——Standing still...are you trying to identify my location?
——Oh! Naive! If my position was so easy to identify, there wouldn't be so many people who would be defeated by me!
Morimaru has fought countless battles of this kind, where he dragged the enemy into a dark environment that was most advantageous to him, and then fought a decisive battle with them.
Morimaru had encountered many opponents like Ogata who suddenly stood still in the dark.
According to Morimaru's experience - opponents who do this basically do so in order to calm their minds or to identify Morimaru's location by sound or smell.
And these people, without exception: all failed.
This is why Morimaru calls Ogata naive.
He was quite confident in the method he had practiced hard to conceal his aura and this "silent step".
In his mind, he had already imagined himself standing in front of Ogata, while Ogata was still unaware and was still trying to identify his position.
——This time... I must defeat the enemy with one blow!
Morimaru clenched the knife that he was holding high in the upper stance.
Using the above stance, he swung down with great force and hewed heavily - this was the sword technique that Morimaru had developed after he became blind and it was most suitable for a blind man like him.
Because if the knife is swung horizontally, it can easily be blocked by various obstacles on the side.
For example, if you swing a knife horizontally in the woods, the knife can easily be blocked by the trees next to you.
But if you swing the knife vertically, such as from top to bottom or from bottom to top, it will not be easily blocked by obstacles.
If you are fighting someone in the wild, it is basically impossible for anything to block the blade when you swing the sword vertically.
Only when fighting indoors, swinging the sword vertically may cause the ceiling, wooden beams, etc. to be hit.
But Morimaru had checked the cabin's ceiling beforehand—it was high enough for him to swing his sword as freely as he wanted.
Compared to swinging the sword from bottom to top, it is naturally easier to exert force and make a powerful blow when swinging the sword from top to bottom.
Therefore, it can be said that Morimaru's seemingly ordinary upper stance and vertical chop contain a lot of wisdom and are undoubtedly the most suitable swordsmanship for a blind man like him.
Morimaru used his "silent steps" to get closer to Ogata little by little...
…
…
After confirming that his eyes were completely useless now, Obe closed his eyes and tried to use his ears to listen to the sounds and find out Morimaru's location.
But I couldn't hear anything except my own breathing.
After finding that his ears were of no use, Ogata could only open his eyes helplessly.
——It would be great if I could know how he determines his position… Then I could try to disrupt his position determination and make him unable to find me.
Since traveling to the Edo period, Ogata has basically been doing two things in a continuous cycle: "fighting" and "recuperating".
The extremely rich combat experience not only made Ogata's sword swing more and more sharp, but also gradually made Ogata develop a big heart.
If someone else were placed in the battlefield where Ogata is now, and found that their usual vision and hearing were no longer effective, they would probably be so panicked that they would not be able to calm down.
But Ogata's heart rate didn't even increase much as he calmly thought about how to defeat the enemy.
——As long as I can see it with my own eyes, everything is fine...
The simplest and most direct way to defeat the blind man is to enable Ogata to see again.
But there are only two ways to see in such pitch-black darkness.
The first method is to delay. Keep delaying until Ogata's eyes adjust to the darkness.
The second method is to create a light source.
Of course, Morimaru couldn't just wait for Ogata's eyes to slowly adjust to the darkness.
Ogata dared to conclude that it would not be long before Morimaru, who was eager for a quick victory, would attack.
In this situation where he doesn't even know the enemy's position, Ogata can't guarantee that he can react in time and block the enemy's attack every time.
Therefore, the best way for Ogata to restore his eyesight now is to create a light source.
But the difficulty of implementing this method... can be said to be even more difficult than waiting until your eyes adapt to the darkness.
After all, Ogata, who never smokes, doesn't have anything on him that can light a fire.
——This is the first time I feel sorry for not being able to smoke…
——Is there anything else around here that can make a fire...hmm?
After muttering the word "fire" in his mind, Ogata paused.
Then...
Ogata silently sheathed the Great Freedom.
…
…
Morimaru was always listening to Ogata's voice and confirming Ogata's position and movements.
After Ogata put the Great Freedom Sword back into the sheath, Morimaru was the first to hear the noise.
Morimaru frowned when he heard Ogata put away a knife.
——What does he want to do…?
——As a two-sword swordsman, why would you put away one of your swords?
——Could it be that... he is planning some secret plan...
——Whatever! No matter what he wants to do, what I want to do will not change!
Morimaru, who silently raised his vigilance against Ogata to the extreme, continued to move towards Ogata at a slow and silent pace.
The distance between him and Ogata—only 7 steps left!
