The man in black's voice was hoarse and old, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other.
Black clothes, black hakama, black socks, and black scarf. Except for the straw sandals on her feet and the bamboo hat on her head, there is no place on her body that is not black.
The short and wide brim of the hat covers less than half of the man in black's face. The other half of the face is covered by a black scarf, with only a pair of eyes exposed.
I couldn't see his appearance clearly... I could only vaguely tell that he was neither fat nor thin. He was tall and tall, about 1.7 meters tall.
——When did this guy... appear behind me...
Thinking of this, a drop of cold sweat broke out on Qingdeng's forehead.
He clearly has the gift of "wind perceiver" that enhances his hearing, as well as a keen sense of perception honed through countless life-threatening battles...but he didn't hear the slightest footsteps of the man in black appearing and approaching.
"who are you?"
Qingdeng asked in a deep voice, while slowly tightening the five fingers of his right hand to hold the handle of the knife for Ding Guishen.
"It doesn't matter who I am...it doesn't matter."
A hoarse, old voice came out from behind the black mask.
"You just need to think of me as... a challenger who wants to challenge you because I heard about the name and deeds of 'Nioh'."
"Challenger...?"
Qingden glanced at the wooden knife in the hand of the man in black.
Indeed, I didn't feel any murderous intent from the man in black.
The opponent was not a remnant of the anti-barbarian group or some other strange person... Although this was a blessing, Qingdeng did not relax too much.
After all, the guy in front of him dressed in black is still unknown. Don't be careless.
When Qingdeng looked at the man in black, the man in black was also looking at Qingdeng.
"...not bad."
The man in black raised his hat slightly, and hidden under the edge of the hat was a pair of eyes as sharp as shadows and as bright as stars.
He glanced at Qingdeng from head to toe with great interest and said:
"The posture is pretty good, but there are flaws all over."
"But it has a certain level of aura that only those who have experienced many life-and-death duels can possess."
"Martial artists with average talents or insufficient training years should not be your opponents."
"No wonder you've been able to kill everyone in recent months and perform extraordinary feats repeatedly."
"only……"
The man in black suddenly changed the subject.
"It's a little disappointing. You don't seem to be as strong as I expected..."
After saying that, the man in black slumped his shoulders, raised his right hand, and casually put the wooden sword in his palm on his shoulder.
"In this case, I can't compete with you with a wooden sword... Let's do this——"
The man in black flipped his right hand, changing the wooden knife he was holding upright to an inverted grip, and then inserted the wooden knife with the tip downward into the mud beside him.
"There was a branch right next to my feet that was the right shape, size, and hardness."
"Just use this to replace the wooden knife."
As the man in black spoke, he leaned over and picked up a dry branch on the ground next to his left foot.
This branch is about 2 fingers wide and 60cm long. The branches are bare and have no branches at all. Although the whole branch is a bit curved, it is still straight.
"It's pretty handy. Okay, I'll use this to fight you."
"what do you mean?"
The corners of Qingden's eyes trembled slightly and his voice was low.
"You said you came here just to compete with me...are you going to compete with me with just a branch?"
"..."
Very unexpectedly... this talkative man in black suddenly fell silent.
Qingdeng noticed that there were two eyes with profound emotions, shooting out from under the generous rim of the robe, focusing directly on him.
Then--
Sa!
A strong wind that seemed to be blowing away all the clouds in the sky and dust on the ground struck Qingdeng from the front!
The sudden strong wind caused Qingdeng's expression to change immediately.
However, Qingdeng soon discovered that there was no wind, everything was just his psychological effect!
What struck Qingdeng was not the "wind", but the unparalleled "momentum" like a violent storm!
This "aura"... whether it's Shusuke, Chiba Eijiro or Chiba Doisaburo, in short - is more powerful than the "aura" of anyone Aomori has experienced before! And it’s countless times more powerful!
Qingdeng, who was surrounded by this powerful "aura" from all sides, suddenly felt as if he was sinking deep into the seabed and being squeezed by water pressure.
