Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

He took Shenya with him and left this place... At this time, he was far less resilient than he would be in his later years. Shenya's fate filled him with immense fear. He firmly believed that if the two of them didn't stay together, they would regret it for the rest of their lives and never be happy. If he had arrived a moment later and Shenya had died, what a regrettable thing that would have been.

Ye Jiaofang didn't want Shen Ya to go through this again, and also for his own sake, he wanted to leave Yingman with Shen Ya.

"Ask your heart, Shenya. Do you want to stay here, or do you want to come with me? I want to tell you that no one in this world is born to bear any responsibility. Otherwise, it would be too pitiful. Whether they are a savior or something else, everyone should live for themselves. That is true freedom."

"...You know my physical condition, right?"

Shen Ya held up the small blackboard. Her physical condition... well, how should I put it? She was already mute. Now she was half-blind, half-blind, and her lifespan was more than half gone; she was in an extremely bad state.

Shen Ya is no longer the same Shen Ya, and Ye Jiaofang is no longer the same Ye Jiaofang. Before long, he will be able to shake the world with his fame from this battle. To put it bluntly, he can have any woman he wants. At this point, their positions have completely reversed. Of course, neither of them cares about their status. But their physical condition is something that no one can ignore.

Ye Jiao responded calmly to this.

"Ten thousand years is not too much, and an hour is not too little."

"What touching words of love! Have you said them to anyone else?"

"ha.."

So, Ye Jiaofang and Shen Ya decided to leave Yingman. Before leaving, Ye Jiaofang received a sum of money from the Shogunate as payment for slaying the dragon. After some negotiation, they relinquished the reputation of slaying the dragon—Ye Jiaofang himself didn't care about that. The Shogunate, on the other hand, couldn't accept that their entire force had been wiped out with only a minor result. Hence, this exchange took place. The rest was simply a desire to keep Ye Jiaofang; if they could keep him, they would give him anything they wanted, but naturally, it all ended in failure.

Before leaving, Ye Jiaofang left a letter and gave it to a little flower girl, instructing her to give it to the young lady of Kimura Rice Shop. Afterwards, the two left Sakura and traveled all over the world.

That departure lasted for ten years.

Ten years—how much has changed, how much has passed since the seas dried up and the rocks crumbled.

Ten years later, Ye Jiao returned to Yingman. He climbed Mount Tianshen and met Gongsi, who was almost the same as he had been ten years ago.

He came alone, dressed in a purple chivalrous outfit, with a sword on his back. He was exceptionally handsome and had a magnificent appearance, no longer the naive young man he was ten years ago.

The priest said in a low voice, "In the past ten years, you have made a great name for yourself... Killing that dragon is just an insignificant beginning for you, so you don't care."

Ye Jiaofang said calmly, "A few empty titles are nothing to talk about."

Gong Si's voice was even lower, her head almost buried under the table, as she asked, "Where is the child?"

“She’s dead.” Ye Jiaofang said calmly, taking out a box from his pocket. “This is her urn. She said that after she died, she should be buried back at Mount Datianshen, so that her story would have a proper ending.”

Gong Si remained silent... This outcome was within her expectations. Otherwise, why would Ye Jiaofang have returned, and why would she have returned alone? She knew that Ye Jiaofang must be even more heartbroken than she was. That's why she had nothing to say. Shen Ya died young; how could one possibly understand all the reasons behind it?

After a moment of silence, she asked, "Didn't you have a child?"

Shen Ya knew she didn't have long to live, so from that perspective, perhaps they should have a child. As a continuation and crystallization of their love, Ye Jiaofang wouldn't be so lonely in the future.

Ye Jiaofang shook his head, his expression terrifying. He didn't say anything more. He already knew about the curse, but there was no need to tell Gong Si.

He and the priest buried Shenya together in a cherry blossom grove on Mount Daitenjin.

The palace official seemed to realize something and asked, "What do you plan to do in the future?"

Ye Jiaofang's deep purple pupils were calm, showing no sign of the pain of losing his lover. Not long ago, he had shed all the tears a man was entitled to shed.

He said, "She still has many unfulfilled wishes, and she entrusted them all to me. I will fulfill them for her."

Upon hearing this, the palace official sighed even more deeply.

"Ten years... why isn't it finished yet?"

"Yes, some wishes are beyond human control, but I will do my best."

Gong Si inexplicably sensed a dangerous aura in Ye Jiaofang's calm tone. She wanted to know what these wishes were, but Ye Jiaofang turned around and went down the mountain without looking back.

As the cherry blossoms swept by, they buried a woman and, in doing so, a boy.

Chapter 86 The Heart of Struggle, Part 11

Rumble...

A deep, heavy rumble of thunder sounded, and streaks of lightning flashed across the sky above Sakura. After a brief delay, a thunderous explosion followed, and the light illuminated the sky, making Sakura appear as if it were daytime.

Despite the torrential rain, Ye Jiaofang continued his fight with Ying Qinguan. They had exchanged hundreds of blows, both bearing numerous injuries, with Ye Jiaofang suffering many wounds, while Ying Qinguan had only a few negligible ones.

