Chapter 241: Methodical Combat, Solo Kill On Fūma Kotarō, Chat Explodes! The Cost Of The Life-replacing Doll
One of the most famous ninja of the Sengoku Period, Fūma Kotarō.
If you were to put him in that era, he should have been called the leader of the “Fūma Clan,” more like a mercenary captain.
But now, no one cares about these details.
Including Shangshan Che.
This is not only because his fame is on par with Hattori Hanzo, whom he once met, but also because…
The tag above his head was a blood-red symbol representing high threat.
In the distance, the apprentice master, who had maintained a calm expression, slightly raised his eyebrows, glanced back, and moved to block in front of Akiyama Mei.
— The latter, upon seeing the true form of Fūma Kotarō, was already struggling to breathe.
“Great Ninja… The Hojo are willing to openly deploy even such an existence.”
The apprentice master looked at Shangshan Che, and finding that his expression had also become solemn, he was no longer as worried.
If Shangshan Che had also appeared nonchalant, underestimating his opponent, then he would have worried about the outcome of this battle.
Now it seemed he had underestimated this young man.
In the audience seats, Tamamo, whose arms were sore from holding her mobile phone, poked her little head out from behind the screen and muttered curiously, “Who is this guy all wrapped in black cloth, a ninja…?”
The live stream, already filled with hundreds of people from all over the world, echoed her question.
— In Sengoku history, people who know of houses other than the Oda, Toyotomi, Tokugawa, and Imagawa clans were few.
Let alone a mere ninja.
How many people would remember an existence that wouldn’t even leave a name in historical records?
The barrage of comments first questioned the identity of the man in black, then accused Hojo Ujiyasu of being senile for having others fight when even the Five-Colored Guard couldn’t win.
When it came to pointing fingers and making judgments, netizens in both the Mortal Realm and the Eternal World were quite experienced.
However, the pupils of the Edo samurai beside her had shrunk sharply, and an uncertain name suddenly popped into his mind—
Gazing at Fūma Kotarō, who stood in front of Hojo Ujiyasu, nearly two meters tall, motionless, silent, with only a pair of black pupils like ancient rocks revealed.
Although it was still a significant distance from the historical legend of “seven feet two inches,” which is nearly 2.2 meters.
But to grow to this height in the Sengoku Period, where the average height was 1.4 meters, was truly bizarre.
Speaking of which, with such a towering height, the difficulty of Fūma Kotarō carrying out covert missions must have increased considerably…
Ninjutsu is truly miraculous.
After a brief scan, Shangshan Che, who had not yet understood the opponent’s intentions, held his breath.
He was on high alert.
It was not an exaggeration for him to be cautious of the legendary ninja standing before him.
Hojo Ujiyasu looked at Shangshan Che, whose expression and movements had changed immediately, knowing that he had recognized Fūma Kotarō.
Is the young man in the arena still a so-called “history buff”?
Then, he should also have considerable knowledge of Kotarō’s techniques.
After softly relaying this to Fūma Kotarō, Hojo Ujiyasu fell into a brief period of contemplation.
By the way, who is this young man who knows how to advance and retreat with grace and measure?
He felt a strong sense of familiarity, yet why couldn’t he recognize him?
Moreover, Hojo Ujiyasu was certain that he had never personally met this young man named “Shangshan Che.”
— Because if he had, he would never forget such a uniquely distinctive existence.
“This Eternal World truly has many strange occurrences.”
Muttering to himself with a sigh, Hojo Ujiyasu, unable to find an answer, put the matter aside for the moment and turned to ask Fūma Kotarō beside him,
“Looking at this situation, what are the odds of victory?”
— Lord Tsunashige was not present, and judging from the previous battle, no one other than Kotarō had a chance to defeat Shangshan Che.
After all, according to previous intelligence, Kotarō’s reputation in later generations was immense, even surpassing that of his lord.
Since that was the case, the Hojo Clan would inevitably have “Fūma Kotarō” exposed to the public eye upon their re-emergence, no longer remaining obscure.
