Chapter 8: Ki-gong Technique, Startup!
Enormous water pressure came crashing in.
Shangshan Che opened his eyes once again in the dilapidated thatched cottage. He leaned by the door and listened for a moment, and after confirming there was no movement, he quietly pushed open the room door.
The creaking sound of the wooden door only traveled three or four meters before being swallowed by the heavy rain. Shangshan Che poked his head out and sighed in relief after confirming that the gassho-zukuri houses on both sides were indeed not upside down.
That ridiculously powerful Oni Warrior really could move…
At this point, he finally took the Walker from the storage compartment and hung it on his waist.
After closing the door behind him, Shangshan Che narrowed his eyes and discovered that his vision was limited to about twenty or thirty meters due to the pervasive rain and mist.
You know, in reality, after equipping the Hundred-Eyed Demon’s Eye on his Hannya body, he could even see faces two or three hundred meters away with perfect clarity.
How was he supposed to hide from monsters and scavenge like this?
This was not good.
Edo Castle was a Four-Star map, so the minibosses wandering around here were probably more than One-Star…
While thinking this, Shangshan Che stepped into the sticky mud, held his breath and looked around cautiously left and right. He hadn’t gone far when he spotted a dark shadow lying horizontally by the roadside.
What thing? A corpse?
Shangshan Che swallowed hard, gripped the kitchen knife in his hand tightly, and moved forward step by step, already prepared to open his eyes and go to school.
Closer, even closer.
When the distance was down to about ten meters, without any probing, Shangshan Che—who had observed for a long time—directly crashed through the rain curtain and charged madly, gripping the kitchen knife for a leaping slash.
Strike first!
The sensation of the blade entering flesh was crystal clear, and the round object that rolled to the side with a clatter also proved the success of this slash.
However, no kill prompt popped up before his eyes.
“A real corpse?”
Shangshan Che picked up the rolling head, examined it for two seconds, then set it down and clasped his hands together, murmuring an apology.
Then he began meticulously searching the corpse’s body.
【You obtained, Ki-Gong Technique Fragment（Normal）.】
【Learn it?】
As Shangshan Che withdrew his hand, he also pulled out a slippery book soaked in blood and rain.
He flipped through it a bit and found that all the paper was stuck together and couldn’t be torn apart; the places that could be opened had illegible writing.
The idea of self-learning was immediately snuffed out. Shangshan Che didn’t hesitate any longer and directly chose to learn it.
【You have learned, Ki-Gong Technique Fragment.】
【Ki-Gong Technique Fragment（Beginner0/100）】
【Effect: Gather the scattered Qi in the physical body and consolidate it into one place】
【—Created by a Sword Saint from the Heian Period, it serves as a prerequisite for the arduous breathing technique cultivation. Easy to get started, but with shallow effects.】
Just as he finished reading the description, memories related to the Ki-Gong Technique surged into Shangshan Che’s mind.
He then felt a cohesive Qi rising in his chest cavity that didn’t dissipate, making his limbs noticeably more powerful.
【Physique:10→11】
Hmm? Didn’t it say the effect was shallow?
As Shangshan Che looked down, he saw the Laughing Hannya mask reflected in the water, and suddenly understood.
This “shallow effect” was probably for ordinary people, while he was now a bona fide demon—a Hannya renowned for its power!
How could the Qi of this Hannya be as abundant as that of an ordinary person!
With the gains from this roadside corpse looting, Shangshan Che’s steps became even more powerful.
But good times didn’t last long.
The second time he saw a roadside shadow, Shangshan Che—who wanted to repeat the trick—was knocked away from his kitchen knife by a slash from the shadow, and then had his head chopped off with another slash.
【You died】
……
Shangshan Che grimaced and opened his eyes, clutching his neck with his hand and gasping wildly.
This pain was much worse than last time, and the slash felt all crooked and twisted—probably because this miniboss’s sword technique wasn’t fully mastered.
He recalled seeing 【Wandering Samurai】 above the miniboss’s head at the end, along with a Half-Star behind it, and cursed:
“Your blade alignment is off!”
Practicing sword for decades and only one star higher than his juvenile Laughing Hannya—had those decades of sword practice gone to the dog’s belly!
After saying that, Shangshan Che rolled on the bed in pain twice more.
A few minutes later, the pain in his neck gradually faded. Shangshan Che scowled and opened the upgrade progress bar for Laughing Hannya.
【”Laughing Hannya（Juvenile）” upgrading: 10%】
Tsk.
How had nearly eight hours passed and it was only 10%? Full upgrade wouldn’t that take over 80 hours—three or nearly four days?
Slow, way too slow!
This meant he’d have to be casually chopped dead by these roadside minibosses seven or eight more times!
Just thinking about it made Shangshan Che’s neck hurt.
This wouldn’t do; he needed to think of ways to get stronger besides just sitting and waiting for Laughing Hannya to upgrade.
Thinking this, Shangshan Che turned his gaze to the new skill he had just acquired: “Ki-Gong Technique.”
Although the Qi in his body was much less than when he was in his Laughing Hannya incarnation, it was still a force not to be underestimated for him in this state.
He estimated it added about 0.5 to his physique attribute.
Shangshan Che closed his eyes and carefully gathered the Qi in his body. Once he felt all the Qi consolidated into one mass, he suddenly shouted:
“Hah!”
Accompanied by a loud shout, Shangshan Che briefly felt a strong stimulation surging through his limbs and body, making them incredibly agile and powerful.
He looked at the Ki-Gong Technique proficiency again—Beginner（1/100）.
This was probably the training method for Ki-Gong Technique.
But like this, he couldn’t use class time to train Ki-Gong Technique…
Right.
Shangshan Che remembered that Tokugawa Ririko was the president of the school’s Kendo Club. If he wanted time and space to practice Ki-Gong Technique like this, the Kendo Club dojo was undoubtedly the best choice.
That way, he could learn kendo and train Ki-Gong Technique at the same time—what a win-win!
Decided, he’d go join the Kendo Club right now.
“Dad, I’m heading out.”
After the familiar farewell, Shangshan Che put the Nanjo Doll and Walker together into his schoolbag.
……
Just as he was about to enter the school, Shangshan Che spotted a familiar figure at the school gate.
“Lili Zi?”
After blurting it out subconsciously, Shangshan Che realized their relationship wasn’t that close, so he corrected himself: “Tokugawa.”
“Call me Lili Zi.”
Leaning at the school gate, the cold-faced Tokugawa Ririko sighed upon seeing him: “Not bad, you survived another day.”
The girl with a brand-new bamboo sword pendant dangling from her neck walked side by side with him. Under the curious gazes of surrounding students, Lili Zi broke the silence first:
“Thanks for last night.”
Lili Zi bowed slightly to him: “If Shangshan Jun has any needs, I’ll do my utmost to fulfill them.”
Do her utmost, huh.
Shangshan Che didn’t stand on ceremony and said directly: “I want to join the Kendo Club to learn kendo, starting today.”
“Okay.”
Tokugawa Ririko didn’t care how unreasonable the request actually was and directly called the Kendo Club instructor.
After a minute of back-and-forth, the girl hung up and nodded to Shangshan Che: “Come to the Kendo Club at noon; I’ll wait for you at the door.”
Such absurd efficiency left even Shangshan Che opening his mouth, taking a good while before continuing:
“About the Friendship Club…”
As if triggered by a keyword, Tokugawa Ririko immediately stared fixedly at him.
