My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 371 - 142: One-Sword Instant Kill! Shocking the Arena!

As he clapped his hands, his gaze shifted sideways, the corners of his mouth curling into a mischievous smile, he glanced proudly at the Chiba Siblings beside him.

Why would the Chiba Siblings be so astonished by Aoto’s current display, while Chokata and the others remained so calm... the reason was quite simple — the information Chiba Siblings had on Aoto was very outdated.

Chiba Siblings’ impression of Aoto’s strength was still stuck in the Red and White Battle two months ago.

Though the siblings expected that Aoto, who had extraordinary talent, would make new breakthroughs in strength during these two months, they underestimated the speed at which Aoto’s strength was improving!

In fact, to be more precise, everyone except the people from Shiwei Hall had outdated information about Aoto’s strength!

People only knew that Aoto made another significant achievement recently, defending the Foreign Language Research Institute and further striking the Anti-foreigner Group, but few knew — after this great battle, Aoto’s strength underwent a leap forward!

Now, with "Sword Genius" and "Ghost Heart", these two divine-level talents, Aoto’s speed of improvement can only be described with astonishing, terrifying, and other sensational words.

Real sword battles where blood is seen with every stroke are the most capable of raising one’s level of strength — so after the rescue battle for the Foreign Language Research Institute, Aoto’s strength once again underwent an astounding leap and breakthrough!

Underestimating Aoto’s speed of improvement led to many pairs of eyes wide open, faces filled with astonishment.

But Zhao and Chokata did not have the trouble of "not knowing Aoto’s real strength now" — after all, they lived with Aoto and could see with their own eyes every day how Aoto’s strength grew rapidly!

They had long known that with Aoto’s current extremely exaggerated progress in strength... defeating Adachi was just matter-of-fact.

Looking across the martial audience, many people were shocked by Aoto’s displayed strength, including some notable figures such as "Powerful Saito" Saito Mijuro, and "Position of Peach Well" Taojing Chunzang.

Of course— those who understand swordsmanship and were amazed by the sword Aoto just performed beyond same-level people, were only a small part.

Most of the audience on the martial seat were just ordinary people wanting some excitement and joy, some didn’t even recognize who was Aoto, who was Adachi.

One competitor directly knocked over another with a single stroke — they just thought this scene looked so awesome, so satisfying, so they cheered and clapped vigorously.

On the VIP Platform, a small commotion broke out at this moment.

"Oh? That Tachibana Aoto is much stronger than I imagined..." The Lord of Utsunomiya Domain blinked in surprise.

"This strength... is completely unlike a newcomer who has been practicing swordsmanship for less than three years..." The Lord of the Ninja Clan echoed.

"...It’s just a pity this person is now serving the North Guard Station." The Lord of Matsudai Domain tugged his beard regretfully, "Otherwise, I would have quite liked to recruit such a young man with great potential into my manor."

The Daimyos whispered among themselves, discussing Aoto who hadn’t left the stage, with various emotions and expressions.

Matsudaira Yoshihiko did not participate in their discussion.

However, his calm and deep gaze, upon seeing Aoto’s displayed strength far exceeding his level, quickly defeating Adachi, slightly rippled.

...

...

Not only are the Chiba Siblings now showing "expressive" faces.

Aoto, still maintaining his sword pose on the stage, also had quite an interesting expression.

——What’s going on...?

Looking at Adachi struggling to get up from the ground ahead, Aoto blinked in confusion.

He tried to recall what had just happened.

Wanting to test Adachi’s substance, Aoto decided to strike first with a probing attack.

Stepping forward, drawing the sword, and then... there was no "then"...

This Adachi, said to be second only to the "Three Heroes", couldn’t even defend or evade his probing attack, didn’t last even ten seconds needed for the copy talent... This was indeed unexpected for Aoto.

——Could it be this Adachi is not one of those few whose strength is on par with mine, as Master mentioned?

While Aoto was still confused, the referees beside had already made a judgment.

Standing on the left and right sides of Aoto and Adachi, these two referees probably didn’t expect this first trial match could finish so quickly.

After standing stunned for a moment, they finally came around, simultaneously extending their arms toward Aoto:

"Winner— Natural Reasoning Heart Stream, Shiwei Hall, Tachibana Aoto!"

Adachi had climbed up from the ground, touching the helmet struck by Aoto, dumbfoundedly watching Aoto, his eyes and expression complex.

"Thank you for teaching me..." Adachi took several deep breaths, held down the complex expression on his face, and bowed to Aoto.

Aoto hurriedly returned a bow, then quickly took off his protective gear under the referee’s instructions, vacated the venue for the next group of competitors, holding his bamboo sword back to his seat.

Returning to Chokata and Sazanoko’s side, Aoto still felt bewildered, yet from the extraordinarily smooth victory that far exceeded his expectations.

"Mr. Tachibana! Congratulations! You’ve won your first match!" As Aoto returned, Chokata still clapped vigorously like a seal.

"Thank you." Seeing Chokata’s "seal clapping" look, Aoto smiled slightly amused.

"Mr. Tachibana..."

At this moment, Chiba Shigetarou’s voice came over.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Aoto saw Chiba Shigetarou gazing at him with inexplicable astonishment.

Sazanoko, seated next to Aoto, had already recovered her usual elegant ice-cold flower demeanor from the earlier shock.

However— after Aoto returned from the stage, she couldn’t help but, like her brother, cast an amazed glance at his direction.

Chiba Shigetarou just silently stared at Aoto, seemingly wanting to say something but unaware of how to start.

After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence: "You... have grown so much stronger..."

Facing Chiba Shigetarou’s praise, Aoto was unsure how to respond for a moment, only managed a few dry laughs and softly replied: "Thank you..."

Aoto’s instant defeat of the opponent undoubtedly changed many people’s impressions of Aoto, and their evaluation of his strength.

Those who previously thought their strength was not inferior to Aoto, placing themselves at his position, able to yield better results in resisting the "Anti-foreigner Faction", now seemed guilty, hanging heads low, sweating profusely, eyes focusing on noses and hearts.

On the Training Hall’s seats, Niitsuma Kan currently gaped, blankly staring at Aoto who already sat between Chokata and Sazanoko.

His facial blood quickly faded, looking like he had lost his soul.

...

...

The tournament adopted a "win by one round" system.

As long as the head, chest, or other vital parts are hit directly, it would be judged as a loss and elimination, so the pace was quite fast, mostly finishing a match within a minute.

One competitor after another was eliminated, one after another qualified for the second round.

Being back on the seat, Aoto earnestly watched other competitors’ matches.

The more he watched, the stranger his expression became...

Though saying this directly might be excessive... Aoto felt the contestants were somewhat weak.

Basically, almost every competitor in Aoto’s eyes seemed to lack refined offense, powerless defense, loose footwork, sluggish reactions.

If Aoto were to compete, he felt he could easily defeat every opponent he saw so far with a single stroke.

——So this is the tournament my Master told me of, with many formidable new talents...

Aoto frequently glanced at Zhouzhu seated not far ahead with a peculiar face...

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Asking for votes! Asking for votes! (Crying Leopard.jpg)

Today’s Chapter is 9,300 characters, let’s count it as 10 thousand! I’ll make up the remaining 700 characters tomorrow and try to have a 11K word blast tomorrow!

Continuously blast for the second day with 10K!

Today’s blast is repaying the owed update to the 3rd Alliance Leader: [L5??].

The author still owes 15 Chapters of 10 thousand word blast updates.

Tomorrow continues to try the update blast, see if I can continue blasting until this section of the Swordsmanship Competition ends.

In view of the author’s hard work, please vote more for this book!