I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

From the inner room came the husband, Sojiro, roaring with ecstatic joy.

Startled by the roar, Asuka disregarded everything else and rushed into the inner room, clutching the statue of Niou.

"Sōjirō! What's wrong? What's wrong?"

As soon as she arrived at the living room, Asi saw her husband standing excitedly on the desk, arms outstretched, laughing loudly.

"I've finally finished writing my new book!"

"Sōjirō, you've finished your new work?" Asahi was surprised at first, then his face lit up with joy: "Congratulations! Sōjirō, what kind of subject matter is your new work? This is the first time I've seen you write for such a long time in a row. The longest work I've ever written before only took a little over a month."

More than two months ago, in order to help her husband, who was stuck in a creative block and unable to write a new work, cheer him up, Asa took Sojiro to Asakusa to watch the sword tournament held by the Aizu-goro.

Then, a bizarre scene suddenly unfolded.

As the first day of the competition came to a close, Sojiro suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted, "Tsukasa! I've got inspiration for writing!" "Tsukasa, let's go home! I'm going to write all night tonight!" Then he rushed home and didn't even bother to watch the competition anymore.

From then on, Sojiro buried himself in his writing all day long.

Curious about what new inspiration Sojiro had come up with, Asuka asked her husband more than once, "What is the subject of your new work?"

But Sojiro would always reply mysteriously, "It's a secret! I'll tell you after I finish writing!"

Despite the family's less-than-ideal financial situation and the physical and psychological torment of wondering what new work her husband had written, Asa finally witnessed the day when Sojiro finished writing his new work.

"Asukasa, I was able to write this new work all thanks to you!"

Sojiro hugged Asuka tightly, burying his handsome face in Asuka's groin.

"Me?" As tilted his head in surprise.

"It was watching the swordsmanship tournament of the Aizu-no-Gi that gave me new inspiration for my writing!"

Sojiro was beaming with joy, gesturing wildly.

"After witnessing Tachibana Seito repeatedly defeat powerful enemies with his superior strength, I suddenly had an idea—it would be such a pity not to write Tachibana Seito's story into a novel!"

"Huh?" Asu's eyes and lips widened in surprise.

A storybook is a script used by storytellers to recite and sing.

"Asu, don't you think Tachibana Aoto's story is perfect for being written into a storybook?"

"Ju Qingdeng was originally just an unknown member of the Beifan Bureau, nicknamed 'Dumb Deng', who was also known as 'Sanhui Tongxin'."

"After realizing the weight of my responsibility as a member of the 'Three Returns' of Unity, I suddenly came to my senses and made up my mind to stop living a muddled life."

"After that, he underwent a complete transformation, becoming a completely different person and performing extraordinary feats!"

"The group bravely fought against the barbarians on a snowy night first, and then the group sent to rescue the barbarian envoys followed."

"Every battle was fought with fewer troops against a larger force, and it was extremely intense."

"Through one remarkable achievement after another, he gradually transformed from 'Dumbhead' into the now-famous 'Little Tengu of the Northern Frontier'!"

"Ordinary people love to read stories like this."

"It includes the plot of a person's transformation from a nobody to a powerful figure, as well as many scenes of sword fighting."

"If this kind of dramatic story, which is loved by ordinary people, were adapted into a storybook, it would definitely be a huge hit!"

Asa blinked a few times: "So for the past two months, you've been adapting Tachibana Aoto's story into a storybook?"

"That's right! I have a feeling—my new book is going to be a huge hit!"

"In creating this new work, I drew upon all the insights and lessons I had learned from my previous works on the same subject matter."

"Stories with lots of fight scenes have always been a favorite among ordinary people."

"Even if the context seems illogical, as long as the characters fight a lot and it's exciting enough, people will applaud."

"The story I wrote last year about Ogata Hayanari didn't receive a very good response because it didn't have enough fight scenes."

"So this time I specially wrote a lot of fighting scenes of Tachibana Aoto! Nearly two-thirds of the entire story is about how Tachibana Aoto swings his sword and kills people."

"Hahaha! Asa, are you happy? When my new book becomes a big hit, I'll buy you a new yukata! Summer's here now, it's the perfect time to get a new yukata!"

After saying that, Sojiro lifted his face off Tsukasa's northern hemisphere, lifted the petite Tsukasa up, and then started spinning around in place while holding her.

“Adapting Tachibana Aoto’s story into a storybook…that sounds pretty good.” Asa smiled brightly. “Sōjirō, you’ve been staying home writing lately, oblivious to everything around you. So, to avoid disturbing your writing, I haven’t told you yet—Tachibana Aoto has recently made another great contribution.”

