Chapter 152: Eve of the Real Sword Match, Winning All Proofs of the Strongest

Deep within the Oboro Moon Hall Dojo, Crow Takes Time Rain, his whole body wrapped in bandages, sitting cross-legged on a black rock wall, was startled, and even his fingertips gripping the knife couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"Tch."

However, in just an instant, he let out a slight breath, calming his mood.

"With the dynamic vision of ordinary crows unable to capture Uesugi Toru's speed... forget it, this was also within expectations."

"That lazy bum Akatsuki Ran, not even willing to go up once."

Crow Takes Time Rain displeasedly withdrew the dagger in his hand, opening his pitch-black pupils empty of anything, looking towards the one smiling and gripping "himself" Uesugi Toru.

—Although they are just ordinary crows, they also shouldn't be lost at the dojo gate because of this inexplicable reason.

Uesugi Toru gazed at the pitch-black crow in his hand that was originally "cawing", and soon discovered its eyes had become lively, producing very human-like emotions.

He loosened his grip slightly letting the crow spread its wings, knowing the other party should have come online.

Although he previously had some private conflicts with Kuzuha Chihaya, this crow brat, besides standing far away peeking, didn't do much else.

So Uesugi Toru was still very polite.

He tapped the crow's short beak, asking: "Bro, can you trouble yourself to bring me inside?"

"Caw."

The crow called out in a bad mood, then flapped its wings and flew in front of Uesugi Toru, signaling him to follow.

But Uesugi Toru hadn't stepped out yet when he heard someone shouting his name from the parking lot not far away.

Listening to the voices, there was still one big and one small, the small one a boy, the voice obviously still very childish, not yet matured,

"Star Sis, this match is a one-versus-three wheel battle, Special Affairs Division's Uesugi Toru alone has to fight three Oboro Moon Hall disciples... who do you think will win?"

That comparatively more mature female voice answered without thinking: "Uesugi Toru."

Uesugi Toru heard that female voice say somewhat resentfully, grinding her teeth:

"—Does that even need thinking? Of course Uesugi Toru loses!"

Just hearing this one sentence, he could clearly feel the owner of this voice's hateful intent towards "Uesugi Toru".

Uesugi Toru blinked in some confusion, wondering when he had provoked someone again?

These days he either hurried on his way, or soaked in Chang Shi, dealing with people from the Sengoku Period hundreds of years ago, how could he possibly have provoked others?

So Uesugi Toru looked over full of doubt.

Not far away, a plain-faced girl with a high ponytail, wearing a white sports shirt and simple jeans, was walking over with a pair of white, glowing long legs.

She was also leading a short-haired boy who looked radiant and extraordinary.

In no more than two seconds, the high ponytail girl who seemed to have slipped out of some university to play walked to Uesugi Toru's side, smiling at him with a sunny grin showing teeth,

"Hello, are you guys here to watch the match?"

Uesugi Toru hesitated a moment, nodded: "You guys too?"

"Ah that's great! Can I ask for directions?"

The girl laughed hehe somewhat embarrassedly.

Uesugi Toru hadn't answered yet when her gaze was immediately attracted by the two-foot-tall adult he was leading, wearing a small white hat, with exquisitely carved features.

"Wow! So small and cute!"

The girl immediately let go of the boy she brought, squatted down and reached out to gently pinch the two-foot adult's little face.

Now the two-foot adult's speech even carried a bit of gurgling bubble sound: "This pretty big sis... we don't seem that familiar, right."

The boy standing at the back helplessly covered his forehead, put his arm around the girl's shoulder and pulled her back,

"Star Sis, you have to maintain a sense of distance with strangers, sense of distance!"

After pulling the girl back, the boy who was only two two-foot-adults tall bowed apologetically: "Sorry sir, my family's teacher's overly familiar personality really can't be changed, please forgive her."

"No, it's fine."

