Simulation: Starting from Under One Person

If it's someone you knew before leaving "Naraku," it's indeed difficult to reveal their name.

"Is it dangerous?" Sasaki Isaburo didn't think too much about it and instead asked about something else.

“It’s not dangerous,” Imai Nobuo said in a low voice. “Fang Rui is talking to him. There might be changes in Edo soon. You should be careful.”

Before she left Naraku, Yoshida Shōyō had already become the leader of Naraku and had a very close relationship with the Tendōshū.

Once the other party leaves "Naraku" and escapes the control of the Tendoushu, it's easy to guess what will happen...

There is no way that the Heavenly Guides would give up the "treasure"!

Has it changed?

Since Nobuyo Imai deliberately mentioned it, Izaburo Sasaki could guess that the change she was talking about was not a simple matter, but probably something with a wide-ranging impact.

With Fang Rui's involvement in mind, Sasaki Isaburo recalled their long-planned plan to launch a counterattack against the Celestials and break free from the control of the Celestials.

"Is it to our advantage?" Sasaki Isaburo asked.

"It's dangerous, but it's the situation you've been hoping for."

Imai Nobuyo knew that Sasaki Isaburo and the others had been hoping for a war, a war in which the Heavenly Guides would be involved.

Once the Heavenly Guides enter the fray, it signifies that the situation is serious enough to warrant their attention.

Moreover, once the Heavenly Guides are dealt with, the forces they control will naturally fall out of control. After all, how could all of the Heavenly Guides' subordinates be docile? Rather, most of them are greedy and crave greater power.

"I understand~" Sasaki Isaburo said casually, as if he didn't care, but his eyes were shining with eagerness.

The preliminary preparations are not yet complete, but there is still some time before Fang Rui causes trouble, so we need to speed things up...

Some time ago, Katsura Kotaro contacted him, saying that he had found several stable weapons suppliers and was currently in negotiations...

As for troop strength, everyone in the Shinsengumi and Mikaigumi is very reliable, after all, they have been screened, and the two organizations together have several thousand people.

In addition, there were some anti-foreign organizations, some ordinary police organizations willing to fight, and some ordinary people willing to fight...

The total troop strength should reach tens of thousands!

Although their forces were far inferior to those of the Heavenly Guides, the enemy couldn't possibly commit all their forces immediately, and that was precisely the opportunity that Sasaki Isaburo and his men were eyeing...

Eliminate the leader before the enemy's entire army launches an attack.

As for whether it will succeed, Sasaki Isaburo said he had no confidence whatsoever. After all, a plan is just a plan, and the actual situation depends on the circumstances.

If we're lucky, things will go according to plan; if we're unlucky, the first step will probably fall apart.

After telling Sasaki Isaburo about this, Imai Nobuyo stopped paying attention to it, which can be explained in one sentence: "Isaburo will handle it."

This is a long-standing habit, which also reflects Sasaki Isaburo's reliability.

On the other hand, unlike Fang Rui who was pondering how to modify his plan, Fang Rui was very happy to have successfully achieved his goal. Even an ordinary competition seemed more interesting to him.

It wasn't that Fang Rui valued Yoshida Shōyō so much; Fang Rui was interested in the treasure vault of the Heavenly Guide Clan.

For a force whose primary activity is plunder, it's difficult to say exactly how many treasures are in its vault; one can only say there are many, a considerable number...

At the same time, there will be a lot of information records about strange plants and animals, and the progress bar of his treasure collection plan will increase dramatically as he obtains the things collected by the Heavenly Guide.

The question is where the treasure vault is; we need to interrogate everyone involved.

Therefore, when Tokugawa Shigeshige and others attacked the Tendoushu, he needed to stand guard to prevent Tokugawa Shigeshige and others from directly eliminating the Tendoushu.

After all, the Tendoushu were an unstable factor for Tokugawa Shigeshige and his group, so it was natural to deal with them as soon as possible.

Considering that resolving the issue of 'Yoshida Shoyo' requires his personal intervention, and since Yoshida Shoyo is not outside the control of the Tendoushu, war is unlikely to break out. Therefore…

Don't rush to light the fuse.

