Chapter 226 – Incapacitating The Grandmaster

Before leaving Japan, Kano Mai brought Su Jin to the family cemetery. Even though Kano Mai had already announced that she was no longer part of the family, she was still allowed to enter the family cemetery. She had led the family well for many years, after all.

Kano Hideo’s grave was very deep inside and they walked past the gravestones of generations of family members. Kano Mai should have been buried here after her death, but of course, if she had really married into the Miyamoto family, she wouldn’t be buried here.

Kano Hideo’s gravestone wasn’t very large and there was a low mound right behind it. The fresh flowers strewn all around it made this frigid place of eternal rest somewhat warm again.

There was a photo of the old man on the gravestone. Instead of a serious black and white photo, the man in the photo was actually sticking his tongue out and making a cheeky face.

Kano Mai’s eyes were bloodshot but she still smiled when she saw the photo. She said to Su Jin, “Grandpa was someone who loved being cheeky like this. He didn’t look like someone who was the head of an influential family at all. Sometimes, he seemed more like a child, but… he’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve known.”

“More intelligent than me?” asked Su Jin cheekily.

Kano Mai laughed even as tears flowed down her cheeks. She said quietly, “It’s not the same sort of intelligence. You’re very clever, so clever that you’re able to find a way out of seemingly hopeless and fatal situations. Grandpa can’t compare to you in that aspect. His intelligence was in the way he’s chosen to live. He was always cheerful, optimistic and brought laughter to the people around him.”

Su Jin could sense how much Kano Mai missed Kano Hideo, so he whispered, “If you really can’t bear to let him go, we can… revive him.”

But she shook her head. She wiped her tears and took a deep breath, as though she had pulled herself together. She had a bright smile as she said, “No, I don’t want to do that.”

“You don’t want to?”

“Yeah. Grandpa was never afraid to die. His understanding of life is way beyond us. He often said that if there’s a beginning, then there must be an end. The continuation of life is not in his physical body but in us.” Kano Mai pointed to herself. “His descendants are the continuation of life.”

Su Jin was beginning to feel some admiration for Kano Hideo now. There were many who dared to risk their lives, but very few were really unafraid of dying. He didn’t think he would be able to really be unafraid to die.

“I’ll just let Grandpa sleep peacefully forever. I hope he’ll have wonderful dreams.” Kano Mai started tearing up again. It was obvious that part of her still didn’t want to let go.

She placed a white chrysanthemum in front of his grave and closed her eyes as she chanted a string of low and unintelligible sounds, as though she were praying for him.

Just then, some people began to approach them from afar. Su Jin had left some psychokinesis at the entrance, which was now a habit of his that was as natural as breathing. The psychokinesis he left at the entrance had picked up the presence of these people the minute they walked in.

“They’re from the Kano family.” Su Jin could sense that Kano Yuuko and Ishida Shouichi were among this group approaching them, so he was very certain. Most of them did not give off a powerful aura, which meant that they were ordinary people and didn’t include any formidable fighters like those from the Miyamoto family. The only exception was Ishida Shouichi. He gave off an exceptional aura, which meant that he knew some powerful moves.

“Miss Mai!” Ishida Shouichi called out to Kano Mai with as much respect as before.

Kano Mai turned around and was a little surprised. There were more than a dozen of them and they were all the elders of the Kano family. The one leading the way was Kano Hideo’s son, Kano Hajime, who was the current head of the family in name.

“Uncle!” Kano Mai had announced her departure from the family, but she still called Kano Hajime “Uncle.” After all, he had also taken fairly good care of her. Even though his attitude had changed dramatically after taking over the reins from Kano Mai, he was still supportive of her.

Kano Hajime looked a little conflicted as he stared at Kano Mai. He eventually let out a long sigh, then glared at Kano Yuuko as he said sternly, “Yuuko, apologize to her!”

Kano Yuuko’s expression was sullen as she took a few steps forward reluctantly. She gave Kano Mai a quick and low bow, then said, “I’m sorry, sis. I didn’t know my place before this. I’m willing to accept any punishment from you. Please forgive me.”

Kano Mai frowned slightly, while Su Jin watched from the side with a smirk on his face. It was obvious that Kano Hajime was here to convince Kano Mai to stay after learning that she was serious about leaving the family.

“You don’t have to rake up the past. I didn’t take it to heart,” said Kano Mai very honestly. After Kano Hideo passed on, she didn’t feel any attachment to anybody else in the family. People like Kano Yuuko were meaningless to her, so she wasn’t going to get angry over what Kano Yuuko did.

Kano Hajime stepped in at this point. “Mai, Yuuko was at fault, so I will definitely punish her for it. But you saying that you’re going to leave the family is going a little too far, don’t you think? We’re all one family after all. Why make things so ugly?”

Kano Hajime was speaking very humbly right now, which showed how important Kano Mai was to the family. If this was just an ordinary family dispute, Kano Mai would be satisfied with their change in attitude and return to the family to continue her life as the princess of the Kano clan.

But her decision had nothing to do with any family dispute. She just wanted to leave, so she bowed slightly toward Kano Hajime and said calmly, “Uncle, I am very grateful for everything the Kano family has done for me all these years, but… there is no longer any reason for me to remain in the family.”

Kano Hajime was a little stunned by her response. He furrowed his brows and sighed. “Mai, you’re the one who brought the family to where it is today. If you just leave it like this, it won’t take long for everything the family has to turn to nothing. And worse still, we’ve now offended the Miyamotos.”

