I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

However, talents of the same type can be combined!

After the "Sword Prodigy" and the "Swordsmanship Proficiency Master" copied from Morishita merged, the talent name remained "Sword Prodigy," but the ability had been enhanced due to the fusion.

Qing Deng's swordsmanship talent has now surpassed Okita's, becoming 55 times that of an ordinary person!

Startled by the sudden joy, Qingdeng stared blankly at his personal system interface.

After a while, Qingdeng gradually came to his senses.

It wasn't until he came to his senses that Qingdeng realized—his mouth was stretched wide open with excitement and agitation.

Talents can be combined...

—So that means…theoretically speaking, my swordsmanship talent, or any other martial arts talent, can be multiplied by hundreds or thousands of times compared to an ordinary person…?

Qingdeng clenched his fists unconsciously.

The excitement and agitation on his face intensified.

At this moment, Qing Deng suddenly realized that the cheat he possessed was far more powerful than he had previously imagined!

……

……

After the first round of elimination, the average quality of the contestants in the second round naturally improved significantly.

The improvement in average skill level has also made the battles more intense and intense.

On average, each battle took significantly longer than the first round of matches.

After nearly an hour, the second round of elimination matches finally came to an end.

After eliminating half of the participants, the remaining twenty-odd contestants advanced to the third round of elimination.

This time, Qingdeng was not the first to be drawn.

If it's already the third round of the knockout stage, and he's still the first one drawn again... then Qing Deng thinks he should go to Ryogoku Hiroshima or some other entertainment street to draw a prize.

However, since we've already reached the third round of elimination matches where the number of players is quite small, it doesn't really matter whether you're the first to be drawn or not—you'll be on stage very soon anyway.

"Natural Rishin-ryu, Shieikan, Tachibana Aoto!"

After three matches, Qing Deng's draw was finally touched by the emcee.

After loudly announcing Qing Deng's name, the emcee drew the next lot from the lottery box... the lot for Qing Deng's opponent in the third round.

"Hokushin Itto-ryu, Genbu-kan, Okisaki Heiji!"

Following Morishita, Aoto once again faces off against the "Three Heroes"!

*******

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For the third consecutive day, I've released 10,000 words of content!

Although this update is still a few hundred words short of 1 words, let's just say it's 1 words (leopard crying.jpg)

The last chapter was also a few hundred words short of 1 words, and with the few hundred words short of today's chapter, the author will try to update with 1.2 words tomorrow to make up for it...

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Today's big update is to make up for the missed update owed to the 4th Alliance Master: [Home with a Little Cotton-padded Jacket].

This reader has given this book two Alliance Master rewards, so I still owe "My Little Cotton-padded Jacket" a W-word chapter update.

The author still owes 14 more chapters of W-word-long updates.

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Chapter 145 Another Instant Kill! Swordsmanship Talent Amplified 62 Times! [8600]

Upon hearing the name Tsuzaki Heiji, Aoto couldn't help but show a strange expression.

He discovered that his opponents today were no nobodys.

His opponent in the first round was Adachi, whose strength and reputation were second only to the "Three Heroes".

In the second round, and now in the third round, he will face two of the "Three Heroes," Morishita Tōtarō and Osaki Heiji.

Fighting against these top young swordsmen of the Edo period... this is exactly what Qing Deng wanted!

The more he battles with those hailed as "geniuses" and "masters," the greater his chances of replicating his talent.

Like Morishita, Osaki is one of the "Three Heroes"... If he didn't have talent related to swordsmanship, Qing Deng would never believe it.

Qingdeng is still in a state of excitement and exhilaration after discovering the powerful hidden function of the system, "Talent Fusion".

This hidden feature is incredibly powerful.

If there were no restrictions on the fusion of talents... then it wouldn't be impossible for Qing Deng to frequently fight against those swordsmen who are hailed as "sword geniuses" or "talented in swordsmanship," constantly replicating the "amplified swordsmanship talent" from them, accumulating little by little. In that case, it's not impossible for Qing Deng's "sword prodigy" to evolve into "swordsmanship talent amplified by hundreds or thousands of times that of ordinary people."

The fact that one's swordsmanship talent is increased by 50 times compared to an ordinary person is already terrifying. If that number were to become hundreds or thousands... Qing Deng couldn't even imagine what that would mean.

Of course—to gradually integrate this number into hundreds, thousands... that would be a long time coming.

"Tachibana-kun, it's your turn," Okita whispered, sitting to Aoto's left.

Qingdeng nodded slightly, then picked up his bamboo sword and stepped onto the arena with his head held high.

He couldn't wait to see if he could replicate the "Amplified Swordsmanship Talent" from Tsurugi, allowing his "Sword Prodigy" to be further upgraded.

Although Qing Deng realized he had been tricked by Zhou Zhu and others' "white lies" before the first round of elimination matches ended in the morning, he still watched each contestant's match carefully after the second round of elimination matches began in the afternoon, observing and studying their strengths and preferred moves.

Qing Deng is the kind of person who always tries to prepare as much as possible, and to do everything better.

So even though he knew that the other contestants in this competition were far inferior to him, Qing Deng still decided to fight every match of this competition with the determination of a "lion hunting a rabbit".

As one of the "Three Heroes", Aoto watched all of Tsuzaki's matches today.

