Edo, somewhere, the residence of Hiroshi Arizuma——
The new wife Kuan, who had laid out the bedding in the bedroom early, lay on the bed, tossing and turning.
As soon as he closed his eyes, the scenes he saw at the swordsmanship competition today would flash before his eyes.
Aoto, who was originally thought to be only between his brothers in terms of strength, actually showed powerful sword skills that were far superior to him. Adachi, Morishita and Oizaki, who were as famous as his new wife Kan, were all not Aoto's equals. All the enemies were instantly killed by Qingden with one sword...
Qingdeng, who has the most outstanding performance today, every time he plays in the game, bursts of excitement and commotion will erupt in the spectator seats...
Chiba Jutaro, who was usually very cold to him, and Chiba Eijiro, whom he had never met before, showed a warm attitude toward Aoden that he had never shown to him before...
Every time he recalled the scenes he had seen today, Xinzukuan's teeth would clenched unconsciously, and he felt that the big stone blocking his chest was a little heavier.
Although he was reluctant to admit it... he confirmed that he was extremely jealous of Qingdeng.
Since he started learning swordsmanship, people around him have always commented on him as "genius" and "excellent talent"...
And with his excellent talent, he never slacked off in practicing swordsmanship.
He practices swordsmanship diligently every day, and he is confident that he has put in as much effort as anyone else in his swordsmanship.
Both talented and very hard-working, Hiroshi Arizuma's strength has always been the most outstanding among the swordsmen practicing swordsmanship in Edo at the same time. Even Morishita and Oizaki, who are also known as the "Three Heroes", The strength is slightly inferior to him.
During the same period, I have never met anyone stronger than him - until today...
The three swords that Aoto used to instantly kill Adachi, Morishita, and Oizaki today... Every time Hiroshi Arizuma thinks about it, he will feel a creepy feeling in his heart.
He couldn't help but think - what would he do if he were the one to pick up these three swords from Qingdeng?
No matter how much he deceives himself and others, Nitsuma Kuan can only painfully admit: The strength gap between him and Qingdeng is too big. Even if he takes the first sword, he probably won't be able to take Qingdeng's second and third swords...
--Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!
Niizumakan rolled over in bed angrily, and then kicked the quilt covering him away. He kept shouting out all the curse words in Japanese to vent his frustration.
No matter what, he doesn't want to lose in this swordsmanship competition!
With the Chiba family and so many feudal lords coming to watch such a grand competition... Under the current national conditions, it is already a rare event!
Since the country's gates were opened under the threat of gunboats from the great powers, the political situation in Japan has been in a state of rapid change.
In order to concentrate their energy and financial resources to meet a series of possible challenges and political changes in the future, many large vassal states stopped funding large-scale martial arts competitions.
In other words, I missed this swordsmanship competition held by Lord Aizu. If I want to encounter a competition of this scale next time, I really don't know how long it will have to wait.
Hiroshi Nitsuma participated in this competition with the goal of "showing his strength to the Chiba family and the world."
Before the official start of today's competition, he was even more determined in his goal after seeing so many famous people from the feudal kingdom sitting on the "VIP table".
No matter what, he didn't want to miss this rare stage where he could show his strength to the Chiba family and everyone.
However... because of the appearance of Tachibana Aoden, his goal has now become extremely far away.
Except for Qingdeng, he is not afraid of any of the remaining contestants, including Xin Zukuan, so as long as nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely have a battle with Qingdeng tomorrow.
He could even imagine what tomorrow's game would be like.
There will definitely be many spectators in the martial arts gallery discussing with great interest "How many swords will Qingdeng need to kill him?" There will definitely be many people who are just watching for fun and want to see how his new wife Kuan will be Qingdeng. Watch the contest between him and Qingden with the mentality of how to kill him.
Regardless of the extremely practical and utilitarian reasons of "wanting to show strength to the Chiba family", the strong self-esteem that his new wife Kuan had cultivated during the same period of time without encountering an opponent made it really difficult for him to accept that he was in the public eye. He was defeated miserably by Qingdeng.
