Chapter 242: Hojo Clan, Honoring The Bet! Surging Viewership, A Deep Space Airship Worth 500,000!
Brilliant yet fragmented silver light bloomed on the back of Shangshan Che’s right hand.
Rin Character Technique, startup!
Under the amplification of that extra ten percent physique, Shangshan Che’s speed, which was already approaching its limit, rose another level, catching Fūma Kotarō off guard.
“His Qi Barrier and Spiritual Energy have already fully erupted, so why…”
There was no time for this Great Ninja to think further; he could only interrupt his final wait and fling the deep, profound black light from his palm.
Pure black Qi Barrier tightly enveloped the incoming object, so even with Shangshan Che’s Eye of Interpretation, he couldn’t see it clearly.
Inside was it a hidden weapon, poison, or explosive?
Shangshan Che didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
That was, if struck directly by this black light on his physical body, his life would absolutely face a great threat.
Fūma Kotarō wanted to use this move to force Shangshan Che to temporarily retreat, buying himself a moment to reposition and catch his breath.
But Shangshan Che’s response made this Great Ninja’s gaze sink another half level.
—Because he not only didn’t retreat, he didn’t even change his direction.
Under everyone’s gaze, Shangshan Che charged straight and unswervingly toward the mesmerizing black light!
“Little Jia—!”
“Buzz!”
In the short, furious roar, the three Defining Objects in his Sea of Qi—two cards and Kaga Kiyomitsu—vibrated together, drawing out the vast Qi Barrier from his Sea of Qi entirely!
Through Kaga Kiyomitsu’s blade, it all condensed onto its half-black, half-white blade tip.
Then, forward!
The purest, simple sword technique that even beginners would definitely learn appeared in the Fighting Arena—
Natural Reason School · Tusk Thrust!
The collision that nearly surpassed the speed of sound lasted only an instant; the black light, released before fully charged, was completely devoured.
Revealing Shangshan Che’s unmoving stance afterward, and Kaga Kiyomitsu wrapped in various colored Qi lights.
The originally overwhelming Qi Barrier was thus reduced by more than half, but Shangshan Che’s speed didn’t slow at all.
On the contrary, it was even faster than before!
In that split second, Fūma Kotarō, with his muscles tensed like steel and ready to respond at any moment, instinctively raised the claw blade on the back of his hand.
But immediately after, he seemed to realize something, so with a barely audible sigh, he relaxed his entire body and took a step back.
Pat.
Lightly, almost silently, it landed on the outskirts of the Fighting Arena.
The chilling blade tip had to stop, reflecting in Fūma Kotarō’s eyes that had returned to calm serenity.
If he had been even a step slower, this legendary Great Ninja’s neck would have been perfectly pierced by Kaga Kiyomitsu.
But that one step was the retreat route that the ninja named Fūma had already planned upon entering the arena.
Now, he was just acting according to plan.
In the utterly silent Fighting Arena, after locking eyes with him for two seconds, Shangshan Che dispersed the Qi Barrier on Kaga Kiyomitsu, twirled a simple blade flower, and sheathed it.
The lesser demon, trembling from the world-shattering scene just now, didn’t dare speak and stayed shrunk under the seat.
Hojo Ujiyasu, who had witnessed everything, sighed softly but quickly cast aside this negative emotion, his gaze falling back into contemplation.
Whether in everyone’s eyes or under Tamamo’s cheap single-lens mobile phone recording—
Shangshan Che’s body was just sweaty, without a single obvious wound!
Clearing two of the five colors unscathed, and forcing the legendary ninja Fūma Kotarō off the arena!
Tamamo couldn’t help but exclaim.
At the same time, she didn’t forget to cough twice and say, “Everyone, free 【Deep Talisman】 giveaway, they’ll auto-refresh and disappear the next day!”
The barrage went crazy too.
Everyone spamming how insane and ridiculous it was.
Soon, people started repeating it, while others pulled out other young talents from the Mortal Realm and Eternal World for rational cyber frog-fighting.
At the screen edge, dense free gifts 【Deep Talisman】 started refreshing wildly, making Tamamo grin so wide she couldn’t close her mouth.
Because on the 【Deep Space Online】 platform, every hundred thousand Deep Talismans equaled one Soul Ash （, that is, soul essence）!
And even just 0.1 Soul Ash could buy a good mobile phone!
—But Shangshan Che knew it wasn’t that he had easily defeated Fūma Kotarō.
Rather, the opponent had chosen to actively avoid his edge after weighing the pros and cons.
Shangshan Che didn’t look at the several proficiency prompts that popped up before him, but said with some regret,
“He clearly had many moves left unused… This is somewhat regrettable.”
No need to clash head-on.
—This Great Ninja probably thought that.
Fūma Kotarō didn’t reply, just gave him a deep look, as if to forever remember Shangshan Che’s appearance and Qi.
The transparent barrier at the Fighting Arena’s edge slowly receded, signaling the end of this decisive bet fight between Yagyu Dojo and Hojo Clan.
