I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

In contrast, Aoto was completely put on the spot by Kimura.

Qing Deng was fully aware of the stakes involved... but he still agreed to this troublesome task almost without hesitation.

Because he knew very well that this was both a crisis and an opportunity.

Qingdeng was caught in a fire, and the thieves had changed the place and people. To quickly establish himself in this unfamiliar organization, outstanding achievements and high prestige were essential.

With these two things, Qingdeng will have ample confidence to negotiate with irreconcilable colleagues or unruly subordinates in the future.

Whether it's Kimura, Tsuchida, or the group led by Akabane, they all probably felt that this kind of mission—"to kill people and save people at the same time"—was simply impossible to complete.

If Qingdeng can complete this task well, it will undoubtedly bring him a brilliant start to his new career!

Of course, all of the above are secondary reasons.

The main reason why Qingdeng dared to readily accept this task was that he was confident he could turn this "hot potato" into a sweet "taro"!

The narrow alley that Qingdeng was walking on was a common "drainage alley" in longhouses—houses were almost touching on both sides, and the ground was covered with dirty and damp ditch boards...that is, wooden boards laid on the drain.

Because the alley was not designed for pedestrians, the road is extremely narrow. Even someone of normal build like Qingdeng has to work hard to tighten his stomach to move forward with difficulty.

While enduring the stench of the sewage underfoot, Qing Deng slowly moved forward, carefully observing the side structure of the house on his left... the wagashi shop where a large number of bandits were entrenched and several innocent girls were waiting for him to rescue them.

Before long, Qingdeng stopped in his tracks.

—Great...there's a window...!

Qingdeng looked up at a tightly closed paper window on the second floor of the confectionery shop.

From the outside, this wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery) house appears to have a very ordinary decor. It's a two-story building constructed of wood and paper. But what's inside remains to be seen until one sneaks inside.

Qing Deng first squatted down and tightened the laces of his straw sandals, then took out his sleeve belt and tied the cuffs of his clothes, and finally threw away the hat on his head and the scabbard of the sword that he used to subdue the demons at his left waist.

It has to be said that the Fire Thief's new all-black uniform not only has a majestic appearance, but also has a great advantage: it can be used as a "stealth suit"!

Qingdeng bit the hilt of the sword that could ward off evil spirits, and with a light leap, he grabbed the rafters under the eaves. Then, like folding paper, he flipped his body upwards and stood on the eaves of the first floor of the house.

Ah, thinking about it carefully... this seems to be the perfect opportunity to test the results of my "Cloud Flow" cultivation...

Qingdeng smiled to himself as he slowly walked towards the tightly closed window in front of him, almost squatting down.

The wooden eaves... Logically speaking, a muscular adult male like Qing Deng should make some noise when stepping on such a roughly made wooden eave.

However, Qingdeng, who walked on it, made no sound with his footsteps.

To outsiders, it would definitely seem as if Qingdeng wasn't walking, but rather floating.

For the past two months, with the excellent mentality of "if I don't take advantage of such a good deal," Qing Deng has been diligently studying the unique ninjutsu of the new Oniwaban, "Cloud Flow," at the Moon Palace Shrine.

With his hard work and the help of his talents such as "Master of Patience", "Focus", and "Skillful Hands", Qing Deng made rapid progress in everything, from footwork to special skills and indoor combat techniques.

Now, Qingdeng can skillfully unlock most of the locks on the market and move silently on rooftops covered with tiles and on walls only half a foot wide!

When he was three steps away from the window, Qingdeng stopped and closed his eyes. He used "Concentration" and "Wind Sensing" to probe the activity inside the room.

—There's no one near the window...good...!

The moment this thought arose, Qingdeng opened his eyes without hesitation and went to the window.

He tugged at the window frame—the window was locked.

Seeing this, Qing Deng's lips curled up slightly, and he secretly found it amusing.

He never expected that, following the "footwork" technique, the second important technique to test "Cloud Flow" would arrive so quickly: the "extraordinary skill"!

Qingdeng took out two thin, long black iron needles from his pocket, inserted them into the gap in the window frame, and after fiddling with them for a while, he heard a soft "click"—the window opened.

As Qingdeng put the iron needle back into his pocket, he gently opened the window, creating a small gap for him to pass through. Then, he nimbly rolled inside through the gap.

As soon as he landed, he crouched down under the window to observe for a moment, and then crouched down and cautiously walked inside.

The layout of this wagashi shop was nothing special. The wooden corridor, which wasn't particularly old, didn't creak or groan when stepped on, which relieved Qing Deng.

If it were a wooden corridor with voice control, where a step would produce a sound, then Qingdeng would have to jump onto the ceiling to move stealthily there, just to be on the safe side.

Qingdeng noticed a corner of a corridor ahead.

He quickened his pace, hid himself under the corner of the corridor, and then peeked out to observe the activity outside the corridor.

Because all the nearby windows were closed and no lights were on, the corridor was so dark that it perfectly illustrated the phrase "pitch black."

Whether the scene before him was bright or dark made no difference to Qingdeng, who possessed the talent of "night vision," and it did not affect his ability to see.

After observing for about 5 minutes, Qingdeng saw nothing but darkness, darkness, and more darkness—but he did hear a lot of trivial noises thanks to his "sensor of the wind".

From the direction of 9 o'clock, there was the sound of a girl sobbing...

"Rescuing the hostages" versus "annihilating the remnants of the anti-foreign group"—it's obvious which is more important.

Once the hostages are rescued, the campaign against the remnants of the Expeditionary Force will become a simple matter of time.

