I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Aoto, unmoved by Tada Kōemon's furious roar, narrowed his eyes slightly.

His gaze swept quickly over Tada Koemon's entire body from head to toe. Finally, his eyes settled on—Tada Koemon's right armpit!

Patsat!

In the next instant, Qing Deng flipped his wrist, adjusted the direction of the blade of the Ghost-Slaying Blade and his grip, and then kicked off with his hind legs, shooting out with lightning speed!

Two figures, one large and one small, facing each other with swords and spears, merged in an instant.

"Drink up!"

Riding on his forward momentum, Tada Kōemon unleashed a sweeping attack, swinging his large spear horizontally with its "blood-red maw" open, aiming for Aoto's vital spot in the abdomen.

Unwilling to confront this madman head-on, Qingdeng crouched down, crawled under the gun barrel, and then continued to slide forward.

In the blink of an eye, Qing Deng passed by Tada Kōemon. In the instant they brushed past each other, Qing Deng suddenly swung his sword, "Stabilize the Demon God," and the horizontally swung blade severed the flesh under Tada Kōemon's right armpit, splattering out handfuls of blood.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

After letting out a shrill, inhuman scream of pain, Tada Kōemon gritted his teeth, endured the pain, twisted his waist, and swung his spear at Aoto, who was sliding behind him!

Qing Deng was a step faster than him!

Qing Deng quickly stopped his forward momentum. As he turned around, he adjusted the direction of Ding Guishen's blade, changing his slash to a thrust, aiming for his knee, which, like his armpit, was not covered by armor!

With a soft "thud," the tip of the knife easily pierced through Tada Kōemon's right knee.

Insert it into the popliteal fossa and pierce it out through the kneecap.

"Aa ...

After Aoto pulled the spirit from behind Tada Kōemon's right knee, Tada Kōemon, who could not stop wailing, collapsed to his knees due to the excruciating pain.

The outcome was decided—Aoto stretched out his left hand, grabbed Tada Kōemon's armor at the collar, and raised his right hand high with the sword tip pointing downwards at Tada Kōemon's neck.

puff!

Clumps of blood gushed out like a spring from the wound on Tada Kōemon's neck.

[Ding! Talent detected]

[Successfully replicated talent: "Tiger's Arm"]

[Talent Introduction: Extraordinary explosive power in the arms]

********

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I'm so sorry! I set a goal yesterday, but I couldn't write 8 or 9000 words today... Last night I spent all my time talking about football with a girl. I don't watch football much, but one of the girls likes it, so... (crying face.jpg)

Tomorrow! I'll definitely be able to write 8 or 9000 words tomorrow! (self-deprecating image)

Chapter 248 A Final Reunion! Qingdeng and the Eldest Sister of Tianzhangyuan! [7500]

Aoto pulled the demon from Tada Kōemon's body. The muffled "thud" made one's teeth ache.

As the blade was withdrawn, even more blood, energy, and vitality gushed out from the gaping wound in his neck.

"Heh...heh...heh...heh..."

Driven by his will to survive, Tada Kōemon released his grip on the Ōshin-no-kō (large spear), raised his arms and pressed them hard against the wound on his neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

Tada Kōemon's efforts to save himself were commendable, but the injury was beyond medical help.

The hands used to cover the wound were stained bright red with blood in the blink of an eye.

Unable to stop the flow of blood and the passing of life, his face turned pale at a visible speed, as if it had been covered with a layer of frost.

Just then, Tada Kōemon's expression changed drastically, as if he had seen something terrifying—

"Lord!"

He stopped trying to stop the pain in his neck... After shouting "My Lord!" he faced the empty air in front of him, and with a "thump," he knelt down on both knees, respectfully pressing his forehead and palms to the ground.

"My lord! You can't do this to me! You can't do this to me!"

The gunman, who had been fiercely fighting Qing Deng and his men with a stern expression just half a minute ago, was now completely disheveled, weeping uncontrollably.

He kept repeating "You can't do this to me," while repeatedly kowtowing... The force of his kowtows was so great that a large patch of his forehead turned red with just one kowtow. Another kowtow, and his skin tore open. Yet another kowtow, and streams of blood gushed from his broken forehead, staining the ground and most of his face red.

Ignoring the blood still gushing from his neck... ignoring Qing Deng and the others around him... he just kept kowtowing.

It was as if he was bowing to something in front of him, which was his world and the entirety of his remaining life.

Even Aoto and his group, who were used to Tada Kōemon's eccentric behavior, were stunned at this moment.

At this moment, Tada Kōemon finally uttered words other than "You can't do this to me."

"My lord! I admit I made a mistake! But it doesn't deserve this!"

"Just for this minor mistake, I've been stripped of my official position and banished from my fiefdom... I refuse to accept this punishment... I refuse to accept this punishment—!"

"Our Tada family has served our domain with utmost loyalty for generations! How can you abolish our family name for such a trivial reason?!"

