The awakening of his memories before he fell into a coma, the scene before him, and the questions from the nihilistic monk in front of him made Zhi Zhou's face change slightly.
Before Zhi Zhou could say anything, Rushui, who was tied up next to Zhi Zhou, shouted:
"Who are you?! What did you mean by that sentence just now?! Where is Xiaohua? Was Xiaohua also captured by you?! Where is she now?!"
Like water and a string of cannonballs, a large number of questions came out in one breath.
Rushui's exposed skin was blue and purple, especially his face, the left side of his face was swollen.
Because of his old age, Zhi Zhou is now less powerful than his son.
As the strongest person in the Isshiki family, Rusui naturally suffered the most intense concentrated fire in the battle just now.
Before he was knocked down, he was attacked by seven men in black at once. The wounds on his body were proof of the fierce battle he had just experienced.
As soon as Rushui finished asking the question, the Void Monk - also known as Lou Luo, tilted his head and faced Rushui.
Then, he rushed to Rushui and kicked her in the already swollen left face.
"Hmm~~" Lou Luo hummed with pleasure, "This posture of yours... is really suitable for getting kicked."
Zhizhou, Rushui and Asi were all tied to pillars in a sitting position, so Lou Luo only needed to raise his foot to kick them in the head.
The kick he just delivered was so powerful that it made a dull "bang" sound.
Zhi Zhou saw a tooth covered in blood being kicked out directly from Ru Shui's mouth, and streaks of light red liquid mixed with blood and saliva flowed out from the corners of Ru Shui's mouth.
Asi's scream and Rushui's cry of pain rang out at the same time.
"You don't need to know who we are." Lou Luo slowly lowered the leg he had just kicked out, "At the same time, you have no right to ask us any questions."
"That kick just now was just a small warning."
"If you make a sound , it won't be as simple as kicking out one of your teeth."
"But I'm in a good mood tonight, so I'll be kind enough to take care of your love for my daughter and answer your question just now."
"Yes, your daughter Isshikika was also captured by us."
"You guys are really amazing. You actually built a tunnel in your own house."
"Your daughter is amazing too. She can run so fast barefoot."
"She almost ran away to the magistrate's office, but fortunately my subordinates finally caught her back."
"When my men knocked your daughter unconscious and brought her back, they accidentally used too much force, so your daughter is now receiving treatment in another place."
"But you don't have to worry. Your daughter is not in any danger of life. She will probably wake up tomorrow morning."
Although Lou Luo said "you don't have to worry", his words were pure nonsense.
After hearing what Lou Luo had just said, how could Zhi Zhou, Ru Shui and Asi remain indifferent? The three of them lost color on their faces at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Where is Xiaohua injured?!" Ah Shi, who was eager to protect his daughter, struggled to break free from the chains on his body, while shouting, "Please let me go see her!"
"Hey, didn't you hear what I just said?" Lou Luo glanced at Ah Shi coldly, "You have no right to ask us questions."
"Since you are a woman, I will forgive you this time."
"Next time you speak without my permission, I will not only teach you a lesson, but also punish your husband as well. He will have fewer teeth in his mouth."
Luo Luo's words made Ah Shi pale with fright.
Although he was extremely worried about Isshikika, Asi could only suppress his worry, bit his lower lip tightly and said nothing.
At this time, Lou Luo slowly turned his gaze back to Zhi Zhou.
"So - let's get back to our original question."
"Answer me: Where does Ogata Ittosai live in Osaka now?"
Zhi Zhou looked at Lou Luo in astonishment, then looked at his son and daughter-in-law.
His head was spinning rapidly.
A question was solved - he knew why these people suddenly attacked their Isshiki family.
Came for Ogata.
However, one question was answered, and more questions arose——
Who are these people?
What do you want to do by looking for Lord Itosai?
…
Questions flashed through Zhi Zhou's mind one after another.
What concerned Naoshige the most was undoubtedly how these people knew that he was connected with Ogata.
