Chapter 287: Minamoto Shizuka Shangshan Che? Just A Mook! Rankings Shift Dramatically, Saito Forfeits! Is That Che?
After the big screen images of the Top 10 rankings and the official announcement from the Onmyo Assistant, the venue fell into a momentary silence.
Most of the top ten remained silent.
The competitors currently ranked after position 64 were mostly sizing up the competitors above their own rankings, scouting their next potential opponents.
The audience subconsciously held their breath under that soul-stirring “official start,” producing little extra chatter or cheering.
Shangshan Che also donned the Red Hannya Mask during this preparation phase, drawing a few glances.
His gaze swept over all the top ten competitors.
TOP1, Minamoto Shizuka in a white robe, with the Demon Sword Hotarumaru placed on her lap.
TOP2, Kitada Kei, who noticed his gaze, rubbing his eyes and greeting him.
These two were undoubtedly the toughest opponents ahead, and the “one of” could even be dropped.
Then TOP3 and 4, Kamo and Tsuchimikado…
Shangshan Che, sensing no clear spiritual power fluctuations, pondered briefly, recalling the pitifully scarce intelligence.
Facing academy-style onmyoji who had mastered dozens or hundreds of onmyōdō spells, it was quite tricky without knowing their school or style.
Hmm.
Shangshan Che clenched his fist, thinking silently.
—Only way is to rely on raw stats to crush them outright.
—Before they can react.
Next was TOP6, Five Elements Spiritual Body Takizawa Kai.
This one wasn’t hard to deal with.
Though his spiritual power was astonishing, Shangshan Che could tell from the scattered edges that Takizawa Kai’s spiritual power was only slightly higher than his own with the Four-tailed Fox Jade Token.
His gaze swept over, then settled on that fleshy mountain where muscle contours were faintly visible.
TOP7, Legendary Rikishi Raikō.
The corners of his mouth curled up under the Red Hannya Mask; Shangshan Che feared this kind of stat-comparison phase the least.
Grouping this rikishi with Ootama Hoshi, Shangshan Che took in the remaining three at a glance.
TOP8 Higashiyama Kei, meditating in this setting while still wearing the Special Affairs Office uniform.
—Higashiyama Kei, an onmyōdō onmyoji skilled in commanding shikigami, commonly using Bone Woman and Cong Yuan Huo.
Shangshan Che rubbed his chin: “All old acquaintances…”
But reportedly, Higashiyama Kei’s shikigami were all special variants, not to be judged by common standards.
Beside Higashiyama Kei, a young man in loose black dōgi propped his chin with his hand, bored like him, scanning the crowd around.
Shangshan Che’s eyes narrowed slightly.
TOP9, Yan Liu, who had popped up out of nowhere like from underground; Shangshan Che had zero info or style on his moves.
Finally, Saito Ryuichi, who had the chops to vie for top three; this young Saito Family head’s onmyōdō spells were countless, so Shangshan Che naturally wouldn’t underestimate him.
His position just below Shangshan Che, Minamoto Shizuka, and Kyuuketsuin Kin on the Sengoku Secret Realm Top 100 Ranking said plenty.
After silently ranking everyone’s strength in his mind, Shangshan Che looked toward the several custom arenas in the venue, planning to spot threatening opponents and think of counters.
But just then, a young man’s light, teasing voice reached the ears of those in the front rankings.
“First Miss’s big headshot is pretty well-photographed.”
“But does everyone really need to be this serious?” The young man spread his hands in confusion, grinning. “All stone-faced and gloomy, like there’s some grudge or beef.”
Shangshan Che looked toward the voice, finding the speaker was the enigmatic TOP8, Yan Liu.
Yan Liu crossed his arms, shrugging casually: “Anyway, you’re all getting beaten by me, so might as well relax.”
Ignoring the glaring stares shot his way, Yan Liu raised a finger with a smile,
“By the way, I’m here for the high Seed Battle rewards, so I’m definitely taking first place.”
Yan Liu clasped his hands casually, bowing playfully toward the highest-seated Minamoto Shizuka, as if apologizing,
“Sorry, First Miss.”
Minamoto Shizuka kept her eyes down, not glancing at him once.
Raikō glanced at him sidelong, then snorted disdainfully: “Clown.”
The others either ignored him or gave cold stares.
Only Saito Ryuichi recalled the scant intel on Yan Liu.
—Yan Liu, twenty years old this year, eldest disciple of the ancient fist style Jail Flame Fist, extremely talented, undefeated until today.
There were even rumors that Yan Liu hadn’t cultivated for years before entering this Seed Battle.
Traveling mountains and rivers, living freely, money, games, women… all stuff unrelated to cultivation.
