Although he was smiling brightly, what he said was totally incompatible with Genichi's current expression...
“…Master Genichi, are you serious…?”
"Of course I'm serious." Genichi waved the Tengu mask in his hand, "In order to prevent unrelated passers-by from seeing my face, I specially asked Shimada to buy this Tengu mask for me."
"…No wonder you suddenly asked Shimada to buy so many toys for you. So you wanted to use other toys as a cover to buy this mask…"
At this point, Ogata sighed softly.
"Master Genichi, your idea of ​​hunting down your enemies should not have been approved by Miss Kinoshita, right?"
"If I had Xiaolin's consent, I wouldn't have had to sneak through the window in the middle of the night." Yuan Yiyi said confidently, "Xiaolin can be quite nagging sometimes. If Xiaolin knew that I was planning to take the initiative to fight against those who beat me, she would definitely lecture me for a long time."
"Master Genichi, I have the same idea as Ms. Kinoshita." Ogata scratched his neck, "I think it's better for you to be patient for a while."
"Our primary goal now is to defeat Shiranui."
"So it's better to have less trouble than more..."
Ogata wanted to continue speaking, but Genichi raised his right index finger and shook it left and right.
"Ogata-kun, you don't understand this, right?"
"You should know this too, right? Shiranui and I have a blood feud."
Genichi raised his left hand and drew a vertical stroke across his left eye.
"When I was young, I fought a fatal battle with the current 17th Flame Demon and blinded his left eye. This is a personal vendetta."
"Ten years ago, there was a falling out between Fuuma no Sato and Shiranui. When Fuuma was about to be killed by Enma and his gang, I personally stepped in to mediate."
"It caused Shiranui to miss the opportunity to kill Fuma who attacked their base alone and brought great shame to them. This is a public grudge."
"With these two hatreds added together, Yan Mo has already hated me to the core."
Ogata listened attentively and nodded from time to time.
Ogata had heard of these two great hatreds between Genichi and Shiranui.
The former was learned from the secret book "Muga Nito-ryu", and the latter was learned from Fuma when he was recuperating at Fuma's home after the end of the "Battle of Nijo Castle".
"It's not clear whether Enma knows that many of my enemies are in Edo."
"Let's just assume that Enma knows that many of my enemies are in Edo."
"Ogata-kun, think about this."
"If you were a flame who hated Kinoshita Genichi to the core, and you knew that there were many people who hated Kinoshita Genichi to the core in Edo, what would you do?"
Hearing this, Ogata raised his eyebrows slightly.
Although Genichirō had not finished his words yet, Ogata had already understood what he meant.
"Would you consider cooperating with these guys who also hate Kinoshita Genichi?" Genichi grinned, "As you just said, our primary goal now is to defeat Shiranui."
"For us, whose ultimate goal is to defeat Shiranui, these enemies of mine who might fight alongside Shiranui are potential enemies."
"So before we launch a general attack on Shiranui, don't you think it would be wise to kill these enemies in advance?"
After listening to what Genichi said, Ogata fell silent.
Ogata had to admit - what Genichi said made sense.
His heart, which originally did not agree with Yuan Yi going there to cause trouble, was obviously shaken.
While Ogata was still in deep thought, Genichi put the Tengu mask back on his face.
"By the way, Ogata-kun, why don't you just follow me and fight my enemies together."
"Ah?" A look of surprise appeared on Ogata's face.
Genichi's invitation was so sudden that Ogata was stunned.
"If I'm alone, I can't fight many people alone, and maybe some of them will escape."
"It would be much easier if you were to coordinate."
"How about it? Do you want to come with me?"
Ogata was stunned for a moment by this sudden invitation from Genichi.
The already shaken heart became even more shaken.
By accompanying Genichi, you will definitely gain a lot of experience points.
Experience points have always been very attractive to Ogata.
And Genichi didn't stop talking yet.
"If you come with me, I can also teach you some sword-wielding techniques."
…
…
"Wow... the wind is so strong..."
As Ogata spoke, he tightened his haori around his body.
The evening breeze blowing towards Ogata like a sharp blade reminded him all the time that it was the time of year when the temperature difference between day and night was huge.