Uncontrollably, he imagined in his mind that tomorrow he would be killed by Aoden with a sword like Morishita, Oizaki and the others... Niizuma Kan felt that the boredom accumulated in his chest had increased a lot.
As the annoyance worsened, another emotion arose in Xin Zumakuan's heart - hatred.
Hatred for Qingden.
--Oh shit……! It would be great if this Tachibana Aoden didn't participate in this competition!
——As long as he does not participate, the winner of this competition will definitely be him!
--Oh shit! Oh shit!
The new wife rolled over in bed angrily, and then kicked the quilt further away from her feet.
——Is there no way... to defeat that Tachibana Aoden...?
Don't want to lose.
Whether it was for utilitarian reasons or for his own pride, Nitsuma Kan did not want to lose to this guy who came from a little-known dojo and only suddenly became famous in the past two months!
Click...
At this time, Ninzuma Kuan suddenly heard a "click" sound as the window was pushed open.
Then he felt the cool night breeze blowing against his exposed skin.
Was the window blown open by the wind... The new wife turned around, opened her eyes, and looked at the window on the side.
The next moment after his eyes glanced in the direction of the window, Niizuma's wide eyes suddenly widened, and a layer of cold sweat quickly broke out on his back.
He saw a young man sitting on the sill of his bedroom window.
Tonight is a clear full moon night.
The bright moonlight shines through the open window and shines into the room like light dust.
The wisps of night wind that blew into the room from time to time caused the young man's hair and the hem of his clothes to sway slightly.
The young man did not wear a wakizashi on his left waist, only a red-handled katana.
Because his back was facing the moonlight, Nitsuma Kuan could only vaguely see the young man's face - he was very young, with a faint smile on his face.
After being shocked for about a second by the young man who suddenly appeared in his room, Nitsuma Kuan immediately grabbed the knife placed beside his bed like a conditioned reflex, and then sat up like a carp rolling around.
"Who?" While staring at the young man with vigilant eyes, Kuan Nitsuma put his right hand on the handle of the knife and pulled out the knife a few inches.
"Oh..." The young man put his right elbow on his right leg, raised his right arm, supported his face with his right palm, moved his eyes with interest, and looked at his new wife, "You are wider than I thought. You need to be much calmer, I thought you would be so frightened that you would scream after seeing me suddenly."
"But that's fine. I don't like people yelling in front of me."
Seeing the young man's calm and defiant look, Nitsuma Kuan's face turned gloomier, and the hand holding the knife gripped the handle harder.
"Who are you? Do you know that this is the mansion of Hatamoto's new wife?"
"Of course I know this is the mansion of Hatamoto's new wife." The young man shrugged, "After all, I'm here specifically for you."
Before the new wife Kuan even had time to show doubts about the young man's words "I'm here for you", the young man straightened up and continued to talk to himself:
"Anyway, I'd better introduce myself first."
"You can call me... Rakshasa. The Rakshasa ghost who specializes in eating human flesh and blood."
“It was pretty cool sitting by the window, so I just got straight to the point.”
The corners of Rakshasa's mouth slowly opened, revealing a set of silver-white teeth, and the faint smile on his face turned into an intriguing smile that contrasted well with the blue-white moonlight around him.
"Shinzuma-kun, I have a way to give you a chance to defeat Tachibana Aoden in tomorrow's competition. Are you interested in finding out?"
"What?" The new wife's wide pupils shrank slightly, and her hand on the handle of the knife loosened slightly uncontrollably.
The Rakshasa then continued:
"You must really not want to lose to Tachibana Aoden in tomorrow's competition, right? So I think it is very necessary for you to listen carefully to my deal."
After a brief moment of astonishment, Nitsuma Kuan clenched the handle of the knife with his palm again, and cast an even more wary look at Rakshasa.
"...I don't remember telling anyone that I wanted to defeat Tachibana Aoden in the competition."
Rakshasa chuckled a few times: "You really haven't mentioned this matter to anyone."
"But my eyes have seen that you hate Tachibana Aoden and you don't want to lose to Tachibana Aoden."
Rakshasa stretched out his hand and pointed at his eyes.
