I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

After saying that, Ichinose laid Nishino flat on the ground, and then took out a burlap sack and several medicine bottles from his waist pouch.

"It's...you guys..."

Nishino strained to open his eyes wide.

Opening your eyes—for ordinary people, this is an extremely simple action.

But right now, Nishino can't even do such a simple movement...

He barely managed to open his eyes halfway.

His eyelids trembled precariously, as if they might fall off at any moment.

Up until just now, Nishino was in pretty good spirits.

When he saw Ebina and the others arrive, the tension in his heart eased... In an instant, an unprecedented feeling of fatigue and drowsiness surged through his body.

Ebina squatted down and gave Nishino a bitter, apologetic smile.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. The guards at Phoenix Mansion are much more difficult to deal with than we expected."

"You...you've found my grandson, Jun..."

Nishino shifted his gaze to the body of my grandson on Ebina's back.

Ebina nodded slightly.

"Yes, we found my grandson's body on the way here when we came to look for you."

At this moment, Nishino was surprised to find that whether it was the older Ebina and Ichinose, or the younger Akutsu, they all had calm expressions... as if my grandson's death was a trivial matter to them.

Ebina saw through Nishino's thoughts and smiled slightly:

"'Comrades sacrificed'—we've long been accustomed to this. It's no exaggeration to say that this is the thing we, the comrades of the Dayan Party, have become most accustomed to in the past twenty years, perhaps even more so than eating and drinking. If we had to cry and waile for every comrade who died, we wouldn't have so many tears to shed."

Suddenly, Phoenix House Yataro's pleading voice drew everyone's attention.

"Please, please let me go!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Phoenix House Yataro curled up, trembling all over.

Recounting Phoenix House Yataro's experiences tonight... In less than half an hour, he experienced the ups and downs of life—and several of them.

First, I was kidnapped by Nishino and my grandson. I finally managed to escape, but Nishino caught up with me again.

Fortunately, Sakai Kingo appeared in time, and he thought he was saved. However, Nishino, like a mad dog, was willing to become enemies with Sakai Kingo and others in order to keep attacking him.

Immediately afterwards, three mysterious men wearing straw hats of unknown origin appeared and specifically asked for him.

And now, he's been kidnapped by complete strangers...

Even novelists wouldn't dare write about such a tortuous experience; it almost drove him to a mental breakdown.

"Who are you people? Please, please let me go! Do you want money? I'll give you any amount of money as long as you let me go!"

"Let you go?"

Akutsu chuckled as if he had heard a funny joke.

The next instant, he used his left leg as a pivot and swung his right foot like a whip, striking Phoenix House Yataro squarely in the face.

A very beautiful side kick.

Several broken teeth flew out of Phoenix House Yataro's mouth, and blood mixed with saliva flowed all over the ground.

"Ugh! Ughh ...

Phoenix House Yataro clutched his swollen cheek and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"What a joke! When you bunch of damned bastards were hoarding goods and speculating, preferring to let rice rot in your warehouses rather than sell it cheaply to starving people, where were you to leave us alone?!"

After roaring, Akutsu tried his best to kick again.

Ebina darted to Akutsu's side and placed his hand on Akutsu's shoulder.

"Akutsu, that's enough, calm down."

Akutsu glanced sideways at Ebina, casting a resentful look at him.

"Lord Ebina, I come from a farming background, so... you should be able to understand how I feel, right? Expecting a farmer to remain calm in front of a privileged merchant—isn't that asking too much?"

Ebina sighed softly.

“Akuzu, I am also from a farming family, and I am a farmer who experienced the Tenpo Famine... Of course I understand how you feel.”

"If I could, I would torture all the rich and heartless beasts in this world to death."

"However... let's hold off for now."

“If you kick Phoenix House Yataro to death, then all our efforts and sacrifices tonight will have been in vain.”

Akutsu paused, taken aback.

After a long silence, he slowly lowered his leg, which he had already raised.

Ebina patted Akutsu on the shoulder, and just as he was about to say something comforting, Akutsu's expression suddenly changed.

Ichinose and Akutsu also changed their expressions.

The three of them turned around at the same time, facing southeast, and what came into view was a deep darkness where the moonlight could not reach.

