It's past noon, and the sun is gradually setting half way to the west.
Zhou Ming and Oda Heizo were walking in the palace, with a maid in front of them leading the way.
From time to time, palace maids walked by on the road, each of them walking lightly and silently. In such a huge palace, the two of them could only hear their own footsteps, and it seemed so empty and quiet.
They walked into the palace again and again, and finally, under the guidance of the palace maid, the two of them walked to the door of a palace.
There was a warrior in his late thirties standing in front of the door. As soon as the two of them approached, the warrior's eyes glanced back and forth at the two of them, his eyes as sharp as a sieve, scanning them inside and out.
Then the samurai opened the door with a stern expression and walked in.
After him is the palace maid who led Zhou Ming and his two men here, and behind them are Zhou Ming and his two men.
"That warrior is a master." Zhou Ming said softly, thoughtfully.
"That's the king's personal bodyguard, Hirakawa Taisho. He is the person whom the king trusts the most. So Horikoshi, huh, compared to him, you are nothing!"
Oda Hei hid beside him and explained in a low voice.
"Personally protecting Nohara Momonosuke? No wonder he is so powerful." Zhou Ming nodded.
When the two of them walked into the palace, they saw a large bed covered with curtains, and the maids came in and out one after another through the curtains.
Behind the folded curtains, a rickety figure can be vaguely seen.
"Your Majesty, Lord Oda has arrived, and the warrior named Zhou Ming has also arrived."
Hirakawa Taisho stood in front of the bed, lowered his head and said loudly.
"Oh? Are they here? Okay, help me get up and take a look."
The curtains were opened again and again, and the rickety figure gradually became clearer, and finally, he stood completely in front of Zhou Ming.
An old man as thin as an ape and as skinny as a skeleton. The hair on his head is so sparse that only a few strands are left in the middle. His whole body exudes a lingering aura of death.
The whole person looks no different from an ordinary old man who is about to die of old age. If one had only heard the legend of Nohara Momonosuke's life and saw him like this again, he would be greatly disappointed and could not believe it at all. The king who once conquered the north and south,
Now it has turned into this.
"O Lord!" Oda Heizo knelt on the ground with a bang, bursting into tears: "I haven't seen you for just a few months, why have you become like this? Oda always cares about you and is always worried about you!"
"Oh, Oda wishes he could bear the suffering of the king now, and use his own lifespan to exchange for the king's good health!"
Zhou Ming: "..."
Good guy, Oda Heizou never imagined that a guy like you, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, is also a flatterer!
"How dare you, why don't you kneel down in front of Your Majesty!" Seeing Zhou Ming standing there motionless, a palace maid shouted sternly with her long eyebrows raised.
Zhou Ming glanced at her lightly, then stopped looking at her. Instead, his eyes fell on Hirakawa Taisho.
This taciturn and indifferent warrior was the one he had been paying attention to.
This is a powerful warrior, and no one in the entire room combined poses as much of a threat to him.
At the same time that Zhou Ming's eyes were locked on him, Hirakawa Taisho felt an extremely dangerous feeling in his heart. His right hand instantly grasped the handle of the knife, and his nerves were so tense that he almost couldn't help but draw the knife.
"Okay." Nohara Momonosuke's old voice sounded.
"Mr. Pingchuan, don't be nervous, Mr. Zhou is not an evildoer."
Even though the sense of danger he felt from Zhou Ming did not diminish at all, Hirakawa Taisho still released the hand holding the knife without hesitation, took two steps back, and lowered his head slightly.
‘You are so obedient.’ Zhou Ming felt a little disappointed and looked back at Hirakawa Taisho.
"Zhou Ming, the samurai who killed Horikoshi Sou... come here and let me take a good look."
Nohara Momonosuke struggled to hold himself up and weakly waved to Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse. He took a few steps forward and walked to the big bed.
The distance between the two people was not even five steps.
A thought suddenly flashed through Zhou Ming's mind: How about killing Nohara Momonosuke right here?
With such a short distance, Zhou Ming was confident that as long as he took action, no one could stop him from killing Nohara Momonosuke.
