Chapter 247: Tokyo Seed Battle Officially Begins! Next Up, Arakawa Ward’s Shangshan Che! Chisa’s Little Greed
After hearing an extremely familiar surname from the mouth of a child who was still a complete stranger at their first meeting, Lili Zi couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment.
Because as far as she knew, there was no second Agent surnamed Shangshan in the Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Office.
So she asked, “The Shangshan bro you’re talking about, is he Shangshan Che?”
Now it was Chisa’s turn to be stunned.
This kind-hearted Big Sister also knew Shangshan bro?
She replied to the question with a question in confusion, “Sister, do you also know Shangshan bro?”
“He’s my friend.” Lili Zi walked into the elevator behind her, paused, and deliberately added, “Good friend.”
Chisa nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, “Shangshan bro is also my friend.”
The girl blinked her big eyes at Lili Zi, revealing a soft smile,
“I’m Chisa! So in that case, doesn’t that make Sister and me good friends too!”
A friend’s friend is my friend?
I don’t think so.
Lili Zi pondered for a moment but didn’t understand.
Is this kid thinking?
—But when did Shangshan Jun meet this girl?
—During the trip to Shizuoka Prefecture a few days ago?
But if they met in Shizuoka Prefecture, how did the other party end up at the Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Office, even wearing an Agent uniform?
There was too much unknown information, leaving Lili Zi unable to figure it out.
But considering the other party looked like just an elementary school student, Lili Zi nodded faintly and said,
“Alright, then we’re friends too… My name is Tokugawa Ririko.”
She deliberately omitted the “good” before “friends.”
The Special Affairs Office Building wasn’t even dozens of floors high, and the internal elevators were always very fast.
In no more than a few dozen seconds, Lili Zi holding the documents and Chisa arrived at the doorway of Nanjo Emi’s office.
Chisa was about to struggle to hold the documents with one hand and knock on the door with the other when she noticed a hand stretching over from behind—its back fair white, but its palm appearing incredibly rough.
“Sister Tokugawa! You can’t do that!”
Without knocking, amid the girl’s startled cry, it directly twisted open the door handle.
The door was opened.
Behind the door, Nanjo Emi, Shangshan Che, and Huijue, who had been talking, all turned their heads together.
Lili Zi was slightly taken aback at first, then lightly smiled at Chisa beside her, who had her small mouth open and a panicked expression on her face,
“Actually, not knocking won’t make any difference.”
“Don’t think Nanjō Great Officer is always stern and humorless on the surface.” Lili Zi walked into the office and casually placed the documents on a free spot, “In fact, she doesn’t have that many rules.”
In the sudden silence, Nanjo Emi first hummed in agreement with Lili Zi’s words, then beckoned to Chisa frozen at the doorway,
“Is that Chisa? Good work, come in.”
Only then did the girl dare to enter, placing the documents neatly beside Lili Zi’s pile.
She even specially straightened out the uneven edges from when the former had placed them.
Shangshan Che, who had just been discussing the Seed Battle with Nanjo Emi, stared at the girl dressed in casual home clothes for a while.
He hadn’t expected to see Lili Zi here.
So after several seconds, he spoke to the girl with her hair tied in a high ponytail,
“Long time no see, Lili Zi.”
After some time apart, others usually had thicker aura and became stronger.
Lili Zi, on the other hand, seemed even more like an ordinary person—even his Eye of Interpretation needed to stare for a good while to detect her Qi Circulation.
“Has it been a long time?”
Lili Zi, who spent her days immersed in contemplation and cultivation, took out her mobile phone from her pocket, checked the date, calculated, and found that indeed more than a week had passed.
In this week, it seemed many major events had occurred besides the 1.5 tides.
So for Shangshan Jun, it really was “a long time.”
Lili Zi nodded, “Then long time no see, Shangshan Jun.”
“By the way.”
Meeting the gazes of the three, Lili Zi thumbed backward at Chisa, who had pushed open the door and then said nothing,
“This child came specifically to find you.”
Chisa, who had already done the “bad thing” of interrupting the adults’ conversation by not knocking, and who hadn’t found her sister in the room but instead encountered the extremely conspicuous bald weird uncle, didn’t dare speak.
She only softly acknowledged, counting it as a greeting.
Lili Zi in front was somewhat puzzled.
She recalled the Chisa in the elevator earlier, whose eyes sparkled with stars at the mere mention of Shangshan Che.
But now face-to-face with him, why was she suddenly too scared to speak?
Lili Zi didn’t try to understand the thoughts of the “child” species, especially a little girl.
After these two sentences, the room fell into an eerie silence again.
Nanjo Emi sipped the orange C iced coffee that Manatsu had bought from the table—this thing was both delicious and energizing, worthy of being called a “cowhorse energy injector.”
