I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The Choshu Domain is located at the westernmost tip of Honshu Island. Because its lord was the Mori clan, it was also known as the "Mori Domain".

Three hundred years ago, Mori Motonari, the founder of the Mori clan and known as the "greatest strategist of the western country" and the "god of strategy in the Warring States period," accomplished in just one generation that the Mori clan grew from a small local gentry into the largest power in western Japan, possessing 120 million koku of rice.

After Mori Motonari's death, his grandson Mori Terumoto succeeded him as head of the family. When Mori Terumoto took over, he was facing off against the powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who wanted to unify Japan.

Mori Terumoto was of mediocre talent and could not withstand the military might of the Toyotomi clan at its peak. Therefore, he compromised with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and became Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subordinate while retaining his fiefdom.

The decline of the Mori clan vividly illustrates the saying that "choice is far more important than effort."

Toyotomi Hideyoshi briefly unified Japan through a series of strategies of befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones, but soon after, he passed away.

Similarly, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was also forced to compromise and become Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subordinate due to the overwhelming power of the Toyotomi clan, seized the opportunity to rebel and planned to take away the Toyotomi clan's throne as "the ruler of the land".

The Mori clan firmly stood on the side of the Toyotomi clan.

The Toyotomi army and the Tokugawa army—both with a combined strength of over 200,000—engaged in a decisive battle at Sekigahara.

This great battle, which determined whether Japan would be ruled by the "Toyotomi" or the "Tokugawa" clans, was decided in just one day—Tokugawa Ieyasu successfully turned several important generals under the Toyotomi clan against him, and the Toyotomi clan suffered a crushing defeat after being betrayed by these traitors.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who laid the foundation for his hegemony at the Battle of Sekigahara, was appointed "Sei-i Taishogun" three years later and established the Edo Shogunate.

As the defeated party in the Battle of Sekigahara, the Mori clan was severely punished by the Edo Shogunate—their territory of 120 million koku was reduced to a mere 29.9 koku.

The Choshu Domain, whose income plummeted due to this major reduction in fiefdoms, had to remeasure its land in order to support its large number of samurai and maintain the normal operation of the domain. After a series of arduous land surveys, the koku (a unit of rice measure) was finally restored to 36.9 koku.

The Mori clan's vast empire was destroyed by the Tokugawa clan... The samurai of the Choshu Domain were naturally extremely unwilling to accept this.

This historical grudge has led many samurai of the Choshu Domain to be extremely hostile to the Edo Shogunate.

Legend has it that because Edo was located to the east of the Choshu Domain, many Choshu samurai would deliberately shift their feet to face east when lying down, signifying that they were "putting the Edo Shogunate under their feet."

As for the Edo Shogunate, it also disliked the Choshu Domain very much.

As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse... not to mention that this "camel" is not starved at all.

Although the Choshu Domain, which was dismantled by the Edo Shogunate, now only has a fraction of its former size and annual agricultural output, its commerce is extremely developed.

The Chōshū Domain spanned the Shimonoseki Strait, a crucial passage for all sea routes between China, Korea, and Osaka.

Taking advantage of its unique geographical location, the Choshu Domain accumulated a vast amount of wealth through trade and transportation.

The actual annual income of the entire fiefdom ranked among the top of the "three hundred princes".

The complex and intertwined historical grievances, coupled with the formidable national power, meant that the Edo Shogunate always harbored extreme suspicion towards the Choshu Domain.

In recent years, as the authority of the Edo Shogunate gradually declined due to a series of internal and external troubles, the following saying began to circulate among the common people—

The Edo Shogunate is weakening! The opportunity to overthrow the shogunate, which has been awaited for three hundred years, has finally arrived! The samurai of the Choshu Domain are beginning to stir!

Whether such claims are true or false remains to be seen, but the existence of these rumors undoubtedly exacerbated the tense atmosphere between the Tokugawa and Mori samurai.

At a time when the relationship between the Edo Shogunate and the Choshu Domain was delicate, the discovery of a Choshu Domain samurai among the remnants of the Exile Group, who had wreaked havoc on Edo, was a signal that was hard to ignore.

Takasugi Shinsaku didn't even give his name before stopping; his self-introduction continued:

"My close friends all like to call me 'Choshu Madman'."

Takasugi Shinsaku smiled.

“I quite like this nickname, so I gave myself the name ‘The Madman of the East.’ If you find my name hard to pronounce, you can just call me ‘Madman.’”

Aoto completely ignored Takasugi Shinsaku's witty remark.

"What are people from the Choshu Domain doing here?"

“Your Highness, that’s a rather strange question. What law stipulates that people from the Choshu Domain cannot enter Edo?”

"Then let me rephrase my question—since you're not a member of the Extermination Group, why are you here?"

"Well..."

Shinsaku Takasugi shrugged.

"This kind of question is irrelevant. Niou, it's rare for us to be alone, let's talk about something more interesting."

"Something even more interesting?" Qing Deng asked with a forced smile. "For example?"

"Hehe, then I'll be frank—King Ren, I admire your talent. Would you be willing to serve my Choshu?"

Shinsaku Takasugi put on a peaceful smile.

But just as he opened his mouth, about to say something more—

Thank you for your kindness. I am not willing.

