I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"...Okita-kun, is that Mr. Chiba Sadakichi?"

"Yes." Okita nodded vigorously.

—That person…was it Chiba Sadakichi?

At the end of Qingdeng's line of sight was a kind-looking...fat man.

The man who holds so many titles—the younger brother of Chiba Shusaku, the founder of the Hokushin Itto-ryu school, and the current master of the Kochiba Kenkan—has surprisingly become quite out of shape.

Chiba Sadakichi, who is 63 years old this year, is undoubtedly an elderly man.

Despite being an elderly man, he had the physique of a middle-aged man: he was severely overweight, and his protruding belly pushed up the fabric of his clothes around his abdomen.

Chiba Sadakichi's weight gain made his face look bloated, and his facial features were deformed due to the "stretching".

If you look closely, it's not hard to see that Chiba Sadakichi's features are quite handsome, with a broad face and a double chin, exuding an air of majesty.

Unfortunately, his weight gain has dealt a devastating blow to his appearance...

Although Chiba Sadakichi's appearance was slightly unexpected by Aoto, Aoto did not treat Chiba Sadakichi differently because of it.

Firstly, because Qingdeng never judges people by their appearance.

Secondly, it's because Chiba Sadakichi's status has risen to such a level that people no longer dare to question his abilities.

Chiba Sadakichi's current status in the Japanese swordsmanship world... to put it bluntly, he is an undisputed grandmaster, a legendary swordsman who is still alive and would be treated with respect even by the Shogun of the Edo Shogunate.

Such a status naturally made Chiba Sadakichi an idol for countless swordsmen.

After Chiba Sadakichi entered the competition venue through a gap in the northwest corner, some spectators in the "stands" who recognized Chiba Sadakichi immediately erupted in excitement.

"Look, it's Chiba Sadakichi!"

"Chiba Sadakichi has arrived!"

"Sigh... I really wanted to learn from him... but unfortunately I heard that he's too old and no longer accepts anyone's advice..."

……

Amidst the cheers of the audience, Chiba Jutaro and his entourage at the main camp of the Chiba Sword Hall hurriedly went to greet Chiba Sadakichi.

In the "VIP audience seats," Zhou Zhu smiled and led his wife to meet his old friend who had arrived late.

The attention of many people at the scene, including Qing Deng, was drawn to the legendary swordsman who had finally made his appearance.

Of course—Qingdeng's focus is slightly different from others...

—I wonder if someone as remarkable as Mr. Chiba Sadakichi possesses any extraordinary or exceptional talents…

Aoto was intently speculating about the talents Chiba Sadakichi might possess, and pondering how to spar with him...

He had heard that Chiba Sadakichi, due to his advanced age, would no longer accept challenges from anyone, so it would definitely not work to simply go to Chiba Sadakichi's door and say, "I want to learn from you."

While Aoto was still intently thinking about how to spar with Chiba Sadakichi, two very familiar figures suddenly appeared from the corner of Aoto's left eye.

"Tachibana-kun, Okita-kun, we've finally found you."

"Mr. Kiryu? Ms. Kinoshita?" Okita exclaimed in surprise.

The two familiar figures that suddenly appeared in Qing Deng's peripheral vision were none other than Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai.

Mr. Kiryu, dressed like an "ordinary old man next door," led Kinoshita Mai slowly toward Aoto and Okita with a gentle smile.

After Qing Deng and Okita looked over, Kinoshita Mai quickly bowed politely to the two of them.

Qing Deng discovered: Kinoshita Mai seems to really like red.

Every time I saw her, she was wearing the same style of bright red kimono and flat wooden clogs with red buttons.

Because Kinoshita Mai always wears the same clothes, Aoto couldn't help but wonder about her wardrobe—did she only have this one outfit, or did she have several of the same style...?

When Kiryu appeared with Kinoshita Mai, they immediately attracted the attention of many people inside the Shieikan.

Because Kiryu often appeared at the Shieikan, many people there recognized the old man with glasses.

Many people gathered around and greeted Kiryu, who warmly responded to their greetings one by one.

"Mr. Kiryu!" Kondo greeted Kiryu with a delighted smile, "You've come to watch the game?"

"Mr. Kiryu, Ms. Kinoshita," Aoto chimed in, his surprised gaze shifting between Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai. "I thought you weren't coming..."

"Hahaha." Kiryu chuckled softly a few times. "It's rare that I don't have any urgent business today, so I brought the young master along to take a look."

After exchanging a few more words with Aoto and the others, Kiryu looked up at the surrounding audience seats: "There are so many people... Tachibana-kun, when exactly does the match start?"

Qingdeng: "8:00 AM (2:00 PM)."

"Hmm... It's almost time." Kiryu smiled slightly. "Well then—I'll take my seat with you, young master."

"Kondo-kun, Tachibana-kun, you two better do your best later. The young master and I will be cheering you on from the stands."

Qingdeng laughed and said, "Thank you. With your words, I feel much more motivated."

Kiryu laughed heartily: "Haha, Tachibana-kun, you're surprisingly eloquent."

