He changed Tiwat

Keisuke looked at Seishimaru, who nodded.

Keisuke hesitated for a moment before speaking, "You... never mind, she's just a tea-selling girl, it's normal that she doesn't know etiquette. This Lord Seishimaru's surname is Kurotani, you should call him Lord Kurotani from now on."

Machiko tilted her head upon hearing this: "He's the one who told me to call him Seishimaru... I don't want to call him Lord Kurotani, Seishimaru sounds better!"

Keisuke chuckled, carefully examining Machiko. He noticed that although the tea girl seemed naive, she was quite pretty. Considering that Seishimaru was still unmarried and needed someone by his side, he immediately smiled and said, "Hey, I think this is a good thing. The Kurotani family needs people right now. You shouldn't sell tea anymore; come work for Lord Kurotani."

Machiko tilted her head again, and who knows what kind of calculations she was doing in her little brain, but the final conclusion was—

"If I can get enough to eat... hey! I'll follow Seishimaru."

Jingzhu sighs, "Although the Kurotani family is now in decline, it is still a prestigious samurai family. For a mere tea girl to be able to follow the eldest son of the Kurotani family is practically a meteoric rise. Yet this silly girl is still worried about food..."

He said helplessly, "...Whatever you want."

Seishimaru remained expressionless, as if Machiko didn't exist at all. Machiko, on the other hand, obediently retreated behind Seishimaru and sat down, looking like she was determined to follow him.

The conversation, which had been interrupted by Machiko, resumed.

Keisuke advised again, "Seishimaru, now that Lord Kurotani is gone, you are the one in charge... Don't do anything foolish. If you act recklessly..."

Seishi-maru let out another cold snort.

“Sigh…” Knowing his friend’s temperament, Keisuke sighed and emphasized, “In short, the most important thing is the family name, which must never be cut off.”

Seishimaru smiled contemptuously: "Anyway, it wasn't your adoptive parents who died."

Jingzhu slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "You blockhead! Why can't you listen to anything I say?"

"I'm asking you, do you really intend to disregard your family and lay a hand on the subordinates of the Lord above? To bring shame upon your lord and bring disaster upon your family?"

Seishi-maru remained silent.

Keisuke trembled with rage: "Fine, very well... It seems that no one can have peace until you vent your anger. Since all my earnest advice has been ineffective, let me tell you the truth—"

“I, Wakayama Keisuke, have been the head of the Wakayama family since the death of the previous generation. And the executioner when Lord Kurotani sought death was the previous generation.”

“I know that the previous generation has wronged the Kurotani family, and we have a deep friendship… Although executions are official business, I would like to take care of your family as much as possible…”

The camera zooms in on the two faces, and Wakayama Keisuke and Kurotani Seishimaru's gazes meet in mid-air.

Keisuke slowly said, "If you are determined to take revenge... my father is already dead. The sins of the father must be visited upon the son. Come and seek revenge against me. Do you dare?"

Seishimaru's back suddenly straightened.

Keisuke raised his voice: "What, are you hesitating just because we're friends? Your ambition is nothing special; you're not prepared to turn your back on even your closest relatives!"

After a long silence, Seishimaru finally spoke: "I wasn't born to my mother, so the name of my family means nothing to me. Besides, are my parents' lives less important than the name 'Kurotani'?"

He suddenly pointed at the sword at Keisuke's waist: "Let me show you my resolve, take out your sword!"

Keisuke's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe that his friend actually wanted him to draw his sword.

At this moment, Seishimaru took out an orange temari ball from his pocket—a favorite toy of children, with a badly worn bottom, indicating that it had been around for many years.

Seishimaru tossed the temari ball to Keisuke.

"I will return everything you gave me today."

"Place your knife and this temari ball on the table. I'll close my eyes and wait for you to put them away. After you've done that, I'll extend my finger."

"If you point a sword at me, then we can only fight each other. If you point a sword at Temari, then I will sever the bond between us."

"Leave everything to fate."

Seishi-maru closed his eyes.

Machiko watched Seishimaru and Keisuke with nervousness, not understanding why these two seemingly friendly samurai had suddenly become enemies.

And what choices will the so-called "destiny" offer?

Jingzhu slumped down.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a long time, looking at the temari ball again and again, before finally unfastening the sword from his waist and placing it on the table.

The metal ornaments on the knife clanged against the table.

The sword is to Seishimaru's left, and the temari is to Seishimaru's right.

"Alright," Keisuke said.

Seishi-maru closed his eyes and pointed to the left, then opened his eyes.

"It seems that it was destined that I would spend my whole life seeking revenge on you, until my death."

Keisuke nodded: "Since you've made up your mind, then I should also show my manly spirit. I will see through what I said earlier, and I'll be waiting for you."

He picked up his sword and left the Japanese-style room.

Seishimaru silently watched his retreating figure.

The screen went black, followed by the word "Rest"—this was because the film capacity of the "projector" was limited, and one reel of film could not record a long time, so a break was needed to change the film. Ms. Mikawa was busy changing the film in the background.

