I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Shannan." Qingdeng lowered the bamboo sword he was holding in his hand, and grinned at Shannan, "It's been a long time since I saw you."

Qingdeng looked back and thought about it carefully—since the day after he traveled to this era, he asked Shannan Keisuke who happened to be studying in the Little Chiba Sword Academy, "Is the Test Guard Hall really related to the Xuanwu Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Academy?" After that, due to various reasons such as being too busy on weekdays, I had no chance to see Shannan again.

"Yes." Shannan answered, "That's why I came here specially to meet you and say hello to you."

As usual, Shannan had a refined smile on his face. When he walked up to Qingdeng, he found Okita standing behind Qingdeng's side.

Shannan, who is a member of the Little Chiba Sword Gym who often deals with the Gymnasium, naturally recognizes Okita who is one of the celebrities in the Gymnastics Gym.

"Okita-kun." Shan Nanji gracefully bowed slightly to Okita, and greeted Okita.

Shannan's graceful movements made Qingdeng involuntarily think of Sanazi who behaved equally gracefully.

But the elegance of the two is completely different.

Sanako is the kind of "eldest lady" and elegant, and people can't help but believe that this person must have received a very strict "Yamato Nadeko" education.

The elegance of Shannan is the kind of elegance that "has a poetic spirit in its belly".

To put it simply and vulgarly, Shannan is the kind of person who looks very knowledgeable and cultured.

Okita looked at Qingdeng in surprise, and then at Shannan, and after a while he suddenly realized.

"That's right... I almost forgot, Mr. Tachibana told me before that you and Keisuke Shannan from the Little Chiba Sword Gym are friends."

I forget the exact date, but one day when I was chatting with Kondo and Okita, Qingdeng mentioned his relationship with Shannan to them.

A friend he hasn't seen for a long time came over to say hello to him, so Qingdeng couldn't be too rude.

He took the initiative to exchange pleasantries with Shannan.

After the two exchanged a few simple greetings, they heard Shannan suddenly sigh with some helplessness and astonishment to Qingdeng.

"Mr. Ju... You really made me understand what it means to 'treat a man with admiration for three days'."

"In less than two months, you have become a little unknown to me."

"When I heard that the person who solved the murder case in a very short period of time and defeated more than two hundred 'radical extermination faction' mobs was named 'Ju Qingdeng', I almost couldn't believe it. ears."

Shannan's praise of Qingdeng did not contain any negative emotions such as hatred or jealousy.

Yes, just pure joy and congratulations.

Facing Shannan's praise, Qingdeng smiled and said a few words modestly, then asked:

"Shannan, since you will appear here...do you want to participate in the competition?"

"Yes." Shannan nodded, "It's a great honor to be selected by the master to participate in today's competition."

"Ha." Qingdeng smiled, "That means... the two of us will soon meet each other in battle."

Shannan chuckled a few times, then put on a half-joking tone: "Later, I won't show mercy."

After all, Shannan is also a "player" who will also play the game later, and needs to set aside a certain amount of time to check the bamboo sword and other equipment and warm up. He doesn't have much time to stay here and chat with Qingdeng.

So, after the two exchanged simple greetings for a while, Shannan quickly left and returned to their "principal formation" of the Little Chiba Sword Gym.

As soon as Shannan left, Okita put the bamboo sword in his hand on his shoulder, looked at the back of Shannan Keisuke who was gradually going away, and said quietly:

"This Shannan Keisuke is also going to participate in today's competition. The three masters of the Little Chiba Sword Gym are here today..."

"The three masters of Little Chiba Sword Hall?" Qingdeng turned his head and cast a puzzled look at Okita who suddenly spit out a name he had never heard before.

"Ah, this is a title I made up on my own." Okita smiled, "As a friend of Keisuke Shannan, you should know that Keisuke Shannan is very good at swordsmanship, right?"

Qingdeng nodded, he knew that Shannan's swordsmanship was very powerful, but Qingdeng didn't know exactly how good it was, since he had never competed with Shannan before.

