I Formed the Strongest Swordsman Group-Chapter 46: Ju Qingteng Has Mastered Zhuge Kongming’s Ultimate Technique!

"Ohhh..."
"Impressive... what a beautiful technique..."
"What martial art is this? Doesn't look much like jujutsu."
...
Just as Suzu had said earlier—in this era, samurai skilled in unarmed combat were rare.
Samurai of this time generally focused enthusiastically on practicing swordsmanship, spearmanship, archery, and other weapon skills, placing little importance on empty-handed techniques.
After Aoto subdued Kondō with his crisp movements, the apprentices sitting around the edges of the dojo, who rarely witnessed such high-quality unarmed combat, erupted in exclamations of amazement and discussion.
While the surrounding apprentices were marveling, Aoto was also marveling—internally marveling.
Holy crap, hit the jackpot again!
After the system voice faded in his mind, Aoto hurriedly summoned his personal system interface.
【Name: Tachibana Aoto】(?)
【Currently Possessed Talents:】
【Night Vision, Sword Prodigy, Sleep God, Lone Courage】
At the very end of the talent list, two large Chinese characters for "Lone Courage" had clearly appeared.
The more numerous and stronger the enemies, the more it ignites fighting spirit, enabling extraordinary performance... another talent that sounded incredibly powerful just from its description.
When the "radical Expel the Barbarians faction" committed murder, they often attacked in groups.
They would send several people at once to gang up on a single person, rarely engaging in one-on-one combat.
Obtaining this talent that allowed Aoto to grow stronger when facing stronger opponents was truly like receiving timely help in a snowstorm.
Before Aoto could fully savor the joy of hitting the jackpot again and gaining a new powerful talent, Suzu's aged voice reached his ears.
"Beautiful technique!"
Suzu, his face full of warm smiles, stood up from the head seat of the dojo while applauding and slowly walked toward Aoto.
"Tachibana-kun, what martial art did you use just now? It looked somewhat like jujutsu, but also feels quite different from jujutsu."
"This is a combat technique passed down through generations in my family," Aoto smoothly lied.
"Hohoho..." Suzu raised his hand to stroke his smooth chin. "Your family passes down quite an outstanding unarmed combat technique..."
"If I'm not mistaken... this unarmed combat technique your family inherits specifically targets human joints, pressure points, and vital areas, correct?"
"Exactly." Aoto's eyebrows jumped in surprise.
Suzu continued with a smile:
"Yū just now lost because you exploited the weaknesses of his joints."
"Both arms were locked in positions where they couldn't exert force, so no matter how much strength he had, he couldn't use it."
Watching Suzu speak so knowledgeably before him, Aoto's eyes continuously shone with astonishment.
This old man had simply watched his spar with Kondō once and immediately pinpointed the characteristics of the grappling techniques he used and exactly why Kondō had lost to him...
"Hohoho... Tachibana-kun, you're much more impressive than I imagined."
After saying this, Suzu clasped his hands behind his back.
"Yū, help me get two bamboo swords."
Kondō was still massaging and relaxing his arms that Aoto had just locked up, which still ached somewhat.
Hearing Suzu's command, though confused, Kondō immediately respectfully responded "Yes," then quickly fetched two bamboo swords and handed them to Suzu.
Taking the two bamboo swords from Kondō, Suzu briefly weighed them before tossing one to Aoto.
"Come, Tachibana-kun."
Suzu smiled as he raised his sword into a ready position.
"Next... let me see your swordsmanship level."
...
...
At this very moment—
"Hey, did you hear? The murderer who killed Granny Apple was caught by the 'Three Squads' of Kita Bansho in less than two hours!"
"Less than two hours?"
"Yeah, I heard it was solved by a constable from Teimachi squad named Tachibana Aoto."
...
Due to limited forensic technology, it was extremely common for cases to take one or two months, or even several months, to solve.
Solving a case in less than two hours—such a thing was completely considered sensational news in the Edo Period.
...
