I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

With two clanging sounds, the two steel needles fell to the ground.

However... the last steel needle pierced through the gap in his knife path, striking his chest squarely and penetrating an inch deep into his flesh!

Upon seeing this, Ru Nu's face broke into an excited smile.

She was convinced she had succeeded... little did she know that Otani Seiichiro had deliberately let the steel needle hit her in the chest!

In a split second, the old man freed his left hand and forcefully pulled out the steel needle from his chest.

Instantly, a spurt of blood shot out from his wound!

So much blood has flowed out... that shows how deep the steel needle went.

Ignoring the fresh wound on his chest, Otani Seiichiro slightly turned his head, locked his gaze on the wet woman's position, took a deep breath, and then threw the steel needle in his hand back.

The steel needle flew towards the wet woman along the same trajectory it had come from.

Although not as skilled as Kubota Sei-ne, Otani Seiichiro was also a learned man with a wide range of interests and proficiency in many martial arts.

When talking about Seiichiro Otani, people often use a catchy phrase to summarize his martial arts skills: "He learned the Hozoin style for spear, the Yoshida style for bow, and the Mahosai Danno style for sword, and mastered the essence of all of them."

Although "throwing" and "archery" are very different, they also have many similarities.

The steel needle he threw was far superior to his opponent's in both accuracy and force.

The wet woman had no time to react.

Her eyes widened, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints, as she stared blankly at the steel needle that had "returned."

When she came to her senses, the steel needle struck her throat squarely! It went in almost to the root, with only a small tip of the needle trembling slightly outside.

"Ho...! Ho...! Ho...!"

After swaying a few times, the wet woman collapsed weakly to the ground.

She let out meaningless groans, scratching her neck with her left hand and futilely clawing at the air with her right, as if trying to grasp the life force that was gradually leaving her.

Her desperate struggles were ultimately in vain.

In no time, her eyes bulged forward, her head tilted to the side—and she was completely lifeless.

After throwing the steel needle in his hand, Ootani Seiichiro paid no more attention to the wet woman, completely disregarding her life or death.

His gaze returned to Shuten-dōji, and his feet continued forward.

Slaying the Ox Demon, Linghai Fangzhu, Quesu Nuo, and Zhu Ru Nu... the process of "the Sword Saint battling all the demons" seems to be very long.

In reality, it all happened in just a few seconds!

In just a few seconds, Ootani Seiichiro broke through the demons' defenses, annihilating two of them in the process, and finally closing the last bit of distance between himself and the enemy's main camp.

At this point, he finally broke into the enemy's main camp! He reached Shuten-dōji's side!

Ootani Seiichiro and Shuten-dōji—the two face to face, their faces almost touching!

Shuten-dōji stood still and drew his sword from his waist with swift and skillful movements.

At the same time, a strange light burst forth from its eyes.

Everything that followed happened in an instant—

Ootani Seiichiro changed his stance, his sword now displaying blue eyes, the tip pointing diagonally at Shuten-dōji's chest.

It's not hard to see that he intends to finish the fight in one blow! He'll use a "straight thrust" to take Shuten-dōji's life!

A perfectly correct judgment.

For personal preference, Shuten-dōji always wore that magnificent armor.

Although the heavy armor was already outdated during the Warring States period three hundred years ago and could not effectively defend against bullets, it still provided good protection against cold weapons.

Given his current state of being covered in wounds, Otani Seiichiro could not guarantee that his slash would be able to break through the great armor.

Therefore, he decided to use "straight thrust" - compared to "slash", "straight thrust" has a more prominent armor-piercing effect!

He stomped hard on the ground, his feet shoveling away the soil like shovels, kicking up a lot of mud.

The immense power flowed down his legs to his waist, then from his waist to his arms, and finally into the knife.

He poured all his strength into the knife in his hand! Leaving no room for maneuver!

Coincidentally... as if intentionally challenging the other party, Shuten-dōji adopted the same Blue Eyes stance, pointing the tip of his sword diagonally at Otani Seiichirō's chest!

"Straight thrust" against "straight thrust"... The two men, unable to distinguish who would go first, thrust their knives at each other!

In the sunlight, two figures merged into one—

puff!

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was like a pause, plunging the scene into a brief silence.

It was as if all the sounds in the world had vanished in that instant.

Everyone stared intently, witnessing the outcome of the duel—

Ootani Seiichiro's sword did not pierce Shuten-dōji's chest, but only grazed his right shoulder armor.

On the other hand, Shuten-dōji... his sword pierced through Ootani Seiichirō's chest, going from his front to his back...