……

……

There are less than 15 minutes left before the match starts.

Whether it's the Shieikan or the Chiba Kenkan, all the participants have now basically finished warming up and checking their equipment, and are now nervously and quietly waiting for the competition to begin.

The number of spectators gathered outside the competition venue is now approaching 400...

Because there were so many people, those who arrived late were blocked outside the dense human wall and could not see what was happening inside the competition venue.

A very small number of people, in order to get a good "viewing spot," went to climb the nearby plum trees—and were then severely reprimanded by the shrine maidens of Yushima Tenmangu Shrine.

Aoto didn't know the situation at the Chiba Sword Academy, but he knew what was going on at their Shieikan—almost everyone, including Kondo and Okita, was visibly tense…

Qingdeng even saw one of his senior brothers' hands and feet shaking so badly that it made people doubt whether he could still hold the bamboo sword steadily.

Qing Deng could understand why everyone was so nervous, since most of them probably rarely... or rather, almost never had the experience of holding a "Red and White Battle" with so many spectators.

Feeling nervous is inevitable.

Qing Deng is currently in a good mood. After all, in his previous life, he frequently participated in activities that required him to showcase his talents in front of a large audience, such as "speech contests," and had been trained in these areas. The presence of a mere 400 spectators was not enough to make Qing Deng feel nervous.

As the number of spectators continued to increase, the scene became increasingly noisy.

Naturally, some strange sounds gradually increased and began to reach Qingdeng and the others' ears...

For example, right now—

"What kind of swordsmanship hall is this Shiwei Hall? I've never heard of it before."

"It seems to be a sword school that teaches something called Tennen Ryōshū."

"It is a natural flow of mental well-being."

"Ah, right, right, I remembered wrong. It's Natural Reason Flow, not Heavenly Thought Reason Flow."

"I've never heard of either the name of the sword club or the name of this school..."

"This Shieikan seems to be just an inconspicuous sword-making hall in our Edo."

"Why can such an unknown little swordsmanship school compete against a famous big swordsmanship school like Chiba Swordsmanship School? This kind of competition is completely boring, isn't it? The two swordsmanship schools are so different in strength, wouldn't the swordsmen of Chiba Swordsmanship School completely suppress the swordsmen of Shiei Hall?"

"Who knows how these two kendo schools got the chance to compete together. Anyway, the reason I came all this way to watch this match was just to see Chiba Sanako and, by the way, just to see how good the swordsmen from the famous Little Chiba Kendo School are."

"Tsk tsk, that Chiba Sanako is really beautiful."

"Look at her big belly and butt. How did she grow up like that? The rest of her body is so thin, but there are so many fleshy spots."

"Hey, do you guys think—with Chiba Sanako's breasts being so big, when the match starts and they get really intense, won't they shake a lot?"

……

This conversation was heard from four middle-aged men in a section of the stands west of the main hall of the Shieikan (Shieikan headquarters).

The four middle-aged men were all wearing clothes with many patches. At this moment, the four of them were still talking.

They knew that what they had just talked about would offend the people at Shieikan, so they tried to keep their voices down.

However—they were all very bad at speaking softly.

Despite their efforts to keep their voices down, Qing Deng and the others, who were waiting for the match to begin inside the "main camp," could still clearly hear the four people's conversation.

In an instant, a look of regret appeared on everyone's faces.

Qingdeng's brows furrowed at this moment, and his displeasure was clearly visible in his eyes and on his face.

However, Aoto was only displeased and did not feel angry like he had when he heard Chiba Tamon Shiro refer to Shieikan as a "third-rate swordsmanship school".

Because the two are not quite the same.

Although what those four people said was unpleasant, what they said were undeniable facts...

Their reputation, scale, number of apprentices, and quality of students are indeed far inferior to those of the Chiba Sword Hall.

The large audience for this upcoming match owes much to the Chiba Kendo Hall.

Many of the audience members in the stands today were probably drawn here by the reputation of the Chiba Kenkan.

Shieikan? What's that? I don't recognize it at all. We came to see the Chiba Kenkan.

Several hot-tempered apprentices turned around and glared menacingly at the four middle-aged men.

Upon noticing the gazes that were almost coalescing into concrete killing intent, the middle-aged people immediately realized that their words had likely been overheard by the people from the Examination Hall. Their faces turned deathly pale, and they hurriedly turned and left.

Someone stood up, wanting to chase after the four middle-aged men, but was stopped by Kondo.

"Where do you think you're going? Come back!"

After glaring resentfully at Kondo a few times, the man gritted his teeth and sat back down in his seat.

Kondo naturally heard the four middle-aged men's unpleasant remarks.

The competition is about to begin, and Kondo would certainly not allow his apprentice to cause any trouble.

Besides... Kondo, like Aoto, had a rational judgment about what those people had just said.

They didn't say anything wrong, and if you try to reason with them, the people from the Imperial Guard are in the wrong.

In order to train Kondo, Shusuke handed over all management and command authority for today's match to Kondo.

He will not get involved in any matters related to the match today. He will stay in the "VIP seats" with Abi and watch the match until it ends.