I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Including the time for the players to enter and bow, a round can basically be completed in a few minutes.

Before they knew it, more than a dozen rounds of the competition had already passed, and the crowd's emotions were rising higher and higher.

Although there were no intense scenes of "three hundred rounds of fighting", the exhilarating scene of "one-hit kill" still appealed to the general public.

The person who just came on stage is Kondo Isami.

According to the order, the next person to go on stage should be Harada Sanosuke.

Just as everyone was excitedly anticipating the next match, a shocking scene unfolded – a person carrying a bamboo sword suddenly walked into the arena from the side.

"Shinsengumi Captain-Commander, Tennen Rishin-ryu, Tachibana Aoto."

Qing Deng, who should have been in the "VIP seats," was now standing on the east side of the arena, looking around.

"Who is willing to challenge the legendary 'Nioh'?"

It was a very ordinary sentence... but it was precisely this ordinary sentence that caused the atmosphere at the scene to change dramatically!

Shocked expressions, fanatical eyes, excited smiles... all these changes were due to the figure that suddenly appeared in the arena.

Niou has entered the arena!

********

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Half of the month has already passed in the blink of an eye!

Readers with monthly passes, please vote for this book! (Crying leopard head.jpg) Requesting monthly passes! Requesting recommendation votes! (Leopard head crying.jpg)

P.S.: Every time I write about "Squad X", I always wish Saito Hajime and the others would shout "Swastika!" (Laughing emoji)

Chapter 1008 The King of Benevolence Takes the Field! Qing Deng Dominates the Arena! He Slays 15 Men in a Row! [4500]

To put it aptly... even the air has changed.

His mere presence caused a dramatic change in the atmosphere!

No one expected that the mighty King Niou would personally take to the field.

To put it simply, it's like a giant whale plunging into a pond; any slight movement it makes will create terrifying waves!

On the east side of the arena—the Shinsengumi's rest area—Harada Sanosuke looked at Aoto on the field with a pained expression, resembling a resentful widow.

"Ah... this match should have been my turn to play..."

Kondo Isami and the others beside him cast sympathetic glances at him.

In fact, they only just learned that Qing Deng was preparing to play.

Smelling the unique, fiery air of the martial arts tournament, watching Kondo Isami and others display their skills... stimulated by all these factors, Aoto was already itching to fight.

It's been a long time since we've had a martial arts competition, and just watching it is really not satisfying.

Moreover, since expelling the "Hitotsubashi faction," he has been sitting in the office all day, his body has become very rusty, and he is eager to get some exercise.

And so, he could no longer restrain himself—and thus, this scene was captured.

Although his body has not fully recovered, his muscles are extremely stiff, and his joints are no longer as flexible as before, having only recovered about 50% of his strength, it is more than enough to handle a martial arts competition of this level.

He thought to himself: I'll take this trial as an opportunity to get my body moving again and regain my fighting touch!

Several minutes had passed since Qingdeng stepped onto the arena.

Everyone focused their attention on the person opposite him, eagerly anticipating the first brave warrior to challenge Nioh.

However, the space opposite Qingdeng remained empty, and no one stepped forward to face him...

On the west side of the arena—the challengers' "rest area"—challengers from various domains of Ou looked at each other and engaged in heated exchanges:

"Hey, are you going to go?"

"No way! How could I possibly be a match for Niou!"

"As far as I know, Niou's injuries have not healed, and he is not at his peak condition."

"Where do you get the confidence to think that the still-unrecovered Niou is easy to bully? Isn't the lesson of the Mito army's reckless incursion into Edo, relying on their superior numbers, profound enough?"

"To fight Niou would only be to invite humiliation. There's no need to get involved in a battle you can't win."

……

You look at me, I look at you; you ask me questions, I urge you... but no one moves an inch.

It's no wonder they're so negative.

After all, they had just witnessed firsthand the strength of the Shinsengumi's captains.

If even the captains of the Shinsengumi are so powerful, how much more so Niou, who commands these monsters?

Upon seeing this, Qing Deng smiled faintly, looking completely unsurprised—this situation was already within his expectations.

