I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The porcelain jar was broken... and inside it was found to be full of kerosene.

As the porcelain jar cracked, handfuls of kerosene, emitting an extremely pungent odor, sprayed out and drenched everything.

These six people moved in perfect unison, as if they had rehearsed beforehand.

The instant they flung the porcelain jars away, they simultaneously hurled their torches forward with all their might.

When the oil and kerosene meet, flames instantly erupt, spreading rapidly along the oil lines like fiery snakes dancing wildly in the night sky.

……

……

Qingdeng happened to be sitting in the seat closest to the main entrance of the hall.

Upon hearing the sound of flames burning coming from the direction of the entrance hall, Qing Deng's expression immediately changed.

He suddenly stood up, pushed open the door to the hall, and looked towards the entrance hall along the corridor outside the hall.

fire.

The raging fire was raging.

The flames that had already enveloped his door and entryway began to climb along the walls and bamboo up to the ceiling.

Sparks flew around, making a faint popping sound near Qingdeng's ears, and plumes of thick black smoke drifted out, mingling with the smell of oil, irritating his eyes and nose.

The crimson light of the flames illuminated Qing Deng's slightly bluish cheeks.

"Fire!" Qing Deng turned and shouted to Kondo and his group inside the hall, "Come with me! We'll get out through the courtyard!"

After saying that, Qingdeng rushed to the east side of the hall and opened the wooden door on the east side.

The main hall of Qingdeng's house is connected to their courtyard. As long as you open the wooden door on the east side of the main hall, you can enter the courtyard.

Kondo, Okita, and Saito are indeed martial arts practitioners.

After a brief moment of astonishment, they quickly regained their composure and hurriedly ran into the courtyard through the wooden door that Qingdeng had opened.

Only Kyubei, who was rather timid, looked panicked and at a loss.

"Ah! Young Master! Our money..."

"Forget about money! Life is more important!"

The fire was extremely fierce.

In the blink of an eye, the fire snake had spread from the entrance hall to the doorway of the living room, and Qing Deng could even feel the waves of fire starting to scorch his back.

Their important valuables were kept in the storage room on the second floor.

Running up to the second floor to retrieve valuables amidst such a fierce fire... that's absolutely suicidal.

Qing Deng grabbed Jiu Bingwei by the back of his collar and dragged him out of the house, who was thinking of going back to retrieve his valuables.

Inside the courtyard, Okita frowned, his handsome brows furrowed, and sniffed hard: "...Tachibana-kun! I think I smell kerosene!"

"Hmm." Qing Deng nodded with a stern face. "I smelled it too... but let's not worry about that now, let's get out of here first! Come with me! Our courtyard leads directly to the street outside!"

Just now, when Qingdeng discovered the fire in the entryway, he had already smelled an extremely pungent and strong odor of kerosene...

But there's no time to worry about where the smell of kerosene is coming from right now; getting to a safe place is the priority.

There was also a fire in the courtyard, but fortunately the fire was not too big.

After narrowly escaping the fiery snakes darting through the courtyard and reaching the street in front of his house, Qingdeng, relying on his night vision, suddenly glimpsed several figures hurriedly fleeing towards the intersection to the west on his left.

At this time of day, there should be almost no pedestrians on the streets.

The sounds of shattering porcelain that preceded the fire... the strong smell of kerosene... a few figures hurriedly fleeing on the street that should have been deserted...

Qingdeng instantly understood what was going on.

At that moment, Okita cried out in alarm, "Ah! Tachibana-kun! Look! It looks like there are a few people running away over there!"

Okita also spotted the arsonists who were fleeing.

"Yes, I saw it." Qing Deng responded with an extremely solemn expression, then turned to Kondo and the others beside him and shouted, "Kyubei! Kondo-kun! Okita-kun! You three go and notify the firefighters in the town to come and put out the fire! Also, tell the neighbors to take refuge quickly!"

"Saito, come with me!"

After saying that, Qingdeng took off running and chased after the fleeing arsonists!

Although Saito didn't know what Aoto was going to do, he still hurriedly followed without saying a word.

Okita stared blankly at Aoto and Saito, who were chasing after the arsonists, then turned around and quickly said to Kondo:

"Kondo-kun! I'll go help Tachibana-kun chase after the person! You and Kyubei-san go and notify the town's fire-fighting team to come and put out the fire!"

Kondo: "Huh?"

Having said that, Okita gave Kondo no chance or time to respond, turning around and chasing after Ao and Sai, who had already run far away...

……

……

"What's wrong? What happened?!"

"Fire! Fire!"

"What?! Run! Run!"

"Quickly, go and call the people from the town's fire suppression area over here!"

"Aaaaaah! What?! There's a fire?!"