My heartbeat is racing, my breathing is short, and my head is slightly dizzy.
In order to resist this "heavy pressure" and only heard the sound of "Zeng", Qingdeng drew his sword in his hand and held Dingguishen in front of him as if he wanted to use the blade to block these powerful "moments".
Setting up your beloved knife - this can give Qingdeng some sense of security and peace of mind.
"Tachibana Aoden, if you are worried that I will hurt me if I use a branch and you use a real knife, then there is no need to worry."
The man in black smiled slightly...but unfortunately because he was wearing a hijab, Qingdeng didn't see the smile on his face.
"But let me make it clear in advance - I don't look down on you. Rather, I admire you very much."
"If I remember correctly, you are only 18 years old this year, right?"
"It is really rare to have such achievements in martial arts at such a young age."
"So - just because I admire you very much, I want to use branches."
"Ah?" Qingden couldn't help but frown... He was a little confused about the logic of the man in black's above words.
Seeing that Qingdeng didn't understand what he just said, the man in black had no choice but to continue:
"Your current strength is far from me."
"At this stage, if I use a wooden knife to deal with you, I might not be able to hold back my strength and chop you to death by accident."
"I don't want the talent I admire to die young because of a momentary mistake."
The man in black spoke sincerely and his tone was sincere... He was not joking or mocking Qingdeng.
There was a lot of concern in his tone - he was worried that if he used the wooden sword, he might accidentally maim or kill Qingto.
If an outsider did this behavior of "holding a branch and threatening that you might die if you don't use it," Qingden might be angry because he felt he was being slighted.
But Qingdeng couldn't feel the slightest bit angry at the man in black in front of him for doing such a thing... but his face became even more solemn.
There is no other reason - the "silent footwork" that the man in black used to easily get close to Qingdeng's back, and the "power" he released at this moment that could stun those with weak willpower, all revealed one thing. Thing - he is a top master with extremely high martial arts attainments!
He may be stronger than Boss Kiryu, Master Shusuke, Eijiro Chiba, and Doisaburo Chiba!
"Anyway—that's it."
The man in black twisted his right shoulder vigorously, making a joint movement sound that made people feel teeth ache. Then he held the sword with one hand... ah, no, he held the branch with one hand and held the branch in front of him in a mid-section posture.
"I accidentally became verbose."
"Okay, Tachibana Aoden, come on."
"Let me see...how much real ability you have."
As soon as the man in black finished speaking, the "aura" squeezing Xiang Qingdeng suddenly changed.
Becoming more solid and full of oppression!
Qingdeng, who had seen all the tricks of the men in black, did not dare to be careless at all.
He took a deep breath, tensed up his nerves, and gripped the handle of the knife tightly as if trying to wring out oil from the handle.
In the talent list, entries such as "Gu Gu" and "Gathering God" all glowed with golden light symbolizing "activating".
In just a moment, Qingdeng's strength and physical condition were adjusted to the best condition with the blessing of these talents.
Qingdeng stared at the man in black without blinking.
Who is this man in black who suddenly blocked the road to come for a discussion? This kind of thing can only be left to be studied in detail later.
Now focus on the battle at hand!
Qingdeng thought about whether he should adopt a conservative play style of "defending firmly and slowly observing the movements and moves of the man in black", or a radical approach of "taking the initiative to attack and relying on fierce offensives to force the man in black to use his moves" style of play.
However, Qingden soon discovered that there was no point in thinking about these things.
Because in the next moment, an incredible scene appeared in front of his eyes and on his body.
Snapped!
A branch hit Qingden hard in the chest.
The moment the branch touched Qingdeng's body, it shattered into countless pieces.
He was obviously hit by a branch, but Qingdeng felt like he was hit head-on by an express train.
The power transmitted to Qingdeng along the branches turned into "air currents" rushing around in Qingdeng's chest.
In front, where a guy in black should be standing, half of the figure was gone, leaving only a little bit of dust and smoke that had been raised and had not yet fallen back to the ground.