"My lord! My lord! Please, for the sake of the many merits I made in suppressing the rebellion more than 20 years ago, please rescind your order!"

After shouting, Tada Kōemon pressed his forehead tightly to the ground and wailed like a lost and helpless child.

Tears and snot mixed with the blood on his face, turning into a stream of disgusting, pale red liquid.

After a short while, his cries gradually subsided.

His cries and pleas to his "lord" were nothing more than a final burst of energy before his death.

His last burst of energy has now ended.

Because the blood was almost drained, the "fountain" turned into a "stream".

His pupils began to dilate, and his gaze quickly dimmed.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

After less than half a second of darkness, the scene before him changed—Tada Kōemon, who had just been kneeling on the ground in a perfect dogeza posture, shouting "Lord!" and pleading loudly for mercy, collapsed to the ground like a mountain.

He died with his eyes wide open, filled with deep resentment, sorrow, and indignation.

Strangely, there was no hatred involved.

He had just been saying "You can't treat me like this," clearly showing his extreme dissatisfaction with the so-called "lord's" actions... He had such a strong grudge against that "lord," yet not a trace of hatred could be found in his eyes...

At that moment, Aoto suddenly saw something roll off Tada Kōemon's body.

It is a very small medicine bottle.

Because the bottle cap was not tightened, the contents of the bottle—a series of red and purple pills—fell out when the bottle rolled off Tada Kōemon's body.

"This is?"

Qing Deng looked down at the strangely colored pills and, feeling a sense of familiarity, raised his eyebrows sharply.

Qing Deng felt... no, he was certain! He was certain he had seen this pill somewhere before!

Thanks to the talent he copied from Keisuke Yamanami: "photographic memory", Aoto now has a very strong memory.

A moment later, Qing Deng recalled when and where he had first seen the pill—the first case he investigated after transmigrating to this era: the murder case of Xun Sanlang brutally killing Granny Ping. At that time, when he went to arrest Xun Sanlang alone, he saw the exact same pill at Xun Sanlang's house.

Same size, same eerie color.

—What kind of medicine is this...?

Just as Qing Deng was about to squat down to examine the pill more closely—

Pat pat pat pat pat...

Suddenly, a series of noisy footsteps came from the street corner on the east side.

Looking up, they saw a group of "three-times" officials lined up in neat rows, carrying various weapons, heading straight towards them.

The person leading the group was an acquaintance of Aoto's—the leader of the Tojo Clan, who, along with their Arima Clan, had divided the Kitaban-sho's town of Setomai into two parts: Tojo Shintaro.

Dongcheng was as slovenly as ever—his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, his face was greasy as if he hadn't washed it all day, and there was a little bit of eye discharge visible at the corner of his eyes. His big belly, which was bulging out of his clothes around his waist, bounced up and down as he ran.

"Are you kidding me...?" Looking at the Toujou group who had only just arrived, Souji couldn't help but complain, "We've already subdued the troublemakers, and these government officials are only just showing up now...!"

Qing Deng gave a helpless, wry smile: "You'll get used to it."

As a government official, Qingdeng had always had a deep understanding of the inefficiency of the government office.

Although Qing Deng will assume the position of "Captain of the Third Division of Fire Thieves and Leader of the Seventh Division of the First-Hand Archer Group" on November 1st, before officially taking office, his status is still "Sadamachi Kaitoshi," which is one level lower than Tojo.

When facing someone of higher rank than oneself, one still needs to observe the necessary courtesies.

Qingdeng tidied his mood and clothes, then took the initiative to greet Dongcheng.

"Lord Dongcheng."

“嗯？橘？”

Dongcheng glanced at Qingdeng a few times with surprise.

"How will you be here?"

"It's a long story... Lord Higashijo, you've finally arrived. You must have heard something about what happened here, right? The man lying over there was the madman who was indiscriminately killing people on this street. He has been subdued by me and my companions."

Higashijo glanced sideways at the corpse of Tada Kōemon not far away.

"Ju, what exactly happened? Could you explain it to me?"

After asking the question, Dongcheng extended his right pinky finger and, without any hesitation, stuck it into his right nostril, casually picking his nose.

Toujou's uninhibited behavior of picking his nose with his finger in public, completely disregarding his image, stunned Kondo and others who were not familiar with him.

Souji and Sanako were so disgusted by Toujou's behavior that they shrank back and instinctively took a few steps back, increasing the distance between themselves and Toujou.

Qing Deng, who was already used to Dongcheng's slovenliness and "unconventional" ways, calmly explained everything he knew in detail.

While listening to Aoto's report, Tojo slowly walked to the body of Tada Kōemon.

As soon as he squatted down, a look of surprise flashed across his cheeks.

"Huh? Isn't this Tada Kōemon?"

Qing Deng was taken aback: "Lord Dongcheng, do you know this person?"

"...I guess so."