I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 831: Shinsengumi's Great Victory! The Mysterious "Killing Family"! [4700]

Although the other party tried hard to suppress it, a complex emotion still appeared on his cheeks.

Nostalgia, sorrow, resentment, anger, unwillingness...the complexity of these emotions is difficult to describe in specific words.

Through Prajna’s frank words just now, Qingdeng understood something - but the "doubts" that suddenly emerged far exceeded the "enlightenment".

To be honest, he is now completely confused and full of questions.

However, there was one thing he was very sure of - no matter what, he had to take this guy down first!

One glance is enough to tell that Prajna is not in a good condition now.

Even if hundreds of minions attacked him together, Qing Deng was not afraid at all and did not even frown.

But if he were besieged by masters of the same level as Souji and Nagakura Shinpachi...even Qing Deng would never have it easy!

Qing Deng remained calm on the surface, but secretly he had quietly concentrated his strength on his toes. He stared closely at Prajna and paid attention to Souji's condition, ready to pounce forward at any time.

Now he only hoped that Souji could recover his strength as soon as possible and escape from Prajna's feet.

In this way, he can fight Prajna without any worries.

Although his action of accumulating power was very subtle, Prajna still saw through it at a glance.

"Tachibana Aoto, I have been looking forward to having a thrilling, all-out duel with you."

"However, unfortunately, I no longer have the energy to fight you now."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to wipe the blood from his forehead.

"I was thinking of fighting you again after defeating your men."

"But I didn't expect that your subordinates are much stronger than I expected."

Having said that, he deliberately side-glanced at Souji, who was lying on his side at his feet, gasping for breath, and had not yet recovered from the severe pain.

"I almost died just now."

"Let's save our duel for next time."

He paused, then curled up the corners of his mouth and adopted a meaningful tone.

"The duel between you and me will come - in the near future."

Hearing this, anyone with ears and a brain could tell that Prajna wanted to escape!

Qing Deng and others like Hijikata Toshizo beside him suddenly became nervous.

At this moment when the atmosphere suddenly became tense... Prajna actually kicked Souji at his feet!

Having completely lost his ability to move, Souji was unable to resist at all.

She groaned in pain, and then rolled down along the eaves.

In just a blink of an eye, her body flipped over the roof and fell straight to the ground!

In Souji's current state, he couldn't perform a defense.

  If you fall to the ground without any defense...even if you don't die, you will be seriously injured!

At this distance, there is simply no time to save Souji - this is indeed the case for most people.

Should I chase after Prajna or save Souji - in Qing Deng's eyes, this is not even a multiple-choice question.

Qing Deng ran towards the headquarters without thinking!

After taking only five steps, he used the momentum of his forward charge to pounce on the falling Souji like a gust of wind.

At the critical moment, he accurately hugged Souji in mid-air - at this moment, Souji's head was less than 3 inches from the ground.

Qing Deng hugged Souji tightly and protected her in his arms. The two of them rolled several meters away under the influence of inertia before they finally stabilized their bodies.

At the same time as she kicked Souji away, Prajna turned backwards, her feet gave off the wind, her arms turned into wings, and she ran straight into the darkness in the distance.

Aoto and Hijikata Toshizo once again played in perfect harmony.

Even without prior discussion, the two of them tacitly took action separately.

  When Qing Deng flew to rescue Souji, Hijikata Toshizo took over the command and shouted:

"Chase! Don't let this guy get away!"

  Right now Prajna's combat power has been greatly reduced... No matter from which angle you look at it, now is the best time to deal with this powerful enemy!

Hijikata Toshizo shouted this and caught up with him with his sword in hand.

Serizawa Kame and Nakazawa Sadaki hurriedly followed.

  As a top-notch expert who can overpower Souji and others, how fast is Prajna?

Even though his physical strength has declined now, his speed is still beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But in the blink of an eye, his figure had disappeared into the distance.

Even though Hijikata Toshizo and others tried their best, they were still unable to narrow the gap between the two sides.

  On the other side, Zongsi, who had saved his life, coughed a few times, and then hurriedly said to Qing Deng:

"Jujun... leave me alone... go chase him..."

The General successfully escaped.

At this point, Qingdeng no longer has any worries.

He nodded slightly and laid Souji flat on the ground.

At this time, Saito Ichi, who was less injured, caught up.

"Hajime, I'll leave Xiao Si in your care."

Saito nodded vigorously.

After entrusting Souji to Saito Ichi, Qing Deng immediately turned back and faced the direction where Prajna escaped.

"Take the Lead +4", "Nine Oxen and Two Tigers +3", "The Core of the Elephant +9"... All talents related to muscle strength are activated!

  In an instant, Qing Deng disappeared from where he was—he had appeared several meters away, with a strong wind pressure behind him!

He did not hold back and pushed his speed to the limit.

It moves so fast that people with poor eyesight may not be able to catch its sight!

If you look down from the air, you can find that the distance between Qingdeng and Prajna is rapidly shrinking.

  If Prajna had not used Zongsi to lead Qingdeng away and bought some time for himself, how could he have escaped from Qingdeng's control?

