Down the Mountain to Tokyo (Extra Chapter)

"To live towards death, to give one's all..."

After the match, Oni Jūjirō's face was slightly pale, and he was breathing heavily. His gaze towards Saeki Muneyoshi became particularly complicated.

Although Saeki Muneyoshi's path was completely different from his.

However, his willpower in the face of adversity was no less than anyone else's.

As soon as Oni Jūjirō withdrew his aura, the Oni God shadow behind him, the endless magma hell, and the blood moon in the sky all disappeared.

Such a scene revealed a hint of shock in Muneyoshi's eyes.

He wasn't actually aware of what had happened to him before; in that state of unconsciousness, he felt the night was incredibly beautiful.

He was captivated by the feeling of being able to casually wield the Darkness power.

Muneyoshi had just regained consciousness. He was unaware that, under the oppressive influence of Oni Jūjirō's Oni God, he had opened that door in a desperate situation where he was fighting for survival.

Because he was unclear about it, he was still filled with trepidation at the sight of the Stage Two Oni God, a manifestation of spiritual power, that had just appeared before him, and at the terrifying world that it represented.

He tried to move, but found that he had almost exhausted all his strength.

Fortunately, the match had already ended, and Mifune Nyudo and the others came up.

Early the next morning.

"Kid, you should be fully recovered by now, right? If you're alright, come with me."

Outside the cave, Mifune Nyudo spoke loudly to Muneyoshi.

"Head coach, where are we going?"

A short while later, Muneyoshi came out. After a night's rest, his body had almost fully recovered, but his spirit was still extremely weak. Therefore, he asked with some curiosity,

"Of course, it's a place that makes you stronger. That's where Byōdōin trained."

Upon seeing Muneyoshi emerge, Mifune Nyudo walked forward without turning his head, answering as he went.

"Last night, under the influence of the demon, you activated the Asura Path, but this state is unstable, and you can't control it. You've already deactivated it. Now we need to help you regain control of this power as soon as possible."

Coach Mifune led Muneyoshi to a small waterfall and said seriously:

"Go, kid, stand under the waterfall, first try meditating to calm your mind, then try hitting a tennis ball against the current until you fully channel your mental energy."

Without much hesitation, Muneyoshi jumped into the waterfall.

After the match last night, Irie had already told him that he already knew he had awakened the Asura Path.

But that was only for a moment, after which Oni Jūjirō entered the Stage Two of the Different Dimension Oni God.

His Asura Path has closed again.

However, since it has already been opened once, opening it again is not as difficult as the first time.

Muneyoshi then began practicing according to Mifune Nyudo's guidance.

One week later.

"Coach, thank you for your guidance during this time. I'll be leaving for now!"

After successfully drawing out the spiritual energy absorbed by the remnant moon, Muneyoshi's training temporarily came to an end.

His abilities have changed dramatically since he first joined the U-17 team.

Looking at the unkempt head coach dressed in black shorts, Muneyoshi felt genuinely grateful.

"Stop babbling on, you grown man. Get lost. You don't need to go back to base. Just go down the mountain; a vehicle will take you back."

Mifune Nyudo took a swig of sake and waved his hand impatiently at Muneyoshi's sincere thanks.

"Wait a minute, once we get back, in all official matches against middle school students, you are not allowed to use more than six levels of your strength, understand?"

"Clear!"

After spending a few days together, Muneyoshi understood Mifune Nyudo's personality quite well, so he wasn't surprised. After saying goodbye to Mifune Nyudo, Muneyoshi prepared to leave.

"By the way, there will be an expedition points tournament later, I'll send you a recruitment invitation, so go and see the world more often..."

"Yes, head coach!"

Muneyoshi's coat was covered in dust, and he looked rather disheveled.

However, his eyes beneath his silver-white, tousled hair were exceptionally bright, and his entire being subtly revealed a sharp edge. His spirit and demeanor were also quite different from before, with his sharpness becoming much more apparent.

This is actually because he has not yet been able to completely suppress his active mental energy, and his control over his power is not yet perfect.

His match against Oni Jūjirō showed him the level of a captain.