The Apprentice Master’s rough face showed little expression, just a light exhale as his wrinkles eased slightly.
Beside him, the pale-faced Akiyama Mei couldn’t help but slap his thigh hard, happily waving at Shangshan Che who had just turned around.
Tamamo waved like him, leaving Shangshan Che unsure which way to look first.
He blinked.
—By the way, what had Tamamo been doing holding that crappy little mobile phone the whole time?
—After the brief but brilliantly intense clashes between the two in the Fighting Arena, plus Shangshan Che winning without shedding blood against Hojo Clan, the live stream’s popularity soared straight up.
The platform’s big push hands had also found this stream.
Every blink from Tamamo showed the concurrent viewers in the upper right corner jumping by several hundred.
In just a few seconds, her stream—blurrier than 720P—already had over ten thousand simultaneous viewers!
To her right, the samurai who had been watching stunned didn’t blink, not wanting to forget Shangshan Che’s single slash that instantly killed fourteen ninjas.
No, was that one slash or fourteen?
The samurai couldn’t tell.
But he felt he’d never forget that dazzling, brilliant slash.
At this moment, Tamamo spotted a golden nickname entering the stream in the screen edge’s entry prompts.
But unfortunately, because the nickname refreshed too fast and her phone was too laggy, it vanished after a stutter.
She scratched her head, puzzled in her mind,
“Does this platform have high-VIPs?”
—Shangshan Jun! How could Shangshan Jun be here!
In a dimly lit room despite it being noon.
The girl with black-rimmed glasses and long hair crouched on her chair, staring in shock at the slightly blurry enlarged back figure.
She pressed her whole face to the phone screen, stared carefully for a while, and confirmed she wasn’t mistaken.
Because that vermilion Daito at his waist was the hallmark!
The girl glanced at the stream title, then widened her eyes again, immediately dragging the progress bar forward a bit.
Soon, she saw Shangshan Che effortlessly crushing Hojo Clan’s three like a devastating storm.
The girl instinctively raised her hand and cheered.
But soon, due to her overly vigorous motion, she fell to the ground with the chair, her glasses flying off in a mess.
But she didn’t care about that.
The girl reached out, immediately grabbing her high-quality mobile phone.
Just in time to see Tamamo’s special-angle shot of Shangshan Che’s side profile as she approached, and the somewhat dejected Hojo Clan crowd behind him.
“So handsome…”
She couldn’t hold back anymore, her fingers awkwardly tapping the 【Recharge】 page for the first time, finding the page with dozens of recharge methods.
After some back-and-forth operations, the girl took a deep breath and heavily tapped the 【Confirm Recharge】 button.
【”Manga Artist · Kisaragi” gifted “Deep Space Small Ship” ×1!】
Amid the endless free 【Deep Talisman】, a colored paid gift prompt was very obvious.
Tamamo’s gaze was instantly drawn over.
“Deep Space Small Ship… What’s that?”
Tamamo flipped for a while before finding this gift’s value in the complex list.
【Deep Space Small Ship: 10000 Deep Space Coin】
And the exchange rate of Deep Space Coin to Soul Ash was 100:1.
100 portions of Soul Ash!
Boss is generous!
After a quick mental calculation of the price, Tamamo’s small frame shook, wanting to tap the online leaderboard to thank the top donor.
But due to her phone’s outdated performance, she tapped several times without success; the page kept spinning a faint white circle, making her grit her teeth.
And just as the leaderboard loaded, a gift effect instantly taking up most of the phone screen appeared.
A massive dark gray spaceship rose from the bottom and shot straight up.
【”Manga Artist · Kisaragi” gifted “Deep Space Spaceship” ×1!!!】
Tamamo’s mouth hung open, speechless for a long time.
She had glanced at this luxury big spaceship’s price while checking the small ship.
【Deep Space Spaceship: 500000 Deep Space Coin】
Tamamo silently counted the zeros in her mind once, then again, and swallowed hard.
Five thousand portions of Soul Ash?
Even after Deep Space Online took 70% for operations and maintenance, over fifteen hundred portions of Soul Ash remained—a huge sum.
Plus, gifting this seemed to trigger platform announcements—from the sudden surge in concurrent viewers in the upper right.
This… this this…
Tamamo panicked.
She had just casually started the stream, how did this ridiculous situation happen!
After a deep breath, Tamamo finally saw the gifter’s nickname—【Manga Artist · Kisaragi】.
Why does this nickname feel familiar?
After a brief moment of thought, Tamamo immediately reacted to the “Kisaragi” part!
Kisaragi? Kisaragi Station?!
She stared at the golden verified nickname, thinking to herself.
—Is this the boss of that Kisaragi Station, Kisaragi Train?!
Tamamo recalled the wondrous experience last time when she and Shangshan Che boarded the Kisaragi Train at the bus stop.
Eldest Brother really has a thing with this train’s big boss…
Tamamo stammered thanks for the gifts, then saw the concurrent viewers hit eighty thousand in the upper right.
