Female Swordsman Training Dojo

Standing in the darkness, only the outline and flowing blood could be vaguely seen, which was the sword hunter. So far, Harunobu still hadn't figured out what kind of monster this guy was. Anyway, his physique was definitely at the monster level. If a normal person had been slashed in the chest by him, they would have been lying down and preparing for their death long ago.

Standing on the line between light and darkness, Harunobu, carrying Yukiri, stood in front of Tachibana Nako, who was holding Tachibana Yuzu, his gaze shifting between the two sides: "Who are you people?"

There was no answer. Harunobu only saw those black-clad Yakuza—covered in tattoos and definitely Yakuza—raise their weapons and attack him.

"court death."

Harunobu said irritably. He wasn't worried about what these Yakuza could do, but the problem was if they got involved, that sword hunter... sure enough!

Before Harunobu could finish his thought, the heavily wounded Touki had already taken advantage of the moment the Yakuza rushed up and turned to rush into the darkness. His already inconspicuous figure instantly disappeared into the darkness without a trace.

Although the monsters are ferocious and cruel, they will never hesitate to run away when it is time to escape, just like the kappa before.

"It's alright, this guy isn't fast at normal speeds. With the compass, we don't need to worry about getting lost. Let's quickly deal with these trash and catch up."

Qingxin exhaled a breath of stale air, pressed his upper body down, and his breathing roared like thunder.

Thunderbolt Flash - 15 Consecutive Attacks!

The lightning flashed and twisted through the alley, and at each spot a Yakuza fell, all of them bleeding. The horrific scene halted the Yakuza's charge; they had no will to fight to the death.

However, to Qingxin's surprise, a loud shout came from the back of the crowd: "Don't be afraid! Engage him!" The Yakuza, who had stopped, rushed forward again.

It seems that simply cutting off hands and feet isn't enough...

Harunobu's gaze fell to the back of the crowd. The person who had just given the loud orders was wearing a much more luxurious haori and was even carrying a wakizashi.

This must be the leader.

Harunobu gripped the hilt of his sword, unleashed a powerful strike, cleaving several Yakuza who lunged at him in two. He let them fall to the ground with their “open hearts” as he trampled over their mournful cries and charged toward the leader.

Such a blatant advance could not be hidden from anyone, but the wails of those fools whose hearts had been laid bare by Qingxin had a full effect, causing most of the Yakuza to cower in fear.

Severed limbs can be reattached with magic, and even a heart or lung... it's not impossible to save them. The problem is, how are they going to get to the shrine before they die? And where will the medical expenses come from? The group won't reimburse such exorbitant costs.

And even if you are incredibly lucky and survive, who can guarantee that this mad samurai who kills people in the street won't come back and kill you again?

Of course, although most of the Yakuza retreated, a portion of them still rushed towards Harunobu in a frenzy. Perhaps they were brainwashed by the Yakuza's so-called "benevolent chivalry," or perhaps they were simply fools. In any case, seven or eight people still charged towards Harunobu.

Moreover, Harunobu keenly observed that before they rushed out, they all stuffed something into their mouths.

Assault Ingot?

A fleeting thought crossed his mind, and Harunobu had already slashed at the fastest charging enemy.

Chapter 58

A Yakuza's arms reached out and closed in on the second man.

But then, something shocking happened to Qingxin. Right in front of him, the bodies of the Yakuza began to change. Some swelled and grew larger, while others twisted and shrank. Scales, feathers, and even claws and horns grew on their bodies to varying degrees.

"What the hell—"

With a single slash, Qingxin cleaved the vertical-pupiled monster in front of him, whose head had grown goat horns and whose hands had bony claws protruding from the backs of its hands like Wolverine's. This time, he held nothing back and directly chopped off the thing's head.

However, the feedback he received made Harunobu not happy at all. It was just a layer of scales on his neck, but it felt almost the same as when he was cutting down a kappa. Had these guys all turned into monsters?

