I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

After being stared at for three seconds, Tamamo had no choice but to give him a serious salute.

"We would never tell Miss Tokugawa, and we have no idea that you and Miss Tokugawa practiced dual cultivation, or that you took a bath with a certain beautiful, big-breasted girl, and that you were two-timing her!"

There are more people who don't know the classics than those who do.

Uesugi Tetsuya was at a loss for words.

He could only say "Okay," and then thanked him.

—Because of this little incident, Uesugi Tetsuya quickly washed up and changed his clothes before returning to his room and taking Kaga Kiyomitsu out of his backpack.

It opened its mouth, somewhat confused.

"Master, why did you shove me in like that? Also, my memories aren't very good, and I didn't really like that big-breasted black-haired girl... she was so bossy, so I can't remember her name."

Kaga Kiyomitsu snorted, "If we're talking about preferences, I still prefer the Great Demon King and..."

In that subtle moment of hesitation from Kaga Kiyomitsu, Uesugi Tetsu happened to slap it down.

"What do you know with just a knife?"

Uesugi Tetsu shook his head, knowing that this was purely Jia's unintentional remark, so he could only admonish her: "When you say similar things in the future, remember to speak to me with your heartstrings."

"Yes, Master~"

Kaga Kiyomitsu didn't understand, but he knew what was right.

He put it back in his backpack along with its sheath, then lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

—The location of resurrection: the shrine at the Karuta III factory!

The still water pressure flowed by.

Uesugi Tetsu opened his eyes and found a huge black cube standing in front of him, no different from the last time he came.

Looking around, it was still desolate, completely unchanged.

Taking out Kaga Kiyomitsu and placing it at his waist, Uesugi Tetsu advised with his heartstrings: "In front of outsiders, remember to communicate only with your heartstrings."

"Yes, sir!"

After entering the factory through the small door, a prompt appeared in front of Uesugi Tetsuya's eyes after only a couple of steps.

[The Remains of the Master Blacksmith Sequence - Type II]

Not only that, the white memory orb that he had absorbed last time is still floating above the remains of the great blacksmith.

You have discovered the "Broken Memory Orb of the Great Blacksmith Sequence Type II".

"Has the factory been restarted internally?"

Uesugi Tetsu guessed—but this guess would be confirmed after he touched the orb of light again.

Instead of continuing into the thick darkness filled with a sense of danger, he reached out and touched the white orb of light.

Wow.

The exact same scene as last time flowed through Uesugi Tetsuya's consciousness, like an unskippable cutscene in a game.

"Would you like to come in and have a game, sir?"

Before him, the familiar fox-masked woman was smiling and greeting Uesugi Tetsuya.

He turned his head and found that everything around him was no different from when he last came in.

Even some of the pedestrians who walked by had the exact same walking patterns.

Sure enough, reading the memory orb triggered the "key" to this Edo-era scene.

Then...

"What exactly do you mean by 'play a round'?"

Uesugi Tetsu arrived at the entrance of the [Hanafuda Shop] and showed interest in the fox-masked woman.

Only then did he notice that the fox-faced woman's mask only covered the upper half of her face. If he wanted to know what she looked like, he could simply use his inner energy to lift the mask.

However, let's wait and see. Doing something so outrageous could still bring this exploration to an abrupt end.

“Karirudo.” The fox-faced woman didn’t repeat herself, but replied with a charming laugh, “Sir, our flower card shop has produced more than one number one in the world.”

"The 'World's Number One Songstress Tournament' is currently underway, and the top three winners will receive a grand prize, with double the chips available for exchange!"

The fox-masked woman was making her sales pitch when she grabbed Uesugi Tetsu's wrist, trying to lead him into the bustling flower card shop.

"As for how to play, you'll understand once you come in and watch for a while."

Uesugi Tetsuya did not resist, knowing that this had triggered an event cutscene.

He quickly organized the information he had just received:

First of all, the top three in this "coincidentally" happening competition will receive a big prize, so winning first place will most likely get you one of the super epic items mentioned on the map.

Secondly, the competition here is not about fighting and killing, but simply about playing songs and keeping more people – after hearing the short song written on the reading card, the participants need to quickly find the card with the next line of the corresponding short song printed on it.

The player who grabs the most cards the fastest wins.

However, this originated from "Competitive Karuta" in the Meiji era, which mainly tested memory and reaction speed. It's unclear how the game was played in the Edo period...

Uesugi Tetsu's thoughts suddenly paused at this point.

He realized that the rules of the game weren't actually important.

For him, every time he enters the factory, it can be restarted, and the action logic of all the characters will not change—wouldn't it be easy for him to win first place in this competition?

Uesugi Tetsu immediately inquired about the tournament format from the fox-masked woman and discovered that it was a single-elimination tournament, where winning about seven or eight rounds would be enough to take first place.

Even if my skills are terrible, wouldn't I be able to speedrun through the "World's Number One Song Tournament" in a week at most?

So Uesugi Tetsu turned his gaze away from the various waiters wearing different animal masks around him, and asked without even looking at the rules of the game.

"What should I do if I want to participate in the World's Greatest Uta Gassen Tournament?"

The fox-faced woman seemed to have seen many people like this, and she answered familiarly, "Generally speaking, you just need to bet chips that your opponent thinks are worth the same as the chips he has put up."

"Bet?" Uesugi Tetsuya pressed, "With what?"

If it's soul ash, then I might feel a little heartbroken...

"Please take a look, sir."

The fox-faced woman led him to the bustling arena, pointed to the overwhelmingly one-sided scales, and laughed, "This is it."

