The world once again became clear before Ogata's eyes.
It’s a pity that Ogata didn’t have time to experience this transparent world more.
Because Yuhachiro's two wakizashi had already stabbed over.
However, his attack was destined to be in vain.
After all, every movement he made, whether it was his feet paddling in the water or the wakizashi stabbing towards Ogata, was visible in Ogata's eyes.
Ogata knew better than Yuhachiro how much force to use and where on Ogata's body to stab.
Following this prediction that seemed to foretell the future, Ogata suddenly raised the swords in both hands -
…
…
Yuhachiro saw it.
He saw a scene that made him subconsciously suspect that he was dreaming.
Although this scene lasted only a brief moment, it still made Yuhachiro's mouth open in shock and his eyes widen.
Just now, Yuhachiro saw that he was about to thrust the knife in his hand forward, and Oobian raised the two swords in his hands at an extremely fast speed.
There was a dull "ding" sound, and Ogata used his wakizashi with just the right amount of force to block Uohachiro's knife.
Yuhachiro felt that this had gone beyond the scope of "prediction"...
The speed, the precision and timeliness of the defense...it’s more like “predicting the future” than “predicting”!
After the attack missed, Uohachiro subconsciously wanted to repeat the same trick and use his superb swimming skills to escape from Ogata.
But who would have known... as soon as his feet touched the water, a cold light came towards Yu Balang.
It's Ogata's katana.
Ogata raised the katana and wakizashi in his hands almost at the same time.
It was as if he knew in advance which direction Uohachiro would escape to. When he used wakizashi to defend himself, Ogata had already swung his katana even before Uohachiro started to retreat.
It struck Uohachiro's left rear side heavily.
When Yuhachiro kicked the water hard and retreated to his left rear unconsciously, his body happened to move to the place where Ogata's katana was about to fall.
The sword that Ogata swung out landed squarely on his forehead.
Phew…
A large amount of blood oozed out from Yuhachiro's forehead, blurring Ogata's vision.
The attack that Ogata had just launched was accompanied by the flow of "energy".
It smashed Yuhachiro's forehead in one breath, even breaking his skull into pieces.
[Ding! Use the Wuwo Two Swords Style · Flow, and kill the enemy.]
[Gained 240 personal experience points, 200 experience points for swordplay "Two Swords of Muga", 60 experience points for hand-to-hand combat "Forbidden Techniques of Iga"]
[Current personal level: Lv40 (4480/6400)]
[Mutual Dual Blade Level: 13th Stage (480/16000)]
[Iga-ryu forbidden technique level: 3rd stage (0/800)]
[Ding! Experience value is full, Iga-ryu forbidden technique level is increased by 1 level, and 2 skill points are obtained]
[Currently remaining skill points: 9 points]
Yuhachiro had heard before that even if the head was chopped off, the consciousness in the brain would not disappear immediately.
He didn't expect this to be true. Although the cost of verifying the truth of this matter was a little high.
Although his forehead was smashed, Yuhachiro still had some consciousness and strength left, but the little remaining consciousness and strength were rapidly dissipating.
At the moment when his consciousness was about to fade away, Yuhachiro stared closely at Ogata, who had just killed him with incredible methods.
Then he grinned and whispered with all his strength:
"sharp……"
…
…
"Hey! Have you seen the adults?"
“I didn’t see it!”
"Should we go underwater and look for the adults?"
…
Yuhachiro's subordinates are now standing on the bank of the canal, looking at the surface of the canal with eyes filled with all kinds of emotions.
If we use one word to describe their current mood, it would be - confused.
They had just found Ogata with great difficulty, but their commander Uohachiro asked them not to shoot, and then rushed over and knocked Ogata into the river.
Most of them didn't know much about Yu Balang's character, so they didn't understand why Yu Balang didn't use his flintlock rifle and insisted on engaging in close combat with Shura.
However, no matter how confused and doubtful they were, Yuhachiro was their commander after all, and they could not ignore him. After Yuhachiro knocked Ogata into the river, Yuhachiro's subordinates hurriedly ran to the river with guns in hand, looking for Yuhachiro and Ogata.
