While the many tourists from the cruise ship were dutifully lining up to pass through Japanese customs, Yi Beidou was already walking the streets of Changqi County, observing one of the few cities in the world to have ever suffered a nuclear explosion.
He walked the streets like an ordinary tourist, yet no pedestrian could perceive his existence.
The Demon Fla distorted the magnetic field around him, warped the vision of living beings, and concealed all traces of his existence, making him seem like one of the Deities walking among mortals.
He saw many promotional posters hanging on the streets. Many of them featured a logo of a fused fist and sword, accompanied by long, exaggerated slogans. He knew this was the symbol for Japan’s so-called All Martial Arts Conference.
Although he was in a foreign country, reading the text was no problem for Yi Beidou.
Back in his university days, he had taught himself several of the world’s major languages, so reading a foreign script was not a difficult task.
On the streets, many people in Japanese-style Martial Arts Uniforms were handing out flyers. Nearby, young Japanese won in revealing, cheerleader-like outfits perford energetic promotional dances, hyping up the atmosphere for the Martial Arts Conference. They drew many onlookers, and nurous Japanese citizens were buzzing with discussion.
"Tonight’s the second round of the All Martial Arts Conference, right? The duels are going to be even more spectacular! I heard a ’Martial Saint’ will be making an appearance!"
"Did you manage to snag any tickets? I was just a little too late, and they were completely sold out. It’s insane."
"Nothing to be done about it. You know how popular the All Martial Arts Conference is right now. Looks like you’ll just have to watch the highlight reels online."
"Actually, there is another way, Lord Yamada. I have a ticket I can transfer. As long as you give Hezi’s contact info and help ask her out, I can..."
"Get lost! Don’t even think about hitting on my sister. I challenge you to a duel!"
"..."
Yi Beidou wandered around the city for a bit and managed to gather quite a bit of useful information.
The second round of the All Martial Arts Conference would be held tonight at the Nagaki Comprehensive Sports Hall.
This so-called second round was actually analogous to the provincial qualifiers of the Martial Hero Conference, while the first round corresponded to its open auditions.
However, Japan’s land area was too small for the concept of provinces, so the entire country was simply divided into eight tournant regions.
Changqi and several surrounding cities and counties, such as Fugang and Xiongben, ford one such tournant region. The qualifiers from this area would all gather in Changqi to compete in the second round.
Just like in Donghua, Japan’s so-called All Martial Arts Conference was incredibly popular among the general public.
Japan itself had preserved a relatively complete system of martial sports. Competitions such as Karate, Sword Dao, and Sumo Dao already garnered significant attention dostically, so the establishnt of this All Martial Arts Conference was quickly and widely accepted by the populace.
Even the existence of the Saint Realm was sothing the average Japanese citizen had vaguely heard of. However, most people had never seen such individuals and were unaware of their true capabilities.
So of the contestants, in the short span of about a month, were already enjoying celebrity-like status within Japan.
anwhile, Japan—or perhaps the entire Western World System—seed to have intentionally blocked news about the Donghua Martial Hero Conference. Consequently, aside from relevant circles and the upper echelons of various nations, very few ordinary people had access to that information.
After all, failure isn’t sothing worth publicizing.
Thus, even now, in the eyes of many Japanese people, the Martial Arts Dao of Japan remained the strongest in the world.
’A Saint Realm master is going to appear? Then I might as well wait. Tonight should be quite lively. I’ll use this stage to announce the arrival of the "Tribulation."’
Yi Beidou muttered to himself as he strolled on, continuing to wander through the city.
He could already clearly sense several unconcealed, Saint-Level auras within the city. However, he was in no hurry.
「anwhile.」
In a conference room at the headquarters of the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau in Tokyo.
The high-ranking officials of the Japan Special Affairs Investigation Bureau were gathered in the conference room, holding a video conference.
One after another, profiles appeared on the screen. So were old, others middle-aged. So had kind faces, while others looked as ferocious as Evil Ghosts. Ooshima Junichi, who had recently been defeated by Yi Beidou, was among them.
These people were all influential figures in the Japan Martial Arts Realm, most of them Saint Level masters.
"The intel from Donghua has been confird. The arrest warrant is real. Yi Beidou has indeed defected from Donghua, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Our intel indicates his last known location was Wusong Port in Modu. We suspect a battle between Saint Realm experts took place there; soone observed an anomalous radiance caused by magnetic field fluctuations. The timing also lines up with the entire incident."
"I’ve called this eting to discuss this matter. Is it possible his defection and disappearance are related to the All Martial Arts Conference we’re currently hosting?"
A middle-aged, bespectacled man from the Special Investigation Bureau spoke in a grave voice. It was Beichuan Tian, director of the Japan Special Investigation Bureau.
At the ntion of "Wusong Port," Ooshima Junichi’s pupils contracted sharply.
In fact, when he had first received the news of Yi Beidou’s defection, he’d had an extrely bad feeling.
"If he really did disappear at Wusong Port, then things are looking very grim. I believe there’s a high probability his target is us, Japan. We interfered with the Donghua Martial Hero Conference not long ago; they wouldn’t let that go so easily. I suspect this is nothing but a self-inflicted injury ploy. Yi Beidou is using this so-called ’defection’ to sever ties with Donghua, allowing him to enter our country without restraint and sabotage our All Martial Arts Conference."
"I recomnd we temporarily postpone the second round of the All Martial Arts Conference. Based on the tiline, it’s been three days since he disappeared, which ans he’s most likely already inside Japan. He will certainly make his move soon. It won’t be too late to resu the conference after we have eliminated him."
Ooshima Junichi was the first to speak up.
"Mr. Ooshima, did one trip to Donghua scare the courage right out of you? Donghua hasn’t made any contact with us. A defector has entered our country. It is perfectly reasonable for us to use any ans necessary to kill him, and Donghua won’t be able to say a thing."
"Does Mr. Ooshima actually believe that one man alone can stand against our entire Martial Arts Realm? That he intends to challenge our entire nation? Are you insulting all the Saints present here?"
A middle-aged man with a hawkish face on the video call spoke coolly.
"If it were anyone else, perhaps not. But since it’s *him*, all bets are off. Everyone, I’m not being an alarmist. That man cannot be judged by common sense."
Ooshima Junichi said gravely.
He once again recalled the scene of his defeat at Yi Beidou’s hands, as well as the images from the man’s duel against Devi.
That malevolent power that threw heaven and earth into chaos and reversed the very stars, that tyrannical ferocity that dictated fates... he believed a man like that was capable of anything.
"Enough, Ooshima. There’s no need to be an alarmist. The man is indeed exceptionally talented and will surely beco a grave threat to us in the future. But he is still young. For him to enter Japan under the guise of a defector is tantamount to suicide. If he really dares to co, it would actually be a good thing. We old-tirs don’t have many years left anyway. We wouldn’t mind dragging a rising star from Donghua down to Hell with us."
"We’ve killed more than one Saint from Donghua. You should work on cultivating your ntality. This is not the courage and composure a Dahe Sword Saint ought to show. You must be worthy of the honor you have inherited and the Martial Arts Dao you carry forward."
"The All Martial Arts Conference must continue. How can a tournant hosted by our nation be postponed over re speculation, making us act like birds startled by the twang of a bowstring?"
Another old man, his figure hunched and his eyes terribly clouded, spoke faintly.
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