Tokyo Knights: The Odd Jobs X Files

Contestant number six couldn't help but want to cry.

"The second round of the competition is over. Next, contestants number one and number eight will have a half-hour break, and then..."

"No need to rest, let's start now."

Yi Tianxun didn't leave the field, but instead spoke directly to the referee, then looked at Li Xin: "You don't want to waste any more time, right?"

"I can't ask for it."

Li Xin stretched his body, not wanting his body, which had just warmed up, to cool down again.

Both agreed to start the fight immediately. The host hesitated for a moment, but soon, thunderous voices rang out from the audience.

"Let them fight! Let them fight!"

This time, it wasn't just female audience members, but male audience members as well.

Go ahead and fight, they'll be happy whichever of these two gets beaten up.

With the crowd in an uproar, the host couldn't very well go against public opinion and could only say, "Alright, in that case, let's start the final battle of this swordsmanship competition ahead of schedule!"

Standing on the field, Yi Tianxun waved to Li Xin. Li Xin walked up to Yi Tianxun and said, "I've finally waited to fight you."

In the previous sword exhibition, Li Xin gained the upper hand by relying on the advantage of the Glazed Sword, while Yi Tianxun's main goal was to seize the sword, so he did not focus all his attention on Li Xin. This time, the two are in a relatively fair environment, so what will be the outcome?

"Both of them are quite formidable; they are true masters. It's hard to say who will win in the end."

Aoyama Tsuruko, wrapped in Li Xin's clothes, sat in the audience seats, murmuring as she watched the two on the field.

She had personally experienced Li Xin's strength. Although she had never fought Yi Tianxun, the fact that he only used one move each time he attacked was enough to demonstrate his power. This final match was destined to be a fierce battle.

Lai Sheng Lei looked at Li Xin on the field, feeling somewhat worried.

Ah Xin has already explained everything to the heir of the Famous Sword Manor, and there will be no problems in this battle.

Lai Sheng Lei comforted herself in this way, but faced with the tense atmosphere at the scene, she couldn't help but worry about Li Xin.

Swords have no eyes. Although Li Xin and Yi Tianxun were both wielding wooden swords, even wooden swords were incredibly lethal to them. What if they accidentally...

"Big sister, Brother Xin will be alright. He just beat that guy so badly that he ran away with his head in his hands. He definitely won't lose this time either!"

In the next life, love will comfort, and tears will flow.

"Ah."

Lai Sheng Lei nodded, but her "hmm" sounded somewhat weak and listless.

"Don't worry, neither of them is harboring any murderous intent. This is a fair and square sparring match, and neither of them will be hurt."

An old man's voice rang out, and Laishenglei and Laishengai turned around to see Zhenyuanzhai walking over.

Zhen Yuanzhai stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Ah Xin is really lucky to have two such beautiful girls like you worrying about him."

When Lai Sheng Lei saw Zhen Yuanzhai approaching, he immediately bowed to him very respectfully: "Master Yuanzhai, you have worked so hard today."

"What's so hard about it? This whole thing started because of me. If I don't put in some effort, I'd be a real jerk!"

Zhen Yuanzhai said with a smile.

It was he who told Li Xin about the Famous Sword Manor, which led Li Xin and Lai Shenglei to decide to return the three precious swords to Yi Tianxun, resulting in today's swordsmanship competition. Since that's the case, Zhen Yuanzhai should naturally do his best to help Li Xin and Lai Shenglei, for example, by helping them get rid of some guys who are not suitable to appear in the competition.

Chapter 101 The Strange Man

Looking back at the arena, although the referee had finished the countdown, Li Xin and Yi Tianxun, who were not even willing to wait for the break, suddenly stopped in a hurry. The two stood with their swords in hand, completely still.

Li Xin lent his outer garment to Aoyama Tsuruko, and now he was only wearing a tight black vest that perfectly outlined his streamlined muscles. The muscles were not exaggerated, but they had a strange beauty and harmony.

Yi Tianxun stood ramrod straight, like a sharp sword already drawn from its sheath, its edge gleaming, its presence so intense that it was impossible to open one's eyes.

The match had been going on for quite some time, but hadn't officially started yet, leaving the referee somewhat confused. He could only say, "Please start the match, or you'll be disqualified for passive play!"

He asked himself if he was fulfilling his duty as a referee, but his statement immediately drew fierce opposition from the female audience members on stage.

"Let them stand there!"

"Exactly, don't you know they're fighting with their minds!"

