Chapter 43: Guidance from the Spear Saint

In the ancient legends of the island nation, tales of yokai and deities imparting divine skills to mortals, training them into formidable warriors, are widespread. There is the Tengu who taught the "Six Secret Teachings" to Minamoto no Yoshitsune; the Yama-uba, an incarnation of a mountain god, who raised Kintaro; No-no-Ozunu, who practiced austerities in a Hannya cave and received teachings on incantations from the Peacock Wisdom King; and the master swordsman who, guided by the Great God of Katori, mastered military strategy and founded the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū. In short, stories of skills being bestowed or taught by yokai or gods have become popular folklore.

However, Hyakusuke never expected to experience such a thing himself.

"You intend to put me through special training?"

"I, Princess Yuki-Yasha, am a deity. Even a casual lesson from me will allow you to improve by leaps and bounds."

The Lady of the Lake smiled as she sat back down, brought a smoking pipe to her lips, and exhaled a thin wisp of smoke.

"Whether it is taijutsu, martial arts, or spiritual incantations, I can offer a little guidance... For instance, the area you are most lacking in: spearmanship."

Princess Yuki-Yasha mentioned his spearmanship.

"To be honest, the spearmanship you've cobbled together yourself can only be described as a complete mess. In the Tang lands, the spear is known as the 'King of a Hundred Weapons' and the 'King of All Implements'; the world honors it as the king of arts, for no other long weapon surpasses it. What you call spearmanship is merely using a spear like a club."

Hearing this, Hyakusuke felt helpless. He had never been taught by a master; his spear techniques were half-discovered on his own and half-gleaned from the experience of actual combat. Against enemies like yokai who possessed no technique, it might suffice, but in the eyes of a true expert, it was indeed unsightly.

"But worry not, I shall guide you properly. Go!"

She extended a massive hand and gave his back a gentle push. Even though the Lady of the Lake didn't use much force, to Hyakusuke, the immense power sent him flying. He tumbled forward, and the scene before his eyes shifted in an instant.

"W-what?"

Hyakusuke scrambled up from the ground, only to find the teahouse gone. Before him lay a battlefield, the air heavy with a nauseating scent of blood. An icy wind swept across the wilderness, carrying a pungent, scorched odor. Night blanketed the battlefield; there were no stars, only a solitary, lonely moon.

As far as Hyakusuke could see, piles of corpses lay everywhere—human bodies, horses, and countless heaps of yokai remains. One thousand, tens of thousands... it was impossible to count how many corpses there were. The blood flowing from the multitude of men, yokai, and horses saturated the battlefield, spreading like dark, slimy tongues that filled every crevice in the earth.

Hyakusuke gasped. It wasn't that he hadn't seen corpses before—human, animal, or yokai. Yet, he had never seen so many. Those who had died miserable deaths, humans and monsters alike, lay in the mud, their entrails spilling from their flanks, arrow shafts protruding from their bodies.

*Whoosh—*

A hoarse sound drifted by, like abrasive grit rubbing against skin. The parched earth drank the dark blood, leaving the ground stained in shades of crimson and black. Not far away stood a massive spear, several fathoms long, resembling a totem pole. Impaled upon its skyward-pointing tip was the head of a Red Oni—a monstrous demon with two horns and a mouth full of fangs, pierced clean through.

Dried blood left a streak down the shaft, staining the earth a dark brown. The Red Oni still glared, its murky, dead eyes occupied by a single fly. It looked as if it were staring at the battlefield in fury, its long hair flowing like a lion's mane, rising and falling in the wind.

"W-where is this place?" he muttered to himself.

At that very moment, a woman's voice drifted from the void—the voice of Princess Yuki-Yasha.

"As you can see, young man, this is a battlefield." The Lady of the Lake said calmly. "You must have heard of the great turmoil from one hundred and fifty years ago..."

"Five great demon kings, labeled by the world as the 'Kings of the Ten Evils and Five Offenses,' led a massive army of monsters known as the 'Six Gates of Blood-Stained' in a fierce war against the Yamato Imperial Court. This is one of the battlefields where humanity and yokai clashed."

Hearing this, Hyakusuke was utterly dumbfounded.

"Is... is this battlefield recreated using the Dragon God's mirage?"

"More or less."

"But what is the point of sending me into this dream battlefield?"

"To properly learn spearmanship, of course."

"Wait a moment, didn't you say the Lady of the Lake would teach me personally?"

"I did not! Tee-hee, I never said such a thing from the start. It is someone else who will be teaching you."

*Boom!*

In the night air, an expanding killing intent generated physical pressure, forming a gale—a murderous aura capable of causing the weak-hearted to suffer cardiac arrest. Hyakusuke's nerves nearly froze; his eyes widened in shock.

Beneath the waning moon, a figure was slowly walking from the other side—a man clad in samurai armor. He appeared suddenly, as if rising from the freshly slaughtered corpses. He walked slowly, treading past pale, decomposing bodies and dead horses lying belly-up, moving through the sea of blood and mountains of corpses.

