The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

Benkei, regardless of whether you know the story of Minamoto no Yoshitsune or not, has probably heard of his name.

The most famous part of his life was probably that he fought to the very last moment to protect his master, and finally died standing up despite being shot by thousands of arrows.

From this legend, we can see how difficult it is to kill the shadow of Nishijo Taiga.

"Be careful!" Asai Narumi reminded while pulling the bow in his hand to its full extent and shooting an arrow while jumping up to avoid the attack.

Xingchuan Hui, who was already used to cooperating, chased after him without saying a word and directly chopped the shadow's leg.

Shadow Nishijo, who was drawing his sword to chop towards the front row, was hit by this blow. He took a half step back in pain, temporarily resolving the crisis for his teammates in the front row who were under attack.

However, when the shadow took two steps back, bent down slightly and held his breath, the wound on his leg healed quickly.

"This is really troublesome." Taking his eyes off the scope, Zhu Fujingguang sighed, "Even 'Benkei's pain point' can't cause him any effective damage."

"The recovery is too fast." Shimabukuro Kimie frowned as she retreated from the attack range.

"It's Benkei after all." Asai Narimi stepped back cautiously and stood with them. "His biggest problem isn't this."

The biggest problem is that this is not a truly numerically enhanced version of Benkei. His core is Nishijo Taiga, a member of the bandit gang.

A madman who will use any means to achieve his goals.

This is not a warrior who inherited the spirit of Bushido, he is a criminal who will coat his knife with poison.

"The poison is quite potent." Miyano Akemi frowned after dispelling the dots for her teammates. "In real life, his knife should be coated with a deadly poison that kills instantly."

This also explains why he killed his former companions so efficiently and quickly.

His fighting style is nothing short of vicious. People who know him must have anticipated this and dared not confront him head-on.

"A tough lunatic," Asai Narimi concluded. "It's also difficult for us to defeat him head-on."

According to their current level of training, with Noah's assistance and the cooperation of so many companions, it might be possible to resolve this shadow, but it would undoubtedly require a hard battle.

Without Joker, the team's output ceiling is still too limited.

"Pay attention to defense, he stands up again." Noah's voice sounded in their ears.

In the intervals between their brief conversations, the shadow Nishijo Daikawa, who was bending over to recover, seemed to have finally recovered completely and slowly stood up again.

Dressed as a monk and fully armored, Shadow Saijo Taiga gripped the katana at his side and shouted, "I will protect what Yoshitsune left behind and will never retreat. You thief, die!"

"Fortunately, we don't need to actually defeat him." Miyano Akemi flicked her fan and raised her hand again towards the tall shadow that was gradually beginning to take on an inhuman form. "He's fully recovered. Keep suppressing him!"

----

"Sure enough, if you go through the main gate, this place is very far from Yulong Temple."

After getting off the tram, Hattori Heiji led the way up the mountain road while analyzing.

The last time they came to Mount Kurama, they went up from the parking lot at the back. The trail there was not planned as a scenic spot, and of course, it did not meander around the mountain road like the front path did, so it was already an exceptionally fast route.

"If our speculation is correct, this person really uses Yulong Temple as his base of activity, why did he choose such a place? This doesn't make sense." Following this line of thought, Hattori Heiji quickly raised his doubts.

Even if you take a small path, it takes a lot of effort to get out of this temple deep in the mountains.

If we have to say what the advantages are, it may be that it is relatively easy to destroy the body and it is not easy for the police to detect it.

"Yes, it's very strange." Conan followed behind him and nodded. "Putting the base in a place like this would be very troublesome for me to get in and out, not to mention any other operations."

Although it is too extreme to build a base next to the detective's house like the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, no matter what kind of theft gang it is, they can't really ignore the transportation problem and hide in the mountains like aboriginals.

"'Benkei' himself definitely doesn't live here permanently," Karasawa, who, despite wearing wooden clogs, walked with unwavering stride, reminded him, "Our two suspects both live in the city."

It is still an urban area with a large flow of people and convenient transportation.