No, no, it’s not the time yet...
Zhou Ming suppressed this thought and looked at Nohara Momonosuke.
The old man opposite, who is dying, so weak that he needs the help of a palace maid to hold his back, with his eyes dim and without any light, as if he will die in the next moment, is trying hard to open his drooped eyelids, open his eyes wide, and look up and down carefully.
Written by Zhou Ming.
"Okay, hehe, okay."
While watching, Nohara Momonosuke smiled with satisfaction. The folds on his old face were curled up in laughter, like a blooming chrysanthemum. Ordinary people would probably be shocked at first glance.
"Oda-kun, you have accepted a very good samurai."
Nohara Momonosuke's eyes turned to Oda Heizou, who quickly lowered his head and showed respect, without any trace of the majesty of a daimyo.
"Haha, okay." Nohara Momonosuke babbled, and his eyes returned to Zhou Ming again.
"Your swordsmanship has not reached its bottleneck yet. It is still on the rise. You still have more room for improvement before the conference begins."
"During this period, please let Mr. Hirakawa accompany you in sparring. There is no warrior better than him beside me."
Taisho Hirakawa's body trembled slightly, without raising his head, and shouted in a deep voice: "Hi Yi!"
"Okay, I'm tired too." Nohara Momonosuke slowly lay down, his voice full of tiredness.
"That's it for today. After all the daimyo arrive in a few days, I will hold a banquet in the palace as the opening of the World's Best Samurai Conference."
"Jun Zhou, when the time comes, go and fight to get your honor and give me the most exciting performance..."
…
An inexplicable summons ended peacefully.
At the entrance of the palace, Hirakawa Taisho said coldly: "Mr. Zhou, I will go find you at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
"I can't get up at eight o'clock. You can come see me at three o'clock in the afternoon."
"..." Taisho Hirakawa was silent for a while and said coldly: "Mr. Zhou, I will accompany you to practice. This is your Majesty's order. Do you want to disobey your order?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Zhou Ming sneered and said indifferently: "Nohara Momonosuke just asked you to be my sparring partner, but you didn't give me a set time. It depends on my mood when you want to practice.
, you can go back and wait for the news!"
"idiot!"
Taisho Hirakawa became furious and drew his sword on Zhou Ming on the spot.
"You dare to call His Majesty by his first name and want to rebel!"
"This is really easy." Zhou Ming sneered and took out the Edman alloy knife from the bud.
"It's better to practice early than to practice late. I'll kill you now and finish practicing for you."
"Wait, wait a minute!" Seeing that the atmosphere was tense and the two people were about to be splashed with blood in the next moment, Oda Heizo quickly stopped him.
He didn't dare to stand between the two of them, fearing that they would go crazy and chop him to death regardless, so he took a few steps back and was ten steps away from the two of them, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"You two are both powerful warriors. You should be able to compete with each other, communicate with each other, and become close friends. Why are you fighting each other like this?"
"Besides, this is still the entrance to the palace, which is not a good place for a martial arts competition!"
"How about I take the throne and we find a place to have a drink?"
Zhou Ming's lawless character made Oda Heizo understand that it was impossible for him to subjugate the other party for his own use. He no longer worked in this direction and simply gave up. His attitude towards Zhou Ming also changed a lot from the beginning.
He has accepted his fate now. He can just hug Zhou Ming's thigh without showing off. What if he offends the evil star Zhou Ming and chops himself with a knife?
In addition, Hirakawa Taisho was the personal samurai around Nohara Momonosuke. On the surface, he had no official position, but in fact, everyone knew how powerful he was.
Facing these two masters, Oda Heizo couldn't use his status to suppress them, so he could only speak softly and persuade them kindly.
"No need!" Taisho Hirakawa sheathed his sword and looked at Zhou Ming coldly.
"I'll go find you tomorrow and we'll have a fight."
After that, he turned around and left.
"Then let you live one more day." Zhou Ming sneered back, "Go and cry to your mother tonight. Tomorrow you will never have this chance again."