"Well... how should I put it..." Inoue reached out and scratched at his unusually smooth scalp due to his Tsukushi haircut.
While Inoue was still contemplating, Toshisuke chuckled and answered for him:
"Let me put it this way—the fearless Mr. Hijikata, upon hearing that Chiba Daisaburo was confirmed to participate in this competition, his expression changed drastically, and he said solemnly, ’This battle will not be easy.’
"Is Chiba Daisaburo really that strong?" Toshisuke’s straightforward explanation left the person who asked the question earlier stunned with wide eyes.
Hijikata’s unruly and wild persona, seemingly unaware of what ’fear’ means, had already deeply ingrained in the minds of all the disciples at Shiwei Hall.
"Toshisuke, you rascal..."
Hijikata glared at Toshisuke irritably, then slowly said as if trying to regain face:
"Don’t make me sound like a clueless idiot."
"There are always higher mountains and skies beyond the mountains, and above the skies, there are stars; one must never be arrogant—I understand this principle."
"I don’t know if any of you have witnessed Chiba Daisaburo’s capabilities."
"I’ve been fortunate enough to see him a few times."
Hijikata’s brows showed a hint of nostalgia, his expression solemn.
"Chiba Daisaburo’s sword... has reached a level that ordinary people could toil their lifetime to study and never achieve."
"Tsk... upon thinking carefully... it feels so unfair." The young man who had just asked "Is Chiba Daisaburo really strong?" drooped his head, "Chiba Daisaburo, as the Hall Master of Xuanwu Hall, is personally competing... isn’t that bullying the small with the large..."
"You can’t say it like that." Inoue replied softly, "The Hall Master of Xuanwu Hall is personally competing, and our Hall Master at Shiwei Hall is also personally competing."freom
"Although the elder master is still nominally our Hall Master at Shiwei Hall, he delegated most of the Sword Dojo’s operating affairs to the young master long ago."
"Thus, the young master has long been the de facto new Hall Master of Shiwei Hall."
"Therefore, there is no such thing as ’bullying the small with the large,’ as there is no significant difference in the rank or identity between the competing representatives."
"It seems the topic has deviated!" Hijikata impatiently tapped the floor with his finger, "Let’s hurry back to the main point! How are we supposed to fight the battle 7 days from now?"
Everyone exchanged glances with each other.
No one spoke up, and the spacious dojo was enveloped in boundless silence.
"Mr. Tachibana!"
At this moment, Toshisuke abruptly turned a hopeful gaze upon Aoto.
"Do you have any good ideas?"
As soon as Toshisuke spoke, several people looked expectantly at Aoto, mimicking Toshisuke’s expression.
The last time, it was your strategy that helped us defeat Little Chiba Sword Dojo by turning weakness into strength! Could you perhaps achieve such a feat again—Toshisuke and their actions revealed this implication.
Unfortunately, Aoto disappointed them.
"Sorry..." Aoto smiled wryly and shook his head, "I don’t have any good ideas at the moment."
Aoto was not familiar with Xuanwu Hall at all, had never crossed swords with anyone from Xuanwu Hall, nor did he know any people from Xuanwu Hall.
The scarcity of information made Aoto’s mind blank.
Suddenly, Kondo, who had been silent since earlier, suddenly spoke:
"Ah, speaking of which... Mr. Tachibana, there’s something I nearly forgot to tell you. This morning, I received news of considerable reliability."
Once Aoto’s attention was drawn to his words, Kondo, who was holding his arms across his chest, spoke deliberately and gravely.
"Mr. Tachibana, you might find the competition 7 days from now quite challenging."
"Challenging? Why?" Aoto asked in return.
"It is said—when Chiba Daisaburo was recruiting volunteers for this competition, a large number of experts previously disinterested in this type of Swordsmanship trial or uninterested in dueling with us at Shiwei Hall eagerly signed up. Can you guess why they did so?"
"Ha..." Aoto, realizing the situation, smiled indifferently, "Is it... to duel with me?"
"Correct."
Kondo nodded forcefully.
"According to what I’ve heard: To test ’Niō’s’ skills, many of Xuanwu Hall’s experts eagerly entered the competition."
"So in 7 days... there could very well be many people attacking you fiercely without holding anything back."
With these words, Kondo curled the corners of his mouth into a plain smile at Aoto.
"You better be prepared."
Upon hearing this, Aoto laughed heartily:
"Let them come! I just might seize the opportunity to see how capable the swordsmen of Xuanwu Hall are!"
Aoto welcomed the chance for many of Xuanwu Hall’s experts to enter the competition to fight him!
Why not delight in the chance to gain a wealth of useful talents?
"Hahahaha."
Toshisuke turned his face, showing Aoto a smile filled with strong jocular tone.
"If Mr. Tachibana could replicate the feat achieved at Little Chiba Sword Dojo in the competition 7 days from now, the name ’Niō’ would become even more awe-inspiring."
Aoto consecutively defeated 18 disciples from Little Chiba Sword Dojo, leading to the dojo having no one willing to step into the battle—such a thing, impossible to conceal, had spread long ago.
Compared to Aoto’s past achievements, merely defeating the many experts from Little Chiba Sword Dojo seemed rather unimpressive.
Hence, after Aoto’s new feat spread, it didn’t stir up any significant waves in the Swordsmanship World of Edo and the marketplace, merely making the title ’Niō’ a bit more renowned and giving Edo’s townsfolk some more topics to chat about over meals.

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