I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

However... it's quite a coincidence.

Right next to Qing Deng's left foot, on the floor, was the knife he had just placed there.

In an instant, Qing Deng stretched out his left hand and pulled out the knife from the floor with lightning speed, slashing the blade upwards at an angle.

The blade flashed skyward, striking first despite being delayed.

Along with it, two severed arms and half a head also shot into the sky.

Qing Deng once again attacked with both hands, his momentum unstoppable, as he swung his sword and charged forward.

He crouched down, lunged forward, and in the blink of an eye, he had cut down and knocked down five people.

As he straightened his back, he lowered the blade, the tip pointing to the floor. Then he leaned his body, swung the blade upwards, and crossed paths with someone, leaving behind a flash of light and a spray of blood that gushed out like a fountain.

In the blink of an eye, Qing Deng glided across the ground and flashed in front of someone, his heels kicking up blood foam from the ground.

This person felt as if a huge monster was approaching him with overwhelming force!

Before he could react, a silvery-white light pierced through his vision and swept past...

In an instant, swords and spears danced around him, and two silver lights flashed incessantly in the corridor.

The fight between the two sides was almost non-stop.

Qingdeng's tactics are like Sun Tzu's famous saying: "The skillful defender hides deep underground, while the skillful attacker moves high in the sky. Thus, he can protect himself and achieve complete victory."

Hidden deep beneath the earth—the ever-changing shadows of the blade form an impenetrable barrier, preventing anyone from getting close to or harming Qingdeng.

Moving from the heavens above—the blade flashed, and someone immediately fell to the ground, a single swing and a kill!

The blood splattered everywhere, sometimes falling to the ground, sometimes splashing onto the ceiling, and sometimes splattering onto the walls.

The original colors of the walls, floors, and ceilings are no longer visible.

Everywhere were the dead who had fought to the death, everywhere were the wounded groaning in pain, everywhere were the defeated who had lost their will to fight because they could not bear this hellish scene.

With eyes as sharp as an eagle and indifference as cold as ice, Qing Deng fought tirelessly, swinging his sword back and forth, slashing and killing.

With a swift stroke, the knife fell; with a swift stroke, the knife fell; with a swift stroke, the knife fell; with a swift stroke, the knife fell…

Qingdeng did not just randomly chop things up.

In fact, he has been selectively choosing and modifying his offensive routes.

For example, after noticing that the knife in his right hand had become dull, he began to move toward the west side—where the knife he had just stuck in the wall was.

Qingdeng immediately and without hesitation threw away the blunt knife in his right hand, then seamlessly drew the new knife from the wall and continued to kill the enemy.

A moment later, Qingdeng arrived in front of the Yakuza who had been killed by the blade he had just thrown.

A knife piercing the heart... naturally, there is no chance of survival.

His eyes were lifeless as he bent his knees, his neck went limp, and his head slumped limply in front of his chest, as if staring at his own chest with a dagger stuck in it.

Qingdeng threw away the broken knife in his left hand, its blade riddled with nicks and nicks, which was practically a saw. Then, he stretched out his left palm and pulled the knife back from the other man's chest.

"...What's wrong? Charge over here quickly."

He turned his head to look at the Yakuza soldiers beside him who were still able to fight and stand properly—separated from them by mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Upon hearing this, the Yakuza members displayed a variety of emotions, including resentment, hatred, and fear.

We looked at each other, bewildered.

No one spoke, and no one moved...

"This corridor is nice"—that was Qing Deng's assessment of the corridor he was standing on.

Qingdeng knew nothing about architecture, so his "not bad" was certainly not a compliment on the corridor's decoration style or structural layout.

What he really meant was that the height and width of the corridor were just right, a perfect example of terrain where "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand".

He could control the entire corridor by planting swords and knives all over the ceiling, walls, and floor! Even an army of 100,000 wouldn't be able to get through!

"If you don't attack, I'm going to attack!"

Having said that, Qingdeng stepped over the pools of blood on the ground and strode forward toward the enemy.

……

……

Edo, somewhere—

Mr. Kiryu stood on the roof of an inconspicuous izakaya, his hand resting on the black-purple scabbard at his waist, gazing at the distant Shimizu Residence, his eyes behind his glasses gleaming with a thoughtful look.

"...Makimura, how's the troop gathering going?"

Without turning his head, Kiryu asked Makimura Yahachi, who was walking towards him.

"We managed to gather 34 people, albeit with some difficulty."

"I can't breathe," Makimura Miyabi replied in a muffled voice.

"Of them, 15 are fairly skilled, while the other 19 are of average ability."

"34 people...that's enough."

Kiryu spoke with absolute certainty, enunciating each word clearly.

"Makimura, pass down the order: everyone prepare for battle. We will attack Shimizu Residence in half an hour!"