As for how to lure 'Yoshida Shoyo (the imposter)' to him, there's a very simple method: simply put, it's about addressing the root cause...

He will investigate anything that is merely a figment of his imagination, whether it is real or not.

On one hand, there was a possible hope, and on the other hand, the intelligence came from Oboro, and he trusted Oboro to a great extent.

Convincing Oboro is proving to be a bit of a hassle.

The people around him had no idea what Fang Rui was thinking, so they watched the game intently.

Each round's winners are incredibly skilled, enough to cause trouble for Sakata Gintoki and his group. Some even give the group the feeling that they are invincible.

I would like to specifically mention Umibozu and Yaou Housen here. Umibozu registered later and it was not yet time for her to appear, but Yaou Housen had already appeared, rampaging through the crowd and throwing people around like balls. Her strength was already on full display, completely overwhelming them.

Even without personally verifying the power of Night King Housen, just by looking at Sakata Gintoki, one could sense how powerful the other was.

"Tsk! Why is it so hard to earn some bonus money!"

Sakata Gintoki grinned and muttered to himself, "I hope I can meet the Night King later. All my opponents in the qualifying rounds are people I can beat. I don't need to win the championship, I just need a good ranking."

Shimura Shinpachi, listening to Sakata Gintoki's mutterings, was speechless. Although Gintoki's thoughts were similar to his, could he please not say them out loud?!

Everyone's looking over here...

Chapter 573 Intermission

In that stand, there were people who shared Sakata Gintoki's thoughts, but very few of them advanced to the next round...

After all, those who can survive a melee of more than a thousand people are monsters who can fight against a hundred or even a thousand people. Monsters may appear in groups, but they are unlikely to gather in one place.

It's worth mentioning that one of the contestants who advanced was a bit special compared to the others.

I'm talking about Shimura Tae.

None of the people present knew when Shimura Tae had registered.

Logically speaking, Fang Rui should have seen the list of contestants, but with so many people, how could he possibly look at it in detail?

Shimura Tae herself hadn't told anyone about her participation in the competition, and now, the moment she appeared, several people around Fang Rui exclaimed in surprise.

After advancing, the expressions on everyone's faces became even more subtle.

Tae Shimura's combat strength has always fluctuated. In the original story, when Tae Shimura showed high combat strength, she could fight ten people at once and easily destroy walls. For example, in "Kabukicho Four Heavenly Kings", Tae Shimura led a group of hostesses and she personally cut down more than a dozen people with one sword. Or in "The Eternal Yorozuya", she wielded her sword and charged into the Amanto army. Ordinary aliens were all killed with one sword.

However, when her combat strength is low, even an ordinary person can defeat her, leaving her powerless to resist.

Based on the above, Shimura Tae should be capable. Without the corresponding strength, she would not have been able to do the above. As for why her combat power fluctuates, it is probably related to her mindset. She can use her power with confidence when she feels it is reasonable or necessary.

To be honest, Shimura Tae's strength is quite formidable compared to ordinary people; ordinary samurai cannot defeat her. However, even so, the gap between her and Sakata Gintoki and others is still very obvious.

Therefore, her goal is the same as Sakata Gintoki's: to achieve a good ranking, not for the sake of fighting...

Hearing Sakata Gintoki's mutterings, Shimura Tae showed an expression of agreement, pondering how to cooperate with Sakata Gintoki to strive for a higher ranking.

In combat sports, cooperation is rare; identifying a common enemy and helping another person advance is more practical.

In other words, the goal is to weaken Sakata Gintoki's rivals.

Shimura Tae's gaze fell upon certain people, who were her opponents on her path to advancement. With the information she had gathered, defeating some of them was not a problem; the key was another group.

Each of them was capable of taking on a hundred opponents single-handedly. Shimura Tae had a clear understanding of his own strength and did not believe he could defeat them. However, he was willing to try to inflict some injuries on them and weaken their strength.

Regardless of what these people were thinking, Fang Rui found it rather interesting.

