I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Uncle Yuan? Okay, I understand." Souji nodded vigorously without hesitation, then nimbly stood up with a somersault. "Tachibana-kun, I have to go now. Let's chat later. Remember to reserve my seat, don't let anyone else take it!"

Hijikata, Souji, and Kondo were as close as brothers, practically family. So, unlike Aoto and Saito, who were like Kondo's adopted brothers and sisters, they couldn't do nothing.

After leaving those words, Souji and Hijikata hurriedly headed towards the gate of the Shieikan.

Without Souji as his chat partner, Aoto suddenly became bored.

Nagakura, Saito, and the others are nowhere to be found now.

I was surrounded by people I didn't know.

Occasionally, some people would recognize Qing Deng as the currently famous "Niou" and come over to greet him.

However, wedding banquets are never a suitable place for socializing.

Therefore, those who came to get close to Qingdeng didn't find it convenient to chat with him for long. They basically exchanged a few words with Qingdeng and then left.

Bored out of his mind, Qingdeng opened his pocket watch, checked the time, and then looked up at the window, passing the time by counting the patterns of the clouds in the sky.

Suddenly, a gentle male voice entered Qing Deng's ears.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

The sound came from behind Qingdeng.

Qing Deng reflexively turned his head and glanced behind him—a middle-aged couple with kind smiles were looking down at him.

The middle-aged man was dressed as a samurai, wearing a dark blue robe and black hakama, with a light blue haori draped over his shoulders.

Although they were dressed as samurai, their waists were empty—which was to be expected; who would bring a sword to someone else's wedding? All the samurai attending today's banquet had their swords, including the wakizashi, confiscated before entering.

The middle-aged woman standing shoulder to shoulder with this middle-aged man was a rather beautiful and mature woman.

She hasn't aged or lost her beauty with the passage of time; instead, she has gained a unique and charming face.

The exquisite red kimono with a white sash perfectly accentuated the woman's alluring, curvaceous figure.

The middle-aged couple's clothes were embroidered with the same family crest... the "Gentian Leaf" family crest of Qingdeng, which belongs to the "floral and herbaceous" category, specifically the "Platycodon grandiflorus".

The clothes had the same family crest... and they stood intimately with their shoulders close together... Qingdeng guessed that the middle-aged man and woman were probably a couple.

Apart from the seats closest to where the bride and groom would read their wedding vows, which were all assigned to the immediate family members of the two families, the rest of the seats at the banquet were not arranged in any detail.

In other words, guests other than the bride and groom's immediate family members can sit wherever they want.

Because the wedding banquet will officially begin soon, the banquet hall is already full of guests, with more than 80% of the seats occupied.

The area around Qingdeng is one of the few places that still has many empty seats.

This middle-aged couple probably saw that there were still many empty seats around the Qing Deng, so they came over to ask if they could sit down.

The middle-aged man politely gestured to the seat to Qing Deng's right... The seat Qing Deng had reserved for Souji was to his left, and no one was sitting to his right, so Qing Deng smiled slightly at the courteous couple:

"These seats are empty. Please have a seat."

After saying that, Qingdeng shifted his body to the left.

"I am extremely grateful."

The middle-aged couple bowed slightly, gave Qingdeng a light greeting, then lifted the hem of their clothes and sat down with their knees bent.

The middle-aged man sat next to Aoto... The light blue and wine-red haoris, so close together, complemented each other, creating a strong yet natural color contrast.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew through the hall, lifting the haori worn by Qing Deng and the middle-aged man.

Gentian leaves and bellflowers danced in the wind...

—Hmm? This person's right hand...?

It was only then that Qing Deng noticed that the right hand of the middle-aged man sitting next to him had a strange skin color.

The entire right hand, exposed outside the haori, was charred black, like charcoal.

At first glance, it looks like it's been charred by fire.

But upon closer inspection... it seems to have nothing to do with fire.

Such colors, such patterns... reminded Qingdeng of trees struck by lightning.

Could this person's right hand have been struck by lightning?

The idea had barely popped into Qingdeng's mind when he chuckled self-deprecatingly and shook his head in rejection.

Struck by lightning? That person's grave is probably overgrown with grass taller than mine!

Qingdeng didn't know the middle-aged man, so although she was very curious about why the man's right arm was that color, she politely suppressed her curiosity.

After noticing that the middle-aged man's right hand was different from the average person's, Qingdeng's gaze kept unconsciously drifting towards the middle-aged man's location... namely, his own right side.

It might sound a bit childish, but Qingdeng genuinely thinks the middle-aged man's charred right arm, which looks like it's been struck by lightning... kind of cool...

While secretly examining the middle-aged man's right hand, Qingdeng unconsciously scrutinized the man from head to toe once more.

This person could be considered a "handsome middle-aged man".

Although he wasn't particularly handsome, he had a great physique and a great presence.

He is tall and slender with no excess fat, has a calm demeanor, and is refined in his manners.

"This uncle must be a very cultured scholar!" Qing Deng thought to himself.

