He changed Tiwat

He wanted to pass on the power to ward off evil spirits to the samurai of Inazuma, and the "Sekiro Onmyōryō" was the dojo where he taught his skills.

After Harunosuke Yuugami returned to Japan and established the "Ketsu Onmyōryō", he gathered samurai who were willing to serve their country and divided them into two groups.

One group is responsible for collecting materials from the outside world. Samurai and shikigami form a team and use talismans and martial arts to fight against the monsters in the dark calamity. The monsters they defeat, their fighting moves and various information are recorded by the shikigami as "rubbings" and brought back to the "Yin-Yang Bureau of Talismans".

The rubbings would be given to Harunosuke Yuugami, who would absorb the insights and experiences within them, adjust the structure of the secret realm, and reappear in the world as "Mirror Reflection Monsters," serving as training opponents for the samurai. Another group of samurai would then hone their skills by battling monsters day and night in this "Mirror Reflection Secret Realm." Over time, these ambitious samurai would develop formidable martial arts skills.

Once they have mastered the skills necessary to defeat the "Mirror Return Monster," they can leave, and a new batch of people will arrive. New experiences, new opponents... the cycle continues.

However, Harunosuke Kami wanted to protect his homeland in this way.

The "Mirror Return Secret Realm" that Rouran is currently using to imprison Han Fulai and Ke Qing does not contain any "Mirror Return Demons." It is just an empty dojo. Its special feature is that the internal confinement is extremely tight—after all, this is a dojo that is meant to generate all kinds of demons. If the demons are released, wouldn't that bring disaster to the world?

To forcibly break through this "Mirror Return Secret Realm," one would need to possess strength surpassing that of the great Onmyoji, Harunosuke Yuugami, from five hundred years ago—that is, true demon god-level power. If Keqing were truly the Thunder God with the "Unthinkable Blade," she could cleave this space—unfortunately, Keqing has not yet reached that level.

Even in her current fully enchanted state of "Heavenly Thunder Punishment," she can barely carve a space large enough for one person to pass through, while Thor's single strike can cut across the strait...

However, this place is, after all, a martial arts training ground.

According to the normal setting of this space, in order to leave, one must pass a trial—in Inazuma, the disciples of the kendo dojo must fight against their master in a real battle, and then defeat the dojo master to obtain the qualification of "Menko Kaiden".

"So, if Miss Keqing wants to leave, let's spar in swordsmanship." Rou Ran's voice rang out again. "I am the master of this 'dojo.' If you defeat me, you can leave."

Chapter 403 No one has ever been able to cross the line of my sword.

"You want to compete with me... in swordsmanship?" Ke Qing frowned slightly.

This condition doesn't seem difficult; in fact, it's quite favorable to Keqing.

Keqing had worked with the Rouran for years and had never heard of him being skilled in swordsmanship. Keqing was even certain that Han Fulai's acrobatic skills were superior to those of the Rouran.

Techniques can be concealed, but martial arts skills are very difficult to hide in the eyes of experts. Footwork, body balance, habitual small movements, etc., will all reveal a person's martial arts foundation.

Keqing is already a master of the Cloud Sword Technique, and is at the level where she can open her own school and take on students. If you want to hide your cultivation level from her, you would at least be at the level of Jiang Xue, who is pretending to be a fisherman. Jiang Xue is a descendant of the Liyue Star Clan who has practiced swordsmanship since childhood. She has a natural sword bone and is the hereditary Po Jun Star.

You, a weak and lazy young master from Rouran, dare to challenge me to a sword fight?

There's no need for Han Fu to remind me of anything; if you say there's no trap here, Ke Qing would be the first to disagree.

But regardless of whether there are traps or not, Keqing has to do the same thing.

Ke Qing raised her head and looked into the darkness before her, her gaze sharp as lightning, as if trying to find the gentleness hidden within the endless blackness.

"Since Tianji Star wants to spar with me in swordsmanship, why is he hiding his true intentions?"

Rou Ran chuckled softly, "So, Miss Ke Qing has agreed?"

Ke Qing ignored Rou Ran, turned around and helped Han Fulai sit down, then drew a circle on the ground with her sword.

The brilliance of lightning shimmered on the ground.

These are skills that Keqing learned during her previous adventures and training.

The mountains and wilderness of Liyue are teeming with wild beasts and monsters. When Keqing sleeps outdoors, she stands her hairpin upright on the ground as an alarm device. The principle is quite simple: a small amount of lightning element is distributed around the hairpin, and if anything steps into the area where the lightning element is distributed, Keqing will be immediately awakened.