This is certainly not because Ying Qin Guan's strength has truly reached the level of being able to crush Ye Jiao Fang, but rather because Ye Jiao Fang's attack target has always been very focused... that is, the eyes.

He always manages to use all sorts of moves to attack Ying Qin Guan's eyes. Combined with his ability to distort light and manipulate airflow, Ying Qin Guan is actually half blind.

"How could things have come to this between us!"

Ye Jiao shouted loudly, feeling exhilarated. This battle had awakened too many memories for him. He never expected that there would actually be someone in the world who could fight him to this extent. He had been lonely and isolated for too long!

"Let me see you off!" Ying Qin Guan's voice was calm. Both of them had taken precious time to talk amidst the intense battle. And their reason for talking was different from the verbal sparring used by ordinary martial artists to influence their opponent's condition; they simply wanted to say something.

Some battles, the moment they appear in the world, mean their end.

Both Ying Qin Guan and Ye Jiao Fang felt at this moment that the battle they were currently engaged in was the ultimate human showdown, one that would never be repeated in the next ten thousand years. Although the future was unpredictable, this feeling at this moment was undeniable.

On average, only one in 600 million people becomes a top-tier fighter, and an era may not even produce one unparalleled master. Furthermore, in the past four thousand years, only three martial arts masters have emerged who were considered deities.

When will the next legendary martial arts master emerge? Will he be able to compare to either Ying Qin Guan or Ye Jiao Fang? And will his opponents be at that level?

Although the overall quality of martial artists has been improving, the upper limit of martial artists has remained basically unchanged.

Ye Jiaofang slashed down, his chaotic inner energy distorting the light. Ying Qin Guan's world instantly warped, as if he'd eaten a poisonous mushroom, changing countless times every second. This actually reflected Ye Jiaofang's weakened inner energy; in the heat of battle, he could no longer stably control the light to construct those misleading illusions, so he simply went all in. After all, illusions, if not perfectly constructed, are essentially no different from random attacks.

You remind me of someone from the past!

Ye Jiaofang's voice arrived along with the distorted light. He manipulated light and airflow, making everything you saw and felt unbelievable. As for sound, by the time you heard it, you were already dead. This was precisely what made Ye Jiaofang terrifying; sight, hearing, and physical senses were of little use against him.

Ying Qin closed his eyes, not to hear the sound, but to "see" Ye Jiaofang's attack through a kind of unseen insight. He extended his Tang sword, attempting to block the blow... However, this was not a fantasy world, where such a thing as a "mind's eye" existed; he was fighting solely on intuition. Therefore, he didn't completely block it. Ye Jiaofang's sword slashed down, breaking through Ying Qin's crookedly closed Tang sword, and landed on his inner energy barrier, failing to break through.

Ye Jiaofang's strength is obvious; he can manipulate light and air currents, unleash supersonic attacks at will, master all martial arts, and possess countless fantasy-level skills. Ying Qin Guan's strength, on the other hand, is much more subtle.

His strength lies in the speed of his internal energy circulation and his control over it. Ying Qin Guan's internal energy circulation is extremely fast, which makes his skill cooldowns and pre-cast animations shorter. As for his control over his internal energy, it can be understood as the degree of precision. Ying Qin Guan can even use his internal energy to control needles to complete an embroidery.

Therefore, even if Ying Qin Guan makes a mistake, he can always condense his inner energy barrier in time. If other people's inner energy barriers are like Gem's R, which requires a lot of preparation time, then Ying Qin Guan's inner energy barrier is like Fiora's W, which is instantaneous and will also stab you in the face.

But Ye Jiaofang wasn't discouraged. Even if it really was Fiora's W, there were times when people couldn't react in time. Besides, the difference between the two wasn't really that great, not to mention that Ying Qin Guan's eyes were injured.

"What old friend?!"

Ying Qin Guan asked in return, using his inner energy to block Ye Jiao Fang's attack. His free left hand clenched tightly, and his wild inner energy gathered. He threw a punch, dispelling Ye Jiao Fang's inner energy used to distort light, and at the same time covering Ye Jiao Fang's guessed location with an area-of-effect attack.

Ye Jiao leaped away, dodging the fist's energy. With a wave of his hand, a burst of astonishing purple light erupted from his sleeve, shooting towards Ying Qin Pass.

"I said some things to her back then!" Ye Jiao released his inner energy from his severed arm, gathering a hazy purple aura that quickly transformed into a giant purple hand. "But now, with our battle, I think those words might have been wrong!"

Ying Qin Guan swung his sword, severing the purple light that Ye Jiao Fang had unleashed from his sleeve. Then he threw a punch, colliding with the giant purple fist. Terrifying air currents ripped through the air, tearing apart the ground within a radius of hundreds of meters. In an instant, sand and stones flew everywhere, as if the earth were turning over.

In this astonishing attack, Ying Qin Guan took a moment to calmly ask:

"What did you say to that old friend?"

