I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Therefore, deploying three people to attack Aoto at the same time was the limit that Kitahara Kōnosuke and the others could manage.

In the blink of an eye, Aoto gracefully turned around under the blades of the three men led by Kitahara Kōnosuke.

He took a step forward, dodging Kitahara Konosuke's knife.

He took another step and flashed behind Kitahara Konosuke.

Standing behind Kitahara Konosuke was a "scarface" with a scar on his lip.

Seeing Qingdeng suddenly appear in front of him, Scarface was startled at first, but quickly calmed himself down and then delivered a sharp slash to Qingdeng's forehead.

Not bad reaction... Qing Deng was certain that this scarred man was a seasoned veteran who had seen a lot of blood.

Qing Dengwan, the scarred-face man, swung the knife in his hand slightly.

Although it appears that the two struck at the same speed, it is obvious that Scarface was going all out, while Qingdeng was still holding back.

Suddenly—a resounding clang.

Qingdeng deflected the scarred man's knife.

In the next instant, Qingdeng's upper body suddenly leaned forward, and his right elbow seemed to fly out.

In that instant, the Echizen-suke Tsuri no Kami Kaneshige in his hand transformed into a blurry, uncertain afterimage.

Qing Deng's speed in this strike far surpassed that of the previous one.

The speed at which the blade slices through the air is so fast that it's almost blinding.

A beam of white light pierced the scarred man's neck.

Because the speed was so fast, bystanders with poor eyesight couldn't tell whether Qing Deng's knife had hit Scarface.

Scarface seemed to be startled by Qing Deng's lightning-fast attack, standing frozen in place, still holding the knife in his hand, with no bloodstains on his body.

A short, stocky man behind Scarface noticed that Scarface had suddenly stopped moving. Just as he was about to instinctively raise his hand to support him, Scarface suddenly fell straight backward, landing right in the short man's arms.

"Aaaaaah!"

The dwarf let out a scream.

As he shouted, a line of blood appeared on Scarface's neck.

The blood lines visibly increased in size, deepened in color, and became more prominent...

Thick, warm blood gushed out, staining the corridor floor red.

Just then, Qingdeng suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.

Before the mind even moves, the body has already acted!

Qing Deng abruptly pulled his left leg back, knelt on one knee, and turned around, unexpectedly slashing at the chilling aura approaching from behind.

Pfft!

The blade pierced the flesh.

To counteract the sluggish feel of the blade being trapped by flesh and blood, Qing Deng secretly made a change, altering the "horizontal slash" to a "waist slash".

碴！

When Echizen-no-kami Kaneshige left the enemy's body, his blade no longer showed any cold light—the slender blade was completely covered by scarlet blood.

The enemy, whose upper and lower body were only connected by a little bit of skin and flesh, staggered forward a few steps with his back to Qingdeng, and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

In the blink of an eye, Qing Deng killed two of their companions.

The rapid deaths of their companions and the beast-like, fierce attacks of Aoto all contributed to a sense of panic that caused Kitahara Kōnosuke and the others to show obvious signs of wavering.

Seeing this, Qingdeng decided to "strike while the iron is hot"!

"what……"

He exhaled a breath of stale air.

Almost simultaneously with his exhale, he gripped the knife that was held at his side in a lower right stance.

A whole host of talents activated, including "Lone Warrior", "Gathering Spirit", "Tiger's Arm +1", "Bear's Waist +1", and "Elephant's Core +1"!

Echizen-no-kami Kaneshige drew an arc in the air.

With just one strike, he took down three perfectly good guys!

As the priceless blade was swung once more, two more heads flew into the air.

How resilient is human skin?

How strong are human bones?

For ordinary people who have never been exposed to swordsmanship, or for beginners who are just starting out in martial arts, it may be impossible to break a bone even after several slashes.

Qing Deng slashed down three heads with a single stroke!

Only those with exceptional strength can accomplish this!

Qing Deng's strength was truly terrifying... or rather, the power unleashed by the combined effects of talents such as "Lone Courage" and "Tiger's Arm +1" was truly terrifying.

Just now, when he swung the sword at Riku no Kami Kaneshige, the sound and momentum of the blade cutting through the air were just like a fast carriage speeding along a smooth road!

The sound of wind breaking through the air wasn't a "whoosh" sound, but a "boom" sound.

Qing Deng felt himself in a great state, and his limbs, which were gradually becoming more and more agile, were becoming more and more active.

He casually wiped away the blood splattered on his face—whose blood was unknown—and looked for his next opponent.

It was like a sharp gaze concealing a sword, sweeping across the surroundings along the blade of Echizen's squire, Richi no Kami.