If nothing unexpected happens, Qing Deng only needs another 10 seconds... no, 7 seconds! He can catch up with Prajna.

However... Qing Deng no longer has this opportunity.

When Qing Deng started to chase her, Prajna had already escaped to a bridge over the Ya River.

Suddenly, Qing Deng heard Prajna's voice coming from far away in the dark night ahead:

"Tachibana Aoto! Help me tell my master a message!"

"Although he probably won't believe me when I say this, I do think of him all the time and always regard him as my mentor."

"I will never forget his great kindness."

"I am sincere to him... and I sincerely hope that he will be sincere to me too!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped over the bridge railing and jumped into the Kamo River.

With a "splash" sound, Prajna fell into the river.

When Hijikata Toshizo and others rushed to the railing, they could only see circles of ripples.

Nakazawa Sadaki prominently held out the lantern in his hand, barely illuminating a small area of ​​the river below the railing.

With the lighting ability of the lantern, it is enough to illuminate the surface of the river, but forget about it as for what is below the river.

Looking around, all I could see was pitch black.

It was as if Prajna had melted into the water; one could neither find its figure nor hear its movements.

Hijikata Toshizo gritted his teeth and gave the order without giving up:

"Search along the river! If you find anything, remember to shout out a warning. Don't fight him alone!"

Serizawa Kamo and Nakazawa Sadaki silently accepted the order, dispersed and searched in different directions.

Although no one said it explicitly, everyone knew in their hearts that the possibility of finding Prajna was extremely slim.

Kamogawa is the mother river of Kyoto, running through Kyoto from north to south.

It's late at night and visibility is extremely poor.

God knows in which direction he fled and where he landed.

With the limited manpower they have, they probably won't be able to find Prajna even if they run themselves to pieces.

At this time, Qing Deng arrived a little late.

He held the railing and stared at the river expressionlessly.

He said nothing, as if he was thinking about something.

……

……

In order to find Hannya and Katsura Kogoro who had successfully escaped from Ikeda-ya, Aoto dispatched a large group of people from the Shinsengumi station in Mibu-go to conduct a carpet search. The search force dispatched by Aoto was huge.

What a pity... Everyone was busy until dawn, but still couldn't find Prajna and Katsura Kogoro.

Not to mention finding them, we couldn't even find any clues.

This result was within Qing Deng's expectations.

Looking for two people in such a huge city like Kyoto is like looking for a needle in a haystack, so it is natural that we cannot find them.

It is really the most appropriate way to describe tonight as a "long night".

Just a few hours seemed as long as several days - especially for Qing Deng.

Not only did he run back and forth between the warehouse, Kakuchu, and Ikedaya, killing dozens of enemies, but he also learned a lot of secrets.

"Kyoto's No. 1 Geisha" Ziyang is actually Miss Jin, the intelligence chief of the Great Salt Party.

Shintaro Tojo, who was recently demoted to the position of Kyoto governor, is actually a member of the Oshio Party.

Not only that, the burn on his right abdomen made Qing Deng feel particularly concerned.

Of course, the secret that shocked Qingdeng the most was Prajna's identity.

Without any psychological preparation, a senior brother suddenly appeared...

In this way, Qing Deng seemed to have the illusion of "re-understanding the world".

Of course, no matter how shocked or confused we are, we still cannot neglect the important matters that need to be dealt with.

The battle is over, the first thing to do is to clean up the battlefield.

There is no need to say much about Qingdeng's battle results.

He killed Yoshida Toshima, one of the most insane people on the planet, and killed dozens of other people at the same time.

The results of the battle at Ikedaya were equally brilliant.

According to statistics afterwards, more than thirty bodies were cleared out of Ikeda's house.

There were only about thirty people who supported the cause of national liberation who participated in this meeting.

In other words - they were basically caught in one fell swoop!

  Except for Katsura Kogoro and Prajna, all the others were killed by Kondo Isami, Souji and others, and no one escaped!

I have to say, Katsura Kogoro is really good at escaping.

Half a year ago, during the "August 18th Coup", Katsura Kogoro personally led the rearguard troops to block the Hui-Sa coalition forces.

Logically speaking, this should have been a difficult task in which one would have to face death.

This was indeed the case. The rear guard troops suffered heavy casualties, with only one in ten surviving.

However, Katsura Kogoro returned to Choshu safely without any missing parts.

It happened again this time - Ikeda-ya was attacked by surprise, and everyone else died, except Katsura Kogoro, who survived because he successfully escaped.

In view of his ability to escape, the Shinsengumi soldiers privately gave Katsura Kogoro the nickname "Runaway Kogoro".

All in all, although it was a pity that Katsura Kogoro, one of the "Three Heroes of Choshu", managed to escape, it was just a flaw in the ointment.

Miyabe Teizo, Yoshida Toshima, Ōtaka Matajiro, Matsuda Shigesuke... these people are all the core elites of the Sonnōjō faction!

  If we make a horizontal comparison, it is almost equivalent to the Shinsengumi losing captains including Nagakura Shinpachi, Saito Hajime, Inoue Gensaburo, and Fujido Heisuke!

For the pro-Japanese faction, this is undoubtedly an irreversible and heavy loss!