"You ignorant fool, shut up!"

Such stunning beauty is breathtaking from any angle, so why would anyone want to ruin it?

The female viewers wouldn't stand for it!

Although the area outside the arena was bustling with activity, neither the referee's words nor the female spectators' shouts could affect Li Xin and Yi Tianxun. The two held their breath, waiting for the other to make a mistake in their breathing.

It happened. Yi Tianxun was the first to make a move because he discovered a weakness in Li Xin's body and thrust his sword straight at the weakness.

Li Xin followed closely behind, thrusting his sword at Yi Tianxun as well. He subtly adjusted his body, and the original flaw immediately disappeared. This was actually a trap set by Li Xin!

Just as Li Xin changed his move, Yi Tianxun touched the tip of Li Xin's sword, immediately shattering Li Xin's sword momentum and causing Li Xin to retreat a few steps.

After defeating Li Xin, Yi Tianxun did not press his advantage but simply waited for Li Xin to readjust his state.

The trap he dug was used against him. Li Xin pondered for a moment, then said to Yi Tianxun, "I have learned something."

"continue."

Yi Tianxun said to Li Xin, "Then show me all the martial arts you learned from those three swords."

Li Xin originally didn't want to use the sword techniques he learned from those precious swords against Yi Tianxun, feeling that it would be disrespectful to Yi Tianxun. But after hearing what Yi Tianxun said, Li Xin could only apologize, "I'm sorry!"

After saying that, he thrust his sword at Yi Tianxun with incredible speed and lightning-fast momentum, using a move from the Purple Lightning Sword.

Faced with such a fast sword strike, Yi Tianxun neither dodged nor avoided it. Instead, he raised his sword and gently parried Li Xin's wooden sword, deflecting the attack. At the same time, he turned around and struck with his sword, but instead of hitting Li Xin's body, he lightly sliced ​​across his throat.

Li Xin touched his neck; nothing was wrong, but he still deeply felt that momentary tremor—if Yi Tianxun had come half an inch closer, even if he was using a wooden sword, it could have been fatal to Li Xin.

"Although the Purple Lightning Style is fast, one should not pursue speed blindly. Any sword move that loses its variation becomes a dead move, and a dead move can kill people."

Yi Tianxun said to Li Xin, "Continue."

Li Xin understood that Yi Tianxun was teaching him swordsmanship, so he no longer hesitated and attacked Yi Tianxun with the swordsmanship techniques on the white jade sword.

The swordsmanship on the White Jade Sword is quite different from that on the Purple Lightning Sword. The sword's momentum is like mercury flowing across the ground, penetrating everywhere. When Li Xin fought against Qingshan Hezi, he used this move, forcing Qingshan Hezi to retreat repeatedly.

However, the same move was completely different when facing Yi Tianxun.

Li Xin's sword strikes were like rain, while Yi Tianxun's swords were like a net, but this net was even denser than rain, completely catching Li Xin's dense sword shadows. What was even more incomprehensible was that Li Xin and Yi Tianxun attacked each other with their swords without making a sound, as if their dense sword paths were all swinging in empty air.

"How come their swords haven't even touched after fighting for so long?"

Watching the match, Kiyoshi Ai couldn't help but wonder, "Aren't sword fighting matches usually all about a chaotic, clashing exchange? Li Xin and Aoyama Tsuruko were the same before, their wooden swords clashing against each other in a very intense fight."

"The swordsmanship of the Central Plains is different from that of the Eastern Japan; it uses skillful techniques rather than brute force."

Zhen Yuanzhai replied, "The reason why the two have been fighting for so long without exchanging blows is because every strike of that contestant number eight is aimed at the weak points of A Xin's sword technique. If A Xin's sword goes in just one more point, the opponent can attack the weak points of A Xin's sword technique and break the wooden sword in A Xin's hand."

This situation only occurs between two people whose swordsmanship skills have a decisive difference, and the one with higher swordsmanship skills has absolutely no ill will towards the other person.

"So that's how it is!"

Lai Sheng Ai suddenly realized, but then felt that this was too troublesome and not as exciting as the previous battles with Aoyama Tsuruko.

But the disappointment in the next life did not last long. Soon, the attack between Li Xin and Yi Tianxun changed. At first, there were a few sporadic sounds, but then the sounds increased and eventually became a continuous barrage, almost as dense as firecrackers.

