"Rei, my young friend, we truly owe you this time."
Wu Hui-liang's condition had stabilized. When he saw Kurosaki Rei, he expressed his gratitude directly.
The Worm's attack had indeed been launched with an extravagant lineup—the Connector's three highest-ranking executives had all come. Their strength was undeniable.
But with Kurosaki Rei cutting down those three along with White Tiger Niko's disciples, the remaining Worm members were no longer a concern. Afterward, Kurosaki Rei rapidly moved through every corner of the complex, wiping them out completely and adding a considerable amount of growth to Qiu Mo.
Even so, the Worm had deployed such large numbers that two or three still managed to escape. They had even used a submarine—clear evidence that this operation had backing from the so-called "Merchant of Death."
Kurosaki Rei didn't really care. The big ones were already dead, and the small fry didn't provide much growth anyway. Letting them escape to spread the news wasn't a bad thing.
He could appreciate the friendship between Xia Yan and the Connector, but he had no appreciation at all for a global terrorist organization like the Worm. Killing them was simply killing them. Besides, he was eager to challenge the true pinnacle of this world.
"Senior, you should focus on recovering first,"
Kurosaki Rei said with a smile.
"If you really want to thank me, how about teaching me a few more of your clan's secret techniques?"
He was genuinely interested in the Wu Clan's other martial arts, but he'd felt awkward bringing it up before—it might have seemed like he was pushing his luck.
"That won't be a problem. I trust you won't pass them on,"
Wu Hui-liang agreed readily.
After all, the clan's most core technique—Removal—had already been taught to Kurosaki Rei. The rest seemed far less critical. If Kurosaki Rei wanted to learn, Hui-liang was happy to oblige.
"Then my thanks in advance, Senior. I'll also exchange some insights with Raian later,"
Kurosaki Rei replied politely.
"Let's set that aside for now,"
Wu Hui-liang said, finding Kurosaki Rei increasingly agreeable—but new worries crept into his heart.
"You've killed the leader of the Worm. That may bring trouble."
"Shen Wulong?"
Kurosaki Rei asked, though he already knew the answer.
Wu Hui-liang nodded gravely.
"You may not know this, Rei, but thirteen hundred years ago, our Wu Clan was still a single unified whole. It was shattered and scattered by a so-called immortal named Shen Wulong."
"Do you truly believe he's an immortal?"
Kurosaki Rei asked curiously.
Hui-liang frowned.
"I would rather not believe immortals exist. But according to our clan records, Shen Wulong has existed in this world for at least five thousand years."
He explained patiently, wanting Kurosaki Rei to understand the gravity of the situation.
"Our Wu Clan originated in the Eastern Continent. Five thousand years ago, our progenitor Wu Hei spread his lineage and founded the Wu Clan. Using a secret art called Rebirth, he has continually reincarnated within our clan. The Edward Wu you killed today was one such rebirth vessel."
"It does sound quite mystical,"
Kurosaki Rei nodded.
"I've heard of similar techniques among the Eastern Wu as well."
In truth, Rebirth was essentially a form of memory and personality transfer—not true reincarnation in the strict sense. Training a successor required over a decade of memory implantation. To Kurosaki Rei, it felt rather crude.
Moreover, in Wu Hei's case, there were multiple rebirth vessels each generation. It was already difficult to say these people were truly Wu Hei—at best, they were replicas inheriting fragments of his memories.
"Since you already understand Rebirth, I won't dwell on it,"
Wu Hui-liang continued.
"The key point is this: Rebirth was not invented by our progenitor. It was taught to him by Shen Wulong."
"That means Shen Wulong existed at least five thousand years ago—perhaps even before humanity itself."
This was a reasonable inference. Wu Hei lived five thousand years ago, and Shen Wulong had already been unfathomably powerful back then.
And given that Shen Wulong had remained so powerful ever since, he must possess techniques far more advanced than Rebirth—perhaps even a near-perfect form of true reincarnation. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why he remained flawless… and even continued to grow stronger.
"Sounds like he doesn't match this world's aesthetic at all,"
Kurosaki Rei laughed.
"Everyone else is practicing martial arts, while he's cultivating immortality?"
It was the same feeling he'd had when reading the manga years ago.
To be honest, Kurosaki Rei didn't feel threatened by the fighters of this world. Even Kuroki Gensai—he only saw him as someone with profound martial insight, worth learning from and exchanging ideas with.
If it came to a true deathmatch, Kurosaki Rei was in a league of his own. Even if everyone on the island attacked him together, he believed the one standing atop the mountain of corpses would still be him.
But Shen Wulong was different.
That thing truly felt like an immortal—utterly incompatible with the "style" of the Kengan world, wielding an unreasonable power known as "logic."
Inside the space, Kurosaki Rei had never seen the manga's ending. Or perhaps what he'd seen already was the ending—because no one could defeat Shen Wulong, making further continuation meaningless.
But now that he'd been thrown into this world, a true "ending" might finally become possible.
"Cultivating immortality?"
Wu Hui-liang's expression turned strange.
"That's not a bad way to put it. The elders of our clan once discussed this as well. We believe Shen Wulong may be a manifestation of the Earth's will itself—its child. That's why he's so utterly beyond the rules."
"Earth's will… that's a bit too absurd,"
Kurosaki Rei said, unconvinced.
"In my view, he's still within the category of 'human,' just like me. And I'm obviously human."
"Not necessarily,"
a leisurely voice interjected.
Kurosaki Rei turned his head—and saw Yamashita Kazuo.
During the chaos, Yamashita had been completely at a loss. In the end, he could only stick close to Raian to feel even slightly safe.
He'd been listening to the conversation and spoke his thoughts aloud without thinking.
"What do you mean by that?"
Kurosaki Rei said, displeased.
"Ah—I—I didn't mean it that way!"
Yamashita panicked.
"I mean, Mr. Rei isn't human—ah, no, that's wrong! I mean, you're strong beyond what a human should be—ah, that's not right either…"
Watching Yamashita flail, Kurosaki Rei glanced gloomily at his Charisma stat.
He was pretty sure his Charisma was above average—which meant he had a perfectly normal human male appearance. How could he possibly "not look human"?
"Karura,"
Kurosaki Rei turned to her,
"do I look strange?"
Karura shook her head rapidly.
"In my eyes, Kurosaki Rei is very handsome."
Kurosaki Rei finally relaxed. As expected, he was a normal human being.
Returning to the main topic, he continued:
"Even if I don't know how he's managed to 'live' for so long, as long as his physical abilities remain within the bounds of humanity, there's no reason I can't kill him."
"Confidence is a good thing,"
Wu Hui-liang said.
"And perhaps you truly can shatter Shen Wulong's myth."
"After the tournament ends, come train at our clan's territory. There are some things there that may help you."
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