Therefore, without hesitation, Qing Deng turned around and headed straight for the direction from which the girls' sobs were coming from.

Before long, Qingdeng stepped onto a corridor. Suddenly, his brow furrowed. He instinctively leaned against the wall beside him, hiding his body in the shadows beneath it, and then stared intently ahead.

Just seven steps away at the 2 o'clock position, a haggard and unkempt samurai stood side by side by an open window—it was unclear whether they wanted some fresh air or to observe the movements of the soldiers outside.

Qingdeng looked around... Apart from this person, there were no other enemies nearby.

Unfortunately, this guy happened to be on the only road that Qingdeng could take to rescue the hostages.

Qingdeng didn't have the time to wait for this guy to leave.

So it goes without saying what action should be taken now—the time has come to test the third and most important skill of "Cloud Flow": "Indoor Combat Techniques"!

What happened next really happened in the blink of an eye.

Qingdeng, who was "as still as a virgin" just a moment ago, suddenly turned stillness into movement in the next instant!

He pounced like a predatory beast, leaping precisely behind the warrior.

The samurai heard a strange noise behind him, and before he could turn around, he felt a large iron clamp clamp tightly between his chin and mouth—Qing Deng used his left hand to press down on his mouth, preventing him from making a sound. With his right hand, he raised the Ding Gui Shen sword and plunged the tip into the samurai's abdomen.

The knife strikes with extreme ferocity, hitting the vital points directly.

After stabbing the knife in, Qingdeng didn't forget to rotate the blade a few times.

The samurai, his mouth and nose firmly blocked, stared wide-eyed at Qing Deng in terror, his eyes pleading as if begging for his life. Veins bulged in his neck, his arms clawed at the air, and his legs kicked at the ground, searching for anything he could use for leverage.

His struggles, driven by the will to survive, were ultimately futile.

Soon, he collapsed to the ground, dead.

Having slain countless enemies and long since become accustomed to life, death, and bloodshed, Qing Deng calmly laid the man's body flat on the ground, then withdrew the Soul-Stabilizing Technique from his body, and took out a piece of paper to wipe the blade, which still contained a lot of blood and fat.

—1…

Qingdeng didn't know how many remnants of the Exile Group were still lurking in this house, but it was always good to remember the number of enemies killed.

With the obstruction cleared, Qingdeng continued walking in.

Along the way, Qingdeng occasionally encountered several remnants of the Exile Group with different expressions, none of whom had a pleasant look on their faces.

However, in order to save time and avoid being discovered as much as possible, Qingdeng always chose to hide or dodge whenever possible.

Finally, after a series of close calls, Qingdeng managed to find and reach the room from which sobs were emanating.

Judging from the number of doors, the room was quite large. The simply painted paper sliding doors were tightly closed, and a faint candlelight shone through the narrow cracks.

From successfully infiltrating the house to finding the room where the hostages were located, the process was generally smooth.

I didn't see any guards or sentries at all. I only saw one person after another wandering in the corridor, lost in thought, doing who-knows-what.

It is clear that this "one-armed party" is either loosely organized or all its members are currently demoralized and lack the strength to set up effective guard and defense.

Judging from the current situation and the expressions of every remnant of the Exile Group that Qing Deng observed after infiltrating, the latter is more likely.

This old rival and formidable enemy, who had caused him a lot of trouble, is now in his twilight years and has lost all his former glory... For some reason, Qing Deng felt a strange sense of melancholy.

Rescuing the hostages is the most important task. Qing Deng took a deep breath, quickly gathering his thoughts and focusing his mind.

Thinking back to when he first learned "Cloud Flow," Qingdeng's "Indoor Combat Techniques" teacher, Tian Cangxiao, repeatedly emphasized to him: hearing is the most important sense when carrying out infiltration missions. You must know how to use your ears to predict the enemy's position and find the safest direction to advance.

Qing Deng deeply agreed with Tian Cangxiao's teachings.

Qingdeng closed his eyes and listened intently to all the sounds coming from inside the room.

Sobbing, whimpering, breathing, pacing... Qingdeng took in every sound he could capture and stored it all in his mind.

——1、2、3、4……13……

There were 13 people in the room...

—Five of them were sobbing, their voices very soft… These five must be the hostages… Luckily, the hostages are all together. Saves me the trouble of searching again.

—As for the other eight, they are mostly remnants of the Extermination Group…tsk, quite a few of them, this is a bit troublesome…

Under normal circumstances, that is, when facing this band of bandits without any worries, Qingdeng would naturally be fearless.

But how to protect the safety of the five hostages while fighting these eight people... that is the real challenge.

Just as Qingdeng was pondering the best way to defeat the enemy, he suddenly noticed the candlelight shining through the crack in the door.

The candlelight flickered, casting indistinct shadows on Qingdeng's face.

In that instant, a bold plan related to "light" took shape in Qing Deng's mind.

……

……

"Waaaaah..."

"Mother……"

The girls, who had been held hostage by the "one-armed gang," huddled together in a corner of the room.

They were clearly terrified; each of them was trembling uncontrollably.

At this moment, only their body heat can give each other a little sense of security.

So far, many people have been brutally beaten by the one-armed warrior and his men for crying out too loudly. As a result, these poor girls dare not even cry out loud now, and can only bite their lips and let out low sobs.

Even so, the one-armed warrior sitting cross-legged beside them still impatiently yelled at them, "You're all so noisy! Be quiet!"

The girls trembled even more violently, their eyes bulging as they hurriedly raised their hands to cover their mouths, trying their best not to make a sound.

The one-armed warrior personally led six of his most trusted subordinates to guard the girls, whom they regarded as their "last straw."