——I have never told anyone: Majima Goro is Ogata Yoshisei.
——Based on Xiaohua’s personality, she would never tell this to anyone!
——Then... when, where, and how did these people know that I knew Lord Ittosai?
——Could it be possible that… there is someone who can accurately recognize Ittosai-sama even when he has covered his face…
Zhi Zhou was still racking his brains to think, and Lou Luo's voice sounded again:
“Don’t waste your energy thinking about unnecessary things.”
Lou Luo seemed to have seen through Zhi Zhou's thoughts.
"We have no grudges against you. It is purely because of your own evil deeds that you befriended that Shura that you ended up like this today."
"I have never been willing to raise my sword against those who have no grudge against me and who have not worked for the Edo Shogunate."
"So - just answer my questions and I can leave your family alone."
"Otherwise... just like I said just now: I will let my subordinates use your daughter-in-law and granddaughter to relax in front of you."
Although Lou Luo was wearing a "sky-covered hat" that covered his entire head, Zhi Zhou could still feel the cold gaze from the few gaps through which the wearer could see.
"…How could I possibly know anything about that Ogata Ittosai?"
Naoshige said in a low voice.
"I have never known any Ogata Ittosai."
"...You don't know Ogata Ittosai?" Roula asked back.
"I don't know him." Zhi Zhou shook his head vigorously, "I don't know him at all!"
"Is that so... Don't you know Ogata Ittosai..." Ruro looked at Rusui and Asi, "What about you two? Don't you two know Ogata Ittosai either?"
Rushui and Asi quickly shook their heads.
"I don't know him! Did you catch the wrong person? We have never known him!" Rushui shouted.
Ah Shi quickly agreed.
Unlike Naoshige who lied openly, the couple Rusui and Asi really did not know Ogata, and did not know that Majima Goro was Ogata Yoshisei.
"Don't you all know Ogata Ittosai..." Ruro murmured, "I think - you should all know him."
"I just forgot about it by accident and can't remember it."
"Let me help you refresh your memory."
After speaking, Lou Luo turned his head and looked at a burly man behind him.
"Ito Seitaro, didn't you just tell me that you really like mature women like Isshiki Minoru?"
"I'll give you a chance and allow you to enjoy this maturity."
Lou Luo's words immediately made the eyes of the sturdy man called "Ito Seitaro" sparkle with joy.
"Is it okay?!" Ito asked cautiously.
"Please, please wait a moment!" His face turned pale as water, and he said anxiously, "We really don't know any Ogata Ittosai! It's even more impossible for us to know where that person lives!"
Lou Luo ignored Rushui's shouting. He turned his head and looked at the other subordinates behind him: "You guys should have some fun with Seitaro."
His words were like loosening the shackles of a hungry wolf.
The people headed by Ito Seitaro walked slowly towards Ash while grinning.
Asi screamed in horror, and together with Rusui, he kept shouting and repeating, "We really don't know Ogata Ittosai."
Naoshige's face... was now filled with fear.
He looked at the sturdy men who were getting closer and closer to his daughter-in-law, and the hesitation in his eyes grew exponentially.
The torture on Zhizhou's soul is not over yet.
“Aaaaaaaaa——!”
His son's screams, like water, suddenly reached Zhi Zhou's ears.
"How is it? Has the mental and physical pain awakened your memory? According to my many years of memory, no matter who it is, as long as the pain is severe enough, many memories that were originally shouting "It never happened" will be fully revived."
While saying this in a joking tone, Lou Luo was holding a sword without a blade and drawing on Rushui's face.
He first made a horizontal cut on Rushui's forehead.
Then, he made another vertical cut from Ru Shui's left forehead to the left corner of her mouth.
The cut was very shallow and would not leave scars if treated properly.
Although the wound is shallow, the pain cannot be taken lightly.
Rusui, who truly didn't know Ogata, had been repeating in a pleading tone, "We really don't know Ogata Ittosai" for the umpteenth time.
The continuous screams of his son had brought Zhi Zhou's psychological defenses to the brink of collapse.