"I watched the entire swordsmanship competition held by Lord Aizu today."
"Just this morning in the first round of the match, when you were exiting after defeating your opponent, I noticed that you glanced at Tachibana Aoden on the spectator stand with jealous and resentful eyes."
"Although your little movement is very subtle, I was lucky enough to capture it."
"After that, I have been paying attention to your status."
"Throughout the whole day today, you have been secretly looking at Tachibana Aoden with jealous and resentful eyes."
"Although I don't know if you have any issues with Tachibana Aoden, but you frequently look at Tachibana Aoden with such eyes... then this means that you must be quite disgusted with Tachibana Aoden, right?"
"You who hate Tachibana Aoden so much must not want to be easily defeated by Tachibana Aoden like those people today, right?"
From just now, the look of astonishment on the new wife's face couldn't stop appearing.
"...Ha. You are really interesting." After a moment of silence, the new wife twitched the corner of her mouth and sneered, "You just noticed a few looks in my eyes and concluded that I hate Tachibana Aoden?"
The smile on Rakshasa's face became meaningful.
"New Wife-kun, the world is so big and full of wonders."
"Not only do I have very good eyesight, I am also very good at observing words and colors."
“My childhood experiences enabled me to develop the ability to observe words and emotions.”
After saying that, Rakshasa bent his upper body again, put his right elbow on his right leg, raised his right arm to support his head, and the meaningful smile on his face became a little thicker.
"I come from an extremely poor low-level samurai family."
"In order to save food rations, my parents abandoned me in the mountains when I was 5 years old."
"Just when he was about to starve to death, he was picked up by a dojo master who taught Iaido."
"The reason why the dojo master picked me up was not because he wanted to adopt me. He just wanted to pick up a free slave."
"I was forced to do all kinds of chores every day, and every night I was dragged into his room by the master of the dojo to be used as a tool for him to vent his sexual desires."
"The other apprentices in the dojo also treat me like a slave. They beat and scold me arbitrarily when they are in a bad mood. The dojo master also adopts an attitude of not paying attention to this."
"In order to live an easier life, I can only be forced to learn to distinguish changes in people's expressions, and I am forced to learn how to judge the mood of a person from the changes in his expression."
"When you find that the dojo master and apprentices are in a bad mood, try to stay away from them."
"When you find that they are in a good mood, you can try to get close to them and please them. Maybe you can get some delicious food."
"In this way, without realizing it, I developed the ability to keenly detect changes in other people's expressions, and to judge their current mood based on the changes in their expressions."
"So there is no need to doubt it."
"I do have the ability to tell that you hate Tachibana Aoden just by looking at you."
"..." The new wife pursed her lips tightly and looked at Rakshasa carefully up and down with doubtful eyes.
After remaining silent for a while, Nitsuma Kuan relaxed his grip on the knife slightly and said in a low voice:
"...What do you mean when you say 'there is a way for you to have a chance to defeat Tachibana Aoden in tomorrow's competition'?"
"Hehehe..." Rakshasa let out a laugh that made his shoulders tremble slightly, then reached into his arms and took out a small medicine box.
"It's very simple. As long as you take this medicine of mine, you can hope to defeat Tachibana Aoden tomorrow."
"Medicine?" The new wife stared at the medicine box in Rakshasa's hand with wide eyes, and her brows that had just relaxed were frowned again.
"The effect of this medicine... simply put is that it can make you highly concentrated."
"Let your state of mind enter a state similar to 'without distracting thoughts', thereby improving reaction speed and thinking ability."
"According to my estimation...after taking my medicine, although you can't say that you can defeat Ju Qingden 100% of the time, you should at least be able to fight him 50-50."
Shinzuma Kuan's face turned blue and white in turns: "You are highly focused... Such a powerful medicine must have side effects, right?"
"Of course." Rakshasa nodded without thinking, "I'm known for being honest."
"I never do the kind of thing where you only tell people the good things and don't tell them the bad things."
"I'll tell you frankly - the reason why I intentionally gave this medicine to you is to use you as a test."