They stretched their necks to their limits and stared with their eyes wide open until they were sore, but still did not see either of them emerge from the water.
Just when some of them suggested going into the river to look for Yuhachiro, the water surface, which had been calm until then, finally changed.
First, circles of water ripples emerged from the water from bottom to top.
Then... the water surface slowly "turned black".
Some sharp-eyed people immediately noticed that the water surface was not turning black, but red. It was just that under the cover of night, it looked like the water had turned black.
Before they could even be shocked by the sudden appearance of blood, they heard a loud “splash”.
A man emerged from the blood-stained river.
It was Ogata.
"Ha ha ha ha……!"
As soon as he swam out of the water, Xu Fang greedily inhaled the air mixed with a slight smell of blood.
For the first time, Ogata felt that being able to breathe was such a happy thing.
If it had been a few seconds at night, he might have really died in the water.
After Ogata swam out of the water, Uohachiro...ah, no, it was Uohachiro's body, also floated out from under the water.
Uohachiro, with a huge gash on his head, emerged from the water next to Ogata, face up, with his eyes wide open.
Although Yuhachiro's death looked a little creepy, there was no fear or unwillingness in his eyes that people often have when they are about to die.
There were only two emotions in Yuhachiro's lifeless eyes: regret and admiration.
Uohachiro's subordinates on the shore stared blankly at Ogata, who was breathing heavily on the water, and Uohachiro's body, which was no longer moving.
They are indeed well-trained warriors.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, without any instructions from anyone, they raised their flintlock rifles in extremely coordinated movements and aimed them at Ogata who was still breathing heavily.
Seeing this, Ogata's expression changed. He took a deep breath, filled his lungs with the freshest air, and then plunged back into the river.
At the same moment he dived into the water again, gunshots rang out, and hot bullets hit the small piece of water where Ogata had just appeared, causing small splashes of water.
——If we land here, we will just become their sitting ducks...
Deciding that he could not swim back to the shore in front of these musketeers, Ogata dived into the deep end of the canal.
He felt bullets flying over his head and around him.
——If only the “transparent state” was still there…
Just like the last time when the Shogunate Army's First Army broke through the siege of the Red Moon Fortress in Ezo, this "transparent state" came suddenly and went away quickly.
After killing Yuhachiro, the wonderful feeling of "the world is transparent before my eyes" disappeared completely.
——If the "transparent state" is still there... I should be able to predict in advance where these bullets will hit.
After feeling this in his heart, Ogata increased speed. Under the spur of the bullets, he swam away from the musketeers.
…
…
Aqing is in a very bad mood now.
As a member of the Iga ninja, she was previously ordered to use the pseudonym "Harukiku" to lurk in the mushroom house in Shinmachi, try to establish relationships with the bigwigs in Osaka, and collect intelligence.
And she completed this undercover mission very well - relying on her excellent acting skills and appearance, she formed a very good relationship between gunner and gun carriage with the Osaka town magistrate.
Just a few days ago, she received a new mission-to assassinate Osaka Town Magistrate tonight.
She didn't know why they wanted to kill Osaka Cho-bu Kyō so suddenly. She didn't care about the reason, as long as she completed the mission.
So a few days ago, she used the "Red Letter" to ask the Osaka Town Bugyo to meet tonight at night, and just now she successfully pierced his head with an iron spike.
After successfully completing the mission and returning to the main camp to report, Aqing thought she could take a short break, but unexpectedly a new mission came up - she was given a wanted warrant and several fireworks.
The wanted poster that was forced into her arms was the wanted poster of the executioner Ittosai.
Search every corner of the city, find the man on the wanted poster, or the man wearing a hat and a veil, and then set off the fireworks given to you into the sky - this is the new mission that Aqing has received.
It was not until this time that Aqing learned that the people above were going to launch a huge battle called "Osaka Spring Campaign and Suppression of Ogata" tonight, as well as "Plan A" and "Plan B" against Ogata.
