Tokyo Knights: The Odd Jobs X Files

Li Xin was speechless for a moment, but Yi Tianxun didn't give Li Xin a chance to speak and turned around and left.

"What a weirdo..."

Li Xin watched Yi Tianxun's departing figure and whispered.

Chapter 102 "Eight Styles of the Famous Sword"

The next day, Li Xin waited for Yi Tianxun's arrival at the stone steps outside the Fire Cloud Shrine, holding a sword box containing three precious swords, feeling somewhat uneasy.

The three swords in the sword case are all rare treasures. If they were lost or stolen, Li Xin would not be able to afford to pay for them.

Fortunately, this place is near the Fire Cloud Shrine, where the old shrine maiden with unfathomable cultivation is located. It is likely that those demons and monsters will not dare to approach. However, Li Xin is still a little worried because Yi Tianxun has not arrived yet.

Just as Li Xin was wondering if Yi Tianxun had encountered some kind of accident, Yi Tianxun finally arrived, looking travel-worn. He looked unfriendly and immediately said to Li Xin, "What kind of place did you arrange to meet here? I asked countless people around here, and they all said they had never heard of this place. In the end, I had to ask an old woman, and she finally remembered and pointed me in a general direction... Do you know how much effort it took me to find this place?!"

Li Xin was speechless. Well, the Fire Cloud Shrine was indeed quite hard to find. If Nogami Saeko hadn't told Li Xin the detailed route, he probably wouldn't have been able to find it either. And she only told Yi Tianxun a name and a general location. It was really lucky that Yi Tianxun was able to find it.

Ugh, maybe it's because I'm good-looking.

After complaining, Yi Tianxun let out a long sigh, took out a notebook from his pocket, and handed it to Li Xin.

"Give."

Yi Tian seeks the Dao.

Looking at the brand-new notebook, Li Xin couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

“I wrote down the sword manual of ‘Eight Styles of Famous Swords’ overnight.”

Yi Tianxun spoke to Li Xindao.

This is why he agreed with Li Xin to return the sword the next morning, so that he would have time to memorize the "Eight Styles of Famous Swords".

Li Xin exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't the 'Eight Forms of Famous Swords' a secret technique that your Famous Sword Manor never reveals to outsiders? Why are you giving it to me like this..."

"I am now the sole heir of the Famous Sword Manor. If I say it's okay, then it's okay!"

Yi Tianxun forcefully stuffed the secret manual into Li Xindao's hands.

Li Xin said to Yi Tianxun, "Brother Yi, if you are only doing this to repay the kindness of returning my sword, you don't need to do this!"

Li Xin returned the three swords to Yi Tianxun because they were relics of a martyr and should be returned to his descendants.

"If you only help me find the three precious swords, I will at most not pursue the fact that you learned the martial arts on them, but I will not give you the sword manual of the 'Eight Styles of Famous Swords'."

Yi Tian seeks the Dao.

"Then why..."

Li Xin asked in confusion.

"Abandoning the most important mental cultivation method, just to abide by that empty morality... I haven't seen someone like you in a long time. If it were you, you wouldn't have disgraced the 'Eight Styles of Famous Swords'."

Yi Tianxun sighed.

The most important aspect of the "Eight Forms of Famous Swords" is the mental cultivation method. Otherwise, even if you practice those sword moves, you will only end up going astray and possibly losing all your martial arts skills.

Of course, Li Xin was unaware of the intricacies involved, but even so, Li Xin's actions moved Yi Tianxun, which is why he made an exception and passed on all eight styles of the "Famous Sword" to Li Xin.

Yi Tianxun did this not only because he admired Li Xin's character, but also because he was about to do something very dangerous. If he succeeded, all would be well, but if he failed, he didn't want the "Eight Forms of Famous Swords" to be lost forever, nor did he want anyone to forget the reputation of Famous Sword Manor in the future. Therefore, after recognizing Li Xin's character, he chose to pass on the "Eight Forms of Famous Swords" to him without reservation.

Seeing Yi Tianxun's resolute attitude, Li Xin finally realized that Yi Tianxun was serious, so he stopped refusing and bowed deeply to Yi Tianxun.

No one would pass on such a closely guarded secret technique so readily. Li Xin believed that Yi Tianxun must have thought it through carefully before passing on the "Eight Forms of Famous Swords" to him. If he didn't accept it, Yi Tianxun might think that he was looking down on the "Eight Forms of Famous Swords".