Thinking of Suzuki Michiichi's second stage, Harunobu suddenly felt a little uneasy. "Do all you Yakuzas have a second stage transformation?"

Harunobu sidestepped another Yakuza with a bull's head pouncing on him, leaving a cut on the Yakuza's right hoof in the process. Before he could sever the Yakuza's Achilles tendon, Harunobu had to retract his Snow Cutter to block the sharp claws of the Yakuza that was swooping down from the air. The Yakuza flapped its feathered hands, creating a strong gust of wind that made Harunobu squint involuntarily.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the three demonized Yakuza next to him immediately rushed up to gang up on Harunobu.

With his sword blocked by the enemy and his vision impaired, and the enemy still closing in from all sides, it seemed like a certain death situation.

The Yakuza leader, who had been on the verge of swallowing the medicine at any moment, finally relaxed. He knew that Hiraharu Shin's strongest moves required charging up, and he would definitely need to do so to defeat them who had taken the medicine, so there was nothing to fear anymore.

Ignored by everyone, Tachibana Nako and her mother gasped in alarm.

Harunobu released Yukigiri and grabbed the reverse-blade sword, Shinuchi, at his waist.

Choking——

For the first time, the sound of the blade slicing through the scabbard drowned out Harunobu's breathing. The reverse-blade sword whistled as it slashed at the fastest enemy charging to the left, sending him flying. The enemy in front, whose legs were twisted into bird claws, pressed down along with Harunobu's loosened Yukigiri, but only grazed Harunobu's back, taking a few strands of his hair with it.

Harunobu crouched and turned to the side, arriving behind the Bird Claw Yakuza. As he spun, he swung his sword, the back of the blade, and slashed diagonally down at the enemy, killing both the Bird Claw Yakuza and the enemy charging from the right, who had grown fine, lizard-like scales.

The reverse blade sword, True Fighting, is not unsharpened; rather, the blade is sharpened on the back of the blade.

Blood splattered as the severed body of the Bird Claw Yakuza and the head of the Lizard Scale Yakuza hung in the air, resentfully obscuring Harunobu's view and providing final assistance to his last companion.

The earth trembled. The last demonized Yakuza, with legs as thick as a rhinoceros and a long rhinoceros horn on his forehead, ran silently, smashing through the corpses and debris in mid-air, and crashing into Qingxin's location.

Then he hit nothing.

Using the corpses as cover, Harunobu had already leaped high into the air, and the moment the rhinoceros Yakuza passed beneath him, he swiftly swung his sword downwards.

Flying Sword Style: Dragon Hammer Flash - Tragic!

The straight-down reverse-blade sword, Shin-ta, pierced the neck of the rhinoceros Yakuza like a steel nail falling from the sky, and its own violent force perfectly split it in two.

This series of actions, though seemingly lengthy, actually occurred in a mere instant. The gleaming blade's movements in the darkness even seemed to outline a gigantic dragon's head, tearing apart the inferior monsters that were besieging the dragon.

Flying Sword Style: Ultimate Technique - Nine-Headed Dragon Flash!

Flying Sword Style: Dragon Hammer Flash - Tragic!

Breath of Thunder!

The combined power of simply using Thunder Breathing to enhance physical strength and employing the sword techniques of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu style, even though Harunobu had already tested it on a dummy, still surprised him with its effectiveness in actual combat.

He rose from his kneeling position, gripping the knife, shook his slightly numb right hand, picked up the fallen snow-cutting sword, and pointed it at the Yakuza leader: "I'll ask you one more time, who are you people?"

Exhale... inhale... exhale...

The muffled, thunderous breathing pressured the Yakuza's hearts, pushing them to their limits, while the leader, still clutching the medicine in his hand, struggled to raise his hand.

A flash of thunder!

The leader's right hand flew high into the air, the pain of the severed limb causing him to scream in agony, even worse than his underlings.

"If you don't plan to tell me, then there's nothing I can do."