"Although many people, including Brother Kondo, feel that apart from Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako, there are still some people in the Little Chiba Sword Academy whose sword skills are higher than Keisuke Shannan."

"But I have always believed that, looking at all the apprentices in the entire Little Chiba Sword Academy, Keisuke Shannan's strength is only second to Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako."

"That's why I collectively refer to Mr. Shigetaro, Ms. Sanako, and Keisuke Yamanan as the 'Three Masters of the Little Chiba Sword Gym'...Huh?"

Just halfway through Okita's words, he opened his eyes suddenly as if he saw something extraordinary, and raised his hand to point to the northwest.

"Mr. Tachibana, haven't you been looking for Mr. Chiba Dingkichi just now? That is Mr. Chiba Dingkichi!"

Hearing what Okita said, Qingdeng was stunned for a moment, and then quickly looked in the direction that Okita's finger was pointing——

If... now there is a person standing here who has never seen Chiba Dingkichi but only heard of Chiba Dingkichi's name, then he will be very surprised when he sees Chiba Dingkichi's face.

Qingdeng is a good example.

He's surprised now.

"...Okita-kun, is that Mr. Chiba Sadakichi?"

"Yeah." Okita nodded vigorously.

——That person...is Chiba Dingkichi?

At the end of Qingdeng's line of sight, there was a... big fat man with a very kind face.

The important founder of Beichen Yidao Style, the younger brother of Chiba Shuzuo who created Beichen Yidao Style, the current owner of the Little Chiba Sword Gym...a man with so many titles, his figure is so out of shape...

Chiba Dingkichi, who is 63 years old this year, is undoubtedly an old man in terms of age.

As an old man, he has a rather "middle-aged" figure: his body is severely fattened, and his protruding belly directly lifts up the clothes and fabrics on his belly.

The fat body made Chiba Dingkichi's face bloated, and his facial features were deformed due to "stretching".

If you look carefully, it's not difficult to see that Chiba Dingkichi's facial features are still very good, with a broad face and heavy mouth, exuding a mighty aura.

It's a pity that this fat body directly caused a devastating blow to his appearance...

Although Chiba Dingkichi's appearance was a bit beyond Qingdeng's expectation, Qingdeng did not treat Chiba Dingkichi differently because of this.

One reason is that Qingdeng never judges people by their cover.

Secondly, it was because Chiba Singkichi's status was so high that people didn't even have the guts to question his strength.

Chiba Sakakichi's status in the current Japanese swordsmanship world... To put it bluntly, he is an undoubted great master, a living legendary swordsman who will be treated with courtesy even if the Edo shogunate general Zhengyi comes.

Such an identity naturally made Chiba Dingkichi the idol of countless swordsmen.

After Chiba Dingkichi entered the competition venue along a gap in the northwest corner, some spectators in the "audience seat" who recognized Chiba Dingkichi immediately became excited.

"Look, it's Chiba Dingkichi!"

"Chiba Singkichi is here!"

"Oh... I really want to ask him for advice... It's a pity that I heard that because of his advanced age, he will no longer accept anyone's advice..."

...

Under the cheers of the audience, Chiba Shigetaro and his group at the "main formation" of the Little Chiba Sword Gym hurriedly greeted Chiba Singkichi.

In the "VIP auditorium", Zhou Zhu smiled and led his wife to meet his long-awaited old friend.

The attention of many people at the scene... including Qingdeng, was attracted by the legendary swordsman who finally appeared.

Of course—Qingdeng's attention is slightly different from other people's...

——For a great man like Mr. Chiba Singkichi, I don't know if he has any special and extraordinary talents...

Qingdeng is concentrating on guessing the talents that Chiba Dingkichi might have, and thinking about how to compete with Chiba Dingkichi...

He has heard that Chiba Dingkichi is no longer willing to accept anyone's challenge because of his age, so it is definitely not possible to come directly to Chiba Dingkichi and say "I want to ask you for advice".

When Qingdeng was still concentrating on how to compete with Chiba Dingkichi, two very familiar figures suddenly appeared from the corner of Qingdeng's left eye.