"What?" Sojiro stopped spinning around, still holding Asa. "Tachibana Aoto has done another great deed?"

Asa nodded, and then carefully told Sojiro about Aoto's series of new achievements: rescuing Sanako, fighting more than 60 members of the Extermination Group alone, and killing the Extermination Group leader, Kino Tatsugoro.

Upon hearing this, Sojiro was overjoyed.

"Great! That's wonderful!"

"The more famous Aoto Tachibana is, the more likely my new work will sell well!"

Sojiro tilted his head back and burst into laughter again, the loud laughter seeming to try to lift the ceiling off his head.

But at that moment, Sojiro's laughter suddenly stopped.

He seemed to be in a hurry, as if recalling something unpleasant; his lips were tightly pressed together and his brows were slightly furrowed.

"Sōjirō, what's wrong?" Asa asked. "Why do you suddenly look so serious?"

"Ah, it's nothing." Sojiro gently lowered Asuka, who had been holding up high, back to the ground. "I just suddenly remembered something that didn't go my way."

"I've finished writing all the plot points of the storybook, but there's one part I just don't know how to start writing..."

"One of the easiest ways to make people remember someone is to give them a catchy and distinctive nickname."

"For example, Takeda Shingen's nickname was 'Tiger of Kai,' and Uesugi Kenshin's nickname was 'Dragon of Echigo'... These majestic and dashing nicknames greatly enhanced the fame of Takeda Shingen and others."

"I think the titles that Tachibana Seiden currently holds are either not powerful enough or not easy to pronounce."

“Something like ‘Little Tengu of the Northern Frontier’ has the spirit, but it’s too awkward to pronounce and not easy for people to remember.”

"So I wanted to give Tachibana Aoto a new nickname that is very distinctive, impressive, and catchy in my storybook."

"But I haven't had any good ideas..."

Sojiro sighed, leaned back, and plopped back down at his desk.

"Asi, do you have any good suggestions?"

"Giving nicknames..." Asa muttered in a voice only she could hear, "I don't really understand these things..."

Asa was about to tell her husband frankly, "I don't even know many Chinese characters, how would I know how to give people nicknames?"

However, at that moment, Asa suddenly noticed the Niou statue in his arms...

"...How about 'Nioh'?"

"Ok?"

"How about 'Nioh'?"

With a shy smile, Asuka repeated what she had just said in a clearer voice as she placed the Niou statue in her arms on Sojiro's desk.

“‘Niou’ is the Vajra Arhat who protects the world… I feel that such a name matches Tachibana Aoto’s story and temperament quite well.”

Sojiro stared blankly at the Niou statue that Asuka had placed on the desk.

Then he suddenly stood up, grabbed Asu's shoulders with a serious expression, startling Asu.

“阿司！”

"W-What's wrong?"

"Your suggestion...is absolutely brilliant!"

After saying that, Sojiro released Asuka's shoulders and hurriedly went back to the desk, grabbed the brush from the brush holder and a piece of white paper on the corner of the desk, and wrote two large Chinese characters on the paper.

Nioh.

……

……

Volume 1, "The Qingdeng Catching Records"—The End!

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Foreword to Volume 2, "Soaring to the Heavens":

Soar into the heavens, reach a place higher than the moon!

Volume 1 is finally finished!

Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

An afterword for Volume 1 will be updated in 15 minutes. Interested readers can go and check it out!

Postscript to Volume 1

Hi! It's been a long time!

This is Shumengshi, an amateur novelist who wrote over ten thousand-word chapters this month and feels like he's almost gone bald.

Since the book was officially launched on April 18, it has been serialized for 5 months and 9 days, with a total of 112.5 million words written, averaging nearly 7000 words per day, which is quite diligent.

After more than five months of long serialization, the first volume of this book, "Qingdeng Catching Things," has finally come to an end.

I've only just finished the first volume after writing 112.5 million words... I suppose that's within the author's expectations.

As the author mentioned in the "Author's Note" in a previous chapter, this book may reach nearly 800 million words.

This isn't just the author exaggerating; given the amount of plot in this book, it's quite possible that it could actually reach nearly 800 million words.

I have divided this book into a prologue,

In other words—[Although this book has already reached 112.5 million words, the prologue's plot isn't even finished yet.]

Using *One Piece* as an example, the story is currently in the stage where Luffy has just left the East Blue. Using *Naruto* as an example, it's in the stage where Naruto has just finished fighting in the Land of Waves and hasn't yet participated in the Chunin Exams.

Until

The amount of plot in Volume 2 is no less than that in Volume 1. In other words, Volume 2 will definitely be around a million words long.

The book has already reached over 200 million words, but only the prologue has been completed; there's still much more to come.