In order to fight against the night wind, Ogata was fully armed: hakama, kimono, haori, and tabi socks were all worn neatly.
Just now, Genichi and Ogata jumped out of the window of their room one after the other.
At this moment, the two were standing on a street with no one else around them.
Now converted into Earth's time unit, it is probably close to midnight.
At this time, except for a few areas such as Yoshiwara, the rest of Edo was already pitch dark, and no one was wandering on the streets.
"Let's go, Ogata-kun."
Because he was wearing a Tengu mask that just covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed, Genichi's voice was a little muffled.
"First, let me buy you a mask that covers your entire face. If passers-by see your face while you're dealing with those 'rats', it will be troublesome."
Compared to Ogata, Genichi's outfit seems quite cool.
She was still wearing only that thin white bathrobe, with neither shoes nor socks on her feet.
Looking at Genichi's cool outfit, Ogata couldn't help but say:
"Master Genichi, is it really okay for you to dress like this? Be careful of catching a cold. At least put on a pair of shoes."
"Hahaha. No, no." Genichi waved his hand generously, "This little breeze is just enough to sober me up."
"I have thick calluses on the soles of my feet, so it doesn't matter whether I wear shoes or not."
——That’s true…
Ogata said this in his mind and nodded.
Just as Genichi had just said, the calluses on the soles of his feet were very thick.
It was so thick that it reminded Ogata of the soles of boots worn in Western countries.
It is so thick that when you clap your two soles together, they make a "bang bang bang" sound...
Seeing that Genichi really didn't seem to be afraid of the cold and didn't want to wear shoes, Oobian stopped talking nonsense and got the topic back to business.
"Master Genichi, how do you plan to find those 'rats' in Edo, which has a population of over a million?"
It is always a bit inconvenient to always call someone "Genichi's enemy" or "my enemy".
For the sake of convenience, Ogata and the other two gave Genichi's enemies a nickname: Rats.
"Since I have decided to deal with these 'rats' one by one, I must know where I am most likely to encounter them."
Genichi grinned.
"Let's go to Yoshiwara."
"Yoshiwara?" Ogata's tone was involuntarily out of control because he was too surprised.
"Ogata-kun, have you forgotten? There are many 'rats' coming in and out of Yoshiwara right now, trying to find me in Yoshiwara or collect information about me."
"So we must go to Yoshiwara!"
After hearing Genichi's reminder, Ogata remembered that it seemed to be true.
It was from his old acquaintance Shirobei that Genichirō learned that many "rats" were going in and out of Yoshiwara in search of Kinoshita Genichirō, and from this he learned that many of his enemies were gathering in Edo.
"I just came back from Yoshiwara, and now I have to go back to Yoshiwara again..." Ogata couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Let's go, Ogata-kun."
Maybe it was because he breathed the long-lost outside air, but Genichi seemed to be quite excited.
"I don't know where the nearest store that sells masks is... If I had known, I would have asked Shimada where he could buy this Tengu mask for me."
After a fierce ideological struggle, Ogata decided to turn a blind eye to Genichir's decision to go out.
Ah, no. To describe it as "turning a blind eye" is a little inaccurate.
Ogata was not just turning a blind eye, but was directly an accomplice of Genichir.
Ogata understood that a big part of the reason why Genichi invited him was to drag Ogata into the water, so that Ogata and he would become grasshoppers on the same rope, and naturally achieve the purpose of silencing him.
Although he already knew that a big part of the reason why Genichi invited him was to drag him into this trap, Ogata still decided to jump into it.
This is due to several reasons.
On the one hand, I think Genichi's idea of ​​killing potential enemies is very reasonable and worth trying. And I can also gain some experience points by the way.
On the other hand, he was very interested in Genichi's swordsmanship instruction, and by the way, he wanted to see with his own eyes how strong the swordsmanship of Genichi, who was known as the "Sword Saint", was.
Although he had known Genichirō for a long time, Ogata had never seen him fight an enemy in person.
It would be a lie to say that I am not interested in Yuanyi's combat ability or his guidance.
Because of all these reasons, Ogata decided to hunt "rats" with Genichi and have some fun together.