According to Qing Deng's own assessment... it shouldn't take him too much effort to defeat this Zhui Qi.

Although Tsuzaki came from Genbukan, which was on friendly terms with their Shieikan, Aoto had no intention of holding back or letting Tsuzaki and Genbukan lose in a more dignified manner.

In the values ​​of this era, being let off easy in a martial arts competition is a humiliating thing; only by giving your all can you truly respect your opponent.

Qing Deng and Zhui Qi walked into the arena one after the other.

If it had happened this morning, the audience would have been in an uproar upon hearing that Qing Deng was going to fight against one of the "Three Heroes," Zhui Qi. They would have been eagerly anticipating a fierce battle between the two favorites to win the championship.

But after seeing how Aoto easily defeated Morishita in the second round of the knockout stage, almost no spectator still believed that Aoto and Osaki would have a fierce battle.

Most of the onlookers are just watching for fun—they want to see if Osaki will follow in the footsteps of Adachi and Morishita and be killed instantly by Aoto's sword.

After putting on their protective gear, Qing Deng and Zhui Qi stood on either side of the center of the arena. Then, under the referee's instructions, they tucked their bamboo swords into their left waistbands, squatted down, and bowed to each other.

Just by looking at his appearance, you can tell that he must come from a very poor family.

The clothes were covered in patches, patches upon patches.

There are countless samurai like Osaki, whose lives are extremely difficult and whose quality of life is probably even worse than that of farmers.

Because of the extremely rigid class structure and virtually no class mobility, samurai found it difficult to advance in rank. Their stipends and salaries had remained almost unchanged for centuries. Coupled with the continuous weakening of the small-scale peasant economy and other factors, a large number of lower and middle-ranking samurai across the country lived in abject poverty, subsisting on thin gruel.

After both of them bowed, the referees loudly announced "Start," and Osaki held his bamboo sword in a mid-stance position in front of him.

"Tachibana-kun," Osaki roared, "please don't hold back, fight me with all your might!"

Osaki was probably worried that Aoto wouldn't go all out against him because of the relationship between the Shieikan and Genbukan families, so he specifically reminded Aoto and asked him to use his full strength to fight him.

Osaki's eyes are very bright.

Even with a helmet and protective gear, Aoto could still clearly see Osaki's bright eyes through the slits in the helmet's face section.

Against the backdrop of the shadows inside the helmet, Osaki's eyes resembled stars in the night.

His eyes, brimming with light, formed a striking contrast with the patched-up clothes he wore.

Despite his humble origins, he possessed an indomitable spirit and the courage to strive for excellence.

Seeing the light in Zhuiqi's eyes and hearing Zhuiqi's request to "not hold back," Qingdeng felt a chill and nodded solemnly to Zhuiqi.

To fight such an excellent swordsman would be extremely impolite not to go all out.

The last trace of worry in Qing Deng's heart—that his all-out effort would cause Genbukan, represented by Tsurugi, to lose face—vanished instantly.

Osaki, who started his attack from the middle, twirled the tip of his bamboo sword with a light, ethereal quality reminiscent of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū style.

When facing an opponent, the most prominent feature of the Hokushin Itto-ryu style is the constant, slight swaying of the sword tip. This prevents the sword tip from becoming rigid, allowing for a quicker response to the opponent's various movements, and making it harder for the opponent to discern one's intentions.

Osaki's strength was clearly much greater than Morishita's. His feet were firmly planted on the ground, and he stood as firm as a rock. His stance was a mid-range stance that could be used for both offense and defense.

If we launch a direct, head-on attack like we did in the previous two matches against Adachi and Morishita, we might not be able to defeat Osaki.

After pondering for a few moments, Qing Deng shifted his body slightly to the side, pointing his left shoulder diagonally towards Zhui Qi. He then pulled the bamboo sword he had been holding in front of him to the right rear, changing his grip to the lower right and hiding the sword behind his right side.

This stance, where the bamboo sword is concealed behind one's side, makes it difficult for the opponent to predict the direction and distance of one's sword strike, making it particularly suitable for catching the opponent off guard.

Upon seeing Qing Deng take this stance, Zhui Qi's expression immediately became much more serious.

Osaki is the type who excels at offense.

He believed that by leveraging his offensive strengths and taking advantage of his current high energy and concentration, he could seize the initiative and launch a fierce attack on Qingdeng, thus increasing his chances of winning.

With this thought in mind, Tsurugi no longer hesitated.

He gathered his strength, focused his energy in his dantian, and with a sudden shout, took a large step forward, closing the distance between himself and Qingdeng in one breath. Then, with a "whoosh," he swung his sword horizontally towards where Qingdeng was standing.

The slashes are powerful and fast, and the landing points are quite accurate, but they may not hit the enemy.

Having already seen through Zhuiqi's movements with his "eagle eye," Qingdeng moved much faster and more accurately than Zhuiqi could draw his sword.

The bamboo sword hidden behind his right side was even faster than Qingdeng's dodge!

While nimbly taking half a step back to dodge Osaki's slash, Qing Deng smoothly swung his bamboo sword counterclockwise in a half-moon shape, quickly switching from the lower right to the upper right.

Immediately afterwards, he leaped up slightly, making it look as if he was about to unleash a powerful "Splitting Mount Hua" strike to knock down Zhuiqi with a single sword.