Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

Yoshihara.

Himura Tansaku and Narune walked down the street. The former looked perfectly normal, while the latter's cheeks were flushed, and she dared not lift her head as she walked, clearly having never been here before. Although the sex industry in Osaka was very developed, for most young men and women, just hearing the name Yoshiwara was enough to make their hearts race and their faces turn red.

They came here to find the second senior brother of the Teishin-ryu school. He had been negotiating with a wealthy businessman recently, discussing some business deals, and the meeting place had always been Yoshiwara.

Hmm... it can be considered a unique drinking culture in Sakuramana.

The two walked through the streets of Yoshiwara, which were full of men and women. Even though it was still daytime, Yoshiwara gave people a feeling that "it's time to get down to business."

What is the important thing? Since we're here, there's only one important thing.

"I...does it have to be so urgent? We could have waited until tonight..." Mingyin was clearly very uncomfortable here, her voice was very soft, and she kept her head down.

Himura Tanzaku smiled and said, "If he stays here overnight, I don't have that much time to waste with him."

"Overnight..."

Naruto was speechless for a moment. She was walking with her head down, and hearing these words made her even more flustered. Her steps became a little erratic. Although Yoshiwara was not exactly crowded, it was still packed with people. Before she knew it, she bumped into a man next to her.

This was a man in his twenties or thirties, wearing a purple yukata with a black dragon painted on it. He had medium-length black hair, a bandage wrapped around his head covering his left eye, a pipe in his mouth, a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth, and a playful look in his right eye.

"Oh dear..." the man chuckled, "Miss, you must be careful when you walk."

Chapter Thirty-Five: Conversations in the Dark

"I'm so sorry!"

Mingyin was extremely embarrassed and hurriedly backed away. While walking, she bumped into someone. This kind of mistake is probably only made by children.

"No, it's alright." The man didn't seem to care. He lightly touched the pipe with his slender fingers, smiled, and walked away.

"How embarrassing..." Naruto muttered, about to move forward, but found that Hishimura Tanzaku was not moving, staring back at the direction the man had gone.

His expression was very serious, so serious that Naruto was somewhat afraid. Although she had known Himura Tan's for a long time, she didn't really understand him. Even so, she knew Himura Tan's usual demeanor. At first, he was always expressionless, but later, after his martial arts skills improved (she guessed), he became smiling. No matter the situation, he seemed to never change his expression... Only this time, he seemed somewhat unfamiliar and frightening.

Himura Tanzaku had almost never shown such a terrified expression.

"Himura... what's wrong?"

“A familiar taste…no, it’s very different. Is it just my imagination?” Himura Tanzakura squinted, and it took her a while to look away. “…Many different tastes. It must be my imagination. Let’s go. I’ve been a bit paranoid lately.”

Naruto, of course, couldn't understand the meaning of those words. Hisumura Tan's Sakura had dealt with many rebellious demons before. Therefore, she was extremely sensitive to their auras. She had recognized both Ji Qiuming and Ji Fenming, though she wasn't so certain about the latter. She recognized the former at a glance, because Ji Qiuming was the most rebellious demon of all, the perfect template for a rebellious demon. He was like "the embodiment of all human stereotypes about rebellious demons."

She looked back in confusion, but the man in the purple yukata had already disappeared into the crowd in Yoshiwara.

She tried hard to recall, but couldn't even remember what the man looked like; all she could remember were his dark eyes that seemed to hold starlight.

-

The man in the purple yukata walked forward. He had shaved and styled his hair, his face was fair, his figure was slender, and he could be considered handsome. But he wasn't so handsome that people would throw themselves at him. However, his aura was really charming and seductive. He always had a smile on his face, which gave people a bewitching feeling. Many people approached him along the way to test him, but of course, they all left empty-handed.

The man in the yukata walked forward and arrived at a shop called "Gokurakuro". He went up to the third floor, opened the door to room 308, stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

A few seconds later, a man with purplish-red pupils walked out from the side. He walked straight through a wall, his entire body like a phantom, completely passing through the wall.

This is certainly not something a martial artist could do. No martial artist could do such a thing. Even if they could, it would be an illusion. This is magic, of course.

Ancient magic, forming lines in the void, allows one to enter a state of masslessness and intangibility. Legend has it that, at its peak, the Ring of Truth could use this technique to reach two-thirds the speed of light; whether this is true or not is now impossible to know. After all, he was killed in his own mage tower while experimenting with magic.

