No matter whether it was the masters and disciples of the Hosho Sword Hall or the bearded man and his entourage, in short - everyone present except Atachi was staring in amazement at Ogata who had just knocked Shimura's wooden sword off with one blow.
Everyone was recalling what had just happened.
First, Ogata and Shimura both took mid-range stances and faced each other.
Shimura shouted with great vigor, "Come on!"
Then Ogata closed the distance between him and Shimura at a speed that was so fast that it was dazzling, and then slashed horizontally at the blade of the wooden sword in Shimura's hand, directly knocking the wooden sword in Shimura's hand away.
It was not until the wooden sword in his hand was knocked away that Shimura realized that he had been defeated.
Shimura's dull gaze moved back and forth between his own palm, which was aching from having the back of the knife forcefully knocked off his hand, and Ogata in front of him.
"Thank you." Ogata put down the wooden sword in his hand, bowed to Shimura, and then stepped back to where he had just stood.
Only now did Shimura come back to his senses from his daze.
The sword in his hand was knocked away by the opponent - in a real sword duel, Shimura was the kind of person who could not die any more.
He was defeated without even being able to see his opponent's figure or sword moves - this made Shimura look indignant.
But if he lost, he lost. He could only suppress the resentment and anger in his heart and sit back at the edge of the dojo.
Just as Shimura stepped back, a handsome young man around 25 years old quickly stood up, took a wooden sword from the sword rack next to him, walked quickly into the dojo, and came in front of Ogata.
"The Ten Swords of Hosou! Sanjo Heigoro!" The handsome young man announced his name while readying the wooden sword in his hand.
Ogata also resumed his mid-range stance.
"Izumo Ronin, Majima Goro."
“Drink aaaaaaa——!”
As soon as Ogata announced his name, Sanjo released a Qi Kai and closed the distance between him and Ogata in one breath, then swung his sword at Ogata.
Through the battle between Ogata and Shimura just now, Sanjo has already seen that Ogata's speed is quite amazing.
If he foolishly waited for the incredibly fast Ogata to launch the first attack, he would probably repeat Shimura's mistake.
So in order to win, San Tiao decided to take the initiative.
According to the introduction that the bearded man just gave to Ogata, "The Ten Swords of Hosho" is a collective name for the ten most skilled swordsmen in the Hosho Sword Hall.
Since this handsome young man named Sanjo is also known as the "Ten Swords of Hosho", he is naturally one of the best in the sword hall.
After Sanjo launched an attack on Ogata, faint exclamations were heard from all around.
Many apprentices of the Hosho Sword School were surprised by Sanjo's extremely fast attack speed.
However, facing the extremely fast slash in the eyes of others, Ogata remained calm, stepped to the side, and easily dodged Sanjo's slash.
San Tiao's stepping and slashing speed seemed incredibly fast in the eyes of others.
But in Ogata's eyes——it was a snail's pace that he could easily dodge.
After absorbing the "Immortality Poison" in his body for the second time, Ogata's strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, and vitality increased to 20 points, 18 points, 15 points, 21 points, and 36 points respectively.
Ogata's current physical fitness is a world of difference compared to the time when he just traveled to this era and all his attribute values ​​were only 5 points.
His physical fitness is now far beyond that of ordinary people.
Ogata's 15-point reflexes allowed him to easily see through Sanjo's sword moves and react quickly.
With an agility of 18 points, Ogata could easily dodge Sanjo's slashes as if he was walking through a street in the early morning.
Although there was no need to use "Stepping" at all, in order to gain some experience points for Muga's Two-Sword Style, Ogata still used "Stepping" to dodge Sanjo's attack.
After dodging Sanjo's attack, Ogata quickly switched from the middle stance to the lower stance.
Sakakibara Ittoryu: Climb the stairs!
Ogata's wooden sword hit Sanjo's wooden sword blade accurately.
The next moment the two wooden swords touched each other, San Tiao felt a huge force transmitted along the wooden swords to the palms of his hands.