Kyoto's chessboard-like road planning almost makes the commercial district interconnected. No matter which one of them is a very flexible and convenient residence for thieves.

The two detectives didn't realize how professional the person who made the statement was, but they both nodded in agreement with his opinion.

"So I think this place might be used to hide their real 'lower-level personnel' and to cover up the scale of Genji Hotaru." Conan put forward his own idea, "Whether it's Saijo Taiga or Ryuen Monk, an old bookstore or Sannoji Temple, if there are always people coming and going, it will easily arouse suspicion in the long run."

Comparing the two locations, Shanneng Temple may be more reasonable.

On the first day they arrived, the then abbot Yuanhai introduced other regulars to them by referring to them as "fellow martial artists."

After all, there was a chief priest and other staff at Sannoji Temple. If Ryuen was really Benkei, it would be difficult to explain the many contradictions unless the chief priest Enkai was Yoshitsune.

"In comparison, is it really Nishijo Taiga who is more suspicious?" Hattori Heiji observed his surroundings, let out a breath, and stated this conclusion.

The three of them climbed up the stairs and were now completely surrounded by the dense forest. It was very quiet except for the sounds of insects, birds and rustling leaves.

His words drifted away in the wind, making the expression of the person hiding behind the tree even colder and more resolute.

There is the threat of a thief approaching from the front, and a detective chasing him relentlessly from the back.

One side must be solved first...then we can only choose the side that is easier to solve.

"I think so too. Saijo is definitely not as harmless as he looks." Conan nodded in agreement. "This morning at Mr. Mizuo's house, his reaction was very strange."

"You mean, when we talked about Kyudo?" Hattori Heiji remembered the details of the morning very clearly and took over.

When they asked several people whether they had ever been exposed to Kyudo, it was not difficult to see that everyone except Nishijo Taiga, including Chiga Suzu who had actually been exposed to Kyudo, did not shy away from this.

The way they use to prove themselves is not to deny their involvement, but to try their best to explain what the biggest intersection between them and Kyudo is, to explain how shallow their understanding of Kyudo is.

Only Nishijo Taikawa distanced himself from the matter, saying that he had no contact at all.

"I guess he knows that once he brings up this topic, it will be hard to hide it." Conan nodded. "It's hard for a master of this art to pretend to be a beginner."

There is a possibility that Qian Heling is an expert pretending to be a rookie, but if she really thinks so, she would not put on a Band-Aid so hypocritically.

Just don't post it, throw up your hands and say you just don't know how to do it. The detectives can't provide any evidence to prove that she can do it, right?

And this Band-Aid was already on Qian Heling's hand when I first met her.

"Yeah, he probably didn't even notice it himself, but when he sat down he would unconsciously take a half step back. It's totally a habit of Kyudo."

"Let alone technical terms. If we actually talk about Kyudo, he'll definitely be exposed."

"With his physique, he does look more like a thug in the team than Sakura Shozo."

"As for Ying Zhengzo, I guess it's because of his identity as an antique dealer, serving as the team's important channel for selling stolen goods, that he feels safe and secure, and doesn't think he will really kill him."

"Indeed, selling stolen goods is sometimes more difficult than the theft itself. That's why I believe Sakura Masazo proposed cooperation and wanted to help the murderer kill the other accomplices."

"Well, if it wasn't him, then he would be confident that he could still protect his own interests without killing everyone else..."

The two detectives chatted back and forth, completely immersed in analysis, their voices echoing in the woods.

Tang Ze shook the fan in his hand, opened his background formation interface while listening, observed the status of his teammates, and counted silently in his mind.

Nishijo Taikawa is not a patient good man. If he had enough patience, he would not have been so eager to join forces with Sakura Masazo to kill so many people in just a few days.

Hearing the two of them talking back and forth like they were stripping someone's clothes, it was time to get anxious.

After Tang Ze watched his teammates' health in the background go through the elevator again and painstakingly adjusted the debuff manually, some unusual noises finally came from the forest.