That kind of all-around suppression, even though Muneyoshi himself had entered the first stage of darkness, was not very effective against the evenly developed Oni, who had a complete way of dealing with it.

The most basic path in tennis can be broken down into three branches: the Power Force, the Technique Form, and the Speed Extreme.

This Basic Tennis has many branches; mastering just one of them is enough to qualify someone as a world-class U-17 player.

However, simply doing that is not enough. In previous World Tournament, Muneyoshi's opponents had broken through at least two of these paths.

Each breakthrough significantly enhances one's own strength.

If these two paths can be combined, then he can be trained as a key player in any team, and even become the main player in a weaker country.

But only when all three paths are fully mastered and integrated can it be considered a complete Basic Tennis path.

If you can achieve this, you've basically reached the threshold of becoming a top-ten team captain.

At this point, it is necessary to continue expanding one's path.

Common approaches include cultivating one's spiritual abilities, expanding one's five dimensions along the foundational path, or attempting to unlock the Light of Cloudbreak / Light of Restraint...

This will also further enhance one's abilities.

This is also the most common way to break through a bottleneck in one's strength.

The top-ranked players in the world are all highly skilled individuals who have taken two completely different paths.

Besides this most basic path, their other attempts were also quite different.

Some even want to take three different paths, pushing them to their extremes and merging them together, hoping to reach the level of the former world number one Echizen Nanjirō.

Because Echizen Nanjirō was the embodiment of three roads converging into one.

The Stage Three of the Asura Path, the Ultimate Light of Light of Restraint, and the perfect Basic Tennis.

The combination of these three elements signifies All Things Are Impermanent and Unrivaled Through Ages.

Muneyoshi doesn't know who is Echizen Nanjirō right now.

But the closest thing to the future is Jürgen Borg.

However, all of this is still too far away for Muneyoshi at the moment.

The Path of Darkness he originally took was actually a variation of the Basic Tennis path.

Like the Path of Light, it is a product of the fusion of one's own foundation and spiritual power.

Now, after his battle with Oni Jūjirō, he has awakened the Asura Path, which is equivalent to expanding the upper limit of his path on the original basis and achieving self-transcendence.

Therefore, his future potential has been further enhanced.

At this moment, Muneyoshi was in high spirits, his hands in his pockets, his silver-white hair fluttering in the wind.

He glanced one last time at the U-17 base in the distance, then turned and walked down the mountain without looking back.

When Muneyoshi arrived at the foot of the mountain, a bus was already waiting. After greeting the driver, Muneyoshi casually found a seat and sat down.

I remember when he first came to the base, he was all alone.

Now, as I leave, I am alone again.

Sitting in an empty seat in the third row, Muneyoshi rested his chin on his hand, letting his mind wander as he gazed out the window at the ever-flowing scenery. The bustling Tokyo Metropolis of Tokyo once again came into view.

As his first year of junior high school drew to a close, he received a message from the school's vice principal instructing him to return and handle matters related to the Tennis Club and his studies.

The second year of Fudomine is truly an exciting one.

P. S.: Volume One is finished!

This month's bonus chapters for monthly pass holders have ended. After a month of intensive updates, Danyang has finished writing Volume One.

The original plan was to control the number of chapters and finish the first volume at the end of this month, so that starting the second volume in September would be just right.

However, everyone's support made me hold back those thoughts. In fact, some people told me that I update too much every day, with too many chapters, which would affect the average daily subscription and prevent the subscription rate from increasing.

However, Danyang is a newcomer and doesn't think it's a big deal. Writing is just a hobby, a way to share what I think are good plots with more people through words. So I didn't take that advice. In August, I did write 10,000 words a day, and even exceeded that by a lot, so I was a bit tired. In September, I'll be busier with work and might have to travel for work. I'll still be able to guarantee 4,000 or 6,000 words a day, but I'm afraid it won't be like August, with 10,000 words a day. I hope everyone can understand.

In addition, we still need more votes from everyone. Please feel free to give us your monthly tickets or recommendation tickets. I'll see if I can add more chapters if I get recommendation tickets, since we already have several thousand recommendation tickets.

Everyone should get some rest after watching. Danyang needs to sleep too!