Chapter 163: Factory Master·Z, Main Quest Second Ring Released!

"This ordinary-looking man is Uesugi Toru?"

"Mm, just a few days ago he was the grand victor of the Shinken Shiai held with Oboro Moon Hall in Yokohama City, master of Material Arts, Tennen Rishin-ryu, Thunder Technique, and he even broke through during battle, completing Qi Circulation in under a minute, and possesses a Mononoke Eight Shaku Figure that has undergone mutation."

"——He is undeniably a hexagon warrior, and also one of our greatest enemies in this Seed War."

Tokyo, on the rooftop of a certain high-rise in Shibuya Ward.

Within layers of Kekkai, a man and a woman were lowering their heads, watching the blurred Water Mirror emerge on the complex Yin-Yang formation patterns.

The young man wore a casual sports shirt with hands in pockets, yet Spirit Power vast as an abyss slowly surged around him, maintaining the operation of the Water Mirror Technique at his feet.

He was clearly an Onmyoji with extremely deep attainment in the Astronomy Dao.

The girl simply wore a ponytail, carrying a Tachi nearly as tall as herself, wrapped layer upon layer in bandages, arms crossed, her gaze revealing two parts doubt.

The main perspective in the Water Mirror was the Two Shaku Figure.

——Because for some unknown reason, attempting to directly scry Uesugi Toru with Yin-Yang Technique always failed.

So they could only place the target on his Shikigami.

At this moment, Uesugi Toru sitting opposite her was smiling gently, pushing the juice the waiter handed over to her side.

This appearance looked nothing like a "terrifyingly talented all-rounder", "one of the most dazzling rising stars in the Eastern Region".

Rather, he looked like a young, somewhat excessive old father.

"Saito, you want me to stand guard against a guy like this who doesn't even contain a shred of strongman aura in his Jing Shen, I'm afraid that's a bit difficult."

The pale-faced girl said blandly.

The youth called Saito, whose full name was deliberately taken as Saito Ryuichi, shrugged,

"I think, before the Shinken Shiai started, the three from Oboro Moon Hall probably held the same thought as you."

He blinked at one of the Minamoto Clan's legitimate daughters, unable to help laughing: "Then Minamoto Shizumi, you guess, who won that Shinken Shiai?"

Minamoto Shizumi was silent for a good while before frowning and saying,

"I'm different from those ordinary guys, a mere Shinken Shiai, I could also defeat those three from Oboro Moon Hall, and even do it better than him."

"Where's the difference?" Saito Ryuichi countered, "If you ask me, you already possess all the traits of a qualified stepping stone for a genius's rise."

He laughed and gestured: "Minamoto Shizumi, right now you're just like an old Shogun on the stage, your back stuck full of flags symbolizing 'Failure'."

"……"

The girl herself had been praised as a genius by those around her since childhood, so she was truly quite angered by Saito's words.

Minamoto Shizumi's chest heaved.

【26】 After a good while she finally closed her eyes and said loudly: "I understand, I absolutely won't underestimate him! Then what about that Tokugawa Ririko, isn't she a Sword Saint?"

After a good while she closed her eyes and said loudly, "I understand—I will never underestimate him! And what about that Tokugawa Ririko? Isn't she a sword master?"

"Sword Saint, huh……"

Recalling the description regarding "Sword Saint" mentioned in ancient texts, even the resourceful Saito Ryuichi couldn't help a twitch of his brow.

So-called Sword Saints are mostly extremely pure people.

And precisely because they are purely strong, they are even harder to deal with——no matter how many methods he has, the opponent can break them with a single sword.

And it's outrageous, existences who can be titled "Sword Saint" were few and far between even in his father's generation, counting as the most outstanding batch.

Now they're actually saying someone their own age has become a Sword Saint.

Although it seems only the Realm has arrived, strength hasn't yet touched the Sword Saint Domain.

Even so it's still a bit outrageous.

Isn't this faintly comparable to that legitimate eldest of the Minamoto Clan…… just what is the Tokugawa Clan thinking, letting her run around outside, and even joining other forces.

Saito Ryuichi's expression was grave: "No particularly good method, can only rely on you practicing sword more to defeat her from the front."

He paused, musing: "Or perhaps I could go contact the Tokugawa Clan at that time to see what the situation is……"

"No need."

Minamoto Shizumi interrupted his words.

She gazed at Uesugi Toru's blurred face in the Water Mirror, her gaze unwavering as she said word by word,

"It will be me, personally making those two into stepping stones on my path to Sword Saint."

……

Why do I always feel like someone is peeping at me?