An arrow shot towards Tang Ze's back from the side and rear.

"careful!"

After preparing for a while, with all the muscles tensed, Hattori Heiji turned around without hesitation, grabbed Tang Ze's arm, dragged him back two steps, and narrowly avoided the arrow.

Just as Tang Ze was about to turn around and perform a bare-handed knife-catching show for the prisoner, he reluctantly accepted his kindness, dodged the arrow, and stood back to back with Hattori Heiji and Conan.

After shooting the arrow, the attacker seemed to have returned to observation mode and the surroundings became quiet again.

Feeling that the atmosphere was about right, Tang Ze, who had been silent all this time, spoke.

"Actually, it's easy to explain why we chose Yulong Temple as our base."

He patted Hattori Heiji with his hands behind his back, signaling him to get ready. As he spoke, he quietly pulled his feet out of the clogs.

The experience of playing Kitagawa Yusuke has made him more familiar with wooden clogs. Running in them is no problem at all, but there is no need to challenge such a difficult option as parkour in the mountains. It is better to run in socks.

"Whether Benkei was truly loyal or not is unclear, but he certainly considered himself a martial arts master. Abbot Yuankai stated that the donors present were his fellow martial artists, and that was no lie."

"what do you mean……"

Hattori Heiji fully understood the message and lowered his hand to grab the clothes around Conan's neck, making it convenient for him to grab him and run away.

He made subtle gestures, but didn't forget to compliment Tang Ze and divert the attacker's attention.

"Do you remember the review you made the last time you came to Kurama-dera?"

"Which one? Oh, the one about how this place is a good place for spiritual practice?"

"That's right. Benkei treated this place as his training ground, his own dojo. Am I right, Mr. Saijo?"

After completely revealing the identity of the visitor, Tang Ze took a deep breath and also got his feet, hidden under his yukata, into position.

A rather disdainful sneer soon came from the woods.

Nishijo Taiga, who was hiding behind a tree with the old man's Noh mask, stopped pretending, drew his samurai sword and stood out.

"You know everything, yet you still dare to come here alone? Should I call you brave or reckless, little detectives?"

"No matter how strong your martial arts skills are, you are the only one in the entire Genji Hotaru who is at your level." Tang Ze looked at the mask on his face and said calmly.

"Of course there's only one Benkei. But..."

Nishijo Taiga stepped onto the stairs and waved as he spoke.

Soon, many heads wearing masks appeared from behind the trees on both sides.

Saijo Taiga was not fighting randomly. He came prepared and called all his disciples out.

This is actually the reason why Karasawa and Hattori Heiji delayed time.

"There's no one blocking the way, Hattori! Run!"

Tang Ze shouted loudly, kicked his clogs towards the direction of Nishijo River, turned around and ran up the mountain road.

They were almost halfway there, and this delay had successfully caused the formation of Xijo Taikawa's disciples in the forest to become much more disorganized, making it impossible to achieve a complete encirclement.

This is the fundamental purpose of their loud conspiracy and loud cricket murderer.

Finding Yulong Temple and the Buddha statue itself would prove many problems and allow Saijo Taiga to truly break through its defenses.

The two of them suddenly broke into a run, their burst of speed clearly exceeding Xijo Taiga's expectations. In just a few seconds, they had already leaped forward a considerable distance, quickly breaking out of the encirclement.

Especially Tang Ze, who was standing at the back and wearing two gorgeous yukatas, was even more agile than these bandits who were used to living in the mountains. The fluttering clothes on his body seemed to pose no obstacle at all. He passed Hattori Heiji like a white shadow ghost and sprinted quickly towards the direction of Yulong Temple.

In response to this, Karasawa, who once wandered in the mountains for two days wearing a single yukata, said that it was like coming home.

Among the three people, Conan, who became the weight and didn't have to run himself, was the most uncomfortable.

"Hiss, stop, stop pulling, I can't breathe——"

"Ha, don't be picky at a time like this, Kudo..."

"No, at least change your position and stop grabbing my neck—Ah! I bumped into you!"