I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Latest website: An old man who didn't seem to be worth caring about suddenly said something startling - Yuan Yi and the others cast their astonished eyes at the old man who was still smiling "hoho" in the cell.

"Miss Hatsumi, Mr. Shibata." A-cho asked Hatsumi and Shibata beside him, "Do you know this old man in the prison?"

The two stared at the old man in the prison, then shook their heads at the same time.

"I haven't seen him." Chu Guang said.

Shibata nodded in agreement.

"Oh?" The old man in the prison looked at Hatsumi and Shibata with interest, "You two are wearing Iga no Sato's ninja costumes..."

"The two of you... Could it be that you betrayed the enemies of the Toyotomi clan?"

"You don't know me, it's normal."

"After all, the place where I used to work was a place where I couldn't see the sun."

"Hey." Mu Village stepped forward at this time, grabbing the railing of the cell with both hands, "Who the **** are you?!"

According to the old man's remarks just now, it is not difficult to hear - this person seems to have a lot of understanding of Toyotomi.

"Who am I..." The old man with no fear on his face looked directly at Mu Village, "It's not impossible to tell you who I am... It's not impossible."

"But... before I introduce myself, can you let me know who you are?"

"Who are you?"

"This place shouldn't be a place where idle people and the like can come in and out at will."

"What's going on outside? How did you get in here?"

Although this old man was disheveled, his spirit was still very good. With clear words, Chaoyuan and the others threw one question after another.

Mamiya frowned slightly at this time.

"Master Yuan." Mamiya turned his head and said to Yuanichi next to him, "The mountain fire is still raging outside. If the mountain fire is allowed to burn here, it will be troublesome."

"This place is not suitable for long stay."

"And the lord is not here, so there is no need to stay here any longer."

"Let's take the old man away from the prison first, and slowly question the old man while leaving this underground prison."

"Yeah." Yuan nodded slightly, "I just happen to think so. Mamiya, please open the door."

"Yes."

Mamiya suddenly raised both hands, holding the scabbard with his left hand, and grasping the hilt of the saber with his right hand——

Step forward, draw the knife!

Vairocana's purple sword light illuminates the narrow tunnel.

Naturally, they did not have the key to unlock the cell door.

But who said you need a key to open the door?

The purple sword light flashed and flashed again.

click.

At the same moment when Mamiya closed the sword, the sound of wood breaking sounded.

On the wooden railing of the cell, a hole large enough for an adult to enter and exit was cut by the purple knife light.

When Mamiya had a conversation with Genichi just now, he didn't specifically lower the volume.

Therefore, the old man in the cell clearly heard the conversation between Mamiya and Genichi.

When the conversation between the two fell and Mamiya drew the knife to "open the door", the old man seemed to have heard something extraordinary, and kept looking at Genichi outside the prison with astonished eyes.

"Master Yuan..."

After repeating in a low voice what Banma Palace had addressed to Yuan Yi, the old man who had been curled up in the corner of the cell suddenly used his hands and feet, and hurriedly crawled to the center of the cell, to be closer to Yuan Yi. The place.

"Source One..."

The old man stared at Yuan Yi's face.

"Aren't you 'Toyotomi Genichi'?"

Yuan Yi's brows twitched slightly.

He stared at the old man for a while with sharp eyes that seemed to pierce the entire body of the old man.

"...Yes. I am Toyotomi Genichi." Genichi admitted frankly, "It seems that your status in the Toyotomi clan is really not low, even with the name 'Toyotomi Genichi'. all know."

Hasegawa and his subordinates, who knew very little about Toyotomi, are now staring at them with puzzled eyes...

Especially Hasegawa.

At this moment, he looked at Genichi, who just called himself 'Toyotomi', in amazement. His brain fell into a state of approximate chaos because his thinking speed was too fast to keep up with the changes in reality.

"Hahaha." The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth that had not been brushed for a long time. "You are really Toyotomi Genichi... You really admired your name for a long time. I used to hear Xinxiu mention you a lot."

"Heh." Yuan Yi let out a laugh that was either happy or sad, "Xinxiu told so many people about me...he really misses me more than I thought..."

At this time, Mamiya had already opened the cell.