Uesugi Tetsuya looked closely and discovered that there were two orbs of memory light on either side of the scale!

One is deep blue, and the other is a bright purple!

【The Memory Orb of the Nameless Yin-Yang Master of the Astronomical Path】.

[The Memory Orb of the Swordsman Tokugawa Yugoro!]

Chapter 261 Free Swordsman's Memories: Abyss of Skin, Mountain of Bones! All Completed! Four Extremes Breathing Technique, Acquired!

Two lines of prompts appeared on the sphere of light, and Uesugi Tetsuya was immediately stunned.

Using memory to place bets?!

and many more.

With his quick thinking, Uesugi Tetsuya soon realized that as long as he won the match, he could obtain a memory orb containing insights, skills, experience, secrets, and so on.

He looked at the [Memory Orb of the Swordsman Tokugawa Yugoro] and licked his lips.

And what a great thing!?

Uesugi Tetsu thought the epic items inside the Karuta Factory were the biggest treasure, but now he feels that's not the case.

Using memories as stakes, and even being able to read other people's memory orbs...

Having read the Great Blacksmith's memory orb, Uesugi Tetsuya understood that everything within the memory orb contained the experiences and memories of its former owner.

It is incredibly realistic.

In other words, he knew absolutely nothing about blacksmithing and had never been exposed to it before; otherwise, he would at least have the skill of "lv.max screw tightening".

Suppressing his inner surprise and excitement, Uesugi Tetsu subtly glanced at the two who were engaged in a battle with Karuta.

One was a middle-aged man dressed in plain-colored cloth, his body surging with fairly strong spiritual energy fluctuations. Although his background was not discernible, he was undoubtedly an Onmyoji with a strength of three stars or above.

The other was a young man with an unsheathed katana beside him, and the family crest on his clothes was clearly the Tokugawa family's "Mitsuba Aoi" (three-leaf hollyhock).

Strangely, the memory orb of the Tokugawa clan swordsman was next to the Onmyoji's hand, while the memory orb of the Astronomical Onmyoji was next to this young man from the Tokugawa clan.

Uesugi Tetsu looked around carefully again and confirmed one thing.

These memory orbs placed on the scales as stakes against others are mostly memories they won rather than their own.

This is human nature; after all, risking one's own memories is a terrifying thing.

The betting game continued, and Uesugi Tetsu continued watching.

After a round of back-and-forth tricycle rides, just as the fox-masked woman had said, Uesugi Tetsu had roughly figured it out.

This is not much different from modern competitive choreographed ...

The game involves the referee reading the preceding line of a karuta (Japanese verse), and then two people sitting opposite each other compete to see who can grab the karuta cards the fastest from the dozens or hundreds of cards in front of them.

This rule is actually relatively fair.

However, the sharp-eyed Uesugi Tetsu glanced back and forth at the two who were already drenched in sweat and noticed a detail.

Each time the two reached out their hands, before actually touching the karuta card, the fingers of the young samurai from the Tokugawa family and the simply dressed onmyoji would almost imperceptibly collide a few times in mid-air.

But the waters beneath those "bumps" are far too deep.

Although the clashes are not visible to the naked eye, this is probably due to the limitations of the rules.

However, in Uesugi Tetsu's interpretive eye and perception, each exchange between the two when drawing karuta cards was both dangerous and exquisite.

The Yin-Yang techniques that are cast and disappear in an instant, the spiritual energy and qi that collide and cancel each other out, and the sword moves that are executed from the fingertips...

These dazzling tactics all have only one purpose—to prevent the opponent from getting the song card before you do!

Uesugi Tetsuya understood.

Even though the rules of the Hanafuda shop prohibit open combat, as long as it is not discovered and there is no evidence, it is not considered a violation of the rules.

This is the same principle as cheating that isn't detected not being considered cheating.

This made it even more difficult for him to continue reopening the Speedway Factory.

However, if you can know in advance which card you will read next, you will still have a significant advantage in the competition.

"Sir, I see this is your first time at Hanafuda Shop. You probably didn't bring a memory orb."

As the competition drew to a close, the fox-masked woman who had been standing behind Uesugi Tetsu tugged at his sleeve and spoke with a smile.

"In that case, would you like to have it measured, sir?"

Uesugi Tetsu countered, "Measurement?"

“That’s right, let’s measure the weight of your memory.” The fox-faced woman produced a balance scale from somewhere and coaxed, “As long as you touch one side of the scale, it will soon tell you the value and weight of your memory.”

The fox-faced woman's tone carried a hint of seduction.

"Sir, you've been watching for so long, don't you want to use some trivial memories to try it out for yourself and experience the world-renowned Karuta amusement park ride?"

If an ordinary person came here, they would have already been foolishly tempted, exchanging all their memories for chips and going all in at the gambling table.

But Uesugi Tetsuya, with his refined mind and mastery of seduction, would not be swayed by such petty tricks.

He raised an eyebrow and asked calmly, "If it's just for measuring the value of memories, is that acceptable?"

"Naturally."

The fox-faced woman bowed slightly to him: "All guests entering the flower card shop can use the scales to measure the value of all memories free of charge."

Similarly, we will not use any means to force our guests to use any memories as bargaining chips.

"The original intention of the Hanafuda shop was to bring the joy of karuta to our guests."

The fox-faced woman's voice was earnest.

"Therefore, all competitions and betting games can only be conducted on the premise that the guests are completely voluntary."

The things NPCs say are unlikely to be entirely false.