The sound that Zhizhou heard next completely broke down his psychological defenses.
He heard... the sound of clothes being torn.
The legs of my daughter-in-law Asi were controlled by two people. Ito Seitaro squatted in front of Asi and cut the hem of Asi's clothes with a wakizashi.
The scene before him and the sounds that he could no longer bear to hear made Zhi Zhou finally close his eyes in pain.
“Enough, that’s enough!”
His lips, which had turned purple at some point, were trembling.
Lou Luo glanced at Zhi Zhou.
Then he stopped painting on Rushui's face and raised his hand to signal Ito Seitaro and others to stop.
In response to Lou Luo's order, Ito Seitaro obediently stopped what he was doing.
"It seems that someone's memory has been successfully revived." Lou Luo said in a joking tone.
Zhi Zhou lowered his head, and his trembling lips made his voice tremble as well.
"I... admit it. I know Ogata Ittosai..."
"But I really don't know where he lives!"
Zhi Zhou suddenly raised his head and looked at Lou Luo with pleading eyes.
"I swear on my life! I really don't know where he lives!"
"I beg you, please have mercy on me and let my family go."
After saying that, Zhi Zhou lowered his head again, as if he wanted to kowtow to Lou Luo.
But because his body was tied to the wooden pillar, he was unable to hit his forehead on the ground.
Lou Luo: “…”
Lou Luo, with the knife still held upside down in his hand, remained silent.
Zhi Zhou was eagerly waiting for Lou Luo to speak, and felt that one second seemed as long as a year.
Lou Luo didn't let Zhi Zhou wait too long.
Naoshu only waited "10 years" before he heard Lou Luo say:
"…Do you know where Ogata Ittosai went after that?"
Zhi Zhou: “Huh?”
"Do you know where Ogata Ittosai will go next? Or rather, do you know where you will definitely go next after Ogata Ittosai?"
Lou Luo walked slowly to Zhi Zhou, squatted down, and made his eyes level with Zhi Zhou's.
"For example: Ogata Ittosai will definitely appear at a certain time and place in the future."
Lou Luo suddenly came close to him, allowing Zhi Zhou to clearly see that behind this "sky-covered hat" there were two cold eyes like poisonous snakes.
"this……"
Lou Luo's question just now made Zhi Zhou's eyes flicker, and hesitation appeared in his pupils again.
"By the way—don't lie."
Lou Luo added.
"If I find out that you are just making up stories to deceive me, then the punishment you will receive will not only be painting on your son's face, but also using your daughter-in-law and granddaughter as tools to relax your subordinates."
These words not only made the hesitation on Zhi Zhou's face more intense, but also showed a lot of pain.
Zhi Zhou lowered his head again and remained silent for a long time.
Zhi Zhou was not in a hurry either, and waited silently for Zhi Zhou's answer.
Zhi Zhou gritted his teeth and remained silent for an unknown period of time.
——Master Ittosai... I'm sorry... After my family is safe... I promise you! I will commit seppuku to apologize!
After shedding a few invisible tears in her heart, the trembling voice sounded again in the dim room.
"First, Lord Itosai's sword was seriously damaged, so a while ago, he sent his sword to a friend of mine to be repaired."
"The time that Master Ittosai and my friend agreed to pick up the sword is..."
…
…
Lou Luo hummed a tune and slowly walked out of the small hut where Zhi Zhou and others were imprisoned.
Naoshige and his companions were imprisoned in an extremely remote abandoned hut in Osaka. This kind of place is truly "no one will come to save you even if you scream your throat out."
As soon as Lou Luo stepped out of the hut, a petite figure walked towards him quickly - it was a very beautiful woman with outstanding temperament.
"Lord Lou Luo." As soon as she came in front of Lou Luo, the beautiful woman knelt on one knee and said respectfully, "I still haven't found the same color flower."
"You haven't found Isshikika yet?" Ruro frowned under his "sky-covered hat". "Hey, hey, hey, isn't finding people... always the strong point of you Iga ninjas?"