Someone worth befriending.
“Bro, taunting her like that? Watch out she slices you into a cucumber skewer later.”
Shangshan Che smacked his lips, pointing at the looking-over Yan Liu: “Don’t you feel like the old general on stage, with your back already stuck full of flags?”
At these words, Saito Ryuichi’s mouth twitched, and Yan Liu burst out laughing.
The rest showed little reaction.
“Flag, rare term.” Yan Liu’s eyes lit up. “Thought everyone here was boring, but turns out there’s a fellow enthusiast!”
“But Flags like that, with enough power, you can just snap ’em, right?”
Yan Liu shrugged indifferently: “All failures come from the challenger’s insufficient strength.”
Shangshan Che nodded at him: “You’re right, so this Flag won’t happen.”
The gaze under the Red Hannya peered at him darkly,
“Because you won’t get past me.”
Yan Liu froze.
Staring at the lifelike Red Hannya Mask, he laughed openly: “You’re interesting, really interesting… In that case, I’m looking forward to it!”
“—By the way, what’s your name?”
Shangshan Che mentally went “ah,” reacting seconds later that Yan Liu had indeed asked.
Come to think of it, he’d called Minamoto Shizuka “First Miss” too.
This guy…
After giving his name to the smiling youth, Shangshan Che thought helplessly—Yan Liu really knew zilch about the other opponents.
Cocky and arrogant, not even Ghost God level, who knows where his confidence came from.
Thinks he’s number one under heaven?
So cocky, why not go provoke Gen Shinsui?
Shangshan Che shook his head, pulling an iced lemon tea from his storage space to drink.
Thinking, he grabbed another bottle and tossed it toward Minamoto Shizuka.
She spread her palm, letting the lemon tea land steadily in it.
Minamoto Shizuka eyed the lemon tea thoughtfully, noting it matched the ones she often drank at home.
Strange, how did Shangshan Jun know she drank this lemon tea?
She didn’t even know the brand.
Elder Sister always brought them back undrunk, so to prevent buildup, Minamoto Shizuka started clearing them out.
‘Thanks.’
Anyway, Minamoto Shizuka thanked Shangshan Che.
—The first round elimination tournament was three hours later, directly eliminating the bottom 64 seats.
Because each competitor had only three challenge opportunities and could challenge at most 10 ranks above their current position.
The ranking battles from sequence 50, even 20 onward, were fiercely contested.
Several large arenas and over a dozen smaller ones battled simultaneously, projecting crystal-clear combat footage, thrilling the watching audience.
But oddly, though Lili Zi was in a hotly contested, delicate spot, no one tried challenging her.
The reason was simple.
Seed Battle rules—successful challenge consumes no opportunity, failure does.
Once challenges are used up, no upward challenges, but must still accept others’ to hold the seat.
In that case, picking the flashiest tough nut from ten potential opponents clearly wasn’t rational.
Lili Zi wasn’t anxious.
She stroked the faintly eager Kaga Kiyomitsu, getting used to its grip.
Once the ranking battles stabilized a bit, she’d carve her way up.
The girl thought so.
As for why the top twenty pool was still calm…
—To enter TOP10, one had to beat the current TOP10 Saito Ryuichi.
Still in elimination stage one, no one in the top twenty wanted to be the first guinea pig probing Saito Ryuichi.
In the fierce ranking battles, even little brother Akechi Yuya resisted hard, but his rank soon dropped past sixty.
Yagyu Oshi, originally at 62, cleanly ended his fights, holding 33 temporarily with three wins.
Of course, far from just them.
Many seed competitors from Tokyo District 23 saw ranks plummet, while sea selection killers advanced steadily.
Including several next to Lili Zi in sea selection rankings.
Namely—
Current rank 24, Ittō-ryū Hayashi Jin’ya!
Current rank 36, possibly true heir of Niten Ichi-ryū Miyamoto Takanotsume!
Current rank 39, Shinmusō Hayashizaki-ryū Kitamura Yūyū!
“A few with decent strength.”
Okabe Motonobu sat, scanning and immediately drawn to that vicious Red Hannya Mask.
She raised a brow, pointing: “A masked competitor? Hozoin Little Monk, who’s that?”
—Earlier during the TOP10 promo, Okabe Motonobu had gotten lost en route to the restroom, missing Shangshan Che’s face.
“No idea, this monk was playing go with Miss Chisa, didn’t pay much attention.”
Hozoin Inrai shook his head,
“Anyway, the ones on now are all small fry, nothing worth watching.”
Then Chisa, hands on hips proudly replied,
“Hmph, that’s current fifth, and soon-to-be Seed Battle Champion Shangshan Bro—Shangshan Che!”
