I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Kinoshita Mai's body... is as supple as the babbling brook in a clear spring.

After disarming Kame-taro, Kinoshita Mai took a deep breath, then used her waist to propel herself up, using Kame-taro's right arm as leverage. She lifted her legs up, head down and feet up, using her legs to clamp Kame-taro's head. Then, with a burst of strength from her waist and legs, she flung Kame-taro to the ground.

Clang.

The knife that had just slipped from Kame-taro's grasp crashed heavily to the ground at the same moment as Kame-taro's body.

After being thrown around and seeing stars, Kame-taro whimpered a few times before passing out.

Although the red-faced brothers and their gang of henchmen conspired to kill for fun, their cooperation was extremely poor.

There was almost no proper cooperation between them—this was probably because they were only used to bullying the unarmed and weak. When they encountered someone slightly stronger, their weakness of "not knowing how to cooperate" was magnified infinitely.

Kinoshita Mai swiftly dispatched Kame-taro, while Kotaro, a beat slower, was left with only Tsuru-zaburo and Toragoro, who finally arrived late.

Glancing at Tsuru Saburo and Toragoro rushing towards her from the left and right, Kinoshita Mai flipped her body backward, performing two neat backflips to jump off Kame-taro and dodge their attacks.

Kinoshita Mai didn't jump back too far—because if she jumped too far, it would be inconvenient for her to launch a counterattack.

After dodging the two men's attacks with a backflip, Kinoshita Mai did not stand up immediately. Instead, she quickly lowered her center of gravity and then swept her leg towards Tsuru Saburo's right leg.

Crack—another sound like a bamboo pole snapping.

With a sickening cracking sound, Tsuru Saburo was kicked to the ground by Kinoshita Mai.

After Tsuru Saburo fell to the ground, Kinoshita Mai intended to seize the opportunity to pounce on him and deliver a finishing blow.

However, there was no need for that now—when Tsuru Saburo fell to the ground, he didn't have time to catch his breath, and his forehead made intimate contact with the ground. After whimpering a few times, he followed in Kame Taro's footsteps and passed out.

With both of his companions knocked down, Toragoro was suddenly isolated and helpless. His expression changed instantly. He stiffly held his katana in front of him, took a half step forward, and then hurriedly pulled his foot back. He was caught between two unavoidable situations.

Kinoshita Mai had been keeping an eye on the battle on Aoto's side out of the corner of her eye.

Although they knew that Qingdeng was very strong after his bloody battle, they still couldn't help but feel a little worried when they saw that the red-faced brothers had sent out five people, including the two of them, to attack Qingdeng from both sides.

Ultimately, it turned out that her worries were unnecessary.

Just as she finished off Tsuru Saburo, Aoto also knocked Kojiro to the ground with a single blow.

……

……

—How can you lie in a way that makes it difficult for others to detect anything amiss?

Aoto wasn't surprised that Kojiro had copied this talent, since according to the information he already knew, Kojiro was very good at lying and could distort the truth. Aoto could now be considered to have copied this guy's lying skills.

Qing Deng always felt that this "fraudster" might be more suitable for someone like Hijikata Toshizo, who had countless lovers.

Kojiro was stabbed in the abdomen, and the blood gushing from the wound quickly stained his clothes.

Although he struggled to raise his hand to cover his wound and try to stop the bleeding, it was all in vain.

He's barely breathing, and even less so—even if he were taken to the hospital immediately, it's unlikely he could be saved.

Less than half of their companions were still standing... and unsurprisingly, the morale of these psychopathic killers collapsed.

That's normal; it's impossible to expect these madmen who kill for pleasure to have a strong fighting will.

When things get bad, they'll run away as fast as they can, and when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter – that's the norm for this group.

Five of the eight had fallen, leaving only the ugly man standing behind Qing Deng and Kogoro, who was terrified by Kinoshita Mai. They hurriedly turned around and fled in different directions.

Only... Ichitaro remained standing in place, without running away.

Originally, when Ichitaro saw that Qingdeng's strength far surpassed theirs, a look of fear appeared on his face.

But when he saw his younger brother being slashed to the ground by Qing Deng, the look of fear on his face quickly turned into shock and anger.

With bloodshot eyes, Ichitaro roared and swung his greatsword like a windmill as if he were insane.

Kinoshita Mai glanced at Ichitaro, who wanted to avenge his younger brother, and then at the fleeing Ugly Man and Toragoro. She hesitated, unsure whether she should help Aoto deal with Ichitaro, who was now in a berserk state, or chase after the fleeing Ugly Man and Toragoro.

But at that moment, Qing Deng, in a deliberately feigned voice, loudly reminded Kinoshita Mai:

"Go after the one who ran away! I'll handle this guy!"

The reason why he didn't let Kinoshita Mai help him deal with Ichitaro wasn't because Aoto was afraid that Kinoshita Mai would get hurt or for any other reason.

Just now, while Kinoshita Mai was distracted by Aoto's battle, Aoto also spent some of his mind and attention on Kinoshita Mai's battle.

Excluding their brief clash where he successfully replicated the "milk" talent, this was the first time Qingdeng had seen the renowned Cat Monk fight someone.

As Qing Deng had expected, Kinoshita Mai's unarmed combat skills were quite superb.

The unarmed combat style used by Kinoshita Mai is somewhat similar to Jiu-Jitsu, but it is slightly different from the Jiu-Jitsu that Aoto remembers. The Jiu-Jitsu used by Kinoshita Mai is more offensive.

