the Fusang delegation appeared far more composed, as if the outcome of the battle had been expected all along.

A sneer hung high on Miyamoto Isshin's face. Although this was not their home ground, raw strength was clearly what mattered most.

The first match had been won.

With Tang Zichuan's defeat, Zhang Wang's expression also turned somewhat ugly. However, he did not flare up; after all, this was a fair duel.

Zhang Wang called someone over to send the unconscious Tang Zichuan away for medical treatment. He also sent someone to the Fusang delegation to ask if they needed treatment, only to be coldly refused by Abe Shimaka.

Abe Shimaka's injuries were minor, merely a scratch on his arm caused by the exploding hidden weapon. But the critical issue was the highly corrosive poisonous gas adhering to the outer layer.

That was the fatal part.

Originally, Zhang Wang had intended to send someone to help him clear away the poisonous miasma. Unexpectedly, Abe Shimaka directly summoned a Shikigami resembling a waterweed spirit, using the juice from its leaves to anoint the wound, which remarkably halted the corrosive spread of the miasma...

The battle between Tang Zichuan and Abe Shimaka could barely be described as fierce. Yet it did not affect the upcoming matches in the slightest. Less than ten minutes later,

the second match began.

Li Lianxing, wearing a black cloth tunic, and Yagyu Aiko, dressed in a light-green coat and cradling a long sword, slowly stepped onto the stage, curtain-raising the second bout.

Compared to the cautious probing between Tang Zichuan and Abe Shimaka in the first match, the two fighters who stepped onto the stage this time appeared exceptionally relaxed and casual.

Li Lianxing had a toothpick dangling from his mouth, which, paired with his lazy, uncle-next-door attire, made him look exactly like a puny hoodlum roaming the streets. Opposite him, Yagyu Aiko, clutching her long sword, cast a cold gaze at him.

After studying him for a brief moment, Li Lianxing spat out the toothpick and spoke first, "Fighting and all that is just the most troublesome thing in the world."

"How about this, little sister? Let's not make it complicated. I'll fight you for just one strike. If you can take this strike, I'll directly admit defeat... If you can't take it... you admit defeat. How's that?"

Li Lianxing disliked fighting women, especially beautiful ones.

Therefore... upon seeing Yagyu Aiko, he proposed these terms.

"Fine..."

Yagyu Aiko merely glanced at him coldly and then nodded.

One strike also met her expectations.

"Alright, then be careful."

As his words fell, Li Lianxing's laziness vanished entirely, and his gaze turned sharp.

He stood in place, feet planted firmly apart, without channeling Qi to clear the path as ordinary practitioners typically did.

Instead, his entire being seemed to transform into an intangible ghost, reducing his presence to the absolute minimum, as if he had merged with the entire martial arts arena as one.

Clearly, he was standing right there, yet people would involuntarily want to overlook his existence.

Yagyu Aiko leaned forward and gripped her sword, assuming a standard Iaijutsu starting stance as she stared fixedly at Li Lianxing.

The opponent did not move.

Neither did she.

Yet, as she kept her gaze locked on him, Yagyu Aiko felt the person before her flicker for a split second, and her line of sight involuntarily shifted off-center.

Then, a gentle breeze brushed across her cheek.

The next second, a tiny wound appeared on her fair, slender neck, and bright red blood began to trickle down drop by drop.

"How is that possible?"

Yagyu Aiko's pupils dilated to the size of needle points, her eyes filled with disbelief... completely unable to fathom what had just happened.

And yet, she was injured.

Injured without even the slightest awareness of how it happened... How could this be?

Yagyu Aiko racked her brains in utter bewilderment, but right at that moment, Li Lianxing's lazy voice drifted into her ears, pulling her back to her senses.

"Looks like I win."

Yagyu Aiko looked up to see him squinting with a brilliant smile. The once-faint presence had instantly returned to what it was at the start.

"How did you hurt me? Hidden weapons? Flying needles? Or some peculiar trick?"

Yagyu Aiko couldn't figure it out. She had stared at him the entire time without missing a single microscopic detail, yet he had still easily injured her.