The three were simply unable to resist this huge force.
So he could only watch as the wooden sword in his hand flew out of his hand, flew high, almost hit the ceiling, drew a beautiful parabola, and fell heavily behind him.
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu·Climb the stairs and defeat the enemy]
[Gained 55 personal experience points, 55 sword skills "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience points, 10 sword skills "Mugu Two-Sword Flow" experience points]
[Current personal level: Lv34 (1925/5200)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 12th Stage (1570/9000)]
[Mutual Dual Blade Level: 11th Stage (1640/12000)]
Because Ogata had just used the stepping stone of Muga Nisuruyu, Muga Nisuruyu also gained a certain amount of experience points - although very little, it was better than nothing.
"Thank you." Ogata bowed slightly to Sanjo.
"I lost..." Sanjo returned the greeting with a wry smile, accepting his defeat calmly.
I lost with all my heart - these are my three current thoughts.
The attack he had just made was an all-out attack without reservation.
But Ogata dodged it easily.
And he couldn't even take on Ogata's continuous slashes.
Undoubtedly a disastrous defeat.
After nodding to Ogata, Sanjo turned around, picked up his wooden sword that was knocked away, and sat back in the seat he had just sat in.
As soon as Sanjo stepped back, another young man excitedly took a wooden sword from the knife rack and stood in front of Ogata.
"The Ten Swords of Hosou! Kayano Takeshi!"
Osamu nodded to him and readjusted his knife.
This time, Ogata did not adopt the middle stance, but the upper stance.
A tall person using an upper stance will be extremely intimidating.
With a little imagination, you can imagine how terrifying this scene is: a person who is dozens of centimeters taller than you, holding a katana high in the hand - you probably don't even know how to get close to him.
Chino is only about 1.5 meters tall.
Facing Ogata, who was 1.7 meters tall and in an upper-level stance, he suddenly felt the pressure doubled.
Although feeling pressured, Chino was not afraid at all. Instead, he was eager to try.
After licking his dry lips, he shouted loudly and attacked Ogata.
Bang!
After Kayano rushed to the distance where his sword could hit him, Ogata used Water Fall without hesitation.
Because of his height, Chino's arms are much shorter than Ogata's, and his attack range is far less than Ogata's.
Ogata's knife was already able to hit him, but the tip of his knife could only barely touch the corner of Ogata's clothes.
Unable to hit Ogata, the only options left for Kayano were to dodge or take Ogata's sword head-on.
Chino was not a very nimble person and was not good at dodging, so he could only grit his teeth, raise his sword to block, and try to use brute force to block Ogata's sword.
Bang!
The sound of wooden swords colliding rang out again.
Like his two previous fellow disciples, Kayano was unable to withstand the huge force transmitted along the wooden sword, and the sword was directly knocked away.
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu: Waterfall to defeat the enemy]
[Gained 55 personal experience points, and 55 swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience points]
[Current personal level: Lv34 (1980/5200)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 12th Stage (1625/9000)]
"Thank you."
…
…
After Chino was defeated, another person immediately stepped forward with a sword in hand, wanting to fight with Ogata.
The contest between Ogata and these apprentices of the Hosho Sword School profoundly proved a truth - in unarmed combat and cold weapon combat, facing absolute poor physical fitness, any skills are nonsense.
Ogata is far superior to these apprentices of the Hosho Sword Hall in terms of strength, agility and reflexes.
Ogata was able to dodge their attacks with ease.
They could neither dodge nor receive Ogata's extremely ordinary attack.
Feints, deceptions...there is no need to use these techniques against the enemy.
Facing these apprentices of Hosho Sword Hall, Ogata is simply a "swordsman".
Just one simple attack is enough to defeat them all.
The only thing to note is that Ogata's current power value is too high.
It is very troublesome to control your powerful force and try not to hurt your opponent.
So in order to save trouble, Ogata did not attack these people's bodies, but only attacked the knives in their hands, knocking the knives out of their hands.
