343. Grandmaster

"Well looks like I underestimated your talent," said Mikumo 

"Yeah, thank you for pushing me to the limit otherwise I wouldn't be able to force myself to use that move," Kenichi said while starting at Mikumo, "You should go now, the Elder will be back any second now. Since Rachel and her Master lost to Ryozanpaku it's for the winner to decide what to do with the loser, so Rachel will be under Ryozanpaku's protection. If Yami wants her back then you will have to beat us for it."

"Just because I went easy on you, do you really think you would be able to beat me" Mikumo questioned

"Not now but maybe in a year or 2, after all, I don't really see a martial artist just Yami's killer" Kenichi replied sarcastically.

"You boy-"

"Elder will be coming back any second now you sure you want to stay back and talk with him" Kenichi making Mikumo scrunch her face as she jumped back on her hovercraft leaving the ship.

The Elder came back while carrying Diego on his shoulders.

"Maestro" called out Rachel as she ran towards her master but Kenichi stopped.

"We will save your master but he will still go to prison for his crimes," Kenichi said as he looked at his Master Kensei who had already started using acupuncture to reduce his bleeding.

"Let me go," Rachel said

"Not possible, I wasn't joking when u said you will be under Ryozanpaku's protection so we can't have you run around and smudge our reputation," Kenichi said as he pressed his finger on the back of her neck knocking her out as well.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Saeko

"We can't let Yami take her, after all, she doesn't have her Master's protection anymore who knows what will happen to her if we don't help her," Kenichi said

"Well done Kenichi, we at Ryozanpaku can't turn our back after knowing what may happen to the little girl. Let's go back I am sure Shizuha must be waiting to hear back from us" Elder stated.

_______________________

After returning back to Ryozanpaku, Kenichi entered the forest in the backyard and started to meditate remembering the feeling that he had when he used Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms.

His ki started flowing around him and inside him as it started molding and becoming much denser than before.

"One more time and I will breakthrough," Kenichi said as he stood up to perform the move once again to help his breakthrough. Kenichi went into his stance of Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms and moved.

Strikes after strikes his speed will increase his ki will flow much more smoothly, after the 128th strike, Kenichi felt a definite increase in his strength.

"Congratulations Kenichi" came a voice from behind Kenichi startling him as he jumped and turned his body to look back only to find the Ancient One standing behind him.

"How in the hell you are still able to appear behind me without me finding out," asked Kenichi as he relaxed his stance.

The Ancient One smiled and said "Magic!" making Kenichi curse in his mind.

"I hope you don't mind, I brought you in the mirror dimension before you broke through so that no one finds out about it" stated the Ancient One.

"No thank you for that, I was so excited that I forgot about that. It would be good if I could keep it a secret for the time being" Kenichi said thanking the Ancient One

"It's alright, I also came here to tell you that we were able to get her the medicinal herbs required to make the two spiritual medicines. We have enough for making the medicinal bath 3 times and a medicinal pill. Since you can only use each item once, the other two medicinal baths could be used for your friends or family" Ancient One stated.

"Thank you Ancient One but are you really giving them to me, won't it be better two keep the two medicinal baths for the students of Kamar Taj?" asked Kenichi, it wasn't that he didn't want the medicinal baths, after all, it was marvel world he lived in now and every little protection for his friends and family was important to him but he was already in debt of Ancient One and didn't want to increase the debt.

"The medicinal bath is only useful for those who use Ki in their martial arts. The students of Kamar Taj depend upon the energy from other dimensions so it would be a waste to keep it with us" replied the Ancient One.

"Then I will thank you in advance Ancient One. Let's go I am going to power up at once" Kenichi said

The Ancient One opened the portal Kamar Taj, after that the two came out of the mirror dimension and walked into the room where Kenichi will take his medicinal bath.

"Kenichi before you enter the medicinal bath let me tell you, the current you already surpass your master. Except for the experience that they have you surpass them in every aspect. Your physical strength is already at the Advance Grandmaster level while your ki is at the Legendary Master level, after you enter the medicinal bath use your Ki to allow your body to get all the benefits it can get from the bath. Your body may not reach the level of Legendary Master as the necessary steps for it are required but it will be stronger than any Advance GrandMaster." explained the Ancient One.

"I understand, thank you for the explanation Ancient One" Kenichi as he bowed his head thanking her after that Ancient one left the room allowing Kenichi to strip himself naked as he entered the tub filled with the medicinal bath.

As soon as he entered the medicinal bath, his body started burning along with the stinging pain that came as if he was being stabbed by numerous little pins which wouldn't have been possible as his body was strong enough to not even be stabbed by a knife let alone a pin.

Not letting the pain influence him Kenichi started to calm himself down as he took a deep breath.

"Huff... this is much more painful than I thought"