However—although Kinoshita Mai's unarmed combat skills can be described as "exquisite," they are still too limited when facing armed enemies, especially those wielding weapons like the Ōdachi, which has an extremely wide attack range.

Even if Kinoshita Mai were to assist him in dealing with Ichitaro, the "short-armed" Kinoshita Mai would find it difficult to provide him with effective support.

In that case, it would be better to let Kinoshita Mai fully utilize her speed expertise.

Upon hearing Qing Deng's instruction, Kinoshita Mai paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

"Be careful!" Aoto shouted to Kinoshita Mai.

Kinoshita Mai, who was already chasing after Kogoro, who was closest to her, turned her head after hearing Aoto's "Be careful" and gave him a smile—unfortunately, because Kinoshita Mai was wearing a face mask, Aoto missed seeing her smile.

After glancing at Kinoshita Mai out of the corner of his eye for a moment, Aoto focused his attention on Ichitaro in front of him.

“Huff…! Huff…! Huff…! Huff…!” Standing seven steps away from Qingdeng, Ichitaro dragged the greatsword in his hand on the ground in a lower right stance, his chest heaving rapidly like a bellows.

Perhaps because he had vented his anger by swinging his sword wildly just now, Ichitaro's eyes became a little clearer.

However, his glare at Qingdeng still contained an intense hatred and anger.

Ignoring the fact that his breathing had not yet completely calmed down, Ichitaro gritted his teeth, raised his greatsword high above his head once more, and thrust it into the upper section. He slammed his feet into the ground, and an aura reminiscent of solid rock emanated from his body.

Seeing Ichitaro ready to attack again, Aoto parted his lips, exhaled all the stale air from his lungs, then spread his legs apart, right foot forward and left foot back, gripping the hilt of Tachibana Suzuki's sword tightly with both hands, assuming the stance he often used for powerful upper-level attacks—Kasumi.

Sensing the aura emanating from each other, at that very moment, the same thought simultaneously popped into the minds of Qing Deng and Ichitaro—the next strike would decide the outcome!

The wind around me seemed to have stopped.

The clouds overhead now seem to have stopped moving.

Ichitaro's upper body technique maximizes the destructive power of his slashes.

Qingdeng's special move is to launch a strong attack on the upper section of Xia Gou.

The silent standoff between the two created an eerie stillness around them, lasting for several seconds... The tension reached its peak in those few seconds!

Just as a sudden breeze stirred the hems of their clothes—

“喝啊啊——！”

Like a thunderclap from the sky, Ichitaro let out a terrifying shout and strode forward, charging straight toward Aoto!

At the same moment, Qing Deng kicked off with his hind legs and lunged at Ichitaro!

Like two cannonballs colliding with each other, the two swordsmen shook the very air!

The power within Ichitaro was like a burst of magma, accompanied by a furious roar that made one's eardrums ache, as he poured all his strength outward through the greatsword in his hand.

Ichitaro's greatsword drew a straight, perfect vertical line.

However, Qing Deng had already disappeared from the place where his blade had struck.

Ichitaro only managed to cut through the air.

Just as Ichitaro's blade was about to strike his forehead, Qing Deng nimbly ducked and jumped to the side, dodging Ichitaro's fatal blow while disappearing into Ichitaro's blind spot.

--Oh shit!

Ichitaro stomped his feet hard on the ground to stop his forward momentum, then turned around as if his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets, searching for Aoto's figure that had just flashed into his blind spot.

At that very moment—

Pfft!

Flesh and blood burst open... A huge rift suddenly appeared on Ichitaro's left abdomen, and blood gushed out in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, Qing Deng... maintained his sword-drawing posture, standing two steps behind Ichitaro.

"Cough...cough cough...!" Ichitaro, who was uncontrollably vomiting handfuls of blood, stared in astonishment at Aoto behind him.

Although it was only for a moment... Ichitaro caught a glimpse of the lightning-fast instant when Aoto drew his sword.

Just as Qing Deng and Ichitaro brushed past each other on the left, a silver-white blade that filled his peripheral vision swept across his waist, severing nearly half of his torso.

This huge rift left Ichitaro with only half of his waist flesh connecting his upper and lower body.

Blood gushed out continuously, and Ichitaro instinctively raised his hand, trying to plug the wound with his palm, but it was all in vain.

After swaying a few times, Ichitaro collapsed heavily to the ground, kicking up a thin layer of dust.

Qing Deng slowly released himself from his sword-wielding stance, let out a long breath, and then, while shaking off the bloodstains remaining on the blade, turned around and glanced at Ichitaro's corpse at his feet.

—No system voice...Does he not possess any special talents like his younger brother...?

Aoto had hoped that Ichitaro, who was Kojiro's brother, might also possess some special talent, but it seems that his hopes were dashed.

After waiting a few seconds and confirming that no system notification sounded in his mind, Qing Deng sheathed Ju Shui.

—Alright…Let’s go find Ms. Kinoshita…

Qing Deng prepared to go find Kinoshita Mai, who had just run after someone.

But... just as he thought this to himself, a series of rapid footsteps suddenly reached Qing Deng's ears.

And those rapid footsteps... were coming from the direction Kinoshita Mai had just left...

Qingdeng raised his eyes in confusion and looked in the direction of the sound.

Immediately afterwards, he saw what all those rapid footsteps were all about.

At the entrance of East Street, he saw Kinoshita Mai, who had just left to chase after someone.

Kinoshita Mai ran towards him at top speed, her eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

Behind her was a huge crowd of people...

The vast majority of this large group of people were dressed in black uniforms and had sashes around their waists.

The lanterns they carried had two large Chinese characters written on them: "Fire Thieves".

……