Uesugi Toru clearly felt the sharp Jing Shen coming from the boy, and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

This boy, his mental cultivation is actually the same as mine, roughly at the level of Jinken Gōitsu · Mirror of the Mind.

It's just that I learned an extra "Technique · Zan Shin", so in spirit I happen to be slightly higher than him.

But this girl he calls teacher, no matter from which aspect, only looks like an ordinary female university student...

Uesugi Toru thought briefly then spoke: "You guys just asked for directions, come directly with me."

The boy closed his eyes and nodded slightly at him, the girl straightened her ponytail and stood up again giving him a big thumbs up,

"Thanks a lot handsome little bro."

Next, the four people, two big two small, followed the crow controlled by Crow Takes Time Rain, winding seven turns eight turns towards the Oboro Moon Hall's main gate.

Halfway there, the girl couldn't help but complain: "Did the Oboro Moon Hall eat their fill and have nothing to do, why make the front gate so complex, people are going to get dizzy going around."

The crow flying in front heard this, its wings stalled and it almost fell to the ground, but even so it didn't look back.

She mumbled: "But handsome little bro, how do you know the way here, relying on a memorized map route?"

Uesugi Toru pointed at the crow in front: "Just asked the crow standing at the gate, this crow is really nice, answers every question, brings you wherever there's a path."

"Oh? Crows can also give birth to spiritual wisdom?"

The girl who had been looking left and right finally therefore stared tightly at "Crow Takes Time Rain".

She smiled: "I've long heard the Oboro Moon Hall's ability to raise spirit beasts is very strong, seeing it now it's indeed not ordinary."

Passing the huge yet empty dojo on the surface, the two adults leading their "children" followed the crow towards the underground passage not yet closed.

The underground passage was very narrow and monotonous, nothing but stone slabs.

So Uesugi Toru could always hear the girl beside him sometimes mumbling something to herself, sometimes chatting with the boy she led.

Uesugi Toru originally wanted to directly ignore it, until he heard the girl sneakily say—

"Hehe, in two days I definitely want to personally see that Uesugi Toru get ruthlessly beaten up! To vent the anger in my heart!"

Uesugi Toru's brow twitched slightly.

What grudge, what grudge—he hasn't even seen her face yet and he's already going "curse technique level" on her.

He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Did that contestant named Uesugi Toru do something bad?"

The girl put her hands on her hips after hearing this and said indignantly: "Bad! This kid is just thoroughly bad!"

"——It's been so long, I haven't even seen the face of my little sister, whom I've been longing for, cute and adorable! And then news comes that this brat has swept her off her feet!"

"A dog, really too much of a dog!"

She raised her eyebrows, stared seriously at Uesugi Toru, and couldn't help but clench her fist: "Once I see this Uesugi Toru, I'll definitely beat him up first... who let him put his claws on Shizuku!"

Uesugi Toru showed curiosity at the right moment: "May I ask who you are?"

"Oh, sorry about that."

She stuck out her tongue slightly,

"Almost forgot to introduce myself—I'm Tokugawa Hoshi, one of the referees for this True Sword Match between the Special Affairs Division and Oboro Moon Hall."

Tokugawa Hoshi paused, then added: "As for what just happened, I heard that contestant Uesugi Toru swept off my most beloved little sister Tokugawa Ririko, so I was a bit unhappy."

Tokugawa, Hoshi?

Upon hearing this name, Uesugi Toru immediately perked up.

——Isn't this Shizuku's third sister who has already stepped into the Ghost God realm!

——No wonder he couldn't tell the other's strength; it turns out the gap between their strengths was too great.

"Come to think of it, I still haven't asked your name, little handsome guy."

Tokugawa Hoshi blinked at him.

My name?

Uesugi Toru subconsciously held his breath, and broke into a cold sweat in an instant.

If he said "My name is Uesugi Toru" in this situation now, would that be acceptable?

