Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Pact of the Demon Spear

Having finally escaped the almost fanatical curiosity in Dr. Yingchu’s eyes, Bai Tangjing returned to the spectator seats.

“Welcome back, Jing,” Saeko greeted him with a smile.

The three people beside her, however, could not hide their astonishment.

“Hey, hey, hey! You—” Ryō Himuro brandished his arm encased in a cast, the corners of his mouth twitching with disbelief. “After taking a blow like that, you’re not even going to the infirmary?”

Bai Tangjing, now with his glasses back on, grinned mischievously and raised his still nimble right hand.

“Huh? An injury of this degree, wouldn’t it have healed on the way to the infirmary anyway?”

“Exactly, exactly!” Ōkubo, beside Ryō Himuro, chimed in. “Just a hurt arm—who needs a cast for that?”

“...”

“Ice Arm” Ryō Himuro—fell silent.

~~~~~~

In the match between Mitsura Zero of Golden Entertainment and the Burmese fighter, Sappayin, Mitsura Zero’s lightning-fast speed, seemingly defying common sense, caught Bai Tangjing’s attention.

But soon, as the results of the AI’s analysis flashed across his retinas, his interest faded.

“Specialized training and modifications to the shin bones, hmm... This is extreme—almost a hyperextended structure, isn’t it?”

“With that brainwave state, it seems he also needs special mental discipline as support?”

Once the AI identified these two distinctive features, the young man’s desire to master such speed vanished.

Bai Tangjing always remained clear-headed: the promising future of Dragon Blood Inner Power was the foundation of his path.

Could such extreme specialization and distortion of the human body affect the meridians in the legs?

Having only recently begun to learn Dragon Blood Inner Power, Bai Tangjing dared not make any assumptions based on his shallow knowledge, especially without reference samples.

He was not about to risk his bright future for a mere high-speed movement technique.

......

After the match between Mitsura Zero and Sappayin, Bai Tangjing, who had been chatting idly with Saeko, slowly straightened in his seat.

“?”

Puzzled by the boy’s sudden change in demeanor, Saeko followed his gaze to the large screen.

And immediately understood.

“The Black Spear” Genosai Kuronogi vs. “The God of War” Hisayasu Takemoto.

Saeko’s expression grew solemn as well.

“Uncle Takemoto’s match... Is his injury alright?”

“In this match, the injury is not the issue, Saeko,” Bai Tangjing’s eyes followed a man emerging from the corridor—a man as imposing as a standing black bear.

At this moment, the gravity and excitement in the young man’s gaze reached their peak!

“Master is not the kind of martial artist who would lose to an injury of that degree.”

“But Genosai Kuronogi... Even though I’ve only seen him for those few minutes in the first round, that was enough to let me judge—this man is one of the strongest in this whole tournament!”

“So Uncle Takemoto will lose?” Saeko murmured as she watched the two men stand facing each other in the ring.

She had absolute trust in her beloved’s judgment.

Yet, the old man who had, since her childhood, made his name as the “God of War” throughout all of Japan...

Saeko simply could not imagine him losing!

“Combatants, prepare!”

The senior referee of the Kengan Association took his place between the two fighters, carefully confirming their readiness.

But before he could lower his arm, the burly old man in a kimono spoke.

“Kuronogi Genosai, is it,” the old man stroked his chin, his tone uncertain. “If I recall, your style is... Strange Arm School?”

For a man who had dominated the Japanese martial arts world for decades, learning the school and lineage of a rising star like Kuronogi Genosai—whose reputation in the underworld had grown to almost excessive heights—was not a matter of possibility, but of will.

The old man’s lifetime of connections was an asset both convenient and formidable.

“To be known by the ‘God of War’...” The cold, stern man with a physique and pelt like a black bear gave a slight bow to show respect to his elder. “It is a great honor.”

His height and breadth were nearly equal to the old man’s, but viewed from the side, the nearly doubled thickness of his body marked the difference between a robust middle-aged martial artist and the elder.

“Oh, not at all!” The old man waved his hand hurriedly. “Don’t mind such things.”

“After all, compared to the man you mentioned at the end of your last match, my reputation hardly measures up.”

“Oh... You mean Lord Guo Haihuang?”

At this, Kuronogi Genosai understood why this legendary elder—rumored to prefer exchanging blows over words, especially with his “adorable disciples”—would strike up a conversation on the eve of battle.

That name, almost the very embodiment of “martial arts” itself, held the allure of heavenly rain to a wanderer in the desert for anyone devoted to the martial path.

No wonder, even the “God of War,” said in tales to be mad for battle, would not mind wasting a few minutes before the fight for the sake of that name.

“My entire association with that lord was already recounted in full at the end of my last match,” Kuronogi Genosai’s gaze and expression remained as cold and composed as ever.

He was the perfect embodiment of that principle in martial arts and military strategy: “Immovable as a mountain.”

“I see, so that’s how it is.” The old man dropped his head, as if weighed down by the disappointment of lost dreams. “Just one day of instruction?”

Yet as his words fell, a chilling terror seemed to rise from the old man’s stooped figure.

It was as if something inhuman within him was about to tear through his flesh and come roaring into the world.

The previously composed and professional senior referee was sweating profusely, unconsciously retreating several steps.

And in the audience, watching the match live on the big screen, an inexplicable silence descended as if someone had pressed a mute button.

Standing opposite the old man, Kuronogi Genosai, whose expression had been as immovable as stone from the beginning, suddenly tensed—his shoulders rising, his center of gravity dropping, like an instinctive reaction.

“I... I’ve been driven into a combat state?!”

A master of karate who had once deflected rifle bullets from meters away with a sake jug, he was shocked by his body’s involuntary response.

The old man’s words continued.

“But judging by your natural talent, that means...” As the hoarse words squeezed from the old man’s wide mouth, they seemed tinged with horror.

“Even if it was only a single day.

Even if it was only someone like me.

Today, I might be able to exchange a few blows with that ‘embodiment of martial arts’!”

“If you can manage it now...”

After a brief pause, Kuronogi Genosai bowed his head slightly once more.

“Then, at the ‘right’ moment, I will grant your wish.”

“I understand, I understand.”

The burly old man’s face contorted in an uncontrollable grin of excitement.

His aged yet still powerful arms retracted into his kimono sleeves, only to emerge again from the collar, stretching wide!

The kimono fell to his waist, baring his robust upper body to the air!

“As long as I can force you to the limits of your technique, that would be the ‘right’ moment... wouldn’t it!”