Martial artists can never be ultimately insulted.

But in reality, Iori Yagami is a rather cultured and melancholic young man who wouldn't kill someone for no reason—going berserk is another matter entirely.

On the other hand, Iori Yagami has just finished fighting Yuan Chen, and even with the timely healing from the Flame of Life, he has lost at least 20% to 30% of his combat power.

During their casual conversation, Yuan Chen learned that Iori Yagami was nineteen years old.

Yuan Chen was actually quite surprised when he learned her age.

Fun fact: Although Iori Yagami is undoubtedly the most popular male character in the King of Fighters series, he did not actually appear in King of Fighters '94. He first appeared in King of Fighters '95 when he was twenty years old.

But here's the problem—this isn't 1995.

However, Yuan Chen was not too surprised, because the timeline of this world is inherently chaotic. For example, when Yuan Chen talked about the time when the Yagami family accepted Orochi's blood, he knew that the setting was 660 years ago in the King of Fighters '97 era, but he still deliberately said it was "about 700 years ago" in a vague way. The main reason was to allow for some time-related errors.

With Iori Yagami at 19, Tokita Ohma is now 25, six years older. Although he doesn't have the innate talent for energy conversion from his bloodline like Iori Yagami, his body honed over time, coupled with the awakening of some memories... he might not win, but at least he won't lose too badly.

Thinking about this, Yuan Chen felt a little emotional.

Because if the timeline were changed, Iori Yagami would be 25, Tokita Ohma would be 19... If that were the case, apart from a very few characters in the Kengan universe, most of them would probably have a hard time keeping up with the version.

However, even with his advantages in age, experience, and knowledge, it's unlikely that Tokita Ohma could defeat Iori Yagami in his current state.

The fact that Azure Flame can simultaneously damage the body, mind, and nerves is still too abnormal.

Looking at Yuan Chen's expression, Tokita Ohma blinked curiously and asked, "Is that guy very strong?"

"Ah."

Yuan Chen nodded and said, "I just had a fight with him."

"Who won?" Tokita Ohma asked.

"Me," Yuan Chen said, "I used about 80% of my strength."

Upon hearing this, Tokita Ohma raised an eyebrow and then asked, "How much strength did you use when you fought me?"

"Around 30%," Yuan Chen said, "without considering using our trump cards... just like your 'pre-borrowing'."

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, Tokita Ohma bared his teeth in displeasure, realizing that the red-haired guy who looked like a nobody and a thug might be more powerful than he had imagined.

but……

"Giving up because you can't beat them and then feeling an even stronger power..." Tokita Ohma looked up at Yuan Chen and said, "That's the mindset of a waste."

With that, Tokita Ohma stood up, then turned and walked toward the door: "I want to see if he's as strong as you say."

A moment later, accompanied by a series of low growls and muffled sounds of confrontation—

"Ugh!!"

With a scream, and under the worried gazes of Yamashita Kazuo and the others, Iori Yagami walked in from outside with a displeased expression, pointing at Tokita Ohma behind him, whose face screamed "I did nothing wrong," and said:

"What's wrong with this guy? Is he crazy? I was on the phone and he just suddenly came over and said he wanted to have a match with me!"

"He is indeed sick."

Yuan Chen shrugged: "He has post-traumatic amnesia, myocardial strain, mild concussion, as well as extra bruises, multiple fractures and swelling."

Upon hearing this, Iori Yagami was taken aback, then looked at Yuan Chen with a puzzled expression: "How do you know so much?"

“Except for the first one, I typed all the rest.” Yuan Chen shrugged, then took out his phone and rewound the footage recorded by the restaurant’s security camera.

Watching Tokita Ohma and Genji's exchange, Iori Yagami couldn't help but roll his eyes: "This is utterly absurd."

"Try to understand, this guy used to live in the mountains, so he's practically a savage."

Yuan Chen poured a beer for Iori Yagami, then gestured with his chin toward Tokita Ohma beside him and asked, "How does it feel?"

"Hiss, he's got some skills." Tokita Ohma gasped, touching his chest, his eyes filled with surprise and wariness, as if he had discovered a formidable opponent.

Although it was just a simple exchange, within just a few rounds, Tokita Ohma's body was visibly covered in numerous scratches.

Especially on his chest, the five-finger marks were particularly obvious, as if he had been slashed hard by the claws of a bear or tiger.

"Do you have bandages and medicine? I need to treat my wound."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Chen stretched out his hand and unleashed a golden flame. The bleeding from the Ten Ghost Serpent King's chest quickly stopped and the wound was almost completely healed. The flesh and blood from the scratches reformed, forming a light pink scar.

"Not bad, they didn't kill him." Yuan Chen gave Iori Yagami a thumbs up.

"That's ridiculous." Iori Yagami shook his head, then returned to his seat and ate as he spoke:

"I've already told my dad the news. We'll be communicating with the Kagura family in a while... Do you have time? The Kagura family might ask you for advice then."