Before he could organize a new offensive, someone couldn't contain himself and rushed towards him.

Qingdeng heard solid, powerful footsteps and the clanging of swords behind him.

He didn't turn around, but tilted his head slightly to glance behind him out of the corner of his eye—the attacker was a short, stocky man whose height was comparable to that of Uryuu Hideaki.

Although the short, stocky man looked menacing, Qing Deng judged from his movements that there was no need to confront him directly or get into a fighting stance.

Aoto withdrew his gaze, then suddenly knelt down on both knees, held the knife in his hand with his back bent, and stabbed Echizen Sumirei Kanetaka backwards, scraping the ground.

"Hmph! Hmph! Hmph ahhhhhh!"

With a painful scream, the short man's heart was pierced.

Under the combined effects of "severe pain" and "shock", his eyes widened like copper bells, as if his eyeballs might roll out and fall to the ground at any moment.

Qingdeng's attack range far exceeded his expectations.

In his estimation, he should have taken one or two more steps forward before Qing Deng's knife could reach him.

Qing Deng's unusually wide attack range caused the short man's expression to be dominated by intense resentment and incomprehension.

With his heart pierced... suffering such a fatal wound that even Hua Tuo would shake his head in dismay, there was naturally no chance of survival.

Just as the short man's body was collapsing forward due to the loss of life, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the secret behind Qing Deng's attack range suddenly becoming so wide.

The man who took his life didn't grip the sword hilt with his hand, but rather used the second joint of his right index and middle fingers to tightly pinch the very end of the hilt...

Looking back to last year, when he fought against the leader of the Extermination Group, Tatsugoro Kanno, Aoto almost lost to the opponent's secret technique.

At that time, the secret technique used by Kamino was to pinch the very end of the hilt of the sword with his fingers!

Generally speaking, the most common way to hold a sword in Japanese swordsmanship is to grip the front half of the hilt with the tiger's mouth close to the tsuba (handguard).

Holding the very end of the knife handle with your fingers—this effectively adds the entire length of the handle plus part of your fingers to your attack range.

In this way, the attack range will naturally increase significantly.

From the skin of the chest to the heart, it's only a few centimeters apart.

The attack range suddenly increased, which meant that what could only slit the skin before could now easily pierce the heart.

Although he and Jinno were mortal enemies, Qing Deng had to admit that Jinno's move was truly brilliant!

This move, which can instantly increase the attack range, is similar to suddenly pulling out a revolver from one's pocket; both are excellent techniques for ambushing enemies!

After his duel with Jinno, Qing Deng secretly made up his mind: I will learn the "finger-clamping knife" move!

However, it is obvious that this is not an easy trick that can be learned in a short time.

In reality, this move doesn't require any skill; it only requires one thing: strength!

To be more precise, it's incredibly strong finger strength!

The weight of a samurai sword is by no means light.

A typical katana weighs at least several kilograms.

The weight of the sword itself, plus the leverage effect... let alone holding the sword to attack, even an ordinary person would have a problem if they could hold the sword at all.

Compared to ordinary people, Qing Deng has a talent that enhances the strength and dexterity of his fingers: "skillful hands". However, even so, Qing Deng is still unable to pick up heavy swords with just two fingers as easily as Jin Ye, as if picking up a lamp wick.

However, today, Qingdeng's "skillful hands" has been upgraded to "skillful hands +2" through multiple talent fusions.

The significant upgrade to "skillful hands" greatly increased Qingdeng's finger strength.

With the "Skillful Hands +2" buff, his fingers were finally able to barely hold the sword!

However, he was still unable to unleash a slash that required both large movements and extreme energy.

At this stage, after picking up the knife with his fingers, Qing Deng can only push the knife out... that is, he can only use it for stabbing.

He needs to train for a while longer, or wait until his "skillful hands" are further upgraded, before he can catch up with the level of Shinno.

Regardless of the circumstances, Qing Deng has developed a new secret technique that can defeat enemies unexpectedly, following his sword-drawing technique "Flowing Light"—this is something to be happy about!

Qingdeng gave his brand-new secret technique a majestic name: Yangyan!

The reason for this name is that "Kagerou" in Japanese sometimes means mirage.

An attack with a range that varies in size and can easily catch you off guard must be like a mirage to the enemy!

The short, stocky man slowly fell down, landing right on Qingdeng's back.

Warm blood stained Aoto's haori black.

Qingdeng crouched down and executed an over-the-shoulder throw, sending the short, ugly man's body flying forward with Qingdeng's back as the fulcrum.

Bang!

The short, stocky man smashed through the paper sliding door of the room in front of Qingdeng and fell into the depths of the room.