Chapter 130: Turning Hostile at the Drop of a Hat

As soon as Jiang Xiaotian stepped outside, he sensed an unusual aura. He didn’t need to guess to know it was left by a master of the Divine Energy realm; no one else could project such a presence.

He hesitated for a moment, weighing whether he should continue. After all, a Divine Energy master was not someone he could currently handle. But upon reflection, since the opponent was most likely from Japan, a direct confrontation was inevitable. It was simply a matter of sooner or later. Since he couldn’t win anyway, he might as well face it; he had the Divine Sword to bluff with, and if he couldn't win, he could always run.

It seemed Ling'er had the sharper intuition. Jiang Xiaotian hadn't thought much of it, assuming the auction would at most involve some Internal Energy fighters scrapping, but he hadn't expected the Japanese to actually bring a Divine Energy master. This showed just how much importance they placed on the "Flowing Flower Path." It also suggested that the Flowing Flower Path might not be an ordinary martial art after all.

Jiang Xiaotian wasn't obsessed with obtaining it, provided it didn't fall into Japanese hands. It wasn't that he held a grudge against the Japanese, but he couldn't stand Ito Hiroshi, especially that smug face of his. Besides, he was genuinely interested in ancient Japanese martial arts.

Jiang Xiaotian took a deep breath and followed the trail of the strange aura. However, the anticipated enemy did not appear. Once he reached the woods, the trail went cold; if a Divine Energy master wanted to hide, he had no way to track them.

Yet, there was something strange about the woods itself. The tree trunks were covered in various cutting marks, and a closer look revealed the ground was littered with leaf fragments. Jiang Xiaotian picked one up, his face filled with shock. It was a clean cut, perfectly uniform with no jagged edges, as if it had been sliced according to precise machine calculations.

He frowned. Such blade work was beyond the reach of an ordinary person. He recalled what Hanada Sakura had said: in Japan, only those at the middle stage of External Energy and above were allowed to practice swordsmanship. Jiang Xiaotian picked up a few more fragments from the ground and found that each piece was nearly identical in size, and the cuts were exactly the same, as if they had all been made simultaneously. But was that even possible?

He struggled just to cut a single leaf; it was hard to imagine how skilled one's swordsmanship had to be to achieve such perfect precision.

As he pondered this, someone suddenly entered his sensory range. He recognized that feeling—flickering between distant and near, seemingly weak but actually powerful. He didn't even need to look to know it was Ito Hiroshi’s personal bodyguard.

Jiang Xiaotian looked up. Sure enough, a woman was standing on a tree branch, one hand gripping the sword at her waist, watching him. Just as before, her eyes were covered with a cloth, revealing only half her face.

"Is your swordsmanship that impressive?" he asked, sensing no immediate hostility and thus feeling no rush to fight.

Her lips moved slightly, and she spoke in a low voice: "I don't use a sword; it is a katana. If I had that level of swordsmanship, you wouldn't be alive right now."

Jiang Xiaotian re-examined her weapon. It was indeed not a sword—it was large, and since she was quite small, the blade seemed almost as tall as she was when upright. This, however, meant she wasn't as strong as he feared, which put him at ease.

"What do you want with me? I'm not looking for romance; I'm just a heartless stray cat," Jiang Xiaotian said solemnly.

Clearly, Furukawa Yui had no interest in his banter. She understood him, but remained expressionless, then sighed softly: "Is your purpose here the Flowing Flower Path?"

Her Chinese was excellent—so good that Jiang Xiaotian didn't even think of her as Japanese. Her tone was polite, nothing like her young master’s arrogant demeanor, so despite his dislike for the Ito family, he didn't give her a hard time.

"Yes and no. But if I can, I will bid on the Flowing Flower Path. Why?" Jiang Xiaotian asked, puzzled. She didn't seem like someone sent by Ito Hiroshi.

However, what Furukawa Yui said next nearly made Jiang Xiaotian’s jaw drop.

"I hope you can withdraw. I will give you money, is that all right?"

Jiang Xiaotian was stunned. He thought she was mocking him, but when he saw her genuinely pull a stack of yen from her pocket with a serious expression, he swallowed the profanity he was about to unleash. What... what did she mean by this?