"...Uninvited 'guest,' please show yourself."

After saying this in a calm tone devoid of joy or sorrow, Ebina reached out and pressed his hand against the sword at his waist.

As soon as he finished speaking, the darkness they were staring at began to ripple.

A moment later, Aoto, Souji, and Sanako emerged from the darkness.

"You guys are really amazing. You can run so fast even when each of you is carrying someone on your back."

As he spoke, Qing Deng strolled leisurely to the front of Ebina, his arms hanging naturally at his sides, without adopting any fighting stance.

Upon hearing that someone had taken Nishino and Phoenix House Yataro away under the cover of thick smoke, Aoto immediately led Sanako and Souji in pursuit.

The speed at which Ebina and the others moved was indeed unexpected. Each of them carried one person on their backs... no, to be more precise, each of them carried "two people and a corpse," yet they were still able to run so fast.

Qingdeng almost lost track of their footsteps several times.

Fortunately, we managed to catch up with them in the end.

Perhaps seeing that Aoto had no hostility, Ebina's facial features relaxed slightly, but his eyes were still full of vigilance.

"May I ask who you are?"

Qing Deng shrugged:

"I'd also like to know who you are."

Although he said that, Qing Deng actually recognized the three of them.

Just six months ago, after watching fireworks with Sanako, he encountered these three men on his way home and even had a brief sparring match with the one among them who was wielding a kusarigama.

He later learned that the three men were patriots of the Great Salt Party.

Although they had covered their faces at that time, Qing Deng still remembered their voices and weapons—after all, the kusarigama was an uncommon and niche weapon.

Why are the Big Salt Party members here?

Why would Hosjiro Nishino be with the members of the Ooshio Party?

Why would they carry my grandson's body?

These questions left Qingdeng feeling deeply perplexed.

Especially my grandson's body... To be honest, Qingdeng still can't believe his eyes...

Although my eyes have confirmed countless times that the body carried by Ebina is indeed my grandson, and my reason has accepted this reality, my emotions cannot keep up with the situation...

The first colleague Qingdeng met in the Fire Thief Modification was my grandson.

They had worked together, shed blood, and fought bandits together... Their relationship wasn't very deep, but it was certainly not shallow either.

In addition, Qingdeng also learned from my grandson how to command troops, control logistics, and manage organizations. Besides being colleagues and comrades-in-arms, the two also had a teacher-student relationship.

Although my grandson always gives people a mysterious and unpredictable feeling, Qing Deng has always liked this colleague who has a strange way of speaking.

My grandson is dead, his death shrouded in mystery… Faced with this cold, hard truth, Qingdeng was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, unsure of what expression to make…

Seeing that Qing Deng had no intention of revealing his identity, Hai Binming did not press the matter, but instead asked:

"What brings you here, sir?"

Since the other party had gotten straight to the point, Qingdeng wouldn't stand on ceremony either.

He suppressed the surging emotions within him, composed himself, and slowly said:

"I don't want to be your enemy. I'm only here to get back that fat man. Also, I have two questions for you: Why do you have the body of the Fire Thief First Division Captain? Why did you take away the Doshin from Kitaban-sada-cho?"

As soon as Qing Deng finished speaking, Akutsu's thick eyebrows twitched at the corners of his raised eyes.

"Huh? Who do you think you are? What are we doing..."

Akutsu was about to explode when Ebina stopped him.

Ebina stared at Qingteng.

"What do you need this fatso for?"

"What a coincidence, I also wanted to ask you something: why did you arrest that fatso?"

Neither side was willing to back down.

Negotiations have reached a stalemate...

Amidst this solemn atmosphere, Ebina suddenly sighed.

"If this continues, it will never end... Alright, let's start by showing our sincerity."

After saying that, Ebina took the initiative to lift the straw hat on his head and pull down the black cloth covering his face.

His action of removing his hat and revealing his face was so quick and decisive that even Ichinose and Akutsu couldn't stop him.

“We are patriots of the Great Salt Party, and our old name in Xiahai is Ye Zong.”

Ebina spoke with a resounding and forceful tone, enunciating each word clearly.

"My lord, as you can see, I have revealed my face and my name. Now, it is your turn. If you still hide your head and face... then there is no need for us to continue talking."