He would probably be slapped into the wall by Tokugawa Hoshi, who was currently in a fit of anger.

"I... my name is..."

He blinked wildly, touched his chin pretending to think, his CPU running at full speed in this short time.

After an extremely long second, Uesugi Toru shook his head pretending to be extremely calm: "Sorry, I'm Special Affairs Bureau Staff, so it might be inconvenient to give my name."

"Oh oh!"

Tokugawa Hoshi nodded after hearing this, making a cross shape with her finger in front of her lips: "I get this! Spies, you might get cursed to death just by saying your name, I get it I get it, I won't make it hard for you."

Crow Takes Time Rain, who had been flapping its wings in front all along, could only keep flapping its sore wings, listening to the two's nutritionally void conversation behind.

He was of course impatient, but what use was impatience?

If Tokugawa Hoshi behind didn't exist, Crow Takes Time Rain would directly quit without a word, cut the link with this crow, and go do his own thing.

But what kind of person was Tokugawa Hoshi... she was an existence at the same level as his master, or even higher.

If he didn't treat her well, not being able to hold this True Sword Match would be a small matter—even his own life might not be safe.

In the dark stone room, Crow Takes Time Rain sighed silently.

There was no way; the weak have no say from beginning to end before the strong.

"Um, Tokugawa Lady?" Uesugi Toru pointed at the crow flying lower and lower ahead: "Why don't we keep walking? I see flying is also quite tiring."

"That makes sense."

After the little interlude about the name, the group's walking speed increased quite a bit—mainly because Uesugi Toru quickened his pace.

Soon, under the lead of the crow already jogging on the ground, Uesugi Toru arrived at the underground of Oboro Moon Hall Dojo.

Or rather, inside the true Oboro Moon Hall Dojo.

After leaving the passage and entering, the "sense of living things" transmitted to Uesugi Toru from the surroundings became even stronger.

He looked around—the first hall at the passage exit was still quite modern, except beside it was inserted a wooden signpost with an art style that didn't match at all, antique and elegant.

The signpost wrote place names indicating directions such as Arena, Training Ground, and also marked the direction for them.

"Caw."

The crow called softly ahead, then walked unsteadily toward the direction of the "Guest House".

Crow Takes Time Rain first went to Tokugawa Hoshi's residence.

——This was also only natural; how could a mere opponent who would be beaten down in two days be compared with a Ghost God level referee.

"So this is where I live."

Coming before the wooden door with a flavor of the last century, Tokugawa Hoshi waved her hand at Crow Takes Time Rain beside her to say goodbye: "Thank you, Mister Crow."

Then she looked at Uesugi Toru with a smiling face, meaningfully saying,

"Then Special Affairs Division spy, we'll meet again later?"

Uesugi Toru, who originally wanted to say nothing and slip away after the other closed the door, laughed hahaha, forcing out a strained smile: "Then we'll meet later, Tokugawa Lady."

Click.

Tokugawa Hoshi took the boy and walked into the dormitory, closing the door.

Uesugi Toru immediately let out a heavy sigh of relief.

He looked at Crow Takes Time Rain, shaking his mobile phone: "Thanks, you don't need to lead the way anymore, we'll see you at the True Sword Match two days from now."

"Caw."

The crow called unhappily, flapping its wings that had rested for a long time, and quickly flew outside.

After the crow completely flew out of the line of sight, Uesugi Toru then placed his gaze on the Two Shaku Adult who had been laughing hahaha in the "Heartstring Channel" since just now.

The girl covered her mouth and giggled: "Toru-sama, compared to settling accounts with me, you'd better leave here first, who knows if this door will suddenly open again."

Uesugi Toru felt this made sense, so without another word he first pulled Two Shaku Adult toward the gathering place Rituna Minami sent.

The "Gathering Room" Rituna Minami sent wasn't too far from Tokugawa Hoshi's residence; at most three minutes Uesugi Toru walked there.