Uesugi Toru turned his head left and right, but detected no sign of any suspicious person or Spirit Power Fluctuation within a hundred meters nearby.

"Strange……"

Quietly watching the Two Shaku Figure seriously finish every last grain of rice in the Child's Meal, Uesugi Toru stood up, wordlessly taking her and hailed a car.

But just as he sat in the car and hadn't yet spoken, Uesugi Toru clearly felt that extremely faint Viewing Sensation abruptly disappear.

What does this mean?

Knowing they were discovered peeping, so they simply stopped looking?

Uesugi Toru was silent for two seconds, reported a random Subway Station address to the driver, then had the Two Shaku Figure return into the Jizo Statue.

And after merging into the crowd at the Subway Station, Uesugi Toru immediately transformed into a four-tailed fox and then casually kneaded himself into a stranger's appearance.

First took the subway to the Station, then boarded the Shinkansen and left Tokyo.

And throughout this journey, Uesugi Toru never felt even half a trace of being peeped at again, as if the sensation just now had been merely an illusion.

Randomly found a Hotel to check in, Uesugi Toru took out the Divination Sticks wanting to check the fortune of this matter.

Before long, a thin, long, round Omikuji fell into his palm.

Uesugi Toru flipped the Bamboo Slip, the not-deep-not-shallow characters "Small Luck" met his eyes.

【Omikuji·Small Luck】

【——Curiosity satisfied, nothing happens.】

Uesugi Toru raised an eyebrow.

——This means that someone, somewhere unknown, probably used Yin-Yang Technique to spy on him purely out of curiosity?

And such a person... had never existed before.

It was probably because of the Shinken Shiai from the previous few days.

It seems being too famous isn't a good thing.

But since the Omikuji said so, it represents that this matter can be considered settled, with no need to meddle further.

Uesugi Toru thought no more, directly lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.

Splash—

Heavy water pressure wrapped layer upon layer around Uesugi Toru, sending him to Arakawa Guicun, which he had not come to for a long time.

Boom! Boom!

Before even opening his eyes, Uesugi Toru had already heard from outside the Thatched Hut the tremendous roar of engines and motors that only giant machines would produce.

Of course, not only that.

Thick dust and the smell of hot fresh machine oil seeped into the house through the seams together, now filling Uesugi Toru's mouth and nose, making the original straw roof scent disappear completely.

Arakawa Guicun underwent a dramatic change.

And the culprit, Uesugi Toru knew without thinking, was that factory not far from the village.

He transformed into Haku Hannya, pushed open the broken old wooden door, and his pupils uncontrollably shrank.

——Because besides that factory, where else could there possibly be local demon monster yaoguai producing these two-legged walking, several meters high, robots filled with dieselpunk flavor?

Correct, these!

Under Uesugi Toru's silent gaze as he climbed onto the roof, one giant robot after another strode through the four directions eight roads streets.

They either lifted thatched huts up from the ground, or like workers filled in the pits on the roads... in short, every robot was transforming the original Arakawa Guicun.

Even with sand and dust filling the sky, it did not slow the robots' work efficiency by a bit.

If they encountered scattered contaminated farmers along the way, these robots holding various huge iron tools would wave their hands and easily smash them into balls of meat patties.

Perhaps because they were dead things, Uesugi Toru did not see prompts popping up above the robots' heads.

So through deliberate observation, he discovered these huge but somewhat clumsy robots had combat power probably around ordinary two-star.

So many two-star iron lumps, to clean up a mere Arakawa Guicun simply had no difficulty at all.

Uesugi Toru did not casually attack the robots to startle the snake, but strode toward the direction of the original factory, advancing quickly while concealing himself.

Along the way, he also discovered that the Ruined Temple where Ni Shaku Adult once lived had been leveled, with two robots slowly clearing the ruins.

But the Machiya where the old blacksmith and the Zashiki Warashi lived was completely unharmed—among the whole village, it seemed only this one house stood abruptly amidst the ruins.

"It seems these robots or the manipulator behind them possess considerable consciousness."

Uesugi Toru recalled the forge tools the Zashiki Warashi left in the house, presumably it was those things that let the Machiya escape disaster.

After a few minutes, Uesugi Toru, whose foot strength had significantly increased, arrived outside the factory wall, which was unexpectedly quiet compared to inside the village.

Only scattered blurred speech sounds slowly transmitted out.

As for the workers wandering in the outer area that he saw last time, now not a single one could be seen, as if they had all disappeared.

Uesugi Toru thought for a moment, held his breath and climbed over the wall, then climbed along the pipe to the high place of the factory, slowly heading toward the sound source.