……

While chasing the arsonists, Qingdeng heard screams filled with fear and panic coming from all around him.

The residents of Hatchobori also noticed the fire that was very close to them and growing stronger.

In ancient Japan, people were always terrified of fire.

The reason for this is the high population density and unique house styles in ancient Japan.

Japan is a densely populated country with limited land. Tens of millions of people live on such a small plot of land, and the population density in major cities like Edo and Kyoto is even more exaggerated.

The exaggerated population density led to houses being built extremely close together, and since ancient Japanese buildings were mostly made of flammable wood, each house was essentially a large flammable structure.

Therefore... any fire in a house can easily trigger a terrifying chain reaction.

A small fire can start a large fire, and a burning house can engulf the entire area in flames, ultimately leading to the destruction of most of the city—such things were common throughout ancient Japan.

The most typical example is the famous "Meireki Fire" of Edo period.

In 1657, during the Meireki era, a burning kimono sleeve ultimately led to the destruction of two-thirds of Edo. Because this horrific fire was caused by a burning sleeve, it is also known as the "Furisode Fire".

The once tranquil Hatchobori suddenly became exceptionally noisy and chaotic.

People either rushed to seek refuge, ran to notify the town's fire brigade to put out the fire, or hurriedly moved their belongings out of their homes before the flames reached them...

More and more residents rushed out of their houses to escape the disaster, blocking Qingdeng's view and hindering his passage, which made it much more difficult for Qingdeng to catch people.

Left with no other choice, Qingdeng could only keep shouting:

"I am a member of the Doshin team from Sadamachi! We are chasing an arsonist! Make way! Make way!"

Qingdeng's shouts did have a considerable effect.

Upon hearing that Qingdeng was catching a thief, many people quickly moved to the sides of the street to make way.

At that moment, Qingdeng suddenly felt a gust of wind coming from behind him.

Looking back—Okita, holding the sword at his waist, followed closely behind him.

"Okita-kun, what brings you here?"

"I'll help you chase those arsonists!" Okita shouted. "I'm best at chasing people!"

After saying that, Okita stopped talking, kept his mouth shut, and focused on running.

With time pressing, Qing Deng had no time to delve into Okita's behavior of disobeying his orders and spontaneously coming to help chase after people; he could only turn his attention back to what was in front of him.

Okita said he's very good at pursuing people... He doesn't seem to be lying.

He was incredibly fast. Although Aoto and Saito had started running ahead of Okita, Okita had gradually caught up with them and overtaken them...

Not only are they fast, but they also have plenty of stamina.

Despite running at such an exaggerated speed, his breathing was quite steady, his expression was normal, and he didn't even break a sweat.

Seeing that they could not shake off Qing Deng and his men who were sticking close behind them, the arsonists huddled together, whispered among themselves for a while, and then scattered in different directions.

Seeing that the group of scoundrels wanted to split up and escape, Qing Deng immediately turned his gaze and quickly scanned the size of the group.

"Okita-kun, chase after the fattest one!" Qing Deng pointed at the fattest arsonist who looked the slowest.

Okita, who was already far ahead of Ao and Sai, and had left them far behind, glanced at the fat man in the direction Ao pointed and nodded vigorously.

That fat man was quite clever.

He turned his head and saw Qingdeng and the others chasing after him. He gritted his teeth, made a sharp 90-degree turn, and turned into a small alley next to him.

After following the fat man into the narrow alley, Qingdeng found that the alley was extremely narrow and complicated, with many forks in the road and extremely poor visibility. If he was not careful, he might lose the fat man.

Qingdeng looked up and glanced at a low house located not far in front of him, right next to the alley.

"Saito! You and Okita-kun keep chasing that fat guy on the ground!"

After loudly giving this instruction to Saito beside him, Aoto took a deep breath and rushed straight toward the low house.

As he sprinted to the eaves of the house, he quickly gathered his strength in his back, then leaped up and clung to the eaves.

The eaves of the house were extremely low, with a vertical height of just over 2 meters. Qing Deng, who was 1.75 meters tall, jumped up with all his might and easily grabbed the eaves with both hands.

Qingdeng did a pull-up and pulled his whole body up to the top of the roof.

Once you climb onto the roof, your view suddenly opens up.

Look around—the fat man is huffing and puffing as he flees northwest along the intricate alleyways.

"Saito! Okita-kun!" Qing Deng, while moving on the rooftop towards the direction of the fat man, gave instructions to Saito and Okita below, "That fat man ran away in that direction!"

The houses around this alley are all close together, and the eaves are not high and the slope is not steep. Qing Deng, who was standing on the eaves and tracking the fat man, had no trouble finding a place to stand.

The fat man turned his head and glanced at Qingdeng, who was chasing after him along the eaves.