I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Blood mixed with saliva and broken teeth splattered everywhere.

Tokugawa Iemochi explicitly ordered, "Just injure them, don't kill them."

This is probably because he was worried that killing someone in public might affect his incognito trip today.

Qing Deng's thoughts coincided with those of Tokugawa Iemochi. Even without Tokugawa Iemochi's reminder, he had no intention of killing the burly man and his companions.

Firstly, he shared the same concerns as Tokugawa Iemochi. He didn't want the deaths of these scoundrels to affect today's "Edo visit."

At that time, Qingdeng might have to take responsibility.

Why should I let these social scumbags tarnish my work record? I won't do something so unprofitable.

Secondly, it's because today is New Year's Day.

Qingdeng didn't want to get his hands covered in blood on the first day of the new year, as it would ruin his mood.

However, choosing to spare the lives of these scum does not mean that Qingdeng will show mercy.

Since his transmigration, Seito has been serving in the shogunate's security agencies, and he has seen and heard far too many tragedies caused by lawless ronin.

In some ways, these unorganized and undisciplined ronin were even more brutal and dangerous than the Yakuza.

The Yakuza at least occasionally follow some rules of the trade, but the ronin are truly lawless.

Out of disgust for these ronin who didn't follow the right path, Qing Deng's attack was lenient, but not completely merciful.

After smashing the burly man's face so badly that it was impossible to distinguish his eyes from his nose, Qing Deng casually stepped over the man's shoulder and came up behind him.

Qingdeng did not pursue the burly man further.

He knew that if he didn't leave this person to one of the two little guys to handle, then those two little guys might get angry with him.

Those two must have been itching to teach that bastard Yu Shicai, who had just spouted such arrogant words and kept insulting Tianzhang Academy, a lesson.

"Well……!"

The burly man was in so much pain that he couldn't even cry out, and he almost lost consciousness.

My vision went black, and countless golden stars seemed to dance on my eyelids.

A shattering, excruciating pain spread throughout my entire body.

My face seemed to have vanished into thin air; my body couldn't feel the presence of my cheeks, only intense pain and numbness that could make me faint.

In the blink of an eye, just as his massive body was about to fall backward to the ground, his eyes regained some of their vision.

Having just regained his sight, he witnessed a scene so terrifying it nearly suffocated him—two petite and lovely figures rushing straight toward him at high speed.

Saju flew up and kicked, her right foot sweeping out with a side kick, striking the burly man's huge belly squarely.

Instantly, the burly man's belly bulged out in the opposite direction.

The burly man, feeling his stomach churning and his intestines twisted together, vomited up his stomach contents and bile everywhere with a loud "whoosh".

Immediately afterwards, Yae leaped into the air and easily jumped to a height level with the burly man's mouth.

"Didn't I tell you? If you speak disrespectfully again, I'll tear your mouth apart"—these were the last words the burly man heard before he lost consciousness from the excruciating pain.

Yae extended her right hand and reached into the burly man's mouth, hooking her index and middle fingers like hooks around the right corner of the man's mouth.

Next, using the force and momentum of her falling body, plus a bit of her finger and arm strength—a tearing sound as flesh was ripped apart, blood droplets splashing onto Yae's feet as he landed steadily.

The burly man's mouth grew even bigger.

Enlargement at the physical level.

His right corner of his mouth was stretched by nearly 1 centimeter by Yae.

Having successfully avenged themselves, the two sisters breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, revealing expressions of ease as if a heavy burden had been lifted and constipation had finally been relieved.

"Eight elements!"

"Ok!"

The two sisters exchanged a glance, then turned to look in Qingdeng's direction, ready to support him.

However, it turned out that the battle on Qingdeng's side had only just begun, but was already almost over.

There were a total of 13 ronin surrounding Aoto and his group.

After the burly man was knocked unconscious by the combined attack of Qing Deng and the two sisters, there were 12 people left.

Even before Tokugawa Iemochi issued the "attack permission," Aoto had already done his "reconnaissance," memorizing the position of each ronin and the distance between them and himself.

Therefore, the instant after Qing Deng kicked the burly man's face flat and landed steadily on both feet, he used his left foot as a pivot to quickly rotate his body. Using the momentum and centrifugal force of the turn, he lashed his right leg like a whip at a ronin standing two steps to his right.

This was the first time Qing Deng had engaged in actual combat after copying "Elephant Core +1," which enhanced the core strength of the body, from Ito Daizo... It was a good opportunity to test the power of this new talent.

The effect was so good that it was like an echo in an empty valley.

