The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 478 Japanese Sword Technique

Kangfu County.

As a small county town located in the prosperous Linjiang Prefecture, with a population of less than 10,000, even most of the locals in Linjiang Prefecture have never paid attention to it.

This small county town is hidden in the mountains and forests, almost isolated from the outside world. Life and death are firmly contained within it, like a stagnant pool that will not change even after hundreds or thousands of years.

But today, the city gate was unusually bustling.

"Wow-wow-"

On the official road outside the city gate, the cries of infants filled the air.

Several makeshift carts made of wooden planks moved slowly forward. Wu Mingxiao, covered in sweat, carried two wooden buckets and darted between the carts, feeding and drying the seventy-three babies on board.

Li Miao sat cross-legged on the front frame of the vehicle, gently tapping his knee with his right hand, supporting his face with his left hand, and closing his eyes to rest.

Ahead of him were dozens of wounded and trembling bandits, carrying four thick ropes on their shoulders, pulling the cart slowly toward the city gate.

puff.

One of the bandits appeared to be exhausted and collapsed forward.

Before his upper body even touched the ground, Li Miao raised his finger.

Whoosh!
A burst of true energy struck his acupoint.

"what!!!"

Without seeing any blood or injury, the bandit suddenly tensed up, his eyes widened, and his ten fingers dug tightly into the flesh of his waist, not stopping even as he opened his wounds.

Three breaths later, he suddenly relaxed and was about to catch his breath when he heard that chilling, lazy voice behind him.

"Who told you to stop?"

"Even a slow horse can travel ten days' journey if it perseveres; haven't you heard of that?"

Li Miao tapped his knees with his eyes closed and said.

"My next finger strike will make you suffer for an hour."

The bandit immediately scrambled to his feet and desperately tried to grab the rope and drag himself forward.

The pain he felt just now, lasting only three breaths, almost made him chew his tongue to pieces. If this pain were to last for an hour... compared to that, even death would seem insignificant.

The remaining bandits fell silent, ignoring the excruciating pain from their wounds, and also strained desperately.

So the vehicle continued moving forward.

A short while later, they arrived at the city gate.

Wu Mingxiao put the baby down, walked quickly to the city gate, and reached into his pocket to take out his travel permit.

Before he could even get close to the city gate, a large group of people emerged from inside. They were all burly men with thick muscles, dressed in various colorful casual clothes, their chests exposed, and carrying various weapons. They immediately surrounded Wu Mingxiao.

"Who are you!"

"What are you doing in my Kangfu County!"

"What's in the car?!"

The questions came one after another, giving Wu Mingxiao no time to answer.

His tone was fierce, and his weapon swung wildly.

Normally, the city gates of a county town should be guarded jointly by the local garrison, the patrol officers, and the constables. But these people were not only not wearing uniforms, but their weapons were also of different types, and they showed no interest in the travel permit, only incessantly questioning him.

Rather than being government officials, they were more like bodyguards for江湖人士 (jianghu figures, people from the martial arts world) or wealthy families.

Wu Mingxiao immediately remembered what Li Miao had told him.

“When one’s own flesh and blood is forcibly abducted and abandoned in the mountains, even a mud-covered person should make some noise, but there is not a single word from the outside world.”

"To achieve this, either all these people are dead, or the perpetrator has firmly controlled the entire Kangfu County, including its officials and soldiers, and blocked the news."

Li Miao opened her eyes a crack and looked at Wu Mingxiao's back.

"You should know what to do now."

The crowd had already pushed its way up to Wu Mingxiao.

"You little rascal, are you perhaps a bandit from somewhere?"

This is a role where the antagonist is playing the villain.

"If you have any business to attend to, young man, why don't you come into the city with us first to see the master and explain the situation? However, to avoid disturbing the people, please hand over your weapons to us, and we will return them to you once the matter is clarified, is that alright?" This is the good cop/bad cop tactic.

Some others cheered and encouraged him from the sidelines, hoping to gain the upper hand. They secretly took out short knives and lassos and quietly crept towards Wu Mingxiao's back.

Among the crowd, Wu Mingxiao lowered his head and remained silent.

He only slowly exhaled when someone closed in behind him, their eyes flashing as they suddenly raised a knife and slashed at his hamstring.

"I did not intend to use Japanese swordsmanship to kill Han people."

"But you are not fit to be human."

The cold light appears!

As if the process had vanished, Wu Mingxiao instantly thrust out his Japanese sword, while simultaneously taking a step forward, drawing an arc around him.

Hayashizaki's Dream School - The Only Way!
Click.

The Japanese sword was sheathed in an instant. Wu Mingxiao jumped back to dodge the blade that was about to strike his forehead, and drew his sword again in mid-air.

Boqi Liu – Chasing the Wind.

The blade sliced ​​across a man's neck.

Click.

The Japanese sword was sheathed once more.

At this moment, at the same height as his previous horizontal slash, a burst of blood suddenly erupted. People and weapons along this horizontal line were torn open with narrow slits, and steaming flesh and blood fell to the ground.

His neck, which he had slashed, was also severed, and his head fell off.

The dozens of gazes cast upon him shifted from contempt to astonishment.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Wu Mingxiao rolled over and crawled out from between the crowd's legs.

Japanese swordsmanship differs from Central Plains martial arts in that techniques constitute the entirety of the art, with no distinction between internal and external martial arts, and different schools are clearly differentiated.

If it weren't for his master being an unparalleled hero who had stolen all of the Japanese pirates' moves during hundreds of battles and mastered them, he would never have been able to use two different styles of sword-drawing techniques in an instant.

However, Japanese swordsmanship naturally has its inherent flaws.

One of the limitations is the restriction on weaponry.

Japanese swords are narrow, with thin and long blades. Although extremely sharp, they are not very durable against slashing and parrying. Furthermore, the lack of internal energy support makes them far less durable than martial arts from the Central Plains.

In short, it's not a war of attrition.

They are even less resistant to group battles.

Wu Mingxiao must deal with these people as soon as possible.

At this moment, the crowd in front also reacted and turned to attack him. A burly man carrying a large axe charged the fastest, and when he reached him, he swung his axe horizontally.

Wu Mingxiao gripped the hilt of the knife, remaining unmoved.

Only when the axe swept right in front of him did he suddenly draw his knife, the blade pressing down on the tip of the axe like water.

Wu Mingxiao suddenly pressed his left hand onto the end of the hilt, and his right elbow pressed forward against the guard—then he twisted his body violently!

Heart-shaped sword style - Snowfall.

The burly man felt a sharp pain in his wrist. Wu Mingxiao had violently pressed the axe down, and before he could let go, his wrist was bent at a right angle, making a cracking sound.

"Ah uh!"

Just as he was about to cry out in pain, a cold glint flashed before the burly man's eyes, and his throat was severed, his voice muffled by blood.

Wu Mingxiao kicked the burly man into the crowd.

With a quick leap, Wu Mingxiao dodged the incoming weapon, then crouched down and lay on the ground again. He slashed horizontally with his Japanese sword, severing several hamstring tendons in his calves.

"Ahhhh!"

A burly man felt a sharp pain in his calf and looked down to check the wound.

The moment he nodded, a gleaming Japanese sword pierced through his jaw from bottom to top.

In the last moment before his consciousness faded, he saw Wu Mingxiao crouch down and crawl behind him from between his legs.

Several weapons, unable to stop their force in time, struck him. His vision went black, and he flew several feet backward before falling to the ground, lifeless.

(End of this chapter)