My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 343 - 135: The Legendary Martial Arts Ultimate: [State of No Self]!

As expected, "Cat Monk appeared again and took care of a group of vicious fugitives" and "Cat Monk’s companion showed up"—these two pieces of news instantly became hot topics in Edo!

And the latter’s popularity was significantly higher than the former.

After all, Cat Monk had always operated alone before this.

This was the first time Cat Monk had a companion by his side.

The Magistrate’s Office also paid some attention to this matter, with Hosoi and Atsukawa specially convening a "Three Times" meeting at the South Division, which all officials from the South and North Patrols must attend, discussing in detail about this "mysterious companion of Cat Monk."

Surely none of the officials in "Three Times" expected this... The mysterious companion of Cat Monk they were discussing was sitting right among them, earnestly participating in the discussion.

This meeting was destined to wrap up without any definitive outcome—information was scarce, what could have been concluded?

But the meeting wasn’t entirely in vain.

At the end of the meeting, to simplify referring to this sudden companion of Cat Monk, Hosoi and Atsukawa decided to give this person a code name.

Given that this person had a significant relationship with Cat Monk... and was seen with a "face hidden behind a fox mask"...

They exchanged a few simple opinions and decided on the code name—Fox Monk!

Upon hearing the code name given by the others being "Fox Monk," Aoto couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

What a simple and straightforward code name...

Aoto secretly thanked himself for not wearing a dog mask, otherwise, the Magistrate’s Office might have given him the code name "Dog Monk."

However, looking from another angle, "Fox Monk" and "Dog Monk"... there wasn’t much difference between them, as both foxes and dogs belong to the Canidae family.

After the Magistrate’s Office made the code name "Fox Monk" public for Cat Monk’s mysterious companion, the heat of the discussion surged further.

In the streets and alleys, countless people speculated about who this Fox Monk was and what kind of relationship he had with Cat Monk.

Aoto also paid attention to how the public was discussing and evaluating him as Fox Monk.

Listening to all kinds of wild speculations, Aoto couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Some said Fox Monk was a male ninja.

Some said Fox Monk, like Cat Monk, was a female ninja.

Some said Fox Monk and Cat Monk were husband and wife, a duo of legendary thieves...

In short, every kind of bizarre theory existed, making Aoto marvel at the fact that imagination truly has no limits.

Recently, Edo could be described as extremely lively.

As time quickly passed by, it soon became April 15th.

A new hot topic was quietly arriving for people to eagerly discuss.

Tomorrow... which means April 16th, the swordsmanship tournament hosted by the Marquis of Aizu is about to begin!

...

...

Man’en 1 (1860), April 15th, afternoon—

Edo, Oke-machi, Little Chiba Sword Dojo, Chiba Dingji’s bedroom—

In this rather simply furnished bedroom, two people were sitting face to face at the moment.

One of them was the current Hall Master of Little Chiba Sword Dojo, the father of Chiba Shigetarou and Sazanoko: Chiba Dingji.

And the other person... was a very young, under-thirty, exceptionally handsome young man.

This young man sat kneeling respectfully on a cushion, facing Chiba Dingji.

Compared to this young man, Chiba Dingji’s sitting posture was much more casual.

Chiba Dingji didn’t even use a cushion, sitting cross-legged on the tatami in such a carefree manner.

He picked up a teacup in front of him, sipped some hot tea, and with a smile, said to the young man sitting across from him:

"Eisuke, since you’ve been serving the Mito Domain... it’s been quite a long time, away from home for so long, has your prowess improved?"

"...Uncle Dingji, this time living away from home has been quite fruitful." The young man smiled softly and said, "I have already... for the first time touched upon the legendary Martial Arts Realm: State of No Self!"

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Thanks to the alliance leader [Cotton Pad at Home] for the reward! This is the second time this reader has rewarded the book’s alliance leader, thank you so much! (Crying leopard famous meme.jpg)

Recently, more and more alliance leaders have appeared, so the author made up his mind yesterday, gritted his teeth, determined not to let the debt pile up further, and bravely churned out a long overdue ten-thousand-word Chapter.

Today’s ten-thousand-word Chapter is to repay the 2nd alliance leader [I love home, actually 12] for the explosive update owed.

Finally paid off one Chapter of explosive updates, currently, the author still owes... well, 6 explosive updates...

Will continue to pay back slowly... (Leopard crying famous meme.jpg)