Killing with a Borrowed Knife

"Class, begin!"

The Kido instructor, his hairline noticeably receding, strode into the classroom and swept a malevolent gaze across the students in the dojo. "Today, we shall discuss the offensive and defensive techniques of Kido in actual combat."

The lesson proceeded as usual. During the dozen minutes the teacher spent lecturing, Lin Nan felt those sinister eyes fixate on him at least a few dozen times.

"Something feels off..." Lin Nan whispered.

Fuzhu and Kyoraku looked toward Lin Nan. "What is it?"

"I have a feeling this teacher is... well, targeting me." Lin Nan scratched his head, his long, silver-white hair neatly tied behind him.

"You're definitely just overthinking it because you've been trying to maintain that persona these past few days," Kyoraku whispered back.

"Lin-san, perhaps you're just tired from gathering information lately? Why would the teacher target you?" Fuzhu added in a soft, comforting tone.

"...In short, the stability of Kido's reishi distribution depends on the stability of the practitioner's own reiatsu output. Now, let us put this into practice."

The Kido instructor looked at the students below and scanned the room. "Who is Lin Nan?"

Lin Nan shrugged at the other two. "What did I tell you? This is my sixth sense!" With that, he stood up, wove through the students in front of him, and stepped onto the podium.

The teacher looked Lin Nan up and down, then said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I hear your Zanjutsu is quite formidable—so much so that Tanida-sensei still hasn't recovered from his injuries. I wonder how your Kido skills hold up?"

Tanida-sensei was the mustachioed teacher Lin Nan had sent to the infirmary with a wooden sword last time.

It seemed this Kido instructor had come prepared today.

"Teacher, it was actually a misunderstanding..."

Before Lin Nan could finish his apology, the Kido instructor cut him off. "Tanida and I are old friends... I am a teacher; I would not retaliate against a student. But accidents are inevitable during practical training...

Get ready! We shall begin the Kido practical training now."

Lin Nan's heart skipped a beat. If the teacher were to step in personally, he would definitely choose to close his eyes and take the beating. Although he needed to maintain a volatile image to confuse the enemies lurking in the shadows, he absolutely could not let an accident like the last one happen again.

Otherwise, he would have already taken out half of the teachers for the four main subjects: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido. If that happened, Yamamoto would likely hit him with an Ittō Kasō personally.

The Kido instructor's narrow eyes shifted slightly, and he chose Kyoraku to step up and spar with Lin Nan in the Kido practical.

The students quickly backed away, leaving a circular clearing in the center of the arena.

"Three-minute time limit. Following the techniques I just explained, simulate actual combat. Use incantation abandonment to engage in high-paced Kido offense and defense.

For the sake of safety, I will set up a small barrier around the sparring area to protect the observing students," the teacher announced the training rules slowly.

Lin Nan cautiously raised his hand. "Teacher, I understand separating us from the others with a barrier, but what about our own safety?"

The teacher slanted a look at Lin Nan. "Rest assured, I will supervise from within the barrier. If there is any risk of either of you being accidentally injured, I will intervene."

As he spoke, he raised his left hand, and a reiatsu shield the size of a cup mouth lit up on the back of his hand. "Given your current levels of reiatsu, my eighth-level Bakudo will be more than sufficient."

Kyoraku hesitated; he had been exposed to Kido earlier than anyone else present and knew the dangers involved. "Teacher, wouldn't it be better to set up individual protective barriers for us? Kido, after all, is not like Hakuda..."

"With me here, it is fine." The teacher waved his hand dismissively, urging the two to start as soon as possible.

You hurt my friend, how could I let you off? he thought, staring at Lin Nan. Wait until you get a taste of this, kid!

He had chosen the second-highest ranking student in the room—the high-ranking noble Kyoraku—to dig a pit for Lin Nan. The highest-ranking student was Tsunayashiro Tokinada of the Four Great Noble Houses, whom he couldn't ask; the high-ranking noble Kyoraku was naturally the best candidate.

If Lin Nan lost, he would inevitably suffer; if he won, he would get into trouble for accidentally injuring a high-ranking noble. Even under Yamamoto's tutelage, a noble was still a noble; they wouldn't let him off the hook if they were injured—Brother Tanida, I can avenge you soon!

Just then, a strange voice from the crowd suddenly shattered the Kido instructor's fantasy. "Could you let me try as well?"

The crowd's eyes followed the voice and found the usually reticent Tsunayashiro Tokinada smiling as he raised his hand to the teacher.

Seeing this, a trace of surprise appeared on Lin Nan's face. He shifted his gaze slightly and noticed Amamiya Keiji not far away, looking at him with an eager expression.

Lin Nan immediately understood that Amamiya wanted to join him and hurriedly used his eyes to stop him.

Tsunayashiro Tokinada raised his hand politely, then stood up and walked slowly toward the teacher. "I would also like to join. Please, teacher, grant your permission."

The teacher was stunned. What was he supposed to do now?

Using a high-ranking noble to teach a commoner a lesson was one thing, but involving the Four Great Noble Houses was another. If he accidentally injured the young master of the Tsunayashiro Clan, he would be finished.

But he dared not refuse a request from a Tsunayashiro.

While he hesitated, another voice sounded from the side. "If that is the case, please let me join as well! It would balance out the people on the field."

Fuzhu Jushiro also stood up, looking at the teacher with a sincere expression.