——Anyway, it doesn't matter if you die in Chang Shi.

Facing this kind of unknown situation now, obtaining information is the most important.

After a while, Uesugi Toru climbed onto an abandoned water bucket, silently poked his head out behind the iron railing, and looked toward the unexpectedly spacious broad square below.

On the broad square, rows of workers he had not seen outside before were neatly arranged.

Only these workers were not standing, but without exception had their heads pressed to the ground, assuming the dogeza posture to listen to the man speaking on the platform at the very front.

Uesugi Toru's gaze swept past the rows of identical 【Oppressed Factory Workers】 and came to a bit further ahead.

In front of the workers stood four strong, muscular men wearing yellow vests and white hats.

——【Factory Inspector (Two-Star)】.

Uesugi Toru suddenly understood.

These four people were the "factory inspectors stronger than her" that the other party mentioned when he first met Ni Shaku Adult.

Now it seemed indeed so.

This factory in Arakawa Guicun was undoubtedly a hidden map.

If he had been rash back then and wanted to develop the factory, he probably could only have been beaten to death by these few inspectors joining forces.

But compared to now, these few inspectors were nothing much.

But these four inspectors were not the speaker.

Uesugi Toru narrowed his eyes and continued looking upward.

Then a handsome face wearing a monocle and a gentle smile came into view.

Coincidentally, he closed his mouth and stopped his original speech.

Then, the man wearing a clean and tidy suit cast his gaze toward where Uesugi Toru was without any warning.

The next instant, that gentle voice that was somewhat chilling softly rang beside Uesugi Toru's ear.

"How did a little bug sneak in? I'd like to ask a few of you, what are those three security teams receiving high salaries supposed to be patrolling during this time period doing?"

Dead silence.

No resistance, no escape, and no negotiation existed.

Uesugi Toru only felt his thoughts frozen by an inexplicable external force, unable to move at all, as if his soul and this body were forcibly detached.

The world spun.

Finally, darkness and a doubtful voice attacked together, then quickly receded.

……

On the hotel's large bed, Uesugi Toru suddenly opened his eyes.

"Hah... hah..."

He panted heavily; just that one instant earlier, cold sweat had already soaked his back, even leaving a deep imprint on the white mattress.

Uesugi Toru could no longer remember how long it had been since he was last instant-killed so helplessly and without any warning.

Completely, he could not resist.

The previous time, it seemed to be when he first entered the Common World and pushed open the door of Edo Castle, happening to encounter the floor boss Fang Xiangshi.

"Factory Master..."

Uesugi Toru calmed down for a long while before he recovered from that bizarre state of separation of spirit and flesh.

He recalled the massive label he had seen in that instant, red to the point of turning black.

——【Factory Manager Z (Five-Star)】.

A Factory Master above the two-star Inspector, yet reaching a terrifying five-star, even surpassing Ghost God Level!

No... perhaps the Arakawa Guicun's factory is merely one of the small factories under Factory Manager Z, and he only came to inspect this time because of this large-scale construction of unknown purpose.

This also matched what the Two-Shaku Adult said back then, that the Factory Master could only return once every few months.

Uesugi Toru sat on the bed, using his breathing to calm his palpitations.

——For the time being, he cannot make a move on this factory beside Arakawa Village.

As long as Factory Manager Z stays there, even if he had one hundred or one thousand lives, it would not be enough for the other party to kill.

But it works out; he can focus on the Sengoku Period strategy first.

Uesugi Toru rested a while longer, and after confirming his state had recovered completely, he took out the blood-red History Key from his Storage Backpack.

He slowly injected Spirit Power into it.

In a split second, the History Key erupted with dazzling blood-colored light, devouring all of Uesugi Toru's conscious mind!

Under the illumination of the blood-colored light, a large number of prompts spurted out like a sea current——

【You have used Special Prop·History Key·Second Ring!】

【You are entering the Muromachi Shogunate Late Period·Sengoku Period Mid-term...】

【Your Special Prop·History Key·Shrine has returned to Normal State.】

【Detected that you have completed Main Quest First Ring·Entry Ticket!】

【Reviewing the completion status of "Main Quest First Ring·Entry Ticket".】

【You joined the Great Daimyo·Imagawa Yoshimoto's Under Command...】

【Your Historical Influence Degree reached 0.5%...】

【Your Muromachi Late Period·Sengoku Period Reputation exceeded 1000 points...】

【Review Complete!】

【Please note, the current Main Quest Second Ring·Lord of Tokaido has been Unlocked!】

(End of Chapter)