"The killer has been captured by the 'Three Squads' of Kita Bansho. Granny Apple should be able to rest in peace now..."
"Granny Apple was so kind! A few years ago, my son was seriously ill and we had no money for treatment. It was Granny Apple and her husband who treated him for free and saved my son! Which beast could have killed Granny Apple?!"
"I heard it was her childhood friend: Xun Sanlang."
"Xun Sanlang? Wasn't that guy always very honest? How could he kill someone?"
"Who knows? You can know a person's face but not their heart."
...
Granny Apple enjoyed considerable prestige; even in just Kiyayanagi Town alone, more than half the people had received help from her and her husband. They simply couldn't remain indifferent to her murder.
In modern terms, Granny Apple's homicide case was what many would call a "high-profile event."
Since the American black ships forced open Japan's doors seven years ago, hardly anything good had happened in this country.
The 12th shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi died of illness, his successor the 13th shogun Tokugawa Iesada was mentally incompetent, the Nanki faction and Hitotsubashi faction fought endlessly over who would succeed as the 14th shogun, and just when their struggle finally ended, Chief Minister Ii Naosuke's authoritarian style began greatly displeasing many, led by Lady Tenshō-in...
Even setting aside these court matters, the troubles among commoners were too numerous to count.
The increasingly depressed economy, disturbances by the "radical Expel the Barbarians faction," the surge in unemployed people due to social instability...
In short: these past few years, the atmosphere permeating Edo had been unprecedentedly oppressive.
The "Three Squads" of Kita Bansho solving such a high-profile major case in less than two hours—this counted as rare "positive news" that could lift people's spirits in recent years.
This rare "positive news" provided an outlet for the long-suppressed emotions of the populace.
Thus—the sensational news of solving a case in under two hours + the high attention on the solved case + the populace's long-suppressed emotions urgently needing release = a peculiar chemical reaction, with enormous numbers of people spontaneously joining discussions on related topics.
Over these two days, centered around Kiyayanagi Town, more and more people began discussing this recently concluded homicide case.
Due to insufficient basic education in this era, the general populace wasn't very bright and lacked judgment—therefore, all sorts of chaotic rumors spread at an almost eerie rapid speed over these two days...
...
"Hey, did you hear? That constable who caught the beast who killed Granny Apple apparently hadn't been very impressive at Kita Bansho before. They say he even had the nickname 'Idiot Aoto.'"
"Then how did he suddenly become so capable?"
"Who knows? Maybe he buckled down and worked hard to improve himself."
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto apparently studied the crime scene inside Granny Apple's house for a while and immediately knew who killed her."
"What? How did he do that?"
"Who knows! The Magistrate’s Office should announce how that Tachibana Aoto caught the person later."
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto is quite a man of principle! He was apparently a terrible Teimachi squad constable before, so people gave him the nickname 'Idiot Aoto,' but he kept studying hard and honing his mind and body until he finally caught up. That's how he solved today's case so brilliantly."
"Ohhh! Amazing! Who would have thought there'd still be such principled and driven samurai in this day and age!"
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto apparently just glanced at the crime scene after entering Granny Apple's house and immediately knew who killed her. He was only in Granny Apple's house for less than half an incense stick's time from start to finish."
"Huh? I heard that Tachibana Aoto didn't even enter Granny Apple's house?"
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto apparently didn't even enter Granny Apple's house! He just stood outside the crime scene listening to jishinban officers the case details and deduced who the culprit was."
"Right, right, that's what I heard too. He solved the case without even entering Granny Apple's house!"
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto..."
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto..."
...
"Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Aoto..."
...
Edo, some castle town, outside a certain confectionery shop—
Okita hated that kind of behavior where people crowd around crime scenes... especially murder scenes.
Gathering around crime scenes like watching a play, standing on tiptoes, craning their necks to look...
What's so interesting about that?!
Have they considered the feelings of the victims' friends and relatives...
So annoying... this kind of behavior that disregards the feelings of victims' loved ones...