Seeing Jiang Xiaotian hesitate, Furukawa Yui took it as a sign of success. Her voice brightened slightly as she fumbled to remove a gold necklace from her neck. She touched it with a lingering sense of attachment before holding it out as well: "If that is not enough, you can have this too. It was left to me by my mother. It is pure gold; it should be very valuable."

Watching her, Jiang Xiaotian didn't know what to say. She was serious—not joking at all. After a moment of thought, he asked, "What is your name, and how old are you?"

Furukawa Yui was reluctant, but fearing rejection, she truthfully gave her name and age.

"What? You're only seventeen??" He was shocked. She was so young! And yet her strength was so great! It seemed Japan was full of hidden talents; there were likely many true powerhouses.

"I can give you all of this. If it's not enough, I can try to get more. I hope you will give up on the Flowing Flower Path tomorrow, can you?" Furukawa Yui kept her posture low—he didn't know if this was a Japanese custom.

She didn't want to die, and she was certain she could barely defeat Jiang Xiaotian, let alone the woman beside him. The best way to survive was to convince him to give up voluntarily.

Furukawa Yui was only seventeen. She had never experienced anything in her life. Since she could remember, she had been blindfolded, trained in hearing and reaction. Over the years, she could only occasionally take off the blindfold, waiting for the day she could escape this fate. That was why she didn't want to die.

Jiang Xiaotian didn't know any of this. Although Furukawa Yui was naive and young, he wasn't running a charity. He didn't agree, merely shaking his head: "Miss Furukawa, you've misunderstood. Even if I don't bid, the Ito family would have a hard time taking the Flowing Flower Path anyway. As for me, I really want to see what is so magical about a martial art that so many people desire. So, I'm sorry. I appreciate your kind intentions, but please go back."

Furukawa Yui’s hand, hanging in the air, trembled before she pulled it back without a sound. Jiang Xiaotian couldn't see her eyes, but he could feel her sadness.

This was bizarre! She had actually come to negotiate with him, and her bargaining chips were like a child's game. Anyone else might have started cursing, but Jiang Xiaotian was being civil.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going. Maybe we can be friends in the future, Miss Furukawa," Jiang Xiaotian said, turning to leave.

Suddenly, Furukawa Yui gritted her teeth, her voice trembling: "The future...? There is no future! Since you refuse, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

As she spoke, she vanished into the darkness, her aura instantly dropping to its lowest point. Furukawa Yui had specifically chosen to find Jiang Xiaotian at night to use the cover of darkness to her advantage. She knew she couldn't win a head-on confrontation, so she had to resort to trickery.

Jiang Xiaotian scratched his head, feeling the killing intent rising behind him, completely bewildered. Women were terrifying—one moment they were innocently negotiating with you, and if you disagreed, they were ready to take your life.

Although he didn't fear Furukawa Yui, she was, after all, a middle-stage Internal Energy expert with both a weapon and unique techniques, so Jiang Xiaotian didn't dare lower his guard. He scanned his surroundings; he could sense she was nearby but couldn't see her. She was likely using some form of illusion.

Jiang Xiaotian was now at the second stage of cultivation, but he hadn't truly experienced the power of this level yet. He took a long, steady breath and mobilized all his spiritual energy.

Furukawa Yui, hiding in the dark, was immediately startled. In her vision, Jiang Xiaotian’s aura was climbing at a staggering speed, and it filled her with a sense of dread. It was the innate suppression of spiritual energy; ordinary martial artists were destined to be inferior to those who cultivated it.

The more this became apparent, the more desperate Furukawa Yui felt. She realized that truly facing Jiang Xiaotian meant that even the 30% chance of victory she had initially calculated was likely an overestimation.

She hesitated no longer. Before Jiang Xiaotian could take the initiative, she drew her katana!

In a flash of lightning, accompanied by the sound of the blade slicing through the air, Furukawa Yui appeared behind Jiang Xiaotian! Although the blade was nearly as large as her own body, she wielded it with no clumsiness, her strike vicious and aimed directly at Jiang Xiaotian’s head, determined to kill him instantly!