I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

But whether she understands Japanese or not, she always has ears.

Hearing Qingdeng's loud roar, Leroy finally snapped out of his daze.

Leroy's lips and cheeks were still frighteningly pale with fear, but she quickly fulfilled the duties of a maid—she swiftly grabbed Elodie and carried her toward the rear, toward the center of the camp where the most guards were.

After telling Elodie and Leroy to leave quickly, Qingdeng raised his head, preparing to have Saito retreat with him to the central room of the camp to meet up with the others.

But at that moment, Qingdeng's body suddenly stopped.

Immediately afterward, Qing Deng quickly turned his head to look at Saito: "Saito! There are 3 enemies approaching from the right rear!"

Upon hearing Qing Deng's shout, Saito, who had been focused on the massive army that was about to storm into the camp, paused for a moment. He then quickly looked to his right rear and saw that three enemies had indeed appeared behind him on his left side.

The place was far too noisy at that moment. The deafening shouts, footsteps, and other sounds dulled Saito's senses, preventing him from noticing the three enemies behind him on his left at the first moment.

The three of them originally intended to sneak up on Qing and Zhai from behind.

Realizing they had been discovered by Qing and Zhai, they quickly shrank back and retreated.

“…Thanks.” Saito turned his head and whispered his thanks to Aoto, who had helped him discover the enemy in advance.

But to everyone's surprise, when Saito turned his gaze to Aoto, he saw that Aoto was raising his left hand and tightly covering his eyes.

"Hey!" Startled by the sight, Saito's face immediately darkened. "Are you hurt in the eye?"

"...I'm fine." Qing Deng slowly released his left hand that was covering his eyes, looking astonished.

He blinked hard a few times.

"I don't know why... my vision... has been acting strange since just now..."

"...Field of vision?" Saito frowned in confusion.

……

……

At this very moment—

In a grove of trees not far from the main camp—

This grove of trees was the temporary campsite for Suehiro and his men.

Their luggage was all left in this grove of trees.

The statue of Niou, which Suehiro prays to twice a day, is placed respectfully on a flat, large stone.

The falling snowflakes have already covered this statue of the King of Benevolence with a layer of pure white.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept by.

A strong wind blew away the snowflakes that had not yet fallen to the ground, and swirled the white robes on the statue of Niou.

Click...

The moment the wind picked up, a cracking sound, barely audible, rang out.

Under the witness of wind and snow, a tiny crack appeared on the top of the head of this statue of the King of Benevolence, who looked down upon the mortal world!

*******

*******

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It's quite a coincidence. When the previous book was released, the plot had just progressed to the protagonist's first major battle and the battle that made him famous: "The Asura Hundred-Man Slaying Battle".

And now, just as this work is being released, the plot has progressed to the protagonist's first major battle and the battle that made him famous.

In short, I hope everyone can catch the first major climax of this book tomorrow—

Niou's Battle Song!

Stay tuned.

Chapter 76 [Author's Note on Launch] Bushido is a pile of shit

Time really flies; it's already time for this book to be released.

What should I say in my acceptance speech?

The author racked his brains but couldn't come up with any interesting or witty remarks.

Let me tell you why I, the author, started this novel.

The reason I wrote this novel is simple—to pay tribute to the masterpiece "Harakiri," which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and directly changed my understanding of "film" as a visual art.

"Harakiri" was released in 1962 and was directed by the master director Masaki Kobayashi.

Who is Masaki Kobayashi?

He is one of the "Four Knights of Japanese Cinema," alongside Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, and Keisuke Kinoshita, and one of Asia's most renowned directors.

I'd like to borrow a quote from Zhihu user "Mentu" on the article "Douban 9.2, why is this masterpiece not allowed to be broadcast in Japan?" regarding Masakazu Kobayashi's evaluation: "Masakazu Kobayashi's greatest strength lies in his courage to use nationalistic elements and social prophecies to reflectively criticize Japan's imperialism and totalitarian system."

Masaki Kobayashi directed a large number of profound and classic works throughout his life—Harakiri is one of them.

I won't go into the details of the plot of the film "Harakiri" here; you have to see it for yourself to truly appreciate how powerful it is.

The overall feeling of this movie is one of "stillness".

The shots were very still, with no violent camera shake or rapid camera transitions.

The visuals are very quiet; the set design throughout the film gives a sense of emptiness and stillness.

The dialogue is very quiet. Most of the characters in the film speak in a very calm tone, with very few shouts that hurt the ears.

