I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Makimura was the most skilled swordsman wielding a greatsword that Aoto had ever encountered, without exception.

In terms of versatility, the Ōdachi is undoubtedly a unique weapon.

Influenced by various factors such as culture and historical inertia, samurai during the Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333) and the Muromachi Shogunate (1336-1573) were fond of showing off.

To demonstrate their heroism and martial prowess, and thus to boast about their formidable weapon—the Ōdachi (Great Sword)—emerged on the historical stage.

With such a massive blade, only the strongest and most powerful person could wield such a greatsword.

This leads to a question: if you have the strength to wield a greatsword, why not use a long spear, which is more powerful and practical in both battles and personal duels?

Its usage conditions are too demanding, and its power and practicality are inferior to those of a spear—such an awkward position has made the dachi a very unpopular and exotic weapon since its inception.

In the history of Japanese martial arts, warriors who were proficient in the Ōdachi (a type of long sword) were extremely rare.

Therefore, the superb swordsmanship that Makimura just displayed left Aoto in awe and broadened his horizons.

Aoto successfully gained a lot of experience fighting against the greatsword users.

With this valuable combat experience, Qingdeng was confident that if he were to fight Makimura again immediately, he would win once more, and even more impressively!

Of course, compared to the experience of fighting the great swordsmen, another gain made Qing Deng even more overjoyed.

Qingdeng silently called upon the system in his heart.

The talent list, which hadn't been checked for some time, transformed into a semi-transparent virtual screen that only Qingdeng himself could see, upon Qingdeng's soft call.

Name: Tachibana Aoto (?)

[Currently possessed talents:]

【夜视、剑之圣者、睡神、孤胆、鹰眼+1、左利手、健体+1、巧手+1、健舌、铁腰+1、钢骨、强肌+1、猫转身+1、过目不忘、鬼之心、奶水、一马当先、看破、秀发、欺诈师+1、风的感知者、无惘之八幡、聚神、丰盈胸脯、弓之达人、熊之腰+1、强精+1、金嗓、强胃、明目、穿云裂石、数学小成者、铁肺+1、左右互搏、水之体、虎之臂+1、帝王之术、多子多福、忍之达人、莺啼、狂战士、利齿、白打小成者、音乐小成者、画术小成者、元阳、老当益壮、饕餮、神速+4、蛇之身、身娇、体柔、象的核心+1、擎天柱、酒豪、旱掌、逆转之龙】

……

Reversal Dragon... This newly acquired and still fresh talent attribute lies quietly at the very end of the talent list.

It's been a long time... Eternal Talent!

Not counting Qing Deng, this is a talent that only one person in the world can possess, a unique talent, an unparalleled talent!

The last person to obtain eternal talent from him was Kiryu.

This incident dates back to last spring, when he and Kinoshita Mai got into a fight with Kiryu's boss due to a misunderstanding.

After the battle, he gained his first eternal talent: the Boundless Hachiman.

After more than half a year, the term "eternal talent" finally re-entered his life.

Does this truly reflect the saying "birds of a feather flock together" and "big shots' friends are all big shots, and talented people's friends are all talented people"?

Even using statistics... no, without needing to involve any professional knowledge, just common sense tells us how low the probability is of encountering someone "possessing eternal talent".

Qing Deng was unfamiliar with 19th-century world history and did not know the total world population of the era in which he lived.

However, according to his own calculations, the total population of the world today should be at least several billion, if not two billion.

Kiryu is the only person in this world, among these billions of people, to possess the "Hachiman of No Blindness".

The same applies to Makimura. He is the only person among billions of people to possess the "Dragon of Reversal".

These two people, rarer than any other creature in the world, are actually best friends, and Qingdeng has even run into both of them.

Such a probability... even describing it as "low" is somewhat inappropriate due to insufficient degree.

The thought that he had the good fortune to encounter and get to know these two big shots, whose rarity was comparable to that of Yuanjiang Jiuzhu, left Qingdeng unsure of what expression to make.

Should I secretly marvel at my good luck? Or should I sincerely exclaim, "Fate is truly wondrous"?

This kind of extremely low-probability event, comparable to winning a billion-dollar lottery jackpot, actually happened to me... and it happened to me repeatedly!

"Should I buy some lottery tickets on my way home today?" Qing Deng wondered to himself.

Lotteries existed in Japan during the Edo period.

The popularity of lotteries led many samurai and commoners to become idle and obsessed with the dream of getting rich overnight, to the point that the shogunate once ordered a ban on lotteries.

In the past, Qing Deng had always believed that among all the girls he knew, Miss Sanako had the best family background.

In retrospect, this view is no longer entirely accurate.

The person with the best family background... might just be Kinoshita Mai!

The family behind Mai Kinoshita is truly a mystery.

Kiryu had only mentioned to Aoto briefly that Kinoshita Mai's grandmother was a businesswoman who mainly operated in Osaka and ran a business group called "Gourd House".

Out of a desire not to see the world thrown into chaos and destruction by the "Law Extermination Party" madmen, Kinoshita Mai's grandmother leads the Gourd House in a secret resistance against the Law Extermination Party.

How does Gourd House make its living? I don't know.

