I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"what……"

Chiba Jutaro let out a long breath, his expression a mixture of admiration and mixed emotions, as he murmured to Sanako beside him:

"It's only been three months since the Aizu-no-Kou swordsmanship competition ended, and Tachibana-kun has become much stronger..."

"I really can't imagine how far Tachibana-kun will grow in the future..."

"If Tachibana continues to improve at this rate... I'm afraid it won't be long before even Rong-xiong will no longer be his match."

Sanako: "..."

Compared to Chiba Jutaro, Sanako's reaction was much calmer.

He showed neither surprise nor admiration, nor did he express the same deep emotion as Chiba Jutaro.

She remained expressionless, gazing silently at Qingdeng, who had fought eight consecutive matches and won all eight.

Sanako's reaction was so calm... This was not because Qing Deng's strength had improved so quickly, which did not shock her.

It's not because she's used to it.

She had unknowingly become accustomed to witnessing all sorts of incredible things in this young man who was four years younger than her.

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This time, it's really not the author's fault for not reaching 10,000 words... Long holidays are always busy. Last night, my sister-in-law's parents came over for dinner. They ate for over an hour... which made my writing time even less yesterday (crying emoji).

Although I failed to update again today, considering this chapter has 7200 words and is of decent quality, I'll still vote for this book with my monthly ticket (crying leopard.jpg).

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

The most important use of monthly passes is not the quantity, but the ranking on the monthly pass leaderboard.

The higher your ranking on the monthly ticket chart, the more exposure you will receive.

The reason the author keeps asking for votes is to help this book rank higher on this month's monthly ticket chart.

So if you have any votes right now, hurry up and cast them for this book while there are double monthly votes available!

Chapter 203 Qingdeng's Little Fangirls [7600]

The author made a small mistake in the previous chapter.

The first dojo of the Chiba Sword Academy is an exclusive dojo for members of the Chiba family, while the third dojo is reserved for male students who are not strong enough and all female students.

Thanks to reader [Seven-Colored Carrot] for pointing out the typo; the author has already made the corrections. (Leopard Dead.jpg)

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"Brother Chong, when did your apprentices become so belligerent?"

At that moment, Chiba Tamon Shiro, who was standing next to Chiba Jutaro and Sanako, suddenly interrupted.

He frowned slightly and cast a suspicious glance at Chiba Jutaro.

Qingdeng is no longer the unknown "dumbhead Deng" he once was.

The current Qingdeng is the Northern Barbarian Tribe's "Three Returns" of Unity, who has repeatedly achieved great feats and merits with his formidable strength; he is a powerful swordsman known as the "Benevolent King"!

There are many people throughout Edo who yearn to challenge the now-famous Aoto, including those with lofty ambitions who want to improve themselves by sparring with masters, those who are ambitious and want to gain fame by defeating famous figures, and those who simply dislike Aoto because they despise lower-ranking samurai.

Therefore, when the first few people to take the stage... namely Wada and Taniguchi, challenged Aoto, Chiba Tamon Shiro did not find it strange at all, but thought it was reasonable.

It wasn't until he saw so many people following Wada and Taniguchi, one after another, taking to the stage to challenge Aoto, that Chiba Tamon Shiro began to have some doubts.

In Chiba Tamon Shiro's memory, the Little Chiba Sword Hall was not the kind of sword hall with a strong sense of martial ethics.

Chiba Sadakichi has a gentle personality, and perhaps influenced by the gentle personality of the dojo master, the overall "aggressiveness" of the Little Chiba Kendo Dojo is not strong.

There are warmongers, but they are not many.

That is why Chiba Tamon Shiro felt so puzzled by the scenes unfolding before his eyes.

When did the apprentices at the Chiba Kenkan become so belligerent?

One after another they landed... as if it had been pre-arranged.

Upon hearing Chiba Tamon Shiro's question, Chiba Jutaro raised his right eyebrow.

Then he revealed a meaningful smile.

"Well..."

“Brother Duomen, until just now, I was just as puzzled as you about why so many people suddenly wanted to challenge Tachibana-kun.”

"But now, I've noticed some clues."

At this point, Chiba Jutaro paused, then turned his face and gaze to the side, looking at Sanako with a strange expression.

"Zanako, I think you must have noticed it too, right?"

"Most of Tachibana-kun's challengers... are people who have boldly confessed their love to you and pursued you openly before."

“...I noticed it as early as when Taniguchi took the stage,” Sanako said coldly.

Sanako vaguely recognized the faces and names of those who had boldly and openly expressed their love for her and pursued her.