Makimura took the initiative to step into the cell with an unpleasant stench, and took the old man out of the prison, who was also emitting an unpleasant stench.

Then, under the command of Yuan Yi, everyone began to turn back along the road they came from, preparing to leave this underground prison that no longer needs to stay here for a long time.

Perhaps it was because he had lived in prison for a long time and had not exercised for a long time. The old man's body was visibly weak.

Walking is okay, but running is a bit difficult for this old man.

Fortunately - Makimura is an informal person.

Seeing that the old man's body was weak, he simply carried the old man on his back, ignoring the dirt and unpleasant smell on the old man's body.

"We can tell you our situation." Yuan Yi ran at the front to lead the way, and said quickly to the old man who was lying on Mucun's back, "But on the contrary, I hope you can do it before we finish. After 'self-introduction', if you can tell everything, at least let us know who you are."

"We are here to find our companions..."

The source briefed the old man about their identity, purpose, and how to find this place.

After listening carefully to what Yuan Yi said, the old man murmured:

"So that's how it is..."

"Ha, Mr. Toyotomi Genichi, you are just like what Nobuyoshi said, a person who never lacks courage... You dare to take Koyasan directly with such a few people."

"Hahaha, what a joy!"

The old man laughed out loud.

"If I have a chance, I really want to see what Xinxiu's expression will look like after learning that Koyasan was attacked..."

"Well, but I guess he shouldn't show a very rude expression."

"After all, he is the kind of person who can keep his expression the same even when he is in a very unhappy mood."

"Hey, can you tell us: Who are you?" Mu Village, who had been moving forward with the old man on his back, turned his head and glanced at the old man on his back with impatient eyes, "We are just as you requested. , introduced ourselves. It's your turn to introduce yourself."

"Me?" A faint reminiscence slowly appeared on the face of the old man, "I... I am... No, I used to be a doctor under the Toyotomi family who was responsible for some shady research. ."

As soon as the old man said these words, A Ding, who was beside him, seemed to remember something. He twitched his beautiful eyebrows, raised his eyes, and carefully looked at the old man from head to toe.

The old man, who didn't notice A-Ting's scrutinizing gaze, continued to say slowly:

"I worked very hard for Xinxiu, and I made some achievements smoothly, so I was interviewed by Xinxiu many times."

"After coming and going, I got to know Xinxiu well."

"Oh... It's a pity... No matter how familiar you are, once you encounter the conflict of your dreams, you will be extremely fragile..."

The old man's hands, which were wrapped around Mucun's neck, slowly clenched tightly at this time.

The look of reminiscence on his face slowly turned into resentment and... faint remorse.

"I gave everything I could to Shin Soo."

"But in the end, it's only a prison sentence."

"Heh, I didn't expect that I also felt that Xuanzhi's choice to leave was a wise move one day..."

Hearing the old man's words just now... or hearing the name "Xuanzhi" mentioned by the old man just now, A-cho's pupils, who had been staring at the old man with scrutiny just now, shrank suddenly.

"Wait a moment!"

A Dingjiao shouted.

"You...couldn't it be Xuanzhi's master, Xuanzheng?"

"Oh?" The old man turned his head and looked at A-ding suspiciously, "Little girl, do you... know me?"

"It's really you..." A-Dingbei clenched her teeth, and her expression became strange due to various emotions such as joy, resentment, relief, doubt...etc.

As for the name "Xuanzheng", A-Ming felt that he might be able to remember this name even after decades.

In order to find this man and his apprentice Gennao, she and Ogata traveled all over Japan.

As for the character of Gensho, who Ogata and A-machi have spent a lot of effort in finding, they have naturally heard the name Yuanyi and others for a long time.

"You are that Xuan Zheng..." Yuan Yi stared at Xuan Zheng's eyes and narrowed slightly.

"Huh..." Xuan Zheng looked at A-Ding, and then at Yuan Yi, "Do you actually know me? This surprised me..."

During the conversation, everyone had turned a 90-degree corner.

As soon as he turned the corner, Hasegawa saw a small hole in front of him that was only big enough for 2 adults to enter and exit side by side.

The light emitted from the entrance of the cave made Hasegawa, who had been underground for a long time, sink his eyelids and use his eyelashes to filter out the harsh white light.