And... well, Li Xin really does want to learn the "Eight Styles of Famous Swordsmanship". Without moral obstacles, it would be foolish not to learn it.

When Yi Tianxun saw Li Xin bowing to him, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "In Japan, I'm used to seeing people bow, but this is the first time I've seen someone bow."

As he laughed, Yi Tianxun's eyes became a little sore. This Central Plains etiquette reminded him of his hometown.

For so many years, in order to find the eight treasured swords passed down in his family, Yi Tianxun crossed the ocean and traveled thousands of miles to Japan. He wandered and spent countless years in this foreign land, and finally saw the hope of collecting all eight swords.

Touching the corner of his eye, Yi Tianxun said to Li Xin, "Besides the 'Eight Styles of Famous Swords,' there is another sword move in this notebook."

"There's another method?"

Li Xin was puzzled.

"Correct."

Yi Tianxun nodded and then said, "'The Eight Forms of Famous Swords of My Famous Sword Manor' are incredibly powerful, but the most powerful eighth form has no sword moves. Each person who practices the 'Eight Forms of Famous Swords' must comprehend it on their own. It can be said that there is no two identical eighth forms in the world."

"However, the process of comprehending the eighth move is too difficult. Even at the height of the Mingjian Manor, not every successor could comprehend the eighth move. So a long time ago, my ancestors in the Mingjian Manor wondered if they could find other powerful moves to replace the eighth move as the Mingjian Manor's ultimate technique. In the end, by chance, my father accidentally obtained this sword move."

"Although this sword move is incredibly powerful, no weaker than the eighth move, it is also more difficult to master. My father practiced it for ten years, but eventually went into a state of demonic possession and still failed to master it."

"My late father warned me before he passed away that I must never rashly practice this sword move. Over the years, I have been practicing the 'Eight Forms of Famous Swords', but I have stopped at the seventh form. I have not yet made any progress on the eighth form. I have also considered practicing this sword move, but it is too difficult and I have to give up."

"After our battle yesterday, I saw that your swordsmanship talent far surpasses mine, so I'm leaving this move to you as well. I hope you can master this sword technique, which would fulfill my late father's wish before he died. But you must not force yourself to practice it, understand?"

Yi Tianxun gave Li Xin some instructions.

Li Xin nodded and said to Yi Tianxun, "I understand. I will do what I can."

Yi Tianxun nodded. This time, he finally reached out and took the sword box from Li Xin's hand, picked it up, left Li Xin with a resolute back view, and then slowly disappeared.

At the Fire Cloud Shrine, the old shrine maiden sat quietly on the steps outside the main hall, petting a small white cat while watching her granddaughter sweep up fallen leaves.

Hino Rei, who was sweeping up fallen leaves, suddenly sensed someone approaching. She looked up and saw Isayama Yomi walking past the torii gate.

"Hello, Xiaoli."

Isayama Yomi smiled and said to Hino Rei.

This wasn't her first visit to the Fire Cloud Shrine recently. Because she had received the old shrine maiden's permission to come to the shrine at any time to receive her guidance, Isayama Yomi would come to the shrine whenever she had free time, and that's how she became good friends with Hino Rei.

"Hello, Yellow Springs!"

Hino Rei was also happy to see Isayama Yomi, after all, she was a new good friend.

When the old shrine maiden saw Yomi Isayama arrive, she released the kitten and let it play by itself. She smiled and said to Yomi Isayama, "Yomi, you've come to keep this old woman company again."

Yomi Isayama bowed to the old priestess and said, "Shrine priestess, it is Yomi who has come to bother you again."

"Come, come, have a seat. What's the problem this time?"

The old witch chuckled and patted the spot beside her.

Izayama Yomi adjusted her skirt, sat down next to the old shrine maiden, placed her sword "Lion King" on her lap, and said to the old shrine maiden: "Actually, I wanted to ask before why that warrior named 'X' could use my 'Lion King', and why the spirit beast sealed in the sword was so docile to him."

The old shrine maiden glanced at Yomi Isayama's "Lion King" and said to Yomi Isayama, "Lend me your sword for a moment."

Isayama Yomi naturally didn't object and handed the sword to the old priestess. The old priestess easily drew "Lion King." As soon as "Lion King" was unsheathed, the spirit beast Ran Honglian sealed within the sword sensed it and leaped out of the blade. After seeing the old priestess, it licked its lips and returned to the sword.

Yes, the main characteristic is docility.

