Volume 3: The World's Strongest Chapter 22: Deathly Mad Sword Fight
The taxi started from Tokyo, drove along the Tokyo high-speed harbor coastline for about ten minutes, then turned into the city and soon stopped at the edge of the downtown area.
Two people got out of the car and stood in front of the gate of a walled courtyard.
Qi Ji carried his backpack on his right back, with a long black weapon bag underneath it, and looked up at the yard in front of him.
The courtyard is surrounded by a circle of wooden corridors with gray sloping roofs. A spacious one-story wooden structure with a strong ancient cherry blossom style sits quietly in the center of the courtyard.
The roof of the central building is a sloping roof covered with gray-black tiles. In the middle of the roof, facing the entrance of the courtyard, there is a plaque with black characters on a white background hanging horizontally.
In the center of the plaque were written four large characters: Bai Ye Dojo.
"Bai Ye Dojo..." Qi Ji exclaimed, turned his head and said to Shangquan Yiren, "Looking at how prosperous it is, the area where this dojo is located is probably not in the city center, but on the edge of the city center. There is such a dojo in a place where every inch of land is worth a lot of money. Your family must be very rich!"
Shangquan Yiren pulled the suitcase for Qi Ji, touched the back of his head sheepishly and said: "Although grandpa is very angry that father did not inherit his kendo mantle, if father had not made money from business, I am afraid that our Shangquan family's dojo would have been sold long ago for economic reasons."
"So, how many students do you have in this large dojo?" Qi Ji touched his chin and said, "With such a good location and being the dojo of Shangquan Sword Saint, there must be a lot of students!"
Shangquan Yiren scratched the back of his head and said awkwardly: "At present, there is not a single student..."
Qi Ji: “…”
Shangquan Yiren gave an idiotic smile and said, "It's like this. When Grandpa was still here, this dojo was indeed very crowded. But since Grandpa got old and stayed in the Outer Realm for a long time, we can't see the Sword Master anymore, and our dojo lacks a real teacher who can control the situation, so the number of students has been decreasing."
A cold female voice sounded behind the two of them: "It's because you are too weak, brother."
The female voice actually spoke Chinese. Although it still had a cherry blossom accent, compared to Kamiizumi Yiren, it was already very standard.
Qi Ji turned around and saw a very beautiful girl.
She is tall and wears a very Sakura style high school girl uniform. She has long straight black hair with a hint of purple. She has an oval face, delicate and charming features, and a calm expression.
He turned around and looked at Shangquan Yiren's face, which couldn't be said to be ugly, but was at most handsome, and then turned back to look at the girl.
I couldn't help but put my hand on my chin: "Well... isn't he my biological child?"
The girl seemed to see through Qi Ji's thoughts and suddenly said, "We are siblings. My brother looks like my father, and I look like my mother."
Oh, so that’s how it is!
Kamiizumi Yiren also turned around and saw the girl and shouted happily, "Saeko, you came back early today, isn't there any activity in the Kendo Club?"
The girl sighed: "Brother, if you are the only one visiting today, it would be very rude if you fail to entertain guests well."
Kamiizumi Yiren choked, then scratched his head sheepishly, turned to Qi Ji who was watching them with a smile, and said, "Qi Ji, this is the sister I mentioned to you before, Kamiizumi Saeko, currently a sophomore at Fujimi High School, a talented kendo girl."
Saeko Kamiizumi, who was standing next to him, bowed politely after hearing the introduction from Kamiizumi Yiren: "Hello, Qi Jijun. I have heard my brother mention you many times in the past few days. Thank you for coming to help."
Qi Ji nodded gently towards Ueizumi Saeko and said with a faint smile: "Hello, I'm Qi Ji. Sorry to bother you for a while."
Ueizumi Saeko said softly: "It's not disturbing, I just hope Mr. Qi Ji doesn't feel uncomfortable. Also..."
"I have a very unreasonable request." Her expression suddenly changed, and she became very serious: "Can Qi Jijun play a game with me?"