He was just about to check the room numbers one by one when he suddenly spotted a somewhat familiar girl walking past him holding a water cup.

Uesugi Toru froze for a moment, subconsciously reaching out to stop her: "Wait..."

Hattori Ayako, who had been about to drink some water, paused her steps and looked back, first puzzled, then frowning in thought.

Finally she revealed a delighted expression: "It's you, right, Uesugi-kun!"

Hattori Ayako grabbed his sleeve with both hands: "Uesugi-kun, I still haven't properly thanked you for the living being incident!"

Only after she said this did the relevant memories surface in Uesugi Toru's mind.

——Oh, I met her on that Yomi Train when I was doing the Kisaragi Station Regional Unlock Mission before.

——Later I also saw Hattori Ayako once before encountering the Nue of the Phantom Blade Society; she even provided quite a bit of information.

But isn't she an ordinary person? How did she get into the Oboro Moon Hall basement?

"Miss Hattori..."

Uesugi Toru asked with some puzzlement: "How come you're here?"

Hearing this, Hattori Ayako first blanked, then realized: "I'm here as an Arakawa Ward A-rank Seed, accompanying Nanjo Daimyo to observe and learn from the Shinken Shiai."

Seemingly afraid Uesugi Toru wouldn't understand or would keep asking, she pointed at the deep blackish-blue mark extending from her armpit to her neck,

"I was rated A-rank because I accidentally contracted a Three Star Shikigami."

Once these words came out, Uesugi Toru quickly understood everything.

He nodded: "Then could you trouble Miss Hattori to take me to the assembly room first? Checking room by room would waste some time."

"That's naturally no problem!"

Hattori Ayako nodded vigorously, waving at Uesugi Toru and the two-foot Adult emitting Spirit Power fluctuations, clearly also a Shikigami: "You two, please come with me."

Bringing Uesugi Toru to the assembly room door, Hattori Ayako knocked.

Click.

The next moment, someone opened the door from inside.

As Uesugi Toru expected, it was Shizuma Manatsu who opened the door.

Seeing the visitor, Shizuma Manatsu, who had been maintaining a poker face in power-saving mode, also showed a faint smile: "Uesugi-kun, long time no see."

"Long time no see."

The door pushed open, and Uesugi Toru immediately saw everyone standing or sitting in the spacious room.

——Of course, this included Nure-onna kneeling on a washboard in the corner with a "No Dirty Words" sign hanging on her chest.

He scanned around with slight surprise, not expecting so many people.

Originally, Uesugi Toru had thought that besides him, only Rituna Minami would participate in this Shinken Shiai, with at most Shizuku watching.

Rituna Minami, sitting in the main seat, glanced at him indifferently and yawned: "You're too slow, I almost fell asleep."

Since it was probably just a casual complaint, she didn't wait for Uesugi Toru to answer before clapping her hands, drawing everyone's attention.

"In any case, this is our main personnel for this Shinken Shiai, Uesugi Toru."

Rituna Minami said: "You can call him Uesugi-kun."

For a moment, many gazes fell on Uesugi Toru — curiosity, scrutiny, and also relief.

Of course, Nure-onna, Kitano Runa, and Shizuku didn't shift their gazes over.

Nure-onna practically wanted to wrap herself entirely in her black hair; where would she have the mood to look around.

Kitano Runa kept her head down silently, fingers tapping rapidly on her phone screen, making Uesugi Toru's phone in his pocket vibrate nonstop.

As for Shizuku... she had already greeted him with her Sword Domain the moment he walked in, so there was no need to cultivate mid-segment now.

After a few seconds, Rituna Minami waved her hand: "We've met, now do whatever you want, just don't run into areas prohibited to tourists."

As her words fell, Maki Hitomi, who had already deeply imprinted Uesugi Toru's appearance and features in her mind, nodded at him and walked out rather eagerly.