Looking at the entrance of the cave that was already close at hand, joy slowly climbed up Hasegawa's cheeks and pupils.

He can't wait to quickly bathe in the long-lost sunshine and breathe the long-lost fresh air.

When he thought that he was finally leaving this **** underground prison, Hasegawa felt that the pain in the wound on his leg was relieved a lot, and his steps became faster.

However—the cruel fact that was coming soon made the joy that hung on Hasegawa's cheeks and pupils instantly froze.

After impatiently following Genichi and the others out of the cave, what hit Hasegawa on his face was not fresh air.

It's an unpleasant stench.

Accompanied by this burnt stench, it was the scalding hot wind that made Hasegawa suspect that his eyelashes might be ignited.

"This is..." Hasegawa stared blankly at the sea of ​​fire in front of him.

I saw not far in front of them, Zhu Rong was wreaking havoc.

It seemed as if the endless sea of ​​fire was swallowing up the vegetation, spewing out a large amount of sparks, the fallen trees, the "groans" of broken wood, and the scorching hot wind kept blowing on Hasegawa's face.

"Tsk..." Mamiya's face sank, "Even if the current season is the time when fires are most likely to get out of control, it is impossible for mountain fires to spread to this extent in such a short period of time."

"Let the mountain fire burn like this in such a short period of time... How much kerosene did the people of Toyotomi use...!"

A-Ting didn't say anything.

But she still cast a worried look at the sea of ​​​​fire ahead uncontrollably.

At the other end of this seemingly boundless sea of ​​fire is Xianyuan Temple.

It was the direction that Ogata attacked in order to attract the Toyotomi clan to attack.

"...Don't worry." Makimura, who has a rough and fine personality, noticed the worry in A-ding's eyes, and only listened to him softly comforting A-ding, "It's impossible to get Ogata brother in a mere mountain fire."

"He should be able to join us soon."

Makimura just finished speaking—

"A-machi! Master Yuan!"

Makimura, who had just finished comforting A-ding, was startled, then smiled.

"Look, A-cho, am I right?"

Makimura raised his gaze following the voice.

After raising their eyes, everyone saw a familiar figure on the hillside in front of them.

Looking at this figure, the worried look in A-Ding's eyes quickly changed to a relieved joy.

...

...

"By the way, I don't know your name yet." Ogata asked the old monk behind him, "Can you tell me your name? It's rude to never know your name."

"...The poor monk's name is Qingyan."

"Qingyan? It's a very artistic name."

Compared to wandering around in this unfamiliar mountain group, it is obviously more convenient to bring someone who is very familiar with this place.

The Toyotomi family who set the mountain on fire, obviously did not want to have any entanglement with Ogata at all.

Attracting the main force of Toyotomi to attack, the "Woodpecker Tactic" for Yuanichi and others to find Toyotomi's stronghold in the back mountain went bankrupt - facing this situation, Ogata's current priority is to hurry to the back mountain and find the source. A group of people, join them.

Therefore, after the "goatee old monk" proposed to act with him, Ogata, who was eager to meet Genichi and the others, only briefly thought about it for a while before agreeing to the proposal.

Because the legs and feet of the "goatee old monk" were not very neat, Ogata directly carried him behind his back and let him lie on his back to show him the way.

Bringing someone who is familiar with the topography of Mt. Koya is really as Ogata expected, and it is much more convenient.

Under the guidance of "Old Monk with Goatee Beard", Ogata bypassed those places with many trees and easily affected by mountain fires. Although he took a lot of detours, his forward speed increased.

"This fire... seems to be burning too much..."

At the back of Koya Mountain, a large-scale mountain fire also appeared at this time. The speed of the mountain fire spread was so fast that the "goatee monk" who was lying on Ogata's back also found that the speed of the mountain fire was unusual. .

"Mostly because the thugs lurking on Mount Koya spilled kerosene everywhere." Ogata said with a sullen face, "It's crazy to set fire to the mountain... Once the fire gets out of control, it's not just Mount Koya. It's so easy to suffer... Even Osaka and Nara, which are close to Koyasan, will be implicated by it..."

"...Are there really a lot of thugs lurking in Koya Mountain?" "Old Monk with Goatee Beard" asked Ogata this question he had asked many times.