…
…
——Yeah...how could I have forgotten about it...Although the flame produced by this thing can only last for a moment.
——Let’s use that moment to decide the outcome!
After putting the Daijizai back into its sheath, Ogata thrust his free left hand into his bosom and pulled out his flintlock pistol - Meizen.
Ogata raised the muzzle of Meizen's gun and pointed it at the ceiling above his head.
Bang!
Although Meiren can only fire single shots, they are extremely powerful.
Precisely because of its enormous power, the moment the bullet leaves the gun, the fire bursting out from the muzzle is the largest and most dazzling.
The flash of fire from the muzzle was fleeting.
But at this moment, the firelight illuminated Ogata's face.
At the same time, it also illuminated... a "shadow" in front of Ogata, which was blurry but still barely recognizable as a human figure.
——There it is!
There was no time to slowly take Meiren into his arms, Ogata loosened his left hand, letting Meiren fall freely, and tightly grasped Daishikten with both hands, assuming the posture of "right lower section", and his body was like a tight spring that was suddenly released, "bouncing" towards Morimaru!
Sakakibara Ittoryu, Use Strength·Dragon Tail!
——Oh no! This guy actually has a pistol on him!
Morimaru's face changed drastically, and his entire face turned pale.
He could already hear Ogata running towards him.
Realizing that he had no way out, Morimaru gritted his teeth and decided to confront Ogata head-on.
Morimaru's knife chopped down vertically.
Ogata's sword slashed horizontally.
The two passed each other -
…
…
Although he is blind, Morimaru's behavior sometimes still reflects his habits from before he was blind.
Just like now - even though I can't see anything with my eyes, I still subconsciously lower my head and look at my belly.
His belly was cut.
Ogata concluded that Morimaru was not wearing chain mail. After all, no matter how powerful a person is, it is impossible for him to wear chain mail that makes a rattling sound without making any sound.
But to be on the safe side, Ogata still added the power of strength to the last slash.
Using a powerful force to chop a person who is not wearing any armor - the result is predictable.
When passing by Morimaru, Ogata slid from under his right armpit, who was holding a knife in the upper stance, and moved behind him.
At the moment he passed by Morimaru, Ogata slashed his Daishakuten into Morimaru's belly, and while sliding behind Morimaru, the blade cut into the belly and out from the lower back.
Like cutting a piece of paper, Ogata easily cut off most of Morimaru's waist, leaving only a little bit of flesh connecting Morimaru's upper and lower body.
And Morimaru's sword was one step slower than Ogata's sword.
Ogata had already chopped Morimaru, but Morimaru's sword was still swinging in the air.
At this moment, Morimaru was subconsciously "looking" at his waist and abdomen, which were only connected by skin and flesh, and was surprised to find that he could not feel any pain.
He only felt that his strength was draining away from his body at a rapid rate. In just a breath or two, he no longer had the strength to hold the knife or stand.
Unable to stand up again, his knees weakened and he fell to the ground.
For some reason... the memories of 25 years ago appeared in Morimaru's mind one by one...
“Ah… Ho…”
…
…
Morimaru was originally a samurai of relatively high status in the Ikiseki domain.
As a young man, he was appreciated for his superb swordsmanship and was promoted by the feudal lord to be his personal attendant.
Not everyone is qualified to be the lord's petty official. Morimaru, who is fortunate enough to become the lord's petty official, has a bright future.
Morimaru has always been proud of being able to serve the feudal lord, and has always performed his duties meticulously and dedicatedly.
At the age of 16, Morimaru successfully married a beautiful wife named Ahe.
A successful career, a promising future, a lovely wife, and a harmonious family - Morimaru has all this, which is enough to make others envious!
But all this happiness came to an abrupt end when Morimaru was 17 years old.
One day when Morimaru was 17 years old, he and the other petty officials of the lord accompanied the lord on a hunting trip.
But halfway to the hunting grounds, they were attacked.
They were attacked by a peasant uprising army.
This peasant uprising army, which was determined to revolt because of hatred for heavy taxes and heavy labor, ambushed the feudal lord on the road he had to take when he went out hunting, and tried to kill the feudal lord.
Faced with the rebels pouring out from all directions, Morimaru and his companions fought desperately to escort the feudal lord's breakout.
Morimaru's eyes were lost in this brutal breakout battle - after he pinned an insurgent to the ground, the fearless insurgent suddenly raised his right hand and poked Morimaru's eyes with his index and middle fingers.
If Morimaru was in his prime, avoiding such an attack would be a piece of cake.