Compared with the heavy casualties of the Sonjo faction, the losses of the Shinsengumi were almost negligible.

Kondo Isami, Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Hajime suffered some minor injuries.

Inoue Genzaburo suffered minor injuries, weakness, and a strained muscle in his right arm.

Fujido Heisuke was the most seriously injured, with a cut on his forehead.

Fortunately, his life was not in danger.

But from now on, he will have a conspicuous scar on his forehead.

Although Souji suffered some internal injuries from being kicked hard by Prajna, it was nothing serious and he would be able to recover after resting for a while.

In comparison, the losses in weapons were more serious.

Nagazene Kotetsu (Kondo Isami's sword) suffered 6 minor wounds.

Oshu Shirakawa Sumire Kanetsu (Inoue Genzaburo with a sword) suffered 4 major wounds and 19 minor wounds.

Banshu Nobutayama Ujishige (Nagakura Shinpachi's sword) had 11 minor wounds.

The blade of Kaga Kiyomizu (Souji's sword) is broken.

The four of them were the first to break into Ikedaya, so their swords were the most seriously damaged.

The swords of Fujido Heisuke, Yoshimura Kanichiro and others also had damages of varying degrees.

The only person who participated in the battle, with his blade completely intact, was Qing Deng.

Firstly, Qing Deng is an expert at swordsmanship and can take someone’s life directly, so he would never fight with a knife.

Secondly, Vairocana is truly a rare and precious sword among billions. No matter how you chop or cut it, the blade remains sharp.

In order to repair swords for the generals, the blacksmiths in the refining room will be busy for the next period of time.

[Note: Refinery: The department within the Shinsengumi that specializes in weapon forging and repair]

Unfortunately... everyone else's swords can be repaired, but there is really no way to repair Souji's Kaga Kiyomizu.

The blade is broken... Even if a master craftsman were reborn, he wouldn't be able to put the blade back together.

The only feasible solution is to melt the blade and forge a new one.

Souji is still considering whether to recast the blade or just get a new one.

One side suffered heavy casualties and lost a lot of elite backbones.

On the other hand, apart from a few injuries, no one died.

Big win!

  An undoubted and glorious victory!

Another glorious victory for the pro-shogunate faction since the "August 18th Coup"!

The "August 18th Coup" was the result of the joint efforts of multiple forces. Not only the Shinsengumi fought hard, but Aizu and Satsuma also contributed.

  This time's "Ikedaya Incident" is very different - this huge credit belongs exclusively to the Shinsengumi!

From collecting intelligence to finding the enemy, and then to annihilating the enemy, the Shinsengumi fought alone throughout the entire process.

How could we let go of such excellent promotional material?

As a time traveler from the 21st century, Qing Deng naturally understands the power of public opinion.

Therefore, Qingdeng has always attached great importance to publicity and maintained very close ties with several major tile dealers in Kyoto.

Driven by his request and a little bit of his financial power, various tile merchants in Kyoto spared no effort to publicize the "Ikedaya Incident" and reported it for several days in a row.

The content of the propaganda is nothing more than "The Sonjo faction is bad, and the Shinsengumi is good."

The film emphasizes the cruelty of the Sonjo faction, who treated human life as worthless and would do anything to achieve their goals, in order to highlight the glorious image of the Shinsengumi who saved the people from dire straits.

Judging from the results, this wave of publicity campaign was very effective.

The prestige of the Shinsengumi increased greatly.

The support of the Zunyang faction was greatly reduced.

For a time, "Shinsengumi" once again became a hot word among the people of Kyoto, and it was the talk of the town.

In the streets and alleys, in every nook and cranny, there was no place where the Shinsengumi was not being hotly discussed.

Or discuss the bravery of Qing Deng, Zongsi and others.

Or he might be thinking about what kind of reward Qing Deng will receive after making another outstanding achievement.

At this critical moment when "the war is over", Qing Deng, as the general commander of the Shinsengumi, naturally has a lot of work to deal with one by one.

But he pushed all the work aside.

All the work that could be delegated to others was handed over to Hijikata Toshizo and Yamanami Keisuke.

If it is a task that cannot be delegated to others, put it aside for now and deal with it later.

After finishing all the work at hand, Qing Deng immediately mounted on Luobo's ox and headed to Osaka alone - this time, he wanted to find boss Kiryu and find out everything!

The very next day after the war ended, Qing Deng learned more detailed information about Prajna from Souji.

This includes the other party's self-proclaimed name: Yamada Asaemon Katsumi.

Yamada Asaemon... When Qing Deng heard this name, he raised his eyebrows involuntarily, with a look of surprise on his face.

  Speaking of "Yamada Asaemon", this family was well-known in the Edo period - this is the famous "family of executioners"! The family has been beheading people for generations!

*******

*******

Asking for a monthly ticket! Please vote for recommendation! (Leopard head crying.jpg)

PS: Some readers have raised questions: Even Souji was beaten, is the combat effectiveness of this book broken? No, this is just a very common "boss getting stronger" plot in combat works.

If a character in the later stage can beat Souji, Nagakura Shinpachi and others, this is called combat power collapse.

(End of this chapter)