A person in Japan, a sword that soars to immortality.

After six days of wandering, Taiichi and Aya finally arrived in Iki.

After a brief rest, they set off immediately towards the Yamato-Koriyama Domain.

"Hey, are we really going to wipe out some kind of cult?"

Walking on the official road, A-Xia looked at Tai-Yi with her big, blinking eyes, like an innocent and naive girl.

But her expression couldn't fool Taiyi.

Those who can serve as Matsudaira Aoki's bodyguards must have real skills; they won't be chosen without drawing blood.

"We are going to wipe them out."

Taiichi answered calmly.

"Hey! Why don't you go to the Kishu Domain and ask Lord Tokugawa Nariaki for help? How could a small domain like the Yamato-Koriyama Domain possibly muster a force of a thousand men?"

Ah-Xia suddenly stopped, then put her hands on her hips and questioned him with a displeased expression.

"We will not ask the lord for help. This operation is just the two of us."

"Huh? What did you say? Just the two of us? You're not kidding, are you?!"

She rolled her eyes at Taiichi instantly. Aya felt she needed to go back and report to Lord Aoki that the samurai he had his eye on was a lunatic.

"It has to be the two of us. Some things cannot be expanded, otherwise it will lead to unpredictable consequences."

Taiyi stopped, turned his back to Axia, narrowed his eyes, and said calmly.

At the same time, his left hand slowly moved from the hilt to the scabbard, and he used his thumb to hold the tsuba (handguard), while his right hand, hanging at his side, formed a loose grip.

Ah-Xia also sensed something was wrong, stopped talking, and moved her eyes back and forth as if searching for something.

Suddenly, a rustling sound rang out. Before Taiyi could make a move, Axia threw a cross-shaped dart towards the source of the sound.

Oops!

"Hey, I thought it was something serious, don't scare me, okay?" Ah Xia relaxed and walked towards the injured pheasant that was flapping its wings on the ground, as she snapped out of her lunge. "You're in for a treat at noon..."

Whoosh whoosh!

Just as she bent down to grab the pheasant, three crossbow bolts, exuding a deadly aura, shot towards her in an instant.

Ah Xia reacted quickly, tilting her head back and bending down in the direction of the arrow, watching it fly past her in the blink of an eye.

"Taiyi, little..." Before she could turn around to give him instructions, Taiyi had already drawn his sword and rushed into the dense vegetation.

"Oh dear! Foolish! This is an attack by wild ninjas!"

While Aya was furious, she couldn't spare a moment to help Taiyi, because she was already surrounded by three male ninjas.

"That despicable woman, how dare she look down on the ninjas of our Anaconda Village!"

The man in the lead, dressed in a brown short-sleeved shirt over a tight vest and wearing a mask, took a step forward and said angrily to Ah Xia.

"Serpent Village?" A-Xia shook her head, confirming the location of the other two people, while slowly reaching her hands towards her waist, saying, "Never even heard of it!"

"I will not allow you to pull out your weapon!"

The man in the lead seemed to have noticed A-Xia's movements long ago, and was about to throw out the kunai again before she could.

The other two were doing the same, already preparing to throw their hidden weapons at A-Xia.

Although Ah Xia was a step slower than the other three, her hand speed was faster. Almost at the same time, they all touched their weapons.

"go to hell!"

Bang bang bang!

......

In the forest, Taiichi swung his sword to cleave the incoming crossbow bolts, and with a final charge, beheaded the ninja who was trying to retreat.

After killing the man, Taiichi swung his sword to the side, shaking off all the bloodstains on his Nichirin Blade.

Behind him lay five corpses.

"Great, another 6 general points have been added, and I've finally made it to 10 points again."

Looking at the data in the system, Taiyi nodded in satisfaction.