Yomi Isayama was not surprised by this, after all, she knew the old priestess's strength very well. Her spiritual power was so strong that even though she passed on 50% of her spiritual power to Rei Hino through the inheritance ceremony, there were very few people in the world of Japanese sorcery who could surpass her in terms of spiritual power.

Spirit beasts are essentially a mass of spiritual energy born from spiritual power. They are naturally extremely obedient to beings with strong spiritual power. It is understandable that Luan Honglian is so docile to the old witch. But the problem is that Li Xin does not have such strong spiritual power. He is not even a spiritual power cultivator. He is a martial artist!

Seeing Isayama Yomi's confusion, the old shrine maiden slowly said, "The essence of spiritual power is a derivative of the power of the soul. The soul belongs to Yin, so spiritual power is also Yin in most cases. And the series of magical artifacts generated by spiritual power also belong to the Yin side in terms of their power essence."

As she spoke, the old witch slightly opened her narrowed eyes: "For us spiritual practitioners, there are two types of people who are the most troublesome among martial artists. One type is those who cultivate the ultimate Yang internal energy. The power of ultimate Yang is very effective against Yin-attribute spiritual energy. For those sorcerers who have been practicing evil arts for many years and whose bodies are filled with evil, they are natural nemesis. The power of ultimate Yang can easily break most of the evil spells in the world."

"Compared to those martial artists who cultivate extremely yang internal energy, those who cultivate extremely yin internal energy are actually more annoying."

"Indirect spells are fine, but direct spells are often ineffective against those who cultivate Yin internal energy. It's not that they can be countered, it's that they are completely ineffective against them."

"That's fine, but the problem is that the power of extreme yin allows them to use powerful magical artifacts at will. They can even use artifacts that already have owners. That young man practiced extreme yin internal energy. Your 'Lion King' allowed him to use it because it sensed the extreme yin internal energy in his body. The same goes for that 'Nue.' It is naturally close to the power of yin, and the power of extreme yin is its favorite. That's why it was so obedient to that young man."

After a pause, the old witch said, "Actually, your spiritual power is also very pure, otherwise that 'Nue' wouldn't be so obedient to you."

Spirit beasts are powerful tools developed by sorcerers, but the more powerful a tool is, the more difficult it is to tame. This is especially true for spirit beasts, which are powerful tools with a certain degree of intelligence. If it weren't for the fact that Izayama Yomi's spiritual power was extremely pure, she wouldn't have been able to control the Chaotic Crimson Lotus so easily.

After thinking for a moment, Isayama Yomi asked again, "My lady, if you say that, doesn't that mean we sorcerers are inherently weaker than martial artists?"

The old witch laughed: "What are you talking about? First of all, there are very few internal energy cultivation techniques that can be called the ultimate Yin or the ultimate Yang, and the number of people who are qualified to cultivate those internal energy techniques is one in ten thousand. When spiritual energy cultivation reaches a certain level, it is possible to transform from Yin to Yang. Therefore, the top spiritual energy cultivators are not inferior to those martial arts practitioners who cultivate the ultimate Yin or the ultimate Yang internal energy techniques."

"From yin to yang?"

Isayama Yomi exclaimed in surprise, as this was the first time she had ever heard of such a thing; her father, who had taught her cultivation, had never mentioned it to her.

“That’s right. When spiritual power is cultivated to a certain level, its nature can change from yin to yang. According to the Taoists of the Central Plains, this is called ‘Yang Shen’ (Yang Spirit).

The old witch spoke to Isayama Yomi.

“'Yang Shen'…”

"Izayama Yomi murmured."

The old witch continued, "Besides the 'Yang God,' there are some people in this world whose souls are different from others, and who are born with spiritual power of the Yang attribute... However, such people are one in ten thousand, no, it should be said that one may not appear for a hundred years, so Huang Quan, just listen to it and don't take it to heart."

Yang attribute spiritual power?

Upon hearing the old priestess say this, Yomi Isayama's heart stirred, and a petite figure flashed through her mind.

"Thank you for your explanation, Shrine Maiden."

Izayama Yomi bowed to the old priestess.

She came from a family of exorcists, but her adoptive father, who was the head of the family, was too busy with work to guide her. The family had a collection of books on spiritual cultivation, but the collection was vast, the content was complex, and there was a lot of overlap. It was not easy to extract effective knowledge from so many books. Nothing beat the guidance of the old witch, which was profound yet simple and clear.

