We agreed to be in a band for life, what the heck is Dragon Raja?

However, Nagumo Ugetsu was much less nervous than Toyokawa Shoko.

As a super hybrid power with a history of thousands of years in Japan, the Hebi-Hachi family honed their swordsmanship relentlessly during the era of cold weapons, accumulating a wealth of swordsmanship skills.

If this world were a martial arts world, then these sword techniques would all be worthy of being included in the imperial library.

At that time, the Snake-Headed Eight Families sought out many sword masters from within their families in order to make Uesugi Koshi a true Japanese as quickly as possible.

The Japanese Kendo they passed on to the "Emperor" was the essence honed through countless kendo masters.

Under the tireless training of the Snake Clan's heirs to the imperial bloodline, Uesugi Kotsugi's mastery of Japanese swordsmanship became increasingly refined.

Despite having been separated from his family for a long time, he has not given up honing his swordsmanship.

Nangumo Ugetsu remembered that the last time he went to the ramen stall, Uesugi Kotsu had told him with a look of admiration that he had made further progress in the 'way of ramen'.

Hand-Pulled Noodle?

'road'?

Nangumo Ugetsu actually believed that this was some kind of power generation technique in Kendo.

at this time,

After the teacher left, the sound of moving desks and chairs and footsteps running out of the classroom could be heard. After school was the most leisurely time of the day. The students on duty were preparing to clean the classroom, while some others were in the classroom discussing things with their classmates.

"Mu."

Nanon Ugetsu looked at Wakaba Mutsu.

After school tonight, he's going to the community church with Toyokawa Shoko to find Uesugi Koshi.

As one of the three who walk home from school, Wakaba Mutsu also rides the train with them.

When rehearsing lines with Toyokawa Shoko in the morning, Nagumo Ugetsu wanted to come up with a reason to cover it up, but Toyokawa Shoko thought about it and decided that it would be better to simply say that they had attended a kendo training course together.

Moreover, Wakaba Mutsu has never been interested in kendo or anything like that. Compared to the fighting and killing involved in kendo, she prefers to practice her guitar quietly in the basement.

Nan Yun Yuyue thought this explanation was indeed quite good, so she nodded in agreement.

However, today, Wakaba Mutsu didn't pack his things. Instead, after hearing Nangumo Ugetsu's voice, he walked straight towards him.

Nan Yun Youyue originally thought that Ruoye Mutsuki planned not to pack her things today, but to leave her bag at school and go home lightly.

Unexpectedly, Wakaba Mutsu walked up to him and said softly:

"It's my turn to be on duty today."

So it's Wakaba Mutsumi's turn to be on duty today?

Nanon Ugetsu glanced at the other students cleaning the classroom and realized that Wakaba Mutsuki was indeed part of the cleaning group.

There are still some students in the class who haven't left yet, so the students on duty can only do simple tasks like watering the flowers and wiping the blackboard. As for sweeping and mopping, they can only do those when there are fewer people left.

Just then, a student on duty called out Wakaba Mutsu's name, asking her to help get the water bottle that was placed at the back of the classroom.

Ruoye Mu hesitated for a moment, then spoke to Nan Yun Youyue first:

"He Xiangzi...let's go first."

"Let's get together again tomorrow."

"Okay." Nan Yun Yuyue nodded.

But he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he lowered his voice slightly and asked softly:

"Xiao Mu, has Senmina tried to get you to drink anything strange these past few days?"

"No." Wakaba Mu shook her head. Although she didn't quite understand why Nanon Ugetsu had asked that question, she still explained:

"Boil the water yourself."

Nan Yun Yuyue understood what she meant.

"After taking Xiaomu to the movies last time, it seems she really did remember what I said. Boiling water yourself... does reduce some risks."

"What an obedient girl."

Nan Yun Yuyue suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

The atmosphere at the Wakaba family home was indeed cold, and Mori Minami never showed her daughter the normal care a mother should, instead displaying a lot of defensiveness.

