I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

This method can conceal the luster of the blade and better hide oneself.

Secondly, she hollowed out the inside of the knife handle and filled it with a paste-like hemostatic agent.

Simply open the bottom of the handle to remove the hemostatic medicine inside.

Finally, she replaced the handle coil with a specially made, tough rope.

The so-called handle roll is the rope wrapped around the handle of the knife. It serves both an aesthetic purpose and increases the friction between the palm and the handle.

Firstly, it can be used to bandage wounds in emergency situations.

Secondly, it can be used as a climbing rope, just like it is right now.

According to Kinoshita Mai, this "multi-functional sword" was one of the classic weapons of ninjas during the Sengoku period.

After untying the rope from the hilt and letting it hang to the ground, she used the hilt as a foothold and leaped upwards.

Sure enough—she casually jumped up and effortlessly climbed to the top of the wall.

Qingdeng then quickly climbed up the rope that was hanging down.

After climbing onto the hilt of the sword, he jumped to the top of the wall, just like Mai Kinoshita.

At the same time, he was holding a rope in his hand.

After landing steadily on the top of the wall, Kinoshita Mai took the rope back from Aoto's hand, and then with a burst of strength, pulled the rope upwards—crack—the wakizashi slipped out of the crack in the stone and returned to her hand.

Immediately afterwards, the two left the top of the wall one after the other, jumped into the wall, and landed back on the ground.

"Alright... let's say we've had a good start."

As she spoke, Kinoshita Mai let out a long breath.

Suddenly, Qingdeng's ear tips trembled slightly.

"...Ah Wu, be careful, enemies are coming."

At the very moment Qing Deng finished speaking, two flickering candlelight appeared in the distance.

Upon closer inspection—two samurai carrying lanterns were patrolling.

Soon, they spotted Aoto and Kinoshita Mai standing in the darkness.

"Who goes there?!"

Despite no prior agreement, Aoto and Kinoshita Mai started moving simultaneously, one after the other! They rushed towards the two samurai like a whirlwind!

Before the other party could even react, the two had already closed in on him!

Vairocana drew a purple arc of light.

Echizen Yasutsugu drew straight lines.

Two plumes of blood mist merged into the night.

Takagi Castle truly lived up to its reputation as a renowned castle with extremely well-developed defensive facilities, complete with watchtowers, turrets, and other reconnaissance fortifications.

The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the sentries not far away.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemies have infiltrated!"

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The urgent sound of gongs broke the tranquility of the city and heralded the start of a bloody battle!

As Qingdeng handed the Vairocana to his left hand, he murmured indifferently:

"Oh dear, we're about to get busy so soon."

Before long, a dozen enemy soldiers wielding various weapons emerged from all directions and surrounded Aoto and Kinoshita Dance Troupe.

Seeing this, the two tacitly changed their positions—back to back, confidently entrusting each other with their greatest weaknesses.

Feeling the warmth emanating from her back, Kinoshita Mai smiled gently:

"This feeling... it's been so long since I've felt this way."

The last time the two fought back-to-back like this was three years ago in the decisive battle against the Extermination Group.

At that time, Kinoshita Mai was a 15-year-old girl in the prime of her youth.

In the blink of an eye, she has grown into an 18-year-old young woman.

"Ah Wu, you don't seem to have grown much taller?"

Kinoshita Mai, instantly bristling with anger, retorted irritably:

"Don't say such annoying things at a time like this! Even though I haven't grown taller, all the other parts of my body are developing very well!"

Qingdeng chuckled a few times after successfully making a joke, then steadily raised the Vairocana in his hand.

"Ah Wu, don't hold back, give it your all and leave behind a fearsome reputation tonight."

Having said that, he suddenly sprang up, soaring high above the heads of the two men in front of him like a swallow.

In the blink of an eye, the tops of their heads flew into the sky.

Almost at the same time, Kinoshita Mai suppressed the resentment that had been overflowing from Aoto's teasing and, in coordination with Aoto's actions, launched a fierce offensive.