"No time," Yuan Chen shook his head and said, "I have to go out to compete, and I don't plan to travel back and forth during this period."

"A competition?" Upon hearing this, Iori Yagami raised an eyebrow with interest and said, "What kind of competition? The KOF tournament?"

“No, it’s the Kengan Association,” Yuan Chen replied.

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's answer, Iori Yagami thought for a moment.

Thanks to the Kengan Association's reputation in the underworld, even though Iori Yagami, as a martial arts practitioner, rarely participates in underground fights, he has heard some information about it as a martial artist.

"I see. I'll look into it later... but it shouldn't be a problem." Iori Yagami put a piece of salt-roasted blue-and-white porcelain into his mouth.

"The Kagura family is currently the wealthiest of our three families, and they should have some connections with the Kengan Association. We might even meet during the competition... But speaking of which, this grilled fish doesn't taste very good."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Chen took the grilled fish, then picked up a lemon from the side, squeezed some lemon juice onto it, and lit a wisp of golden flame to accelerate the activation.

"Try it now."

"Yes, that's right." Iori Yagami nodded.

Mai Shiranui, standing to the side, simply covered her face sadly, muttering things like "That's too unfair" and "It's practically cheating."

Rito, who was standing nearby, noticed the scar on Tokita Ohma's chest and asked curiously, "It looks like a scratch? Does that mean you also have Razor's Edge?"

"What Razor's Edge? Never heard of it." Hearing this, Iori Yagami shook his head: "It's just an ancient family martial art, nothing special."

Although he fought with Tokita Ohma, Iori Yagami also noticed that although Tokita Ohma came to provoke him, he did not have much hostility. He was just curious about his strength, so he did not use his Azure Flame.

Similarly, Tokita Ohma didn't use any techniques like preemption; he simply wanted to ascertain Iori Yagami's strength.

Even so, it is clear that Tokita Ohma is the one who suffers the loss—powers like Azure Flame, aside from the fact that they can inflict additional damage when actively activated, and possess unique functionality in certain areas, such as attacking souls.

Even without actively stimulating it to transform into flames, it can still serve as a more efficient form of 'qi' to enhance the body's strength, accuracy, and power.

Just now, after a brief sparring match, Tokita Ohma was left with a series of injuries, while Iori Yagami... though his clothes weren't exactly dirty, he was only slightly disheveled.

Although Tokita Ohma is currently missing his memories and most of his power is sealed, the result is still the same.

After eating and drinking for a while, Tokita Ohma also looked at Yuan Chen: "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Don't ask about Tokita Niko. I've only heard about it secondhand. If you really want to know, you can go to Himuro Ryo. He's a fighter from Yoshinokuniya Bookstore and will be participating in this elimination tournament. His nickname is 'Hyotei.' He knows more about Chuu and Tokita Niko than I do."

Yuan Chen shook his head.

The main reason is that the purification of the Kengan series is primarily in the first part, Kengan Ashura. In the entire second part, Yuan Chen was only interested in a limited number of guys, such as Shen Wulong.

"However, I can help you recover your memory," Yuan Chen sighed and said, "You're not fun to play now, you have no feel for it at all."

"...Anyway, thank you."

Meanwhile, Iori Yagami ate in silence, while also quietly sensing his own body.

I don't know if it's just my imagination... but that restless energy that always flickers within me seems to have calmed down a lot?

--------

Starting tomorrow, I'll resume updating frequently, with a minimum of 8 words.

Volume 1: 159 · My Rock and Roll Soul

Those who are family know their own situation. Iori Yagami was well aware of the torment the Blood Curse represented for his family, especially for the martial artists who inherited the Yagami-ryu ancient martial arts.

Even in the most peaceful moments, that power originating from the depths of one's bloodline will relentlessly scorch the user's spirit like the raging fires of hell.

Now, Iori Yagami can sense that this blood curse originating from Orochi is as peaceful as a pool of spring water, rather than something as fiery and intense as flames.

Thinking this, Iori Yagami turned his gaze to Yuan Chen beside him and did not hide his confusion. Instead, he asked directly, "Can you suppress the blood curse within my body?"

Upon hearing Iori Yagami's words, Yuan Chen paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know about that... What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Iori Yagami then shared what he had felt.

Upon hearing Iori Yagami's words, a hint of surprise appeared in Yuan Chen's eyes.

The blood curse of the Yagami family originates from Orochi, which is itself the embodiment of the Earth's will—or natural consciousness, an ancient consciousness that has existed since the birth of the Earth.

Initially, he viewed humans as part of nature, but as human civilization disrupted the balance of nature, he came to see humans as an "unnatural" entity that needed to be eliminated.

Although people have a clear image of the giant serpent, making it seem as if it possesses a complete physical body, this is not actually the case. The giant serpent does not have a fixed physical body, but is simply a consciousness, or something like the 'soul of the earth'.

Under these circumstances, Yuan Chen did not consider using life-saving therapies to mitigate the effects of the Blood Curse on the Yagami clan.

