Prince of Tennis Fraudster

Then, the cries became clearer. Spreading aside the grass, Niou saw a small creature, about the size of a palm, with a bluish-black back, beneath the stream.

Kirihara asked in a low voice, "A frog?"

"It's a stone clam!"

As he spoke, King Ren walked forward.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Kirihara lost his footing and tripped. Hearing the sound, the stone clam jumped onto the shore and disappeared.

Niou stepped forward and asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, senior, you don't need to worry about me. Go after that thing first." In his heart, however, he was thinking about the good thing that Renwang had mentioned, which must be something special.

"Ah."

After checking that Kirihara was indeed unharmed, Niou gave a few brief instructions and quickly followed the direction in which the stone clam had disappeared.

As they got closer, the sound gradually became clearer.

"Hey little guy, let's see where you run now..."

He rubbed his hands together and carefully parted the bushes. But what he saw made him freeze.

Opposite them sat two young men dressed in black.

One was tall and wore a straw hat. The other was none other than Niou's 'old friend' - Kuki Kiji.

"Ding!"

"Triggered the second stage of the chain quest [The Non-existent Legend] [The Heart of Buddha]!"

"Croak~"

Looking at the stone clam in the tall young man's palm, Renwang thought to himself with a wry smile, "Doesn't this feel a bit like an imperial concubine...?"

P.S.: Even Heaven grows old if it has feelings...

Chapter Twenty: The Heart of Buddha [5/5, Please Submit!]

"You must be Niou Masaharu..."

The tall young man put down the stone clam in his hand, then took off his straw hat and smiled, "My name is Ishida Gin. I heard about you from Kuki."

With a broad forehead, closed eyes, and one hand raised in a Buddhist gesture towards Nioh.

Gin Ishida is the strongest junior high school student in the original story. He created the 108 forms of the Hadou Ball and is known as the founder of the Hadou Ball.

Strength was the first impression I had upon seeing him.

But upon closer inspection, Niou discovered that this person was enveloped in a gentle and kind aura.

Nodding, Niou stepped forward and said, "I've heard of you, the top power player of Shitenhoji Temple."

At the same time, he looked at Kuki behind Ishida and said with a smile, "Long time no see."

"Hahaha..." Kuki laughed and scratched his head, appearing somewhat reserved in front of his master, Ishida.

Looking at the legendary replacement for Yukimura after he was hospitalized, Ishida raised an eyebrow: "I've heard of you too, but before I met you, I always thought you were a power-type fighter."

In Ishida's mind, someone who could hit the Wave Ball should be a strong and powerful person. But Niou was thin and frail, and his clothes were tattered, making him look like a weakling.

However, this was only Ishida's first impression.

Having practiced Buddhism and Taoism, he didn't base his judgments on first impressions. His gaze swept over Niou, noticing the wound on the man's side. The lingering ferocity Niou exuded when he killed the wolf king made Ishida take him even more seriously.

With a thought, he took out the string of Buddhist prayer beads from his pocket and said, "Renwang, you should have seen this before, right?"

"Ah."

Niou nodded, and at the same time understood the other party's purpose.

Ishida's expression softened slightly, and he said, "Can you tell me what Buddha is in your heart?"

"I don't believe in Buddhism."

Niou's words made Ishida's smile falter. But then he added, "To be precise, I am not religious; I am an atheist."

In his previous life, influenced by Chinese culture, Renwang neither believed in Buddhism nor Taoism, and he was even less inclined to believe in the religion that had become politically correct in the West.

But he continued, "However, I do know a little about Buddhism."

"Oh?"

Ishida raised a thick eyebrow and said, "Can you tell me about it?"

"of course."

For the sake of the mission, and also to make friends with Ishida, Niou heard him say, "Buddha is a state of being that you all pursue."

"In Buddhism, Buddha is the highest, and one must constantly strive to approach him through one's own actions. One should cultivate good deeds, fulfill great vows, seek the absence of defilements, and ultimately become a Buddha who has transcended the four elements."