The increase in core strength made Qingdeng feel as if he had inexhaustible power throughout his body. Especially his lower body; the force generated when he kicked was far more piercing and sharper than before.

With a muffled thud, Qing Deng's right leg struck his intended target—the ronin's right shoulder.

In an instant, the ronin's right arm caved inward at a bizarre angle and with a wide range of motion, centered on his right shoulder.

He looked exactly like a compressed spring.

The next moment, the "spring" could not withstand the enormous force wrapped around Qing Deng's right leg. His feet left the ground, and he flew straight out like a cannonball, crashing heavily into another ronin not far from him.

As he was thrown off, the poor wretch, whose right shoulder bone was broken, lost consciousness in mid-air.

This was achieved even though Qing Deng had held back and reduced his strength.

If Qing Deng goes all out and attacks a body part that isn't like the shoulder, which wouldn't kill someone... then the person won't just be unconscious.

"Elephant Core +1", "Bear Waist +1", "Leading the Way", "Tiger Arm"...

With the enhancement of these talents, Qing Deng's muscle strength and physical qualities can be said to be superior to more than 90% of the humans in the world today.

If these talents could be continuously integrated and evolved, and each one could acquire a +5, +6, or even +8 or +9 suffix... then given time, Qingdeng felt that he might actually be able to acquire the arm strength of a tiger and the waist strength of a brown bear.

"You little rascal!"

A ronin slashed at Qing Deng from behind, but Qing Deng vanished from his spot with lightning speed before the man's blade could reach him.

With astonishing leg strength, he lifted himself up from the spot without any running start.

As he leaped high into the air, he drew his sword.

Qingdeng swept past the heads of the three people in front of him like a whirlwind, their figures overlapping for only a moment.

But in that instant, Qing Deng slashed three times in succession.

The first stab landed squarely on the first person's neck.

The second blow struck another person in the chest.

The third slash grazed the left shoulder of the last person.

The timing of Qingdeng's landing coincided perfectly with the timing of the three people falling to the ground.

Qing Deng used the back of the blade. After drawing his sword, he immediately turned the blade halfway around in his hand, only using the back of the blade to face the enemy. So the three of them were still alive—but the injuries they suffered would make them suffer for a long time to come.

One of them immediately fainted.

The other clutched his chest, letting out a groan that sounded like a pig's squeal.

The last one was pressing on the shoulder where he had been hit, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly, but he couldn't scream because of the pain.

If conditions allowed, Qingdeng would really like to play with them more, and fight each of these ronin for more than 10 seconds. This would not only kill time during the boring New Year, but also allow him to copy a batch of talents. Why not?

As the saying goes, "true masters are often found among ordinary people," and it's hard to say whether these social scum have any special talents.

Therefore, it's always good to take a "let's give it a try" approach and seize every opportunity to fight each person for at least 10 seconds to get the time necessary to copy their talent.

Perhaps some ordinary-looking uncle who makes a living selling Japanese sweets possesses a god-level talent with extremely explosive effects, or even an eternal talent.

Of course, this is just an example that Qing Deng made up.

The uncle selling wagashi (Japanese sweets) on the street might have god-like talent—that's somewhat plausible.

As for the gift of eternal life... that's a bit too far-fetched. Even popular novels wouldn't dare to write something like that.

Unfortunately, the current situation does not allow Qing Deng to slowly engage with this group of ronin.

Because there are two sisters waiting for them.

If Qing Deng dawdles, before he can even last more than 10 seconds, Sae and Yae will have already taken care of all the ronin for him.

Qingdeng, who has a long-standing friendship with the sisters, believes that they definitely have the ability and efficiency.

"Damn it! Go! Kill him!"

"Waaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Surround him! Surround him! Encircle him to death, and see what he can do then!"

The ronin had a good idea: to use their numerical advantage to make up for the difference in strength.

Amidst the chaos and confusion, the ronin swarmed around Qingdeng from all directions.

Qing Deng remained motionless, his calm gaze sweeping across the blade.

He had seen this kind of scene far too many times.

In an instant, he had calculated the positions of all the enemies around him.

"Lone Wolf" is on the move!

It was Qingdeng, who was surrounded, that launched the first attack.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he swung his knife and knocked someone behind him to the ground.

Next, he slightly adjusted the position and direction of the blade and slashed at another guy to his side.

As he sheathed his sword, the blade traced an arc back to Qing Deng's chest, sweeping across the body of someone nearby.

The ronin's counterattack was undeniably valiant.

No matter how desperately they attacked, they couldn't even touch a corner of Qingdeng's clothes.

too fast.

Qingdeng's movements were incredibly fast.

Both the speed of the blade and the speed of movement were dazzling.