Huijue just smiled, thinking it wasn’t his turn to speak.
In the end, it was Shangshan Che who broke the silence first.
“Lili Zi,” he said, “You should like the Sengoku Secret Realm in Numazu City—it has three chances to battle projections of characters from the Sengoku Period.”
Shangshan Che: “Even just adding a bit of variety to your material library would be nice.”
“Alright, I’ll go try it when I have time.”
Lili Zi answered briefly, nodded, and noted it down.
After two sentences, the office fell into silence with no one speaking again.
In the corner, even Huijue’s smile stiffened a bit as he pondered—had they quarreled or something without him knowing?
But in reality, this was just their daily routine; words weren’t necessary.
Only when discussing cultivation or serious matters would Shangshan Che and Lili Zi talk endlessly.
Chisa looked left and right, looking exactly like a student punished by the teacher to stand restlessly at the doorway.
After a while, the girl finally couldn’t endure the atmosphere.
She spoke weakly,
“Um… Lili Zi Sister, maybe let Nanjō Great Officer and Shangshan bro finish their business first.”
Without waiting for Lili Zi’s response, she hurriedly scampered out of the office.
Lili Zi, already accustomed to silence, looked puzzled at Chisa’s retreating back, hesitated, then chased after her, leaving a sentence to the three in the office,
“Then you all chat first.”
……
On the same floor, in an empty aisle.
Chisa lay by the windowsill, staring blankly at the scenery outside.
Just thinking back to everything from earlier made Chisa’s little face blush with embarrassment.
“Weren’t you happy to see Shangshan Jun? Why didn’t you speak?”
Lili Zi walked over slowly, somewhat unable to understand Chisa’s words and behavior.
Chisa didn’t turn around, thinking this Sister Tokugawa really had a big heart to stay so nonchalant in such an awkward atmosphere.
If it were her, she would have blurted out all her inner thoughts just now.
Instead of pondering alone like this.
Lili Zi couldn’t figure it out, so she leaned by the windowsill like the girl.
She stared at the city outside for a bit, feeling there was nothing interesting about it—not as good as looking at the bamboo sword at home.
Chisa could tell that although Sister Tokugawa was a bit rough around the edges, she was indeed trustworthy, someone who could be a friend.
Her inner feelings told her so.
So, after a moment’s hesitation, Chisa softly said, “Actually, I came to find Shangshan bro because I want to cultivate under him.”
Lili Zi listened quietly.
The girl said somewhat dejectedly, “Actually, I’ve been tested by the Special Affairs Office several times—I’m an ordinary person with no Talent, but I want to become stronger…
Shangshan bro said I can, so I want to learn how to cultivate from him.”
“Then you should learn cultivation from me instead.” Lili Zi said faintly, “Because I have no Talent either.”
Chisa was speechless for a moment.
But she could tell it was the truth.
“But it’ll be very hard, very tiring, very painful, and most of the time despairingly hard.”
Lili Zi turned her head, staring at Chisa and saying plainly yet extremely seriously, “For someone without Talent to advance, they must give up almost everything except their goal.”
“—If you want to become strong, then don’t think about anything but becoming strong.”
Lili Zi stared at the girl who had bitten her lip and asked, “Well, can’t do it?”
Chisa lowered her head, replying with a muffled nasal sound,
“Yeah.”
The girl let out a soft breath, “I’m not too willing.”
Chisa stretched her hands out the window and slumped by the windowsill, pouting her little mouth, looking both annoyed and dejected,
“Sister Tokugawa, I just want to become strong enough to protect my family, but I don’t want to be separated from them for too long because of it…”
“Besides, I actually just want to learn cultivation from Shangshan bro.”
Chisa looked up at the sky, sighing deeply,
“Because he saved me, because I like him.”
Chisa was a bit greedy, yet had no real ambition.
Lili Zi gazed at her.
After a long while, she said calmly, “Wanting everything results in doing nothing well.”
“Chisa knows.”
Chisa was just lost at her first crossroads in life.
……
“Seen the preliminary selection list?”
“Saw it ages ago.”
“Then in a couple days, don’t forget to show up on site and go through the motions.” Nanjo Emi set down the plastic cup, teasing with a smile, “Otherwise, if you skip, Twitter and ins will flame the Special Affairs Office to death.”
“Shangshan Jun, you’re a big star now.”
“Just dog luck.”
Shangshan Che shook his head, “Not talking about that.”
“Sister Nanjo, are there Historical Scrolls from the Heian Period onward to now?” Shangshan Che asked, “As complete as possible, normal versions are fine.”
“That’s quite a lot.”
Nanjo Emi didn’t ask what for, “I’ll have someone send them to your doorstep in a few days.”
