The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

"Okita, you're back?"

Hijikata Toshizo sat in the house, his hand still bandaged, but it looked much better.

At the entrance stood Okita Souji, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Hmm." He appeared to be in the same condition as usual, pale-skinned, thin, and sickly.

But unlike before, today his face showed a hint of doubt. In the past, even when seriously ill, he would often wear a smile.

"You ran into trouble over there too?" Hijikata Toshizo knew his team members well, and he could tell what had happened just by looking at him.

Okita nodded: "Last night, the Steam Engineering Research Institute's convoy was attacked. Many people died at the scene, and a batch of higher-specification military parts were lost. It can be basically confirmed that it was Steam Oni who did it."

He then changed the subject: "However, although the incident was over when I arrived, the traces at the scene were still intact, so I realized that Steam Ghost was not the only one who killed people there."

Hijikata frowned immediately: "He has accomplices?"

Okita shook his head and said, "That's the strangest thing. I judge that the other person present must have killed more than just some of the escorting samurai. He also fought with the Steam Demon and was eventually killed by him."

"So, it's a third party?" Hijikata asked.

As Okita handed over an investigation report, he said, "Yes, and according to my judgment, that person was very tall and should have been wearing armor. He was much larger than Harada-san and Kondo-gumi leader."

But his body wasn't at the scene, and I had no right to question the people from the Steam Bureau.

On the paper in front of Hijikata Toshizo, there was clearly information about the scene compiled by Okita Souji, with the information compiled by that strange man making up the vast majority.

However, he is not the absolute focus.

After all, his burly physique is shrouded in mystery, but judging from the state of the scene, the steam ghost that had only appeared once before had actually killed him.

"Who exactly is he...? Is he one of those assassins from the anti-shogunate faction, disguised?" Okita pondered this, then suddenly his thoughts shifted, and he turned to look at Hijikata Toshizo, whose brows were furrowed.

"Wait, Vice Commander, you said at the beginning that I also had a situation here? What do you mean? What else happened?"

………………

"Hiss..." Zhang Chang'an raised his hand and cut open the wound on his shoulder, the warm blade causing the blood to flow out slowly and naturally.

Under the whale oil lamp in the bedroom behind the workshop, the bloodstains had a strange, filthy black hue.

"Damn, it hurts so much." Zhang Chang'an tightly bound his taut arm muscles with a strip of cloth and rinsed the wound with sake.

His health has actually recovered considerably compared to when he was on the mountain.

The knife wound on his leg had mostly healed, and the one on his shoulder had shrunk considerably, with hardly any scars left.

However, Tie Zhougong's body was not strong enough. After being injured, his blood flow changed, and oil and dirt in his body would accumulate in the wound, requiring bloodletting.

This does manage to expel some of the pollution, but unfortunately the oil is still too dispersed, with some still clinging tightly to the internal organs and bones.

If they try to clear the lesions with this, then before the oil stains are completely drained, Tie Zhougong's body will first turn into a dried corpse, and Zhang Chang'an will also die instantly.

"Fortunately, the injury wasn't in vain..." Zhang Chang'an turned to look at the parts he had brought back.

The strength of the glass tube is beyond doubt. The fact that it was completely undamaged even after fighting alongside him last night speaks volumes.

More importantly, his gains last night went beyond that.

Reaching behind him, in Tie Zhougong's cramped bedroom, on the tatami mat that took up most of the space, lay a long sword sheathed in a wide scabbard, gleaming brightly.

The Bingzi Jiaolin, currently housed in the Tokyo National Museum, is said to be the sword of Prince Shotoku during the Asuka period of Japan, but it is actually a sword from the Sui Dynasty. It has a single-edged, straight blade and is about 65 centimeters in length. Bingzi Jiaolin is an inscription on the hilt of the sword.

This knife is not as well-known as some famous domestic swords or famous Japanese swords, but it is a rare Chinese knife that can be found in Japan.

"It stayed here in reality until modern times, and today it can be considered to have been returned to its rightful owner."

Zhang Chang'an was just a martial artist, and even though he came from a martial arts school and didn't have a proper master, any ordinary man from the Celestial Empire would be inexplicably captivated by such a truly precious sword, let alone this one.