At the end of August, under the hot afternoon sun, a beautiful girl with the temperament looked at Qi Ji seriously. Beside them was a confused looking Kamiizumi Yito.
…
The interior of the Byakuya Dojo of the Kamiizumi family.
Qi Ji stood helplessly on the wide tatami, holding a bamboo sword in his hand.
The bamboo sword is a simulated sword tool used in Sakura Country Kendo practice. It is made up of several pieces of bamboo tied together. Bamboo is elastic and the bamboo sword is not a natural bamboo. It is split into several pieces and then tied together. The overall effect is very soft. Therefore, compared with the nylon swords or even special steel swords commonly used in the martial arts circle, this thing is much safer.
Whether it is chopping, slashing or even stabbing with normal force, it is almost impossible to cause harm to the human body under the protection of Sakura Kendo's lightweight protective gear.
The most important thing is that the manufacturing cost of this thing is very low, so even today when military skills have developed very maturely, the Sakura Country still maintains the habit of training with bamboo swords, and only in formal competitions will they use simulated steel swords.
Qi Ji weighed the bamboo sword in his hand, which was about 1.2 meters long and weighed about one kilogram, and then held it in both hands and hung it in front of him. The next moment, the temperament he exuded was as if he had used this bamboo sword tens of millions of times.
Shangquan Yiren, who was standing at the side of the dojo and watching, immediately became alert and realized that Qi Ji had the talent to enable him to easily control any weapon he used once he got hold of it.
He is simply a weapon master!
Opposite Qi Ji, Saeko Ueizumi, who was wearing protective gear neatly, also had a look of surprise on her face beneath her kendo mask.
When he just got the bamboo sword in his hand, he looked like he had never touched it before, but now he has practiced the bamboo sword skills as if he had mastered them a thousand times.
It seems that just as that stupid brother said, Qi Jijun is a terrible genius.
But even so, it is a bit too confident to fight me without wearing protective gear.
Under the mask that made it difficult for others to see clearly, Ueizumi Saeko licked her lips with her tongue and gripped the bamboo sword tighter with both hands.
She seemed to have seen herself slashing Qi Ji's body and limbs with the bamboo sword, leaving bruises and even contusions on the other's skin, and she couldn't help but tremble with excitement.
"Qi Jijun, if you are sure you don't want to wear protective gear, then I will do it!"
In a strangely excited mood, she shouted softly, tapped the ground with her feet, and rushed forward quickly.
"Hmm, this Ueizumi Saeko's aura..."
Qi Ji's indifferent expression couldn't help but pause slightly after he felt the other party's bloodthirsty aura like a Rakshasa.
This girl is extraordinary!
The next second, Ueizumi Saeko rushed in front of Qi Ji at an extremely fast speed. With a delicate cry, the bamboo sword in her hand quickly chopped towards Qi Ji's face with an upper stance.
"Noodles! (Sakura language)"
A very powerful and standard slash.
Qi Ji smiled slightly, and quickly raised the bamboo sword that was hanging in front of him and held it across his eyes. In a flash, he blocked the opponent's attack that was almost certain to hit him.
Climbing carp.
The next moment, his special blocking recoil force of the Ashina-ryu style burst out subconsciously, and along with the tilting movement of the bamboo sword in his hand, he bounced Kamiizumi Saeko's bamboo sword aside.
At the first encounter, Qi Ji broke the girl's posture, but he did not chase her. He just smiled and watched Kamiizumi Saeko quickly retreat and return to the middle-section posture.
Then he took a bull-like stance and asked loudly, "I heard that according to the local rules of Sakura Kendo, stabbing can only be done at a specified position. Where is this position?"
"The throat area." Saeko Kamiizumi said softly after a second of silence.
Qi Ji continued to ask with a smile: "I heard that there is a saying that one should 'combine qi', so how should this stabbing attack be combined with qi?"
"It's pronounced '突き'!" Ueizumi Saeko continued to answer, and then immediately tightly grasped the bamboo sword, staring at Qi Ji's figure with full concentration. The opponent's intention was equivalent to a clear card. The next attack was to stab her throat. If she couldn't even block this...