"This is……"

Zhen Yuanzhai narrowed his eyes. The sword moves of Li Xin and Yi Tianxun, which were so fast that they could only be seen as afterimages, slowed down rapidly in Zhen Yuanzhai's eyes. He could clearly see that every sword of Li Xin landed on the tip of Yi Tianxun's sword, which perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be a direct confrontation.

You learn so fast...

Yi Tianxun smiled bitterly. He had practiced swordsmanship since childhood, and it took him more than 20 years of hard work to achieve his current level of swordsmanship. Seeing Li Xin's swordsmanship improve so quickly in such a short period of time, he felt extremely bitter.

However, this was exactly what he wanted. Naturally, he wouldn't be jealous of Li Xin. He only tried two moves of Li Xin's swordsmanship, but a huge confusion arose in Yi Tianxun's mind.

Outside the arena, Aoyama Motoko asked Aoyama Tsuruko, "Sister, it seems like neither of them used internal energy..."

Aoyama Tsuruko nodded and said, "That's right, this is a pure swordsmanship contest."

When she fought Li Xin before, she had already experienced Li Xin's internal strength, which was in no way inferior to the older generation. On the contrary, his swordsmanship was still quite immature. She didn't understand why Li Xin would not use his strengths and only use swordsmanship.

Yi Tianxun was equally strange. Qingshan Hezi could naturally see that Yi Tianxun had more than one opportunity to knock Li Xin down or knock the sword out of his hand, but he delayed and did nothing. Not only did he not rush to end the battle, but he also seemed to be giving Li Xin some pointers.

What exactly is going on between these two?

After testing the sword techniques on Li Xin's Purple Lightning Sword and White Jade Sword, the pure swordsmanship sparring ended. Yi Tianxun took the lead and unleashed extremely strong internal energy, channeling it into his sword, and a sharp sword aura slashed towards Li Xin.

Li Xin also unleashed a sword aura, but it was easily shattered by Yi Tianxun's sword aura, forcing Li Xin to dodge to the side.

As expected, without the Glazed Sword, Li Xin's own sword energy was no match for Yi Tianxun's.

"The sword energy is too scattered and not concentrated enough. Watch carefully how I release the sword energy!"

Yi Tianxun's voice reached Li Xin's ears. At the same time, Li Xin noticed that Yi Tianxun's speed of condensing sword energy had greatly decreased. Li Xin used the method of observing the flow of energy recorded in the palm technique that was attached to the Mingyu Gong to look at it, and he actually saw clearly the method by which Yi Tianxun condensed sword energy.

So it can be done this way after all...

Li Xin thought to himself, while sword energy gathered in his sword, soon reaching a point where he had to unleash it.

Almost simultaneously, Li Xin and Yi Tianxun unleashed their sword energy. This time, unlike the last, Li Xin's sword energy was not shattered by Yi Tianxun's sword energy. The two sword energies canceled each other out, leaving only a huge impact that erupted between the two, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Of course, according to the law that smoke does not cause injury, neither Li Xin nor Yi Tianxun were injured, but the wooden sword in Li Xin's hand shattered into wood chips.

This wasn't caused by Yi Tianxun, but rather because the wooden sword couldn't withstand the sword energy Li Xin poured into it and shattered on its own. In contrast, Yi Tianxun's wooden sword remained completely undamaged, just as before. Although Li Xin had learned Yi Tianxun's method of condensing sword energy, he was still far inferior to Yi Tianxun, who had been immersed in this art for many years.

Upon seeing the wooden sword in Li Xin's hand shatter, the referee immediately announced, "The outcome is decided. Congratulations to contestant number eight for becoming the winner of this swordsmanship competition!"

The audience erupted in deafening cheers, applauding the battle and lamenting Li Xin's defeat. They felt that if Li Xin had used a real sword instead of a wooden one, the outcome might have been different (in the eyes of most people, the two were evenly matched).

Li Xin sighed as he watched Yi Tianxun accept the winner's ceremony at the host's invitation.

He wasn't jealous of Yi Tianxun. In this duel, Li Xin had already gained a lot. Yi Tianxun had instructed him on the sword techniques of the Purple Lightning Sword and the White Jade Sword, and taught him the method of condensing sword energy. By any measure, Li Xin had won more.

Aoyama Tsuruko gracefully approached, took Li Xin's coat, bowed to him, and said, "Mr. A Xin, thank you for your coat. I will definitely return it to your residence another day."