"Mr. Ju, Mr. Okita, I finally found you."

"Mr. Kiryu? Miss Kinoshita?" Okita was startled.

The two familiar figures that suddenly appeared in Qingdeng's peripheral vision were Boss Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita.

Boss Kiryu dressed as an "ordinary old man next door" and led Kinoshita Mai towards Qingdeng and Okita with a gentle smile on his face.

After Qingdeng and Okita looked over, Mai Kinoshita quickly and politely bowed to them.

Qingdeng discovered: Wu Kinoshita seems to really like red.

Every time I saw her, she always wore the same style of bright red kimono and flat clogs with red buttons.

Because Kinoshita Mai wears the same clothes every time, Qingdeng can't help but wonder about her wardrobe—does she only have this one dress, or does she have several of the same style of clothes...

After Kiryu appeared with Kinoshita Mai, it immediately attracted the attention of many people in the test room.

Because Kiryu often showed his face in the testing hall, many people in the testing hall recognized this old man wearing glasses.

Many people gathered around at this time and took the initiative to say hello to Tongyu, and Tongyu also enthusiastically responded to their greetings one by one.

"Boss Kiryu!" Kondo smiled pleasantly, and quickly walked towards Kiryu, "Are you here to watch the game?"

"Boss Kiryu, Miss Kinoshita." Qingdeng, who was turning his surprised eyes back and forth on the faces of Kiryu and Kinoshita Mai, echoed at this moment, "I thought you wouldn't come..."

"Hahaha." Tongsheng laughed a few times in a low voice, "It's rare that there is nothing urgent today, so I brought the young master to take a look."

After a brief conversation with Qingdeng and the others, Kiryu raised his head and looked at the surrounding auditorium: "There are so many people... Tachibana-kun, when will this competition start?"

Qingdeng: "Towards eight o'clock (2 o'clock in the afternoon)."

"Hey...then it's almost time." Kiryu smiled slightly, "Then——for the time being, I will sit at the seat with the young master."

"Kondo-kun, Tachibana-kun. You guys have to work hard later. The young master and I will encourage you from the spectator seats."

Qing Deng laughed and said: "Thank you. With your words, I feel that the whole person has become a lot more motivated."

Kiryu smiled freely: "Hahaha, Tachibana-kun, you are surprisingly eloquent."

...

...

There are still less than 15 minutes before the game starts.

Whether it's the Weiwei Hall or the Little Chiba Sword Hall, all the contestants have basically finished warming up and checking their equipment, and they are all nervously waiting for the start of the competition.

Now the spectators gathered around the periphery of the competition venue...the number is approaching 400 people...

Because there were too many people, spectators who came a step late could only be blocked outside the dense crowd, unable to see the scene inside the competition venue.

In order to get a good "watching point", a very few people ran to climb the nearby plum tree-then they were severely reprimanded by the maidens of Yushima Tenmangu.

Qingdeng didn't know what was going on at the Xiaoqianye Sword Gym, but he knew what was going on at their Guarding Gym—almost everyone, including Kondo and Okita, was visibly nervous...

Qingdeng even saw the hands and feet of one of his senior brothers shaking like a pendulum, which made people doubt whether he could still hold the bamboo sword properly.

Everyone is so nervous, Qingdeng can understand it very well, after all, there should be very few people...or it is almost impossible to hold a "red and white battle" with so many spectators.

Feeling nervous is inevitable.

Qingdeng's current mentality is not bad. After all, in his previous life, he frequently participated in some activities like "speech contests" that needed to show his talents in public.

Because the number of spectators is still increasing, the scene is getting more and more noisy.

Naturally, some strange voices gradually increased and began to reach Qingdeng's ears...

For example, now—

"What kind of sword gym is this trial guard hall? I have never heard of this sword hall."

"It seems to be a sword hall that teaches some kind of heavenly thought and heart flow."

"It's a natural mental flow."

"Ah, yes, yes, I remember wrongly. It's the flow of natural mind, not the flow of mind."

"I have never heard of the name of the sword hall or the name of this genre..."

