Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Haidong Airport, T1 Terminal.
Lou Cheng, who was carrying a backpack, saw the military representative for this Japan trip at the pre-agreed location. He knew without having to verbally confirm. This was because he knew this person. The middle-aged man had deep eye sockets, hidden fire in his eyes and strands of grey hair mixing in his head of dark black hair. He was the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame.
“Greetings senior.” Lou Cheng smiled and greeted.
The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame nodded his head slightly and considered it as a response as he maintained the same coldness as always.
With the experiences of participating in the four-nation competition and going back and forth from America, Lou Cheng did not need others to guide him. He successfully passed customs and boarded a Japanese plane.
“Senior, the item with the engraving of “Wholeness” ended up in Japan. Could the “Confrontation”, “Formation” and “Dequeuing” Formulas be the same? It might not be in Japan but perhaps Korea, Miluo or even Singapore.” Lou Cheng recalled his interaction with Yan Zheke previously and took the initiative to ask the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame.
The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame nodded his head very slightly and replied, “They made similar conjectures and even had some clues. We are not rejecting the possibilities that some of these items had been sold to Europe or America.”
They are indeed professional. Anything Ke and I could have thought of they probably would have considered earlier... Lou Cheng’s mouth arched upwards and continued,
“In that case, I’m more assured now...”
At this point, the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame looked to the front and threw out a line,
“Mouko Yamashita has had some breakthrough in his Seven Sins Hadouken, in the aspect of Bloodlust.”
Uh... It’s his Bloodlust Hadou that had gotten stronger... Lou Cheng tilted his head and looked at his senior and attempted to dig deeper. However he realised that the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame had shut his eyes and showed that he wasn’t willing to interact.
After waiting for a while, the plane set out and took flight. There was internet access in the cabin, so Lou Cheng switched on his phone after the plane had entered the auto-pilot mode. He opened the QQ app and reported what the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame had told him previously.
It was afternoon in China and night in America. His girl quickly replied, “[Two Hands Supporting Chin, Deep In Thoughts expression] This is a little different from our previous estimate.”
Based on what she and Lou Cheng had initially estimated, for a combat sect that pursued extremism and extreme emotions, a location with mental symbolism could better trigger the potential of a martial artist and enable him to complete moves that were typically impossible. Therefore Mouko Yamashita would likely choose the highest dojo that best complemented the Hadouken or a sacred shrine that represented some form of Japanese beliefs. However from what it was now, the home ground of the other party would be beyond their expectation.
“What kind of locations do you think could effectively increase Bloodlust?” asked Lou Cheng who deep in thought.
Yan Zheke moved her eyes and answered, “The source of hatred and evil? An ancient ground of mass murders? A cold and dilapidated sacred shrine?”
“I’m more inclined to the idea of an ancient battleground. That isn’t hard to find in Japan...” Lou Cheng made his own conjecture.
After discussing for a while making a preliminary conjecture, Yan Zheke found him a pile of information regarding the Bloodlust of Hadouken. In the end, she changed the topic and started talking about how the previous incident concluded.
“Because Shuang pleaded for him to leave her alone, that guy was convicted for harassment instead of attempted murder.”
“She still had some sense of conscience in her. [Covered Face and Sighed expression],” said Lou Cheng.
For that incident, the guy had gone down the extreme path and was indeed guilty. However Gu Shuang had to bear a huge portion of the responsibility too. If she continued like this, it would be a matter of time until she got into trouble again, even if her father was willing to spend money and hire bodyguards for her.
“Yeah, she had spoken with that guy. As to the details, I’m not too sure. However, the grudgehe was holding wasn’t as strong now. [Lowered Head and Sighed expression],” replied Yan Zheke. “Sometimes I wish to study psychology so I can pull Shuang, sister Jingjing and my brother back to the correct path. It is especially so for that brat. Every time I’m on the verge of severing all relations with her. However I always feel that I couldn’t just give up on himher Sigh. Cheng, why do you think there are so many people with psychological illness around me?”
“It’s probably because of accumulated karma...” Lou Cheng also couldn’t explain this phenomenon.
After chatting for half an hour, Yan Zheke said her “goodnight” before falling into a deep sleep. Lou Cheng continued reading the information and watching the video he had downloaded in advance. He wasn’t taking it easy at all for this arranged battle.
In the whole process, the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame had opened his eyes unknowingly. He tilted his head and surveyed his surroundings, seemingly mumbling to himself emotionally, “It’s so convenient for you guys now.”
Just ten years ago, how could you possibly obtain practical information about your enemy so easily?
“This is a relative concept. Our opponent can better understand us too.” Lou Cheng replied casually.
The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame did not speak again and shut his eyes.
Not long after, the plane started to descend and landed at Kansai Osaka. The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame took Lou Cheng along and changed into several transport modes. After experiencing the train and Shinkansen, they arrived at a deserted area.
Lou Cheng was already lost by this moment. Looking at the deserted area around him in the final rays of sunset, he saw a deserted Buddhist temple in front of him. Its horizontal inscribed board was already missing. Some of the stone structures had fallen and the surrounding was dead quiet and dark. Even though the sunset rays were shining on it, it appeared to be a dull shade of red.
