I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

……

After Rakshasa slipped into a dark alley, the short, ugly middle-aged man who had been waiting there rushed to greet her.

"Lord Rakshasa, did you give the 'No-Thought Medicine' to your new wife, Kuan?"

Luosha nodded with a smile: "Now, let's just wait and see if he will take that medicine tomorrow."

The short, ugly middle-aged man gave a wry smile: "Lord Rakshasa, do you think he would take the 'Mindlessness Drug'?"

"I don't know about that. After all, I'm not a mind reader for Niizuma Hiroshi. Anyway, whether he eats it or not, we won't lose out."

"...Lord Rakshasa. Please forgive my bluntness." The short, ugly middle-aged man pursed his lips and then sighed. "Is it really alright for you to do this? Just like that, you're giving away a precious 'No-Thought Medicine' to that new wife, Hiroshi."

“‘No-mind medicine’ is indeed still in the experimental stage and urgently needs a large number of test subjects to conduct trials.”

"If that Niizuma Hiroshi is indeed as you say, Lord Rakshasa, and has a strong desire to defeat Tachibana Seito... then I do not deny that he is indeed an excellent test subject for testing whether 'firm fighting will' can enhance the effects of the drug, and for further confirming the 'no-thought drug's' enhancement of personal combat power."

"But I still feel it's unnecessary to find someone I don't know at all and have no background knowledge to do the experiment."

"If we need sufficiently excellent test subjects, don't we have everything we need?"

"Hehehe..." As soon as the short, ugly middle-aged man finished speaking, Rakshasa let out a strange "hehehehe" laugh. "Yes, just as you said, if you want to do experiments, you don't need to find that Shinzawa Hiroshi at all."

"No matter what type of experiment you want to conduct, there are easier and simpler channels available."

But—

Luocha abruptly changed the subject, then tilted her head toward the short, ugly middle-aged man, her face bearing a sunny smile reminiscent of a warm spring day.

His sunny smile seemed to add warmth to the surrounding darkness.

"This is so much fun!"

"That person must be really conflicted right now, right?"

"Should I believe what I say? Should I take this medicine? Is the only side effect of this medicine really a high fever afterward?"

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

A strange laugh, wanting to laugh out loud but desperately suppressing it, escaped from Rakshasa's lips.

"I really can't wait for tomorrow... Look at Hiroshi Niizuma's conflicted face in the spectator stands."

……

……

Edo, Okemachi, second floor of the Chiba Sword Hall, Chiba Sadakichi's bedroom—

"Father, how was it? Was the pressure just right?"

Chiba Jutaro sat cross-legged beside Chiba Sadakichi, who had pulled his shirt up to his chest, exposing his back, and was lying face down on the tatami mat. He applied the freshly brewed ointment to Chiba Sadakichi's back with just the right amount of pressure.

Sanako knelt beside her brother and helped him apply medicine to Chiba Sadakichi, whose back pain had been recurring recently.

"Yes." Chiba Sadakichi nodded. "The pressure was just right. Thank you for your hard work, you two siblings."

“Father, what are you saying?” Chiba Jutaro chuckled. “Isn’t this what we children should do?”

While applying medicine to Chiba Sadakichi, Chiba Jutaro chatted idly with Chiba Sadakichi and Sanako.

As they chatted, Chiba Jutaro suddenly glanced furtively at Sanako beside him, and then abruptly changed the subject to Aoto, who had shone brightly in the tournament that day.

"I thought I had already rated Tachibana-kun's talent very highly."

"It wasn't until today that I realized—I had seriously underestimated Tachibana's talent."

Chiba Jutaro wore an expression filled with deep emotion.

"It's unbelievable. Just over three months ago, Tachibana-kun was just an ordinary person with no swordsmanship skills."

"Such talent... even Brother Rong probably can't compare to it."

“Hmm… Tachibana-kun’s talent is indeed outstanding. Among all the swordsmen I’ve ever seen in my life, there are fewer than five people whose talent can be compared to Tachibana-kun’s.” Chiba Sadakichi nodded slightly, then echoed in a half-joking tone, “I’m a little envious of Shusuke. After Okita-kun, he has gained another genius disciple with such outstanding talent.”

“Sanako and I made a fool of ourselves today.” Chiba Jutaro sighed silently. “This morning, Sanako and I were seriously discussing how much effort Tachibana would need to put in to defeat Adachi, but in the end, Tachibana ended the match with just one sword strike.”

Hearing her brother suddenly mention the embarrassing incident from that morning, Sanako's face showed a hint of awkwardness, but she quickly composed herself, suppressing the embarrassment and reverting to her aloof and ethereal demeanor. Then, she parted her lips slightly:

"...For both of us to misjudge his current strength, Tachibana-kun's talent is indeed remarkable."

"but--"

Sanako changed the subject.

"Brother, you say that Tachibana-kun's talent surpasses that of my second cousin... That's a bit too much praise and exaggeration for Tachibana-kun."

"Personally, I think that in terms of talent, Tachibana-kun is still a bit inferior to his second cousin."

“From the beginning of learning swordsmanship to the first time he released his ‘momentum,’ my second cousin only took a little over a year. Regardless of anything else, I think that alone is enough to make Tachibana-kun look up to him.”

Before she had even finished speaking, a hint of respect and envy appeared between Sanako's beautiful brows.

As the children of the great swordsman Chiba Sadakichi, Sanako and the others naturally knew the concept of "momentum" from an early age.