Buddha is different from God. God is supreme and insurmountable. Therefore, practicing Buddhism is about moving closer to Buddha and actively purifying one's mind. On the other hand, believing in a religion is about constantly repenting for one's sins and atoning for them.

These are, in themselves, two different cultures.

"Well……"

Niou's words seemed to make some sense, but they weren't what Ishida wanted.

"Ah……"

Niou smiled, looked at the Buddhist beads in Ishida's hand, and said with a smile, "The true Buddha has no mind. Is it a kind mind, an evil mind, a wicked mind, or is it simply an empty space?"

Ishida raised his eyebrows.

"As I've already said, you are the one seeking Buddha, not Buddha himself. Buddha resides in your heart, not in this string of prayer beads!"

"Ok?"

Ishida's expression changed, and he swung his left fist, smashing it fiercely towards Niou.

The nine demons behind him were horrified: "Master!"

Swish!

However, Niou neither dodged nor flinched, but simply smiled as he looked at the fist, which was the size of a clay pot. And the fist stopped abruptly when it was less than a centimeter away from him.

Why didn't you dodge?

Niou blinked: "Why should I dodge?"

Aren't you afraid of dying?

“Afraid? Why wouldn’t you be?” Renwang smiled and said, “But I can see that you have compassion and won’t harm those you perceive as weak. However, it seems you’ve misunderstood something…”

Swish!

He stepped back, simultaneously clenching his left fist and thrusting forward.

boom!

Two fists, one large and one small, collided violently. The immense impact caused Niou's arm to go numb, and Ishida's expression changed as well.

Niou's power far exceeded his imagination.

Does it hurt?

Niou's question aroused a sense of doubt in Ishida's heart.

"Power is the symbol of destruction. It can drive people mad, cause them to lose their true selves, and lead to unimaginable destruction."

Ishida fell silent.

In elementary school, he injured many people with his self-created Original Wave Ball. He didn't want to do it, but he couldn't control his power.

He then entered Shitenhoji Temple.

There, he learned how to control his power, sealed away his strongest move, and created the 108 Styles. He will not hit the Wave Ball unless he is confident.

"Cultivating Buddhism is cultivating the mind, cultivating the mind that knows how to control power."

"Only by understanding compassion can we better utilize our power."

"Of course, these are just my personal opinions, you can take them as a reference."

"Well……"

Ishida remained silent, while Niou's heart pounded in his chest.

He really didn't know much about Buddhism. What he just said was just a hodgepodge of Buddhist knowledge he had, plus some materials he had read, a makeshift version of inspirational platitudes.

Ishida wasn't sure if he could fool them, but Kuki behind him had been nodding incessantly from the beginning.

"Is Buddha in one's heart...?"

Ishida murmured. Although he only vaguely understood what Niou was saying, and some of his words had nothing to do with Japanese Buddhism and Taoism, he still vaguely grasped the meaning behind them.

"Perhaps..."

With a sigh, Ishida looked at Niou and smiled, "Thank you for your words. You can have this."

As he spoke, he handed the Buddhist prayer bead bracelet back to Renwang, and said with a smile, "We should be going now, goodbye!"

Then, he left with a bewildered Kuki.

"Ding!"

"Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. Rating: A. Reward: 1500 points, 5 reputation points, orange item: Heart of Buddha. Proceed to the next stage of the mission: [The Closed Door]."

Chapter Twenty-One: A Stormy Era Begins [1/5, Please Subscribe!]

Turning back, Niou met up with Kirihara. He didn't mention anything about what had just happened, only sighing that it was a pity they hadn't caught the stone clam.

The training proceeded in an orderly manner.

Three days passed in a flash. After finishing their morning exercises, Sanada told everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave.

I arrived feeling lost, but left feeling somewhat reluctant.

But looking at the vast mountains, while everyone felt reluctant to leave, they were even more excited about the upcoming competition.

crunch~

At noon, the bus waited for someone at the 'terminal station' as agreed. However, after waiting for a long time without seeing anyone appear, he began to feel uneasy.

"Could something have happened to those guys?"