The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 555 Madman
Despite some twists and turns, Ryota Miyoshi finally found the person he was looking for at the beginning: the successor of "Nenryu," one of the four original sword techniques.

However, that's how things usually are in this world. You search for someone a thousand times, but in the end, either you've lost your initial feelings, or the person you find has changed.

For Ryota Miyoshi, it's both.

He silently looked at the madman in the monk's robe.

Lu Wushuang rushed over with Nanako in her arms. She was much smarter than Miyoshi Ryota. Without Li Miao's reminder, she understood the situation at a glance.

She put Nanako down and walked to Li Miao's side.

"grown ups."

Li Miao put his hands in his sleeves and said with a smile.

"The language barrier is really troublesome. Starting tomorrow, could you teach me a little Japanese?"

He pointed again.

"Yesterday they said they were short three portions, and today another one has been delivered. It's just a bit troublesome to pry things out of a madman."

Lu Wushuang looked at the madman and said in a low voice.

"Could it be that he saw you and is pretending to be crazy to avoid trouble?"

Li Miao shook his head.

"No, unless one can combine all six paths into one and adjust one's mind and body to a point where I cannot see through them, no one in the world can pretend to be crazy in front of me."

"However, it's not like I haven't interrogated madmen before."

He walked up to the madman who was digging a hole with his head down, kicked him to the ground, raised his hand and condensed a long whip of true energy, and lashed it at the madman.

“Mmmmmmm—”

The madman was suddenly struck and, initially bewildered, began to roll and howl in pain, frantically trying to dodge the blows. Li Miao, like a bully toying with a fool, grinned maliciously as he chased after him, relentlessly whipping him.

He used his strength with restraint; his true energy whip left no mark on the madman, but each strike was aimed at acupoints. His true energy flowed through the body, directly stimulating every meridian and nerve—even a high-ranking monk would cry out under such methods.

The madman was already delirious, and within just a dozen breaths he was trembling uncontrollably from the pain. His snot and tears mingled with the dirt and grime, making his face look even more pitiful.

Even Ryota Miyoshi and Nanako couldn't stand it anymore. The key was that they didn't understand why Li Miao would do something that looked like a venting of anger, and what the point of torturing a madman was. So they wanted to speak up and stop him.

"you--"

Before they could utter a second word, Lu Wushuang crossed his arms and walked up to them, giving them a cold glance.

"Who are you to interfere when adults are doing things?"

Nanako hesitated to speak, but Ryota Miyoshi, unable to bear seeing his fellow practitioner of the Honinbo swordsmanship suffer, mustered his courage and spoke.

"No, I just—"

Lu Wushuang interrupted him with a cold laugh.

"Just what? Pity, sympathy, acceptance?"

"It's being used in the wrong place."

She turned halfway around and pointed at the madman who was being whipped by Li Miao and was howling in pain on the ground.

"Have you forgotten what that monk said yesterday? Of the four styles of swordsmanship, Kurama-ryu died at Hachiman-gyu, and Nen-ryu's last successor converted to Buddhism. Look at the monk's robe he's wearing!"

"He is the one who converted to Buddhism and became a follower of the Nianchuan tradition!"

Ryota Miyoshi took a deep breath and hesitated.

"Perhaps he was forced by circumstances, or perhaps something happened that we don't know about. He may not necessarily be a traitor who sided with Buddhism..."

Lu Wushuang shook her head with a cold smile.

"Were you just sleeping all night and didn't use your brain at all?"

She spread her hands and said coldly.

"Look at the state of Toshodai-ji Temple now. Could it have fallen into such ruin overnight?" "Master Jianzhen was an eminent monk who was officially appointed by the Emperor. He also passed down your four sword-fighting schools that spread throughout Japan hundreds of years ago. Logically and morally, shouldn't Japanese Buddhism build a grand temple for him and carefully enshrine him?"

"I'm afraid that from the very beginning, your Japanese Buddhism harbored malicious intentions towards Master Jianzhen. After his death, you built a small temple to enshrine him on the surface, but in private you were instigating your successors to fight against Shintoism."

"Once all of you are dead, you won't even bother with the pretense anymore, and you'll just let Toshodai-ji Temple fall into ruin."

Ryota Miyoshi hesitated for a moment, then said hesitantly.

"But what does this have to do with that lord torturing that madman?"

Lu Wushuang sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Still don't understand?"

"Since that madman has sought refuge with Enryaku-ji Temple, why did they place him in a place like Toshodai-ji Temple? This is the place where Master Jianzhen is enshrined. Placing him here and dressing him in monk's robes is an insult in itself!"

"Think again about why he went crazy?"

Lu Wushuang pointed to the wooden plaque that Miyoshi Ryota had just dug out of the ground.

“These names all have the words ‘Nian Liu Chuan Ren’ (meaning ‘the person who passed down the lineage’) before them, and they all have the same surname. This means that the names on these memorial tablets are the names of this madman’s father, grandfather, and ancestors.”

“Even I can see that his martial arts skills far surpass mine. In the Central Plains, he could be called a celestial being, and in your Japan, he could be called a sword saint. What could drive such a person mad? And why is he so stubbornly digging up graves and burying these memorial tablets?”

"Enryakuji Temple has been secretly suppressing you for hundreds of years, so why are they suddenly stopping their pretense? How can they be sure you are no longer a threat?"

"In other words, if you've managed to pass it down for hundreds of years, how can Enryakuji Temple be so sure that this madman is the last successor of Nenryu? Where did they get this information from?"

"Before today, apart from you, were there no other people who came here looking for successors of the Benyi Sword Technique? Where did they all go?"

Miyoshi Ryo Taiyi stagnated.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a long time before speaking in a low voice.

"I understand."

Lu Wushuang has already made her point very clearly.

The only thing that could drive a celestial being or a sword saint mad is the destruction of their most important beliefs. This madman's stubborn act of burying his ancestors' memorial tablets clearly reveals a sense of guilt, or perhaps shame.

As for the reason why this madman went mad, Lu Wushuang has already vaguely outlined it.

Deceiving and seeking refuge.

They learned the truth, but were powerless to change it.

After feeling ashamed to the point of wanting to die, he was deliberately humiliated. Dressed in a monk's robe, he stood in front of the patriarch's body and watched helplessly as the temple where the patriarch was enshrined collapsed day by day, and even the patriarch's body was stolen.

This was enough to drive a celestial being mad.

Li Miao had already torn the madman's monk's robe to shreds, but suddenly stopped, grabbed the madman's head, and slammed it onto the memorial tablets scattered on the ground.

The madman seemed to have been greatly stimulated, bursting out with even greater strength than before, desperately bracing himself with both hands on the ground, trying to get his face away from the memorial tablets.

"Heh, looks like they're not all crazy yet."

Li Miao scoffed and suddenly slammed his face onto the memorial tablet.

"Uh ah ah!"

Suddenly, the madman let out a howl ten times more shrill than when Li Miao was whipping him, and his left hand shot up from the ground and lashed out at Li Miao.

Lu Wushuang's face lit up with joy.

"really!"

This time, the madman's actions were completely different from his previous haphazard struggles. When his left hand swept through the air, it produced a sharp, explosive sound.

In Lu Wu's eyes, it was as if he had suddenly unleashed an incredibly sharp slash at Li Miao!

(End of this chapter)