In that case, it would be better to have Kotarō appear at this very moment, and use Shangshan Che to establish his dominance.
After a sixth silent scan, a faint sound reached Hojo Ujiyasu’s ears,
“Relatively speaking, ‘Shangshan Che’ is stronger.”
“The odds of winning openly are three for me and seven for him; the odds of winning secretly are six for me and four for him.”
Hojo Ujiyasu’s momentarily relaxed mood vanished.
He sighed heavily in his heart, a flicker of helplessness passing through the depths of his eyes, but outwardly, there was no discernible emotional fluctuation.
“Then, if there are signs of defeat, withdraw from the Fighting Arena.”
“Naturally.”
Fūma Kotarō replied.
Ninjas, unlike samurai who would commit seppuku for failing even one or two tasks, mostly came from humble origins with ordinary bloodlines.
Therefore, for them, a battle was merely a matter of victory or defeat, with no inherent glory.
Silently, Fūma Kotarō first swiftly moved Kasahara Yasukatsu’s corpse from the Fighting Arena.
Fast.
Even with Shangshan Che’s Eye of Interpretation, he almost failed to track Fūma Kotarō’s movements.
And he hadn’t even used ninjutsu yet.
“A show of dominance?”
Seeing that Fūma Kotarō did not immediately enter the Fighting Arena, Shangshan Che shifted his gaze to the White Guard being carried to Hojo Ujiyasu’s side.
— He wanted to witness firsthand how the Life-Replacing Doll brought people back to life.
And so, under Shangshan Che’s gaze, the white cloth bearing the name “Kasahara Yasukatsu” slowly floated up and landed on the face of the corpse.
The next moment, a crudely made doll hovered shakily in mid-air, then emitted a faint light, entering the corpse of the White Guard.
A few seconds later, the dulled Life-Replacing Doll landed face down on the ground, with a hole running through its neck.
Kasahara Yasukatsu slowly straightened up from the ground, but his previously formidable aura was noticeably weaker.
— 【 White Guard · Kasahara Yasukatsu （ Three-Star ）】.
So, using a Life-Replacing Doll to revive someone caused a drop in strength.
Shangshan Che mused inwardly.
If his guess was correct, the extent of the strength reduction might also be related to the completeness of the corpse.
This time, he had only inflicted a fatal wound on Kasahara Yasukatsu’s neck, causing him to drop to Three-Star.
If the corpse were completely destroyed, the Three-and-a-half Star, which was previously Approaching Ghost God, might fall back to Zero-Star or even Zero-Star upon revival.
This was the heavy price of using a Life-Replacing Doll.
But this “heaviness” was only relative to Shangshan Che, who could revive infinitely from Shrines in the Eternal World.
For others, having a means to return from the Yellow Springs was already a difficult feat.
“So, if one can avoid dying, one should try not to die.”
Shangshan Che twisted his neck and looked at Fūma Kotarō, who was approaching with slow and steady steps after Kasahara Yasukatsu had awakened.
If the levels painstakingly cultivated were to be reset to zero, it would be too heartbreaking.
*Pat-pat, pat-pat.*
For a moment, Shangshan Che felt the interval between his heartbeat and Fūma Kotarō’s footfalls synchronized.
But he soon realized that this was done intentionally by the latter.
If left unchecked, Fūma Kotarō could easily manipulate the speed of his heartbeat through this.
Shangshan Che expressionlessly clenched his heart within his body with a Qi Barrier hand, resolving the opponent’s scheme in the simplest and most brutal way.
Combat and probing had already begun before this Great Ninja even stepped into the Fighting Arena.
*Hoo, hoo…*
An inky black aura expanded and spread as the Great Ninja approached, causing Shangshan Che’s perception of his surroundings to lag by a beat.
But the Lesser Demons in the audience seats couldn’t sense this aura at all and were even shouting for the black bamboo pole to hurry up, as they couldn’t wait any longer.
In other words, this inky aura was a “strength evaluator.”
By the time Fūma Kotarō slowly walked to the edge of the Fighting Arena, someone finally recognized him through Tamamo’s blurry footage.