Qingdeng looked at the man in black who suddenly appeared in front of him in astonishment, and then watched in astonishment as he was getting further and further away from the man in black - he was knocked away by a mere branch.
The whole figure flew backwards like a discharged cannonball.
However, branches are just branches after all and will not have much lethality.
Qingdeng only flew 2 steps away before falling back to the ground.
"Cough...cough...!"
Qingden felt his chest burning and painful. He raised his hands to cover his chest and coughed violently.
He almost thought he could cough up blood, but fortunately in the end he only spit out colorless saliva... It seemed that the injury was not serious, at least there was no internal injury.
Is this... speed and power that humans can achieve?
Qingdeng opened his clothes and glanced at the large red mark on his chest that was nearly 5 inches long. Even if he just blew on it, it hurt so much that Qingdeng couldn't help but grin. A look of confidence.
Although it only appeared for a moment, Qingdeng still used his "Eagle Eyes" to barely see how he was knocked away by a branch from the man in black.
The reason is simple and not complicated.
The man in black rushed towards Qingdeng, then swung the branch from bottom to top and slashed towards Qingdeng's chest - it was that simple.
No messy tricks.
No fancy tricks.
He just relied on the incredible speed to get close to Qingdeng, and then used the incredible strength to knock Qingdeng away.
If the man in black had used a real sword, Qingdeng's body would have been split in half by now.
Although he expected that against an expert of this level, his chances of winning would be very slim, the speed at which the winner was decided was still beyond Qingden's expectations.
Even though his talents such as "Lonely Brave" and "Gathering God" were fully activated, he still failed miserably.
From the moment the man in black announced "Okay, Tachibana Aoden, come on" to the moment Aoden was knocked away... the whole process only took 5 seconds.
Not even the 10 seconds required to copy the talent can be reached...
And in these five seconds, Qingdeng didn't even take any effective defensive action... and Qingdeng couldn't be blamed for this.
His ears could hear the sound of branches cutting through the air.
His eyes could see an elongated afterimage that was rapidly enlarging within his field of vision.
It was obvious that his senses had clearly locked onto the position of the branch, but his body just couldn't react... No, he could still react a little bit.
Thanks to the muscle memory stored in his body, Qingdeng subconsciously raised his hands holding the knife to block... But unfortunately, that was all Qingdeng could do.
——So strong...
After witnessing Kiryu's sword-drawing technique that instantly killed Kamaitachi with one blow, Aoto's worldview was refreshed once again for the first time in a long time.
In this world...does there still exist such a powerful master?
Qingdeng felt that the "qi" rushing in his chest was gradually dissipating. He covered his chest with one hand and pushed Ding Guishen into the mud beside him with the other hand. He used it as support and stood up little by little.
——If this guy attacks me again...how should I defend and counterattack?
Qingdeng's burning eyes were fixed on the man in black, thinking intently on how he would counterattack if the man in black launched the same attack on him again.
Seeing Qingden standing up so quickly and looking at him with such eyes, the man in black raised his hand and slightly raised the hat on his head.
Qingden saw a pair of eyes with a calm smile.
"It seems that you have recovered. Okay, let us continue."
The man in black leaned down again and picked up a new branch.
"This is such a nice place, there are so many branches to use."
Upon seeing this, Qingdeng realized that the man in black was trying to get a second round, and he quickly stepped on his feet to steady his sword, staring closely at the figure and movements of the man in black, his eyes wide open as if they were about to burst.
"I'm on it."
The man in black swung the branch in his hand, confirmed that the newly picked branch could be used, then slowly lowered his body weight, and then——
Snapped!
There was another dull sound of branches hitting people...
Qingdeng flew out again, with a new long and thin red mark on his chest.
This new mark and the old mark are superimposed to form a very symmetrical "x" shape.
"You're quite strong." The man in black said as he leaned down and picked up the third branch. "Is this the only thing you're capable of? If your strength is only this level...then I can't It’s really a big disappointment.”
Before he finished speaking, someone had arrived - Qingdeng saw the man in black appear in front of him at a teleporting speed for the third time.
Then, a third red mark appeared on his chest...