"Compared to this thing, what's a little portability..." Zhang Chang'an looked at the straight blade and the intricate inscriptions of the ancient sword, and temporarily forgot about the wound on his shoulder.

"Click, click..." After wiping away the blood, Zhang Chang'an raised his hand and removed the hilt from the bottom of the long sword: "It's just that this Japanese-style fitting is uncomfortable to look at. I'll have to change it later, since the grip on each side is different."

"That's not difficult, after all, the gains this time are more than just this." He pondered, looking at the wall beside him, where the shadows flickered.

"Congratulations, Patriarch, on your successful advancement to a new rank. Your inheritance and skills have changed during the advancement quest and have been automatically integrated."

"Current head of the family: Zhang Chang'an."

"Rank: New Burning Tier [Heavenly Might Never Surrenders] (6.21%)"

"Time-space fragments: 1000".

"Skills: [Southern Military Martial Arts] (Rare). [Shenji Battalion Practical Steam Technology] (Fine). [Eye of Death] (Fine)"

"Items: [Famous Sword - Bingzi Pepper Forest] (Fine) [Nameless - Steam Armor] (Good) Steam Telescopic Steel Knife - Damaged (Common) M1889 Revolver (Common)."

Zhang Chang'an knew that career advancement would inevitably involve breakthroughs, but he didn't expect that the advantages of family genealogies in this regard would go beyond mere compatibility.

"[The Heavenly Might Never Surrenders at Night] (A special formation of the Ming Dynasty's Divine Machine Battalion, which was established after the border troops were deployed. They carried guns and cannons, and each soldier was an army, guarding the border for a hundred miles without letting a single wolf out of the pass).

"The patriarch's profession as a warrior, assassin, and mechanic resonated with the profession of a certain ancestor. Despite the significant timeline interference, he still received a large amount of his inheritance upon his advancement."

This is the second time Zhang Chang'an has come into contact with the ancestral heritage of the Celestial Empire. The last time was the Hongmen Body Nourishing Technique, which was just a fragment that needed to be constantly supplemented, yet it supported a large part of his early cultivation.

Now, the slight resonance he felt during his promotion has given him a unique career.

"Not only can it be compatible, but it can also be integrated into advanced professions. And can this process be repeated?" Zhang Chang'an felt that the power of the family tree was increasingly outrageous.

The number of skills he possessed in his mind had increased significantly compared to before.

Whether it's martial arts or some entirely new steam technology systems, they are all unprecedented.

This means that his equipment and skills will undergo significant changes, and in addition, the sludge removal device also seems to need some modifications.

"I'll study it properly later..." Zhang Chang'an pondered, then tucked the knife into the blanket and went to sleep.

Heritage is heritage, famous swords are famous swords, and new professions are new professions. After such a long night, he really didn't have the energy to deal with any of that.

Especially since he was still injured, Zhang Chang'an lay on the bed while decisively accessing the Western Exchange page, obtaining some strange herbs which he swallowed whole. At the same time, he pinched out some of them and slapped them hard onto his wounds.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow..."

………………

"Let's talk about it later..." Zhang Chang'an reached inside his kimono with one hand, scratched his chest, closed the shop door behind him with the other, then walked past Ju Qinglan and calmly crossed the street.

Kyoto's streets were as bustling as ever, with Japanese women in wooden clogs taking small steps, and various laborers and vendors moving between the narrow streets and houses.

Little Orange was as energetic as ever, arriving early in the morning; perhaps something new had come up.

Zhang Chang'an didn't have time to worry about these things right now. He quickly found the food cart across the street and ordered a bowl of udon noodles.

"I didn't look at it carefully last night... This herb is so nutrient-intensive, I'm starving."

"Perfect timing, I haven't eaten either, boss, give me a bowl too." Xiao Ju didn't stand on ceremony and calmly sat down next to him, while saying, "Tetsu-san, you're not surprised that I came to see you so early."

Zhang Chang'an quickly received his noodles. As he picked up his chopsticks, he calmly said, "What important business could you possibly have? What have you heard that no one's telling you?"

Surprisingly, Xiaoju wasn't speechless at all. Instead, she calmly waved her hand and said, "This time is definitely different. You probably haven't heard yet. The shogunate is going to disband the Shinsengumi."