Ah Qing was naturally not happy that she had to go on a new mission without even having a chance to rest.
But she didn't have the power to refuse the mission, so she had to do it.
Aqing randomly ran around Osaka city, looking for Ogata.
Unexpectedly, Ogata didn't find it, but made other discoveries -
"Um?"
Ah Qing was standing on a big tree, and out of the corner of her left eye she spotted a body that looked... a little familiar on the street not far away.
After taking a closer look, Aqing took a deep breath - the corpse was actually their "Star of Iga": Naganosuke.
Aqing was secretly shocked and quickly jumped down from the tree and ran towards Naganosuke's body.
Next to Naganosuke's body, there were two panicked musketeers staring at each other.
After taking a look at Naganosuke's body, whose eyes were pierced by a sharp weapon and whose vital parts of his abdomen and throat were stabbed, Aqing asked the two musketeers:
"What happened?"
In response to Aqing's question, the two musketeers did not respond.
The two silent men looked up and down at Aqing who was wearing the Iga ninja uniform.
There was a hint of contempt in their eyes.
Such a look... is like looking at something very dirty.
Aqing was actually accustomed to such looks from them.
This is a compulsory course for ninjas... especially female ninjas - they have to learn to get used to the strange looks from others.
At this moment, a voice that made Ah Qing subconsciously smile with joy sounded behind her:
"Huh? Aqing! You're here!"
"Jie Zheng..." Ah Qing looked behind her with a tender gaze, at the owner of the voice just now.
He was a handsome young man with thick eyebrows, big eyes and neatly combed hair.
The handsome young man ran towards Aqing with a smile on his face.
Behind him, there were more than 40 musketeers.
"Jie Zheng." Ah Qing asked the young man named Jie Zheng, "Why are you here?"
Jie Zheng - one of Aqing's few good friends.
Aqing is just an ordinary member of the Iga ninja and has always been able to do dirty and tiring work.
However, Jie Zheng was a young and promising man, and achieved considerable success under Toyotomi at a young age.
Logically speaking, people with such a big difference in level would not be able to be friends, and they would probably only see each other a few times in normal times.
But the development of things in the world is so strange. Due to various coincidences, Aqing and Jie Zheng became very good friends.
"Why else? It's because 'Plan B' has been launched." Jie Zheng said with a wry smile, "I just completed the task of 'destroying the Dojima Rice Market', and a new task came up. It's really tiring..."
"I am currently leading my subordinates to wait for the appearance of the 'red fireworks' marking Shura's location, while trying to find Shura myself."
"I ended up coming to this place without realizing it, and then I ran into you by chance."
After saying this, Jie Zheng looked seriously at the body of Naganosuke which he had just discovered not far away.
"Ah Qing, this is your Naganosuke from Iga, right? How did he die?"
"I don't know." Ah Qing shrugged. "I was just about to ask these two people, but they kept silent to me."
Aqing nodded at the two musketeers who were still standing next to Naganosuke.
Jie Zheng immediately turned his sharp gaze towards the two men.
These two people dared to ignore Aqing, but they dared not neglect Jie Zheng, who was a commander and could lead a team of musketeers.
They hurriedly explained to Jie Zheng, A Qing and others the cause of the series of events, including "they encountered a woman who was suspected to be Shura's wife."
The two of them were Bai Xiang's subordinates.
They had just followed Baixiang to clean up the bodies, and when Baixiang led them to capture Ah Cheng, they were very lucky to be arranged on the east side of the guard house.
When Ating escaped from the west side of the house, the two people responsible for guarding the east side were very lucky to escape, unlike the two companions guarding the west side who were directly shot in the head by Ating.
After Atachi escaped from the house, Naganosuke led the two of them to chase after him.
In terms of skills, how can the two of them compare to Chang Zhisuke?
So Naganosuke said to them, "I'm going to go first, remember to catch up quickly," and then he jumped onto the roof alone and chased Atachi, leaving the two of them running on the ground panting.
As they ran...then they found Naganosuke's body.
When the two of them were at a loss, Aqing came.