Takayuki Wakaba chose to remain out of the loop in his family education, but compared to Minami Mori, he actually seemed more normal.

Although his heart was stirred with emotion, he did not show it on his face.

Nan Yun Yuyue smiled and waved.

Seeing his reaction, Ruoye Mu turned around, took the watering can from the cabinet at the back of the classroom, and walked towards the front of the classroom.

"Ugetsu!"

Shoko Toyokawa, who had already left the classroom and gone around to the back door, quietly pushed open the back door and called out his name.

Nanon Ugetsu glanced at Wakaba Mutsuki's retreating figure one last time before leaving the school with Toyokawa Shoko.

There was still some distance between Tsuki no Mori and the community church, and the two of them chose to take the tram as usual.

As Toyokawa Shoko chatted endlessly with Nagumo Ugetsu, she looked out the car window. Time seemed to fly by amidst the towering buildings that were rapidly approaching and receding into the distance.

"Arrived."

The conversation ended with the arrival announcement.

Nangumo Ugetsu and Toyokawa Shoko got off the tram.

The community church is located not far from the back street of the University of Tokyo. The tram stops only near the University of Tokyo, so they have to take a detour to reach their destination.

Graduation season at the University of Tokyo has passed. During that time, when the two of them came here, different graduation songs would always be playing on both sides of the street.

Naotaro Moriyama's "Sakura" and SPEED's "My Graduation"... The person in charge of selecting the songs certainly has good taste, playing these old songs that have stood the test of time.

But now, the somber atmosphere of graduation season in the backstreets of the University of Tokyo has faded, and the songs playing now are quite diverse.

During the time it took for Nangumo Ugetsu to walk around the University of Tokyo area after school, she heard theme songs from popular anime, foreign songs from countries she couldn't identify, and even a left-wing song.

However, pedestrians were walking briskly or slowly on both sides of the street, and no one stopped to listen as they had during previous graduation seasons.

A few minutes later, the two arrived at the church courtyard, where Uesugi Koshi was standing near the benches, waiting for their arrival.

It wasn't a worship day, so the church doors were closed. There were one or two tourists in the courtyard, but Uesugi Kotsugu didn't seem to care.

"follow me."

He said succinctly.

Nanon Ugetsu and Toyokawa Shoko followed him and circled around to the back of the church.

"So there was another door here. Is this the basement?"

Nan Yun Yuyue stared at the pentagonal iron gate in front of her.

The iron bars on the gate have rusted to a dark brown. The most striking feature is an inverted cross iron frame that lies across the center of the gate. Its four ends are welded to the door frame, and there is a dent at the intersection of the cross, as if it had been hit by a heavy object.

"An inverted cross?"

Toyokawa Shoko was somewhat puzzled.

Catholic churches...shouldn't they display upright crosses? What's with this upside-down cross?

But before she could voice her question, Uesugi Kotsushi had already stopped in front of the iron gate.

He turned to look at the two of them, made the sign of the cross, and his expression was solemn:

"This is the St. Peter's Cross."

"Because St. Peter felt unworthy to be like Jesus when he was martyred, he requested to be crucified upside down."

"In the Catholic Church, the St. Peter's Cross symbolizes the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and is a symbol of 'humility'."

"Before you learn Kendo... you need to understand that even geniuses can only go further on this path if they are humble."

Uesugi Kotsushi paused, then remained silent for two seconds.

Japanese Kendo, the Catholic Church... these two seemingly unrelated things sound perfectly natural coming from his mouth.

Although he was not religious in his youth, Catholicism was, after all, the state religion of France. For Uesugi Kotsugu, these were the most important elements in different stages of his life.

He sighed, took a key from his pocket, and pushed open the inverted cross-shaped iron door.

"bring it on."

The basement lights were surprisingly bright. Nan Yun Yuyue had initially thought that such a basement would be as dark as a map where she was about to challenge a dungeon boss, but she didn't expect that the light source extended from the depths of the basement all the way to the entrance, and even the patterns on the walls were clearly visible.