Hyakusuke was stunned. The samurai wore a cloud-shaped, pick-axe-style helmet and an old man's mask. He was clad in *maru-no-zasho* grass armor, mother-of-pearl inlaid chainmail, butterfly-patterned greaves, and a gold-threaded silk cloak, with a katana slung at his waist.

The samurai in the old man's mask held a long spear in his right hand, and the killing intent vanished in an instant. Standing there, his presence became serene, distant, and profound. Yet, deep within his core, Hyakusuke seemed to glimpse a Shura hell, filled with life-or-death struggles, severed limbs, and oceans of blood. This spear-wielding warrior stood at the center of that Shura sea, immovable regardless of whether the heavens collapsed or thousands of troops charged.

"To learn spearmanship, it is best to rely on the guidance of a master," Princess Yuki-Yasha chuckled mischievously. "Standing before you is the great hero who defeated the five demon kings one hundred and fifty years ago—the 'Spear Saint,' one of the 'Four Sages' himself."

The Spear Saint himself? In that instant, Hyakusuke realized what Princess Yuki-Yasha was planning.

"W-wait a minute?" He quickly spoke up, "Lady of the Lake, are you making me fight this guy directly?"

"Actual combat is, of course, the best way to temper technique." The benevolent deity giggled, "Nothing teaches you how to fight faster than a real battle... Rest assured, because this is a dream, it can only reproduce one-tenth—no, at most one-twentieth—of the Spear Saint's combat power."

"But..."

"No 'buts.' This is a dream; you won't die. However, the experience of being injured here is real."

*Huh?*

Just then, the armored "Spear Saint" moved. His long spear swept up, tracing an arc toward the sky.

"He's attacking."

Hyakusuke had no time to chat with Princess Yuki-Yasha. His eyes were locked on the blade of the spear held by the "Spear Saint." Yet, a sudden, violent pain tore through his chest as if he had been struck by some impact. The agony and searing heat spread throughout his body. Blood dripped onto the dry, thirsty earth—and was finally absorbed into the ground that had already soaked up so much blood.

"What?"

Hyakusuke looked down at his chest; a bloody hole had appeared out of nowhere. What... what was this?

It hurt. It hurt so much. And... when did this happen?

Not far away, the spear in the "Spear Saint's" hand had not moved an inch, yet his own chest had been pierced by something.

*‘It was a stone! Your attention was entirely focused on his spear, so he just kicked a stone on the ground, and it flew over and pierced your chest...’*

That—that is too ridiculous!

That was his final thought. The next instant, the spear tip pierced his throat, claiming his life. Hyakusuke's consciousness suddenly went black.

...

*Snap!*

It was as if someone had snapped their fingers. Hyakusuke regained consciousness, and Princess Yuki-Yasha's voice echoed in his mind again.

*‘Here we go again... This is the second round. Don't make the same mistake this time.’*

What? Again?

Hyakusuke looked up. The Spear Saint was walking over slowly once more. The warrior from one hundred and fifty years ago, wearing his cloud-shaped helmet. Beneath the helmet, the old man's mask maintained a frozen, grinning expression—above the mask that covered only his cheeks, one could see only a pair of eyes, pupils shimmering with a ghostly, will-o'-the-wisp luster.

Hyakusuke could feel the sharpness of those eyes. The "Four Sages" were heroes of the war from one hundred and fifty years ago, each possessing superhuman combat abilities. Even at one-tenth or one-twentieth of his strength, he remained a powerhouse far beyond the reach of ordinary men.

The Spear Saint launched his spear at that moment. The strike didn't aim for Hyakusuke, but instead plunged deep into the ground.

"What the hell?"

Hyakusuke was baffled. Then, he felt it—the spear plunged into the ground had injected a burst of power into the earth.

The ground erupted. A destructive wave was detonated from beneath. *Boom!* Mud and sand shot into the air like a fountain, and a violent gale blew forth. Countless fragments of stone swept toward him like bullets.

Before Hyakusuke could even blink, he was riddled with holes by the stones flying faster than bullets. He died again.

...

What is this?

Hyakusuke woke up once more.

*‘That was a technique called "Dust Sweep." The original intent is to plunge the spear into the ground to kick up dust, forming a smokescreen to kill the enemy in the confusion... but when the Spear Saint does it, it creates an attack like that.’*

Princess Yuki-Yasha laughed happily.

*‘This guy is just that far out of the norm... So, don't overthink it. Today's task is just to try your absolute best to survive his first strike. If you can do that, it will allow you to improve a little bit in actual combat. Of course, it would be best if you could parry his first strike.’*

—Survive?
—Parry his first strike?

Big sister, are you dreaming, or am I?

Hyakusuke climbed up from the ground. The warrior from one hundred and fifty years ago was still walking toward him, fully armored and armed to the teeth.

"I have no choice but to try."

He gritted his teeth, felt his belt, and pulled out a flashbang. Since he wouldn't actually die, he might as well give it his all.