Before Harunobu could finish speaking, he appeared next to a Yakuza who was sneaking towards Tachibana Nako. Yukichi mercilessly severed his neck, and then pierced through the abdomen of another person.

Then it's the next arm, the next leg...

In the blink of an eye, the remaining Yakuza all collapsed to the ground. The luckiest of them lost a hand, while the unluckiest went to hell with the demonized Yakuza.

"Phew... the problem is solved, you two run now."

After speaking to Tachibana Nako, who clearly showed fear, Harunobu reluctantly took out his compass and chased after the direction in which the sword hunter had fled. It hadn't taken too long yet, so he should be able to catch up, right?

The author says:

Author's Note: Brothers, Chapter 58 is ahead; I accidentally posted it first. Please check back. Thank you all!

Chapter 58: The Clever Pomelo

As it turns out, Harunobu was overthinking things.

He eventually found only a dead end filled with demonic energy, and the true identity of the Blade Hunter, whose true form remains unknown to this day, has vanished without a trace.

"Hold!"

Spitting out a perfectly enunciated swear word from the Chinese, Qingxin reluctantly put away the still vibrating compass and returned to the alleyway he had come from. The chase didn't take long, only about ten minutes. The Yakuza were still scurrying about on the ground, including the few who had both legs intact.

It's very difficult for an average person to maintain balance after losing both hands, let alone after having their hands severed. The fact that these Yakuza didn't writhe in pain on the ground shows that they actually have a lot of willpower.

Ignoring the hateful and pleading looks in her eyes, Harunobu approached the trembling Tachibana Nako and said, "We meet again, Mrs. Tachibana."

"Ah, hi, Master Ping, you've saved my daughter and me again." Although Tachibana Nako's words were relatively fluent, her trembling hands and feet and her shaking voice showed her current state. Harunobu could understand. If it were the version of himself from his past life, seeing such a hellish drawing of dozens of people with their hands and feet cut off, and even some dismembered or cut in half at the waist, he would probably have vomited on the spot.

As for why I don't react that way now... I guess I've gotten used to it, used to having this power.

Suppressing his malicious thought of taking the opportunity to threaten Tachibana Nako and her daughter into joining the Aozora-kan, Harunobu waved his hand and said, "It was just a side trip. But why did you come to a place like this so late, Mrs. Tachibana?"

Nako Tachibana smiled wryly: "I was suddenly attacked by that monster on my way home and fled here."

"You actually managed to escape from that guy?" Harunobu was genuinely curious.

Naoko Tachibana shook her head blankly: "I don't know either, I just ran for my life..."

Well, Harunobu didn't care. Anyway, Tachibana Nako and Tachibana Yuzu were definitely not yokai... well, at least not ordinary-level yokai, so it didn't matter how they held out until Harunobu arrived.

"That's settled then. Head back now and be careful on the road."

Harunobu ended the conversation and walked toward the leader he had hacked into a human stump. How should I put it... the people in this world are really tough. They were bleeding heavily from their limbs for more than ten minutes and they were still alive.

"Um! Big brother! Thank you!"

The sudden, childish voice made Harunobu turn around and look at the little girl who was still being held in Tachibana Nako's arms: "Your name is Yuzu, right? No..."

Chapter 59

"Thank you; it is a samurai's duty."

“But, big brother stayed behind to deal with these bad uncles because of me and Mom, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to catch you at all.” Yuzu said confidently, her expression serious, not at all like a little girl who was only five or six years old.

Harunobu was genuinely surprised: "That's probably one of the reasons, but it's also a good thing for me, those guys are still quite threatening after they transform."

Although Harunobu said this from the bottom of his heart, after all, the power of those guys after their demon transformation was close to that of ordinary-level demons, and it even seemed that a few of them could maintain a certain degree of rationality, which was even more frightening than ordinary-level demons.

But in the eyes of Tachibana Nako and her daughter, who witnessed him effortlessly defeat the four monsters surrounding them, this was simply a matter of modesty.

