I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Qing Deng continued:

"Let's stop his bleeding while we're at it. If we ignore his injuries, he'll die before we even get back to camp."

Gushing... Blood flowed down from his severed arm like a trickle.

At this rate of blood flow, it won't be long before excessive blood loss occurs.

Sanako pursed her lips and said, feigning displeasure:

"What a hassle... If you hadn't shot off this guy's arm, none of this would have happened."

Qingdeng smiled helplessly.

"I was in a killing frenzy at that point. When I saw this guy draw his sword, I instinctively drew my bow to cripple his ability to resist."

Ever since copying the talent "Born to Fight +9" from "Sword Saint" Seiichiro Ayane, Aoden has become increasingly prone to entering a state of "battle mania".

"Born to Fight +9" - This talent means that the more intense and fierce the battle, the better one's physical and mental state.

Although this talent seems incredibly powerful based on its description, Qingdeng has never been able to fully unleash its potential so far.

The reason is quite simple: Qing Deng rarely encounters battles that require him to go all out, or even risk his life.

However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that this talent was merely for show.

Nowadays, Qingdeng is more likely to enter a state of excitement and ferocity during wartime than ever before.

In this state, Qingdeng always perfectly embodies what it means to "treat human life as worthless" and "carry two watermelon knives and hacked all the way from Nantianmen to Penglai East Road, hacking back and forth for three days and three nights, with rivers of blood flowing, without ever blinking an eye."

Despite her complaints, when it came to getting work done, Sanako never hesitated.

She dismounted, tore a long strip of cloth from the commander's clothes, and tied a tight knot around his right shoulder, which temporarily stopped the bleeding.

Seeing that Sanako had finished bandaging, Qingdeng turned his head to look at the enemy camp not far away.

"...Zanako, let's go, we should go back."

"Hmm? Are we going back already?"

Qingdeng nodded slightly.

"We've seen everything we wanted to see. We've also had some unexpected gains. It's about time to head back to camp."

When talking about the "unexpected gain," Qing Deng deliberately shook the commander under his arm.

Since Aoto has already spoken, Sanako naturally has no choice but to obey.

She nodded in agreement, then remounted her horse.

The two walked side by side... but after only a few steps, Qingdeng suddenly pulled on the reins as if he had remembered something important.

"Ah, wait a minute!"

As he spoke, he turned to look at the horses behind him.

"I almost forgot... take all these horses back; they're valuable spoils of war."

Aside from the dead horse that had been shot by Qingdeng and was now "leaking from both ends," as well as the horses that had fled in fright, there were still quite a few horses wandering around aimlessly.

Upon careful counting, there were a total of 12 horses.

If it's something worthless like an unnamed sword or a bamboo spear, then that's fine.

However, strategic resources as important as horses should be cherished.

Sanako belatedly came to her senses.

The two dismounted together and led back all the ownerless horses.

As he led the horse, Qingdeng murmured, half with heartache and half with regret:

"I was careless... I should have killed fewer horses just now..."

……

……

Qingdeng and Sanako led the confiscated horses and galloped back to camp.

Just as the bandit camp had become a blurry black shadow behind them, Qingdeng vaguely heard a commotion coming from afar... presumably, the bandits had once again mobilized a large force to pursue them.

Although the bandits' response was swift, Qing Deng and Sanako had already gone far away because of their speed.

Even if the bandits wanted to pursue them, they couldn't catch up.

"..."

Sanako, who was half a step behind Aoto, was secretly glancing at Aoto again.

After a moment, as if she could no longer contain herself, she took a deep breath and whispered:

"Tachibana-kun, although I know there are no supernatural forces or gods in this world, I'm starting to suspect more and more... that you might really be the incarnation of Niou on earth?"

Qingdeng raised an eyebrow:

"Hmm? Why are you suddenly saying that?"

Sanako took another deep breath.

"It seems there is no martial art in this world that you cannot master."

“You always manage to show me new and amazing martial arts skills from time to time.”

"First swordsmanship, then archery, and now the swift horse."

"This is the first time I've known... that you even have some knowledge of 'Flowing Arrow Horse'."

“I knew you were skilled with the bow, but I didn’t expect you were also good at the ‘slipper horse’.”

"Liu Di Ma" – simply put, it refers to mounted archery.

