Chapter 521: I love you
Under Zhu Tianshou’s narration, Yang Fei and Tong Yunshu came to know about his poisoning incident.
Two days ago, Zhu Tianshou followed Umekawa Taro on a flight to Japan, and right after landing, Umekawa Taro received a phone call from his mother, instructing him to go directly to the hospital.
The current Family Head of the Umekawa family, who had been in control for thirty-five years—Umekawa Taro’s grandfather, Umekawa Okawa, had died.
He was killed in a separate villa where he had been recuperating.
Apart from Umekawa Okawa, more than twenty clan members of the Umekawa family, responsible for security, were also slain, including Umekawa Taro’s elder brother, Umekawa Taehito.
Designated as the next leader of the Umekawa family, Umekawa Taehito had been following his grandfather from a young age and was personally mentored by Umekawa Okawa.
Not only did Umekawa Taehito live up to the expectations by exhibiting exceptional martial arts talent by the age of thirteen, but he was also sharp-witted, excelled in strategy and intrigue, and similar to Umekawa Okawa in disposition, which led to widespread recognition within the Umekawa family and the entire Japan Martial World for him to become the next Clan Leader of the Umekawa family.
Because of this, as Umekawa Taehito’s younger brother, Umekawa Taro never had to worry about inheriting the heavy burden of the family’s leadership, hence he traveled abroad and roamed the world, a typical idle rich young man.
However, he never would have imagined that his family would suddenly encounter such a massive change.
After receiving the call from his mother, Umekawa Taro rushed to the hospital with Zhu Tianshou in tow; by then, other members of the Umekawa family had already gathered at the hospital. Furthermore, representatives from other Martial Arts Families and Taoist Associations in the Japan Martial World also sent people to visit or inquire about the news.
Umekawa Taro was taken into the hospital by his family members, where he saw several bodies in the mortuary.
His grandfather Umekawa Okawa and his brother Umekawa Taehito were already dead, both bearing multiple katana wounds. Their fatal injuries were caused by the sharp blade of a samurai sword.
Besides that, the martial artists from the clan who were responsible for ensuring their safety had also lost over twenty lives, including several members of the family’s key direct lineage.
It could be said that this was a tremendous loss for the Umekawa family, with several principal figures being killed, which was a heavy blow for a Martial Arts Family.
"Given such circumstances, it wasn’t right for me to leave, so I decided to stay," said Zhu Tianshou.
Zhu Tianshou continued, "I had reminded Umekawa Taro to give you a call and to inform other members of the International Madman, but he stopped me. He said that it was his family matter and outsiders should not be involved. He also said that it might involve the entire feud within the Japan Martial World, and outsiders should not interfere even more so. And he repeatedly warned me not to leak the news to you."
Yang Fei sighed, "With Umekawa Taro’s personality, indeed, he wouldn’t have let you tell us."
Zhu Tianshou nodded, "Indeed, if I hadn’t shared life and death with him once, I too would find it hard to feel admiration for a Japanese."
"How were you poisoned?" Yang Fei asked.
"With such a big incident in the Umekawa family, although Umekawa Taro forbade me from telling you, I understood that the Umekawa family was no longer safe, so I was very vigilant. But I still underestimated the determination of those Japanese martial artists who wanted to annihilate the Umekawa family. They launched an attack that very night," said Zhu Tianshou.
Although Zhu Tianshou was standing right before them alive and well, Tong Yunshu still listened with great tension.
"The man’s name was Kagaya Takeshi, very strong. I was alert the moment I saw him, but Umekawa Taro said that Kagaya Ryu has had hundreds of years of friendship with the Umekawa family, and Kagaya Takeshi had received assistance from his grandfather when he was young, a trustworthy and reliable person."
"Yet he suddenly made a move against me. After we exchanged a palm strike, I was affected. My body was left with a strand of True Qi and I was poisoned," Zhu Tianshou said grimly.
Shocked, Yang Fei asked, "How strong is he, in terms of realm?"
"If we’re talking about realm alone, I believe he is not inferior to me. But he caught us by surprise with a sneak attack, and neither Umekawa Taro nor I were prepared, which put us at a disadvantage," Zhu Tianshou explained.
"And Umekawa Taro, did he get away?" Yang Fei quickly asked.