Makimura nodded solemnly.

Then, as if remembering something, he raised his eyebrows a few times and pressed Kiryu in front of him for a question:

"Jiulang, how is the young master doing?"

What else can be done?

Kiryu gave a wry smile, his tone becoming helpless.

"After a good scolding from me, she finally agreed to stay and look after the Senjiya."

Upon hearing this, Makimura sighed.

“Alas… Jiulang, this is not a long-term solution. The young master is already a young woman, no longer the naive child she once was. We can fool her for a while, but we can’t fool her forever.”

The Gourd House is a long-time adversary of the Party's persecution.

Therefore, the Hulu House already had some understanding of the illusionary substance created by the Fazhu Party.

Makimura's trip to Yokohama was not to investigate Gensuke Yokohama, but rather because he had learned of traces of the Hoju Party's activities there and wanted to take a look.

Finding the location of the workshop where the illusion was made and discovering the true relationship between the Fazhu Party and the Shimizu Clan were purely unexpected surprises.

Yokohama is a newly emerging port city that has rapidly prospered since its rise.

With Yokohama's rapid development, many Edo merchants turned to Yokohama to conduct import and export trade—Yatarou of Phoenix House was one of them.

Currently, Japan does not cultivate poppies on a large scale.

To collect large quantities of the poppies necessary for producing phalloides, they can only be purchased from overseas.

Phoenix House Yataro, who had a deep collaboration with the Fazhu Party, used Yokohama Port as a transit point for purchasing and transporting poppies.

Following this lead, Makimura uncovered the connection between Phoenix House Yataro and the Hoju Party, and further discovered the location of the Gensuke Yodo production workshop, as well as the relationship between the Hoju Party and the Shimizu clan.

While the terrifying medicinal properties of the Illusionary Dewdrop certainly alerted the Gourd House, they did not want to invest too many resources in it.

Their ultimate goal is to completely crush the Fa-Zhu Party.

In that case, instead of wasting time with a worthless drug, it would be better to just wipe out the Shimizu clan! That would actually cause even greater harm to the Party that seeks to punish the law!

Therefore, upon learning that the Fazhu Party and the Shimizu clan were allies, Kiryu made a decisive decision: mobilize troops! Destroy the Shimizu clan immediately!

Compared to the powerful and unknown Fakuchi Party, the Shimizu clan, a mere yakuza organization, is undoubtedly much easier to deal with.

Especially after learning that Tachibana Aoto had challenged the Shimizu clan to 13 different venues, and that the Shimizu clan had boasted that they would hold a showdown with Aoto at the Shimizu residence, Kiryu became even more determined to "find trouble with the Shimizu clan."

Kiryu was, of course, unaware of Aoto's recent experiences.

But he knew that Qing Deng would never cause trouble for others without a reason.

And so, for various reasons, Kiryu decided to raid the Shimizu residence tonight and, incidentally, catch a few influential people to "question" about what was going on with their Seido.

This operation involved the execution of a political party, so naturally, Kinoshita Mai was excluded.

Fazhudang is a vicious and ruthless terrorist organization that will stop at nothing to achieve its goals.

Therefore, Kiryu and Makimura's lord... namely Kinoshita Rin, did not want the still young Kinoshita Mai to get involved in the conflict with the Hoju Party.

When Kinoshita Rin entrusted Kinoshita Mai to Kiryu, who was far away in Edo, in order to train her, she specifically instructed Kiryu: Now is not the time for Mai to face the terror of the Party’s execution.

She could leave things like Kinoshita Mai's phantom thief activities under the guise of "Neko-sou" and her romance with Aoto uninterrupted, but this was the one thing she had absolutely no room for negotiation.

Therefore, without Kinoshita Rin's approval, neither Kiryu nor Makimura dared to let Kinoshita Mai get involved in this mess.

Seeing that Kiryu and Makimura were about to leave her behind again to do something mysterious, Kinoshita Mai immediately expressed her dissatisfaction.

She made a scene for a long time.

It took Kiryu a lot of effort to finally calm her down.

At this very moment, she is reluctantly "alone in an empty room," guarding the Thousand Things Shop with the big orange cat, Toto.

"Makimura, we can talk about this later. Let's focus on the battle ahead."

Makimura nodded slightly, then adopted a half-joking tone:

"Jiulang, how are you? Can you still wield your sword?"

Upon hearing this, Kiryu gave a slight chuckle.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"I'm joking, but there was a serious element to my question just now."

At this point, Makimura's expression turned slightly serious.

"Haven't you been complaining about your health getting worse year by year for the past few years?"

"...After all, I'm getting old too."

Kiryu's face revealed an inscrutable emotion.

"No matter what, I'm already 93 years old this year, and my strength is definitely not what it used to be, but dealing with the mere Shimizu clan is still no problem."