As Rakshasa spoke, he placed the medicine box on the window sill beside him.
"My medicine is still a trial work."
"Although it has a very significant effect, it also has strong side effects - this state of high concentration can only last for one stick of incense. After this state passes, the user will develop a severe high fever."
"If you can survive this high fever, then everything will be fine."
"If you can't survive it, then..."
Rakshasa smiled and stretched out his right index finger to stroke his neck horizontally.
"Because my medicine is related to the human spirit, I want to test it now - if a person with a strong desire for victory takes this medicine during a battle, will his strong persistence for victory be reduced? What impact will it have on the efficacy of the medicine?”
"By the way, we will also further test how much this medicine can enhance a person's combat power."
"So...do you understand why I came to you?"
"...Hmph, what you just said are all just your one-sided words." The new wife's expression changed several times, but her voice remained low, "How do I know whether what you just said is true?"
"You can choose not to believe it." Rakshasa shrugged his shoulders vigorously, "I will not force you to take this medicine, nor will I ask for any reward from you."
"I'll just put this medicine here."
"The choice whether to eat or not is entirely up to you. I won't interfere."
"If you don't want to believe me and don't dare to take my medicine, then you can just throw him into the smelly ditch outside your house, and I won't have any objections."
After saying that, Rakshasa turned his body back and stood on the eaves outside the window.
"I have already said everything that I need to say and want to say."
"See you later."
Before the sound lingered, Rakshasa leaned back and fell from the eaves outside the window.
The new wife ran to the window in three steps and two steps, and looked out the window - no Rakshasa could be seen anywhere as far as the eye could see.
After glancing back and forth outside the window several times, Nitsuma Kuan turned his gaze and looked at the pill box Rakshasa had placed on the windowsill.
He stretched out his hand, grabbed the pill box and opened it. There was only one white pill as big as an adult's thumb.
Smelling the refreshing fragrance of medicine escaping from the box, the hand holding the medicine box at the wide end of the new wife's hand tightened and moved. The emotions on his face became extremely complicated at a speed visible to the naked eye, making it difficult for people to see through his current situation. thoughts.
…
…
After Rakshasa ducked into a dark alley, a short middle-aged man who had been waiting here for a long time quickly came to greet him.
"Lord Rakshasa, did you give the 'Wu Nian Medicine' to that new wife?"
Rakshasa smiled and nodded: "Now, let's wait and see if he will take the medicine tomorrow."
The short middle-aged man showed a wry smile: "Lord Rakshasa, do you think he will take the 'Wu Nian Medicine'?"
"I don't know about that. After all, I'm not that roundworm with a new wife. Anyway, whether he eats it or not, we won't suffer."
"...Lord Rakshasa. Please forgive me for my bluntness." The short middle-aged man pursed his lips and sighed, "Is it really okay for you to do this...? Just throw away a precious nothing. Read the medicine and give it to the new wife Kuan."
"'Wu Nian Medicine' is indeed still in the experimental stage, and it urgently needs a large number of experimenters to conduct trials."
"If that new wife Kuan really has a strong desire to defeat Ju Qingden...as you said, Lord Rakshasa...then I don't deny that he is indeed a person to test whether the 'firm will to fight' can enhance the efficacy of the medicine, and to further confirm that 'nothing is possible'" Nian Yao is an excellent test subject that increases personal combat power."
"But I still don't think it's necessary to find someone who I didn't know before and don't know his details to do the experiment."
"If we need good enough test subjects, don't we have everything?"
"Hehehe..." As soon as the short middle-aged man finished asking the question, Rakshasa let out a strange laugh of "hehehehe", "Yes, as you said, if you want to experiment, you don't have to go to any other place to find out. That new wife is generous."
“No matter what type of experiment you want to do, there are easier, simpler ways to do it.”
"But-"
Rakshasa suddenly changed the subject, then tilted his head towards the short middle-aged man, with a sunny smile on his face that reminded people of a warm spring day.
His sunny smile seemed to make the darkness around him a little warmer.
"It's fun to do this!"
"That person must be very confused now, right?"