…
…
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu: Waterfall to defeat the enemy]
[Gain 35 personal experience points, and 35 swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience points]
[Current personal level: Lv34 (2330/5200)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 12th dan (2005/9000)]
After once again knocking away the sword of the challenger in front of him, the system sound prompting the gaining of experience points sounded in Ogata's mind again.
This is today's 13th system sound prompting you to gain experience points.
Ogata has defeated 13 challengers from Hosho Kenkan in succession.
In addition to the Ten Swords of Hosho, there were also some apprentices who were eager to compete with this rare strong man and went into battle to compete with Ogata.
Because their strength is very weak, you won’t get much experience points after defeating them.
But after fighting a series of battles in a row, Ogata still reaped a lot of rewards.
If it were anyone else, they would probably be out of breath after fighting 13 people in a row.
But Ogata still acts as if nothing happened.
His breathing was steady, with just a few beads of sweat on his forehead. You couldn't tell at all that he had fought 13 people in a row.
Ogata's current physical strength is 21 points.
After leaving Edo with Atachi, he first experienced how powerful physical strength with a value exceeding 200, in a forest where no one passed by.
Because he had too much energy and recovered too quickly, Ogata and Atachi had some troubles with certain things.
Fighting 13 noobs wouldn't make Ogata's breathing become rapid.
After the 13th challenger left the stage with a frustrated look on his face, no one else came on immediately like before.
Just when Ogata thought that no one else would come on stage, another apprentice from the Hosho Sword Hall slowly walked forward after hesitating for a while.
Although this apprentice is short, he is extremely strong.
This "short and strong" apprentice did not go to the knife rack to get the knife, but just stood in front of Ogata with empty hands.
"Your Highness!" the short and stocky apprentice asked in a loud voice, "Excuse me, are you good at bare-handed martial arts?"
"Not as good as swordsmanship," Ogata said, "but I still know a little bit."
"So - can you teach me a thing or two?"
After saying that, the short and strong apprentice raised his hands and assumed the starting stance of Katori Shinto-ryu Jujutsu.
It is actually inaccurate to say that Katori Shinto-ryu is a swordsmanship school.
The Sakakibara Ittoryu and Muga Nitoryu that Ogata learned are the most standard swordsmanship styles. Apart from swordsmanship, nothing else is taught.
Katori Shinto-ryu does not just teach swordsmanship.
The full name of Katori Shinto-ryu is "Tenshin Shinden Katori Shinto-ryu", which was born in the Warring States Period two hundred years ago and is a truly ancient martial arts.
In addition to swordsmanship, Katori Shinto-ryu also teaches many other martial arts.
Kodachijutsu, Odachijutsu, double swordjutsu, sword-drawing technique, stick technique, naginata technique, spear technique, judo, shuriken technique, and ninjutsu.
In addition to these martial arts, Katori Shinto-ryu also teaches many strange things.
For example: Feng Shui, city building...
Although Katori Shinto-ryu is a comprehensive samurai style that encompasses many martial arts, very few dojos that teach Katori Shinto-ryu have the ability to teach all martial arts.
Most of the Katori Shinto-ryu dojos can only teach swordsmanship.
A good example is Ishikawa Kenkan, which had a very bad relationship with Sakakibara Kenkan when Sakakibara Kenkan was still in existence and with which Ogata had fought a great battle.
Ishikawa Kenkan is also a dojo that teaches Katori Shinto-ryu, but they only teach swordsmanship and not other martial arts.
After seeing the short and strong apprentice in front of him taking a fighting stance, Osamu guessed that this Hosho Sword Hall should be the kind of dojo that is relatively rare nowadays that teaches both swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat.
"With great pleasure." After placing the wooden sword in his hand on the floor not far away, Ogata raised his hands and assumed the starting posture of Shiranui-ryu Jujutsu.
"Shimabara Shibei!"
After loudly announcing his name, the short and stocky apprentice—Shimabara—moved his feet and moved closer to Ogata little by little.
