Zhang Heng did not expect that the first thing he got would be a ribeye.
It felt like completing a side quest and obtaining a beginner's equipment before the main quest had even begun.
In all fairness, the quality of the sword was quite good. Even if it wasn't a famous sword, it was at least a fine one. It was much better than the ordinary sword he had on him, but it was still quite a distance away from a famous sword like the Mikazuki Munechika that was famous in history.
Moreover, a short sword was more suitable for hand-to-hand combat. When there were a lot of enemies, it wasn't as useful as a katana or a tachi. Zhang Heng wasn't too worried about a one-on-one fight. The reason why he wanted a sword was to prevent a one-on-many situation.
But since a sword was delivered to him, he didn't refuse and accepted it for now.
This quest was similar to the Master Builder's special quest. Obviously, the purpose of this quest was to hone his swordsmanship. That was why he didn't bring any other game items with him. He could still use his skills, but most of them were useless in the Edo period. All he could rely on was his own swordsmanship.
However, the person who created this dungeon probably did not expect someone with Lv.3 swordsmanship to enter the dungeon. Right now, Zhang Heng was more like a walking boss in Kyoto, not a newbie hero who was busy killing monsters to level up. Hence, low-level monsters were no longer a threat to him.
In the end, Zhang Heng chose to join Koyama Dojo. Other than to deal with the challenges from the Choshu Domain samurai, it was also more convenient for him to challenge others. Otherwise, when he needed to introduce himself, he wouldn't be able to say that he learned his swordsmanship in Nassau. The ancestor was a red-haired female pirate named Annie.
Akane taught him the rules to follow when practicing Koyama Myoshin-ryū. Basically, it was not much different from other sects, advocating courage, benevolence, and upholding samurai morality.
Although he wasn't too interested in these things, since he had joined her dojo, he had to at least show some respect. So, he listened patiently.
Akane purposely picked a sunny day to bring Zhang Heng to the dojo to pay respects to the founder. To Zhang Heng's surprise, the founder of Koyama Myoshin-ryū was not her father, but a man named Koyama Iwa. Akane did not know who Koyama Iwa was. All she knew was that he was the founder of Koyama Myoshin-ryū, and he was probably one of the ancestors of the Koyama family.
Zhang Heng wasn't interested in delving into it. Koyama-ryū was a small sect. Even when Akane's father was still around, it wasn't particularly famous. It couldn't be compared to Yamada's Oishi Shinkage-ryū, not to mention the famous sects like Kitori Shinkage-ryū and Katori Shinkage-ryū.
It could also be seen from the characteristics of its style. The so-called Seeing One's True Self was a little too metaphysical in Zhang Heng's eyes. In his opinion, swordsmanship was no different from other skills. It was a combination of basic physical fitness, training, and experience. No matter how strong one's state of mind was, if one was faster and stronger than one, one would still be unable to block a single slash.
This was vividly demonstrated in Akane Koyama and Yamada's duel.
Of course, it was Zhang Heng's first day in a sect, and he couldn't just criticize the core of the sect.
On the other hand, Akane Koyama was a little surprised. Zhang Heng was a peerless master, but he knew nothing about basic training methods. When she saw him fighting Yamada, his moves were very strange. It seemed to lean more toward Western swordsmanship. Combined with his overseas experience, it made sense.
Later, when she talked to Zhang Heng, she was surprised to find that Zhang Heng's swordsmanship did not seem to have a complete system. It was just pieced together from bits and pieces … This was a nice way of putting it. In fact, this guy simply slashed wherever he wanted. According to him, he basically relied on improvisation when facing the enemy.
Could it be that he wasn't lying? Was his swordsmanship really self-taught?
But did such a genius really exist in this world? How could he master the world's best swordsmanship just by studying it himself? And Akane Koyama could see that Zhang Heng had a lot of combat experience. Or perhaps, his swordsmanship was purely for combat. To this, Zhang Heng only explained that he learned it by killing pirates and roving bandits in the West.
However, this explanation didn't answer Akane Koyama's doubts. Instead, it made Zhang Heng look even more mysterious. This man was obviously young, probably in his twenties. He shouldn't have experienced so many battles. But when Zhang Heng occasionally stood under the cherry tree in the yard and looked up at the sky, his eyes would inadvertently reveal a trace of vicissitudes.
But Akane Koyama knew that everyone in this world had their own secrets. There was no doubt that Zhang Heng had a lot of stories to tell. Since Zhang Heng didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to get to the bottom of it. She wrote the name Yuta Abe that Zhang Heng randomly came up with on the wooden board and hung it under the student column.
So from this day onwards, Zhang Heng officially became a member of Koyama Dojo. He could also translate and wait for the Choshu vassals to come knocking on his door.
What Zhang Heng didn't expect, however, was that before Takeuchi came for revenge, another group of people came knocking on his door.
It was a cheerful young man with an innocent smile on his face. It was as if he had no worries at all. When Akane Koyama first saw him, she thought he was some rich young man who had taken a wrong turn and entered the dojo by mistake.
He covered his mouth and coughed twice, like a butterfly flapping its wings. Inexplicably, she felt sorry for him. After that, he moved his hand away and smiled at Akane Koyama. "Hello, I'm here to look for someone."
Only then did Akane Koyama notice the black haori on his body and the Tachi in a black wax scabbard at his waist. There were many samurai in Kyoto who wore black, but the most famous of them all was this group. The mountain pattern on his sleeves seemed to confirm Akane Koyama's guess.
Sure enough, before she could say anything, the other party readily admitted, "Yes, I'm from the Shinsengumi," he paused and then smiled. "You must be Miss Akane Koyama."
"Why is the Shinsengumi looking for me?" Akane Koyama frowned, alerted.
Although the Shinsengumi had the support of the shogunate and was entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in Kyoto, this group of ronin was more troublemaker than anyone else. They were lawless, stirring up trouble everywhere, and constantly assassinating Tobaku supporters. Yet, under the strict, almost cruel rules of the group, they possessed amazing combat effectiveness. The group was full of experts, and anyone who met them would have a headache.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