Nako Tachibana put her daughter down, feeling embarrassed, and bowed to Harunobu: "I'm sorry, Director Taira, I was a little scared just now. You did this for our sake..."

“No need, I…” Harunobu looked at Tachibana Nako, his voice suddenly disappearing as a pair of snow-white peaks rushed into his vision. He could even feel their softness through his eyes, like looking at a fully formed cotton candy. This impact was far too intense for Harunobu.

Haruno's unusual behavior also alerted Tachibana Nako. The somewhat naive lady let out a scream, clutched her chest, and squatted down, trying to cover her overly magnificent breasts by pulling at her torn clothes. But this posture only accentuated the softness of her breasts.

Feeling Harunobu's increasingly intense gaze, Tachibana Nako finally remembered her earlier shield and pulled her daughter in front of her, covering her exposed skin.

"Ping...Ping...Director Ping!" The coquettish rebuke, which was more shy than angry, brought Qingxin to his senses. He felt a rare blush on his face and turned his gaze to the side.

"that……"

"Big brother, my mom is amazing, right?" Yuzu suddenly interrupted Harunobu's apology, "She was terrified, but she stood up to protect Yuzu and almost got killed by that monster."

Upon first hearing the first half of her sentence, Harunobu thought that Tachibana Yuzu was about to say something inappropriate, but it seems that he was mistaken. After all, she was just a five or six-year-old girl. A kitten her age wouldn't have that many thoughts, right?

After an awkward cough, Harunobu seized the opportunity and said, "Yes, Mrs. Tachibana is a wonderful mother. Yuzu-chan, you must take good care of her in the future."

"Yes~"

Harunobu began to coax: "By the way, do you want to learn swordsmanship with me? That way, if you encounter a monster in the future, Yuzu-chan can take care of it herself."

"Hmm... I guess I'll pass. Mom only has me. She'll be lonely if I'm not around."

Ok?

Harunobu looked at Tachibana Yuzu's innocent face and felt like he was being hinted at, but when he thought about it carefully, it didn't seem like anything. However, he didn't expect that Tachibana Nako was a single mother.

Ok……

Harunobu then looked at Tachibana Yuzu, who was gazing at him with an innocent expression, and reached out to pat her little head: "How about coming with Mommy?"

“Mom is too busy with work, she doesn’t have time,” Yuzu said before her mother could speak. “But I think it’s okay not to earn that much money.”

Qingxin patted the little guy's face with amusement: "Mom is doing this for your own good."

Seeing the little guy puffing out his cheeks as if he were angry, Harunobu stopped trying to abduct him. Instead, he took off his haori. "Please use this if you don't mind. You can return it if you don't want to. I still have some questions to ask these guys..."

Naoko gratefully accepted the haori, quickly put it on to cover her exposed skin, and then bowed to Harunobu: "I will definitely come to thank you in person later. Please forgive my rudeness for now."

Nako Tachibana wisely left quickly. Once the sound of her wooden clogs hitting the ground had completely faded away, Harunobu drew his Yukigiri sword, approached the Yakuza leader, and stabbed him through the stomach: "Now, can you answer my question, Yakuza?"

"Woo..."

The pain jolted the Yakuza leader out of his delirium caused by massive blood loss, and he screamed in agony, "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything."

"Hmm... shall we start with names?" Harunobu turned the Yukigiri around, stirring the Yakuza leader's internal organs. "Your name and your group's name."

"My name is Hanayama Isao, and I am the young head of the Hanayama Group."

"It might be a bit late to say now, but I'll be checking with the information brokers, you know," Harunobu said softly. "So, the next question is, why were you interfering with my killing of that monster?"

"That monster... the group's orders are... ugh... to capture it alive."

"Very good, next question, how did you all become monsters?"

"If you take the medicine from the group, you'll turn into that kind of person if you don't die."

A light rain began to fall, and the interrogation continued.