My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 390 - 146: Instant Kill Once Again! The Final Opponent: Niitsuma Kan [8100]_4

"’Mindless Medicine’ is indeed still in the experimental stage and urgently requires a large number of test subjects to conduct trials."

"If Niitsuma Kan truly has strong desires to defeat Tachibana Aoto as Lord Rakshasa you said... I won’t deny that he is indeed an excellent test subject to examine whether ’steadfast battle will’ can enhance the medicine’s effects or further confirm ’Mindless Medicine’s’ addition to individual combat power."

"But I still feel there’s no need to find someone whom we don’t know at all, whose background is completely unknown, to do the experiment."

"If we need excellent test subjects, don’t we have everything here?"

"Hehehehe..." As soon as the short middle-aged man finished asking, Rakshasa let out an eerie "hehehehe" laugh, "Yes, as you said, if you want to do an experiment, there’s no need to find Niitsuma Kan."

"Regardless of what type of experiment you want to do, there are more convenient and simpler channels."

"But ah—"

The tone of Rakshasa suddenly changed, as he tilted his head towards the short middle-aged man, a warm smile reminiscent of a sunny spring day on his face.

His sunny smile seemed to add some warmth to the surrounding darkness.

"It’s fun doing it this way!"

"That person must be very conflicted right now, right?"

"Should he believe my words? Should he take this medicine? Is the side effect really just a high fever afterward?"

"Huhuhuhu..."

A strange laugh that wanted to burst out loud but was forcibly suppressed leaked from Rakshasa’s lips and teeth.

"I really want tomorrow to come soon... to see Niitsuma Kan’s conflicted face in the martial seats."

...

...

Edo, Oke-machi, Little Chiba Sword Dojo second floor, Chiba Dingji’s bedroom—

"Father, how is it? Is the pressure alright?"

Chiba Shigetarou sat cross-legged beside Chiba Dingji, who was lying face down on the tatami with his shirt pulled up to his chest, revealing his back, applying a freshly boiled medicinal paste with not too hard nor too light strength to Chiba Dingji’s back.

Sazanoko kneeled beside her brother, lending a hand, as the brother and sister worked together to apply medicine to Chiba Dingji, whose back pain had been recurring recently.

"Hmm." Chiba Dingji nodded, "The pressure is just right. Thank you for your hard work, you two siblings."

"Father, what are you saying?" Chiba Shigetarou laughed, "Isn’t all this what we children should do?"

As Chiba Shigetarou was applying medicine to Chiba Dingji, he casually chatted with both Chiba Dingji and Sazanoko.

As he chatted, Chiba Shigetarou suddenly stealthily glanced at the nearby Sazanoko, then abruptly changed the topic to Aoto, who shone brightly at today’s competition.

"I originally thought I had evaluated Mr. Tachibana’s talent highly."

"It turns out that today I realized—I still underestimated Mr. Tachibana’s talent."

Chiba Shigetarou showed a deeply moved expression.

"It’s unbelievable. Mr. Tachibana, more than three months ago, was just an ordinary person with no swordsmanship foundation."

"With such talent... even Brother Rong might not compare."

"Hmm... Indeed, Mr. Tachibana’s talent is quite outstanding. Among all the swordsmen I’ve seen in my life, those whose talent can be compared with Mr. Tachibana are fewer than five." Chiba Dingji nodded gently and then half-jokingly said, "I somewhat envy Zhouzhu; after Mr. Chokata, he got another exceptionally talented student."

"My sister and I made a joke today." Chiba Shigetarou sighed silently, "This morning, my sister and I were seriously discussing Mr. Tachibana needing to exert some effort to defeat that Adachi, only to find Mr. Tachibana finished with just one sword stroke."

Upon hearing her brother suddenly bring up this morning’s awkward incident, Sazanoko’s face exhibited traces of embarrassment, but she quickly regained her composure, suppressing the look of embarrassment to restore her aloof demeanor that seemed untouched by the mundane world, then gently opened her lips:

"...for both of us to misjudge his current strength, Mr. Tachibana’s talent is indeed remarkable."

"However—"

Sazanoko changed the tone.

"Brother, you say Mr. Tachibana’s talent surpasses that of our second cousin... this is slightly too flattering and exaggerated about Mr. Tachibana."

"Personally, I think in terms of talent, Mr. Tachibana is a bit inferior to our second cousin."

"From beginning sword practice to the first time releasing his ’momentum,’ second cousin only used more than a year—for nothing else, just this point, I feel is sufficient for Mr. Tachibana to look up to."

Before the words completely fell, a few respects and envy floated in Sazanoko’s elegant eyebrows.

As children of Great Sword Hero Chiba Dingji, Sazanoko and her brother naturally learned early on about the concept of ’momentum.’

"Momentum"... She and her brother have practiced swords for so many years, yet have not had the fortune to touch this high-level field that only lucky ones with talent, effort, and opportunity have a chance to reach...

"Hahahaha." After hearing Sazanoko’s previous words, Chiba Shigetarou awkwardly laughed a few times, "Well... saying Mr. Tachibana’s talent surpasses Brother Rong might indeed be exaggerated somewhat."

"But even so, Mr. Tachibana’s talent is worth our praise."

"Were it not for the immorality of poaching people, I’d almost want to poach Mr. Tachibana to our Little Chiba Sword Dojo, hahaha."

"Father, I think we can interact more with Mr. Tachibana in the future."