The Kido instructor's eyes lit up. "Very well! You and Lin Nan will be a team; Tsunayashiro-kun, you and Kyoraku-kun will be a team!"

Commoner versus noble. If the noble won, he could still make Lin Nan suffer; if the noble lost... well, he could just let Head Captain Yamamoto take the blame, and Lin Nan would still end up in trouble.

In any case, minor accidents in class were unavoidable; he just needed to ensure that the noble team didn't suffer any serious injuries.

The practical training began. The other students retreated to the walls, leaving the largest possible area in the center. The Kido instructor stood beside the four, the barrier already in place.

He was ready to stand by and watch, waiting for one side to injure the other.

All the students watched the four on the field with anticipation. One descendant of the Four Great Noble Houses, three disciples of the Gen Style; two nobles, two commoners. Despite the vast difference in status, the outcome was unpredictable.

Regardless of physical prowess, it did not affect the practitioner's ability to borrow their own reiatsu to manipulate the reishi in the space to achieve victory.

Unpredictable—that was the very charm of Kido.

Following the teacher's command, light erupted within the barrier, and Kido spells flew everywhere.

"Hadō #4: Byakurai!" ... "Bakudo #8: Sek!"

"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" ... "Bakudo #39: Enkosen!"

Flashes of Kido erupted one after another, flickering and detonating incessantly within the barrier.

The floor of the dojo trembled in response; the wooden planks inside the barrier were gradually pulverized, then ground into fine dust by the force of the Kido. Billowing smoke and dust gradually filled the entire dojo.

The students on the sidelines were rendered speechless by the flashes, tremors, and dust. Who could have imagined that these four seemingly ordinary individuals would possess such destructive power even with incantation-less Kido!?

The teacher inside the barrier, feeling the surging spiritual pressure, felt a twinge of regret. He hadn't expected these four brats to possess squad-member-level spiritual pressure already. If all four were to unleash high-level Hadō simultaneously, he feared even he would struggle to control the extent of the destruction.

He could only hope that the four of them wouldn't take things too far...

Lin Nan knew that his spiritual pressure had surpassed the other three by a wide margin after his time in the Spirit Hot Spring. To avoid accidentally harming Kyoraku, he had been suppressing his spiritual pressure, never using his full strength, and only using Bakudo to alleviate the pressure on Ukitake, providing basic defense.

However, one minute into the exchange, he sensed something amiss.

First, the total spiritual pressure between the two sides was imbalanced.

Ukitake's spiritual pressure was slightly stronger than Shunsui's, and his own was currently stronger than the two of them combined; meanwhile, Tsunayashiro Tokinada's spiritual pressure was a notch below that of his teammate, Kyoraku.

This was practically baiting his side into defeating their opponents, and since none of the four had any defensive measures in place, defeat would inevitably lead to injury.

This was an overt scheme. The local teacher was truly lacking in manners.

Lin Nan had no choice but to abandon his offensive intentions and focus on defense to seek a countermeasure.

Second, as the stalemate dragged on, the other three were starting to lose their heads.

Even the usually gentle and refined Ukitake had clearly begun to exert himself.

Amidst the thick dust, the four of them dodged and maneuvered. The Kido they hurled at one another grew higher in rank, and the frequency of their releases grew faster.

Inside the barrier, the Kido explosions became increasingly intense. Both inside and outside the barrier, everything was shrouded in thick wood chips and dust.

The Kido teacher groped his way through the dense smoke, now deeply regretting his earlier choice.

The combined destructive power of these four students exceeded his imagination and his ability to control. At this moment, he could neither retreat from the barrier nor dare to rashly step in to stop them.

The watching students endured the shockwaves of the explosions in terror, the heat and stray sparks leaving them gasping for air.

Even the entire classroom seemed on the verge of collapse.

As time passed, the amount of stray reishi from the Kido explosions gradually increased.

At this moment, Lin Nan realized with frustration that his Reiryoku Affinity had a side effect—his body was absorbing the stray reishi!

Originally, his spiritual pressure concealment could mask his true level, sending out a false signal of weakness; but as his body continuously absorbed reishi, the "false signal" he emitted was actually growing stronger!

Now, in the blurred perception of the other three, he was as conspicuous as a bright moon in the night sky!

The other three, their vision obscured by smoke and unable to discern direction, were relying entirely on their faint spiritual vision to target their opponent. Suddenly sensing a surge in spiritual pressure, all three of them simultaneously arrived at the same conclusion:

The opponent is about to unleash their ultimate move.

Immediately, three voices from three different angles shouted the strongest Kido they could muster: "Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"

Three volleyball-sized crimson fireballs grew brighter amidst the rolling dust, then broke through the shroud of smoke, flying rapidly toward Lin Nan!

Lin Nan clicked his tongue. He couldn't block the power of this focused attack with the Bakudo he currently knew; he had no choice but to meet it head-on.

His spiritual pressure erupted instantly, sending the dust around him scattering; he lifted his right hand slightly toward the incoming fireballs and parted his lips:

"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"

The thick dust was instantly pierced by golden light as a thick bolt of lightning flew out to meet the three fireballs, colliding with them in an instant.

The teacher and students on the scene felt as if a sun had suddenly appeared before them—the sun seemed to slam into them with a fierce impact, and then they knew nothing more.

After a deafening roar, the entire Kido classroom was blown to pieces and sent flying into the sky.