She lunged at the enemy in front of her and shoved the wakizashi into his chest.

The enemy she stabbed collapsed to the ground limply, as if slipping from her grasp.

In the next instant, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she swung her sword backhand and cut down the other person who had caught up with her—as she swung the sword, she freed her left hand and reached up above her head.

Then there was a muffled "crack" as she firmly grabbed the shaft of the spear that was about to smash down on her head with her left hand.

In a flash, Echizen Yasutsugu, who was originally holding her right hand, flew out of her palm and struck the gunman squarely in the chest.

Although she was without weapons, Kinoshita Mai didn't think it was a problem at all.

She's more skilled with her fists and feet than with weapons!

With a swift movement, she moved to the side of an enemy.

Before he could even react, the world before him turned 180 degrees—Kinoshita Mai grabbed his shoulder and waist, executing an over-the-shoulder throw that sent his back making intimate contact with the ground, landing him flat on his back.

"Damn it! Go to hell, you shorty!"

A very tall man raised his katana and aimed it at Kinoshita Mai's head, then brought it down with force.

"Stinky dwarf"—upon hearing this nickname, Kinoshita Mai's expression froze, much like a robot that had suddenly lost power.

Of course, the "power outage" was only momentary.

The next instant, she stepped forward with her right foot.

As she took a step, she stretched out her arms high, blocking the tall man's arms and stopping his slash.

A moment later, she used her right foot as a fulcrum and swept her left foot forward like a battle axe, stirring up clouds of dust and gusts of air.

The kick landed squarely on the tall man's right knee.

His right leg bent down—but in the opposite direction.

*******

*******

It's almost the end of the month! Readers with monthly passes, please vote for this book! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

Kinoshita Mai is so cute~ No wonder she's the main heroine of this book!

The month is almost over, and Leopard still has his last monthly pass in his hand.

So, Leopard wants to take the day off tomorrow and get some rest.

A while ago, a reader suggested to me: when requesting leave, you could include some short side stories or novel settings in the leave request form. This way, you wouldn't have to delete the leave requests frequently, and readers would still have something to read.

I think this is a good idea, so tomorrow Leopard will release some settings related to Sanako that can't be shown in the main story.

Stay tuned!

Sanako's secrets! [Free]

As I said yesterday, I'm taking a break today—using up my last leave slip of the month.

A while ago, some readers suggested using short side stories or similar content to replace leave requests. This way, we wouldn't have to delete leave requests so often, and readers would still have something to read.

So today, Leopard will tell you the story of Miss Sanako~

According to Leopard's character design, Sanako is a person with a strong sex drive.

She used to live a simple and abstinent life, focusing solely on martial arts, so nothing unusual happened to her.

But ever since he developed feelings for Qingdeng, something "strange" happened.

Because she values ​​her image and honor, she always tries to maintain a composed demeanor so that she can still appear as the aloof and elegant young lady of the Wu family.

But every night, she would involuntarily comfort herself—"As for the details, you can use your imagination."

None of the above events can be shown in the main text, so I can only mention them here.

Leopard originally wanted to write a scene where "Qing Deng bumps into Sanako comforting herself," but how could he write such a thing on a platform like Qidian? So he had to give up.

Alright, that's all for this novel scoop. See you next time!

The leopard cub is going to visit its mother!

Chapter 743 Talent Unleashed! Takatori Castle, Third Maru, Breakthrough! [6100]

With a sickening cracking sound, his entire right leg bent backwards from the knee, becoming like a bird's leg—a truly horrifying sight.

"Aa ...

He screamed in agony as he collapsed to his knees, his body buckling from the loss of support on one leg.

As a result, he became a head shorter than Mai Kinoshita.

This height difference between the two made it easy for Kinoshita Mai to launch a pursuit!

She smoothly retracted her left leg, then clenched her right fist and threw a right hook, striking her opponent squarely in the neck.

Before his vision was swallowed by the abyss-like darkness, the last thing this person saw was a pair of eyes that had lost their previous crystal clarity, as if they were covered with a translucent film.