The two were lucky that they could still find a store selling masks that was still open at this late hour.
Ogata didn't care what mask he wore to hide his identity, so he just bought a white fox mask at random.
After purchasing masks to conceal their identities, "Tengu" and "White Fox" approached Yoshiwara while carefully avoiding passers-by who occasionally appeared on the street...
…
…
Just as Ogata and Genichi slipped out through the window -
In Edo, in the inn where Ogata and his friends were staying——
Mamiya, who had his cheek turned toward the ceiling, closed his eyes and was breathing long and rhythmically, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up from the bed after Ogata and Genichi jumped out of the room.
When Ogata and Genichir jumped out of the window just now, they did not forget to close the window again.
Mamiya sat up from the bed, showing a strange expression, and whispered in a tone of doubt and helplessness:
"What are these two doing..."
…
…
Ogata and Genichi did not enter Yoshiwara, but hid outside the gate of Yoshiwara.
Ogata and Genichi hid in a dense bush outside the Yoshiwara gate, monitoring the only entrance and exit to Yoshiwara.
Although it is late now, there are still many men and women entering and exiting the sleeve doors on both sides of the gate.
Looking at the Yoshiwara Gate not far away, which he had just left and returned to not long ago, Ogata's expression was very complicated.
"Master Genichi," Ogata said softly, "Although there are indeed many 'rats' going in and out of Yoshiwara in search of you and your information, it's so late now, is it really possible to encounter 'rats'?"
"And do you remember who the 'rats' were?"
Compared with the number of tourists entering and leaving Yoshiwara every day, the number of "rats" is definitely a drop in the bucket.
It is an extremely low probability event to squat outside the gate of Yoshiwara and catch a "rat" just entering or leaving Yoshiwara.
“Although I have forgotten the faces of some of my enemies, I still remember the faces of some of them.”
After saying that, Genichi suddenly stretched out his right hand forward.
"Ahaha, gotcha."
As Yuanyi spoke, he stretched out his right hand.
A bee that had been crushed to death by Genichi lay quietly on his right palm.
"I just felt a little greedy."
After saying that, Genichi threw the bee in his palm into his mouth and started chewing it.
Looking at Genichi's amazing operation, Ogata's eyes widened.
"Master Genichi, bees are not something you can eat raw, right? You can't touch their stingers."
As far as Ogata knew, the bee's sting seemed to be poisonous, and being stung would cause unbearable pain.
And Genichi actually stuffed the bee into his mouth like this...
"Bad luck. The bee didn't collect any honey. It's not sweet."
Genichi spat out the bee's sting while continuing to speak in an unclear tone:
"Indeed, you should not touch a bee's sting."
"The first time I ate bees, I was tortured to death."
"But later my body seemed to have adapted to the bee toxins, and I no longer felt any discomfort no matter how much I ate."
At this point, a hint of reminiscence appeared on Genichi's face.
"Using bees as food - this trick was taught to me by Fuma."
"We once had no money to eat because of some accidents, and then Fengma taught me what can be eaten raw without dying."
“That was such an epic and moving time…”
Looking at Genichi with a nostalgic look on his face, Ogata asked back:
"Master Genichi, you seem to have a very good relationship with Master Fuma."
"He even went so far as to pay the price of making a mortal enemy of Shiranui, mediating the fight between Shiranui and Fuuma no Sato and saving Fuuma-sama's life."
After the Battle of Nijo Castle, when Ogata was recuperating at Fuma's home, he heard from Fuma two magnificent stories: how Fuma attacked Shiranui's base alone, and how Genichi single-handedly mediated the war between the two ninjas.
"Feng Mo and I have a long history of friendship."
The look of reminiscence on Genichi's face became even more intense.
"Ogata-kun, you may not know that when Fuma took on the name of the new Fuma, his original name was Kanmi."
"We knew each other when his name was just Gan."
" As for what you just said, 'I'm willing to pay the price of making a mortal enemy of Shiranui'..."
At this point, a meaningful look flashed across Genichi's eyes.
"Making enemies with Shiranui is nothing."
"I have offended many forces in my life that are much more powerful than Shiranui."
