"Whoa, so this is what high school life is like these days! It's awesome!"
Ms. Li Sushang had already grown accustomed to life in the Kengan Association.
In her eyes, the world her "descendants" had created was nothing short of a golden age for martial arts. All sorts of powerful fighters could exist here, a fact that left Sushang deeply shaken and impressed.
In the past, ancient life-or-death arena matches only happened to settle disputes over local dojo ownership or during specially organized martial arts tournaments. And even then, there weren't many so-called "martial arts masters."
Fu Hua was already the strongest Immortal of that era, and the power cultivated by her disciples far surpassed that of the average martial artist. That was why Li Sushang had been able to carve a bloody path through the jianghu.
Losing Luocha had left her somewhat depressed, but this golden age of martial arts had brought a new joy into Li Sushang's life.
It was a new direction: fighting!
[Today's winner is, once again, our ultimate Valkyrie, Li Sushang!]
The crowd in the stands erupted into thunderous cheers. Beaming with delight, Li Sushang waved her hands, interacting with the audience and expertly thanking them for their support.
'This kind of life is just too awesome!'
Like a child who had found a fascinating new toy, Li Sushang was already eager for her next match, ready to earn the points she needed.
The experience felt a bit like training by climbing a pagoda, leaving Sushang completely hooked every time she fought.
Li Sushang was not yet aware that her condition was what was known in legend as a "gaming addiction," a classic example of someone completely absorbed in a ranked system.
She didn't grasp the competitive mechanism operating behind the scenes, but she could clearly feel her own progress and transformation within it.
This was the joy born from visualized progress. The motivation it provided was a relentless force, urging her to charge toward the highest rank.
When had the 500-year-old girl ever experienced such a dopamine rush? She was quickly lost in the joyous combat of the Kengan Association.
At the same time, thanks to her eternally youthful appearance and her distinct mannerisms, Li Sushang had unexpectedly become a star among the women of the Far East.
Of course, "women" here is used in the biological sense and does not include any of those messy psychological classification methods.
Among the crowd was Toyokawa Sakiko, who had happened to buy a ticket to the Kengan fights.
Her eyes sparkled as she watched Li Sushang claim victory after victory in the arena, as if she had just discovered a legendary new life mentor.
It wasn't because of Li Sushang's immense power, nor the dazzlingly beautiful techniques she displayed. It wasn't even because of how popular she was or how many points she had earned on this stage.
Others might not believe it, but in Toyokawa Sakiko's eyes, Li Sushang's fighting was like the performance of a song.
That's right. The feeling of this battle was just like singing.
Li Sushang was the first person Toyokawa Sakiko had ever seen fight with a sense of rhythm, and it rekindled within her a passion for a certain kind of music.
'I want to be strong like that, too!'
At that moment, Toyokawa Sakiko didn't realize just how terrifying it was to beat someone to a rhythm. It meant the power gap between the two fighters was immense.
Like seeing an idol group perform on stage for the first time, or like touching an instrument for the first time, Toyokawa Sakiko had just made a fresh start in her life.
She had once again found the nascent motivation she once had.
An inexplicable impulse enveloped her. A burgeoning urge surged within her heart, and driven by it, Sakiko unconsciously joined the fervent shouts of the surrounding crowd.
"Fight! Get 'im!"
"Go, Li Sushang!"
"Smash his face! Rip his tentacles off!"
"Fight! Kill!"
"Kill! Kill!"
Amidst the roaring cheers, Li Sushang's offense grew even fiercer. She poured her entire being into her martial arts. The skills she had inherited were no longer enough for her to pursue greater heights.
The life-or-death, split-second existence of the old martial world was now compressed into this small arena.
Li Sushang felt as if she were the queen of this stage.
Whether it was because she needed a new motivation after her heartbreak, or because she needed a new source of strength to carry on after losing her family, Li Sushang now clearly felt that she was all alone in the martial world.
She was personally experiencing the loneliness and despair that lay beneath the cool silhouette of the solitary swordsman from literature.
"Now, I am no longer bound by anything!"
[Li Sushang is beating her opponent senseless!]
[The ever-victorious tentacle-user is being slammed to the ground and thrashed like a baby!]
[That's the roar of the humanoids, do you hear it?! Li Sushang! You are the pride of all who cling to their human form!]
[This is the cheer of the four-limbed primates! They are all cheering for your fight!]
[What are you waiting for?! Smash his head in! Show these freaks what you're made of!]
"Kill! Kill! Kill that disgusting tentacle monster!"
[Has the fight entered the critical countdown?]
[This is a rare fighting rhythm, as soul-stirring as the beat of a war drum!]
"Go! Go!"
[These monstrous freaks! I've had it with them for a long time!]
Wait, you're the announcer. Is it really okay to take sides so openly?
For some reason, Toyokawa Sakiko was completely captivated by the rhythm of fists meeting flesh. Not only did she feel no fear, but she was also swept up in the energy of the crowd.
If Sakiko had known about the properties of Honkai Energy, she likely wouldn't have felt this way. Honkai Energy possesses the latent ability to influence human consciousness and accelerate emotional exchange.
This is also why memories and wills can be stored within it.
In a venue like this, the air was saturated with a power that pulled everyone together under the influence of the same Honkai Energy.
The emotions Li Sushang created in the arena were gradually seeping into everyone's hearts, allowing them to experience what she felt in battle.
Starting over after five hundred years, Li Sushang had no idea what she was bringing to the audience below.
Just as Sakiko had no idea why her heart had been so captivated by the scene Li Sushang created.
Two "girls," both of whom had lost everything from their pasts, were now forced to once again seek a new place for themselves in this world.
Regardless of the paths they would take, their spirits, in this very moment, had perfectly aligned and overlapped.