Ogata also moved his feet little by little towards Shimabara.
Just when both of them were able to touch each other's hands, Shimahara shouted loudly, pounced into Ogata's arms, grabbed Ogata's collar, and then used the techniques of Katori Shinto-ryu jujutsu to try to throw Ogata to the ground.
Shimahara did not hold back at all and used all his strength.
However——even though he had used all his strength, Ogata did not move at all.
Shimahara cast a look of astonishment at Ogata - he felt as if Ogata's feet were rooted to the ground and he couldn't move even an inch.
Unarmed combat is more physical than armed combat.
When both sides are unarmed, the person with greater strength, greater speed and quicker reaction will basically win - there is no doubt about that.
Unless you use the "Ogata-ryu" and throw sand in people's faces.
Ogata simply exerted a little strength and planted his feet more firmly on the ground, and he easily resisted Shimabara's strength.
After Shimabara failed to pull Ogata several times, Ogata launched a counterattack.
Ogata raised his hand and grabbed the collar of Shimabara's kimono, then used the Shiranui-ryu jutsu to easily pull Shimabara up from the ground and throw him to the ground.
When throwing Shimabara to the ground, Ogata used less force, causing him only some pain, but no serious injuries.
[Ding! Use Shiranui Ninjutsu and Shiranui Jujutsu to defeat the enemy]
[Gain 45 personal experience points, 45 experience points for Ninjutsu "Shiranui Style Ninjutsu"]
[Current personal level: Lv34 (2375/5200)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 6th Stage (3805/4500)]
Seeing that Ogata actually knew judo and was willing to use judo to "learn" from them, some apprentices who had no confidence in their swordsmanship but had some confidence in their judo began to get restless.
After Shimahara saluted Ogata with a look of regret and left the stage, another apprentice immediately came forward and wanted to practice judo with Ogata.
After Ogata used Shiranui-ryu Jutsu to defeat three people in succession, his personal level experience bar rose to Lv34 (2525/5200), and his Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu experience bar rose to level 6 (3955/4500).
Including the 13 people he defeated with swordsmanship before and the 4 people he defeated with judo just now, Ogata now has 17 consecutive wins.
Just now, when he was watching Bearded Man and others challenging the apprentices of Hosho Sword Gym, Ogata had counted the number of apprentices present in the sword gym - a total of 68 people.
17 people - this already accounts for a quarter of the number of apprentices in the Hosho Sword Hall.
This means that Ogata has defeated a quarter of the apprentices of the Hosho Sword Hall on his own.
Ogata shifted his gaze and looked at the other three quarters of the apprentices who had not yet entered the arena.
The remaining three quarters of the students all lowered their heads slightly or looked away, with no intention of stepping forward to compete with Ogata and save face for their own sword hall.
As for the bearded man and his companions, after they saw Ogata knock away the "Ten Swords of Hosho" that defeated the four of them with one sword, their mouths opened wide in astonishment and their jaws seemed like they would drop to the ground at any time.
Then, after seeing Ogata winning battle after battle, the astonishment on their faces turned into joy.
Human psychology is so strange.
After being humiliated, one hopes that others can vent his anger for him.
No one came on stage again.
An old male voice full of praise sounded:
"Beautiful skills! I didn't expect that in this era of declining martial arts, there would still be such a talent!"
The owner of this old male voice is an old man who is about 50 years old.
The old man had been sitting in the main seat of the dojo, quietly watching the apprentices of the dojo fight against the bearded man and Ogata one after another.
Being able to sit in the main seat in the dojo - it goes without saying what kind of status this old man has.
"I am Hosho Shinnosuke! I am the owner of this Hosho Sword Hall!" The old man introduced himself. "I am not well educated and cannot recognize the swordsmanship and judo you use. What are the names of your swordsmanship and judo schools?"
"The sword technique I practice is called Komaki Ittoryu," Ogata replied. "It's a rare sword technique that is only practiced in a small corner of Izumo. It's normal that you don't recognize it."