"It's nothing, I'm glad I could help you."

The old witch smiled.

After thanking the old priestess, Isayama Yomi asked, "Shrine priestess, there's something else I don't understand. I've noticed that you haven't been teaching Xiaoli much?"

Every time she came, she saw Hino Rei, who was either sweeping fallen leaves or wiping the floor. She seemed more like a cleaner than a shrine maiden, which puzzled Isayama Yomi greatly.

If we say the old priestess values ​​this granddaughter, it seems she hasn't put as much effort into guiding Hino Rei's training as she has into guiding an outsider like Isayama Yomi. But if we say the old priestess doesn't value Hino Rei... if she didn't value her, why would she have transferred half of her spiritual power to her?

"This is Xiaoli's training," the old witch said slowly. "She must first learn to adapt before she can begin to apply it, and only then will it have any value in being taught."

Izayama Yomi nodded as if she understood, but she had never been passed on spiritual power and didn't know the intricacies of it. She could only listen to whatever the old shaman said.

"Spiritual cultivation progresses much faster than martial arts. Martial artists need to train hard for ten or twenty years to achieve something, while sorcerers, generally speaking, can reach the peak of their personal spiritual power in their twenties or thirties if they start training from a young age. Therefore, sorcerers have a great advantage over martial artists. But I think you should know the problem behind this, right?"

The old witch continued.

Isayama Yomi nodded. She was naturally aware of this matter. However, although it seemed like she had gained an advantage, the problems that followed were actually quite significant. That is, reaching the pinnacle of life too early and experiencing rapid progress would eventually make it difficult to make any further progress. Normal spiritual practitioners generally do not have long lifespans. The dual limitations of lifespan and power caused many sorcerers to lose their mental balance. In order to break through these bottlenecks, a large number of sorcerers went down the evil path, thus creating countless evil spells that caused endless harm.

The purpose of exorcist families like the Isayama family is to fight against evil sorcerers and maintain world peace from their clutches.

"Therefore, cultivation is about cultivating the mind, not spiritual power. This applies to both spiritual power cultivators and martial artists."

The old witch sighed.

Chapter 103 Helping in an Emergency!

Isayama Yomi chatted with the old shrine maiden for a long time. Perhaps it was because older people are more talkative and like to talk to young people, but Isayama Yomi felt that she had taken up too much of the old shrine maiden's time and took the initiative to say goodbye several times, but the old shrine maiden stopped her each time.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Isayama Yomi finally couldn't sit still any longer and bid farewell to the old priestess once again: "Shrine priestess, it's getting late, I still have work to do, so I'll take my leave now."

"Work..."

The old witch's expression turned cold.

The old witch knew better than anyone what it meant that a girl about the same age as her granddaughter was working instead of going to school.

"Alright, never mind then, I won't keep you any longer. Be careful."

The old shrine maiden said to Isayama Yomi with a regretful tone, "Girls of this age, instead of going to school and worrying about love, have to fight and kill every day, hovering on the edge of life and death. This world has never been good since the beginning."

"Don't worry, this job isn't about fighting evil spirits, but about being a bodyguard for important people, so there shouldn't be any danger."

Isayama Yomi said to the old witch.

"bodyguard?"

The old witch frowned.

"Yes, my unit, the 'Super Disaster Countermeasures Office (Ministry of the Environment? Natural Environment Bureau? Super Natural Disaster Countermeasures Office, abbreviated as 'Super Disaster Countermeasures Office'), although most of the time our work is to fight evil spirits, sometimes we also serve as bodyguards for some important people."

Isayama Yomi said to the old witch.

"The 'Super Disaster Countermeasures Room' has actually started doing this kind of thing. This is really getting worse and worse..."

The old shrine maiden shook her head, and Izayama Yomi could only smile bitterly upon hearing her words.

The economy is sluggish lately, and ordinary people are earning less money. As a result, the budgets of some government departments have also started to decline. This is also the case for the "Super Disaster Countermeasures Office" under Isayama Yomi. In order to secure more budget, the "Super Disaster Countermeasures Office" has no choice but to provide services to certain high-ranking government officials and dignitaries in private in exchange for their support.

Although Isayama Yomi is young, she is already the ace of the "Super Disaster Countermeasures Office". She possesses the spirit sword "Lion King" and can control the Ranguren. Isayama Yomi's combat power is extremely high. Since women are often more convenient than men as bodyguards, Isayama Yomi has been frequently asked to serve as a bodyguard recently.