But by then, Morimaru was already tired from fighting, so he was unable to avoid the sneak attack.
His eyes were stabbed firmly, and blood flowed out of his eye sockets, covering his entire face...
With the heroic efforts of Morimaru and others, they successfully escorted the lord out of the siege. After returning to the city, Morimaru was immediately carried away for treatment.
In the end, thanks to the doctor's strenuous treatment, Morimaru saved his life.
The only drawback is... the price paid is a little high.
Morimaru's two eyeballs had been punctured. In order to avoid infection, the doctor had to dig out his two punctured eyeballs.
Since then, Morimaru has become completely blind.
What Morimaru is most proud of is his swordsmanship.
Losing his eyes meant that he would never be able to use swordsmanship again. One can imagine how much of a blow this was to Morimaru.
Morimaru was once so distressed that he wanted to commit suicide.
But fortunately - the feudal lord was still kind and allowed Morimaru to "retire" early, and his salary was paid as usual.
The lord's kindness was like a lifeline to Morimaru, making him feel that his sacrifice was worth it and that he was right to try his best to save the lord.
But unfortunately... the lord's kindness soon disappeared...
The year after Morimaru went blind, a severe grain shortage occurred in the Ichinoseki domain.
The Ichigo domain was originally a small domain with a weak foundation.
This sudden food shortage immediately pushed the finances of the Ikki clan to the brink of collapse.
In order to survive this crisis, Ichigoki Domain made preparations in both aspects: "increasing revenue" and "reducing expenditure".
First, he borrowed money and grain from the wealthy merchants in Osaka to "increase revenue."
Then, they found some random reasons to stop the salaries of some unimportant samurai in the domain. For those samurai whose salaries could not be stopped, their salaries were halved.
Morimaru was one of the samurai whose salary was suspended...
Morimaru, who is blind and has no other special skills except swordsmanship, naturally no longer has any ability to work or earn money.
The suspension of their salary meant that their family’s only source of income was gone.
Morimaru and his wife immediately fell into a dilemma of having to live off their savings...
Morimaru also tried to do something to make money.
But what can the blind Morimaru do?
Three months after his salary was suspended, Morimaru's family had no more money left and nothing to sell.
The talented man who was once a man with a promising future and was admired by everyone, fell into poverty and could not even afford to eat in just over a year...
But the blow to Morimaru was far more than that...
After Morimaru became a poor man whose salary was stopped, his beautiful wife Ahe also gradually changed her mind.
It was not until Morimaru was really reduced to the situation where he didn't even have money for tomorrow's meal that Ah Yin could no longer bear this kind of poor life and left Morimaru.
Ah He did not return to her parents' home.
Instead, she turned into the arms of another person - into the arms of a fat merchant in the domain, and became his concubine.
It was not until his wife left him that Morimaru realized that the businessman had been eyeing his wife for a long time.
After his salary was stopped, the businessman immediately came to seduce Morimaru's wife like a cat smelling blood.
The merchant's astonishing wealth was too tempting for Ahe, who was living a poor life, so in the end - Ahe abandoned Morimaru.
His career was ruined, he became a useless person, and his wife left him. That period was the darkest time in Morimaru's life.
During those days, Morimaru kept asking himself "why".
Ask yourself why you are in this situation. Ask yourself if you have done something wrong.
After being puzzled, what surged into Morimaru's heart was... anger.
He hated the businessman who stole his wife, and hated his wife who would only share his wealth but was unwilling to share his hardships.
This hatred turned into the motivation for Morimaru's revenge.
He wants revenge.
He wants to develop the "Blind Sword Technique" to seek revenge!
Morimaru sold the ancestral house where his family had lived for generations, and in return he received enough money to last him for a long time.
Then he lived alone in the mountains, practicing the "blind swordsmanship" in the mountains. He would go down the mountain every long time to buy food for survival with the money from selling his ancestral house.
In order to develop the skill of "locating by sound", he stood in the woods and swung his sword desperately.
Listen to the sound of falling leaves, then cut them with your sword.
The tremendous power unleashed by resentment completely stimulated Morimaru's swordsmanship talent.
In just three years, Morimaru developed hearing ability strong enough to hear even the sound of falling leaves, and developed the "blind swordsmanship".
On the day when the "Blind Sword" was perfected, Morimaru took his sword and rushed into the house of the businessman who had robbed his wife...
Morimaru killed everyone in that house.
The merchant, the merchant's servant, and...his wife.
Even though this happened 25 years ago, Morimaru still remembers Ah He's heart-wrenching cries and pleas for mercy just before he swung his sword at him.