During the intermission, Shinko casually began discussing the movie's plot with Kage: "Oh dear, this 'fate' is truly cruel."

Kage shook his head: "This is not 'fate,' it's just Seishimaru's choice... Keisuke deliberately made his swords clink together, so Seishimaru could hear the direction even with his eyes closed."

"He ultimately chose the side with the sword, which meant he was determined to take revenge."

The goddess nodded: "Yes, so if you were in Seishimaru's position, what would you choose? Would you choose swords or Temari? Would you turn your swords against your former friend, or would you sever all ties and never speak to each other again?"

Ying was silent for a moment before replying, "I... don't want to choose either side."

The divine child smiled and said, "Is that so?"

Han Fulai couldn't help but interject, "I think it was Wakayama Keisuke who deliberately took on this feud to protect his friend. I've heard that when Inazuma samurai commit seppuku, they ask a skilled swordsman to 'kaishakunin' for them, so that the criminal suffers less pain."

"Being able to serve as a 'second' means that the previous generation of the Wakayama family was deeply trusted by the previous generation of the Kurotani family—in the eyes of the previous generation, this was not an enmity, but rather a favor."

This was the Inatsuma samurai tradition that Kanoin Heizo told him when he went to investigate the headless corpses in the "Snake Bone Mine." According to this tradition, Seishimaru should not have sought revenge against the Wakayama family, the "kaishakunin" who carried out the execution; this would have been completely contrary to the code of the samurai.

"The real enemies of Seishimaru are those 'higher-ups' who wronged his father. However, given the power of these higher-ups, Seishimaru has no chance of getting revenge. Instead, he would only drag the entire Kurotani family down with him and bring them to their doom. So, in order to protect his friend and the Kurotani family, Wakayama Keisuke deliberately became the target of this revenge."

"He deliberately made the sword make a sound, which was to imply that Seishimaru chose to take revenge on him, and to save the names of Seishimaru, Wakayama and Kurotani families with his life. Seishimaru pointing to the sword at the end actually meant that he understood his friend's good intentions."

"Moreover, the two did not draw their swords and fight on the spot—Keisuke said he was waiting for him to come to his door, so as long as Seishimaru does not come to seek revenge, wouldn't that be a perfect ending?"

The god raised his hand and stuffed a string of dumplings into his mouth.

"Even though you're absolutely right, and that's exactly how the script goes... I'm still giving you a zero!"

Ying quietly raised her hand to cover her mouth, seemingly trying to suppress a laugh.

Han Fulai chewed on a dumpling, his face full of question marks—I got everything right, so why did I get zero points?

The break ended, and the curtain lit up again.

The scene has now shifted to a high cliff by the sea, in a wilderness overgrown with weeds.

Amidst the overgrown weeds, three people stood silently facing each other.

The screen showed the names of three people: Machiko Yano (Koharu), Seishimaru Kurotani (Rikuto Okazaki), and Kojuro Wakayama (Sasano).

"Huh? Wakayama Kojuro, was there such a person before?" Kage asked, frowning.

The goddess answered softly, "Because the 'Epigraph' project has just started, there aren't many people willing to participate, so we have to reuse actors... Anyway, Kojuro is set to be Keisuke's younger brother, so it's normal that they look alike."

Machiko knelt on one knee and reported to Seishimaru, "Lord Seishimaru, I have brought you the Wakayama family... but Lord Keisuke is... gone. You, give up all of this..."

When Kojuro Wakayama heard Machiko say "give up," he couldn't help but let out a cold laugh: "Hmph, Kurotani, you've come here to take revenge on Keisuke-nii, haven't you? Because of your foolish promise, Keisuke-nii has worked day and night for the past year to finally settle things at home... but he's ruined his health in the process."

Seishimaru silently lowered his head: "...He's gone."

Kojuro Wakayama suddenly raised the cross-shaped spear in his hand: "You cowardly bastard, all you do is blame the criminals!"

“But even if you want to take revenge on the executioner, you can’t do it. Because my father and Keisuke’s father are no longer here.”

"Kurotani, you are not capable of avenging the executioners who killed your adoptive parents, and you even hurt Keisuke, who kindly advised you... You are not worthy of being called a samurai!"

"My elder brother said that if you are going to carry out executions for others, you must be prepared to face retribution. If you don't even have that much courage, you are not qualified to go to the battlefield to take other people's lives."

"So even though my elder brother is gone, I, Wakayama Kojuro, Keisuke's younger brother, am willing to accept your revenge!"

Seishimaru stared at Kojuro's face, which was exactly the same as his brother's, and recalled the time when the two were like brothers in their childhood—the scene flashed, and two little boys were patting the same orange temari ball, with one of the little boys giving the temari ball to the other boy as a gift.

A few seconds later, the scene returned to the wilderness.

Seishimaru lowered his katana: "I'm sorry, I..."

Kojuro raised his spear and shouted, "Even if you want to run away now, it's too late! You killed my brother, I will never forgive you, you are not allowed to leave!"