The first to go up was Wada, and the second was Taniguchi, both of whom had never given up pursuing her, no, it should be said that they still have. So Sanako had a deep impression of them.

Therefore, just as Sanako said herself, she had already realized something when she saw Taniguchi challenge Aoto.

"..." Chiba Tamon Shiro remained silent.

Chiba Tamon Shiro was not some dull-witted fool who was ignorant of human relationships.

Just from hearing these two sentences of conversation between Chiba Jutaro and Sanako, he already understood why so many people were suddenly challenging Aoto one after another.

Chiba Tamon Shiro was well aware of the charm of his talented and beautiful cousin.

Chiba Tamon Shiro had also heard that Aoto and his little cousin had recently gotten along quite well.

"...I see, that's why."

Chiba Tamon Shiro breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, in other words—Sanako, Tachibana-kun's 'tachi' incident was caused by you..."

Liqie: A special martial arts combat mode. Everyone takes turns fighting the challenger continuously until the challenger collapses from exhaustion.

Aoto, who was being relentlessly attacked by the "Zanako suitors' army," can basically be seen as undergoing a brutal "tachi" challenge.

“…” Sanako did not respond to Chiba Tamon Shiro’s remark.

She remained silent, but her expression changed only slightly – the light in her beautiful eyes flickered slightly.

"How boring..."

Chiba Tamon Shiro curled his lip.

"They're taking turns challenging Tachibana-kun just because they're jealous of each other."

"Brother Chong, what do you plan to do now that things are like this?"

"What do you mean, what should we do?" Chiba Jutaro asked back.

“Tachibana-kun has already defeated eight people in a row,” Chiba Tamon Shiro said in a deep voice. “If Tachibana-kun continues to win like this… I’m afraid the Chiba Kendo Academy will lose face.”

"Why don't we try to stop this pointless fight that's started out of jealousy?"

To have so many disciples fight against the same person and still not win against any of them, resulting in a complete defeat—this would be extremely disgraceful for any sword-fighting school.

The Chiba Sword Hall is, after all, one of the most important institutions of the Chiba family.

Even setting aside the utilitarian gains and losses, from the perspective of kinship alone—"not wanting to see the reputation of the sword-making school run by his relatives tarnished"—Chiba Tamon Shiro did not want to see the face of the Little Chiba Sword-Making School damaged.

"A disgrace, isn't it..."

Upon hearing this, Chiba Jutaro crossed his arms over his chest while looking thoughtful.

A moment later, he turned his head and grinned at Chiba Tamon Shiro.

“Brother Duomen, what you said makes a lot of sense... but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

"Let's just let Tachibana-kun continue fighting like this."

"Huh?" Chiba Tamon Shiro stared wide-eyed in confusion.

“First of all, Brother Tamon, it’s not ‘Tachibana-kun is challenging the apprentices of our Chiba Kendo Academy’ now, but rather ‘the apprentices of our Chiba Kendo Academy are challenging Tachibana-kun.’”

Chiba Jutaro said slowly.

“Qingdeng was not the one who challenged others; he was the one who was challenged. He was passively accepting challenges from others from beginning to end.”

"If we forcibly stop the fight just because Tachibana-kun is too strong and the apprentices are being beaten too badly, it would make our Chiba Sword Hall seem petty."

"For me... now is a good opportunity to teach some of the apprentices at our sword-fighting school a good lesson."

Chiba Jutaro let out a long breath.

“My father and I discovered a long time ago that some of the apprentices in our school are too arrogant and think too highly of themselves.”

"Because he was an apprentice at the Chiba Sword Academy, he was arrogant and thought he was the best among all his peers."

"While confidence is a good thing... in martial arts, being too confident can easily cost you your life."

“My father and I both tried to correct this kind of mindset of some apprentices who couldn’t see the big picture, but the results were not very good.”

"Therefore... let's take this opportunity to have Tachibana-kun help wake up some people."

"After being defeated so badly by Tachibana-kun's sword, some people should be awakened to the truth."

"I hope that as many people as possible can understand these two principles."

"If you have the courage to challenge others, you must also have the courage to bear all the serious consequences, including a crushing defeat."

"There are countless masters in the world, and the world outside the Chiba Sword Hall is vast, with many more masters."

“But…” Chiba Tamon Shiro said hesitantly.

But before he could even utter a "but," Chiba Jutaro, who had already guessed what he was going to say, interrupted him:

"Brother Duomen, don't cling to your so-called 'reputation'."