Fear surged in her heart.
No, got to shut down the stream.
If Deep Space Online kept pushing, the viewers might easily break six figures.
Then who knows how many Eternal World demons and gods would notice Elder Brother Shangshan!
Whether the attention was good or bad, shutting down now and losing Soul Ash didn’t matter.
After all, starting the stream was her solo act; no one else should pay for the consequences.
“Eh? Why’s it lagging? Bad connection?”
Tamamo immediately froze the video, leaving only her voice swimming in the stream’s sea of question marks,
“Um… everyone, my network suddenly glitched, can’t move, gonna end the stream.”
But considering the big spender who gifted the huge spaceship and had ties to Shangshan Che.
Tamamo still stepped closer, capturing an atmospheric handsome shot of Shangshan Che’s side that only those who knew him could recognize, as the stream’s final moment.
In the Mortal Realm, the girl happily saved the image, setting it as her wallpaper.
【Stream Closed】
Seeing the text pop up, Tamamo let out a heavy sigh of relief.
The immense pressure vanished instantly.
Good thing she hit the brakes in time.
Otherwise, who knows how things would develop after viewers hit a hundred thousand, or even millions…
For a historic mega-platform like Deep Space Online with over billions of users, that’s not hard.
After recovering for a bit, Tamamo first checked the Special Affairs Office APP.
She found that even after ending early, stream and Shangshan Che topics had swept the top three trends.
Seems the spread was still too wide…
“Gotta tell Elder Brother Shangshan later; can’t not say this.”
Tamamo muttered inwardly, already mentally preparing for the scolding.
But when she shifted to 【This Stream’s Earnings】, Tamamo’s eyes lit up again.
“How could he scold me? Didn’t I earn big rice for Eldest Brother…”
……
Hojo Ujiyasu nodded to Fūma Kotarō who had blended back into the shadows, saying nothing more.
He just propped his chin with his fan, considering the chain of consequences from losing the bet fight.
The most direct was abiding by the wager: no attacking Shizuoka Prefecture during the second tide.
Had to change spots.
Yeah, head west a bit.
Heard that side was under Onmyo-ryo, way less strict than this Special Affairs Office’s influence in the east.
Plus, in Shizuoka Prefecture, they still had to fight Imagawa Clan; if not, then not—could build more power instead.
Imagawa Clan, Imagawa Clan… Truly tricky.
Speaking of which, was the current Imagawa Clan head still that woman?
Hojo Ujiyasu lowered his gaze, involuntarily recalling the peerlessly talented, arrogant female Daimyo who dared claim to rule Under Heaven before marching to Kyoto five hundred years ago.
But alas, heaven envies the talented.
Whatever, no more thinking about that.
If she were around, he’d know immediately, and she wouldn’t choose silent endurance in this storm-brewing era.
Hojo Ujiyasu considered more family internal struggles… Those elders were getting too rampant; perfect chance to suppress them using the Black Reserve factor.
Counts as indirectly helping himself.
Thinking this way, this midway Shangshan Che was actually pretty good.
Hojo Ujiyasu’s mindset adjusted quickly, and seeing the distant Apprentice Master approaching, he stood and walked over.
They briefly talked, confirming the wager contract was valid.
“Right, Lord Saionji.” Hojo Ujiyasu suddenly spoke, taking a clan crest-embossed badge from his clothes. “Shangshan Jun is impressive; please pass this crest to him for me.”
He smiled: “Consider it, making a friend.”
“I will.”
The Apprentice Master responded hoarsely, expressionless.
Turning, both their eyes were calm as lake surfaces.
……
“I thought he’d want to chop me dead on the spot.”
Toying with the exquisitely crafted Hojo Clan token, Shangshan Che raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Not the case.” The Apprentice Master snorted coldly. “Hojo Ujiyasu isn’t that stupid.”
“True enough.”
Shangshan Che recalled the emotionless Hojo head, thoughtfully smacking his lips.
Gazing at the departing Hojo Clan crowd, Shangshan Che saw White Reserve Kasahara Yasukatsu, one step behind Hojo Ujiyasu, turn and slightly bow to him.
Shangshan Che smiled, waving back.
This White Reserve… Kasahara Yasukatsu, an interesting guy.
“Next, we can move freely, right?”
After seeing the Apprentice Master nod, Shangshan Che was already planning whom to ask about Great Onmyoji Che and the odd events five hundred years ago.
But before that, he saw Tamamo sneakily beckoning him,
“Elder Brother Shangshan, here here.”
Shangshan Che noted it inwardly.
—Right, midway through the fight, Tamamo had been filming with her phone; no idea what for.
Perfect, time to ask.
When Shangshan Che reached her, Tamamo looked up, nervously meeting his eyes, and said in a very serious tone,
“Elder Brother Shangshan… Do you know you’ve gone viral?”
She raised her phone, showing a long string of balance,
“Count the zeros here.”