There's no way around it; natural consciousness is still too advanced for us.

Even with enough confidence in his own abilities, Yuan Chen's current understanding of the Flame of Life did not suggest that he could suppress the natural consciousness of the planet beneath his feet with just these rudimentary methods of use.

From another perspective, regarding the Miyamoto Musashi arc of the Baki series—initially, Yuan Chen felt that the Miyamoto Musashi arc had some major problems. After all, it was rather strange for a power like necromancy, which is close to supernatural magic, to appear in a fighting manga.

But if it's this world, then there's no problem.

Don't even mention using a necromancy technique to summon Miyamoto Musashi's soul to the modern era; after communicating with Orochi, Yuan Chen wouldn't have any problem fighting a Holy Grail War.

Yes, King Arthur was indeed a woman, a top martial artist, and Excalibur was an expression of spirit and will.

Because of Orochi's status and the fact that it was his first time meeting Iori Yagami, it was inconvenient to discuss too many personal matters, so Yuan Chen didn't ask too many questions.

And now it seems... to be effective?

Although Ingrid did say that the power she possessed was similar to that of the code holder after their arrival in this world, Yuan Chen did not take it to heart because of the huge difference between the two.

Ultimately, both the Orochi in its true form and Ingrid are equally invincible to Yuan Chen.

Thinking this, Yuan Chen realized something and clapped his hands.

Yes, while Orochi's power is immense, ultimately, Orochi's consciousness has been sealed away.

Without consciousness, these so-called blood curses are actually just pure natural energy and natural laws, without any additional consciousness to manipulate or interfere with them; they simply follow the pre-set program.

In this situation, the consequences of life energy and the blood curse coming together are not what Yuan Chen originally envisioned. Yuan Chen controls life energy, while Orochi controls the blood curse, pulling and vying with it within Iori Yagami's body.

Instead, Yuan Chen manipulated life energy, and the Blood Curse had no effect.

Thinking it over, Yuan Chen also shared his thoughts. Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, a hint of surprise appeared in Iori Yagami's eyes.

After that, Yuan Chen extended his hand toward Iori Yagami and said:

"But guesses are just guesses. Give me your hand, let me confirm it, and you can feel it too."

Upon hearing this, Iori Yagami nodded and placed his wrist directly in Yuan Chen's hand.

Although he still had many doubts about Yuan Chen, Iori Yagami was always a decisive person.

Especially now, when faced with a situation like this, where his ancestors had all tried but failed at controlling or even lifting the blood curse, Iori Yagami has no choice but to either completely disbelieve or give it his utmost trust. Dragging things out will only waste more time and energy.

Yuan Chen placed his hand on Iori Yagami's wrist, and after sensing it for a moment, he nodded thoughtfully, "I see."

As he said this, he looked at Iori Yagami and said:

"Rather than saying that the blood curse has been quelled, it's more accurate to say that the life energy... that is, the essence of the golden flames I control, activated your body. Your body instinctively activated certain areas of your brain to achieve a more comfortable state, relieving mental stress through additional hormone secretion and nerve relaxation."

"What about the Blood Curse itself?" Iori Yagami said, "Is it just pure hormone secretion and nerve relaxation? Why do I feel that the strange feeling of the Blood Curse has been reduced a lot?"

“It has some influence,” Yuan Chen replied. “The source of the Blood Curse, the consciousness of the Great Serpent, is being sealed. So the Blood Curse is essentially a natural element like fire, water, lightning, and storms.”

In this situation, the Blood Curse simply operates naturally according to its predetermined function.

"But now, with the infusion of life energy, this natural state has been artificially disrupted, so its effects have also changed."

At this point, Yuan Chen actually had one more thing to say.

In theory, Yuan Chen could even seal the Yagami family's 'Azure Flame' by injecting a large amount of life energy, restoring it to its original 'Crimson Flame' state... but unless necessary, Yuan Chen does not intend to try.

The reason is simple: although Iori Yagami hates Orochi, hates the family's destiny, and hates the blood curse, he does indeed like Azure Flame.

All I can say is that anyone who has ever used this ability to simultaneously damage the body, nerves, and mind would never want to give it up; just hearing about it evokes a deep sense of longing.

It's no exaggeration to say that if Hibiki Kyo had mastered the Azure Flame back in Hong Kong, even Sagat, who couldn't even see through his own inner self, might not have been able to defeat him...

“In general, regularly consuming life energy is beneficial to physical and mental health,” Yuan Chen said, looking at Iori Yagami. “Just come often when you have time.”

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, Iori Yagami was taken aback. After a brief silence, he looked up and asked, "So, it can't be eradicated?"

“It’s impossible.” Yuan Chen shook his head and said, “The Blood Curse is infected by the blood of the Great Serpent. If it were only the first generation, it might be possible, but by your generation it is deeply rooted. At least with my current abilities, it is unlikely to be eradicated.”