I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"To be honest, if I could, I wouldn't want to tell you about this..."

After these reflections, Mr. Kiryu looked up at the sky, a look of reminiscence on his face.

"Where should I...begin?"

Silence fell between the two.

About 10 seconds later, Kiryu-sensei produced the next sentence:

"Anyway... I'll tell you my real name first."

“Tachibana-kun, a long time ago, I told you that my true identity is the once world-renowned ‘Ryuko Hachiman’ Mamiya Kuro.”

"While that is true, in fact, 'Mamiya Kuro' is also my alias."

“My real name is actually ‘Yamada Asaemon Yoshitsune’.”

Upon hearing this, Qingdeng's eyes widened uncontrollably, casting a horrified gaze at the old man.

Mr. Kiryu smiled slightly and continued the conversation:

“I am not only a member of the Yamada Asaemon family, but also a direct descendant of the family.”

Qingdeng: "..."

In that instant, Qing Deng seemed to crash, his gaze fixed, remaining silent for a long time—in fact, his brain had indeed temporarily stopped functioning due to the overwhelming amount of information.

Mamiya Kuro is not Kiryu's real name—a fact that Aoto was not surprised by.

Because Kiryu's boss is so mysterious and he doesn't often talk about his past, Aoto had long suspected that "Mamiya Kuro" was not his real name.

There have been many speculations about the true identity of Kiryu's boss.

He never expected... the truth would be so shocking!

A direct descendant of the Yamada Asaemon family!

At this moment, Qing Deng belatedly realized that his connection with the Yamada Asaemon family seemed to be deeper than he had expected!

Seeing that Aoto had recovered somewhat, Kiryu-sensei calmly continued the conversation:

“I am the eldest son of the seventh generation Yamada Asaemon Fumiaki.”

"As the eldest son of the family, I should be the one to inherit this vast family business."

"However... something happened later that caused me to have a disagreement with my father, which led me to finally abandon the family name and leave the family."

"Tachibana-kun, you probably know that besides testing swords and killing people, Yamada Asaemon also has a side job of making medicine."

Qingdeng nodded slightly, his expression changing subtly.

There is another well-known and chilling story about the Yamada Asaemon family.

The Yamada Asaemon family was responsible for both carrying out executions and disposing of corpses.

Generally speaking, these corpses are kept for later use in testing the knife.

However, these corpses had another purpose before being taken to be tested.

And this is the famous side business of the Yamada Asaemon family: using human organs to make medicine!

Ancient Japan believed that the human liver, brain, gallbladder, and bile were all good things, and that human internal organs could be used as medicine.

In this way, the Yamada Asaemon clan made full use of the power to dispose of corpses obtained from the shogunate, using the liver, gallbladder, brain and other parts of the corpses as raw materials to make medicines such as "human liver pills" and "Asayama pills".

The most famous of these pills is the "Human Gallbladder Pill".

It is said that medicine made from human bile is a special treatment for lung diseases, and it is especially effective for hemoptysis... that is, pulmonary tuberculosis.

Therefore, high-quality "human bile pills" have always been in short supply.

By testing swords with one hand and selling medicine with the other, the Yamada Asaemon family made a fortune and became extremely wealthy.

In terms of wealth alone, the Yamada Asaemon family could even be compared to daimyo with a stipend of 3 to 4 koku.

Not only do they make a living by testing their swords and killing people, but they also use human organs to make medicine... All of this makes the general public's impression of the Yamada Asaemon clan basically dark.

Many urban legends about the Yamada Asaemon family circulate among the common people.

They collected a large number of corpses and secretly conducted shady experiments.

What? In order to cure the illness of an important person, people were secretly arrested and made into medicine under the orders of the shogunate?

The list goes on and on.

When the conversation turned to the part about "having a disagreement with his father," Kiryu's eyelids lowered, and his expression became more sorrowful.

"Under the orders of the shogunate, my father secretly abducted a large number of innocent people and took their fresh internal organs to make medicine."

"I cannot condone such outrageous behavior."

"Thus, I broke with my father and abandoned the name 'Yamada Asaemon'. From then on, I became a ronin."

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Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

P.S.: Leopard once considered designing a female swordsman from the Yamada Asaemon family. However, since Souji and Sanako already occupy the "female swordsman" niche, designing another female swordsman would be too uninteresting, so the idea was abandoned.

Chapter 833 Transforms Vairocana into a Black Blade! [4500]

Kiryu's tone was calm, but what he said was explosive!

