Chapter 225: The End Of The Matter
Su Jin had shattered Miyamoto Tooru’s heart with just one finger. Miyamoto Tooru’s fighting prowess had indeed improved after he had made it to grandmaster level, but he was still weaker than Chu Yi in the Fairytales of Horror Challenge, so he was definitely no match for Su Jin right now.
Every spectator in the stands was utterly shocked by what just happened. They were all prepared for a victorious Miyamoto Tooru and were ready to witness the birth of a new grandmaster in the country. There might even be a banquet thrown in honor of the young man this very night and every member of Japanese high society would be in attendance.
But now… the banquet wasn’t going to happen and those members of high society could save their trouble. And it was all because of one Su Jin.
If one could describe the feelings of the spectators as shock, Miyamoto Takeshi was pretty much on the verge of losing his mind. His son had reached grandmaster status before the age of 30 and he was definitely going to take the Miyamoto family to the pinnacle of the country or even the entire world. How… how did he die just like that?
Miyamoto Takeshi and the other fighters from the Miyamoto family had threatening looks on their faces and all of them glared fiercely at Su Jin. Su Jin merely raised an eyebrow in return and said icily, “What’s wrong? You want to avenge him?”
Those words made all the members of the Miyamoto family shudder. Avenge the young man? How? Miyamoto Tooru had been killed so easily despite being a grandmaster. How were any of them going to avenge him?
“This was a battle to the death, after all. Since Miyamoto Tooru has lost, the Miyamoto family will not raise any objections. But… one day, the family will challenge you once again, Mr. Su. When that day comes, I hope you won’t turn our challenge down!” Miyamoto Takeshi had a resolute look in his eyes as he placed the blade of his samurai sword in one palm and cut his palm as a way of taking an oath.
Su Jin frowned. He didn’t want anybody from the Miyamoto family to create trouble in China because of him, otherwise Situ Jin was definitely going to throw a fit.
He picked up Shuusui from the floor and said, “You want to challenge me in the future? Sure, but I hope all of you will behave yourselves until then.” He suddenly tightened his grip and unleashed a large amount of knife qi. He then used his psychokinesis to control the qi, making it even more terrifying and powerful.
Boom! There was a loud explosion as one of the walls of the building crumbled from the force that Su Jin had exerted. The sharp knife qi did not stop at the wall. It continued moving forward and sliced an entire path through the forest behind the wall.
Everyone in the arena gasped. What sort of inhuman strength was this?!
Miyamoto Takeshi’s body trembled and he nearly fell to the floor. Before this, he thought that Su Jin was also a grandmaster, except that he had been a grandmaster for a longer time. That was how he could have killed Miyamoto Tooru so easily when Miyamoto Tooru had just reached grandmaster level, especially since his condition was most unstable in between stages. But after Miyamoto Takeshi saw what Su Jin just did, he realized that this was something that even the oldest grandmaster in the family wouldn’t be able to accomplish. This Chinese young man was actually someone way more powerful than a grandmaster.
Su Jin ignored the looks of disbelief on the spectators’ faces. He walked over to Kano Mai and smiled. “The problem’s considered settled, right?”
“Nope, the problem’s just started,” said Kano Mai with a sad smile. If Su Jin had killed Miyamoto Tooru when he was still just a kendo master, that wouldn’t have been a problem. But Miyamoto Tooru had gotten to grandmaster level, which made his position in society, his importance and the value of his life very different from before.
The Miyamoto family would definitely blame Miyamoto Tooru’s death on the Kano family. Kano Yuuko’s face was already deathly pale. She didn’t expect Miyamoto Tooru to actually die in this fight. He was supposed to be the most formidable fighter among his peers in the country, after all.
Su Jin’s smile froze awkwardly and he was about to say something when Kano Mai turned to her sister and said, “Yuuko, I know that what you want is the power and status of the Kano family. Su Jin has killed Miyamoto Tooru, but you don’t have to worry. I will be solely responsible for what has happened today.”
“Solely responsible? The Kano family is still going to suffer in the end,” grumbled Kano Yuuko softly through gritted teeth. She didn’t dare to speak too loudly because she was afraid of what Su Jin was capable of.
Kano Mai then turned to look at everyone else in the arena and said, “From today onwards, I, Kano Mai, will officially leave the Kano family. I will give up all the assets under my name. If the Miyamoto family feels that Miyamoto Tooru’s death is my fault, please go ahead and exact revenge on me.”
The entire crowd went into an uproar. Nobody expected Kano Mai to do such a thing. It didn’t even make sense. Logically speaking, if she had a killing machine like Su Jin on her side, she should seize this chance to take all of the Kano family’s fortune for herself. Why did she suddenly withdraw from all of it?
Kano Yuuko’s eyes were as wide as saucers and she couldn’t believe her ears. Kano Mai glanced at her and said, “You’ve never liked me and it doesn’t matter. I don’t like you either.”
“You… you think that’s the end of things just because you say so? You’re not the heir to the Kano family, so your words don’t carry any weight! Did you think the Miyamoto family would let the Kano family off just because you say you’re going to take sole responsibility?” yelled Kano Yuuko like she had gone mad, as though she was venting all the frustration and unhappiness she had felt over the years. “Besides, did you think you could leave the family just because you say you’re going to? After creating this mess, you think you could just walk away from it just like that? The family’s going to discipline you for this!”
“Discipline her? I would like to know which one of you is going to try disciplining Mai!” said Su Jin with an emotionless smile on his face.