"As for the judo I use, it has no school or sect. It is just a wild method that I figured out on my own."
It was naturally impossible for Ogata to say that the jutsu he used was a jutsu from the Shiranui-ryu ninjutsu.
Baosheng smiled and nodded, looking Ogata up and down with a smiling gaze, and then asked:
"Are you a traveler who has come here?"
"That's about right. I traveled here because of something."
"Are you and Reiji going to stay in Kinno-cho for a long time? Or are you just passing through here and will leave soon?"
"I don't plan to stay in Kinno-cho for long, but I won't leave right away either. For some reason, my wife and I will stay in Kinno-cho for more than a month, and we won't be able to leave until January next year."
After learning that Ogata would stay here for more than a month, Baosheng raised his eyebrows and then looked thoughtful.
After thinking for a moment, he turned around and shouted to the disciples not far away:
"You two should leave for a moment. I need to discuss something privately with Mashima-kun."
After giving orders to his disciples, Baosheng looked at the bearded man and his group in the distance.
"Everyone, please leave first."
Baosheng seemed to have a lot of prestige among his disciples. After Baosheng gave the order, his disciples responded in unison without saying a word and then filed out of the dojo.
Although Bearded Man and his men suffered a crushing defeat, they were in a good mood because they saw Ogata avenge them with their own eyes, and left the dojo with some joy on their faces.
Soon, only Hosho, Ogata, and Atachi were left in the dojo.
"Mashima-kun, please feel free to sit down."
Baosheng smiled and made a "please" gesture to the person in front of him.
"I want to talk to you about something."
Ogata was somewhat curious about what Baosheng said he wanted to talk to him about, so he slowly walked to a few steps away from Baosheng and knelt down.
At this time, Atachi also came to Ogata's side, holding the Daishakuten and Daishizai that Ogata had just given her for safekeeping, and then sat down next to Ogata.
"My apprentice is not very good at learning." Baosheng smiled bitterly and bowed to Ogata, "I'm sorry to make you laugh."
"That's not the case." Ogata immediately bowed in return, "Your disciples are all very outstanding. I haven't seen such a lively and energetic sword school for a long time."
There was no politeness in what Ogata said just now; it was all the truth.
He sincerely felt that the Hosho Sword Gym was quite good, the apprentices were very energetic, and the gym had a very good atmosphere.
Ogata could see that among those who had just come forward to challenge him, quite a number of them actually knew that they would lose.
But they still went on stage without hesitation, just to compete with the rare masters.
Most of the 17 people admitted their defeat frankly after being defeated.
Come on stage neatly and leave stage happily.
It is really rare and precious that nearly a quarter of the people in a sword hall have such courage to challenge and an open-minded character.
After saying a few humble words, Baosheng asked Ogata seriously:
Hearing Ogata's words, Baosheng's face showed an expression of joy that was difficult to conceal.
"I admire your swordsmanship very much." Baosheng said, "Even I might not be able to withstand even three of your moves."
"No. " Ogata was also modest, "Thank you for your praise."
"If you don't mind, I hope you can be my guest for the remaining month or so and teach me and my disciples swordsmanship."
After saying this, Baosheng leaned over and bowed to Ogata.
"Guests?" Ogata raised his eyebrows. "Teach you swordsmanship?"
Recruiting diners was one of the practices that became popular in dojos during the Edo period.
Some wealthy dojo owners would recruit people with good swordsmanship to their dojo.
The so-called hangers-on are a group of people who are usually supported by the owner of the dojo and have to step forward to serve the dojo when the dojo is in need.
"A hang-up when nothing happens, a helper when something happens, an accomplice in a quarrel, and an accomplice in a fight" - this sentence is the most appropriate to describe diners.
The reasons for recruiting diners are often strange.
Some of them keep a group of powerful diners to guard against challengers, and when they encounter someone who comes to challenge them, they let the powerful diners fight.
Some of them are to enhance the prestige of the sword hall.
And according to what Baosheng said just now, he recruited Ogata as a guest for another more general reason - to allow powerful guests to teach the apprentices in the hall.