Japan during the Heian and Kamakura periods (794-1333) was, to put it nicely, still in an "aristocratic era." The yūbura horse, which could both display aristocratic status and facilitate showing off, was extremely popular, and one-on-one duels between warriors were also very common.

Japan at that time was like ancient China during the Zhou Dynasty, emphasizing etiquette and law. Even in war, a whole host of complicated rituals had to be observed.

When two armies clash, each side often sends a general to the front lines to announce their identity—this is very important, as interrupting someone's boasting is extremely rude—after both sides have finished boasting, a duel called "one against one" will officially begin.

Because the use of dagger-wielding horses was very popular at that time, one-on-one duels were mostly conducted by horsemen shooting at each other.

This form of warfare, characterized by mutual posturing, continued for a long time—until the Yuan Dynasty launched its eastern expedition, and the Yuan army, which swept across Eurasia, gave the Japanese samurai a vivid lesson. Only then did the Japanese samurai gradually correct their bad habit of showing off on the battlefield.

Gradually, the terms "one-man raid" and "horse with a flowing arrow" fell out of fashion.

Today, the art of horse racing with flowing arrows has become an extremely rare skill.

Even if someone wants to become an apprentice, they don't know who to approach.

Therefore, it's no wonder that Sanako, who loves martial arts, was so surprised.

Even on the back of an ox, which was jolting violently from full speed, he could still spread the word from a hundred paces away and kill two people with a single arrow... Such divine skill would make even the famous warriors of the Heian and Kamakura periods feel ashamed of their own abilities!

Sanako's words hadn't stopped:

"Not only that, you also cursed the gods at the erotic shrine in Nara before."

"I was thinking... could the gods in Shintoism and the Buddhas in Buddhism be considered enemies vying for incense offerings?"

"So...you wouldn't actually be a Buddha descended to earth..."

Before Sanako could finish speaking, Aoto burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Looking at Aoto, who was smiling broadly, Sanako was initially taken aback, then suppressed her embarrassment and quickly said as if to make amends:

"I...I'm not joking! I'm very serious! No, no more laughing!"

Ignoring Sanako's request, Qing Deng continued to smile while silently thinking to himself:

—Sanako, who is usually so serious that she's almost rigid, can sometimes say things that are incredibly innocent and carefree…

When she encounters someone or something she dislikes, she doesn't hesitate to show her dislike; when she encounters someone or something she admires, she doesn't hide her admiration... This can be considered one of Sanako's strengths and endearing qualities.

After laughing heartily, Qingdeng said quietly:

“If I were truly the incarnation of the Benevolent King on earth, I would directly use divine power to eradicate all evil in the world and bring happiness to all the oppressed people of the world. In that case, there would be no need to go through all this trouble.”

Aoto wanted to tease Sanako a few more times, but the Shinsengumi's camp was already in sight.

Although they had not yet entered the camp, the intense, clamorous noise, like a raging fire, was already pressing in on him and Sanako.

……

……

Ueno Basin, Shinsengumi Camp —

Qing Deng and Sanako passed through the camp gate one after the other.

On both sides of the road behind the camp gate, many soldiers were standing.

They all raised their eyes, and beams of astonishment, longing, and fervor focused on Qing Deng.

"Look! Lord Niou really didn't bring any guards, he only took Captain Chiba with him to scout the enemy's situation!"

"I heard that they advanced directly to the vicinity of the bandit camp to observe its layout up close."

"This is too reckless... Is this what they call 'high skill breeds daring'?"

"Look, they're covered in blood!"

"They must have just been through a bloody battle!"

……

Because they had just fought a big battle, both Aoto and Sanako had a lot of blood on them.

Light blue haori is inherently prone to getting dirty.

Let alone blood, even the slightest stain would be extremely noticeable.

Returning to camp covered in blood in full view of everyone... this scene is indeed visually striking!

An army of about a hundred men, no matter how large the camp, can't be that big.

For this reason, any news could spread very quickly within the Shinsengumi's camp.

Therefore, as soon as the Aizu cavalry suffered a defeat, the news that "the enemy army has an arquebus unit that has utterly defeated the once invincible Aizu cavalry" spread like wildfire throughout the entire camp.

Generally speaking, the Shinsengumi soldiers disliked the arrogant Aizu soldiers.