The middle-aged man seemed unaware of Qingdeng's "spying" on him. As soon as he sat down, he started chatting with his wife beside him.

"The Test Guard Hall... seems to have remained unchanged."

“Yes, that’s right.” The beautiful woman nodded in agreement. “Although there’s not much change in appearance, I’ve heard that Shieikan has been doing very well recently. Both its reputation and the number of apprentices are incomparable to what they used to be.”

"Haha..." A hint of reminiscence appeared in the middle-aged man's eyes, and a faint smile full of vicissitudes appeared on his slightly upturned lips. "Back then, this little school of thought didn't even have a formal name, but it has finally become something of a sort."

Qingdeng, who overheard the conversation between the middle-aged man and his wife, thought to himself:

—It seems... these two are close friends or relatives of Kondo and the others.

Qingdeng regarded the couple's sudden appearance as just a minor incident.

Qingdeng had no intention of eavesdropping on other people's conversations. After calming himself down a bit, he focused his attention back on the window in front of him, preparing to continue counting the cloud patterns in the sky outside.

However, just as Qingdeng's gaze lifted forward, his thoughts were swallowed up by a sudden shout:

"Mr. Tachibana!"

Yongcang took three steps in one stride to reach Qingdeng's side.

"What is it?" Qingdeng asked.

"Mr. Tachibana! I can't find my clothes. Have you seen the black haori I bought a few days ago?"

Nagakura pointed to his upper body, which was not covered by a haori (a traditional Japanese garment).

"Haori?" Qing Deng thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I didn't see it. Did you forget your clothes at Chihiro's house when you went to take a bath?"

"Impossible. I haven't worn that haori since I bought it. It's impossible that I left it at Chihiro's shop."

After saying that, Yongcang smacked his lips loudly.

"Tsk... That's strange... How could it suddenly disappear... I bought this new dress specifically so I could look nice at today's wedding..."

Nagakura scratched his head as he strode away.

Anyway, I'm pretty free right now... Just as Aoto was thinking about whether or not to go help Nagakura find some clothes—

"Tachibana...?"

A muttered sound filled with surprise caught Qing Deng's attention.

The person who made that muttering sound... was right in front of me.

Qing Deng looked in the direction from which the sound came and saw two pairs of eyes staring straight at him.

"Orange..."

The middle-aged man with the strange color of his right hand looked thoughtful as he carefully considered the surname Qingdeng.

Then, he squinted and stared intently at Qing Deng's face.

"May I ask—what is your name?" the middle-aged man asked Qingdeng.

"Me? My surname is Ju, and my given name is Qingdeng."

"Oh..." A hint of amusement gleamed in the middle-aged man's eyes as he said with a smile, "So you're the King of Kings... I've heard so much about you."

The middle-aged man straightened his back slightly, turned slightly to face Qingdeng, and then gave Qingdeng a very formal bow in a humble yet dignified manner.

"I am Goro Komaki. This is my wife, Machi Komaki."

"Greetings." As soon as Komaki Goro finished speaking, the beautiful woman... Atachi, with a slight smile, bowed slightly to Aoto.

"If someone treats me with respect, I will treat them with even greater respect"—this is one of Qingdeng's social principles.

Seeing how polite the Gu Mu couple were to him, Qing Deng quickly returned their greeting and offered some modest and polite words.

Being recognized by strangers as the currently popular "Niou"... Qing Deng was already used to such things. He knew exactly how to respond and what to say.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the Gu Mu couple, Qing Deng pondered for a moment and asked:

"Mr. Komaki, judging from your and Rei's accents... you're from Kyoto, right?"

As a "three-way" Tongxin who frequently interacts with all sorts of people, Qingdeng is quite familiar with several local dialects that are widely spoken.

Therefore, Qing Deng keenly noticed that the Komaki couple both spoke with a rather heavy "Kyoto dialect".

As the group in Japan that is most fond of regional discrimination and has the strongest sense of regional superiority, the people of Kyoto have given the Kyoto dialect a very elegant nickname, "Kyo-koto-ha," in order to show the nobility of Kyoto.

The characteristics of "Kyoto Gem" are that it is pronounced slowly and uses a lot of long vowels, and it has a very developed honorific language. Often, a long string of words can be spoken, but the actual meaning is just one word: thank you.

"Oh? Your ears are very sharp." Komaki Goro smiled. "My wife and I are not native to Kyoto, but we run a small wagashi (Japanese sweets) shop here and have lived in Kyoto for a long time."

Qing Deng secretly clicked his tongue, realizing he hadn't misheard the Old Mu couple's accents.

"Has my name already spread to the capital region...?"

"Haha, don't underestimate Kyoto."

"Goro Komaki said calmly."

"Although Kyoto is far less prosperous than Edo and the 'commercial capital' Osaka, it is still one of the largest cities in the country. Its speed of the flow of goods and information should not be underestimated."

"It was about a month ago when the name 'Niou' first circulated in Kyoto."