"To be honest, I have never seen a young talent as strong as you."
Baosheng, who was leaning on the ground, said respectfully.
"It would be a pity to let you, who are so skilled in swordsmanship, leave like this."
"Since you will be staying here for more than a month, why don't you come to my sword hall often during this month to teach my disciples."
"I will not treat you unfairly. If you wish, I can provide you with three meals a day and pay you."
The fact that Baosheng extended an olive branch to him was indeed beyond Ogata's expectations.
A look of surprise appeared on his face. After staring at Baosheng in front of him for a few times, Ogata asked back:
"You want to take me as your guest? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Baosheng replied without hesitation, "Every word I said just now is not a lie."
"It's rare to meet a swordsman with such great strength, who might be able to help my disciples improve their swordsmanship. It would be a shame not to invite him to teach me a thing or two!"
Looking at Hosho who was still prostrating himself on the ground in front of him, Ogata fell into deep thought.
In fact, this kind of situation where a challenger suddenly becomes a patron of the sword hall was quite common in the Edo period.
Sometimes, some sword gym owners, out of admiration for talent, would take in strong challengers as their patrons.
Therefore, some ronin who don't want to work and just want to eat and drink for free will go around to challenge other dojo in order to become their customers and rely on them, hoping that a mentor will accept them.
However, it is quite rare to see a sword gym owner who is willing to accept a challenger who has defeated all of your disciples and ask him to instruct his own disciples in the future.
"...I really admire your broad-mindedness." Ogata smiled faintly, "Faced with me who came to seek advice and defeated 17 of your disciples, not only did you not get angry at all, but you also invited me to become a guest of your restaurant."
Ogata now understood why the apprentices of the Hosho Sword School were so full of vigor and energy, and so neither humble nor overbearing - the atmosphere of the sword school would be determined by the kind of master.
"Okay then." Ogata nodded vigorously. "I'll be grateful for your guidance in the remaining month or so."
What does it mean when you feel sleepy the pillow comes - this is it.
Just when Ogata was worried about how to gain experience points in the remaining month, Baosheng invited him to be a guest in his sword hall.
As long as you become their guest, you can go to the Hosho Sword Gym openly in the future, and then "beat up" the apprentices of the sword gym openly, and then accept a large amount of experience points openly.
Ogata naturally had no reason to refuse such a win-win situation.
"Then..." Baosheng's face showed an undisguised joy, "I'll have to trouble you in the future."
After saying this, Baosheng bowed to Ogata again, and Ogata also returned the bow respectfully.
…
…
at the same time--
In a village a little distance from Kinno-cho.
A dozen men gathered in a house in the village.
They were of different ages. The man sitting in the middle was the oldest, with most of his hair turned white. He was estimated to be between 50 and 60 years old. This old man was the chief of the village.
The village chief and the other men gathered in the house all had sad and heavy faces.
"Village chief...what should we do now?" A middle-aged man who was closest to the village chief said in a deep voice, "We have already gone to the government many times...the government completely ignored us..."
As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, the rest of the people present showed expressions of grief and anger.
Some people even gritted their teeth and clenched their fists, looking like they wanted to pick a fight right away.
Only the village chief looked calm, as if he had expected such a situation to happen.
The village chief, who remained calm, suddenly said:
"...Go and ask the samurai for help."
"Please ask for a warrior?" The middle-aged man exclaimed.
Everyone focused their eyes on the village chief with confusion and shock.
"This is the only thing we can do." The village chief sighed, "The government is unable to rescue us, so we can only ask the samurai to save us..."
"Life is not easy for the warriors these days."
"As long as we can offer a certain amount of compensation, there should be people who are having a hard time and are skilled enough to help us."
"...What can we use to hire the samurai?" It was the middle-aged man again, with a sad face, "There is nothing in the village..."
"Besides...what if we invite a pack of jackals to fight off the bear?"
"…We can only take a gamble." The village chief sighed again.