Now, this sword ring has replaced the function of the hairpin, since she still needs to use the hairpin in battle.

Ke Qing stood imposingly before Han Fulai, sword in hand, and declared loudly, "Attack!"

Rou Ran sighed, "Miss Ke Qing doesn't trust me."

Ke Qing smiled and asked in return, "Isn't that what you were planning?"

By adopting this stance, Ke Qing naturally intended to protect Han Fulai while fighting him, essentially limiting her movement to Han Fulai's vicinity.

Her Cloud Sword Technique was originally known for its graceful and agile movements, so binding herself to Han Fulai's side at this moment was practically self-destructive.

But she had no choice but to do it.

Rouran are the masters of this martial arts arena, and they seem to have the advantage of being able to hide in this "Mirror Return Secret Realm." Keqing set up this defensive line to guard against Rouran secretly attacking Han Fulai. As long as anything steps into the range of Keqing's sword circle, Keqing will immediately sense it.

Rouran invited her to "spar with swords" and offered very generous terms, but in reality, it was a feint to lure her away from Han Fulai. Keqing naturally couldn't fall for it.

Keqing wasn't blind to the current situation. Whatever she was fighting the Rouran for, and whatever the outcome, was ultimately unimportant. As long as they could get out, it would be a defeat for the Rouran.

First, your Tianji Star plotted to destroy the Guiliyuan Dam, then you framed and murdered Han Fulai, the deputy head of Yuehaiting, and next you illegally detained Ke Qing of Yuheng Star. You even attacked me under the pretext of sparring in swordsmanship? Rouran has already been beheaded several times.

If she and Han Fulai can get out, let alone mobilize troops to capture Rouran, the immortals might even treat Rouran with the same level of force they used against Aosai and Bache. At the very least, that Great Sage Who Subdues Demons would definitely be willing to help Han Fulai return the favor to Rouran.

For the Rouran, the situation was now a matter of life and death—either they would kill them both and keep their bodies hidden in this isolated space forever, or they should take advantage of the moment and escape.

The claim that "you can leave if you defeat me" is just an excuse; there is no option to let them out.

In Ke Qing's view, the reason why Rouran told her the secret of the "Mirror Return Secret Realm" and proposed this kind of "sparring" or "trial" was because he was currently unable to fight her head-on.

Ke Qing had personally witnessed Han Fulai activate the Jade Shield to block Ba Che's attack, and she also saw him jump into the vortex after activating the shield.

The fact that the Rouran were able to injure Han Fulai to this extent likely came at a price. If the Rouran had used some secret technique to break through Han Fulai's shield, he would certainly be in dire straits now.

—If the Rouran still had the power to kill them both, they could have taken action right now; there would have been no need for any "sparring."

In other words, the Rouran had no choice but to use this method to kill Han Fulai.

It's likely that the Rouran will appear in the distance and lure Keqing over for a "sparring match," then attack him as soon as Keqing leaves Han Fulai's side.

In theory, she didn't need to pay attention to Rouran; she could just stay here and protect Han Fulai as he recovered. Anyway, Rouran couldn't do anything to them.

The biggest problem is that they can't afford to stall for time.

The gesture Han Fulai just made to her was a request for her to take him out, indicating that Han Fulai's situation would only worsen inside, and he couldn't afford to wait any longer.

In that case, it would be better to go along with the plan and agree to this "sparring," and then kill the Rouran with a single sword strike during the so-called "sparring."

—If Han Fulai knew how Ke Qing analyzed the situation, he would probably be very pleased with Ke Qing's growth. Could this be considered the result of Ke Qing being influenced by him for a long time?

Seeing that Keqing hadn't fallen for the trap, Rouran could only say, "In that case, please be careful, Miss Keqing. Swords have no eyes, and it might affect Vice Minister Han."

Ke Qing remained unmoved, her smile as bright and dazzling as the light of a sword.

"No one has ever been able to cross the line of my sword."

Han Fulai silently watched Ke Qing's back as she stood protectively in front of him, sword in hand.

Actually, given his personality, it would be quite embarrassing for a man to be protected by a woman; he had always been in the position of protector. Even the fight against Ba Che with Shen He was something he had planned, essentially to protect Shen He.

Now he has become the one being protected.

Or is it a situation where one is truly powerless to protect oneself and can only entrust one's life and death to others?