With the incentive of the prize money, it is estimated that many people will cooperate, since the higher the ranking, the richer the prize money.

The prize money for tenth place is more than double that for eleventh place.

The difference is so obvious, how could anyone not be tempted!

What kind of drama will unfold?

With these thoughts in mind, Fang Rui was looking forward to tomorrow's battle. At the same time, his gaze fell on the stands where Tokugawa Shigeshige and the others were. Below the stands were the positions of Keino Seimei and Mirino Doman. The spell to control a person's mind was being repeatedly cast to ensure that the person had no chance of breaking free.

Because some techniques are performed silently, someone's bodyguard didn't notice. The person most likely to have noticed something amiss was distracted by Fang Rui's words, and their perception of danger was somewhat diminished...

Therefore, he was unaware that his target had been hypnotized.

While completing their mission, Ketsuno Seimei and Mirino Dōman discussed how to use shikigami.

When facing certain people, quantity alone cannot achieve anything; quality must be considered. The two possess many shikigami, accumulated by generations of Onmyoji within their families.

Before the descent of the celestial beings, it was a time when demons and monsters were more active. However, after so many years of fighting, demons and monsters and Onmyoji have made a pact and will not deliberately attack human towns and villages.

Except for some newly born monsters that have not yet established contact with monster clans, these monsters occasionally attack human towns and villages, and wreak havoc in the wilderness, attacking and frightening passersby.

However, after the celestial beings descended, a long-lasting and wide-ranging war of expelling barbarians broke out. Most of the monsters disappeared in the war. Of the monsters that remain today, some live in special spaces, while the number of monsters that live in ordinary mountains and forests is extremely small.

After all, with the arrival of the celestial beings, ordinary people's fear of monsters has decreased, which has affected the normal lives of the monsters.

Most yokai find their former enemies, namely Onmyoji, sign a contract with them, and then live together, which can be seen as adapting to the development of the times.

Therefore, the number of yokai existing in the two Onmyoji families can be described as enormous.

But the arena is only so big, so we can't use a large number of people; we can only use an elite force.

Flipping through the contract list, I found a bunch of powerful yokai. These yokai were all monster-level fighters, more than enough to deal with Sakata Gintoki and the others.

As for Umibozu, that's a different story.

After all, Umibozu is a monster hunter who hunts monsters all over the stars. He is not someone that ordinary people can deal with, especially some monsters whose strength is not as great as the cosmic monsters.

For example, the parasitic monsters in the story absorb energy and leapfrog from ordinary combat power to legion level.

Even with the Shinsengumi deployed, they couldn't gain the upper hand. While their unique location prevented them from launching a full-scale attack, the enemy's strength had indeed reached the legion level, requiring the deployment of an entire legion to resolve the situation...

In short, you need to find an exceptionally powerful monster to have a chance of advancing further.

After all, the two of them were thinking about gaining glory and making a name for themselves as Onmyoji. If they stopped at level 32, they would be very disappointed and feel very ashamed.

The spectators around the two ignored their conversation, since they were members of the Onmyoji family who weren't participating in the competition but were simply there to watch.

There was a barrier, so their conversation was not overheard by ordinary people, and they didn't have to worry about being suspected of being mentally ill.

To be honest, neither family has ever hidden their relationship with Onmyoji, but how many people actually believe it is another matter.

Both families had always served the shogunate and had never displayed any special power in front of ordinary people, so they were not very well-known.

But now, times are quietly changing, and they've decided to keep pace with the times and change together...

Initially, Tokugawa Shigeshige intended to use the Onmyoji as a surprise force, since such a large number of shikigami would definitely be very effective if they suddenly appeared and attacked the Tendoushu army.

But after thinking about it again, it seems he didn't have a chance to use a surprise attack!

Instead, we should deploy the shikigami troops to attract the attention of the Tendou army, allowing the other force to remain hidden even deeper.

After all, the combat power of shikigami is relatively even in some aspects. Ordinary shikigami are at the same level, and their large size makes them difficult to hide, so they are not suitable as surprise troops. Instead, they are suitable as taunts on the battlefield to attract the enemy's attention.