These words... plunged Ye Jiaofang back into distant memories.

-

On a certain street in Sakura, a child of about two or three years old walked by, accompanied by a woman, presumably his mother.

Suddenly, the child stopped and looked curiously toward a courtyard next to him. A plaque hung on the door frame, with characters he didn't recognize. It was covered in dust and the whole courtyard was lifeless and deserted.

"Mommy..." he tugged at the woman's hand, his voice still childish, "Why is there no one here?"

The mother looked up and saw the words "Heliu Dojo" on the plaque. She touched her child's head and said softly, "Because the owner of this place is gone. When he left, this place wasn't even finished yet. But he was so great that even after he left, no one dared to demolish it, for fear that one day he would return and see that what belonged to him was gone."

The child seemed to understand but not quite, so the mother didn't say much. She took the child's hand and was about to leave when she turned around and saw a man dressed in a purple outfit.

He possessed extraordinary bearing and a heroic air, even though his attire wasn't particularly eye-catching. Yet, everyone who saw him involuntarily lowered their head. And after passing by, they couldn't help but turn back to look...

Ye Jiaofang spoke, his voice calm, "Long time no see, Kimura."

Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Heart of Struggle (Part Twelve)

(PS: 25 missing)

Kimura Kiyoi lowered her head...not daring to look at Ye Jiaofang.

In the past few years, she had fantasized about this scene countless times. Suddenly one day, on a sunny afternoon, she was having afternoon tea in Mr. Morita's fruit shop when Ye Jiaofang suddenly lifted the curtain and said that life outside was too hard. She had traveled all over the world but still thought that you were the best. She said, "Let's be together."

She persisted for seven years, relying on her imagination of such a scene.

Seven years... How she got through those seven years is probably only known to herself.

However, even the strongest man can fall down. Faced with a valley that never echoes back, even the loudest person will fall silent.

It wasn't that she wanted to remain silent, but the valley never gave her any response. So she kept shouting and shouting until her throat became hoarse, festering, and suppurating, eventually turning into a lump of blood.

Moreover, she was not only facing an echoing valley, but also a glaring mountain. She was not Ye Jiaofang or Shen Ya, who could feed themselves and not worry about the rest of the family.

"Ye Jiaofang..." Kimura Kiyoshi began, her voice bitter. She no longer addressed Ye Jiaofang as "Ye-kun" or "you." After ten years, seeing Ye Jiaofang again felt like seeing a complete stranger.

"I was quite happy to see you," Ye Jiaofang said. "You have a child now, so you must have started a new life, even if it's a little late... I'm sorry."

Ye Jiaofang spoke these words, yet his face remained completely expressionless, displaying an air of detached superiority... Of course. Because those who don't love are always invincible; they simply don't care, so how could they possibly get hurt?

But his words were like knives, cutting into Kimura Kiyoi's heart again and again... Ye Jiaofang wasn't unaware of this, but he still said it.

These words made Kimura Kiyoi choke up.

"How I wanted to keep waiting... But I was slowly no longer a girl, I couldn't be so willful. My father's hair was getting whiter every day. My mother tried to persuade me at first, but then she stopped. She would just sigh whenever she saw me. For ten days, the three of us in the house couldn't hear a single laugh... One year, two years, it didn't matter, I was still young. Three years, four years, it didn't matter, I could still bear it. Five years, six years, I only had this last breath left in my chest to hold on, relying entirely on my own belief... At that time, I could hardly even remember your voice anymore."

Ye Jiaofang said, "Over the years I have traveled around, I have heard a saying, 'It is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes than to be together in hardship.' Although we have not been together in hardship, the second half of the saying is still applicable. Besides, I have already written it very clearly in the letter."

“But why won’t you come to see me…” she sobbed. “I just want to know why, I want to know who she is, that you left so suddenly… I never even knew her before.”

Why won't you even see me one last time?

"Because I was also a bit cowardly back then," Ye Jiaofang frankly admitted, "It was my fault. If it were me now, I would have gone to find you and ended it all. It's better to end it quickly than to suffer for a long time."

Ye Jiaofang back then... it wasn't so much cowardice as gentleness; he didn't want to say those things and make Kimura Kiyoi bear them all at once, hoping that time would heal everything. But judging from the outcome, he completely failed back then.

“It’s not too late for you to come now.” Kimura Kiyoi choked up. “If you’re going to tear my heart out, you might as well stay outside and never come back. At least I’d have something to look forward to.”

Ye Jiaofang said, "Is this fair to your current husband? Is it fair to your child?"

Kiyoi Kimura wiped away her tears, her voice still trembling with a sob. But she forced a composed tone, trying to appear resigned.

"You coming to see me is the biggest injustice, Ye Jiaofang...you and I are both bastards."

"Perhaps I really shouldn't have come to see you," Ye Jiaofang sighed.

He unsheathed his sword from behind and entered the deserted dojo... the Merge Dojo, which was originally the name of his chosen school. But in the end, the dojo never opened, and he and Shenya left without looking back.

He planted the sword in the center of the dojo.