Chapter Ninety: Final Preparations Before the Match

“What, he took that beating and still didn’t die? What a pity. I was hoping to dissect him while I had the chance.”

The doctor in white, whose fingers had been broken and whose neck had supposedly been twisted out of place only the day before, now stood there perfectly unharmed, still wearing that pristine coat, with a coquettish little nurse at his back.

He looked Tenjinro Ohma up and down, sizing up the unconscious body.

That tone, those words, made Bai Tangjing suspect something.

Could it be that Doctor Eishiro had sent the man away to recover simply because there was nothing interesting about Ice Room’s body and thus no reason to study him?

Amid the thunderous roars of the crowd, Bai Tangjing returned to the contestants’ tunnel.

“You look like you had fun, Jing.”

The long-awaited Takemoto Hisayasu was approaching with Saeko and Garuda beside him.

Though he had yet to draw near, his booming voice was already echoing through the tunnel.

Even swifter than the voice was a small, nimble figure.

“Bang—”

As if she did not believe for a moment that Bai Tangjing could have been injured in the match, Garuda rushed into the boy’s arms with enough speed to send an ordinary person straight to the hospital.

“That was amazing, Jing! Keep winning your way through the death match! Then not even Grandpa will be able to stop us from having children!”

Bai Tangjing held the girl, who clung to him like a koala, and set her down first.

Now that he knew the Wu clan’s attitude toward marriage, he did not find Garuda objectionable.

After all, who could refuse a beauty with long black hair, a fine figure, and just a touch of eccentricity?

Besides, the people of the Wu clan adored the strong, which was no different from ordinary people preferring a partner with a good personality and good prospects.

Or rather, raised in that clan’s atmosphere, they generally believed that strength was the best personality a person could have, and the best condition a person could possess.

Of course, if two people happened to be highly compatible, then it was acceptable to lower the bar a little on the matter of strength.

That said, as for having children, Bai Tangjing still wanted to wait until he had passed the difficulty foretold in the blind monk’s prophecy.

“I’m going to the rest room to take care of myself,” Bai Tangjing said, pressing a hand to his shoulder.

“You’ve never been to the contestants’ preparation room before,” Saeko immediately asked with concern. “Were you injured in the match?”

“Exactly,” Garuda chimed in at once. “And the next match is between the Tooth of Metsudo and Kuroki Gensai! The winner of that one will be your next opponent! To give up the chance to watch it now...”

“It isn’t really an injury,” Bai Tangjing said, first reassuring Saeko not to worry. “It’s just that after using the Demon Palm and the Exploding Core this time, I thought of something interesting.”

He looked down at his own opening and closing hand, lost in thought.

Then he turned to the arena outside, where the brackets had already been posted.

“And, Master. When you had me fight Kuroki Gensai on your behalf, you had already decided he would win, hadn’t you?”

There was an odd certainty in the boy’s voice.

The burly old man, his arms tucked within the wide sleeves of his kimono, wore a pleased smile, but did not answer his beloved disciple’s question.

Instead, he addressed the two ladies.

“All right, you two, trust his judgment at a time like this.”

“A martial artist of Kuroki Gensai’s caliber will not gain any more advantage just because you watched him fight a few times.”

“Compared with that, adjusting his own condition is perhaps the better choice.”

With that, the burly old man led the unwilling Garuda and the slightly worried Saeko back toward the stands.

Only after the three had left his sight did Bai Tangjing stop one of the black-suited men under the Izumu group’s command along the way.

“Please take me to my rest room.”

He had to admit, rather shamefully, that since he had never been there before, he did not even know the way.

The black suit, highly professional, asked no questions. He simply led him there, then turned to leave.

“One more favor,” Bai Tangjing said, stroking his chin as he called the man back.

“Can the air conditioner in this room be set to blow hot air?”

“Eh? Hot air?”

Though the black suit found it odd that someone who had just fought such a fierce match would want warm air, he still set the temperature quickly and neatly.

Then he turned and left.

For some reason, however, just after the black suit shut the door behind him, he immediately caught sight through the crack in the door of a chill, like the cold exhaled by an iced drink in the height of summer.

~~~~~~

“Uncle Takemoto, earlier you said that watching more of Kuroki Gensai’s matches would not increase the chance of victory. What did you mean by that?”

Back in the stands, Saeko could not help asking the old man beside her.

Since childhood, she had been a genius swordswoman who won honors in tournaments of every level.

She had won from elementary school all the way through the national high school kendo championship, and had even used those achievements to enter Tokyo University.

Though young, it would not be an exaggeration to call her a master in the realm of competition.

Yet the old man’s words ran contrary to every bit of training knowledge she had accumulated since childhood.

Even the most formidable martial artists, in a battle of the ferocity of the death match, would inevitably reveal their habits of attack, and even their tactical thinking.

Those were things one could learn simply by watching.

So why would that be useless?

“It’s different, Saeko. He’s different from every strong person you have in mind.”

Takemoto Hisayasu gazed at the bear-like man in the arena, nostalgia glittering in his eyes.

“Kuroki Gensai’s strength lies in stability.”

“He has no flashy, ostentatious finishing move. Even the so-called Demon Spear is nothing more than the natural result of specialized limb training achieved through years of repeated spear-hand practice!”

“A body and skill forged and tempered through years of bitter cultivation have no flaws and no weaknesses.”

“If ‘turning the limbs into weapons’ is the ultimate pursuit of karate, then Kuroki Gensai—this man—is already the embodiment of that ‘ultimate’!”

“To deal with a man like that is the supreme test of a martial artist’s craft!”

...

“Tch. He’s practically a younger version of Takemoto back in the day! What a troublesome bastard.”

Having reached the reserved viewing area of the Izumu patriarch, Wu Huili-ao ground out the explanation of the situation on the arena floor to his old friend in front of him.

“Ohoho! Such a high 평가? Then Gana really is in danger this time!”

In front of the leader of the Wu clan, Izumu Metsudo was stroking his beard and laughing heartily, without a trace of concern.

He did not look at all like a man whose position as chairman of the Kengan Association would be at risk if his underling, the Tooth of Metsudo, lost.

It was as though he were simply thrilled, in the purest sense, to be able to witness a splendid match.

By contrast, Kuroki Gensai’s employer, the president of Motorcycle Head Industries, was also in that special seat.

He adjusted the cowboy hat on his head with considerable nervousness.