Even the well-informed Qing Deng was stunned.

The Yamada Asaemon clan secretly kidnapped people to make medicine—Aoto had also heard about this.

He regarded it as a common urban legend and did not take it seriously.

And now... Kiryu, the boss who is a direct descendant of the Yamada Asaemon family, has personally admitted: This is true!

To cure the illness of an important person, innocent people were captured and used to make medicine... Although it is horrifying, upon closer examination, it is not surprising that this happened to the shogunate.

After all, this is a regime that has made "leaving farmers half-dead" a basic national policy.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo period, once said: "The secret of politics is to keep the peasants half-dead."

In feudal times, peasants made up the vast majority of the population.

Therefore, when the peasants are settled, the state is settled; when the state is settled, the world is at peace.

When farmers live too well, they are more likely to have unrealistic expectations.

When peasants live in extreme poverty, they are more likely to rise up in rebellion.

In conclusion, maintaining the farmers' standard of living at a level where they "neither starve nor are overfed" will ensure the long-term stability of Tokugawa's rule.

From Tokugawa Ieyasu onwards, the phrase "leaving farmers half-dead" remained a fundamental national policy of the Edo Shogunate.

The various bizarre policies and strange methods employed, such as the sanjin (imperial audience with superiors) and the shogunate (assistance to the villagers), not only tormented the daimyo but also the common people, relentlessly tormenting the people of the world, all in order to ensure the wealth and prosperity of the Tokugawa family.

Despite its extreme cruelty, these methods proved effective, enabling the Edo Shogunate to become the longest-lasting and most stable samurai government in Japanese history.

It's not surprising that such a feudal regime, which didn't value human life, forced the Yamada Asaemon clan to use living people to make medicine.

After all, they were master and apprentice, and Aoto and Kiryu were old acquaintances.

While one cannot simply use words like "kind" or "amiable" to describe Kiryu's character, there is one thing that Aoto is certain of: he is definitely not the kind of person who is ruthless, cruel, and oppressive!

Putting everything else aside, he would never condone such a despicable thing as "sacrificing the lives of innocent people just to cure the illness of some big shot."

Discovering that his father was using innocent civilians to make medicine... even if Qing Deng exhausted his imagination, he could not fathom how disappointed and distressed Kiryu must have felt at that moment.

After a brief moment of astonishment, Qingdeng took a deep breath, calmed himself, held his breath, and continued to listen attentively.

Now that things have come to this, he wouldn't be surprised by anything Kiryu-sensei says.

"Since we've come to talk about my background, let me also tell you about the origin of Vairocana."

As he spoke, Mr. Kiryu turned to look at the Vairocana pendant on Aoto's waist.

"This knife was designed by my grandfather."

"Although we Yamada Asaemon have seen countless swords and are recognized as masters of sword appraisal, we have never had a treasured sword of our own."

"So, my grandfather referred to the data from the knife tests passed down from his ancestors and decided to forge an unparalleled 'Supreme Great Craftsmanship'."

"His ideal sword must not only be able to cut through iron like mud, but also be incredibly tough."

"The data on knife testing left by our ancestors is truly vast."

"Grandpa searched through all sorts of origami, putting in a lot of effort and spending several years to finally complete the design."

[Note: Origami: A file used by the Yamada Asaemon family to record the results of sword testing]

"Then he spent a lot of money to find a swordsmith who could forge the sword."

"In the end, the swordsmith he chose was Shikisaki, who was indifferent to worldly affairs and lived in seclusion in the mountains."

"Although the knife designed by my grandfather is perfect, its forging difficulty is extraordinary."

"Even Shikisaki, whose forging skills were superb, suffered a lot."

"I don't know exactly how many defective swords Shikisaki forged, but it must have been at least a thousand."

"Although our family is not incredibly wealthy, we are not short of money either."

"Even so, it can't withstand this kind of torment."

"Grandpa practically spent all his family's wealth to forge this knife."

"Although the process was tortuous, fortunately, the final result was wonderful."

"After countless setbacks, this unparalleled 'ultimate masterpiece' has finally appeared in the world!"

Qingdeng listened intently.

He never imagined that the knife that had been with him for so long would have such a history!

Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but draw the Vairocana sword from his waist, its tip pointing to the sky.

Under the sunlight, the blade emitted a bewitching purple light.

Kiryu raised his gaze, looking at the smooth blade of the Vairocana sword, his eyes flashing with a mixture of nostalgia and感慨.