Closing his eyes, he gathered the Ice Mirror. Instantly, Lou Cheng could feel the initial cold weather becoming a little colder and darker. Dark ominous cloud started forming over his Heart Lake and he seemingly could smell blood in the air.
“Ancient battleground.” He opened his eyes. Combining his surroundings with his conjecture previously, he had a preliminary confirmation.
The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame nodded his head and did not deny. Walking slowly, he headed towards the Buddhist temple that had the characteristics of the warring era.
Lou Cheng followed behind and observed the surroundings carefully. He could faintly feel that the Buddhist temple was initially used to suppress this ancient battleground.
There shouldn’t be a lack of creepy incidents that happened in the past in this place... He nodded his head as he thought. When he got closer to the Buddhist temple, he gradually became able to see the inside clearer. The wall had collapsed and it was dilapidated. He could also see Mouko Yamashita standing at the door of the Buddhist temple.
As compared to how he was in August, his physique didn’t have many changes. He was still burly and tall with long arms. His muscles were well defined and seemed exaggerated. However his facial features were terrifyingly different. Two thick and rough eyebrows were disconnected in the middle and the turning point seemed to have been chopped by an axe. They looked rather fierce and sharp.
Besides Mouko Yamashita was a skinny and short old man. He was wearing the dojo suit of Hadouken and a pointy hat. The majority of his face was covered by the shadow and his eyes were a dull red in colour.
However when Lou Cheng saw the old man, his whole body tensed up like a sparrow being targeted by a poisonous snake or a lamp being watched by a crouching tiger. All he could feel was the position of the old man was the source of Bloodlust and the entrance to hell. Only a small portion had leaked and it was already enough to cause him to tense up, his Ice Mirror to crack and his legs and stomach to shiver uncontrollably.
This was the terrifying guy at the physical invulnerability stage for the Hadouken?
Lou Cheng’s thoughts were flashing when the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame shouted. The surrounding deserted area of the Buddhist temple suddenly broke into dull red flames and started spreading with the wind into the broken walls and damaged pillars. Suddenly, the Bloodlust and flames disappeared just as quickly. Everything had returned to the desolate state of dusk. Two minutes later, Lou Cheng and the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame took steps towards the Buddhist temple and stood in front of Mouko Yamashita directly.
Without any interaction, the Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame took out a drawing with the “Swordsman” Formula engraved on it. The charm of it was still present and lasting. One look at it and one could tell that it was the works of a physical invulnerability expert. The old man who was wearing a pointy hat also took out a replicate stone rubbing from his clothing. The word “Wholeness” was thick and long and looked like it was expanding. Lou Cheng knew that it was the true “Wholeness” Formula by just seeing it once from far.
The Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame turned his head and looked at Lou Cheng. After getting a confirmative answer, he threw out the drawing at the same time when the old man wearing a pointy hat threw out the stone rubbing. They caught what they were after and completed the trade.
Following which, they took a step back and “changed” their identity to become the referees.
Mouko Yamashita was wearing headphones. He took a step forward and multiple explosions came from his body. His muscles weren’t expanding and looked more reserved instead.
With his dull and cold eyes, he looked towards Lou Cheng. Speaking in strange and obscure Mandarin, he laughed,
“Since I was defeated by you, the weakling, I have suffered great shame and misery. I couldn’t fall asleep every night and could always feel a flame burning my spirit and tormenting my soul. However, because of this torment, I found the most basic power of the spirit, understood the truth about the Seven Sins Hadouken further and gained control of the principle of Bloodlust. I would like to thank you but I want to defeat you even more!”
When Mouko Yamashita completed his words, his eyes started to turn red. On the surface of his body, thick blood-red fog started rising, awakening the hidden flow of the deserted surrounding. Several dull green will-o’-the-wisps rose in the air as raging bloodlust swept over. As a result, an effect similar to a mirage was forming.
In this instant, Lou Cheng felt as though he was on an ancient battleground. He saw warriors who were split into halves, generals whose heads were severed and soldiers who were pierced by spears. When they turned around, they had the same face as him! Those intense miseries and fear at the edge of death materialized instantly on Lou Cheng’s spirit. They affected his Ice Mirror and caused waves on it.
Mouko Yamashita’s overwhelming mental suppression wasn’t like those secret arts where it had the effects of a single strike. It merged well with the environment and was incessant, affecting his target constantly. Leveraging on the environment as an advantage and unknown settings, Mouko Yamashita had reached the aura of a physical invulnerability stage expert in certain ways!
“Can you feel it now? This is the perfect bloodlust!” Mouko Yamashita’s eyes were half-closed as he spoke intoxicatedly.
When he completed his words, he suddenly opened his eyes wide open and stared at Lou Cheng. Pulling down his headphones and the connected phone, he threw them to the side and said with a low voice,
“I have said this before. I will defeat you with my own hands to wash away the shame I felt!”
An afterglow shone down, illuminating the Buddhist temple behind him and making it more visible. They weren’t worshipping any Buddha there. On the contrary, there was a crimson red Asura statue that had three heads and six arms!