"Do you want to believe what I say? Do you want to take this medicine? Is the side effect of this medicine really just a high fever afterwards?"
"Whirring whirring……"
The weird laughter that wanted to laugh loudly but was suppressing it with all his strength leaked out from Rakshasa's lips and teeth.
"I really want to hurry up to tomorrow... Look at the tangled face of my new wife in the viewing gallery."
…
…
Edo, Okemachi, second floor of Chiba Sword Hall, Chiba Nobuyoshi's bedroom——
"Father, how are you? Is the strength okay?"
Chiba Jutaro was sitting cross-legged, pulling his shirt up to his chest, exposing his back, and lying on the tatami next to Chiba Seikichi. On the back.
Sanako knelt down next to her brother and gave her brother a hand. The two brothers worked together to apply medicine to Chiba Nobuyoshi, who had been suffering from recurring back problems recently.
"Yes." Chiba Nobuyoshi nodded, "The strength is just right. Thank you for your hard work, brother and sister."
"Father, what are you talking about?" Chiba Jutaro chuckled, "Aren't these the things we as children should do?"
While Chiba Jutaro was applying medicine to Chiba Seikichi, he chatted with Chiba Seikichi and Sanako one after another.
While chatting, Chiba Jutaro suddenly glanced secretly at Sanako beside him, and then suddenly brought the topic to Aomori who shined in the competition today.
"I thought I had already rated Tachibana-kun's talent very highly."
"It wasn't until today that I discovered that I still underestimated Tachibana-kun's talent."
Chiba Jutaro showed an expression filled with emotion.
"It's unbelievable. More than three months ago, Tachibana-kun, he was just an ordinary person with no foundation in swordsmanship."
"Such a talent... even Brother Rong probably can't compare to it."
"Well... Tachibana-kun's talent is indeed quite outstanding. Among all the swordsmen I have seen in my life, there are only five people with talents comparable to Tachibana-kun." Chiba Nobuyoshi nodded gently. , and then echoed in a half-joking tone, "I'm a little envious of Shusuke. After Okita-kun, he has another talented disciple with such outstanding talent."
"Sanako and I made a joke today." Chiba Jutaro sighed silently, "This morning, Sanako and I were seriously discussing how Tachibana-kun should put in a certain amount of effort to defeat Adachi. , in the end, Tachibana-kun ended the game with just one sword."
Hearing her brother suddenly mentioning the embarrassing incident this morning, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Sanako's face, but she quickly regained her composure and suppressed the hint of embarrassment on her face. She returned to her cold and otherworldly look, and then she saw her red lips parting slightly:
"...It can make both of us misjudge his current strength. Tachibana-kun's talent is indeed very powerful."
"but--"
Sanako changed the topic.
"Brother, you said that Jun Ju's talent is better than that of my second cousin... This is a bit too flattering and praising Jun Ju."
"I personally think that in terms of talent, Ju-kun is still a little inferior to his second cousin."
"It only took my second cousin just over a year from the beginning of sword practice to the first time he showed off his 'power' - regardless of anything else, I think this alone is enough to put Tachibana-kun in a league of his own."
Before the words could even be finished, a hint of respect and envy appeared on Sanazi's beautiful brows.
As the children of the great swordsman Chiba Sadakichi, Sanako and the others naturally knew the concept of "power" early on.
"Shi"... She and her brother have been practicing swordsmanship for so many years, but until now they have not been able to touch this high-level field that only lucky people with talent, hard work and opportunities have the opportunity to touch...
"Hahahaha." After hearing what Sanako said just now, Chiba Jutaro laughed a few times, "Well... I said that Tachibana-kun's talent surpassed Brother Sakae... maybe it was too exaggerated. .”
"But even so, Tachibana-kun's talent is still worthy of our praise."
"If it weren't for the fact that poaching people is so immoral, I would have wanted to poach Mr. Tachibana to our little Chiba Sword Hall, hahaha."
"Father, I think we can interact with Mr. Tachibana more in the future."