"Forget it, let's not talk about these old things, let's talk about something interesting. Ogata-kun, look over there."
Minamoto Ichimo pursed his lips at the Yoshiwara gate not far away.
Ogata thought that a "rat" had finally appeared and looked towards the gate of Yoshiwara.
As a result, I only saw a woman who was about 30 years old and exuded mature charm. She was holding a large cloth bag and walking quickly out of Yoshiwara through the sleeve gate on the right side of Yoshiwara Gate.
"According to my guess, this woman should have a good background."
Yuan Yi talked freely.
"Although she was wearing ordinary clothes, her feet were very white and clean. Only women from wealthy families would have feet like this."
"...You asked me to look at that woman just to say this?" Several black lines appeared on Ogata's face.
"This is a little game I used to love playing to kill time." Yuan Yida, "Based on a person's appearance and clothing, you can guess their family background and what they do for a living."
After saying that, Genichi took a deep breath.
"It's more fun to hang out outside than to sit alone in a room drinking."
Ogata (staring): "Master Genichi... let me confirm, the reason you decided to annihilate the 'rats' one by one is to reduce our potential enemies, not to kill these guys who disturbed your outing... right?"
"Of course I want to kill all of our potential enemies!" Yuan Yi said without hesitation with a righteous look.
Although Genichi said this, Ogata still stared at him with a strange look mixed with a bit of suspicion...
While Ogata and Genichirō were talking, another group of people walked out of Yoshiwara.
Seeing someone else coming out of Yoshiwara, Ogata no longer bothered to look at Genichi with suspicion, and followed Genichi to look towards Yoshiwara's sode door.
After his eyes fell on this new group of people coming out of Yoshiwara, Genichi raised his eyebrows.
"Ogata-kun, it seems that our time spent guarding this place has not been in vain."
…
…
Baoji is very depressed now.
Tonight he led his six subordinates to Yoshiwara to inquire and collect information about Genichi Kinoshita.
However, no matter how he inquired, he could not find any news about Genichi Kinoshita.
Although there were many old men going in and out of Yoshiwara, none of them was Genichi Kinoshita.
Tonight is the day when the results of the "Imperial Examination" literary examination will be announced.
In order to confirm whether Genichi Kinoshita actually came to Edo to participate in the "Imperial Examination", Baoji just took a special look at the list of those who passed the literary examination - but did not see the name Genichi Kinoshita.
If you don't see Genichi Kinoshita's name, there are only three possibilities: Genichi did not attend the exam, Genichi attended under a pseudonym, or Genichi attended the exam but did not pass the written test.
Today is the 16th day since Baoji and his men headed south to Edo.
During this period of more than half a month, Baoji did not slack off for a single day and ran around every day to find out information about Genichi Kinoshita.
However, until now, I still haven't collected any information about Kinoshita Genichi...
Perhaps because they were dissatisfied with the days that they didn't know when they would end, one of Baoji's subordinates said in a tired tone when they came out of Yoshiwara:
"Master Baoji... Could it be that Genichi Kinoshita never came to Edo?"
Hearing this question from his subordinate, Baoji couldn't help but fall silent.
Because he thought that the "Imperial Trial" event would most likely attract Kinoshita Genichi, who was extremely obsessed with swordsmanship, Baoji led his only six subordinates to Edo in a mighty manner.
So many days have passed, and not a single bit of information about Genichi Kinoshita has been collected, which made Baoji wonder in his heart: Could it be that Genichi Kinoshita really didn't come to Edo?
After a moment of silence, Baoji said in a deep voice:
"Stay in Edo for another half a month."
"If there is still no news from Genichi Kinoshita, we will go back."
Because of his hatred for Genichi Kinoshita, Baoji was unwilling to leave Edo until there was absolutely no hope.
Baoji will never forget the night eight years ago when Kinoshita Genichi broke into their village and killed almost all of Baoji's subordinates.
Fortunately, his subordinates fought hard and helped Baoji buy time to escape, so Baoji was able to escape the butcher knife of Genichi Kinoshita.
The family of Hokichi, a famous bandit in the Akita area, was completely destroyed because of Genichi Kinoshita.