But he didn't feel embarrassed or ashamed, nor did he feel uneasy or worried; he only felt a sense of security that he took for granted.

It's like... enjoying the feeling of being protected by Keqing.

Because Keqing is someone you can entrust your life to.

Han Fulai suddenly understood what kind of feelings he had for Ke Qing—before, he had only felt this sense of security when he was holding Shen He.

He closed his eyes and began to let his consciousness sink into his body.

Keqing will protect him, so he can't let Keqing's efforts go to waste.

Chapter 404 Protect Yourself with Three Thoughts, Illusory Flow of the Heart

Rouran's current situation is worse than Keqing imagined; he can't afford to delay any longer.

Under the pressure of Han Fulai's two ice puppets, he had no choice but to use the power of bloodline resonance to urge the remnant soul of the Salt God to devour Han Fulai. In essence, this was a method in Yin-Yang arts that used one's own flesh and blood as a sacrifice to drive a powerful shikigami. It was a case of harming oneself first and then the enemy, and he paid a heavy price.

This encouragement was unexpectedly interrupted by Keqing, causing him severe backlash. Being interrupted while casting a spell is a fatal thing; it's like conjuring a fireball and having it explode in your hand before you can even release it. The fact that he didn't immediately kneel down and vomit blood shows considerable endurance. Don't be fooled by his calm demeanor; he's actually at his limit.

He had used up all his shikigami, and all he had left were the shikigami that, when combined, could only go toe-to-toe with an ice golem.

Clearly, the shikigami are no match for Keqing.

Moreover, Keqing's strength was far more terrifying than he had known.

In his eyes, the "sword circle" that Keqing claimed to be was not a simple circle of swords, and Keqing's current image was not that of a heroic and beautiful young girl—but rather an inviolable "terrible zone".

Countless purple lightning bolts were contained within the lightning pool, ready to be unleashed at any moment. He had no doubt that as long as he stepped into Keqing's attack range, he would be met with a true thunderous strike.

This is certainly an illusion, but for the Rouran, the distinction between fantasy and reality is not so clear.

The illusions he saw were a result of his family's "protective magic".

Fighting with fists, feet, and weapons is not a true way to protect oneself, as there will always be times when one fails.

People learn martial arts and magic to protect themselves, but they never think that learning these skills is essentially attracting danger... Take Vice Minister Han in front of us, for example. If he hadn't been protected by the Jade Shield, he probably wouldn't have fallen into this trap.

The true art of self-defense is to "not fight," and the highest level of self-defense is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

The ability to detect danger in advance and then avoid it is what we call "self-defense."

Also known as "Thinking of Danger".

“After I leave, my clan’s descendants should understand the importance of ‘three considerations’. These ‘three considerations’ are ‘considering danger, considering retreat, and considering change’.”

—If there was any valuable legacy left to the Rouran by their ancestor Zhuji four hundred years ago, it was neither a vast fortune nor a network of connections and industries, but rather this sentence he left on the title page of the manuscript "The Treasure Mine of Zhuji" in his home.

Knowing the danger allows you to avoid it; this is called "thinking of danger." Hiding in a place where no one pays attention to you is called "thinking of retreat." Once you retreat, you have a chance to observe and reflect on your past mistakes and how to proceed in the future; this is called "thinking of change."

His ancestor, Zhuji, had initiated reforms in Liyue, but failed. He was caught red-handed by Ye Mingxiang, the then-ruler of Tianquan, and was about to face imprisonment. Zhuji then reflected on his gains and losses and summarized these "three considerations" to teach his descendants. Afterwards, he practiced the way of "thinking before retreating," singing generously in the Yan market and calmly becoming a prisoner of Chu.

Unfortunately, Zhuji's ability to "think of danger" was clearly not up to par, and he failed to see how dangerous Ye Mingxiang was. Otherwise, he would never have given Ye Mingxiang the opportunity to enter his home.

When the perception of danger is honed to its extreme, the subconscious mind, acting on instinct, will warn of the existence of crisis, forming a premonition similar to a hallucination.

Rouran's "protective techniques" were only developed after their defeat against Ningguang ten years ago. Only after experiencing real danger do they learn to fear.

Since then, the Rouran have consistently practiced the principle of "thinking thrice before acting".

When Mao Cai Gong's misdeeds were exposed, they pointed to three of the Seven Stars, and he withdrew.

