I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

—I remember now…

—I first heard the name "Okita Souji" in Yamanami...

Qing Deng suddenly realized why Okita's name sounded familiar when he heard Okita's self-introduction during their encounter.

Because he had just heard this name from his friend, Yamanami Keisuke.

As mentioned before, Okita Souji of the Shieikan has excellent skills, which made his master, the head of the Kochiba Sword Hall, extend an olive branch to him.

—No wonder Yamanami specifically praised his strength… With such swordsmanship talent, it would be strange if he wasn't strong…

Upon realizing this, Qing Deng couldn't help but slightly shift his gaze and quietly look Okita up and down several times.

If it weren't for the fact that "Sword Prodigy" was copied from him, Qing Deng would find it hard to imagine that such a slender and beautiful young man could be a swordsman with such extraordinary talent and strength.

"Qingdeng, your swordsmanship talent is quite good! You are a promising talent!" Kondo's loud shout pulled Qingdeng back to reality. "As long as you practice diligently, it will not be difficult for you to achieve great things in swordsmanship in the future!"

"I don't expect to achieve anything great in swordsmanship," Qing Deng said half-jokingly. "I just want to be better today than I was yesterday."

Qing Deng's words were inspired by a friend from his past life who he used to work out with at the gym.

His friend often said something like, "My goal is to be better today than I was yesterday," a phrase that was probably copied from the internet and whose origin is unknown.

My friend looked really cool when he said that—but he would have looked even cooler if he had spent more time practicing on the equipment instead of posing in front of the mirror and posting on social media.

"Oh, oh!" Kondo's eyes lit up at Aoto's words. "That was a very good thing you just said!"

"Alright! Enough of the small talk." Kondo crossed his arms. "I have a general idea of ​​your current level and talent."

"Your current skill level is still relatively average, so you need to start by learning the most basic sword-holding stance."

"How about we start training now?"

“Of course!” Qing Deng said without hesitation.

“Alright!” Kondo grinned. “Then…”

"Master! Master Kondo! Is Master Kondo here?"

Kondo was in the middle of his enthusiastic talk when suddenly a series of urgent shouts came from the entrance of the dojo—the owner of the voice was a burly man dressed as a commoner.

"Sixth Brother?" Kondo looked at the burly man with a surprised expression. "What are you doing here?"

“Master Kondo,” the burly man whom Kondo called “Sixth Grade” said with a wry smile, “Something’s happened to your Hijikata Toshizo.”

As soon as Xiao Liu said this, Kondo and Okita's expressions changed immediately.

"What's wrong with Asui?" Kondo asked urgently.

“Hijikata went back to his hometown in Tama to visit relatives a few days ago,” said Xiaoliu. “You know, Hijikata is always a restless person, so not long after he went back to his hometown, in order to pass the time, he went back to his old business and went to various places in Tama to sell his Ishida medicine.”

"As a result, something happened yesterday afternoon. A group of people came to cause trouble for Tufang."

"The man said he was a former customer of Hijikata. He said that after buying Hijikata's Ishida San medicine, he found that the medicine was useless, so he gathered a group of people to come and ask Hijikata for an explanation."

“That group of people came in with great force, there were more than twenty of them.”

"You all know what kind of temper that thorny brat Hijikata has. He directly started fighting with those people."

"One person fought against more than twenty people, and the battle was so fierce it was dizzying."

"Although Hijikata won, he was seriously injured and is currently recuperating at his hometown in Tama."

"Although Hijikata told his family not to tell you about his injury, Hijikata's brother-in-law Sato still decided to send me to inform you about it."

"Where is Mr. Hijikata injured?" Okita asked quickly as soon as Xiao Liu finished speaking.

“He has injuries to his leg and forehead,” Xiao Liu replied. “The leg injury seems quite serious; he’ll probably have to spend the next few days in bed.”

"Sōji!" Kondo called out to Okita without hesitation, "You stay here, I'm going back to Tama now to check on Toshi's condition."

“I want to go too!” Okita replied without hesitation. “Hijikata-san is injured. How can I pretend I didn’t hear it and continue to stay in Edo?”

"No. If you come with me to visit Hijikata, who will look after the Shieikan?"

Kondo and Okita were arguing loudly about "visiting Hijikata".

Aoto, who didn't know Hijikata at all, quietly approached Suzuki and asked:

"That... Hijikata, who is he?"

“Hijikata Toshizo. One of our Shieikan disciples,” Suzuki whispered to Aoto. “You’re new here, so you probably don’t know about our Shieikan’s ‘Five Great Warriors,’ right?”

Qingdeng: "I really don't know."

"Now that you're part of our Shiwei Hall, you must pay close attention to the five people in our Shiwei Hall who are collectively known as the 'Five Great Vajras'."