The outcome is decided.

Because everything happened so fast, only a very few people, such as Katsura Kogoro and Sukuna, saw exactly what happened.

As the two men simultaneously thrust out their knives, the tips collided heavily, like needles meeting wheat awns.

This is the purest form of confrontation!

Whoever is afraid, whoever is slightly weaker, whoever is slightly less imposing, will be defeated!

Unfortunately... perhaps he was tired, or perhaps he was hampered by his injuries, in any case, Otani Seiichiro's strength was slightly weakened...

This slight difference sealed the outcome.

Shuten-dōji's sword directly deflected Ootani Seiichirō's sword.

The latter's sword path veered off course; it was originally aimed at Shuten-dōji's chest, but instead veered to the upper left, only grazing the opponent's shoulder armor.

Shuten-dōji's sword, with its momentum undiminished, pierced through Ootani Seiichirō's chest.

At this moment, neither the person who stabbed nor the person who was stabbed reacted in any particular way; both remained expressionless.

A moment later, with a soft "thud," Shuten-dōji twisted the sword in his hand, breaking the muscles that gripped the blade tightly, and slowly sheathed the sword, pulling it back to his side.

As air rushed in, Ootani Seiichiro's blood loss rate suddenly accelerated... In fact, he didn't lose too much blood.

Because he had almost bled out.

After swaying slightly a few times, Otani Seiichiro slowly fell to the ground.

Seeing the "Sword Saint" finally fall, Su Nuo and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

But at that moment, something happened that made their expressions change drastically!

Suddenly, just as his body was about to fall to the ground, the old man abruptly raised the knife in his hand and forcefully slammed it into the ground to steady himself!

His action startled Su Nuo and the others so much that they almost jumped up.

They all raised their weapons, assumed their stances, and stared intently at Ootani Seiichiro, fearing that the old man might straighten up again! Fearing that he might raise his blade once more!

To their great relief, the old man did not make any further movements after using the knife to prop himself up on the ground.

He didn't verbally curse the enemy, nor did he whisper anything like "I'm so unwilling..." or "I'm sorry... everyone... I did my best..." or any other words full of regret.

He simply raised his gaze and looked at Shuten-dōji in front of him, their eyes meeting.

His eyes held only one emotion: intense fighting spirit!

Anyone who saw the look in his eyes at that moment could instantly understand his thoughts: he still wanted to continue fighting!

Even when defeated by a powerful opponent, even when his chest was pierced and he bled to death, he felt no frustration or resentment, only a desire to get up and fight again!

Such a posture, such a gaze, speaks volumes more than a thousand words!

Many people at the scene were intimidated by his gaze and subconsciously took several steps back to increase the distance between them.

Suddenly, Umibozu stammered, his face filled with shock:

"Dead? He's dead? Lord Shuten-dōji, is he dead?"

His tone was filled with disbelief.

Shuten-dōji nodded slightly without saying a word.

The old man leaned on the knife, his entire weight resting on it, in a posture of "getting up," before taking his last breath.

Sword Saint and Head of the Military Academy, Toriyama Seiichiro, died in battle!

He died standing up... and even in his final moments, he remained defiant, glaring fiercely at his enemy, ready to fight again!

The incredibly gruesome manner of death left everyone present speechless.

They were speechless, looking at each other with intense shock on their faces.

Throughout the entire process, both the victor, Shuten-dōji, and the loser, Otani Seiichirō, remained silent and did not utter a single word.

To be fair, it's really hard to tell who the winner and who the loser are.

Ootani Seiichiro, Kondo Shusuke, and Kubota Kiyone were all killed in battle.

But their desperate charge resulted in hundreds more corpses on the ground!

They reached the route of the charge, a true bloodbath... the road was covered with blood and severed limbs.

There are over a hundred people... but currently, the number of soldiers gathered around Shuten-dōji is only about three hundred.

In other words, Otani Seiichiro and his two companions reduced their numbers by one-third with just the three of them!

Even the two key figures in the Party's purge—Niu Gui and Ru Nu—were killed.

Even more fatally, the bloody fight of these three old men directly shattered their morale!

After using up all their bombs and destroying the Koryo Gate and Watari Gate of Akasaka Mikado, their morale reached its peak.

They were preparing to take advantage of the momentum from the breach and capture Edo Castle in one fell swoop.

But in the end... the "Sword Saint" and his group thwarted their grand plan with just two swords and one bow.

Even with the blessing of "Decisive Battle of the Lake", one cannot be completely immune to this fear.