Ningguang established the Liyue National Bank and appointed herself as its chairperson, while he still stepped down;

Ningguang, Keqing, and Han Fulai joined forces to exert pressure at the Seven Stars Conference, advocating for the expansion of the Thousand Rock Army, but he continued to retreat;

Even when Ningguang attacked Yinyuan Hall, he retreated.

He retreated again and again, even willing to abandon his dignity and submit to Ningguang—all for the sake of "change".

The change he desired has now arrived, and the path to godhood is within reach.

However, at that moment, Ke Qing appeared and blocked his way.

Logically, he should retire now.

With the addition of Keqing as a variable, a sense of danger was already frantically warning the Rouran, but at this moment, the Rouran had nowhere to retreat; if they retreated, they would lose everything.

And he does indeed still have a chance to win.

His trump card wasn't just the Salt Sorrow Gun.

The Rouran had made thorough preparations before taking action, including the assumption that the Salt Sorrow Spears would fail to penetrate their defenses.

Even if he had missed with that shot, he was confident he could have killed Han Fulai. The reason he used this "Mirror Reflection Secret Realm" to trap Han Fulai was not only because the secret realm was sturdy enough, but also because it could create "Mirror Reflection Demons".

Now, this trick can be used on Keqing.

Rou Ran's voice once again reached Ke Qing's ears from all directions: "Miss Ke Qing's Cloud Sword Technique is the orthodox style of the Immortal Sect. Rou Ran has long admired it and will learn from it today. My sword technique is passed down from Inazuma 'Martial Saint' Shibukawa Takeki, and is called 'Shinryu'."

"This may be the most ruthless sword technique in the world. Its power even surpasses the Iwakura-ryu and the secret sword 'Tengu-shō' of the Tenryō Magistrate's Office, and can rival the 'Genryu' of that Thunder General... Therefore, Miss Keqing, be careful."

Rouran's words, seemingly polite introductions of their lineage, were a powerful intimidation to Keqing. Keqing had indeed never heard of "Shinryu" or Shibukawa Goki, but no swordsman was unaware of Raiden-shogun and Iwazo-ryu.

It is said that Inazuma's naginata technique, swordsmanship, and forging skills were all directly passed down from the "origin" of the Thunder General. She symbolizes the highest swordsmanship in the world, and even the Liyue Immortals cannot compare with the power of the gods—one sword cuts across the strait, one sword slays a demon god... Such swordsmanship is beyond human reach.

Keqing had also heard of the story of the Thunder General instructing his subordinates in swordsmanship. The Kujo family, the former magistrate of the Heavenly Territory, was promoted because they were able to spar with the general.

The Iwakura-ryu is a swordsmanship style inherited from the Shadow Tengu, and its status is almost equivalent to the Mondstadt Knights' "Far Wind Swordsmanship". It can be called the current representative of Inazuma's swordsmanship. Its secret sword "Tengu Shou" is enough to defeat the Tengu - in other words, it can rival the Sage.

What kind of swordsmanship would "Shinryu" be, capable of surpassing Iwazo-ryu and rivaling "Genryu"?

Ke Qing knew, of course, that this might just be Rouran's exaggeration... but this exaggeration seemed unnecessary. Martial arts were the most direct thing in the world; a fight could be a matter of life and death. Moreover, Rouran was a very secretive person, and his current performance was enough to show that he had many secrets. His declaration just now could also be interpreted as his confidence. It was normal for martial artists to announce their identity before a fight.

Despite being described as having "swordsmanship," the Rouran people neither drew their swords nor appeared in person.

He pointed to the shikigami beside him and chanted, "Tidal Waves, summon the spirit. Demon Puppet Sword Demon - Fierce Face."

"The fierce snow falls in layers, summoning the spirit. Demon Puppet Sword Demon - Frost Rush."

"Maru Maru Owl Wind, summoned by spirits. Demon Puppet Sword Demon - Lone Wind."

In an instant, the three originally very weak paper doll shikigami landed and transformed into imposing warriors, each two meters tall and fully armored.

The longswords in their hands shimmered with elemental light, an enchantment of the three elements: water, ice, and wind, symbolizing the power they possessed.

A gentle voice drifted over: "Our sect's 'Shinryu' can simulate all kinds of swordsmanship. I have copied their sword techniques into shikigami. Their sword techniques are the same as the Iwazo-ryu 'Tengu Shou' that my 'Shinryu' defeated. Each sword demon is equivalent to one of my sword strikes against you. I wonder if Miss Keqing can withstand three of my sword strikes?"

Chapter 405 Flow Fantasy Sword [4k]