Suzuki cleared his throat and then began to speak eloquently:

"The first person was the headmaster of our Shieikan, who was also our master—Mr. Kondo Shusuke."

"Although my master is 68 years old this year, he is still in very good health. He usually has a kind and gentle appearance, but he is particularly strict when it comes to matters related to swordsmanship."

"Remember not to do anything that would dishonor swordsmanship in front of your master, such as deliberately making the bamboo sword dirty. Your master hates people who disrespect swords and swordsmanship the most."

"The second person is the young master... ah, it's Mr. Kondo Isami."

"Because Mr. Kondo Isami is the instructor of our Shieikan and also the young master of our swordsmanship school, we usually like to call Mr. Kondo Isami 'Little Master'."

"Because of his advanced age, the master has basically handed over the management of the sword school and the teaching of swordsmanship to the junior apprentice."

"It won't be long before the young master inherits this Shiwei Hall and officially becomes the head of the Tennen Rishin-ryu main family, becoming the fourth head of the Tennen Rishin-ryu main family."

"The third person is Okita Souji."

"The Okita family and the Kondo family have an extremely good relationship. The two families are almost as close as one family."

"The relationship between the young master and Okita is almost like that of brothers."

“And Okita-kun is also very senior in our Shieikan. He became his master’s inner disciple when he was 9 years old and entered Shieikan to study Tennen Rishin-ryu.”

“If I remember correctly… Okita-kun is 16 years old this year, which means this is his 7th year in Shieikan.”

"Currently, there are almost no apprentices in the entire Shieikan who are more senior than Okita-kun."

"If both the master and the junior master happen to be away from the sword hall, the test hall will be directly handed over to Okita-kun to manage."

“The junior master often asks Okita to help with the management of the sword shop and the teaching of swordsmanship.”

“Okita’s status in the Shieikan can be said to be second only to his tutor.”

"Like brothers..." Qing Deng recalled the scenes of Okita's hands being bound by his rope-catching technique and Kondo teasing Okita. "No wonder they seem to have a very good relationship."

Suzuki's explanation of the "Five Great Warriors" continues—

"And the fourth person... is Hijikata Toshizo."

At this point, Suzuki's lips twitched.

"Hijikata Toshizo is the second most troublesome person in our Shieikan."

"If you run into him in the future, remember to be extra careful."

"How exactly is it troublesome?" Qingdeng pressed.

"He is one of the disciples of our Shiwei Hall."

"This person and the young master are from the same hometown, both born in Tama, which is not far from Edo."

"The three of them, Master, Hijikata, and Okita, are extremely close. Their relationship is so close that they are practically like half-brothers, just like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

"Hijikata-kun has a terrible temper and a sharp tongue, so he often gets into trouble outside. Fighting is a regular occurrence for him, hence the nickname 'Thorn Child'."

Having said that, Suzuki glanced at Kondo and Okita, who were still arguing.

"Hijikata went back to his hometown in Tama to visit his family a few days ago."

"Sigh, even a trip back to his hometown can cause him this much trouble... This thorny brat is really..."

Having said that, Suzuki shook his head with a wry smile.

*******

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Chapter 16 Exceptional Talent Means Doing Whatever You Want (Part 1)

Aoto looked at Kondo and Okita not far away.

"Kondo-kun and Okita-kun are as close as brothers with Hijikata Toshizo... No wonder they were arguing about whether Kondo-kun should go visit Hijikata Toshizo alone or whether the two of them should go back together to visit him..."

"You've already mentioned four of the 'Five Vajras,' so who's the last one? Who's the last 'Vajra'?"

“The last ‘Kong’…” Suzuki’s face turned sour. “The last ‘Kong’ is the most troublesome person in our Shieikan, and also the most terrifying person.”

"That person is our teacher's wife—Kondo Fumi."

[Note: In Japan, women typically take their husband's surname after marriage. For example, Mai Shiranui would change her name to Mai Somo after marrying Yume Minoru.]

"Master's wife?" Qing Deng exclaimed softly.

"Yes. Your teacher's wife has quite a temper."

Suzuki seemed to recall some unpleasant memory, and shrank his neck.

"Let me tell you something that's common knowledge in our Shiwei Hall—Master is quite afraid of his wife. Even though he's quite old, she still keeps him under her thumb."

"The young master was also very afraid of his mother."

"So the father and son were often scolded by the teacher's wife so badly that they didn't dare to breathe loudly."

"Therefore, we often discussed in private that the real head of the Shiwei Hall was neither the master nor the junior master, but the master's wife."

—Are you afraid of your wife? ... It seems that no matter the country or era, there will always be "henpecked husbands"...

After internally criticizing him like this, Qing Deng silently memorized the names Hijikata Toshizo and Kondo Fumi that Suzuki had just mentioned.

At this point, Kondo and Okita's argument finally came to an end.

Kondo remained calm.

Okita, on the other hand, had a long face.