But this time, the tone of the "goatee old monk" was obviously much softer than the previous ones, and not as aggressive as before.

"Yeah." Ogata also answered patiently, "I can't possibly start this mountain fire, right? If I want to set fire to the mountain, I don't need to show up at Xianyuan Temple from the beginning."

"Who are these thugs?" "Old Goatee Monk" asked.

"If I say it, you won't believe it."

"Just say it. Believe it or not, I will make judgments later."

"...The thugs lurking in Koyasan are the descendants of the 'Taiko' Toyotomi Hideyoshi and their henchmen. They have been dormant to this day in order to rebuild the world of Toyotomi."

"I had some holidays with them, so I came here to settle accounts with them."

"...Are you kidding me?" The "goatee old monk" opened his mouth wide.

"I said it all... You don't believe me when I say it."

"Old Goatee Monk" pursed his lips with a complicated expression: "I, Koya Mountain... have always been infiltrated by thugs, but have I always been unaware..."

After muttering like this, the "Old Monk with Goatee Beard" stopped talking at all except to give directions to Ogata.

And Ogata is happy to use this to concentrate on looking for Genichi and others.

After being strengthened by the "power of immortality", Ogata's vision, hearing and other five senses have been greatly enhanced.

I can clearly see the flight path of a fly dozens of meters away—A-machi, who has excellent eyesight, once told Ogata that.

The previous Ogata never understood what kind of vision level this was.

And now, he understood.

What Ogata could only see clearly with the naked eye can now be seen clearly with the naked eye.

The raging wildfires, to a certain extent, made it convenient for Ogata to find people-because Genichi and others could only appear in places where there were no wildfires.

Ogata originally thought that it would take more or less time to find Yuanyi and his group. After all, the back mountain is very large, who knows where Yuanyi and the others are currently.

But I didn't think so - maybe it was due to luck, when I was going down the steeply sloping hillside, Ogata's out of the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of a very familiar figure coming out of a cave entrance not far away. .

"A-machi! Master Yuan!"

Ogata accelerated the downhill speed, and after steadily descending to the bottom of the slope, Ogata hurriedly greeted Yuanyi and his group with the "Old Monk with Goatee Beard" on his back.

"Ayi!" A-ding was the first to run to Ogata, and carefully looked at Ogata from head to toe, "Are you all right? Who is this?"

A-cho looked at the "goatee old monk" on Ogata's back suspiciously.

"I'm fine, but my face and clothes were blackened by the mountain fire." Ogata replied, "This person on my back is a monk from Koya Mountain. Thanks to his help, I was able to get around smoothly. Where there are more wildfires.”

Having said that, Ogata used a complex look dominated by surprise, and looked at Hasegawa and the others standing behind Yuan Ichi and the others, as well as the Isshiki Naoshu family.

Just now, when he was going down the hillside, Ogata had already discovered Zhi Zhou's family, and... this official messenger who had always had a wonderful fate with him.

Ogata did not speak to Hasegawa.

After taking a deep look at Hasegawa, he immediately looked away as if he didn't know Hasegawa.

All of this was because he saw the officials behind Hasegawa who were wearing uniforms changed from thieves.

If Hasegawa's subordinates know that their leader seems to have a close relationship with the notorious Ogata Ichitosai, it will definitely bring Hasegawa a lot of trouble.

So, even though he was extremely confused about why Hasegawa was here, Ogata pretended not to know Hasegawa and didn't say hello to Hasegawa.

And Hasegawa is not stupid either.

Ogata ignored him.

And he ignored Ogata.

The two tacitly regarded each other as strangers.

But... Hasegawa tried to pretend he didn't know Ogata~www.wuxiahere.com~ and took the initiative to look away from Ogata's direction, but he couldn't control his gaze fixed on Ogata... ...on the "goatee old monk" behind.

--Um?

Hasegawa stared at the face of the "goatee old monk".

——This old monk... Have I seen it somewhere before...

——He seems to be from Koyasan... Who is that?

Hasegawa thought hard.

But after thinking hard for a long time, he still couldn't remember who this "goatee old monk" was.

******

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Can anyone blindly guess who this "Old Goatee Monk" is? In fact, there is a little foreshadowing of the identity of this "Old Goatee Monk" in the previous article.