The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 531 The Original Intention of the Venerable God
"You are Matsuura Takanobu?"

Inside the Yixin Dojo, Li Miao sat cross-legged, his left hand supporting his face and his right hand resting on his knee, tilting his head as he asked.

"Yes, sir, I have."

Matsuura Takanobu knelt on the ground, banging his head on the ground, and replied in perfect Central Plains Mandarin.

The dojo gates were wide open, and the few remaining samurai of Hirado Castle were busy cleaning up the remains of their comrades on the ground. Seeing their lord so humble and subservient, they all looked reluctant but dared not utter a sound.

Nanako, who was watching from the sidelines, hesitated before speaking.

“Lord Matsuura, you are the daimyo of Hirado, the current head of the Matsuura family, how could you do this…”

Out of politeness, she swallowed the words "shameless".

No matter what, Nanako felt somewhat...awkward that Matsuura Takanobu, as a Japanese and a high-ranking daimyo, was so obsequious to Li Miao, a man from the Central Plains.

But Matsuura Takanobu just sneered.

"I'd rather do it! What's it to you!"

"I'm talking to my master, what right do you, a woman, have to interrupt!"

"黙って, この野郎 (Shut up, you bastard)!"

The three sentences were clearly meant to rebuke Nanako, but only the last sentence was in Japanese. The first two sentences were in standard Mandarin, which Nanako couldn't understand at all. It was obvious who the speech was directed at.

Her figure was so supple, and she showed no regard for her subordinates watching from outside the dojo. The moment she was betrayed by Kaguteda Yasunori, she surrendered to Li Miao in Mandarin, and then she took the opportunity of scolding Nanako to fawn over Li Miao.

This daimyo of Hirado Castle was a clever man.

Li Miao enjoys dealing with intelligent people, as it saves him a lot of trouble.

"Go ahead."

Li Miao casually tossed out a sentence.

However, Matsuura Takanobu did not rush to speak. Instead, he slightly raised his head and respectfully looked at Li Miao's toes.

"Sir, could you please let me understand your purpose first? This way, I can better explain things clearly and have a clear focus."

Li Miao smiled.

"Shinto religion, Japanese swordsmanship, daimyo, emperor."

"I need to know the relationship between these four things. You can tell me now."

Matsuura Takanobu remained silent for a while, then finally gritted his teeth and spoke.

"Yes."

"Judging from your conversation with Kaguteda Yasunori today, you seem to be unfamiliar with the training methods of Japanese swordsmanship. May I begin with swordsmanship itself?"

He waited a while, and seeing that Li Miao didn't speak, he continued.

"Japanese swordsmanship is divided into countless schools, just like the sects in the Central Plains martial arts world. Each school has its own strengths and weaknesses, and there are also differences in their advantages and disadvantages... But there is one fundamental difference between it and the martial arts of the Central Plains."

"One cannot master all sword techniques from Japan."

"Unless one completely forgets the original sword style one has practiced, or creates a better one from it, one will not be able to use the techniques of other styles, even if one knows how to exert force and how to strike."

"The root cause is 'visualization' or 'breathing techniques'."

Li Miao raised an eyebrow and said with great interest.

"To elaborate, these visualization techniques and breathing exercises shouldn't be the same thing, right?"

Matsuura Takanobu nodded.

"Yes... this is where the connection between swordsmanship and Shintoism comes into play, which is what you want to know."

"Japanese swordsmanship styles are divided into two categories."

"Those who practice breathing techniques are called the original intention."

“Those who practice visualization are called deities.”

"I think you've probably guessed it already. The Akechi Kyoshin-ryu school of swordsmanship practiced by Kaguteda Yasunori is a divine swordsmanship. And the visualization method they practice involves visualizing..."

Li Miao picked up where he left off.

"Ibaraki-dōji".

"So the methods he used to fight desperately before he died were not unique to him, but rather a legacy of the entire Akechi Kyoshin-ryu school. If I were to face other successors of the Akechi Kyoshin-ryu school in the future, they would also become this inhuman, ghostly figure."

"By the same token, the more profound one's swordsmanship, the more one resembles the monster they envision. The shallower one's swordsmanship, the more incomplete it becomes... So, Kaguteda Yasunori tore off his left hand in order to forcibly conform to the image of the monster he envisioned, right?"

Matsuura Takanobu nodded. Li Miao then continued to ask.

"Then what does this have to do with Shintoism?"

Matsuura Takanobu hesitated for a moment, glanced at the retainers cleaning up the corpses outside the dojo, and then gritted his teeth and said.

"Could you please kill the people outside, and then I will explain to you?"

Lu Wushuang let out a cold laugh.

Li Miao narrowed his eyes and said with a smile.

"You're quite ruthless."

Matsuura Takanobu shook his head.

“My lord, it’s not true. You are from the Central Plains, so you may not understand the Bushido spirit of Japan… To die for one’s lord is the duty of a samurai. If what I say today gets out, I will die, and they will commit seppuku to show their loyalty.”

"Since that's the case, why not let me live and let them die? It would fulfill their moral obligations while preserving my life. Why not do it?"

Li Miao smiled.

He nodded.

"it is good."

He reached out and scooped up a handful of wood shavings from the floor, then casually tossed them away.

Plop, plop, plop.

The samurai outside were cleaning when suddenly everything went black, and they all fell to the ground, silent.

Matsuura Takanobu breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Li Miao urging him on.

"Say it."

He nodded quickly.

"Yes... The reason why this place can be associated with Shintoism is actually very simple... All the original sword techniques in Japan today have different origins, some are self-taught, and some are innovative."

"But all the Divine Sword Techniques originate from the same source."

"Shintoism."

Matsuura Takanobu let out another long breath, as if he had finally revealed a secret that had been stuck in his heart for many years. There was both the dejection of giving up and the relief of finally being able to confess to others.

Once he opened his mouth, he poured out the rest of his words in one go, like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

"As you may know, Shintoism does not have a single deity like some religions, and even the deities enshrined in each shrine are different."

"What it believes in, in the Central Plains language, is 'animism.'"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"So, in Shintoism, monsters are also considered gods?"

Matsuura Takanobu nodded.

"Calculate."

"This is the essence of the Divine Sword Technique."

"Only by visualizing the images established by Shintoism can one cultivate the true method of visualization and ultimately transform into the visualized deity."

Li Miao nodded.

"That's interesting... I'll go to other shrines and dojos to verify this later."

"Then what is the reason you said earlier, that if what you said today gets out, you will die?"

Matsuura Takanobu sighed.

"It is naturally related to Shintoism."

"You may not know this, but although Shintoism believes in 'animism,' it has a chief deity, just like Buddhism, who is the legendary creator goddess, Amaterasu Omikami."

"The root of the unbroken imperial line lies in the Shinto scriptures, where their ancestor is none other than Amaterasu."

"And Amaterasu is the deity enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine, the largest shrine in Shintoism... That is why I will die."

“The Shinto swordsmanship reveres the deity worshipped by Shintoism… But what if there were a swordsmanship that visualized the one worshipped at the Ise Grand Shrine?”

(End of this chapter)