Hattori Ayako said quietly on the side: "Uesugi-kun, don't look at Maki-kun leaving without a word like that; actually he just reached a critical juncture in his Yin-Yang Technique research.

"Normally if he has time, he talks quite a lot."

"I understand."

Feeling the continuous crazy vibration of the phone in his pocket, Uesugi Toru's face twitched slightly; he finally took it out and set Kitano Runa to "Do Not Disturb messages."

He casually glanced at the messages grouped in threes and twos.

The gist was: long time no see, Uesugi-kun, how did you hook such a cute loli, are you a lolicon, I have maxed-out element X volumes here, want them...

Uesugi Toru put down his phone speechlessly, looking at Kitano Runa with her mouth tightly shut, afraid to speak in a space with so many strangers, yet fingers moving lightning-fast.

So social anxiety and motor-mouth attributes don't conflict.

After sending back a "Not interested" expression pack, Uesugi Toru looked at Shizuku leaning against the wall with arms crossed, her hoodie's hood and mask covering the vast majority of her face, barely revealing only the eye area.

——Shizuku making this disguise was most likely to avoid being recognized by outsiders, or possibly by Tokugawa family members who might be present.

——In that case, it's better not to tell her the news that her third sister Tokugawa Hoshi has already arrived here for now.

Even if I tell her, waiting until the day of the Shinken Shiai to say it wouldn't be late.

After all, Tokugawa Hoshi is here as a "Referee" to watch the entire Shinken Shiai...

Damn, then at that time I still won't escape this calamity.

Thinking of this, Uesugi Toru asked Rituna Minami, who had already placed her laptop on her lap and continued working: "Nanjo Sister, can I ask what 'Referee' means?"

Rituna Minami's fingers typing on the keyboard paused slightly.

Without raising her eyes, she answered,

"It means a credible individual selected from a credible massive organization, who guarantees the 'Shinken Shiai' can proceed. Whether the competition itself, or making both sides fulfill pre-match promises."

"——Actually, this is exactly the same format as the Imperial Precedent Grand Tournament."

Rituna Minami: "This time, the Onmyoryo, Special Affairs Division, and a certain major family each dispatch one Ghost God Level to guarantee the fairness and justice of this match."

A certain major family...

Uesugi Toru understood — Rituna Minami knew everything about the Tokugawa Star situation.

— And yet, even knowing this, Nanjo Sister still brought Shizuku here.

That meant the thing he was worried about probably wouldn't happen.

So right now, he might as well worry more about himself……

"Nanjo Sister, a Referee shouldn't be allowed to attack a competitor, right?"

This time Uesugi Toru felt Rituna Minami look at him with a strange gaze before answering,

"No."

Uesugi Toru also let out a breath of relief.

At least this guaranteed he wouldn't be halfway through a fight and have Tokugawa Star suddenly jump down from the stands saying "Ouch, isn't this the guy who hooked up with my little sister, let's spar."

Although he and Shizuku had maintained a good, pure friendship and master-disciple relationship so far, their behavior through Tokugawa Haruhiko on the Tokugawa side had completely crossed the line.

He let go of the Two-Shaku Adult, letting her hug the mobile phone and go play by herself on the side.

Then Uesugi Toru sat on the sofa, opened a can of Coca-Cola that had been chilled with Water-Style Yin-Yang Technique the whole time, poured it into his mouth, and revealed a comfortable expression.

This just-right temperature, these completely unlost bubbles — no need to think, it was absolutely Nanjo Sister's handiwork!

Sitting on the sofa holding a mobile phone and chatting with Kitano Runa for a while, resting a moment, Uesugi Toru then turned toward Nanjo Rituna who had closed her laptop and finished her work at hand and asked,

"Nanjo Sister, I want a Ninja cultivation secret manual or Ninja secret arts and methods — do you have any?"

— He wanted a "Ninja Secret Manual," naturally to bring back to the Warring States Period for Shiraishi to cultivate, who already had a bit of a ninja shadow.