After understanding the cause and course of events, Jie Zheng's face darkened.
"Shura's...wife..."
Compared to Jie Zheng's heavy expression, A Qing looked normal.
Rather, she was somewhat happy to see Naganosuke being killed.
She has always disliked Chonosuke because of his arrogant personality.
It's just that he has better talent and is called the "Iga Star" by people, so he can't wait to point his nostrils towards the sky from morning to night.
Such a disgusting guy should be dead.
After glancing at Naganosuke's body with a gloating look for a few times, Aqing began to look around Naganosuke.
Next to Naganosuke, there was a small string of bloody footprints.
The trail of footprints extended to the east side of the street corner. There were only about twenty footprints. From about the 16th footprint onwards, the blood stuck to the soles of the feet became blurred because it was almost wiped off by the ground.
Judging from the size and shape of the footprints, the owner of the footprints is a woman - probably the footprints of the woman who killed Naganosuke and is suspected to be Shura's wife.
Jie Zheng, who had been in deep thought from the beginning, suddenly spoke up—
"Aharu, can you come with me to chase after the woman who killed Naganosuke?"
"Me?" Ah Qing, who was suddenly called, pointed at herself and said, "You want to find that woman, is that okay? Shouldn't our current mission be to hunt down Shura?"
"Yes, I feel it is necessary to find the woman who is suspected to be Shura's wife just to hunt down Shura. If that woman is really Shura's wife, then we can't let her go no matter what. Lord Jijiu will definitely agree to let us search for that woman." Jie Zheng smiled gently at Aqing, "And if we want to find someone, we still have to rely on you as a ninja. I'm not good at finding people."
"...If you want my help, I don't mind." Aqing muttered.
"Okay then." Jie Zheng nodded, then turned his gaze to the two subordinates who were visiting Xiang:
"You two should go back to the main camp and inform Master Yoshihisa of your situation. By the way, tell Master Yoshihisa that based on our own situation, I have determined that it is extremely necessary to find the woman who is suspected to be Shura's wife. In order not to miss the opportunity, I will lead the female ninja Aqing to search for the woman first."
Just after giving orders to the two men, Jie Zheng turned his gaze and looked at Aqing.
Jie Zheng quickly assigned the tasks, waved his hand, and led the 40 or so musketeers and Aqing under his command to the direction where A-Ming's footprints disappeared.
Although Ah Qing felt that they currently had too few clues and that finding Ah Cheng would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, she still meticulously and conscientiously acted as Jie Zheng's "eyes", frequently climbing to high places to look for Ah Cheng's figure.
Eyesight is probably the only advantage that A-Qing has besides her acting skills and eyebrows.
She can easily see targets that others cannot see clearly with binoculars.
The two musketeers who survived the operation to capture Ating just now told Aqing and the others about Ating's appearance.
A big bear woman wearing a red and white kimono, probably without shoes or socks, and most likely with a lot of blood splattered on her body - these features are quite obvious and not difficult to find.
But even so, Aqing has not yet found a target with matching characteristics.
They searched aimlessly towards the east.
Aqing climbed to a higher place again and again.
When Ah Qing climbed onto the roof of a house for the umpteenth time and put her hands on her eyes and looked around, she suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from beside her.
Looking closely, I found that it was Jie Zheng who climbed onto the roof.
"How is it? Did you find Shura's wife?"
"No." Ah Qing said without hesitation, "I did find a few women in red and white kimonos, but their bears were not big and there was no blood on their bodies."
"I see..." Jie Zheng showed regret.
"By the way - when did you become so serious about your work?" Aqing asked Jie Zheng, "You even took the initiative to lead people to chase Shura's wife."
"From what I've heard, you're the type who doesn't do missions unless you can."
Hearing what Aqing said, Jie Zheng was stunned at first.
Then...he showed an embarrassed look.
"Well... I took the initiative to take on this mission, and there are indeed some special reasons behind it..."
"Oh? What's the reason... huh?"
