Chapter 135 of the main text: "General Tian"
Chen Xiao confirmed his suspicions once again: Old Tian, who taught him this "short-sleeve" style, must have left a considerable amount of pain in the hearts of these Japanese people...
"General Tian... how is he?"
Takeuchi Fumio's face contorted with wrinkles, as if his heart was pounding with excitement, but he deliberately suppressed his emotions and asked in a deep voice through gritted teeth.
General Tian?
Chen Xiao was taken aback. When did Lao Tian start calling himself General Tian?
However... well, I seem to have heard that the old guy was actually a general during the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago... but why does this Japanese guy seem to know him so well?
"General Tian is a man of extraordinary talent... Alas, when I saw you unleash such a set of moves, I was completely thrown into disarray! I am truly ashamed... I never imagined that we Japanese warriors, who were utterly defeated before General Tian in the past, would be so humiliated today. I, Takeuchi Bunzan, as the head of the prestigious Kamishin Ittō-ryū school, was almost caught off guard by you, a mere youth, simply because I witnessed General Tian's old moves... This..."
Takeuchi Bunzan looked utterly defeated. He loosened his grip, and with a clink, the short sword wakizashi fell to the ground. He swayed slightly, managed to sit up straight, gave Chen Xiao a deep look, waved his hand, and said wearily, "Alright, young man, let's stop fighting and sit down and talk for a while!"
After saying that, he raised his hand and made a chopping motion towards the wall next to the doorway in the distance. Instantly, a burst of energy surged from the edge of his palm and landed on a gong hanging on the wall. The gong was immediately agitated by the energy and struck with a loud thud!
Chen Xiao watched in astonishment—this old guy has such profound skills!
After the gong sounded a few times, footsteps were heard outside. The door was opened, and several young Japanese men dressed in white samurai uniforms stood at the door with their hands at their sides.
Old Takeuchi gave a few authoritative instructions to the person outside the door. Soon, a few moments later, the servants quickly brought over a small table with a set of sake cups and two delicate white porcelain bottles filled with fine sake.
Both Takeuchi and Chen Xiao were dressed in tattered clothes, clearly having been in a fierce fight. However, the servants attending Takeuchi seemed unfazed, bustling about without glancing at them—not to mention Chen Xiao's tattered clothes, they probably wouldn't even give him a second glance, even if he were standing there naked.
"You must get into fights a lot," Chen Xiao couldn't help but say with a wry smile to Old Takeuchi.
"Hmph." Old man Takeuchi was somewhat annoyed: "You brat are rude! With my current status, in all of Japan, the number of people qualified to fight me can be counted on one hand! As for others, even if they knelt in front of me begging me to cut them a couple of times, I'm afraid this old man wouldn't bother with them!"
Chen Xiao had been fighting for a long time and was already parched. Fortunately, the wound on his arm wasn't serious. Anyway, Chen Xiao often got injured recently, so he was already used to this kind of minor injury. He wasn't in a hurry to bandage it, but first poured himself a cup of sake and drank it all in one gulp. He smacked his lips, shook his head and said, "You Japanese sake is so bland. It makes my mouth feel like it's made of water. But this kind of stuff can be used to quench thirst."
Old man Takeuchi snorted, and after a while, he tossed over a transparent crystal bottle. Chen Xiao caught it, unscrewed the cap, sniffed it, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"Huh? Cell repair fluid? How do you have something like this?" Chen Xiao couldn't help but exclaim.
"Hmph. This kind of thing isn't too hard to buy, is it?" Old man Takeuchi said indifferently, "We've both been injured. Young man, you're more seriously injured. Consider this my apology for testing you without warning earlier. Since you're an esper, you must know about this thing."
Chen Xiao's hostility towards Old Takeuchi lessened a bit. It seemed that this old guy really didn't intend to hurt him, and had even prepared such an expensive medicine to treat his injuries.
"You...do you have a high status in Japan?" Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then stuffed the medicine bottle into his pocket—anyway, given his current physical condition, the effect of this cell repair fluid was already very weak, so he might as well keep it to take back to Lao Tian and the others. He looked at the old man Takeuchi: "It seems like those guys are all afraid of you, right?"
"Hmph!" Old man Takeuchi chuckled lightly, a hint of arrogance flashing in his eyes, and said indifferently, "In Japan, even if my swordsmanship isn't the best in the world, I'm probably close. Boy, since you've also learned martial arts, didn't the person who taught you this style mention the Kamishin Ittō-ryū school of Japanese swordsmanship?"
"Shangchen Ittō-ryū?" Chen Xiao shook his head bluntly: "Never heard of it. Is it famous? Hmm, the person who taught me kung fu never mentioned it to me."
"He...he didn't even mention it?" Old Takeuchi's face immediately fell.
"Why bring it up?" Chen Xiao asked back.
“General Tian…” Old Takeuchi suddenly smiled bitterly: “So, in General Tian’s eyes, our Kamishin Ittō-ryū is not even worthy of his mention! Oh well… a martial god like him really doesn’t need to care about defeated opponents like us!”
A defeated opponent?
Chen Xiao immediately perked up and took another sip of wine: "Mr. Takeuchi... Mr. Takeuchi." Since Chen Xiao was asking someone a question, his tone naturally became more polite: "What do you mean by that?"
"Hmph, you young man, you speak cryptically and refuse to tell the truth, yet you come to ask me now? Hmph! Even if you refuse to tell the truth, I know that the one who taught you kung fu must be General Tian! Otherwise, in this world, besides him, who else could have created such a set of moves!"