Therefore, two days ago, when he learned about the homicide case in neighboring Kiyayanagi Town, Okita didn't go to spectate like those busybodies.
After seeing Aoto off, Okita stayed at the teahouse, continuing to enjoy his favorite red bean paste steamed buns.
After finishing the buns, he quietly returned alone to Shieikan and didn't follow up on Granny Apple's case afterward.
Okita was a severe sweets addict.
If he went a day without konpeitō, he felt completely uncomfortable.
Last night, seeing that his household's konpeitō reserves were running low, he excitedly rushed to his regular confectionery shop first thing this morning to purchase his "daily necessities."
But his luck today seemed rather poor.
When Okita arrived at his usual confectionery shop, all the konpeitō had sold out.
Okita only loved the konpeitō baked at this particular shop, so he could only wait patiently in the store for the shopkeeper to bake a new batch.
To pass this boring waiting time, Okita stood outside the confectionery shop and pulled out a small stack of papers from his robe.
Let's study arithmetic!
The small stack of papers Okita pulled out was covered in dense handwriting—all arithmetic problems he had previously asked the reasonably skilled Hijikata Toshizo to prepare for him.
Hijikata Toshizo had once told him: To learn arithmetic well, plenty of practice is necessary.
Therefore, to get extensive practice, Okita pestered Hijikata Toshizo for quite a while before he finally agreed to prepare suitable practice problems.
When Okita first asked Hijikata Toshizo to help prepare problems, the man was extremely reluctant, saying things like "What a bother."
But after finally agreeing to Okita's request under persistent pestering, he became exceptionally serious, helping Okita write a full several pages of arithmetic problems.
Okita flipped through the small stack of papers to problems he hadn't done yet.
The moment his eyes landed on a new problem, Okita's delicate eyebrows immediately furrowed, his expression becoming like this: (´･ω･｀)
【Soji, you currently have 39 konpeitō. I have 27 konpeitō. If I give you all my konpeitō, how many konpeitō do you have now?】
Both the problem's tone and content were filled with Mr. Hijikata's style.
39 konpeitō... hmm... one pair of hands has 10 fingers, so 39 is 3 pairs of hands plus 9 fingers!
27 konpeitō is 2 pairs of hands plus 7 fingers!
Perhaps because he was standing right next to the confectionery shop and could continuously smell quite pleasant sweet aromas, Okita felt his mind was exceptionally sharp right now! His thinking was remarkably smooth!
His condition was excellent!
Hmm! Good! Feeling great now! This time I should get it right!
A smug smile curling at his lips, he continued his mental calculations.
39 plus 27... that's 3 pairs of hands plus 9 fingers plus 2 pairs of hands plus 7 fingers...
Thus—the sensational news of solving a case in under two hours + the high attention on the solved case + the populace's long-suppressed emotions urgently needing release = a strange chemical reaction, with enormous numbers of people spontaneously joining discussions on related topics.
(≧∀≦) 103 total!
Okita smugly turned his gaze to the next problem...
Just then—
Due to insufficient basic education in this era, the general populace wasn't very bright and lacked judgment—therefore, all sorts of chaotic rumors spread at an almost eerie rapid speed over these two days...
"Yeah, heard, heard. A Teimachi squad constable with the nickname 'Idiot Aoto' solved it in under two hours, right? What was that constable's name again?"
"Tachibana Aoto."
"Oh, right, Tachibana Aoto."
Suddenly, a conversation came from beside him that Okita couldn't help but notice, hard to ignore...
The speakers were two middle-aged men who stood not far from the confectionery shop, each chewing on a rice dumpling, looking like idle members of society.
After one man stuffed his entire rice dumpling into his mouth, he lowered his voice and said to his companion opposite him in a tone like he was sharing a little secret:
"Hey, did you hear? They say that Tachibana Aoto has mastered Zhuge Kongming's finger calculation techniques!"
...Zhuge Kongming?!
Okita's expression after hearing these two men's words became like this: Σ(°Д°;)...
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