"Momentum"... She and her brother have practiced swordsmanship for so many years, yet they have still not had the chance to touch this high-level realm that only the lucky ones who possess talent, hard work, and opportunity have the opportunity to reach...

"Hahahaha." After hearing what Sanako had just said, Chiba Jutaro chuckled a few times. "Well... saying that Tachibana-kun's talent surpasses Sakae-nii's might be a bit of an exaggeration."

"Even so, Tachibana-kun's talent is still worthy of our praise."

"If it weren't for the fact that poaching people is too unethical, I would have liked to poach Tachibana-kun to our Chiba Sword Hall, hahaha."

“Father, I think we can have more contact with Tachibana-kun in the future.”

"Even from a purely utilitarian perspective, cultivating a good relationship with such a talented, virtuous, and promising young swordsman would be entirely beneficial to our swordsmanship school and the Chiba family."

As Chiba Jutaro spoke, he subtly glanced at his younger sister beside him once again...

……

……

The next day—

Splash splash splash splash...

As dawn broke, the bustling sounds of people in Asakusa never ceased.

The scene at the sword competition was even more bustling than yesterday.

Perhaps because many people heard last night that the competition was quite exciting, a lot of people came to watch, causing the number of spectators in the stands to increase significantly. Many people could only stay outside the stands and sigh with regret because they could not squeeze into the stands and could not see the scene on the field.

To avoid not being able to find a good spot, Aoto and his group set off for Asakusa early today.

Upon arriving at the arena, they encountered a group from Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall who had taken their seats in the spectator stands before them.

All the members of the Chiba family are here again today.

As a result, Qing Deng and his group sat down with the Chiba family again.

There are only about twenty contestants left. Because the number of contestants is so small, all the remaining matches can be completed in less than a morning.

In other words, we will see this morning who will be lucky enough to wear the crown of victory in this competition!

Just like yesterday: after the stands were packed with spectators, the daimyo of the domain, led by the Marquis of Aizu, finally arrived late. Then, the old samurai who had served as the master of ceremonies yesterday once again stood in the center of the arena and loudly announced to everyone in the stands that today's competition had officially begun!

The method for selecting contestants remains by drawing lots.

Qing Deng, who achieved the feat of "defeating three enemies with three swords" yesterday, is undoubtedly a star figure today.

Whenever Qing Deng's name was called, whenever Qing Deng stepped onto the stage with his sword, the audience erupted in cheers far louder than when anyone else stepped onto the stage.

Many spectators were discussing with great interest whether the unfortunate opponents who faced Qingdeng could withstand his sword strike.

Compared to yesterday, today's game was obviously much more boring for Qingdeng.

Apart from Hiroshi Niizuma, the remaining players are far less skilled than Morishita and Osaki, whom Aoto faced yesterday.

Even Morishita and Osaki, who were hailed as the "Three Heroes," were no match for Aoto, let alone the others.

Therefore, in the fourth round of the knockout stage, Qing Deng once again easily defeated his opponent with a single sword strike, successfully advancing to the fifth round of the knockout stage.

Entering the fifth round of elimination matches, the scene remained the same: Qingdeng's name was called, he took up his sword and entered the arena, instantly killing his opponent with a single strike, and then returned to the spectator stands.

Neither the fourth nor the fifth round of the knockout stage could Qing Deng replicate any talent from his opponents in those two matches.

This further solidified Qing Deng's belief that in this world, whether it's pursuing academic knowledge or practicing martial arts, there are only a small number of truly talented people, and the vast majority of people are just ordinary people.

Those who were able to participate in this competition were all top young talents from various fencing schools.

But so far, Qing Deng has only copied the "Swordsmanship Talent Amplification" talent from Morishita, Osaki, and others.

Even in such a grand event where the best of the best gather, not everyone has a "swordsmanship talent boost" talent. This only shows that people who can be called "geniuses" are still quite rare. Many people who are called geniuses by others actually don't have any talent at all. They are just hardworking enough and have scientific learning methods.

Qing Deng repeated his actions from yesterday, defeating all the opponents he encountered today with a single sword strike. Unsurprisingly, the spectator stands became extremely agitated.

After the fifth round of elimination matches, the competition advanced to the sixth round... which was also the final round!

Only two contestants remain.

Qing Deng and Xin Qi Kuan!

*******

*******

Although there was no "W" character today, there were still 8100 words, which is quite a lot. Please vote with monthly tickets! Please recommend! Please add to your favorites! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

This month, the author wants to give it their all and see if they can get the book into the top 100 of the monthly ticket rankings. So, the author will be doing their best to update frequently this month, and hopes that readers will give them their full support (crying face).

The author will try to write over 1 words tomorrow and finish writing about the battle between Aoto and Niizuma Hiroshi in one go.

Chapter 148 Crushing the New Wife!

As the final match finally arrived, the already noisy spectator stands instantly became even more bustling and crowded.

Aoto's old friend, Keisuke Yamanami, who was studying at the Chiba Kendo Academy, was sitting in a corner of the west spectator stands.

Not quite used to the noisy environment, he kept casting helpless glances at the crowd around him.

Shannan had been very interested in watching this swordsmanship competition, which was of such a rare scale.

Unfortunately, I was preoccupied with personal matters yesterday, and it wasn't until today, the last day of the competition, that I finally managed to squeeze out some time to come and witness the contestants' talent.