The nine individuals suddenly blocking Aoto’s path formed a solid human wall, cutting him off from the bearded man.
All of them, whether the nine halting Aoto’s way forward or the nine obstructing his rear, without exception, wore a long and short sword at their waists.
Seeing this, Aoto’s face darkened, and he paused, his straw sandals scraping out two white streaks on the dust-covered ground.
In the blink of an eye as he steadied himself, Aoto raised his left hand to secure the Ghost-Slaying at his left waist.
His gaze, traveling from back to front, swept over the faces of the eighteen samurai boxing him into this alley with a pincer-like formation.
Aoto wasn’t very familiar with this neighborhood, only vaguely noticing during the chase that it was a samurai-populated district, sparsely peopled and quite desolate.
In Edo, many samurai districts were similarly deserted.
Nearly 80% of Edo’s land was "Samurai Land," where only samurai could reside, and "Temple and Shrine Grounds," used solely by religious figures, with the remaining 20% of the land being "Town Land," designated for commoners.
Samurai and religious figures occupied most of Edo’s land, yet their total population accounted for only 20% of Edo’s population.
Conversely, over 80% of the city’s population—commoners—could only squeeze into the narrow Town Land...
Thus, this resulted—Edo’s population distribution became extremely polarized.
Many Samurai Lands were desolate daily, with few pedestrians on the streets, but Town Land was bustling, teeming with people and traffic every day.
—Did they deliberately lure me here to cover for their companion’s escape with hidden allies...
Aoto’s eyebrows lifted, his gaze passed over the human wall blocking him, looking toward the distant figure, already shrunk to the size of a thumb, almost disappearing from view, the bearded man.
As Aoto looked over, the bearded man happened to glance back.
Aoto saw the bearded man wearing a look of relief from a narrow escape and a mocking smile as though taunting him.
At that moment, Aoto suddenly heard a loud shout from the human wall in front:
"Hey! Be careful! That’s Tachibana Aoto!"
This simple shout... suddenly changed the atmosphere within the alley.
Many faces abruptly changed, with intense anger and hatred etched on them.
Aoto’s eyes narrowed slightly, seeing such reactions.
Knowing he was Tachibana Aoto, their expressions immediately changed as if facing a formidable enemy... In Aoto’s mind, there was only one group across Edo with deep enmity towards him.
"...Hey, aren’t you people from the Anti-foreigner Group?"
Aoto’s tone was indifferent, his cold demeanor carrying intense chill.
No one responded directly to Aoto’s question... because now they were all busy with "infighting."
"Hey! Stay calm!"
"Yeah! Don’t be reckless! We’re only here to cover Chuanba’s retreat! Not to kill! Don’t act without orders! It’s enough to drive Tachibana Aoto away and keep him from chasing Chuanba!"
"Ha? What do you mean? Are you telling us to just let this national traitor leave unharmed?"
"Hey! He’s alone right now! It’s the perfect chance to kill him and avenge our comrades who died because of this fiend!"
"Yeah! This guy is isolated now! There couldn’t be a better opportunity for revenge!"
The eighteen samurai blocking Aoto’s front and rear split into two distinct factions.
One faction suggested not engaging in a strong confrontation with Aoto at the moment; they were only there to stop Aoto from pursuing Chuanba and should avoid unnecessary actions.
Aoto guessed this "Chuanba" was the name or nickname of the bearded man.
The other faction advocated eliminating the isolated Aoto immediately.
Their "infighting" didn’t last long.
Because amid this chaos, a samurai in Aoto’s rear suddenly erupted with a roar.
This samurai had been glaring at Aoto with hatred-filled eyes from the start.
Upon hearing some comrades arrogantly saying things like "we’re not here to kill" and "it’s fine just to drive Tachibana Aoto away," impatience began to surface on his face.
Impatience, anger, resentment... these emotions built to a peak, then burst forth like lava from a volcanic crater.
Having lost control of his emotions, he no longer wanted to hear any more nonsense from others.
He drew the sword from his waist, roaring loudly, charging straight at Aoto!
Aoto slightly tilted his head, using the corner of his right eye to observe the samurai charging towards him.
In the following instant, those watching Aoto saw an incredible scene—a silver snake shot out from Aoto’s left waist.
Swiftly, Aoto used his left hand to flip open the Ghost-Slaying’s sheath, spinning 180 degrees backward like a top, using his left foot as an axis, leveraging the rotational momentum, and drew his sword! The white blade sprang from the sheath like a silver snake!
The blade of Ghost-Slaying swept backward, slashing across the attacking samurai’s neck with a sound like "cha"... enough to make any faint-hearted person shiver in fear.
Under the scorching summer sun, the blade, reflecting threads of chilling light, cut through flesh and bone, sending a fine head flying off under inertia, hitting the alley’s east wall heavily and bouncing back to land at Aoto’s feet.

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