Morimaru originally thought that he would feel great after killing the businessman and abandoning his wife.
But the strange thing is... after bloodbathing the merchant's house, Morimaru didn't feel happy at all...
I feel like I have chosen the wrong person for revenge ...
And Morimaru didn't know why he felt this way.
Until now, Morimaru still doesn't know why he had the feeling that he had "taken the wrong target of revenge" when he killed his wife and the businessman... This question has been bothering Morimaru, and Morimaru has been unable to find the answer to this question.
After bloodbathed the merchant's house, Morimaru began his long escape with the mentality of "live one more day if possible".
It was not until he was taken in by "that adult" that he finally lived a stable life...
Morimaru felt very strange now... When his life was about to end, he actually thought of his wife who had brought him great pain.
He remembered that he had cut his wife in half - cutting in from the right shoulder and out from the left abdomen, cutting his wife diagonally in half.
My current appearance... is quite similar to my wife's appearance when she died... Both of them were cut in half...
——So…when the body is injured so badly, it won’t feel pain…
Morimaru gradually felt like sleeping...
Before he fell asleep, Morimaru summoned up his last bit of energy and said in his heart -
——Ahe… when I cut you, did you feel any pain…?
…
…
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu·Ryubi to defeat the enemy]
[Gained 350 points of personal experience, 300 points of swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu", and 50 points of "Iga-ryu forbidden techniques"]
[Current personal level: Lv40 (1780/6400)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 14th stage (245/14000)]
[Iga-ryu forbidden technique: 2nd stage (340/400)]
[Ding! Experience value is full, Sakakibara Ittoryu level is increased by 1 level, and 2 skill points are obtained]
[Remaining skill points: 5 points]
——Has Sakakibara's Ittoryu been upgraded? He has more skill points...
Ogata swung his sword downwards, dropping the blood on the Daishikuten Sword onto the wall next to him, then turned to look at Morimaru who had fallen to the ground behind him.
His eyes had now somewhat adjusted to the darkness, and he could just about see Morimaru's lifeless body, which had fallen to the ground.
——Okay... let’s go find that Yi Tong Ugly Goro... huh?
Ogata frowned slightly and turned to look deep into the corridor where Morimaru had just appeared.
As soon as he turned his eyes, he saw a little fire reappearing from the darkness deep in the corridor.
This little flame was emitted from an oil lamp.
And the person holding this oil lamp is Gongbu.
Miyabe walked slowly towards Ogata with one hand behind his back and an oil lamp in the other.
"Morimaru... also failed..." Miyabe sighed softly, "I never expected that even Morimaru couldn't capture you..."
"Capture me?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, keenly catching the word in Miyabe's words that made him extremely concerned. "Who are you? You are not in the same group with the pirates of Yitong, right? What do you mean by capture me?"
Ogata threw a series of questions at Miyabe in one breath.
"Just as you said, I am not in the same group with Lord Yitong and his men." Gong Bu smiled, "We are considered Lord Yitong's allies, and we are now riding on Lord Yitong's favorable boat to a certain place."
"As for why I captured you..."
A meaningful smile slowly emerged on Gongbe's face.
"There's no other special reason."
"We just want to find out your true face under this human skin mask, and why you have this human skin mask that we sold to Junroku Kunieda."
After hearing the word "human skin mask" from Miyabe's mouth, Ogata's pupils shrank uncontrollably.
At this moment - Ogata suddenly felt that his face... no, he felt that the human skin mask on his face suddenly became strange.
Just like hair touching a flame, Ogata suddenly felt the human skin mask on his face begin to curl and "wither" starting from the base of his right ear.
"It's great to have this potion with me to maintain the human skin mask."
Miyabe glanced sideways at a corner not far from Ogata.
"This potion is indeed magical."
"Mixed with water, it can create a nutrient solution that can maintain the human skin mask."
"But if this potion is used alone... the gas it emits alone will cause great damage to the human skin mask."
"When the volatilized gas hits the human skin mask, it will produce a chemical reaction with a certain material in the human skin mask. Long-term exposure to this gas will cause the human skin mask to 'wither'."
"Morimaru's sacrifice was worth it - you successfully delayed it until the moment when your human skin mask 'withered'."
"I've made a lot of sacrifices, too. In order to see your face underneath the mask, my human skin mask was scrapped."
While maintaining a meaningful smile, Miyabe tilted his head to let Ogata see his left cheek.
Miyabe's handsome face, which made people unable to take their eyes off, was also "withering" at a speed visible to the naked eye...