Ah Qing hadn't finished her words yet. She had been looking around with her hands on her eyelids, searching for Ah Ming's figure, when she suddenly stopped talking.
Then he narrowed his eyes and looked northeastwards...
…
…
Ating covered his chest which felt like it was about to explode due to his heavy breathing, and gasped for breath.
Looking at the familiar hotel in front of her, she showed a look of relief on her face: "Finally... I'm back..."
From killing Naganosuke to returning to the inn, Atachi can be said to have deeply implemented the idiom "non-stop".
Ating didn't dare to stop for even a second and rushed to the hotel at a sprinting pace.
He was still running, his feet were cut by the gravel because he was not wearing shoes or socks.
I kept running even though my lungs felt like they were about to explode.
Although no one came out to stop Atachi after Naganosuke was dealt with, the chaotic flow of people on the street still brought a lot of obstacles to Atachi.
Fires broke out in various places in Osaka.
From the direction of Osaka Castle, the sound of artillery fire could still be heard from time to time.
The raging flames have thrown the entire Osaka into chaos.
People in the Edo period have always had an instinctive fear of fire.
Their houses were basically made of wood, and a single fire could burn an entire city to the ground.
Everyone rushed to the outskirts of the city with their families.
Despite trying his best to avoid entering crowded streets, Ating was still accidentally stuck in a crowd of people. He could not move forward or backward, and wasted a lot of time.
After finally returning to the hotel, A-Ming did not rush in. Instead, she first scanned her surroundings with a vigilant look. After confirming that no one was following her, she strode into the hotel.
The inn is very quiet now - the inn staff and other guests have probably fled by now.
He quickly ran to the door of the room where they lived and opened it. Azhu's dissatisfied and panicked face appeared in front of A-Ming.
During the time that Ating was away, Azhu felt that every second felt like a year.
Not long after Ating left the hotel, she heard the sound of artillery fire.
Soon after, fires broke out all over Osaka.
Including the hotel staff and other passengers, they all began to flee.
Azhu, who is still young and inexperienced, was also panicked when faced with one emergency after another.
However, although the "God" was panicking, Azhu's hands and feet were not panicking.
No matter what happened, it would be the right thing to stay in the hotel and wait for Ogata, Atachi and the others to come back, so Azuki calmed himself and continued to stay in the hotel room.
She did not just wait in the room. She packed her and Ogata's luggage so that when Ogata and the others came back, she could immediately take the luggage and run away from Osaka, which now seemed to be full of dangers.
"A-Cheng-xiao..." Seeing A-Cheng coming back, Azhu was delighted at first, but after seeing the dried blood stains on A-Cheng's clothes, she was suddenly stunned, and the rest of the words were stuck in her throat.
Before I could ask A-Ming "what happened?" A-Ming asked A-Tsuku first:
"Hasn't Ayi come back yet?"
"Huh? No." Azhu shook his head like a rattle.
Ating's face turned pale.
At this moment, she noticed the neatly packed luggage of herself, Ogata, and Azuki placed on the ground next to them.
"Have you helped us pack? That's great! Come with me and get your luggage and leave here! Someone is targeting Ayi! This place may not be safe anymore!"
Azhu now has countless questions to ask Ating.
But she is also a smart kid.
Seeing Ating's hurried look, she knew that now was not a good time to ask questions, so she shut her mouth obediently and followed Ating to pick up their luggage.
After carrying her and Ogata's luggage on her back with great courage, Atachi did not follow the routine steps to walk up the stairs and leave through the door on the first floor.
Instead, he prepared to leave the room in the most time-saving, labor-saving and ninja-like way possible - by jumping out the window.
However, before she opened the window of the room, she suddenly heard a large number of footsteps coming from outside the hotel... approaching.
There were so many things that happened tonight that Ah-Cheng had unknowingly become accustomed to all kinds of accidents and emergencies.
Atachi just frowned, motioned Azhu to bend down, then jumped under the window, opened the window a little, and looked outside the hotel through the gap.
A large number of musketeers armed with flintlock rifles were surrounding the inn from all directions - this was what A-Ming saw.