Then, the man in black picked up the fourth branch...
--no! If this continues, he will be beaten like a sandbag!
Qingden stood up again unyieldingly.
——You have to... think of a way to counter this guy's speed...
The lines on Qingden's face became cold and hard as his head was deep in thought.
…
This one-sided battle lasted for nearly 10 minutes.
Qingdeng was not able to block the branch of the man in black even once.
The man in black's footsteps and slashing speed are extremely fast.
Every time in just a blink of an eye, his branches were imprinted on Qingdeng's chest and shoulders - the branches of the man in black basically only greeted these two parts of Qingdeng's body.
The overwhelming difference in strength makes every competition end within a few seconds.
The strength gap between the two sides is so big that they can't even copy the talent from the other side...
Qingdeng's chest and shoulders were now all red - these were dense red marks.
In some places, due to repeated attacks, the flesh has burst open, and streams of blood foam secreted from the open wounds.
He had no power to fight back and was beaten terribly... But even so, Qingden's eyes never changed when he looked at the man in black - there was no doubt or confusion at all... as if he didn't know what fear was at all.
——It’s still a little bit worse... It’s still a little bit worse...
Qingdeng, who had been knocked to the ground countless times, got up from the ground without even looking at his wounds.
A scrutinizing light burst out from his slightly narrowed eyes.
"…The eyes are good."
At this moment, there was an extra branch in his hands. He had almost finished picking up all the branches on the trail, and the man in black said calmly.
"The look in your eyes reminds me of an old man who is both my best friend and my master."
"Old man?" Qingdeng couldn't help but think to himself: How powerful is someone who can teach such a master?
"It's just that the good eyesight is not enough to make me feel that today's trip is worthwhile."
The last few syllables of the man in black's words suddenly became extremely strange - because before he could finish speaking, the man in black pounced on Qingdeng at an extremely fast speed! The sound was affected by the high-speed movement, and the "syllable" that was originally several steps away from Qingdeng was suddenly pulled to Qingdeng.
The shadow cast by the branch that was lifted high and landed quickly covered one of Qingdeng's eyes... but Qingdeng remained indifferent and stood there with his sword in hand.
Looking at the indifferent Qing Deng, a trace of disappointment slowly appeared on the brow of the man in black.
But at this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Just when the branch in the hand of the man in black was about to add a new mark on Qingdeng's chest, Qingdeng's body suddenly flashed to the left at lightning speed!
Although he managed to hide somewhat reluctantly, this was indeed the first time that the man in black's attack failed!
The disappointment in the man in black's brow suddenly turned into astonishment.
——Successful! You can predict his sword path!
After the first round of confrontation with the man in black, Qingden had already determined that his body could not keep up with the speed of the man in black, and his shortcomings could not be filled by temporary efforts.
Since the body has no time to react, it can only rely on predicting its movements to dodge!
Therefore, Qingdeng's strategy is quite clear - rely on "anticipation" to avoid the attack of the men in black and wait for an opportunity to counterattack the opponent's army!
For this purpose, one must make good use of an opportunity in the man in black.
The man in black... or rather his attack method has a special characteristic. It may seem like nothing to others, but to Qingdeng, it is a breakthrough that can bring him a victory.
Although the man in black used different methods and sword paths to "kill" him from beginning to end, his speed and power remained unchanged.
After being beaten so many times, Qingdeng's brain and muscles had become accustomed to the speed and offensive style of the man in black.
This guy's offensive looks very messy at first glance. In fact, every attack he makes has a trace and is not just a random attack.
After a few rounds of simple observation, Qingdeng discovered that although the weapon wielded by the man in black was just a branch, there was no doubt that the way he swung the branch was all serious swordsmanship.
As long as it's swordsmanship, it's easy.
In Qingdeng's talent list, the talent that was upgraded to "sword skill 106 times that of ordinary people" through talent fusion: "Saint of Swords", has been silently shining after fighting the man in black!
Qingdeng learned and digested the swordsmanship and sword-drawing style of the man in black at a very fast speed!
