Chapter 295: Who Said the People I Bring Can Only Use Dendro?
"Picking up a blade—is that really the life you want?"
Bai Luo was no longer striking him with the blade.
Even though his Reverse Blade Sword couldn't kill, the wounds covering Teppei's body were still shocking to look at.
But the force behind Bai Luo's fists and kicks had not lessened at all.
Because he understood: even the tiniest moment of hesitation might make every possibility collapse into impossibility.
"Without the Battousai, will there even be a place for a sword in your life?"
Bai Luo stepped on Teppei's wrist. With a light flick of the Reverse Blade Sword, Hakuen Michimitsu Amenoma traced an arc through the air and stabbed into the sand.
At the same time, his Reverse Blade Sword pressed against Teppei's chest.
The dull, unsharpened blade brought even more pressure than an edged one.
What Bai Luo sought was not to force him to give up the sword.
It was to make him clearly understand—is the sword truly the path he chose for himself?
Forcing someone was indeed efficient, but it only dragged him from one dead-end path to another.
Only by letting him realize what kind of road he should walk could Bai Luo guide him correctly.
"..."
Covered in sand, Teppei said nothing. He looked at Bai Luo's indifferent face, eyes filled with struggle.
When did he first want to pick up a sword?
Back when he trained in the dojo as a child?
No—if he had wanted that path then, he wouldn't have been kicked out for not taking his training seriously.
Thinking carefully…
It must have been that Kaedehara Kazuha.
That night, everyone held a bonfire party to welcome him.
From Kazuha's words, the image of a wandering swordsman in red captivated everyone.
"With a sword technique capable of wounding a god, such a person deserves the title Battousai."
And so, the sword—and the figure of Battousai—took root in the heart of Teppei, who wasn't brave enough to kill, and could only serve as support staff.
"Do you remember how you unleashed that lightning-fast battōjutsu?"
Bai Luo showed him the wound on his abdomen as he asked.
"When I questioned why you chose this path."
When Bai Luo challenged whether he should walk the Battousai's path, Teppei panicked.
Perhaps he subconsciously knew he wasn't suited for it.
But as someone who had been instructed by the Battousai, he didn't want others to think the Battousai was unimpressive.
So even though he wasn't suited for the sword, he still wanted to go further with it.
Simply put—he learned and trained with the sword not for himself.
Joining the Watatsumi Army wasn't for himself.
Even his desire to end the Vision Hunt Decree wasn't really for himself.
He was always thinking for others, and never asked himself one thing:
Is any of this truly right for him?
If anything came from his true heart… it was medicine.
He learned Lingling's medical skills just by being treated by her.
He rushed to help injured comrades before anyone else.
This showed what he was genuinely interested in—the path he truly wanted—was medicine, not the sword.
"The name Battousai doesn't need you to protect or inherit it—because the Battousai doesn't even exist. He's just a persona created out of the whims of a Fatui Harbinger. You don't need to end the Vision Hunt Decree either. I'm guessing… the one who gave you that sword never told you to end the Vision Hunt Decree, right?"
"Stop living only for others."
"Try living for yourself, just once, Teppei."
At some point, light rain began to fall from the sky.
On Watatsumi Island, this kind of weather wasn't unusual.
Rain washed the sand and dirt off Teppei's face, and his breathing grew even more labored.
Live… for himself?
"Everyone is watching me… To have such a selfish thought—I can't do it!"
Through the curtain of rain, Teppei roared and charged at Bai Luo. Even without a sword in hand, he still rushed toward him.
But those words made the last trace of a smile on Bai Luo's face vanish.
Shuah—
He flipped his Reverse Blade Sword and slapped Teppei hard across the face with the cold, blunt blade.
He didn't hold back—Teppei's cheek swelled instantly.
"Everyone is watching you? Don't be ridiculous! In the end… aren't you the selfish one?"
Bai Luo looked at the sand stained red with blood and placed his foot on Teppei's chest.
"When you kill an enemy, do people watch you? No—they don't care that you're a student of the Battousai. And you don't actually care about their attention either. In the end… you're just afraid that without the Battousai's halo, the world will forget you, aren't you? You just can't accept that you're ordinary, so you try to make others remember you."
"I—I'm not!"
Teppei was starting to panic at Bai Luo's words.
But no matter how hard he struggled, Bai Luo's foot felt like a mountain—unmovable.
"If you really cared about others, think carefully about what they actually need. Don't keep living as someone else's imitation! I don't know how you got that scar on your face, but if you understood the meaning carried by such a scar, you'd know—it's not for showing off!"
What… they actually need?
Bai Luo's words stunned Teppei. His resistance grew weaker.
Teppei! Please—save my brother! He's been shot!
You learned how to use this herb… from watching just once?
Thank you, Teppei. Without you, I might've lost my arm.
Teppei-san! Please teach me how to treat this kind of wound!
The first thing everyone thought of when they saw him wasn't his swordsmanship—but his medical skill.
And as for those who praised his swordsmanship, every one of them did so only because of the Battousai.
Even Iwakura Mitsu giving him the Hakuen Michimitsu Amenoma was merely because his teacher was the Battousai—believing he would not waste the sword.
Raindrops, as if responding to Teppei's emotions, began to fall harder.
From the ground, Teppei summoned strength from who-knows-where and pushed Bai Luo's foot off his chest.
Seeing his eyes, Bai Luo didn't dodge. He allowed Teppei to slam into him and snatch the Reverse Blade Sword from his hand.
Rain fell onto the blade and—under some mysterious influence—briefly froze in midair.
Teppei swung the Reverse Blade Sword, cutting through the falling rain, and placed the blade against Bai Luo's neck.
Bai Luo didn't resist. Instead, he smiled.
Because he had noticed the strange behavior of the rain.
Which meant… Teppei's Vision was about to appear—and the probability it was Hydro was extremely high.
Who the hell said the people trained by me can only be Dendro?
Turns out that Collei's Dendro Vision was just a coincidence.
The second Vision awakened under his guidance wasn't Dendro at all.
. . . . .
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