Shangshan Che nodded, then asked again, “Also, where’s the venue for the Seed Battle? I haven’t seen any related information.”
“Right in central Tokyo.”
Shangshan Che: ?
Isn’t central the urban district? How did they fit in a venue that can hold at least tens of thousands of people?
Never mind how many high-rises they’d have to demolish—just setting up the venue would impact traffic by more than one-and-a-half stars.
Nanjo Emi didn’t explain, instead smiling mysteriously at him, “You’ll see when the time comes.”
Damn, playing the suspense game now.
“Roger that.”
Shangshan Che waved it off, watching Nanjo Emi resume discussing Seed Battle matters with Huijue.
About half an hour later, Huijue stood to leave.
“Shangshan Benefactor, this monk will try to complete the Wish Power cleansing in the next few days first, then find the next solution.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Shangshan Che bowed slightly.
Less than two minutes after Huijue left, Lili Zi brought Chisa in.
Yes, brought her.
The girl looked a bit timid, hiding behind her.
Shangshan Che was full of confusion.
When did you two get so close?
Lili Zi actively stepped aside, revealing Chisa behind her with her head slightly lowered.
Shangshan Che pondered for a moment before speaking,
“About the cultivation matter…”
Unexpectedly, Chisa interrupted Shangshan Che first, saying softly, “Shangshan bro, I actually haven’t thought it through yet. Can you give me more time to consider?”
Shangshan Che was stunned.
He looked up, blinking at Lili Zi whose expression hadn’t changed a bit.
Meaning “What did you feed her?”
Lili Zi blinked back.
She was innocent; she had only stated some facts.
—But regardless of what Lili Zi said to Chisa, it had bailed him out, pushing back the decision of whether to take Chisa as a disciple.
Pretty good, pretty good.
“Of course.” Shangshan Che patted the girl’s head with a smile, “Whenever you’ve truly figured it out, come tell me your answer.”
The girl responded, “Thanks, Shangshan bro.”
“—If there’s nothing else, little couple, please don’t stay in my office anymore, okay?”
Nanjo Emi finished her coffee in one gulp, annoyed.
“Where’s the couple?”
The two first showed the same puzzled expressions, then asked in unison.
Tsk.
Nanjo Emi waved them off, “Go go go, time to work, don’t be an eyesore.”
Shangshan Che had no choice but to say goodbye to Chisa and leave with Lili Zi.
Chisa watched the two backs.
She vaguely realized that Sister Tokugawa and Shangshan bro seemed more than just good friends.
On the way home, Lili Zi said the Sea of Qi part was stuck on progress.
“Still haven’t grasped the key points of the Acupoint.” Lili Zi rubbed her temples, “To avoid passing on wrong knowledge, I won’t say more.”
Shangshan Che wasn’t in a hurry, “Take it slow; the Palace of Flesh isn’t fully developed yet.”
……
In the three-day countdown to the preliminary round, Shangshan Che barely went out, didn’t talk much even with Lili Zi, and just stayed home in Arakawa Ward focusing on secluded cultivation.
—The Seed Battle was full of powerhouses; he had to seize every moment for cultivation.
Five Thunder Technique and Rin Character Technique were the focuses for these three days.
Three meals were prepared on time each day; the three days passed in a flash.
“Too bad, still a bit short.”
Amid the surging Lightning, Shangshan Che exhaled a breath of turbid Qi and looked at the Five Thunder Technique, which was only 98 Proficiency short of reaching Expert Level.
【Five Thunder Technique·Qi Union（Mastery 2702/2800）】.
Besides that, the Comprehension progress of the Rin Character Technique had also advanced to just over 7%, with no essential change but slightly enhanced effects.
This had consumed several hundred points of Soul Ash to draw Soul Incense Ash.
“Too bad Sword Principle is still 1% short of the 10% threshold.”
Shangshan Che sighed; these past few days he had his head shaved by the Sword Saint daily, but after so many times, Sword Principle hadn’t improved much.
This thing really relied on a bit of luck in some sense.
He turned his head again, already catching the piercing midday sunlight streaming through the door crack.
Shangshan Che stood up and softly said to the girl still sitting cross-legged with eyes closed in the corner of the empty dojo,
“I’m heading out.”
“Good luck.”
June 10, 2024, noon, Eastern Region Seed Battle preliminaries.
Officially begin.
……
“Next, Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Office Seed Shangshan Che!”
Amid the sea of people on the street, Shangshan Che heard his name called from an extremely distant distance away.
Sensing the resulting commotion among the surrounding crowd and the human flow squeezing him completely immobile, Shangshan Che sighed helplessly.
Then, under countless pairs of eyes that immediately noticed him, he rose straight into the air.