"Secret!"

Li Lianxing smiled playfully, choosing not to explain what he had done. Instead, he urged her with calm composure, "Fulfill your promise..."

"Fine, you win."

After staring at Li Lianxing for three full seconds, Yagyu Aiko did not stubbornly persist. She straightened up, cradled her long sword back into her arms, uttered those words, and turned to walk off the stage... handing the victory to her opponent.

"A wise choice..."

Li Lianxing lightly patted his sleeves, then lazily turned around and flashed a peace sign at the battered Tang Sect disciples below.

"I won."

The next second, the silenced Tang Sect disciples erupted into cheers once again, even more enthusiastic than before.

And far more hysterical.

"Ohhhhhh!!!"

"Senior Lianxing, I love you!!!"

"I want to have your babies!!!"

"..."

Amidst the cheers of the crowd of Tang Sect disciples, Li Lianxing put his hands on his hips and swaggered off the stage.

He had successfully clawed back a point for the Tang Sect.

"This Li Lianxing is no simple character."

On the platform, Ye Yan sighed once more, while Zhang Wang beside him smiled so broadly his old face blossomed like a chrysanthemum.

Although there were no flashy fights, no scheming or premeditation, this seemingly brainless and breezy battle hid a degree of danger far greater than the previous one...

"Master Wang, if I'm not mistaken, this young man just used the 'Instant Strike', didn't he?"

Ye Yan wasn't a member of the Tang Sect, but he had a discerning eye and recognized the technique Li Lianxing used to win as the Tang Sect's close-combat martial art, the "Instant Strike."

A lethal, one-hit-kill secret technique of the Tang Sect.

As a secret technique, the Instant Strike was a stabbing method used when engaging powerful targets at close quarters.

Its essence lay in swiftness, acting without hesitation, striking true on the first blow—a technique deeply integrated into one's instincts.

"That's right."

Zhang Wang nodded, knowingly acknowledging that what Li Lianxing used was indeed the Tang Sect's "Instant Strike."

Hearing Zhang Wang's confirmation, Ye Yan's gaze turned strange. "But Master Wang, if I remember correctly, this 'Instant Strike' method should rely on force and cleverness, with an explosive power that is fierce and unyielding."

"Yet the path taken by that young man just now seems completely different from the 'Instant Strike' I know."

Back in the day, when Ye Yan roamed the Tang Sect, he had also been attracted by this formidable close-combat technique and tried to learn it.

However, because it required painstaking effort and years of grinding practice, Ye Yan eventually gave up on it.

This gave him a certain degree of understanding regarding this secret Tang Sect technique.

Yet it was precisely because of this understanding that Ye Yan harbored doubts about what Li Lianxing had just pulled off.

The "Instant Strike" mastered by Li Lianxing seemed vastly different from that of anyone else in the Tang Sect, at least from Ye Yan's perspective.

Zhang Wang hesitated for a moment before stroking his beard and explaining to Ye Yan,

"Lianxing is a good seedling. Unlike those other kids in the martial arts school who are fickle and greedy... in all these years at the martial arts school, he only learned two skills..."

"One is the 'Illusion Body Shroud', and the other is this 'Instant Strike'."

"Over a dozen years, he simply kept honing these two kung fu skills, practicing them to absolute perfection. When it comes to these two techniques, even we old folks have to tip our hats to him."

"..."

Zhang Wang's eyes carried a hint of nostalgia. "A few years ago, when this kid graduated from the martial arts school, he came to talk to me, saying he wanted to carve out a different path and find a unique way forward based on the 'Instant Strike'."

"At the time, I just laughed at the boy's naivety—how could a skill passed down by our ancestors be so easily modified? But I never expected he would actually figure it out."

"If I'm not mistaken... the 'Instant Strike' he unleashed just now should be an improved version he figured out himself."

"In that boy's own words, it's about 'concealing power within the wind, taking lives invisibly'..."

"..."

Zhang Wang briefly explained it to Ye Yan.

However, he couldn't guarantee whether the method Li Lianxing used was truly the Instant Strike anymore.