Over the past eight years, Baoji's hatred for Genichi has not only not diminished but has grown day by day.
In order to seek revenge, Baoji has been collecting information about Genichir from all over the past eight years while preparing weapons to defeat him.
It is now late at night. After leaving Yoshiwara, the number of figures that Baoji and others have seen is less than five fingers.
Baoji was no longer the mighty bandit leader he used to be, so in order to save money, he and his men stayed in a cheaper hotel located in a remote area.
At this time of day, even the main roads that would be very busy during the day were almost deserted, let alone the remote areas.
After Baoji and others turned into a small path, the scene that appeared in front of them forced Baoji and his subordinates to stop.
At the end of the path under their feet, stood two people.
Two people dressed very strangely.
One of them was dressed normally, with both upper and lower body clothes worn neatly.
The other person's attire was a little unusual in the night with the breeze howling - he was only wearing a thin white bathrobe and no shoes.
Although one of them was dressed normally, both of them were weird in Baoji's eyes - because they were wearing masks on their faces.
One wore a Tengu mask and the other wore a white fox mask.
"Who are you?" Baoji asked in a deep voice.
While questioning the two weirdos in a deep voice, Baoji and the six subordinates behind him all placed their hands on the hilts of the swords at their waists.
"Well...if I remember correctly, you should be the bandit leader that I wiped out a few years ago - Baoji, right?"
"Tengu" spoke out suddenly.
Hearing the voice of "Tengu", Baoji's face changed instantly, and then he gritted his teeth and screamed:
"Kinoshita Genichi!!"
…
…
After pointing out that the group of people who just walked out of Yoshiwara were "rats", Genichir took Ogata to follow closely behind this group of people and look for a suitable ambush opportunity, while introducing to Ogata who these "rats" were - the remnants of bandits that Genichir had wiped out in the Akita area about 8 years ago.
Eight years ago, Genichi went to Akita for some reasons and learned that a group of bandits named "Hoji family" occupied the mountain and committed crimes.
Because he hated these guys who committed arson, murder, looting and all kinds of evil, Yuanyi personally went to wipe them out.
Since it happened only 8 years ago, Genichi still remembers the face of the bandit leader who escaped.
After Ogata and Genichirō made their dashing appearance, Baoji immediately started to act hysterical.
"Hurry! You guys!" Baoji took off a thing wrapped in a thick cloth from his back and shouted to the six subordinates behind him, "Help me buy some time!"
Baoji has many doubts now.
For example: Is Kinoshita Genichi really in Edo? Why did he stop me? Was he following me and monitoring me?
Although there were countless questions, Baoji didn't have time to ask them one by one.
He now had only one thought in mind: to kill the bastard who had caused him to fall into this state!
The six subordinates behind Baoji were all survivors who had managed to escape Yuanyi's slaughter eight years ago.
Now seeing their enemies appear in front of them, the six men all frowned, drew their swords from their waists, and then shouted as they rushed towards Ogata and Genichirō.
"Ogata-kun, I leave it to you."
Genichi raised his hand and patted Ogata's shoulder.
"Huh?" Ogata turned his head to look at Genichi, his eyes that were only visible outside the mask flashing with surprise, "Am I the only one going?"
Ogata looked at Genichi as if to say: Are you kidding me?! You promised to teach me some sword-wielding skills? You let me do all the fighting, what are you teaching me?!
Genichi understood the meaning of Ogata's eyes, patted Ogata's shoulder again, and then put on a righteous look.
"I'll take care of their leader. You'll take care of his minions. Let me see your strength with my own eyes."
The six men had already arrived, and Ogata had no time to argue with Kinoshita any further.
The eyes exposed outside the mask stared at the six people who were only a few steps away. Then he stretched his left and right hands to his waist and pulled out Da Shitian and Da Zizai.
Since coming to Edo, I haven't had much opportunity to use my two-sword style.
Ogata intends to take this opportunity to regain the feel of dual swordsmanship.
After these six people entered his attack range, Oba took advantage of his height, long arms and long sword and took the lead in launching the attack.
With just two slashes, he knocked down the two people closest to him.
The system prompt sound also continued to play in Ogata's mind.