Kano Mai couldn’t help but scoff inwardly. She had guessed it right. The Kano family wanted her to stay not because they had any emotional attachment to her, but because of the negative economic and social impact they would suffer if she left. She was even more determined to leave now.

“I’m really sorry. With regard to the Miyamotos, I’ve already said that I would take sole responsibility for what happened, so I wouldn’t think that a family that believes so strongly in the way of martial arts would do anything to harm the Kano family. As for the other matters… that’s the Kano family’s own business.” Kano Mai hooked her arm around Su Jin’s and turned to leave.

“Kano Mai! We’ve been very polite but you’re so unappreciative! Do you really still think you’re some princess after leaving the Kano family? Who do you even think you are? You’re just some bastard child whom nobody wanted!” Kano Yuuko started screaming her head off like a mad woman. She had been forced to apologize to Kano Mai earlier and was already feeling very humiliated by that. Despite going through that, Kano Mai was still insistent on cutting off ties with the family. It was little wonder that she snapped on the spot.

Kano Mai’s expression turned frosty, but she didn’t say anything. She tugged at Su Jin to motion to him to leave. The Kano family without her Grandpa was really just a bunch of people who disgusted her.

There was a murderous glint in Su Jin’s eyes, and that was precisely why Kano Mai tugged at him to leave. She didn’t want him to end up attacking anybody from the Kano family.

After Kano Yuuko finished giving Kano Mai a piece of her mind, the rest of the group did not try to stop Kano Mai from leaving. She had clearly decided to cut off all ties with them. Since there was no way to salvage the situation, the group wasn’t going to grovel at her feet anymore.

When Kano Yuuko saw that nobody in the group was holding her back or bothering to plead with Kano Mai, she felt emboldened and continued yelling insults, “You’re an ungrateful and uncultured bastard child who leaves after you’ve had your fill! You little bastard! Little bastard! Little bastard! Little…”

PAK! A crisp sound resounded loudly and Kano Mai realized that her arm was holding onto nothing. Su Jin was now standing in front of Kano Yuuko, his palm still in midair and his glare so fierce that Kano Yuuko was too scared to even feel pain.

Su Jin narrowed his eyes slightly and scanned the group as he warned them, “This slap is to help all of you remember for the rest of your lives that I don’t want to hear you utter anything that makes me unhappy. If this happens again, you’re not getting away with just a slap, you hear me?”

“How dare you! You’re in Japan and this is the Kano family’s territory, yet you dare to hit someone like that!” Ishida Shouichi suddenly shouted in anger. He was a retainer of the Kano family, a truly formidable fighter who was loyal only to those who truly belonged to the Kano family. He had been respectful toward Kano Mai all these years but had never been loyal to her, because she wasn’t really a Kano to him.

“Oho, he’s half a step to grandmaster,” thought Su Jin with some surprise. Ishida Shouichi was actually almost as powerful as a grandmaster. Perhaps he was actually a grandmaster in his younger days, but after growing older and weaker, he dropped one stage.

Ishida Shouichi suddenly moved forward and reached Su Jin in less than a second. He thrust his palm at Su Jin’s eyes like a venomous snake and the energy in this palm suddenly went from half step to grandmaster level to actual grandmaster level. This old man was actually more formidable than Miyamoto Tooru.

He had increased his energy to its maximum suddenly because he had been hoping to catch Su Jin off guard. If Su Jin had only been at grandmaster level, he might have suffered a hit. But Su Jin was way above grandmaster level. Such a move was a joke to him.

It looked like Su Jin hadn’t moved at all, but just when Ishida Shouichi’s finger was about to touch Su Jin, the old man’s body shook violently as though he had been electrocuted before flying backwards and smashing one of the gravestones to pieces.

“Ah!” Kano Hajime exclaimed in shock. He was the only one in the family who knew that Ishida Shouichi was practically invincible and had been protecting the family all this time. If not for the fact that Ishida Shouichi had grown older and weaker and might pass on anytime, they would not have had to think of a way to make Kano Mai marry Miyamoto Tooru.

Yet, grandmaster level Ishida Shouichi had not been able to exchange blows with Su Jin even once. That had greatly surprised him.

“That was an aggressive attack. Were you hoping to make me go blind?” Su Jin marched over to Ishida Shouichi, who lay weakly on the ground.

“Jin!” Kano Mai suddenly called out quietly to him and gave him a conflicted look.

Su Jin nodded as though to tell her not to worry. He looked at Ishida Shouichi for a few seconds, then looked away before saying, “I’ve taken away your martial arts abilities, so you’ll be an ordinary old man from now on. Enjoy the years you have left!”

“You’ve taken away my martial arts abilities? Who do you think you are?! You…” Ishida Shouichi’s first response was to scoff at these words. Su Jin’s attack had knocked him to the ground, but he wasn’t dead yet, which meant he could still get up and fight Su Jin. But before he could finish what he wanted to say, he froze in shock. He realized he couldn’t feel any qi moving through his body anymore and it felt like he no longer had control over his internal energies. That meant that… Su Jin had really incapacitated him.

Su Jin scanned the group once more and said, “Mai has already said that she will have nothing to do with the Kano family from now on. If any of you still want to stop her from leaving, don’t blame me for getting nasty!”

Nobody in the group was capable of fighting Su Jin and the bravest one turned out to be the spoiled Kano Yuuko. None of them dared to even make any noise now. Even Kano Hajime just stared sullenly at Su Jin, but dared not speak.

Su Jin walked back to where Kano Mai was, then they left without even turning back.