I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

“Of course not… That’s exactly what I hope for,” Ririko said earnestly. “If I lose, it means there’s more to learn.”

"Isn't that the same idea that great swordsman named Sasaki Kojiro, who lived in the Warring States period, thought?"

Uesugi Tetsuya naturally knew Sasaki's name and story.

—It is said that at the end of the Warring States period, there was a man named Sasaki Kojiro who liked to spar with famous swordsmen. He fought hundreds of battles in his lifetime, but never won a single one.

It wasn't until his battle with the then-sword saint Miyamoto Musashi on Ganryu Island that he truly gained fame.

Although he was defeated, he still left a deep and terrifying scar on Miyamoto Musashi's face.

It is said that after each defeat, Sasaki Kojiro would mentally simulate the battle with that opponent until he completely defeated and killed them before moving on to find the next, stronger opponent.

Of course, this is just one version of the legend; there are many other versions as well.

Whether the story is true or not, he might only know if he himself stayed in that era for several decades.

Seeing Uesugi Tetsu's understanding expression, Ririko clicked her tongue.

“But I’m not quite the same as him. Sasaki was too cowardly. He never won once, so even after his death, he was known as the ‘Invincible Swordsman’.”

"Defeat is inevitable; but there should be more victories—defeat itself is meaningless, but the strength gained from defeat and the victory that follow are meaningful."

Ririko opened her arms, then closed them tightly.

"You should not shy away from sparring with the strong, but you should also not shy away from sparring with the weak. If you keep your eyes open, you will find that even the weakest person has something to offer."

"As for the idea that I'm invincible and no one can beat me, I naturally don't have that kind of thought now."

Ririko stuck her tongue out at him: "Not to mention anyone else, Uesugi-kun, you could beat several of me."

Uesugi Tetsu waved his hand: "It's just because my pure power is greater."

“Strong is strong, there’s no need to distinguish what it’s made of.”

Ririko leaned closer to examine Uesugi Tetsuya, then shook her head and sighed softly, "There's absolutely no hope of winning."

After listening to her entire explanation, Uesugi Tetsu nodded.

"I think I understand what you're thinking now."

That being the case...

After a very brief silence, he brought up the issue that he had been unwilling to discuss with Ririko for a long time.

"What about the Tokugawa clan? If you participate in the seeding battle and make such a public appearance, they're bound to see it and come looking for you..."

"Then come on."

The words fell lightly, yet with the unwavering resolve of ten thousand mountains.

Ririko smiled and said, "Nothing in life is a big deal. If they come after us, we'll just deal with them as they come."

"The most important thing is to have clear thoughts and not let things affect our spiritual practice before they happen."

“And also, Uesugi-kun.” Ririko looked directly into his eyes, her voice clear, “I’m about to cause you trouble.”

Uesugi Tetsuya, who had spent so much time with the other person, understood.

This is an announcement.

The decision was also placed in his hands.

Previously, Ririko had considered that the existence of "trouble" would affect Uesugi Tetsuya, so she thought it would be best not to come into contact with any unnecessary people and to train in secret.

But now she only wants her thoughts to be clear and free, and she can no longer accept that her ideas are relegated to second place because of others.

If they accept, nothing will change between them.

If Uesugi Tetsu doesn't want to accept the inevitable trouble, then Ririko will naturally respect his wishes and stop getting so close to him.

Uesugi Tetsu hummed in agreement and patted his stomach: "After talking so much, what are we having for dinner?"

Ririko's smile became even brighter.

She patted her rumbling stomach and rolled her eyes.

"I'm hungry too, and I don't want to cook."

Uesugi Tetsuya opened his mouth in astonishment.

Didn't Ririko say before that cooking is also a part of spiritual practice?

Seeing his appearance, Ririko snorted and lay down on the wooden floor: "He almost kicked the bucket just now, his limbs are still weak, so the food he made must not have tasted good."

She took out her phone, tapped a few times, and casually said, "But if it were me in the past, I would definitely choose to continue cooking and cultivating myself."

Uesugi Tetsuya also sat down and saw her fingertips moving slightly on a certain hamburger app, quickly ordering a large number of set meals.

“It’s different now.”

After another round of selection, the girl clicked the "Checkout" button: "I'm different now."

After paying, Ririko chuckled and said, "Uesugi-kun, I also ordered for you. Remember to get reimbursed later."

……

Uesugi Tetsu sat in front of a small mountain of beef burgers, peering through the gaps at the terrifying girl inside who was causing whole burgers to disappear rapidly.

"—You just used up a lot of energy, so it's reasonable to eat a little more!"

One sentence was enough to make him hand over 50,000 yen.

While eating, Lilizi mumbled, "The pathways to the acupoints and the Qi Sea are open, but I still need to walk them slowly for a while."

"The technique of 'embracing the elixir' can be taught."

The words were muffled and unclear; only Uesugi Tetsuya, Shizuma Manatsu, and Kitano Runa could probably understand them.

"Uesugi-kun, you can now control your entire body's strength at will, and you can easily use the Spirit Condensation Technique to gather your essence, energy, and spirit, right?"

Uesugi Tetsu nodded.

"However, only when all the complex forces contained within the human body model are gathered into one point and manipulated at will can it be considered a successful elixir."

"The effect of successfully absorbing the elixir is very powerful."

She then stuffed a chicken leg straight into her mouth, chewed it a few times, and then mumbled something.

"To give an example. For instance, if your total strength is ten points, it is originally distributed in various parts, but you can only use four points in your legs and feet and two points in your hands."