Explanations about Fūma Kotarō immediately appeared on the phone screen, causing Tamamo’s eyebrows to shoot up — just like the netizens watching the stream.
In an instant, the live stream was flooded with exclamations of shock, and the back of the cheap phone quickly became hot, making it difficult for Tamamo to hold.
The comments shifted from “The Hojo will surely lose” to “If it’s Fūma Kotarō, he can’t lose.”
Seeing this, Tamamo immediately blinked and modified the live stream title, placing “Solo Kill Fūma Kotarō” at the top.
Within two seconds of submitting the title, the number of online viewers in the live stream multiplied several times, and some paying viewers even sent her inexpensive gifts.
“Rice, rice is here!”
Tamamo exclaimed, grinning foolishly and expressing her thanks.
At this moment, at the edge of the Fighting Arena, a translucent barrier slowly rose.
Facing each other from dozens of meters away, Shangshan Che and Fūma Kotarō stood in silent confrontation.
Shangshan Che did not get cocky and continue to draw an Ordinary Plain Spear, but instead directly drew Kaga Kiyomitsu, which had been humming and vibrating at his waist for a long time, pointing its tip at the black Great Ninja.
A viscous paleness descended, drawing the gaze of most of the Fighting Arena in an instant.
The domain of Sorrow of Parting began from this moment.
In an instant, a barrage of comments like “He drew his sword!” and “He drew his sword!” flooded Tamamo’s phone screen.
At this moment, a Special Affairs Office agent happened to stumble upon Tamamo’s live stream. Upon entering, they immediately recognized Shangshan Che.
The agent froze, then raised their hand and forwarded it to a forum post, accompanied by a sensational title and image.
Soon, this post surged to the top of the Special Affairs Office APP’s forum trending list.
— The clerks in the intelligence department were absolutely masters of deceptive advertising!
Shangshan Che neither knew nor cared.
He simply stopped breathing, confronting the Great Ninja who had been motionless since entering the arena.
*Tick-tock, tick-tock…*
Time passed, and the two continued to stare fixedly at each other, waiting for that precious next move.
Just as some comments in the live stream wondered if it had frozen, Fūma Kotarō moved.
Without any warning, he disappeared from everyone’s sight.
— Because during nearly a minute of observation, he realized that the longer he delayed, the more disadvantageous the situation would become for him.
Not only the Daito, which dripped with a strange liquid, but also the aura emanating from this young man named Shangshan Che.
Fūma Kotarō could sense that this young man seemed to be using some secret technique, and his aura grew stronger with the passage of time.
Thus, he had to abandon his option of having more choices and instead launched a probe towards Shangshan Che.
Amidst a sharp, sub-sonic whistle, three dark Kunai shot out simultaneously from three different directions!
Shangshan Che lightly gripped the hilt: “Three, how fitting.”
The black-wreathed blade tilted upwards, spun, and in a series of afterimages, left three cold, white sword lights, annihilating this probe.
Kunai, capable of instantly killing three normal Three-Star individuals, were swallowed by the paleness.
The moment the sword light vanished, a dull blade, rushing from Shangshan Che’s blind spot, sliced through the air and stabbed directly towards the major artery in his leg.
The Kunai were merely a distraction!
In the distance, Akiyama Mei, who was nervously watching the arena, instinctively twitched her left leg.
But Shangshan Che merely raised an eyebrow: “A doppelganger?”
The Qi Barrier suddenly expanded, crushing the fragile blade and the small wooden stakes behind it, even shaking off a layer of wood chips from the floor of the Fighting Arena.
*Stomp, stomp!*
Shangshan Che’s steps overlapped, and the blade that was originally facing forward was now before Fūma Kotarō, who was dozens of meters behind him.
Moving like lightning!
The blade pierced through the face, but Shangshan Che felt a dry and stiff sensation from Kaga Kiyomitsu.
“Another doppelganger?”
The wooden stake turned to ash under the erosion of Sorrow of Parting, and Shangshan Che realized.
Had the opponent, without him noticing, pre-placed doppelgangers at many points?