[Sword Control System]

Name: Yamada Asaemon Taichi

Age: 20

【Lifespan: 53】

[Energy: 102.7 (+)]

Qi and Blood: 55.3 (+)

[God Soul: 21.1 (+)]

[Breathing Techniques (+): Yin Tiger's Roar (Intermediate) (+), Yang Dragon's Chant (Advanced) (+)]

[Additional effects: Rapid recovery; Blazing inferno]

[Conversion Effect: Essence to Blood and Qi conversion is 20 times (5s); Spirit to Blood and Qi conversion is 20 times (5s)]

[Martial Arts: Yanglong Style (+)]

【Title: 1. Daimyo's Personal Guard (With your lord by your side, your fighting spirit is now high. When facing the enemy again, what they will notice is not only your looks, but also your status)】

[Title Effect: Increases HP by 10%]

【Prestige: Reduces all enemy attributes by 5%】

[Common points: 10]

Before leaving, in addition to his work, he carried out four beheadings. Including the six people he killed today, he had just accumulated 10 universal points.

In addition, my essence and blood have increased in the past few days, by 8 points and 6 points respectively.

"If I transform my essence and soul again using the secret technique, my blood and qi value can exceed 2500 points."

Indeed, increasing the numerical value is the preferred way to gain a sense of security.

No matter the version, numerical monsters are always the gods!

Before he could loot the corpse to increase his haul, he suddenly heard three gunshots.

"The ninjas of the Oniwaban are indeed extraordinary; they actually possess triple-shot pistols?"

Taiyi shook his head, marveling at the splendor of Axia's equipment.

At the same time, he guessed that the three ninjas targeting her should have perished when faced with American-style iaido.

Stepping on the ground covered with decaying leaves and pushing aside the branches in front of him, Taiyi immediately saw Axia standing there with a smug expression.

"Not bad, not bad, I didn't know you had this."

Taiyi exclaimed in sincere admiration.

"Did you guess it?"

Ah Xia raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by the other party's insight.

Without further explanation, Taiichi walked to the corpse of the former leader ninja, squatted down, and reached out to remove the man's mask.

What came into view was a man with an extremely ordinary appearance. If he were on the street, people would only think he was an ordinary farmer, not a ninja who specializes in robbery.

Why did they rob us?

Taiyi turned his head and looked up at Axia.

"Oh my, there's something you don't know?" A-Xia crossed her arms in front of her chest, one little foot tapping the ground erratically.

Seeing that Taiyi didn't refute her but just stared at her, she inwardly cursed his boredom before speaking:

"This is Iki, my Taiichi."

"so what?"

Taiyi raised an eyebrow, slowly straightened up, and nodded to himself, as if he had remembered something.

"This is the most famous place in our ninja world."

"You mean, Shigakure? Garan's Eyebrow-Painting Pill?"

Taiyi said thoughtfully.

"Besides Ishigakure, there are many other ninja villages or ninja clans in Iki."

Ah Xia replied.

"Aren't ninjas supposed to be carrying out missions and accepting commissions? Why would they become mountain bandits?"

"Ha, how strange. These days, even daimyo don't have much money. Where would they get so many commissions? Besides, who told you that ninjas survive like this? Most of the time, we have to farm the land ourselves."

A-Xia rolled her eyes and said irritably.

Damn, I've actually been led astray by Naruto.

Taiyi wasn't angry. Following the principle that a thief shouldn't leave empty-handed, he searched through all the corpses.

But in the end, all they got was a few dozen copper coins.

The two continued their journey and, after another three days, finally arrived at their destination: Shoyashiki Village in Yamabe District.

However, just as the two were about to enter the village, A-Xia suddenly felt unwell.

She frowned, her nostrils twitched, and after taking two deep breaths, her eyes darted around. But after thinking for a while, apart from feeling unwell, she couldn't detect anything wrong.

"I have a feeling this place is a bit strange. Hey? Why does it seem like there's a mountain that suddenly appeared behind this village?"

In A-Xia's eyes, where there had been no mountain just moments before, a towering mountain with misty clouds and golden light emanating from its peak suddenly appeared in the blink of an eye.

“You’re right, because we’ve been poisoned and are hallucinating.”

Although Taiyi did not fall into hallucinations, his vital energy was dropping by a fraction of a percent.

No wonder it's called the Crying Ox Demon; it turns out it's an Upper Moon demon who knows how to use poison!