But this very quiet film tells a story that makes you feel like thunder is roaring in your ears.

Through his masterful narrative, Masaki Kobayashi profoundly criticizes and satirizes in this film how cruel, disgusting, and repulsive the so-called Bushido is, and how hypocritical those so-called noble samurai who constantly preach Bushido are. When ordering others to commit seppuku, they speak eloquently and act superior, but when it comes to cutting their own stomachs, they are terrified of dying and hide at home, too afraid to come out.

The author remembers clearly that the first time he saw this movie was when he had just started college.

Until I started writing novels in my sophomore year of college, I didn't watch many movies and had only seen a few popcorn blockbusters like "Transformers" and "The Avengers".

Can you imagine how shocked someone who has only ever watched popcorn blockbusters would feel if they stumbled upon this movie?

When I finished reading "Harakiri", I was so shocked that I was speechless.

Movies can be made like this?!

Forget about special effects, there aren't many big scenes either. The whole movie just switches back and forth between a few scenes.

It's a black and white movie, with no special effects or grand scenes, but the visuals just feel incredibly beautiful.

The story is neither complicated nor grand; it neither accomplishes any grand mission nor saves the world.

There's nothing like giant bears or beautiful girls or any other nonsense about it.

It's a movie that tells a simple story, but it doesn't feel drawn out or boring at all. It makes you want to watch it again and again.

The film "Harakiri" truly changed the author's understanding of the art of "film".

This film also became the opportunity for the author to begin to explore sword and spear-themed works extensively.

Another important reason why "Harakiri" had such a profound impact on the author is that the values ​​conveyed in the film resonated deeply with him.

The author enjoys the swordplay and intrigue depicted in works featuring swords and spears.

But I loathe the so-called Bushido. I've always thought that the so-called Bushido is a pile of shit.

To be precise, I despise all feudal ethics that "cannibalize people".

Longtime readers who followed from the previous book, *The Swordsman*, should be well aware of the author's attitude towards the so-called Bushido—Ogata Itsuki slew countless fanatical Bushido lunatics. In *The Swordsman*, I spared no effort in describing how those samurai who constantly talked about Bushido "eat" and "are eaten."

Out of respect for this great work that directly changed my "view of movies" and aesthetics, the author had already decided last year to start another novel on the theme of swords and halberds in early 2022, when "The Sword Master" was completed.

A tribute to the 60th anniversary of the release of "Harakiri" in 2022 and its director Masaki Kobayashi's sword novel.

Because this work is a tribute to "Harakiri" and Masaki Kobayashi, its theme will be exactly the same as "Harakiri".

[It thoroughly criticizes and satirizes the hypocritical, cruel, and repulsive Bushido.]

Let all my fellow readers see what this so-called Bushido is all about, and how this shitty thing can destroy people in a way that is both hateful and pathetic.

In writing

It's so satisfying to mock Bushido!

Readers looking for stories like "Aoto leading Japan to prosperity" can leave now; this book doesn't have that kind of plot.

That's why I set the background of this new sword-fighting novel in the Bakumatsu period.

Because the Bakumatsu period was a chaotic era when the age of samurai was about to end.

In this chaotic world where the samurai class is on the verge of collapse, the ugly side of the samurai who were once high and mighty is revealed.

If you want to thoroughly mock Bushido, this era, when the samurai class is about to be swept into the dustbin of history, is the most suitable.

Incidentally, it also allows for some satire of the Bakumatsu period, for which the author has considerable criticisms to offer.

While the previous installment, "Kensou," also contained criticisms of the so-called Bushido code, the amount was not significant. Overall, "Kensou" is a relatively pure "fantasy adventure story."

This installment, "Swordsman," adopts a completely different theme, so the overall story atmosphere will be very different from "Sword Master," a "fantasy adventure story."

Is there any way I can write a novel called "The Swordsmen" that has a completely different theme from my previous work?

do not know.

But I am willing to give my all to finish writing the story of Tachibana Aoto, following in the footsteps of Ogata Hayase of "Shura".

Oh, by the way—since the book was published, many flies have been trying to label me with all sorts of strange accusations in the book review section.

Without exception, I have permanently banned and deleted all these people and their comments.

These people are so annoying; they haven't even read the novel, yet they're throwing these baseless accusations at me.

Anyone who has read through the contents of this book so far knows that these accusations are blatant slander against me.

I have no reason to let people like this, who haven't even read the novel and yet spout nonsense without any respect for me, continue to do so.