Disguised as a staff member, Kisugi Ai jogged over carrying a kendo uniform and tossed it to Aoyama Tsuruko, saying, "Miss Aoyama, we've prepared clothes for you, so you'd better return Mr. Oshin's clothes to him quickly!"

You shameless woman, you dare to seduce Ashin-ge? Dream on!

In the next life, love will reside in my heart as I stick out my tongue at the green mountains and cranes.

Aoyama Tsuruko pulled up Li Xin's clothes, sniffed them (I get flustered in the next life), and then smiled and said, "No, it seems to have picked up my scent. Let me take it back, wash it clean, iron it, and then return it to you, Mr. A-Xin!"

"casual."

Li Xin didn't care at all, as long as he remembered to return the clothes to him.

Brother Ashin, you can't be so casual!

Lai Sheng Ai roared in her heart, but fearing to expose her identity, she dared not actually shout it out. She could only hold it in and look at Aoyama Tsuruko with hostile eyes.

After the sword competition, Yi Tianxun followed Li Xin to the organizer's office. No one was inside. Lai Shenglei didn't want to see Yi Tianxun and had already left, so only three swords remained in the office.

The three swords were stored in a sword box. Li Xin picked up the sword box and said to Yi Tianxun, "These three swords can finally be returned to their rightful owner."

Li Xin held the three precious swords in his hands and placed them in front of Yi Tianxun. Yi Tianxun looked at these three swords, which were coveted by people in the martial arts world and were also the treasures of the Famous Sword Manor for thousands of years, but he did not reach out to take them. Instead, he asked Li Xin, "The Glazed Sword is in your hands, so why didn't you learn the mental cultivation method on it?"

During the finals, he had Li Xin demonstrate the martial arts he learned from the sword. Li Xin used the sword techniques from the Purple Lightning Sword and the White Jade Sword. Although he performed them very skillfully, Yi Tianxun could still sense that Li Xin had some difficulty controlling the sword techniques. This was clearly a case of having only sword techniques but not the mental techniques.

Li Xin's ability to learn the sword techniques of the Purple Lightning Sword in such a short time is terrifying, even to Yi Tianxun. He doesn't believe that Li Xin would be unable to learn the mental techniques of the Glazed Sword.

Li Xin remained calm and said indifferently, "I didn't know these swords belonged to the Famous Sword Manor before, so I learned the sword techniques on the Purple Lightning Sword and the White Jade Sword. Later, after learning about the deeds of your Famous Sword Manor, I greatly admired your righteous actions. After learning that the martial arts on these three swords are the ultimate techniques of the Famous Sword Manor, I would never dare to covet the martial arts on the Glazed Sword again."

After receiving the answer, Yi Tianxun remained silent for a long time before sighing, "In this day and age, there are still people like you..."

In the martial arts world, stealing someone else's martial arts skills is a major taboo. But the problem is, when ordinary people accidentally obtain superior martial arts skills, who cares whether they stole them or not? They just learn them first and worry about the consequences later.

Not to mention that Mingjian Manor has long been defunct in name only. Although Yi Tianxun operates in the name of Mingjian Manor, he is the only one left in the entire manor and the entire Yi family. Who would care about Mingjian Manor in this state? So what if you learned the sword techniques of Mingjian Manor?

In today's society, people's hearts are in disarray, morality has collapsed, and there is no sense of brotherhood in the martial arts world. Li Xin actually gave up the profound martial arts skills that were within his grasp just because of his admiration for the ancestors of the Famous Sword Manor...

Yi Tianxun sighed and said to Li Xin, "Keep the sword for now. Tell me a place, and I'll come find you tomorrow morning."

"what?"

Li Xin was utterly bewildered. What was wrong with this guy? Before, he had fought over these three swords, and Li Xin guessed that the former Kwantung Army officer who originally possessed the Purple Lightning Sword was probably killed by Yi Tianxun. Yi Tianxun had gone to great lengths for these precious swords, and now that the three swords were right in front of him, he kept making excuses. What kind of behavior was this? Was this swordsmanship competition a waste of time?

"Tell me the location!"

Yi Tianxun urged him on, and Li Xin had no choice but to arrange the meeting at the Fire Cloud Shrine on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was a secluded and deserted place, which would be convenient for the event. Moreover, Li Xin had borrowed the old shrine maiden's notes and had not had a chance to return them after reading them. This was a good opportunity to return the notes to the old lady.

"It's a promise, if you don't come, don't regret it."

Before leaving, Yi Tianxun told Li Xin.

No, your sword is in my hands. If anyone should regret something, it's you!