"Concealing power within the wind, taking lives invisibly. Interesting, truly fascinating..."

Ye Yan rolled the phrase over and over in his mouth, chewing on it repeatedly. Then he raised his head, looking at Li Lianxing with a hint of newfound curiosity.

To actually successfully modify the "Instant Strike," this guy named Li Lianxing was indeed a genius.

Ye Yan calculated in his mind what kind of opportunity he could find to approach Li Lianxing.

Such a genius was worth knowing, and ideally, he should be poached into the "Night Division."

His own faction was only just beginning to take shape, and he currently needed geniuses like this to reinforce its ranks.

Brilliant!

The more Ye Yan thought about it, the more viable it seemed, and once the idea took root, it was unstoppable.

For the rest of the time, although Ye Yan was physically on the viewing platform, his mind had long since drifted over to Li Lianxing, and he couldn't even summon the interest to watch the match between Tang Wenlong and Yamamaru Jiro.

Of course, lack of interest was only one reason; the main point was that this match was far too boring, completely mediocre without any standout moments.

And this fellow named Yamamaru Jiro was obviously a greenhorn with zero practical combat experience.

Compared to the likes of Abe Shimaka and Li Lianxing, he was worlds apart—separated by a gulf wide enough to cross ten thousand Heavenly Masters.

Therefore, amidst such a battle of mutual peckings between noobs, Ye Yan's attention was naturally diverted.

In the end, the match concluded with Tang Wenlong's victory, bringing the score of the matches to 1 to 2.

The Tang Sect held a slight advantage.

...

In the evening, at a certain star-rated hotel.

Inside the reception room.

Gouma Yoshito gathered Abe Shimaka, Miyamoto Isshin, and Yagyu Aiko together.

Miyamoto Isshin sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, listening to music through headphones around his neck.

"To think you could still lose two matches against a bunch of yellow-skinned monkeys; you guys really are pathetically weak."

As he spoke, Miyamoto Isshin cast a provocative glance at Yagyu Aiko, his tone carrying the weight of interrogation.

He was extremely dissatisfied with today's win-loss ratio. Two of the Four Great Families of Fusang Island had been sent out, yet their win-loss ratio was lagging behind.

This was very hard for Miyamoto Isshin to accept, feeling as though he had swallowed a mouthful of dead flies.

Faced with Miyamoto Isshin's questioning, Yagyu Aiko appeared exceptionally calm.

She slowly replied, "Under those circumstances, admitting defeat was the best choice. That Li Lianxing is very strong. If I had recklessly continued the fight, I couldn't be certain whether I could defeat him... but I would have ended up injured, which might have even affected our subsequent mission..."

While saying this, Yagyu Aiko didn't even bother with the bickering Miyamoto Isshin; instead, she looked at Gouma Yoshito, who was sitting on the edge of the bed with his arms crossed in deep thought.

That was the person she needed to explain herself to.

"Hmph! You people of the Yagyu family are simply a bunch of cowards, lacking even the courage to draw your swords and fight. I really don't understand why Happozai chose to let you carry out these missions..."

Miyamoto Isshin pressed relentlessly, but before he could finish, Gouma Yoshito suddenly spoke up, interrupting him.

"Miss Yagyu's choice was extremely wise and correct. Regardless of victory or defeat in the end, everything must prioritize the mission."

"But..."

Originally, having lost the match, they both should have faced reprimand. Yet Gouma Yoshito showed no intention of blaming them and instead made excuses for her, which made Miyamoto Isshin even more displeased...

However, Gouma Yoshito paid him no mind whatsoever. Instead, he turned his gaze to Abe Shimaka, who was fiddling with the bandages on his arm.

"Shimaka-kun, our men sent back intelligence not long ago."

"Through their investigations, they discovered that within the Tang Sect martial arts school, there is a place called the Tang Tomb."

"That is the core area of the Tang Sect, sealed year-round, prohibiting anyone other top brass from approaching or entering and exiting."

"It is also the place most likely to hide the Fiends and Hirumaru... I need you to send your Shikigami to scout out the situation inside the Tang Tomb."