I see.
After simple probing, he was at a slight disadvantage.
The opponent had only played one card, the doppelganger, while he had revealed his Sword Technique and Eightfold Fence.
“But the range of the Fighting Arena is only this large.”
Shangshan Che chuckled and began to operate his Spirit Control Technique without reservation.
The Spiritual Power in the entire Fighting Arena began to rotate!
This was followed by static electricity and fine arcs spreading through the air, constantly growing within the vortex of Spiritual Power, and then expelling every inch of space with themselves.
Wooden stakes, large and small, fell to the ground, blackened.
Faintly, Shangshan Che heard an displeased tutting sound.
— Fūma Kotarō was, as expected, completely ignorant of Spiritual Power.
In that case, he definitely wouldn’t be able to stop his current actions in terms of Onmyōdō.
Then, all that remained was…
A chilling Black Light slithered out from between the dancing arcs, and fourteen real and illusory Fūma Kotarōs, some holding daggers, others iron claws, sleeve darts…
Attacked Shangshan Che’s vital points simultaneously!
— Through extremely brief probing, Fūma Kotarō discovered that Shangshan Che was undoubtedly strong without any weaknesses.
He was even a rare and extreme practitioner of Dual Cultivation of Spirit and Martial Arts, capable of using this terrifyingly proficient lightning-based Onmyōdō against him.
The pale domain expanded, the Spiritual Power in the arena was being siphoned away, and the range of the lightning-based Onmyōdō grew larger and larger…
Regardless, continuing to drag this out would be disadvantageous to him.
In that case, then—
Underneath layers of black clothing, muscles denser than fine steel tensed, and in a near-crazy resonance, the different weapons in his hands broke through the Qi Circulation whose strength had been probed.
Resolve the opponent within five seconds!
As soon as the Qi Barrier’s circulation opened a gap, a sky-covering barrage of hidden weapons whistled out from the fourteen Fūma Kotarō amidst the hurricane.
Like a green-blue iron rain, they attacked with a roar!
The dark purple Lightning that was originally intended for the Blade Tip had to burst forth at this moment.
The Lightning obliterated all the deadly hidden weapons around Shangshan Che in a 360-degree radius, which were entirely different from those thrown by Bai Bei, leaving not a trace.
“Fourteen Fūma Kotarō, were they all ‘real bodies’…”
The hidden weapons dissipated along with the Lightning.
Shangshan Che looked up and saw those fourteen pairs of identical dark eyes, filled with killing intent and indifferent gazes, falling upon him.
If he had faced them with ordinary means, it would have been impossible to retreat unharmed at this moment.
Even if it wasn’t mutual destruction, it should have been a mutual injury.
But under the gaze of the multitude, under the scrutiny of thousands of eyes behind millions of pixels, Shangshan Che smiled.
“As expected of a Great Ninja… even when staking all your killing blows, you ensure your own absolute safety?”
Shangshan Che’s gaze passed through the gaps between the fourteen Fūma Kotarō, who were nearly sacrificing their lives to assassinate him, and glimpsed the man standing calmly at the edge of the Fighting Arena, terrifyingly serene the entire time.
He sighed, “What a shame, I can’t kill you.”
Kaga Kiyomitsu was sheathed.
Amidst countless beams of sight, amidst the skyrocketing number of viewers in the Live Stream.
Fourteen sword lights, almost ethereal, simultaneously bloomed at their necks, causing these identical heads to fall, thudding onto the ground.
Natural Reason School – Darkness Sword – Concealment!
And in the next instant, just as everyone was about to think this Combat was over, a surging torrent of Lightning Dragons rushed towards Shangshan Che’s back, filling all the space behind him!
Leaving no room for a double!
Under the layered heavy strikes of Eightfold Fence, the ancient ground of the Fighting Arena cracked.
Kaga Kiyomitsu emitted a sword cry that seemed to tear through the clouds, held tightly by the telepathically connected Shangshan Che.
Towards the Fūma Kotarō whose eyes finally showed a ripple—
He thrust forward with unprecedented speed!