Relying on the light-speed mastery of the swordsmanship of the man in black, Qingdeng finally successfully predicted and dodged the opponent's branch for the first time just now!
He was excited, but Qingdeng was not just happy.
While he was overjoyed in his heart, he had already swung out the Dingguishen that was placed across his waist! Slash at the body of the man in black!
Angle, timing, all impeccable counterattacks.
However... the scene that happened next caused the excitement that just appeared on Qingdeng's face to freeze.
Peng!
"cough!"
Qingdeng felt a huge impact on his chest. This time he really felt like he had been hit by an express train.
Just at the critical moment when the blade of Ding Guishen was about to hit the body of the man in black, a black shadow suddenly struck Qingdeng's chest - the man in black flew a kick with incredible speed and reaction, hitting Qingdeng in the middle. to the chest and directly kicked Qingdeng out.
Fortunately, the man in black saved a hand.
Even a person who doesn't know anything about martial arts can see that the man in black didn't use all his strength in the kick just now.
But even so, Qingden still felt very uncomfortable. If he hadn't raised his hand to touch his chest and confirmed that the bones were intact, otherwise he would have really suspected that his sternum was broken by a kick.
Although he lost again, overall, Qingdeng has made huge progress - from being unable to survive under the branch of the man in black for 5 seconds to being able to survive for 7 seconds.
At this time, a hoarse old male voice came:
"The dodge and counterattack just now... were very good."
Qingdeng, who still felt severe pain in his chest, got up with difficulty.
I saw that the man in black stopped picking up branches.
He put his hands on his hips and looked at Qingden calmly.
Although he couldn't see the other person's face because of the mask, Qingdeng was sure: the man in black was laughing.
"Although your skills still need to be improved, the light in your eyes and your talents are indeed worthy of praise."
The man in black stretched out the index and middle fingers of his right hand and pointed at his eyes.
"I kind of understand why you got the title of 'Nioh'."
After speaking, the man in black paused for a moment.
He seemed to be thinking about something.
"……Fine."
After a moment, the man in black, who seemed to have figured something out, turned around, walked slowly back to where he was standing just now, raised his hand and pulled out the wooden knife that he had inserted into the ground.
"Seeing as you didn't disappoint me too much... just think of it as a reward for you, and I'll show you something good."
The man in black was seen standing naturally in a very relaxed posture, and the wooden knife held in one hand with his right arm was slowly raised above his head.
Qingdeng, who thought the man in black was going to fight him again, endured the pain in his chest and staggered into his posture.
Although the strength gap between himself and the man in black has been clearly demonstrated in the series of confrontations just now... Qingden still didn't hesitate in raising his sword to fight again.
"Good stuff...do you want me to show you your special moves?"
The man in black's current actions plus his behavior just now... Qingdeng naturally thought that the man in black was going to show off his sword skills to Qingdeng.
But who would have thought - after hearing Qingdeng's question, the man in black laughed "hahaha" as if he had heard some funny joke.
"The proud move...hahahahaha."
Under Qingdeng's puzzled gaze, the man in black slowly smiled happily and changed into a faint tone:
"What a move."
"What I want to show you... is much more powerful than the so-called moves."
"Hold your breath and watch with your eyes wide open."
"Don't miss a beat of what you see next."
"Whether you can understand something from my sword... it all depends on your ability."
After that, the man in black closed his mouth.
And the moment the man in black stopped talking... Qingdeng's eyes shrank to the size of a pinhole after witnessing an indescribable scene.
It may be strange to say this...but Qingdeng did have such a weird feeling: The man in black in front of him...the wooden sword in his hand seemed to be one with the heaven and earth!
*******
*******
Today is another chapter of nearly 7,000 words... I found that under normal circumstances, 6-7,000 words is my limit. If I want to write 8,000 words or 1,000 words, it all depends on my physical and mental state when writing...
For the sake of the author, who has coded another chapter with a lot of words and a lot of content today, give this book a monthly vote!
Asking for a monthly ticket! Please vote for recommendation! (Leopard head crying.jpg)