—Incidentally, this technique is now forbidden. The user must be highly focused to use it; otherwise, the 'information' they carry might be torn apart and lost. Once that 'information' is lost, who knows what will happen? Memory loss is the top prize; loss of a non-fatal body part (like Jill's) is the first prize; becoming an idiot/moron is the second prize; instant death is the fourth prize; and of course, there's the ultimate top prize: an unknown mutation, with information from the void supplementing their own information, transforming them into a mythical creature or a special alien race.

Like martial arts practitioners, although modern methods of cultivating and training magic far surpass those of ancient methods, in terms of power and danger, ancient martial arts practitioners and magicians are definitely much more dangerous. This is similar to how passenger planes don't specifically pursue supersonic speeds; comfort and safety are the top priorities.

The man with the deep purple eyes certainly couldn't achieve two-thirds the speed of light. After all, he had only studied magic a little over the long years, and was simply not on the same level as the Ring of Truth, one of the greatest magicians in history.

"Oh." The man in the yukata greeted him with a smile, as if he were used to such behavior. "Have you found everything?"

The man with deep purple eyes calmly said, "We'll wait until the day after tomorrow."

The man in the yukata kindly reminded him, "You have to be careful. The lotus is very fragile; it can die if you're not careful."

"I know what I'm doing." The man with the deep purple eyes paused, then asked, "Are they all here?"

“Three have arrived.” The man in the yukata paused and smiled. “But the last one is no different from the last one. There’s another one who’s about to die. You really only have two opponents.”

The man with purplish-red pupils narrowed his eyes and gripped a black box in his arms.

“I suggest you go find that woman first,” the man in the yukata suggested. “Going to her first is much better than having her come knocking on your door while you’re fighting that guy… Of course, I don’t recommend you fight him head-on. Over 1,300 half-owls, each with a full-body alchemical armor set, with a total investment of over 1.5 billion pounds. If a military strategist like me were on the battlefield, controlling things in real time, and if we could find a way to exploit an information gap and wipe them all out, we could take down almost half of the Seven Luminaries.”

“I’ve fought Jue Tianjun before.” The man with crimson pupils said calmly, “More than 1,300 of them. If I attacked them head-on, I would surely die. Last time we fought, he beat me by half a move, but to say that he could kill more than 1,300 Jue Tianjuns is probably impossible. He is a typical modern martial artist whose style does not focus on lethality.”

Although Ying Qin Guan was a self-taught martial artist, he was a perfect modern fighter whose moves were entirely focused on 'effective hits' and 'speed'.

The man in the yukata maintained his smile.

What are you trying to say?

"There's nothing particularly I want to say, I'm just making a fair assessment."

"Looks like you're just waiting to get a good beating."

The man with deep purple eyes turned around and asked, "Do you think I'll lose?"

"From a strategic perspective, I hope you win," the man in the yukata said with a smile. "From a personal perspective, I hope you lose."

This answer did not surprise the man with the crimson pupils. He had worked with the man in the yukata for many years and knew what a terrifying and insane person he was. He still could not forget the image of this man sitting on the operating table, disemboweling himself in front of a dilapidated mirror, when he arrived late. Even with a thousand years of experience, he would often feel a chill at this sight.

He said calmly, "The person who could defeat you was ultimately defeated by me. You'd find that a rather uninteresting outcome, wouldn't you? It's like a poorly written novel with a rushed ending..."

"pity.."

The man sighed, and accompanied by the chanting of an ancient language, he vanished into the void.

Not all stories have a happy ending.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Theme of the Poetry Gathering

July 13th, dusk.

Yu Xietian hung up the phone.

After waiting there for a long time and going through many transfers, he finally received a reply from Fengyunke.

What does Fengyunke say?

Shenxin raised the small blackboard.

Yu Xietian looked at Shenxin with a complicated expression. The other party's response confirmed most of their guesses.

He said... he died, I'm sorry, but I have no regrets.

【“..”】

The two from Yorozuya had already guessed about Fengyunke's identity, and now that they saw this answer, they had some feelings and guesses in their hearts.

"Let's go back to Yoshiwara and give this message to Tsukimei. If she really is writing it, she shouldn't have finished it yet."

