Chapter Forty-Four: No Quarter Asked Nor Given

  Shioka Ichijou still maintained his stance, taking a step forward with his right foot and bending his body like a large bow. He grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and swung it upwards. Shioka's gaze followed the tip of his sword as he gazed up at the sky dancing with snowflakes. Suddenly, a hint of loneliness flashed in his eyes, and he let out a long sigh.

  Shi Gang stood frozen in place, and after a long time, he slowly withdrew his gaze to look at the right shoulder, where the remaining gun head was inserted into his own shoulder, with blood seeping out of the wound drop by drop.

  Shi Gang's wrist shook, and the knife returned to its scabbard. He stood up straight again, inserted the samurai sword into the snow pile in his hand, then knelt down and sat directly on the snowy ground.

  "I lost." Shigekuni Genryūsai lowered his head and covered his knees with both hands.

  Li Xiao let out a breath of relief as soon as he heard Shiroyuki's words, and put down his right hand, giving up the plan to draw his sword from his waist and fight again. A warrior's sword requires both hands to hold it, and Shiroyuki's right shoulder couldn't exert force, so he estimated that even if they were to fight again, he wouldn't be able to use such swift swordsmanship, which is why he admitted defeat.

  "Thank you for letting me win, I appreciate your guidance." Li Xiao said with a slight bow and a gentle shake of his fists in the traditional Chinese manner.

  Shi Gang glanced at Li Xiao, then drew out a narrow blade from his waist and said: "Since I've lost the battle, I must accept the fate of a warrior. Please, would you be so kind as to act as my second?"

  Shi Gangyiyu finished speaking, reached into his clothes and pulled out a white cloth to wrap around the blade of the dagger, then lifted up his clothes and exposed his abdomen. This posture was clearly preparing to commit seppuku.

  "Wait." Li Xiao spoke up to stop him.

  Shi Gang gave Li Xiao a sideways glance and said, "Seppuku is an honor for a warrior, so you don't need to persuade me. Anyway, people from the Ming country won't understand."

  Li Xiao looked at Dao Sheng Meng, but Dao Sheng Meng shook his head, indicating that he was powerless in this matter.

  "I did not kill myself because I couldn't bear to lose, nor was it out of regret or humiliation. In the previous match, I had already given it my all, so I fulfilled my own will and have no regrets whatsoever. Death is a form of enlightenment towards one's own life, do you understand?"

  Is this what they call Bushido in Japan?

  At that time, the so-called samurai spirit had not yet been tempered by the Edo shogunate and the large-scale brainwashing of militarism after the Meiji period. However, the general values of Japanese samurai at that time were already taking shape. At that time, the samurai spirit, apart from loyalty to the emperor, was about being a warrior who had to look beyond life and death, not fearing death, not lingering on death, not hesitating over death, and not worrying about death.

  This stems from a reaction against Confucianism, for example, the Confucians say that when the lord is at fault, the minister should remonstrate three times and if not listened to, then flee. But the spirit of the warrior is different; fleeing in the eyes of the warrior is cowardly behavior. The same example using the spirit of the warrior would be: when the lord is at fault, the minister should remonstrate three times and if not listened to, the minister should die for his words.

  For example, Oda Nobunaga's teacher Hirate Masahide, after failing to persuade Oda Nobunaga, died by seppuku.

  The death of Taira no Masakado, indicating that he had done his best and it was impossible to change Oda Nobunaga's mind even if he continued to persuade him, so he had fulfilled his responsibility and died without regret, not because of disappointment with Oda Nobunaga or to awaken Oda Nobunaga with his own death.

  This point is in conflict with Li Xiao's idea. I remember in the American TV series "Pacific War", when a large number of Japanese soldiers were desperate, they launched wave after wave of suicidal group charges, and then were shot by American soldiers like shooting ducks with machine guns.

  This is probably also a way of expressing helplessness in the face of war, and then using one's own death to gain a kind of awareness of mortality.

  Just as Shi Gang was about to take his own life by cutting his belly, Li Xiao raised his hand and stopped him.

  "Excuse me, Master Shi Gong Yiyu," Li Xiao asked slowly, "What is the purpose of a lifetime of learning swordsmanship and engaging in combat with others? Is it to learn how to use a sword to kill people, or to study the techniques of killing?"

  When Li Xiao said this, Shigekuni Genryūsui suddenly became enraged and loudly declared: "Of course not! I don't deny that a sword is a deadly weapon, but the process of learning swordsmanship is about tempering one's mind. The ultimate goal is to use the way of the sword to connect with the universe. This is what every martial artist truly seeks when they learn swordsmanship."

  Li Xiao shook his head and said, "If that's the case, I'm very disappointed in you. Before you commit seppuku, ask yourself if your inner strength is strong enough, or have you already reached the realm of a swordsman who has transcended the mundane world?"

  Shi Gang was taken aback for a moment, then let out a long sigh and said, "No, it's precisely because I've already lost on the path of swordsmanship that I'm entrusting my unfinished swordsmanship to you."

  Damn, Li Xiao cursed inwardly, it seemed like he had seen this before, in the duel on Ganryu Island forty years later, Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō and before his death, Sasaki Kojirō also said this to Miyamoto Musashi.

  What a bother, coming and going, making two people who aren't even sworn enemies seem like a pair of bosom buddies.

  "Wrong!" Li Xiao shouted loudly, "One's own unfinished business can only be completed by oneself. Where is the logic in handing it over to others? I am a Ming dynasty person, I don't know about your Japanese logic, but we know what it means to be unyielding, what it means that failure is the mother of success... no, it is that success is always born out of failure. If because of one failure, you abandon your pursuit of swordsmanship and seek death to escape, this is instead a kind of cowardice, an irresponsible attitude towards one's own pursuits."

  "Failure is the mother of success?" Shi Gang Yiyu kept repeating this sentence in his mouth.

  "It's not failure, it's the mother of success. Success is always born out of failure." Li Xiao loudly corrected Shi Guangyue, speaking from his own experience of chasing girls in the past, and trying to teach Shi Guangyue that he himself had gone through countless setbacks when pursuing girls back then, so what's a little setback now?

  It's said that one can understand human nature through swordsmanship, but Li Xiao can also understand swordsmanship through human nature.

  After listening to Li Xiao, Shigekuni Yamato-ii thought for a long time, finally seeming to have made up his mind. His eyes shone with an unusual light as he stood up firmly, rearranged his clothes, pulled out the gun from his shoulder, and used a white cloth wrapped around the blade of the knife in his ribcage to bandage the wound.

  "Li Xiao, you're right. As a warrior, one's vision shouldn't be short-sighted. Before achieving the goal, it's even more unacceptable to give up lightly." Shigekuni Ichimonji said calmly, and the self-confidence that had disappeared earlier seemed to return to him in an instant.

  "Hmm, very well, Master Shioka, how do you plan to pursue the way of the sword from now on? A person seeking the way of the sword is a lonely path with no one to support them. Why not travel together since everyone has the same goal anyway?" Okay, Li Xiao had just said such a long and righteous speech, but at this moment he finally revealed his fox tail.

  Shi Gang was taken aback for a moment, then turned his head to look at Li Xiao. Li Xiao nodded at him with a affirmative expression.

  Promise me, Li Xiao's eyes revealed these four words.

  Shi Gang smiled slightly and nodded, saying: "Alright, from now on I'll have to trouble you, Lord Li Xiao, please take care of me."