I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

Judging from this introduction, it seems that anything related to "qi" can be involved.

—The word "spirit" probably leans more towards Onmyodo and Shikigami (spirits/spirits).

Uesugi Tetsuya fell into deep thought, and went through the prompts several more times to confirm that there was no third option to select "Qi and Spirit" at the same time.

Perhaps it's because my knowledge of Yin-Yang techniques is too low—I only have a rudimentary understanding of the Five Elements Yin-Yang theory.

As for whether the Five Thunder Techniques - Qi Harmony can be considered a Yin-Yang technique, it's hard to say.

If he could still devote himself to studying Yin-Yang techniques before advancing to the expert level in Spirit Control Technique, and raise all four paths and five elements to the proficiency level.

Perhaps a third option will appear now.

"pity."

Uesugi Tetsu shook his head.

Without the slightest hesitation, he focused his mind on the "Qi" prompt.

Pay close attention!

—At this point, there is no point in regretting the past.

To dwell on things that cannot be changed is something only the weak would do.

The strong will gladly accept and remember this regret, and then continue to move towards the future while ensuring that they will not repeat the mistake.

[You have chosen to focus on the path of Qi!]

Your skill, Spirit Control, has undergone a significant change!

[Spirit Control Technique - Qi (Expert 195/4000)]

[Effect: Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth, Breath of Man.]

[—A shared understanding, a resonance of minds, this is the truth.]

As several notifications popped up, Uesugi Tetsuya stared blankly at the pure white aura at his fingertips.

changed.

Something has changed.

The circulation of Qi, the Five Thunder Techniques' Qi Harmony, the flow of spiritual energy within his body, and even his unconscious breathing... all of these underwent inexplicable changes.

At the same time, the five senses, which had stopped extending and expanding, also changed.

They transformed into a circle again, only now their area was several times larger than before.

Uesugi Tetsu took a deep breath.

A surge of power welled up from every part of his body, and the overwhelming vitality made him feel slightly intoxicated.

Despite no improvement in his stats, and no change in his spiritual power or physical strength, Uesugi Tetsu could still feel himself becoming "stronger".

Strength is a relative and usually subjective concept.

But the current Uesugi Tetsuya is able to turn this subjectivity into reality.

He rubbed his fingertips together, playing with the qi he controlled as if it were his own arm and the lightning that had already circled 108 times. After glancing at the time, he clenched his fist.

"There are still a few minutes left in the half hour, so let's give it a try first."

First is the Coronavirus Breathing Method, or rather, its most obvious external manifestation—the circulation of vital energy.

With a slight thought, Uesugi Tetsuya caused the qi circulation that was originally attached to the surface of his body and was almost invisible to the naked eye to suddenly expand.

Click!

The small tree beside him was instantly crushed into dust by the expanding circulation of qi, which then drifted into the air with the breeze.

Uesugi Tetsuya somewhat embarrassedly shrank his Qi circulation back to its original form, realizing that his current level of control over Qi was more than ten times higher than before.

However, the strength of the Qi circulation is not easy to test.

Let's wait until we return to the Warring States period and let the ailing families test it on their bodies.

He raised his hand again, drawing out a thin, winding bolt of lightning with his fingertips, and stared at it as it transformed into thousands of Chinese characters in a few seconds.

Uesugi Tetsu flicked his finger again and then withdrew it, causing a wisp of lightning that had rushed into the air to be obediently brought back to his fingertip and swirling around.

"But all this fancy stuff is pretty useless..."

For a Thunder team whose objective is lethality, speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness are paramount.

Uesugi Tetsu blinked.

So, all seventy-eight trees, tall or short, that circled around him had a faint black dot at the center of their trunks, seventeen centimeters from the ground.

"That's right."

He clapped with satisfaction.

Uesugi Tetsuya focused his attention on the Spirit Control Technique, which was already ranked at the top of all the skills.

The changes brought about by this mere minor spirit control technique were truly greater than he had expected.

Before this, the Spirit Control Technique was merely an upgraded version of the basic Spirit Absorption Technique, with at most the addition of the ability to communicate with spirits that had descended.

However, by simply crossing one level, the Spirit Control Technique underwent a complete transformation, significantly boosting his overall combat power, and its future prospects are very promising.

What if the already powerful Natural Mindfulness style, which is a primary combat skill, gets upgraded...?

Oh, right.

When it comes to communicating with spirits, Uesugi Tetsu almost forgot that he came out to upgrade his spirit control technique in order to have a better communication with Kaga Kiyomitsu.

He patted Kaga Kiyomitsu's scabbard to apologize, then closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into his mind.

Heartstrings, heartstrings...

In just a few seconds, Uesugi Tetsuya clearly "saw" the two heartstrings, at a speed more than ten times faster than last time.

He skillfully locked onto Kaga Kiyomitsu's heartstrings and activated his spirit control technique.

Soon, you can see that the heartstring, which was originally just fixed and thinner than a kite string, is quickly surrounded by radiance!