"Even if it is just from a utilitarian point of view, establishing a good relationship with this kind of young swordsman who has outstanding talent and good character, and who will definitely have a bright future, is a great thing for our sword academy and our Chiba family. It’s all beneficial and harmless.”
While Chiba Jutaro was talking, he once again used subtle movements to secretly glance at his sister next to him...
…
…
The next day——
Hua Hua Hua Hua...
As soon as it gets dark, the bustling sound of people in Asakusa never stops.
The scene of the swordsmanship competition... was much more lively than yesterday.
Maybe it’s because a lot of people heard last night that this competition was quite exciting, so many people came here after hearing the news. As a result, the number of spectators in the spectator seats increased a lot, and many people couldn’t squeeze in. After being unable to see the scene in the arena, I could only stay outside the spectator seats and sigh.
In order to prevent the situation of not being able to find a good location, Aoto and his team set out for Asakusa early today.
As soon as they arrived at the arena, they saw a group of people from Xuanwu Hall and Xiao Qianba Sword Hall who were sitting on the martial arts seats before them today.
All members of the Chiba family are here again today.
Naturally, Qingden and the others sat together with the Chiba family again.
There are only about twenty contestants left. Since there are not many people left, it only takes less than one morning to finish all the remaining games.
In other words - this morning, we can see who is lucky enough to wear the winning crown of this competition!
The situation was exactly the same as yesterday: after the spectator seats were filled with crowds of spectators, the feudal daimyo headed by Aizuhou finally arrived belatedly, followed closely by the old samurai who acted as master of ceremonies yesterday. Standing in the center of the field again, he loudly announced to everyone in the spectator seats that today's game has officially begun!
The method of selecting contestants is still drawing lots.
Qingdeng, who achieved the feat of "defeating three enemies with three swords" yesterday, is the undoubted star figure today.
Every time Qingdeng's name is sung, every time Qingdeng takes the stage with his sword in hand, the spectators' seats will erupt with cheers that are much stronger than when others come on stage.
Many spectators were discussing with great interest whether those players who were unfortunate enough to face Qingden could withstand Qingden's sword.
Compared to yesterday, today's game was obviously much more boring for Qingdeng.
Except for Hiroshi Arizuma, the remaining players are far less powerful than Morishita and Oizaki, who Aomori met yesterday.
Even Morishita and Oizaki, known as the "Three Heroes", are not Ayoto's enemies, let alone the others?
Therefore, in the fourth knockout round, Qingden once again easily defeated his opponent with one sword and successfully advanced to the fifth knockout round.
After entering the fifth round of the knockout round, the scene was still the same: Qingden's name was sung, he came on the stage with his sword, killed his opponent with one sword, and returned to the spectator stand.
Whether it was the fourth or fifth knockout round, Qingden failed to copy any talent from his opponents in these two games.
This further solidified Qingdeng's idea: In this world, whether it is learning or martial arts, there are only a handful of truly talented people, and the vast majority of people are just ordinary people.
Those who can participate in this competition are all the top talents of the younger generation in each sword hall.
But up until now, Aomori has only copied the talent of "swordsmanship talent enhancement" from Morishita and Oizaki.
Even in this grand event where outstanding people gather, no one has the talent of "increasing swordsmanship talent". This only shows that people who can be called "geniuses" are still quite rare. Many people who are called geniuses by others are actually There is no talent at all, just hard work and scientific learning methods.
Qingdeng repeated yesterday's behavior today, defeating all the opponents he encountered today with one sword. As expected - the martial arts gallery became particularly commotion.
After the fifth round of eliminations, the competition advanced to the sixth round... which was also the final round!
Contestants, only the last two are left.
Qingdeng and his new wife Kuan!
*******
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Although there is no w word today, there are 8100 words, which is quite a lot. Please vote for me! Please vote for recommendation! Please collect it! (Leopard head crying.jpg)
The author wants to give it a try this month to see if he can get this book into the top 100 of the monthly vote list, so he will try his best to update this month, and I hope that book friends can help the author. (Leopard head crying.jpg)
The author will try his best to write 10,000+ pieces tomorrow, and finish the battle between Qingteng and Shinzuma Kuan in one go.
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