"This trial guard hall seems to be just a very inconspicuous sword hall in Edo."

"Why can such an unknown small sword gym compete with a well-known big sword gym like Xiaoqianye Sword Gym? This kind of competition is completely worthless, right? The strength of the two sword gyms is so different, Xiaoqian Didn’t the swordsmen of Ye Jian Hall overwhelmingly suppress the swordsmen of the Test Guard Hall?”

"Who knows how these two sword halls have the opportunity to compete together. In short, the reason why I came to watch this competition is just to see that Chiba Sanako, and by the way, look at the swords of the famous Little Chiba Sword Hall How powerful are the soldiers."

"Tsk tsk, that Chiba Sanako is really beautiful."

"Look at her bear and butt, how did she grow, the rest of the place is so thin, but only those few places have so much meat."

"Hey, tell me—Chiba Sanako has grown so big, will her side shake very badly when the match starts and the fight is fierce?"

...

This conversation was passed down from the mouths of four middle-aged people in an auditorium on the west side of the "Honjin" adjacent to the test hall.

The four middle-aged men were all wearing heavily patched clothes. At this moment, the four of them were still talking there.

They also knew that what they talked about just now would offend everyone in the test hall, so they tried their best to keep their volume down.

However—they are all very bad at how to speak softly.

Although they tried their best to lower the volume, Qingdeng and others who were waiting for the start of the game in the "main team" could clearly hear the conversation of these four people.

In an instant, annoyance appeared on the faces of everyone.

Qingdeng's brows were also furrowed at this moment, and there was visible displeasure in his eyes and face.

However, Qingdeng just felt displeased, and he was not as angry as he was when he heard Chiba Tamonshiro call the test guard hall a "third-rate sword hall" before.

Because the nature of the two is not the same.

Although the remarks made by those four people just now are not pleasant, what they said are all hard facts that cannot be questioned...

Their reputation, scale, number of apprentices, and quality of students are indeed far inferior to those of Little Chiba Sword Hall.

The reason why this competition that is about to start has so many spectators is due to the little Qianye Sword Gym.

At present, many of the audience in the auditorium should be attracted by the name of the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

Test hall? What is it? I don't know each other at all, we came to see Little Chiba Sword Hall.

At this moment, several apprentices with more violent tempers turned their heads and cast vicious glances at the four middle-aged men.

After the middle-aged people noticed the sights that were about to condense into a specific killing intent, they immediately realized that the people in the testing hall might have heard what they said just now, their faces turned pale instantly, and they turned and left in a hurry.

Someone stood up and wanted to chase the four middle-aged men, but was stopped by Kondo.

"Where do you want to go? Come back!"

The man glanced at Kondo angrily, gritted his teeth, and sat back in his seat.

Kondo naturally also heard the unappealing remarks of the four middle-aged people just now.

The competition is about to start, and it is naturally impossible for Kondo to let the apprentices under his sect go into trouble.

Besides... Kondo, like Qingdeng, has a rational judgment on what those people said just now.

What the few of them said just now did not say anything wrong, and it would be unreasonable for everyone in the test and guard hall to ask them to reason.

In order to train Kondo, Zhou Zhu handed over all the management and command rights of today's game to Kondo to take full responsibility.

He himself will not intervene in any matters related to the game today, he will stay in the "VIP seat" with Abi, and watch the game until the end.

Kondo, who shoulders such a heavy responsibility, took a deep breath after looking at the people with discontent and displeasure on their faces:

"All concentrate on it! Don't pay attention to those people's trivial words!"

In order to revive everyone's morale, and in order to dispel everyone's tension as much as possible, Kondo launched a short but passionate "mobilization speech".

Kondo's "mobilization speech" was very effective. After listening to it, many people looked a lot better.

Qingdeng also suppressed the displeasure in his heart a little bit.

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly discovered that in the "main formation" of Xiaoqianye Sword Gym opposite, Sanako was still warming up there.

Holding a bamboo wakizashi, she sometimes slashed at the air in front of her, and sometimes turned the blade and stabbed forward.

The expression is serious and meticulous.