Kano Yuuko trembled all over. She didn’t dare to shout like that anymore in front of someone who could kill a grandmaster with one flick. She lowered her voice and pretended to be calm as she said, “Mr. Su, Kano Mai is a member of the Kano family, so you will not be able to protect her. Even if you report this to the government, the government will support the family!”
“Is that so?” Su Jin shook his head. He took out a special badge and showed it to her. “My name is Su Jin and I work for the Department of Supernatural Affairs in China. If the Japanese government wants to, they can look for me here!”
The crowd went into an uproar again. Even Miyamoto Takeshi’s face was pale now. If Su Jin were merely some random martial artist, he could come up with some other way to deal with the young man even if nobody could actually defeat him in a fight. He didn’t expect Su Jin to work for the Chinese government. That made the situation very complicated.
Kano Mai smiled as she hooked an arm around Su Jin’s and said a little tiredly, “Let’s go! I don’t owe the Kano family anything anymore.”
Su Jin nodded slightly and led Kano Mai out of the arena. Nobody dared to stop them from doing so. Nobody was capable of doing that anyway.
They came to a small stream and sat down quietly by its side. Kano Mai dipped her feet in and swung them gently in the water as she murmured, “You already know this story by now. I’m not biologically related to the Kano family at all. Back then, Grandpa, Kano Hideo, found me along a small stream like this one. He adopted me and brought me up as one of his own.
“After I grew older, I started taking over several of the family’s businesses to repay Grandpa for taking care of me and I did my best to grow and develop these businesses. Later on, I was chosen to become a Handbook owner and with the newfound power I had, these businesses grew even faster. But besides my Grandpa, the rest of the family didn’t like me, especially when my abilities became more and more apparent. The more successful I was, the more they hated me. Or rather, the more they were afraid of me.
“It’s been many years now. Grandpa has already passed away and I’ve repaid the family for bringing me up. Taking full responsibility for what happened today will relieve the Kano family of this burden, so we should be even now!”
Su Jin nodded and smiled. “Actually, your decision to leave the Kano family is their biggest problem. If there’s nobody in the family who’s outstanding enough to take over, there’s no way they’d be able to retain the wealth and status you’ve brought them.”
“Exactly. And actually, the elders of the family know this too. That’s why they still respect me even though they don’t like me. But the younger generation doesn’t have this sort of maturity and foresight, so they focus on driving me out of the family. I’ve granted their wish now. Whatever happens to the Kano family in the future is no longer any of my business,” said Kano Mai with a smile.
“Alright! We’ve settled all the problems here, so let’s go home!” said Su Jin gently.
Kano Mai got up and stretched lazily like a little kitten that had just woken up. She hooked her arm around Su Jin’s again and said in a merry voice, “Let’s go home!”
Meanwhile, Kano Yuuko had returned to her family home. She was the one who had planned today’s duel, except that she hadn’t expected things to end this way. The older ones in the family had already heard all about what happened earlier.
Ishida Shouichi stood outside the gate and shook his head helplessly when he saw her approaching the house. Kano Yuuko’s heart trembled at his actions. Ishida Shouichi’s standing in the family was even higher than some members of the family. If he had such an expression on his face, it meant that the family was very unhappy about what happened.
“Uncle Ishida, my father and the rest…” asked Kano Yuuko a little hesitantly.
Ishida Shouichi sighed and said, “Miss Yuuko, how could you allow Miss Mai to leave just like that?”
“I didn’t want to either. That little bitch made a mistake like that, so it’s only right that she gets disciplined by the family. But she has that Chinese guy to protect her, so there was nothing I could do,” explained Kano Yuuko.
Ishida Shouichi sighed again. “Miss Yuuko, you’re mistaken about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The family is never going to discipline Miss Mai. The rise of the Kano family happened entirely because of her and this marriage of convenience was arranged because the family just wanted to try and take back some of the power she had. But at the end of the day, everyone in the family knows that the family still needs to rely on her,” said Ishida Shouichi.
“But why?” asked Kano Yuuko. She couldn’t understand.
“Wealth and power aren’t things that are yours forever once you have them. You must be capable enough to earn them and you’ve got to be capable enough to retain them. Without Miss Mai to lead the family, I’m afraid… the family will have to give them away the way we earned them back then!” The old man shook his head again.
Kano Yuuko stood at the gate blankly. She still couldn’t understand how Kano Mai could possibly be this important to the family. She suddenly clenched her fists and muttered, “So what if she’s gone? It can’t be that every young person in the family is a useless piece of trash, right?”
At the same time, a group of people had carried the dead Miyamoto Tooru to a very secluded shrine. The one leading the group was Miyamoto Takeshi, but he was very respectful toward an old man by his side.
“Grandfather, Tooru has already died, so… what’s the point in bringing him here?” Miyamoto Takeshi was very depressed. His grandmaster son had been killed but he couldn’t even take revenge.
The old man whom Miyamoto Takeshi called Grandfather closed his eyes for a while, then opened them again. He looked at the quiet shrine ahead and said in a low voice, “Grandmasters are not like ordinary people. Even if their heart has been shattered, they are still able to retain one breath of life. Tooru… cannot be considered dead yet.”
“One breath of life? What good does that do? Even if I could find a heart and do a transplant right now, it wouldn’t work. The heart of a grandmaster is different from the heart of an ordinary person,” said Miyamoto Takeshi.
“One breath of life is enough. The deity in this shrine will help us!” The old man shut his eyes again and motioned to the rest to carry Miyamoto Tooru’s body into the shrine, then led the whole group away immediately.
Miyamoto Tooru was left in the shrine all by himself. Just then, a red beam of light shot out from the well inside the shrine. That beam of light carried a small, black handbook.
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