Without hesitation, Aoto threw the olive branch that Takasugi Shinsaku had offered back along the same path.

For a moment, Shinsaku Takasugi was stunned.

He stared blankly at Qingdeng for a few moments, then, with a wry smile, said softly:

"Ha... such a quick rejection... is our Choshu Domain really that unattractive?"

“It has nothing to do with any so-called ‘attraction’,” Qing Deng said calmly. “Then I’d like to ask you this: if a samurai from the Aizu Domain asked you, ‘Would you be willing to serve the Aizu Domain?’ how would you respond?”

To Aoto, who was Takasugi Shinsaku?

A stranger whose name I only learned a little over a minute ago...

Qing Deng had never been to the Choshu Domain, nor did he have any friends living there.

To abandon everything he currently owns and travel to a strange place almost halfway across Japan, separated from Edo, for a blank check from a stranger... Only someone with a screw loose would accept such an outrageous invitation.

At this moment, Qingdeng couldn't help but sigh inwardly:

—I'm actually quite popular now...

—Not only did that group of mysterious people with unknown identities treat me with courtesy, but even the people from the Choshu Domain looked at me with favor and even directly tried to win me over.

The so-called "mysterious people of unknown identity" refers to the mysterious group that they encountered more than two months ago... on the night they accompanied Sanako to the fireworks festival, who claimed that "we are not anti-foreign patriots".

For no apparent reason, Qing Deng became very curious about the true identities of this group of people.

For the past two months, he has been using his connections and resources to investigate those mysterious guys from time to time—but to no avail.

After hearing Aoto's sarcastic question, Takasugi Shinsaku put his hands on his hips and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Hmm...that's true. If it were me, I wouldn't accept such a presumptuous 'invitation to serve.' Your Highness, I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous."

"To be honest—whether you're from Changzhou or somewhere else... I have absolutely no interest in that. I only care about one thing right now—tell me, are you going to fight or surrender?"

"..." Takasugi Shinsaku raised his eyes and cast a meaningful glance at Aoto.

Qing Deng: "I don't think you're naive enough to believe that I'll let you off the hook just because you claim you have no connection with the Extermination Group, right?"

Shinsaku Takasugi shrugged, then spread his hands:

"Niou, as I just said, I admire you, so if possible, I don't want to fight you. Can't we just get along peacefully?"

“That won’t do. Today is my first day as a thief turned public servant. I don’t want to be accused of ‘letting criminals escape’ on my first mission.”

“I see…” Takasugi Shinsaku murmured, “In that case… that’s a real shame…”

Shinsaku Takasugi put his hands behind his back and smiled silently.

"Yagyu Shininryu... Takasugi Shinsaku."

At the same time, Qing Deng also laughed nonchalantly.

"Natural Rinpoche - Tachibana no Aoto".

On the east side of the narrow corridor where the two were located was a thick wall with windows embedded in it.

Just then, the moon rose into the sky.

The bright moonlight shone through the window into the corridor. Between Aoto and Takasugi Shinsaku, there flowed a cool hue somewhere between silver and pearl.

In an instant... what followed truly happened in an instant.

Bang!

Bang!

Two loud stomping sounds rang out simultaneously!

Aoto and Takasugi Shinsaku charged at each other simultaneously! Their speeding figures and wildly dancing blades disrupted the moonlight!

clang!

The two flashes of cold light collided, transforming into the clanging sound of metal striking metal.

The two knives clashed, separated, clashed again, and separated again.

The two knives collided repeatedly, sparking a series of explosive bursts of sparks.

The sparks generated when their swords clashed became the only source of light in the narrow corridor beneath their feet, besides Xiaohui.

Natural Rishin-ryu: The Sword of No-Knowledge!

Qing Deng seized the opportunity, using the Xia Duan stance to unleash one of his most proficient sword techniques.

The spirit that had been calmed transformed into a shooting star and crashed straight into the chest of Takasugi Shinsaku.

Shinsaku Takasugi tilted his head, causing the "meteor" to regretfully miss him.

However, this "shooting star" did achieve some results—it grazed Takasugi Shinsaku's clothes.

Almost instantly, Takasugi Shinsaku launched a sharp counterattack, swiftly adjusting the position of his blade and slashing upwards at Aoto's waist.

With lightning speed, Qing Deng withdrew his thrusting sword and deflected Takasugi Shinsaku's sword strike with the blade.

Takasugi Shinsaku's offensive did not stop.

As he sheathed his knife back in front of him, he let out a low shout, moved to Qing Deng's left side, then lowered his body and swung his knife to strike Qing Deng's left shoulder.

Aoto's body reacted before his brain—he quickly took two steps back, dodging while simultaneously launching a fierce attack on Takasugi Shinsaku, only to have it easily blocked by his opponent who had switched from offense to defense in time.

"Impressive..." Qing Deng thought to himself.

A true expert's skill is immediately apparent.

After several rounds of evenly matched exchanges, Qing Deng keenly realized that the person before him was no ordinary person comparable to the likes of Tōdō Takataka.

Both the sword-drawing technique and the power and speed of the swing are commendable.

No wonder they were able to rout the Seventh Division... Qing Deng's expression turned serious as he focused on the enemy.

Coincidentally, at almost the same moment that Aoto straightened his expression, Takasugi Shinsaku's expression also became serious.