Chen Xiao touched his nose and gave a wry smile: "Okay, I admit it, the person who taught me this technique is indeed surnamed Tian."
"That's it!" Old man Takeuchi suddenly grabbed a white porcelain bottle from the table, tilted his head back, and downed the entire bottle of wine in a few gulps. He then slammed the bottle down on the table with a loud bang. The old man's eyes held a complex mix of emotions: resentment, frustration, awe, and a touch of helplessness…
"Boy, do you know who I am!" Old man Takeuchi suddenly puffed out his chest.
“You… Mr. Takeuchi Bunzan, I only know your name.”
"Hmph! I am Takeuchi Bunzan! The current head of the Kamitsu Itto-ryu school! The master of Imperial Japanese swordsmanship! Even His Highness the current Crown Prince of Japan would have to respectfully address me as 'Master'! My Kamitsu Itto-ryu school is the head of the three major schools of swordsmanship in Japan, and it is the leading school among all schools of Japanese swordsmanship!"
The old man's Chinese seems to be quite good; he spoke very fluently.
"My Kamishin Ittō-ryū school was founded in Japan over three hundred years ago. In the world of Japanese swordsmanship, who doesn't know the name of Kamishin Shinkensai! Throughout Japan, which swordsman doesn't regard Kamishin Shinkensai as a sacred place of swordsmanship! A hundred years ago, after my current headmaster, Kamishin Musashi, defeated the then-renowned strongest swordsman in Japan—the young master of the Hokage-ryū school, Kamishin Goro—he became invincible throughout Japan. Masters from all the dojos under the sword of Kamishin Musashi! At that time, among the six major schools of Japanese swordsmanship, fourteen of the largest dojos, and nine other swordsai, all heroes were helpless! Hmph, what a magnificent and domineering presence that was!"
As the old man Takeuchi was speaking, a strange light suddenly appeared on his face. He tilted his head back and slammed his hand on the table!
But then, Takeuchi's face quickly darkened: "It's a pity... the Chenxin Sword Studio, which is regarded as a sacred place by all Japanese martial artists... was almost half destroyed by a martial artist from China!"
He suddenly clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh, and his once sharp eyes became somewhat cloudy.
"About fifty-two years ago... my Kamishin Ittō-ryū had been undefeated for decades! But that time, we suffered such a crushing defeat! What's even more ridiculous is that our opponent was a master from China, that master, naturally, was General Tian. He came from China. After landing in Japan, he traveled from south to north, sweeping through dojos one by one! Every renowned kensai school in Japan, without exception, was challenged by him! In the first month, he took on nine schools in one go, and the headmasters of all nine schools..." They were utterly defeated by him! He won nine battles out of nine, forcing nine renowned Japanese sword masters into submission. Two of these masters, overcome with shame and indignation after their defeats, committed seppuku on the spot! Kageki-ryu, Chiba-ryu, Kashima Shinto-ryu, Yuukumi-ryu… every school of swordsmanship with a high reputation in Japan became the target of this Chinese master's challenge! The news spread throughout Japan in an instant, shocking everyone in the various schools! In the end, everyone tried every possible means to investigate, but they could not find out the details of this Chinese master. They only knew that his surname was Tian and that he called himself General Tian.
At this point, the old man Takeuchi's tone suddenly became somewhat strange: "It wasn't until later that we received some truly absurd news: the reason this Chinese master, who had traveled all the way across the sea, came to Japan to challenge martial arts schools one by one was actually... actually just for a little girl!!"
"Oh?" Chen Xiao immediately perked up.
Going to Japan to challenge them? Bringing down all the famous Japanese kendo schools, one by one...
Who would have thought that Old Tian, who looks so harmless, would have done something so audacious back then?!
"Later we learned that General Tian had brought a little girl to Japan for tourism, and while in the Kansai region, he had a conflict with people from a local martial arts school. The reason, it seems, was that the little girl with General Tian wanted to visit a temple, but the temple was the residence of a kendo school and naturally wouldn't let people in freely. General Tian, with his fiery temper, immediately barged in, carrying a rattan cane, and fought his way in!"
As it turned out, the headmaster of that martial arts school happened to be a disciple of the Ryugetsu sect. After being defeated by General Tian, he was furious and ran back to his own sect for help, inviting masters from within to settle the score. Naturally, this resulted in another defeat. The losers then sought reinforcements, one sect after another, until it escalated into a situation where the entire Japanese martial arts world united against General Tian! General Tian, however, was quite decisive. After three rounds, he simply issued a notice, saying that with so many people coming to seek revenge and disrupting his travels, he would openly declare that he would personally go and sweep through each dojo, one by one! This statement caused an uproar throughout Japan.
At the time, some people laughed at him, saying he was overestimating himself. He was a martial artist from China. Even if he was skilled, how could he possibly compete with all the kendo masters in Japan? But in the end, he swept through nine schools in a month, two of which were famous schools in the Japanese martial arts world. After that, many arrogant people began to feel fear.
During that period, it was said that everyone in the dojos throughout Japan lived in fear, terrified that General Ta would come knocking. His whereabouts and appearance spread throughout Japan. Anyone seen with a man in his thirties and a thick beard, holding the hand of a ten-year-old girl, was certain it was General Ta!
What made everyone even more ashamed was that... in the previous month, he had fought nine different schools of swordsmanship, three of whom were recognized masters of swordsmanship in Japan. However, in the duel with General Wada, General Wada didn't even... didn't even use a weapon! What he held in his hand was a vine that he had casually picked from a tree outside a temple when he first came to Japan and fought someone!