However, the skill of "Baodan" allows one to exert ten parts of force in the toes and fingers at will, and even twelve parts of force in a burst of power.

With that explained, Uesugi Tetsuya understood where this superpower came from.

Absolutely invincible.

"I'll teach you myself later. I've just broken through and my understanding isn't very deep yet, so it would be too superficial to explain it in a few words."

"As ordered!"

While Ririko was eating heartily, Uesugi Tetsu took out his phone and messaged Nanjo Manami on Line, telling her that Ririko wanted to participate in the seeding battle.

The latter was naturally pleasantly surprised to hear this news and immediately took action to put Ririko's name on the Arakawa Ward's contestant list.

They even cut in line during the qualifiers and were scheduled for tomorrow.

Uesugi Tetsu asked about Karuta again, but did not get the answer he wanted—Nanjo Aimi didn't even know what those three characters meant and had never heard of them before.

After a brief thank you, Uesugi Tetsu heard the eating sounds had disappeared.

Turning her head, she found that the hamburger and chicken leg mound had disappeared, but Ririko's stomach was still as flat as ever.

It can be described as the deepest abyss in the stomach.

Ririko licked her fingers, making them shiny, and then raised her chin at Uesugi Tetsuya.

"Take off your clothes, what are you waiting for!"

She raised her hands, flexing her fingers, and leaned forward with a smile, pressing herself tightly against Uesugi Tetsuya's back.

"Uesugi-kun, let me see how much you've improved these past few days..."

Chapter 255: The Ticket is Torn Up, the Train Arrives! Thunderous Roar of Tiger and Leopard! No one can take my Uesugi-kun away!

Since the following discussion and guidance would focus on spiritual practice, which was a serious matter, Uesugi Tetsuya didn't mince words.

He quickly took off his thin short-sleeved shirt, revealing a muscular physique that was as full as if cast in steel, yet not so muscular that it hindered his explosiveness and speed.

The next moment, icy cold fingers had already climbed up from behind.

With fingertips, they strok and pinch each muscle with the precision of a scalpel.

As she touched it, Lili exclaimed in amazement, "Wow, this skin, this flesh, and this complex circulation of internal energy... Amazing!"

Just as Uesugi Tetsu was about to speak, he saw Ririko's face pop out from the side, nodding happily at him.

"It's both beautiful and practical."

"So please don't play..."

"I'm not playing around, I'm feeling the strength of your body, Uesugi-kun... Hmm, even though I'm ahead of you in the Corona Breathing Technique, I'm completely no match for you in terms of pure physical strength."

At least, it's two or three times less.

As she spoke, her fingertips, which had been brushing against her like a gentle breeze, fell, and Ririko's two palms were now pressed against the sides of Uesugi Tetsuya's ribs.

The sudden softness and coolness made Uesugi Tetsuya pause in his breathing, then he heard Ririko's calm voice coming from behind him.

"Don't move, I'm going to test your other powers next."

She closed her eyes and said softly, "I need to have a concrete understanding of all your powers before I can begin to teach you this Dan-forming technique, right?"

This is true.

Uesugi Tetsuya then stopped circulating his internal energy, lowered all his guard, and let Ririko do as she pleased.

Soon, he could feel a very faint but extremely pure "qi" flowing out from Lilizi's palm, entering his body as if nothing had happened, following his internal circulation.

A sense of amazement rose in Uesugi Tetsu's heart.

Even though he had lowered his guard, his current internal energy circulation contained not only qi, but also spiritual energy and fragments of lightning.

It's truly impressive that Ririko was able to sneak in so quickly.

What shocked him even more was Ririko, who was probing Uesugi Tetsuya's body with all her might.

First, she encountered the overflowing internal energy within Uesugi Tetsuya's body.

—Because the Qi Sea is constantly producing Qi, and only a small amount is released on ordinary days, the Qi naturally fills every available crevice.

"Hey...isn't this amount of internal energy a bit abnormal?"

A sense of doubt arose in Ririko's heart.

If the purity is slightly higher, that's fine; this is a job that requires a lot of strength and can cause bricks to fly.

But she and Uesugi Tetsuya practiced the same breathing technique, so why did the other person have several times more internal energy than her?

On what grounds?

Ririko was naturally unaware that, in addition to his Qi Sea, Uesugi Tetsuya also possessed the "Spirit Control Technique: Qi," a method of manipulating Qi that he had cultivated to a profound level.

However, these thoughts were fleeting, and Ririko continued to probe deeper with her energy.

Hmm... The same enormous amount of spiritual energy, and even lightning flowing within my body, strange, this lightning even automatically retaliates, making my fingertips a little numb.

After sensing it, Ririko felt that Uesugi Tetsu had completely and utterly crushed her in terms of numerical values.

Whether it's physical strength, internal energy, spiritual power, or blood and qi, Uesugi Tetsuya far surpasses himself.

If her power is a lake, then Uesugi Tetsu's power is a great river that converges from different sources.

But precisely because of this, the difficulty of Uesugi Tetsu's Dan-holding technique is much higher than hers.

The greater this power, the more difficult it is to gather it all and combine it into one, not to mention that he also has spiritual energy in his body, a power of a different origin, but equally formidable.

Disaster!Disaster!Disaster!

Faced with such a difficult problem, Ririko did not sigh; instead, her delicate face showed an even more interested expression.

The more difficult the challenge, the more interesting it is to overcome it!

"what?"

After further intensifying her strength, Ririko unconsciously emitted a strange tone.