"Okay, then you pay attention..." Qi Ji nodded and said with a smile: "I'm going to get on!"
After saying that, he took a step forward with his right foot, touched the ground with his toes, and his whole body turned into a phantom.
"Tsuki!" A non-standard Sakura language shouted.
Saeko Kamiizumi immediately picked up her bamboo sword to block, but it was too late.
In Ueizumi Saeko's eyes, she only saw the round tip of the bamboo sword that Qi Ji stabbed out appear in front of her in an instant.
The next second, her throat, which was protected by the drooping mask, was hit hard!
The whole person was pushed back three steps by a great force.
Qi Ji put away his bamboo sword, looked at Ueizumi Saeko with a smile, and said, "You have a pretty good aura and strong basic skills. I'm afraid you are close to the sixth level, right?"
Ueizumi Saeko took off her kendo mask, with an inexplicable expression on her face. She nodded and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Qi Jijun. You are right. The coach said that I have begun to develop my 'mind' and my strength is close to the sixth dan."
"Yes, I heard from Yiren that you are only in the second year of high school, but you have the strength of the sixth level at the age of seventeen, and your talent is even better than your brother." Qi Ji said.
Shangquan Yiren also breathed a sigh of relief and walked forward: "Qi Jijun, I'm not that bad! After returning from this trip to the foreign land, I'm almost at the seventh level of enlightenment!"
At this time, Kamiizumi Saeko had already taken off her protective gear and said to Qi Ji and Kamiizumi Yiren: "Qi Ji, brother, you guys chat first. I'm going to cook. Father will be back here for dinner tonight."
In this hot summer, Saeko Kamiizumi only wore the protective gear for a short while before she started sweating and her clothes underneath were soaked.
This is one of the reasons why Qi Ji doesn't seem to be wearing protective gear.
…
In the evening, a car that looked quite stable drove into the yard of the dojo, and a middle-aged man with a handsome face and a calm expression walked out of it.
As soon as he got off the car, he walked towards the side house next to the dojo.
When he opened the door and walked in, he saw Qi Ji and three others sitting at the table waiting for his arrival.
Qi Ji looked at this "middle-aged version" of Shangquan Yiren and smiled, "You are Shangquan Yiren's father Shangquan Masanobu, right?"
Shangquan Yiren's father, now a middle-aged man called Shangquan Zhengxin, smiled at Qi Ji and said in Daxia language, which was even more clumsy than Shangquan Yiren's: "You should be Mr. Qi Ji, you are indeed young and handsome, with a good appearance!"
As he spoke, he put down the bag in his hand and quickly walked to the main seat at the table: "Mr. Qi Ji, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Let's eat right away."
Qi Ji nodded, and Kamiizumi Yiren and Kamiizumi Saeko, who were also at the table, bowed their heads and said, "I'm ready to eat."
So everyone started to eat.
During the meal, everyone tacitly remained silent.
Soon, dinner was over. Saeko Ueizumi took the initiative to clean up the table and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, leaving the three men to continue sitting at the dining table.
Qi Ji took the initiative to ask Shangquan Zhengxin with a smile: "Uncle Shangquan, can you tell me now, what is the origin of this 'Death Crazy Sword Fight', and what do you need me to do?"
Ueizumi Masanobu nodded, organized his words seriously, then raised his head and said, "The reason for this Death Madness Sword Fight is that there are 16 companies, big and small, who want to compete for a large, long-term business from a multinational giant. Therefore, in order to avoid meaningless internal conflicts, the Death Madness Association organized this Death Madness Sword Fight with the tacit approval of the cabinet. The top four winners of this sword fight will jointly undertake this business. Of course, the champion will take the largest share."
"Mr. Qi Ji, I have a preliminary understanding of your strength. I would like to entrust you to participate in this competition as our company's 'sword man'. The goal is to win one of the top four places in this competition. This will provide a huge boost to the development of my company."
After saying that, Kamiizumi Masanobu bowed his head to Qi Ji with a serious expression and asked for his help.
