Charlie asked her: ‘Why do you want to thank me?’Nanako said: ‘You’ve helped me so much and even arranged for me to learn martial arts here. Isn’t it right for me to treat you to a meal now that I’ve finally entered the path of martial arts? Just think of it as a thank-you meal. Charlie-kun, I wonder if you’ll do me the honor?’Charlie thought for a moment and replied readily: ‘No problem. Just tell me the time, and I’ll be there on time.’Nanako replied: ‘Master Howton’s classes end at half past six in the evening every day. Let’s meet up a little later. What about 8:00 PM?’Charlie replied: ‘No problem. You should practice hard, then. I’ll see you at night.’Nanako was elated and hurriedly replied: ‘See you tonight!’Charlie knew that Nanako was eager to practice, so he did not plan to go in and bother Nanako. He replied directly: ‘In that case, you should go and practice well first. We will talk more when we meet later at night.’Nanako replied: ‘Okay!’ She then turned on th
Meanwhile, at Scarlet Pinnacle Manor. Vera was standing in front of the desk, looking at the landscape painting in front of her that was already completed. The winding mountains stood tall in the painting, and there seemed to be ripples in the water in the lake, which was extremely beautiful. Vera stretched out her slender fingers and touched the thickest part of the painting like a dragonfly splashing on water. After determining that there was no sticky feeling, she looked at her clean fingertip again and saw that there was no ink stain there. Thus, she was certain that the painting was already completely dry.She then used the scroll that she had prepared to carefully mount the painting into a golden scroll. After the mounting was completed and rolled into a scroll, Vera sealed the scroll with a silk ribbon. Mr. Raven’s voice sounded outside the door as he said, “Miss, can I come in?”Vera said loudly, “Come in.”Mr. Raven, who was already slightly hunched, staggered in. W
Mr. Raven bowed and left. Vera then held up the scroll with both hands and walked slowly to the long desk. The memorial tablet that Vera had always carried with her was placed on the long table. The characters ‘Elijah Lavor, Father’ were inscribed on the memorial tablet. Vera knelt down in front of the memorial tablet slowly, then carefully placed the scroll aside. She then clasped her hands together, looked at the memorial tablet, and said respectfully, “Dad, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to meet again with my benefactor, Charlie Wade, tomorrow. When I appear in front of him, his vigilance will definitely be aroused. I don’t know if I will be able to gain his trust, but I hope that you will give me your blessings so I can gain his trust…”As Vera spoke of this, she had a complicated expression for a moment before she reached out and touched the scroll on the ground as she said softly, “If… If Charlie can’t trust me and treats me as his enemy, I… I may be left with no choice but to tel
Nanako was about to bow and thank Emi when she suddenly heard the doorbell ring. She quickly said, “Charlie-kun must be downstairs. I’ll go and pick him up!”Emi nodded and said with a smile, “Go ahead.”All the apartments at Thompson First had elevators for entry. One would not be able to take the elevator without a physical access card. When Charlie came to visit them, he could only ring the doorbell of the unit at the entrance of the door in the underground parking lot. After the access to the door was unlocked from upstairs, he could then enter the elevator and press the button for the designated floor. Nanako only needed to open the door for Charlie from upstairs, but she still said to Charlie through the access control system, “Please wait a moment, Charlie-kun. I will come down and pick you up.”In Nanako’s traditional Japanese concept, if she allowed the man she loved to take the elevator upstairs himself, it would be equivalent to a wife who did not kneel at the door to
Yahiko was actually a full-fledged martial artist when he was young. He was one of those men who were deeply influenced by Bruce Lee in the 1970s and 1980s.Nanako had become obsessed with martial arts since she was a child under his influence. Yahiko had always been willing to invest in his daughter’s hobby. Therefore, he had invited the best karate masters as well as combat and fighting masters in Japan to come and teach Nanako.Nanako showed extraordinary talents in the process of learning these foreign combat skills. When Nanako was fifteen years old, these famous masters in Japan had already taught her everything that they had learned throughout their lives. Yahiko had hoped to find an opportunity for Nanako to learn martial arts at the time.In Japan, the only two things related to martial arts were ninjutsu and swordsmanship.After all, ninjutsu was rather wretched and not suitable for a lady like Nanako. On the other hand, swordsmanship emphasized the extraordinary stat
After saying that, Nanako added, “Therefore, the difficulty of martial arts is to control and safely separate one’s consciousness from the body without causing damage to oneself. It will only be possible for one to gain endoscopic ability by doing this. Thus, I thought of the method of imagining my consciousness falling from a height and quickly finding that safe sense of near-death. I was just trying it out of curiosity, but I didn’t expect it to work…”Charlie said nothing, but he could not help but sigh as he thought to himself, ‘Nanako is truly a martial arts genius to be able to think of such a method…’After hearing this, Yahiko had a shocked and fascinated expression on his face. He could not help but murmur, “I never dreamt that martial arts could be so mysterious. It’s great to be young. I would have given my best to give it a try if I was still a young man!”Nanako smiled and said, “Otou-san, it’s never too late as long as you’re willing to take action!”“No, no…” Yahiko
Charlie could not help but sigh emotionally. In his opinion, Yahiko really cared for his daughter and only had her welfare in mind at all times. He had really done a good job as a father.Charlie’s feeling for Nanako was naturally different, and it seemed that with Nanako’s talent, it was highly likely that she would go very far on the path of martial arts. He had an intuition that the Dark Realm, Transformation Realm, and the Master Realm would not be the end for Nanako. In that case, Nanako might live for a hundred years or even more than two hundred years. Once she broke through to the Master Realm, she might be able to master Reiki just like Charlie himself. Once she mastered Reiki, she would probably live for five hundred years or even longer, just like the Longevity Master, Marcius Stark.How could he let her walk on this long path alone?With that thought in mind, Charlie stood up, took the glass from Yahiko’s hands with both hands and said firmly, “You can rest assured
Nanako hurriedly said, “Please don’t say that, Otou-san…”Yahiko looked at Nanako and sobbed as he said, “Nanako, it’s difficult for you to understand a parent’s emotion. If only one person between a parent and a child can survive, most parents will choose to sacrifice themselves. You will be able to understand my feelings when you become a mother one day.”When Charlie saw the sad atmosphere, Charlie said, “Mr. Ito, there is no need for you to make the topic so serious. Nanako has a long way to go in the future, but your future will not be short either.”After that, he picked up the wine glass and said loudly, “Why don’t we come to an agreement between us? What do you think?”Yahiko asked curiously, “What agreement do you want to make with me, Mr. Wade?”Charlie did not answer his question but asked with a smile, “I like your house in Kyoto. It seems to have a long history, right?”Yahiko nodded and said, “It should be nearly three hundred years old.”Charlie smiled faintly and