— Shiraishi's potential wasn't small; this could be seen from the fact that just teaching him scattered Kiai Technique could raise the History Change Degree.

So now, he wanted to try a bigger one.

After Uesugi Toru finished speaking, he could clearly feel a gaze that had been falling on him the whole time change slightly.

He turned his head and discovered it was an unfamiliar youth; feeling his strength…… barely, reluctantly passable.

Not paying much attention to this ordinary youth, Uesugi Toru soon heard the answer,

"— There naturally are, but if you want cultivation methods related to 'Ninja,' you need an excuse."

Ninja, ever since appearing in the Edo Period, have always been active on the world's dark side; the Special Affairs Division's warehouse naturally has quite a few Ninja cultivation methods stored.

But because the vast majority of Ninja use vicious methods, and possess extremely strong disguise and breath-concealment skills that let them escape under the eyes of enemies far stronger than themselves.

So "Ninja" have been rejected and disliked by the mainstream cultivation world since modern times.

Although Rituna Minami as usual found it strange what Uesugi Toru wanted these things for, she still didn't pursue the question, just propped her chin with her hand and said,

"For example, if you win a Shinken Shiai alone, I'll have a reason to request some relatively shallow methods from the Five Person Council."

"And if you need a complete one, the kind of complete secret art that points straight to Ghost God Level……"

Rituna Minami crossed her legs, pondered for a good while before speaking: "If you can later knock down all of Tokyo's seeds in the Shushi Sai, the Five Person Council probably also couldn't refuse your request."

"Even if your request is extremely nonsensical and dangerous."

She snapped her fingers, curved the corner of her mouth slightly toward Uesugi Toru: "So Uesugi-kun, the matter is this simple."

Rituna Minami slowly tightened her five fingers before his eyes, finally clenching them into a fist,

"Show your potential and strength to this world, and then things will revolve smoothly according to your heart's desire."

Uesugi Toru faced Rituna Minami with her calm gaze face to face.

He took a deep breath in.

Win the Shinken Shiai, then win all of Tokyo's Shushi Sai.

Defeat all opponents, trample all geniuses mercilessly underfoot, to prove he is the one who cannot be ignored among everyone.

In that case, proposed requests will naturally be responded to eagerly, even if they were just idle words.

Conversely, even if one makes sky-piercing wild boasts and promises, one won't get more gazes of attention.

"I, understand."

Uesugi Toru nodded seriously.

Akechi Yusuke, who had been standing to the side for a long time, seeing Uesugi Toru nod without even hesitating, really couldn't hold back and stepped out with a worried expression.

Akechi Yusuke said sincerely,

"That…… Uesugi-kun, I feel you really aren't that strong, afraid you'll be in danger if you go on stage."

Meeting Uesugi Toru's puzzled gaze, the youth who had just come down the mountain, young and simple, gripped the sword at his waist, harboring a heart of "protecting associates" and spoke,

"So, could you spar with me before you go on stage? If I win, please let me take your place on stage!"

After these words were spoken by Akechi Yusuke, not only did Uesugi Toru look at him in puzzlement.

Even Kitano Runa who had been holding the mobile phone the whole time, and Shizuku who was cultivating with eyes closed, couldn't help but cast complex gazes.

Akechi Yusuke covered his chest with his hand, feeling his heart pounding bang-bang in his chest cavity.

This was still the first time he had made such a bold, outrageous request.

Uesugi Toru first frowned, then sized him up, then fell into contemplation, finally revealing a somewhat speechless and dumbfounded expression.

It seemed this sincere-faced little brother had severely misjudged his strength because of Gyokushinketsu and Unshinjutsu, plus the fact that he brought the Two-Shaku Adult this Two-Star Shikigami.

He suddenly found it somewhat funny.

— Little brother, you seem to have no grasp of your own strength at all!

(End of Chapter)