"Don’t worry, even though I was ambushed and injured, I was still capable of fighting after suppressing the poison. Umekawa Taro wasn’t ambushed, and Kagaya Takeshi did not anticipate his strength to be so formidable, posing no threat to him. However, Kagaya Takeshi came prepared with many skilled ninja. They clashed fiercely with the Umekawa family’s martial artists, leading to significant casualties," Zhu Tianshou said.
At this point, Zhu Tianshou shook his head with a wry smile, "Such a scale of conflict hasn’t been seen in our Divine Continent for many years. I never expected to witness one in Japan. It was just too cruel."
"What’s the outcome?" Yang Fei asked anxiously.
Zhu Tianshou replied, "Kagaya Takeshi was injured and escaped, his followers, having no leader, had no choice but to flee with him. The Umekawa family, despite having lost many, suffered heavy casualties, but thankfully were not annihilated."
Yang Fei heaved a sigh of relief and asked Zhu Tianshou, "Then you discovered that you could not suppress the poison and came back to seek help from me?"
Zhu Tianshou nodded and said, "Yes. I wanted to stay, but Umekawa Taro couldn’t help me detoxify, so he had me come back to find you first."
"Did he have any message for me?" Yang Fei asked.
Zhu Tianshou shook his head and said, "He said he owed me a favor, and also mentioned he didn’t want to owe you as well, telling me not to pass on the message. But since I came back to find you, I would definitely tell you about this matter. So, even though he didn’t say anything, it was as if he had said everything. It’s all up to your personal decision. The reason I didn’t just call you about this is that I had my concerns."
"Concerns?" Yang Fei looked puzzled.
Zhu Tianshou sighed, "The martial world of Divine Continent and Japan has always been tense, and since you are Qin Yanyang’s son-in-law, it would be difficult for you if Qin Yanyang learned about this."
Yang Fei frowned. "Would she really prevent me from helping my friend?"
With his understanding of Qin Yanyang, he did not believe she was the kind of person who couldn’t tell right from wrong.
Zhu Tianshou said, "She would definitely stop you."
Yang Fei was startled and asked in confusion, "Why?"
Zhu Tianshou sighed, "As I said, concerns. Including why Umekawa Taro was eager to send me out of Japan, not only because of my poisoning but also because I am a martial artist from Divine Continent."
Tong Yunshu couldn’t help saying, "If that’s the case, why did you still go with them when something happened in Umekawa Taro’s home? Didn’t you have any concerns then?"
Zhu Tianshou gave a bitter smile, "If I had known such a big incident would occur, I definitely wouldn’t have gone. The martial worlds of Divine Continent and Japan had an agreement that they would not interfere with each other, especially when large-scale disputes arose within the martial arts families of the two countries. Foreign martial artists were not permitted to get involved; otherwise, it would be seen as a provocation and they would be deemed as criminals instigating conflict between the martial worlds of the two countries."
"What?" Tong Yunshu exclaimed in shock, looking at Yang Fei with a worried expression.
It was also her first time hearing about this kind of agreement between the martial worlds of Japan and Divine Continent.
Now that such a big incident happened to Umekawa Taro, who was a very good friend of Yang Fei, Tong Yunshu knew that he would definitely not stand by idly.
Wouldn’t that put him in a difficult position?
No wonder her grandfather didn’t contact Yang Fei directly but instead, had her call Yang Fei out, thus avoiding letting Qin Yanyang know about it right away.
However, after understanding the stakes involved, Tong Yunshu couldn’t help but internally blame her grandfather for secretly informing Yang Fei about this significant matter, essentially urging him to go to Japan, which was far too dangerous.
Once he got blamed for starting a conflict between the martial worlds of the two nations, how would things be resolved then?
Yang Fei also heard about this agreement between the two nations’ martial worlds for the first time, and his face turned incredibly grim.
Because, as Zhu Tianshou had mentioned earlier, other members of the International Madman Organization had also been called back by their respective families.
And at this time, such a big incident occurred at Umekawa Taro’s house.
There couldn’t possibly be such a coincidence in this world.
It was as if an invisible hand was manipulating everything behind the scenes.
Yang Fei had a vague feeling that this seemed to be aimed at himself, targeting the ’International Madman’.