After all three of them had entered, Uesugi Koshi closed the iron door again.

A rumbling sound rang out as the iron gate moved, completely isolating the outside world.

Tapping.

Uesugi Kotsuki walked in front, followed closely by Nagumo Ugetsu and Toyokawa Shoko.

"This is……"

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Nan Yun Yuyue felt a surge of shock.

Looking around, the entire basement seemed to be 30% larger than the church. There were several holes sealed with cement at the edge of the depths, suggesting that this place was originally an air-raid shelter during World War II, which was later abandoned and converted into the church basement it is today.

In one corner of the basement stood several crooked wooden cabinets. The paint had long since peeled off, and the wooden boards were riddled with holes from insects, revealing scattered rotten spots.

Uesugi Koshi walked straight to the cabinet, gently pulled open the door frame which was already on the verge of falling off, and turned to look at Nagumo Ugetsu and Toyokawa Shoko:

"come over."

As Nan Yun Yuyue approached, the object that had been hidden by the door frame was finally fully revealed.

Inside were dozens of swords, some with their blades sheathed, others with them exposed. Each sword was decorated with ancient patterns, exuding a sinister aura.

"These are things I brought from the Snake-Headed Eight Family back then."

Uesugi sighed,

"Back then, I looted the family's sword museum. I originally thought I could make a living by selling a few ancient swords. Who knew that buying and selling cultural relics was such a troublesome thing? I was also afraid of being discovered by the family, so I have been hiding them until today."

"I thought these things would remain buried here forever... I never expected to be able to take you as my apprentices at this moment in my life."

He turned around, his eyes sweeping over their faces:

"Traditional Japanese swordsmanship primarily uses tachi, katana, or kodachi."

"This is your first time experiencing Kendo, and the first sword a person uses in their life will have a great influence on their fighting style later on."

"Therefore, for the first training session, I will not specify which sword you will use. You can try them out for a while before choosing an ancient sword that suits you."

Uesugi reached out and took down more than ten long swords from a cabinet at once.

"These swords are all historically renowned, such as Izumi no Kami Kanesada, Juzumaru Tsunetsugu, Hizen no Kuni Tadakichi, and Mikazuki Munechika..."

"These are the ones I can remember, and there are many more that I can't name. They were all forged by master blacksmiths using alchemy many years ago, and their power is definitely sufficient."

"If your swordsmanship can reach a level that I can acknowledge, then you may take these swords with you."

Uesugi promised.

There are many schools of Japanese Kendo, and some styles have special requirements for a person's mental and physical strength.

Back then, he studied swordsmanship under the master of the Snake Clan, but even so, it took him a long time to master the 'form' of swordsmanship.

As for the most important aspect of swordsmanship, 'intention', he only gradually came to understand it after being defeated by Angers and leaving his family.

Although the boy and girl before him had very high bloodline ranks, Uesugi Yue felt that even if they wanted to reach his level back then, there was still a long way to go.

Besides... if they can truly reach the legendary level of "using the sword to communicate with the gods" through their own training—even if they are slightly inferior to this miraculous level, what harm would there be in giving them all these ancient swords?

Nan Yun Yuyue was shocked.

These swords, treasured by the Snake-Headed Eight Families in their family museum, are no ordinary swords; they are all masterpieces painstakingly crafted by Japanese mixed-race master blacksmiths.

Considering their historical value and the alchemical patterns on them, the price of these swords is an unimaginable astronomical figure.

"It turns out that Uesugi Kotsushi kept all the ancient swords he took from the Snake Clan here."

"If I reach a level that this 'Movie King' can acknowledge... then I can take them all away?"

His thoughts were in turmoil.

Even though Toyokawa Shoko didn't understand swordsmanship, she could tell at a glance that the swords that Uesugi Kotsu had casually taken out were no ordinary objects.

"Today we'll start with the basics."