How many people are in the Gourd House? How much money do they have? How much influence do they wield? We still don't know.

Mr. Kiryu has always remained tight-lipped about all questions related to the Gourd House.

As for Kinoshita Mai, she was completely clueless and knew nothing about it.

Kinoshita Mai's family members likely intentionally kept her from knowing too much about the family's business and influence.

Qingdeng had no idea what the reason was.

In short, the result of this approach is that Kinoshita Mai, despite being the young master of the Gourd House, doesn't know much more about it than an outsider like Seito.

—Could Ah Wu really be some kind of "top heiress of the underworld"?

Suddenly having this thought, Qing Deng couldn't help but glance sideways at the beautiful woman in red sitting next to him.

Back when he first learned about Kinoshita Mai's background from Kiryu's boss, Aoto had jokingly wondered: Could Kinoshita Mai be a super socialite whose family has such great power that she can see into the heavens?

This is nothing more than a wild idea that Qingdeng came up with on a whim.

He himself felt that this delusion was unrealistic.

However, at this moment, Qing Deng couldn't help but wonder—could this really be true...?

Qingdeng didn't know how many people, how much money, or how much power the Calabash House had, but he now knew that there were two exceptional talents with eternal life abilities serving the Calabash House!

The fact that such valuable talents can be recruited into their ranks... This alone is enough to show the depth of the Gourd House and the abilities of the woman whom Kiryu and Makimura call "Master," namely Kinoshita Mai's grandmother.

Qing Deng's interest in Kinoshita Mai's grandmother and the gourd house grew stronger.

I want to see the real, complete gourd house with my own eyes.

I want to meet Kinoshita Mai's grandmother in person.

Just as Aoto's thoughts were wandering aimlessly, Kinoshita Mai finally noticed the gaze Aoto was casting at her.

"Qingdeng, what's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something strange on my face?"

Mai Kinoshita raised her hand and touched her cheek.

"Ah, it's nothing..."

To cover up his confused expression, Qingdeng brought the bottle to his lips and then refocused his attention on the virtual screen in front of him.

There seem to be quite a few commonalities among those with eternal talents.

The entries all have impressive names, and the format is "XX of XX", while also having dazzling special effects.

The other talent entries in the system list were just ordinary strings of words, but the entry for the Eternal talent was surrounded by a faintly glowing purple square.

The biggest similarity between them... is that they both have the talent of being quite the riddler!

Take "Hachiman of No Bewilderment" as an example—when the mind and spirit are in perfect harmony and there is no confusion, one can unleash an extremely powerful attack as if possessed by the Great God Hachiman.

The content seems sophisticated at first glance, but... what does "unity of mind and spirit, and no confusion" mean?

In Qing Deng's memory, he entered that state of extreme focus, where "only the enemy in front of him and the knife in his hand were visible to him, and his mind was free of any distractions," at least 10 times.

As a result, "Boundless Hachiman" has never been successfully activated... Even after copying this talent for so long, Qing Deng has never seen what it would look like if this talent were activated.

I have absolutely no idea what the system's definition of "unity of mind and body, and freedom from confusion" is.

In comparison, "Reversal Dragon" is much easier to understand.

However, Qing Deng was somewhat puzzled by the statement that "it will be able to possess a life force as resilient as a dragon".

What does it mean to have "a life force as resilient as a dragon"?

To elaborate further—what is vitality?

Will physical fitness suddenly increase dramatically?

Or will it become like a cockroach, so it can't be killed no matter how hard you try?

To understand the answer to this question... perhaps only when this talent is activated will we be able to unravel its mysteries.

In short, having an extra talent is always a good thing.

As for when and how this new talent will be activated... let's leave that for later consideration.

"Hiccup...! Speaking of which... Tachibana, you truly live up to your reputation as Kiryu's disciple!"

Makimura's loud burp brought Qingdeng back to reality.

Qingdeng closed the system interface and turned to look at Mucun.

"When you picked up Vairocana and struck a pose with flowing light, for a moment I had the illusion that I was fighting against a young Kiryu."

While grinning, Makimura glanced sideways at Aoto and Mr. Kiryu.

"Vairocana still retains the same demonic sword style as before..."

Makimura's gaze was fixed on the purple-scabbarded ancient sword that Kiryu had placed beside his right leg.

“Of course.” Kiryu put down his glass and smiled slightly. “After all, I take meticulous care of it every day.”

After saying that, Kiryu stroked the scabbard with his left hand, opened the scabbard opening, grabbed the sword with his right hand, and slowly drew the sword out of the scabbard inch by inch.

After the blades were completely removed from their sheaths, he gripped the hilts tightly with both hands, raised his arms, and stood facing the sky.

In an instant, a bewitching purple light filled the eyes of everyone present.

The moment Kiryu drew his sword, the purple-glowing blade drew Aoto's eyes like a magnet.

With a blade nearly 75cm long, much longer than that of a typical katana; the blade surface is relatively narrow with a large curve; its cold light is sharp and exudes a murderous aura; bathed in the winter sunlight, the blade's gleam carries an even more ruthless feel.

Kiryu once explained to Aoto that the reason why the sword light emitted by Vairocana is a cool purple color is because some special materials are used.