Qingdeng always felt that even if she went to call Sanazi now, she who was warming up extremely attentively, should not hear any other sounds except the sound of her own swinging the knife.

Seeing Sanako's extremely focused face...Qingdeng couldn't help but tilt his head, and sighed in a low voice to Okita beside him:

"Miss Sanako looks very energetic..."

Okita glanced at Sanako across the way and smiled, "Miss Sanako has a very good personality."

"Because of her strong personality, no matter what she does, she is extraordinarily serious, focused, and extraordinarily motivated."

"It's also because of her strong personality, so Miss Sanako... cares about winning or losing."

"Mr. Ju, do you still remember what I told you: Did our Weiwei Pavilion beat Xiaoqianye Sword Pavilion twice in the 'Red and White Battle'?"

"I am very impressed. Whenever we win the Little Chiba Sword Hall, Miss Sanako will show a very unwilling expression."

At this point, Okita suddenly licked his lips.

"Ah... I seem to be a little thirsty."

Okita raised his head and looked back.

"Mr. Ju, I remember that there is a sugar water stand not far behind, do you want to drink a bowl of sugar water with me now?"

After hearing what Okita said, Qingdeng realized that he was also a little thirsty right now.

So without thinking too much, Qingdeng nodded to Okita.

There is still a little time, enough time for Qingdeng and Okita to drink a bowl of sugar water and come back together, so Kondo did not stop Qingdeng and Okita, but only reminded them to "come back early".

Qingdeng and Okita ran one after the other to the sugar stand that Okita mentioned was very close to the competition venue.

The sugar water stand happened to be empty at the time, and Qingdeng and his wife ordered a bowl of sugar water smoothly and drank it all in one gulp.

"Ha... After drinking what I like to drink, I really don't feel so nervous." Okita sighed, and returned the empty bowl to the owner of the sugar water stand.

"Mr. Okita, are you nervous now?" Qing Deng poured the last sip of sugar water into his mouth.

"I was quite nervous just now." Okita grinned, "But after drinking my favorite sugar water, I feel much better."

"That's good." Qingdeng returned the empty bowl to the owner of the sugar water stall, and then continued in a joking tone, "Mr. Chongtian, you are the absolute main force of our guarding hall. If you are too nervous and cause If you don’t perform well, you’ll be in trouble.”

"...Actually, no matter what my current state is, the result will not make any difference—we will definitely not be able to defeat Little Chiba Sword Hall today, and all we can do today is to pour We just try our best to show the power of our natural mental flow to the spectators around us."

Qing Deng was startled, then turned his head to look at Okita who was pressing his lips tightly.

"The two main players in our test hall: Uncle Yuan and Mr. Hijikata are not here today."

Uncle Gen and Mr. Hijikata... After thinking for a while, Qingdeng remembered that these two people mentioned by Okita were the important members of the test room that he had never masked until now: Gensaburo Inoue and Toshizo Hijikata.

"The two matches that we were the only ones to win against the Little Chiba Sword Gym were only managed by the presence of all the main players in our Test Guard Gym."

"Both Uncle Yuan and Mr. Hijikata are absent today. No matter how you think about it, our chances of winning in the test hall today are slim..."

At this moment, Okita suddenly stopped, then shook his head vigorously, his slender ponytail flying around.

"No, no, no, how can you say such unlucky things before the game even starts..."

Okita raised his hands and kneaded his cheeks vigorously.

After he put his hands down, his expression returned to his bright smile.

"Okay, Mr. Ju, let's go back! If we come back too late, Brother Kondo will definitely scold me again."

"……Um."

Chong Tian walked ahead and led Qing Deng back along the original road.

At this time, without any expectations, a group of conversations from not far away made Qingdeng and Okita's feet stop.

...

"Tsk... so nervous... it's the first time I compete with someone in swordsmanship under the watchful eyes of so many people..."

"Me too... You see, I'm so nervous that my whole hand is shaking."

"I feel pretty good. When I think that today's opponent is the test hall, and today's "red and white match" will be a very easy match, I immediately feel less nervous."