A proper calligraphy model takes a considerable amount of time to write, and even a short piece of calligraphy has a lot of characters. If it could be written in just a few minutes, it would be a masterpiece.

"Ah."

Yu Xietian responded, and they all had their own guesses. But knowing the specifics wouldn't help; all they needed to do was faithfully fulfill their duties as members of the Yorozuya and deliver the news to Yueming.

The two set off for Yoshiwara.

Yu Xietian suddenly felt a strange sense of disorientation and died. I'm sorry, but I have no regrets...

He felt an invisible, pervasive sadness, sudden yet all-pervasive, as if it were a predetermined...curse!

..

As night fell, the two from the Yorozuya returned to Yoshiwara. They knew the way well and quickly found themselves back in the moonlit garden, where the other was fulfilling his promise. But the calligraphy wasn't finished yet. Shinshin glanced at it briefly, then silently retreated.

"How was it?" Yu Xietian asked in a low voice, "What level is it?"

"She's about my level, maybe a little better, but she's nowhere near Miss Nocturne's caliber... However, I take back what I said earlier; with my skill level, I truly deserve to be called a master of calligraphy and painting in the world of courtesans."

Yu Xietian couldn't immediately tell who Shenxin was praising.

They waited patiently for a long time, and finally, after it was completely dark, Yueming stopped writing.

A diary entry, a diary post, complete.

Yu Xietian glanced at it. He knew nothing about calligraphy, and his aesthetic sense in this area was at the level of an ordinary person who had never been exposed to it. But he could still sense an indomitable and tenacious will in the other person's calligraphy... devoid of any gentleness, it didn't seem like something a woman would write. But this calligraphy was completed under the watchful eyes of the two from the Yorozuya.

"This letter is the reward." Yueming put the brush aside, paused slightly, and then asked, "Did you two return now to obtain this letter?"

“We have received his response.” Yu Xietian stepped forward and returned the photo to Yueming. “We have no proof that this is his statement. Whether you believe it or not, there’s nothing we can do, but this is indeed his response…”

Yorozuya had no choice but to respond, as Fengyunke had said. Returning like this now sounded a bit like a bluff. However, they had indeed received a response. Whether Yueming believed it or not was up to him. Seeing the calligraphy, Yorozuya had already achieved its goal for this trip; it wasn't necessarily about taking it away.

"...Horn told me that your Yorozuya is incredibly powerful." Yueming forced a miserable smile. "Now it seems that's true... Please speak."

—Following Horn, another person has come to greatly misunderstand the Yorozuya. From their perspective, no matter what the request is, as long as it's handed over to the Yorozuya, they can complete it perfectly with extremely high efficiency. But in reality, it's just a coincidence; they simply haven't seen the requests that the Yorozuya failed to complete.

So Yu Xietian repeated that sentence.

He said... he died, I'm sorry, but I have no regrets.

This sentence, and Yueming's question, seem very strange to other people. They don't know what they are asking or answering, and they might even be misunderstood as some kind of code, but that's not actually the case.

Upon hearing this, Yueming's expression remained largely unchanged, but a sense of relief inexplicably surfaced deep within his eyes.

"...I believe you. These are indeed the words he would say. And now, it's truly over..."

Yu Xietian had expected Yueming to experience a strong emotional reaction upon hearing these words. But in reality, she didn't. Some things, if dragged on for too long, eventually become poison; ending them sooner is perhaps a relief.

Yueming's expression remained calm, concealing any extraneous emotions. She said softly, "Then let it be... let it be."

Whether to accept or compromise, neither of the two outsiders from the Yorozuya could know.

As she spoke, she put away the calligraphy copybook and handed it to Yu Xietian.

"You have completed this task."

Yu Xietian and Shen Xin exchanged a glance. They both wanted to know the secret behind it, but it seemed that the secret would not be so easy to find out.

They didn't say anything they shouldn't have. In this line of work, prying into a customer's privacy is extremely taboo. It's one thing to speculate, you can't stop thinking. But to actually ask the customer is, to some extent, a bit problematic.

Just as the two were about to leave, Yueming called them back and asked in a low voice, "What is the meaning of waiting?"

She asked the question, but her eyes were fixed on Shenxin. Perhaps in their brief encounter, she realized that Shenxin was the one who possessed wisdom.

Without thinking, Shenxin quickly wrote down his answer.