The Blade and Sword

CHAPTER 13-THE NEW CHALLENGER

But still, the Seimei-Sōshu decision was undeniable. For the record, any disciples that joined his sect faction, which means the head of the faction will be their master (Shishō). For example, Koken and Koten joined the Seimei-Sōshu’s faction so the Seimei-Sōshu will be his master, not only the Shō-mon. It is the same to other disciples who joined the gold faction. This also happened to other factions as well. But for Koshin, since he already has a master which is Kōgo, he can't have another master anymore. That's why he called the Seimei-Sōshu still the Shō-mon. Since Koshin already mastered the Mugen-Keisho and Mukeifūken-Ryū, the Seimei-Sōshu arranged Koshin to be practised separately with other disciples, to prevent those disciples from knowing the truth about Koshin. Even though Koshin has learned the Mugen-Keisho to strengthen his internal Qi-energy, it doesn't mean he was the stronger martial-art in the pugilist world, at least not now. Since he was still too young, his Qi-energy is still far from the number one if compared to elder pugilists in the world. For example, his own master, Kōgo. To possess the strongest Qi-energy, a person can’t only depend on a scriptures, but also throughout the experience from year to year, then slowly the person Qi-energy will increase deeper as well That's why some evil sect, using the evil method to strengthen their Qi-energy by absorbing other pugilists Qi-energy. With this, they can instantly increase their Qi-energy without having to wait for many years to earn it. However, this method is evil and is forbidden from the righteousness sect. Surely, it brought some bad rumors inside the faction. The disciples started to question the Seimei-Sōshu why suddenly adored Koshin so much, even letting him practice separately with them. They thought it could be that the Seimei-Sōshu wanted to teach Koshin the Mukeifūken-Ryū or other secret techniques secretly. Those bad rumors quickly reached Koten's ears and he started to be irritated and jealous at the same time. However, he does not dare to ask the Seimei-Sōshu anything. He is still trying to think positively, maybe the Seimei-Sōshu has his own reason to do that. Not only was Koten curious, even Kōgo was also the same. Then one day, Kōgo came to visit the Seimei-Sōshu to find out the reason. Then the Seimei-Sōshu told him everything including Koshin learned the Mukeifūken-Ryū as well. Kōgo was a little amazed with the expression of the Seimei-Sōshu. Even Seimei-Sōshu already knew it, but it seems like he doesn't punish Kōgo or even Koshin. It made Kōgo a little confused there. The Seimei-Sōshu also said he not only knew that Koshin learned the Mukeifūken-Ryū but also mastered it to the level max. That was something that even himself as the Shō-mon couldn't do. Not only him, even Koken and Koten would never be able to reach that level. Rather than punish Koshin, better let him help the sect to be glorious again. Right now, Unkensō needs someone genius like Koshin and only him can bring Unkensō to compete with the big-four. After hearing that, Kōgo didn't agree at the moment, but after thinking for a while, maybe the Seimei-Sōshu has a point. Not to mention that Koshin was predicted to not be able to pass over twenty, that's why Kōgo did not forbid it. As long as Koshin is happy and safe, then anything would not matter. Whatever will happen, Kōgo will cover for Koshin. That's what Kōgo thought recently. One year later, when in one day, the Seimei-Sōshu arranged spars between his faction disciples to see their progress. Certainly, among all of his faction disciples, only two were the best currently since Koken was not available, which are Koten and Koshin. Then in the final match, Koten and Koshin finally meet to fight each other. Koten was very surprised as he couldn't believe that Koshin was already growing rapidly within one year. Surely, Koten doesn't know anything yet. However, as the Seimei-Sōshu already mentioned before, Koten can’t use Mukeifūken-Ryū to fight with his fellow disciples so he could only use Zuifūken-Ryū, same with others and Koshin as well. As the fight was over, Koshin managed to win over Koten by a narrow margin. Everyone that watched the match couldn't believe that. At that time, Kotsuki was secretly watching the match as she was quite a busybody. She was also amazed to see that her little disciple brother, Koshin can win against the second best disciple of Unkensō, Koten. Something that no one can believe in. Even without using the Mukeifūken-Ryū, Koshin can still defeat Koten. Certainly, for Koten; he can’t accept this. So, he just walked away from the stage without talking to Koshin. He's not satisfied with the result as he was the person with so much pride. How can he accept someone like Koshin, as the weakest one in Unkensō, to defeat him. However, it's true and that's beyond his understanding. The gap between them both started to crack as Koten was so furious and couldn't accept the fact that he lost to Koshin.