Therefore, in order to encourage the challengers, he used a method he had prepared in advance.

He took a breath and shouted loudly:

"I am the captain-general of the Shinsengumi!"

"It would be unfair to equate the reward for 'defeating the Captain-Commander' with the reward for 'defeating the Captain'."

"Therefore, I hereby declare: whoever can defeat me, Ju Qingdeng, will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold!"

He deliberately increased the volume, turning the sound up to the maximum so that everyone present could hear the number clearly.

In an instant, the arena was enveloped in a brief silence.

This deathly silence lasted only a very short time.

Just half a second later, a tidal wave of exclamations, several times louder than before, surged forth!

Even the feudal lords in the "VIP seats" looked like they thought, "Is that impossible?"

Ten thousand taels of gold... Not to mention ordinary people, even a feudal lord would be tempted.

Ultimately, only a very small number of powerful fiefdoms possessed hundreds of thousands of bushels of land.

The vast majority of feudal lords had fiefdoms of only tens of thousands of koku—many had fiefdoms of 1 or 2 koku—and lived a meager existence, neither starving nor living lavishly.

In other words, even a powerful vassal lord who controls a region would not be able to easily produce 10,000 taels of gold in cash!

Sure enough, after Qing Deng shouted "Ten thousand taels of gold", the "Challenger Rest Area", which had been dead silent, was suddenly filled with intense ripples!

An aura called "fighting spirit" began to spread and permeate.

Such a terrifyingly large sum of money is enough to make people feel a sense of schadenfreude, such as "What if?" or "What if?"

"A generous reward will surely attract brave men" is an eternal truth.

Finally, a burly man with a cold expression—the traces of his inner struggle still lingered on his face—strode into the arena and stood opposite Qingdeng.

"Lord Niou, please guide me!"

Qingdeng smiled slightly:

"Relax and let's have a fun competition."

Finally, a challenger appeared, and the atmosphere on site was like a bonfire that had been fueled with gasoline—it suddenly burst into flames!

Qingdeng and his opponent moved to the center of the arena, faced each other, and performed the squatting salute in an orderly manner.

"Fukushima Domain, Shinto Munen-ryu, Goto Ichiwa!"

"Shinsengumi Captain-Commander, Tennen Rishin-ryu, Tachibana Aoto."

The referee shouted:

"start!"

At the referee's signal, the two stood up simultaneously and entered combat mode.

"..."

"..."

Qing Dengcai looked at Qing Yan, and the other person positioned himself in the middle. The two stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Goto Kazukazu originally wanted to find a weakness in Aoto's defenses.

Then, he decisively gave up—he belatedly realized that trying to find a flaw in Qingdeng's posture was a foolish thing to do.

The longer the time drags on, the more his mental state will gradually weaken uncontrollably, eventually giving Qingdeng an opportunity to strike.

Therefore, he made a decisive move, ended the standoff, and launched an attack!

He took several steps in quick succession, closing the distance between them in one breath, and swung his sword straight at Qing Deng's body.

His slashes were as swift as lightning, and the spacing was perfectly controlled, showing that he was indeed quite skilled to dare to challenge Qing Deng.

Even with superb technique, one may not be able to strike the opponent—especially when the opponent is Qing Deng.

He had barely swung the bamboo sword in his hand when Qing Deng vanished from his sight.

The next moment, Qing Deng's figure reappeared—he bent slightly, assuming a sword-drawing stance, and stood behind Goto Kazukazu.

A moment later, Goto Kazuka groaned and collapsed to the ground.

[Ding! Talent detected]

Successfully replicated talent: "Hawkeye"

[Talent Description: Dynamic vision is far superior to that of ordinary people.]

[Ding! Detected that the host already possesses a talent of the same type]

[Ding! Talent fusion successful]

[Eagle Eye +5 Ability Upgrade - Eagle Eye +6]

—He actually gained a talent.

Qingdeng raised an eyebrow, a smile appearing on his cheek.

The talent was successfully copied in the first round, so we can consider it a good start.

—This is a rare opportunity, so let's take advantage of this chance to tap into some talent!