Okabe Motonobu’s breath hitched.
Shangshan… Che?
Che?
That guy?
Okabe Motonobu’s gaze turned cold and indifferent; she stared distantly at the lemon tea-sipping Shangshan Che, scrutinizing closely.
Then concluded inwardly—
Nothing like Great Onmyoji Che.
Not just flat aura, no similar gear head to toe, even the spiritual daito at his waist was gone.
The rest could be explained.
But even that enigmatic Che wouldn’t ditch a daito that understood speech, right?
Okabe Motonobu exhaled.
Maybe she was over-sensitive.
Plenty of people named XX Che in the world.
And that guy was so strong centuries ago, no way he’d compete in this Seed Battle now.
If anything, he’d be a referee.
Of course, if the Hannya Mask came off that Shangshan Che guy.
Okabe Motonobu narrowed her eyes, waiting patiently, not risking questions to unfamiliar folks around that might lead to interrogation or exposure.
As for why not search “Shangshan Che” online…
To Okabe Motonobu, finding clear personal info on “mobile phones” and “internet”—universal “public facilities”—would shatter her worldview.
Before worldview shattered, she wouldn’t think of it.
Just as Shangshan Che felt eyed from afar but couldn’t pinpoint in the sea of over 100,000.
On the arena, Ittō-ryū Hayashi Jin’ya solved his opponent with one slash, entering top twenty.
Amid roaring cheers, Hayashi Jin’ya silently watched Ghost Gods swiftly heal his fatally wounded foe.
Blood reversed, bones reconnected, muscles and skin membrane restored in a blink.
That slash nearly beheaded the opponent.
Ghost God title was no fluke.
After a mental sigh, he spoke without hesitation,
“I challenge rank ten, Saito Ryuichi.”
Named Saito Ryuichi looked up startled, not expecting a target so early.
The TOP10 crew all looked over, eager to gauge strengths from Sky Castle’s first eye-level fight.
Two light pillars flashed, teleporting Saito Ryuichi and blood-dripping tachi-gripping Hayashi Jin’ya to the central large arena.
Hayashi Jin’ya bowed slightly to the open-mouthed, about-to-speak Saito Ryuichi,
“Saito Head, please instruct.”
Saito Ryuichi didn’t reply.
The central Ghost God Judge turned his head, confirmed readiness, raised his palm: “Match… begin!”
“—I forfeit!”
The instant the palm dropped, Saito Ryuichi raised his hand, voice echoing through the venue.
Instantly, Takizawa Kai gaped in disbelief, the live booth caster froze, 100,000+ audience hushed, live chat drowned in question marks.
Even Saito’s opponent, Hayashi Jin’ya mid-draw on stage, froze, halting his motion.
Only Minamoto Shizuka glanced at Saito Ryuichi’s back, smiling faintly.
“—The fight hasn’t even started; why forfeit, Saito Head?”
Hayashi Jin’ya sheathed frowning, asked displeased.
“No confidence I’d win, Hayashi.” Saito Ryuichi smiled, as if the face-loss before millions wasn’t his.
A lie.
Saito Ryuichi just didn’t want to waste energy and stamina early, nor probe the Yan Liu above.
Even with multiple Ghost Gods restoring power via spells, post-battle “fatigue” lingered.
Besides… this TOP10 spot was to be given up anyway.
Gatekeeper fending endless bottom-10 challenges—whoever wanted it.
Saito Ryuichi definitely wasn’t volunteering.
Without further words, Saito Ryuichi casually let the light pillar envelop him, teleporting to rank 20 seat.
“Totally unexpected god-tier twist! Saito forfeited instantly at match start! Takes real guts!”
On live, sweat-dripping caster grinned stiffly, averting dead air.
“Saito Family kid still loves his little tricks, huh.”
Sister Shinsui subtly dumped her cheap barley tea out the window.
But Kyuuketsuin Kin spotted the empty cup, eagerly refilling it.
“Best solution, Sister Shinsui. Aside from scoldings from the old folks… though that doesn’t apply to Saito Family.”
Gen Shinsui silently eyed the full cup, saying nothing.
…
Hayashi Jin’ya exhaled displeased, about to challenge TOP9 Yan Liu upward, but the request failed.
Because Yan Liu had started challenging TOP8!
“How about a bet.”
Fifteen seconds earlier.
Yan Liu loosened up, grinning at the eight ahead: “Before anyone below challenges me successfully, I’ll reach first place.”
Under the Red Hannya Mask, Shangshan Che smiled silently,
“He… wants to farm me and Minamoto Shizuka as small fry, huh.”