Then, under Uesugi Tetsu's gaze, that heartstring grew thicker and thicker and thicker...

Finally, it transformed into a healthy heartstring that was roughly the same size as when the two-foot-tall man was by her side, and that she could communicate clearly with him!

Uesugi Tetsuya suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Kaga Kiyomitsu, who was trembling with confusion.

He curved his lips into a smile, sending ripples through the heartstrings—

"It's done! Little Jia, can you hear me now?"

"Buzzing? Buzzing?"

Uesugi Tetsu:?

Why is it still buzzing?

He suspected he had misheard, so he used his inner energy to block his ears and asked a few more questions in his mind.

Unsurprisingly, I then received a buzzing response.

Uesugi Tetsu asked, puzzled, "No, Jia, are you a mosquito?"

"Buzz..."

Kaga Kiyomitsu replied somewhat dejectedly.

Seeing Kaga Kiyomitsu retract into his sheath and even begin to withdraw into himself, Uesugi Tetsu quickly offered a few words of comfort before it started humming again.

—Strange, why is Xiao Jia still buzzing?

—But his heartstrings were indeed fine. He could only sense some emotions before, but now he could clearly hear what Kaga Kiyomitsu was saying, including the buzzing inflections and changes in tone.

Uesugi Tetsu thought for a moment, then fell silent.

—Could it be that Kaga Kiyomitsu is currently like an infant who has just developed sentience and cannot speak at all?

If that's the case, wouldn't he become a stay-at-home dad ahead of time and start his early childhood education life from scratch?

Or would it be easier to learn "Canadian"?

In any case, Kaga Kiyomitsu probably knows what he's going to do.

After first telling Kaga Kiyomitsu not to get annoyed and to mentally repeat a few words to him to create a linguistic environment, Uesugi Tetsuya took out the Key to History.

But the sentence above was probably superfluous, because Kaga Kiyomitsu did not show the slightest annoyance; on the contrary, he was overjoyed and wanted to say ten sentences per second.

It was so noisy and bustling...

With a sigh, Uesugi Tetsuya first took out the document bag from his storage backpack and spent more than a minute reading it in detail, letting the incantation on it dissipate into a wisp of spiritual energy.

After that, he directly infused the Key of History with spiritual power in the mountains.

……

Outside Yoshida Castle, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Having meticulously maintained the circulation of his internal energy and fluctuations of spiritual power at the levels he had just displayed before his departure, Uesugi Tetsuya landed before the dozing Mountain Whale King.

"Mr. Whale Three, were there any unusual circumstances last night?"

Nothing happened, everything is fine.

The Mountain Whale King smacked its lips and replied without even opening its eyes.

Behind it, three komainu dogs, which had been standing solemnly like statues, barked and surrounded it the moment they saw Uesugi Tetsuya, showing unusual intimacy.

Uesugi Tetsu patted the dogs' heads and was about to go inside to ask Imagawa Yoshimoto if he had rested well when he saw her walk out with a serious expression.

"—The carrier pigeon hasn't flown back yet."

Imagawa Yoshimoto sighed and turned his gaze toward the direction where the sun was rising.

She said softly

"Yoshida Castle has probably already fallen."

Uesugi Tetsuya did a quick mental calculation.

The carrier pigeon was released by Imagawa Yoshimoto about twenty hours later. If nothing happened inside Yoshida Castle—even if it was just the Matsudaira family—the pigeon should have returned safely.

Because the not-so-bright, sick relatives wouldn't dare to lay a hand on a pigeon flying in mid-air.

Unless he was caught after falling into the Matsudaira family's hands.

Uesugi Tetsu responded expressionlessly.

This was expected.

However, it is considered a relatively bad situation.

I just don't know which sentient, independent relative of the sick and suffering has come...

Is it a purported spirit? A herpes-ridden emperor? A cough-worshipping deity? Or is it some kind of tormented bondage?

I just hope it's not the most difficult one who comes.

He was just about to share some knowledge about the suffering of sick relatives with Imagawa Yoshimoto when a prompt suddenly popped up in front of him.

[The current level of influence of the world's journey on history: 1% → 1.1%!]

Does this increase its historical impact?

Even though his reputation increased significantly when he struck with a single blow, and his historical influence remained unchanged when he exorcised the sick and suffering families of the surrounding villages.

Why did it suddenly improve at this time?

Uesugi Che was stunned.

It took him a while to realize that it might be thanks to Lord Erchi.

Yes, it's been five whole days, and there's still no news from Master Erchi and Sister Yuanxin.

Judging by the time, they should have arrived in this area by now.

After experiencing the heartstrings, Uesugi Tetsu realized that the distance between himself and the two-foot-tall man had not narrowed much.

strangeness.

Uesugi Tetsuya followed suit, enlarging and thickening the heartstrings connected to the two-foot-tall man, and soon reached the point where he could vaguely sense the other's emotions.

His heart clenched, and he asked a question.