"Ha... I don't know who gave the test guard the courage to fight us in the "Plum Blossom Festival". In the past, their four main players, Isamu Kondo, Souji Okita, Toshizo Hijikata, and Gensaburo Inoue, were all present at the same time. , are not our opponents. Their Hijikata Toshizo and Inoue Gensaburo are absent today, what are they going to fight us with?"

"Sigh, I'm most annoyed at the 'Red and White Battle' with the Test Guard Hall. It's meaningless to compete with them in swordsmanship. They only have Kondo, Okita, Hijikata, and Inoue who are very strong, and the rest... …Ah."

"Surrounded by so many people... If they lost before even a stick of incense, like in a certain competition half a year ago... Ha, that would be really ridiculous."

"I guess they never thought about winning from the start. I guess they just wanted to use this opportunity to promote their natural mental flow. As long as they play hard enough and play 'It's Glorious to Lose' Their aura can more or less spread out their natural reasoning."

"It's possible. I also think they didn't even think about winning, they just wanted to take the opportunity to promote the natural mental flow."

"Okay, stop chatting, have you eaten enough? It's almost time to go back. Let's go."

...

The speakers were six young people standing in front of a grilled squid stand.

These six youths...Qingdeng are very familiar.

Just now, I met these 6 people at the "Honen" of Little Chiba Sword Gym, and all 6 of them are today's contestants of Little Chiba Sword Gym.

They probably wanted to eat something at the grilled squid stand before the game started to replenish their energy.

After enjoying the grilled squid, they began to talk about the test hall and the upcoming competition.

Because they were too focused on the chat, but also because of their positions, viewing angles and other reasons, they didn't notice until they strode away—their conversations just now were all overheard by Qingdeng and Okita.

"Ah, ah haha. Although what they said is not very nice, but what they said is not wrong."

Okita turned his head, pretending not to care, and smiled at Qing Deng.

"The current strength of our trial guard hall is indeed far inferior to their little Qianye sword hall."

"They also guessed correctly the purpose of participating in this competition in our test hall. The reason why we participated in the competition is indeed to promote the natural mental flow. We never expected to win Xiao Qianye without the main force Sword hall."

"But it doesn't matter. Although it's still not as good as the Little Chiba Sword Gym today, sooner or later we will become stronger in the Guard Gym."

"Look, don't we now have a reliable combat power like Mr. Ju."

"The current strength of our test hall is steadily increasing."

"One day, we will definitely make everyone look at our test hall with admiration."

Okita probably didn't want Qingdeng to worry, even though he felt a little disappointed, he still smiled.

"Okay, let's go, Tachibana-kun. If you don't go back quickly, Brother Kondo will really scold us."

After finishing speaking, Okita withdrew his gaze, continued along the way he came, and strode towards the competition venue.

However...he just took a few steps, and he found that Qingdeng behind him didn't move with him...

I saw him standing where he was, expressionless and thoughtful, looking at the direction in which the 6 contestants from the Little Chiba Sword Gym had just left.

"Mr. Tangerine?"

"...Okita-kun."

Qing Deng said suddenly.

"Let me confirm: in the previous competitions between our trial guard hall and Little Chiba Sword Hall, Little Chiba Sword Hall will definitely send Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako to deal with you, right?"

"Huh?" Although he didn't know why Qingdeng brought this up suddenly, Okita nodded quickly, "Well, every time there is a competition, Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako will definitely be sent by the Little Chiba Sword Gym to pick me up. Hold on, don't let me support other people."

After finishing speaking, Okita smiled confidently.

"After all, if they don't send Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako to deal with me at the same time, they have no other way to suppress me."

"... Okita-kun, can you do me a favor later?"

"A little busy? What's the busy?"

"Come with me later and ask Brother Kondo to let me be the general general of our side of the test hall in this competition. With your help, the chances of persuading Brother Kondo will be more or less increased."

*****

*****

Another chapter of 8,000 words, ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket!

Tomorrow, the author will try to write as much as possible, and try to see if he can finish this competition within one chapter...

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