"I'm so sorry, it's our fault." The beautiful woman lowered her head and did not refute Lou Luo's complaint.
What Lou Luo had just said to Zhi Zhou and the others, "Use your daughter-in-law and granddaughter as tools to relax," was actually a complete lie to them.
Lou Luo and his friends didn't catch the isese flower at all.
After learning that Isshiki Hana had escaped through the secret passage in her home, Roula immediately sent a large number of Iga ninjas to chase her.
Lou Luo originally thought that it would be an easy task to let this group of elite Iga ninjas capture a girl who was not even wearing shoes.
But who would have thought that the Issekai flower has not been caught until now.
"Our people are already lying in ambush around the Magistrate's Office." The beautiful woman added, "If we find Isshikika around the Osaka Magistrate's Office, we will capture her immediately."
"…Although I have already asked her grandfather what I wanted to ask. But according to the information, Isshikihua and Ogata Ittosai have a good relationship. The two of them were talking and laughing in the "Great Test". "Louluo said seriously, "Isshikihua may have some other information related to Ogata Ittosai."
"Hurry up and bring that Yisehua back to me." Lou Luo ordered in a noncommittal tone.
"Yes!" the beautiful woman said loudly.
After giving strict orders to the beautiful woman, Lou Luo waved his hand, indicating that she could leave.
After the beautiful woman left, Lou Luo turned around and said to Ito Seitaro and others who followed him: "Keep a good look after Isshiki Naoshu and others. Don't let any of them leave here until you are sure that Ogata Ittosai is dead."
Ito Seitaro: “Yes.”
"Also - unless they refuse to obey, you are not allowed to do anything disrespectful to them. Even touching Isshiki Minoru is not allowed."
Ito Seitaro's expression instantly fell: "Can't you even... touch that Isshiki Makoto's face and hands?"
"I promised them that as long as they answered my questions honestly, I would not do anything to them. The thing I hate most is going back on my word."
"Yes..." Ito Seitaro looked like he had lost his soul.
Lou Luo waved his hand at them and said, "Alright, go back to the house and take good care of Isshiki Naoshige and the others."
"yes……"
Ito Seitaro led his men back into the house.
He was the only one left around Lou Luo.
"... God is really helping us." Lou Luo raised his head, looked at the starry sky above his head, and said slowly in a voice that only he could hear, "The day that Ogata Ittosai went to get the sword... and the day we launched the Osaka Spring Formation... are actually the same day..."
…
…
This beautiful woman, who had just reported the progress of the mission to Lou Luo, is now moving around in a remote corner of Osaka.
As she walked slowly forward, she looked to see if anyone was following her.
She moved forward slowly in this extremely cautious manner and finally arrived at the gate of an inconspicuous wooden house.
"Mother-in-law." The beautiful woman knocked on the door. "It's me."
As soon as she finished speaking, an extremely old woman with a hunched body slowly opened the door.
"You're back." said the old woman.
"Well. How about that woman?" the beautiful woman asked back.
"I'm sleeping soundly."
The beautiful woman took off her straw sandals and walked quickly into the depths of the hut.
After turning into a room in the house, a white figure came into the eyes of the beautiful woman.
This white figure is none other than the Isosen flower.
At this time, her white bathrobe had been neatly arranged.
Although she and her family were imprisoned in different places, their situations were surprisingly similar - tied to a wooden stake.
However, while Naoshige and the others were roughly tied up with iron chains, Isshikika was tied up with thin ropes, and the way she was tied was much more gentle.
What a coincidence - when the beautiful woman just arrived at the room where Isshikika was imprisoned, she saw Isshikika's eyelids move.
Then, Isshikika slowly opened her beautiful eyes.
Isshikika, who had just woken up, looked around with a confused look.
Then, confusion turned into astonishment, and he stared blankly at the beautiful woman in front of him.
"Miss Chu Guang...?" With her mouth tied, she mumbled the name.