Having said that, he raised his gun and attacked.

Left with no other choice, Seishimaru had to pick up his katana to fight.

Kage's eyes sparkled: "Ah, this is the spear technique of 'Nagaja Kitain,' and it has captured some of its essence... Hmm, could the move Seishimaru used be Chiyo's 'Twelve-Layered Hattori'?"

The goddess explained from the side, "The martial arts choreography for this film was handled by a descendant of Kitain, the magistrate of the company. By the way, Genjiro from the Mikoto family also announced his resignation from the Tenryo Magistrate after the Kujo family's downfall. Since that kid couldn't find a good job, I introduced him to Xavier as a consultant. He's a samurai himself, and his swordsmanship is quite good."

Kage nodded seriously: "Yes, the scenes of sword fighting showcase the majesty of the samurai and the shogunate. This 'Eikage' is very good."

Han Fulai's lips twitched, and he tried his best to suppress his吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to complain or criticize).

After a spectacular fight, Seishimaru proved to be the better fighter and broke Kojuro's spear in two.

Exhausted from his defeat, Kojuro collapsed to the ground, but his eyes still burned with fury: "As long as you can't kill me, I will spend my whole life seeking revenge on you, until I die!"

Seishimaru murmured, "I said the same thing."

Kojuro spat and clenched his fist, seemingly preparing to fight again empty-handed.

At the critical moment, Machiko rushed between the two and used her body to separate Seishimaru and Kojuro.

"Fortunately, no one has died. Warriors, you should rest now."

She clenched her small fist and tried her best to persuade them: "Why are you getting angry and upset... all this family stuff, revenge, these things that are hard to explain, what's there to worry about?"

"I'm a tea seller. As long as I can eat my fill and be happy, it doesn't matter whether I'm surnamed Yano, Kurotani, or Wakayama!"

"Well, I'm not good at giving advice... but when rainwater falls into the lake, the lake dries up, and then it rains again, freezing into ice. If you put that ice on a stove and bake it, it turns into sweet tea. Who cares whether the tea stall gives you comes from the sky, the lake, or the pot?"

Kojuro looked at the girl spouting nonsense with a puzzled expression.

“Hmm…that seems like a fallacy…” Machiko tapped her head in frustration, then put her hands on her hips and pointed at Kojuro with an air of authority: “Fine, fine, whatever. Anyway, I’ve spoken—samurai, stop fooling around and go home for dinner.”

She turned her head again: "You too, Seishimaru, come home with me, I made sweet violet rice porridge today!"

As Seishimaru looked at Machiko's face, the long sword in his hand gradually loosened.

He suddenly said, "Machiko, I like you very much."

Machiko's face flushed instantly, and she raised her hand to cover her face: "Eh? What are you saying at a time like this? I'll be embarrassed."

To hide her embarrassment, she reached out and nudged Seishimaru's shoulder. "Oh dear, I'll assume you don't want to draw your sword against Lord Wakayama. Please turn back, he can't move now..."

Seishimaru nodded slightly: "Since I am born like rain and die like tea, and both birth and death are like water, I have nothing to be attached to."

Machiko's face lit up with delight: "That's so good!"

But then Seishimaru bowed to Kojuro, then suddenly turned around and ran towards the cliff: "If rain can save the calamities on earth, then so can I."

He leaped into the sea.

"grown ups!"

"Kurotani!"

Machiko and Kojuro reached out at the same time, but they couldn't save Seishimaru.

The camera gradually zooms out, eventually settling on a temari ball on the edge of a cliff. On the badly worn temari ball, the words "...Saki Seishimaru" can be vaguely seen.

The curtain fell dark again, leaving only the words "The End" visible.

Chapter 384 is about the Divine Child [9k] (3/10)

The divine child asked the two of them, "What are your thoughts?"

Ying did not answer, so Han Fulai spoke first: "Although the production cost of this film is not high and there are relatively few scenes, the actors' performances are very dedicated, the lines are very infectious, and the costumes, props, makeup and so on in the film are also very exquisite. It is a sincere work."

"Moreover, as a 'Sword Formation Reflection,' the action scenes in this 'Reflection' are also exceptionally well-shot, even earning high praise from the General."

"This film is called 'Musai Shinobu.' The two main characters, Seishimaru and Keisuke, do not survive in the end. Is that what 'Musai' means? In fact, these two people have very similar personalities. In the end, they both chose to use their own lives to sever the chain of hatred..."

"The Inazuma War has just ended, and the shogunate and Umijima have only recently reconciled. It is a time when people need to put aside past hatreds and work together to face the future. In this sense, this novel, Musei Shinobu, is also very relevant to reality."

"As the pioneering work of the Teyvat 'Film' industry, the significance of 'Shinobi' cannot be overstated. I believe it can become a strong cornerstone for the industrialization of Teyvat 'Film', and has a very broad prospect in terms of cultural dissemination and social value orientation..."

The goddess clapped her hands: "Alright, remember to write this review and submit it to 'Yaedo'. Now you can shut up."