Chapter 181 Is this the arrangement of the Bodhisattva?
The fire finally burned. The earliest use of fire by humans was not tinder. A woman whose survival experience was countless times better than that of the Sword Master found two hard black stones. Following her instructions, Ichiba Sora easily wiped out a piece of fire.
A large area of brilliant sparks appeared, and after several times in succession, a blazing bonfire illuminated the three figures more and more clearly.
The woman placed the two big fish on the outermost edge of the fire and roasted them slowly. After the moon rose above the treetops, a catfish that had been smoked to dark yellow came to Sorayama Kazuyo dripping with grease. "It turns out that grilling things is not about cooking.
Burn it on the fire!" Ichiyo Sorayama seemed to have discovered some great secret, and said to himself with piercing eyes.
The woman and the little girl didn't pay attention to Ichiyo Sorayama who was standing aside in a daze. People who had not eaten for two days were faced with the fragrant grilled fish. Although there was no aid of oil, salt and spices, the fullness that filled the stomach was far more delicious than anything else.
Makes you happy.
"I only need half of it." Kuyama Yiye divided half of it. He needed to eat much less food than the average adult man. After eating this sumptuous dinner, the woman's face finally regained some rosiness.
, her slim face, which was not considered a beauty at first, has become more and more attractive.
"Either you are born with charm, or you have practiced extremely advanced illusions, which means you are actually a ninja?" Kazuyo Sorayama asked casually as he tore into the grilled fish.
The woman tensed her muscles in an instant, but when she thought of the other party's terrifying swordsmanship, she gave up the idea of violence, "A ninja... maybe he used to be, but now he is just a homeless person.
"Ninja...I almost died in the hands of a group of ninjas once." Kazuyo Sorayama couldn't help but recall those ninjas in Fuma. Although their martial arts were not worth mentioning, they were poisoned and trapped in all kinds of ways.
, Ninjutsu makes people unable to guard against it, and what is even more frightening is the indifference towards one's own life and the lives of others.
Why did this woman and the little girl appear here? Although Kazuyo Sorayama was curious, he never thought of doing more research. Everyone has their own secrets. They were just strangers helping each other after an encounter in the mountains.
.As for whether they were assassins sent by the shogunate to kill him, Kazuyo Sorayama felt that the possibility was too low.
The two recalled their respective experiences. The sound of gurgling water and the warm bonfire gave the scene a strange sense of warmth. Perhaps it was because they had not communicated with others for a long time, or perhaps they foreseeed that such opportunities would be rare in the future.
He rarely took the initiative to point at the little girl and asked: "What's wrong with her? Why does she look... a little silent?"
"Her name is Wuzi, she is my daughter." The woman sighed in a low voice, "She looks like a 4 or 5-year-old child, but she is actually eight years old this year." "This..." Practicing swordsmanship will promote growth.
Will this ninjutsu inhibit growth?
"Haha, ninjas are a group of inhumane guys. They don't even care about themselves. How can they care about their family? This child was forced by her father to practice the secret skills of the village three years ago. She has been like this since then.
I haven’t cried, laughed or spoken for three years, and maybe I will stay like this for the rest of my life. As for you, with your swordsmanship, you are definitely not someone who will appear in the barren mountains."
"I'm just a homeless person like you, a lonely ghost, right? You both practiced ninjutsu, so why are you and your daughter so different?"
The woman covered her mouth and coughed violently, revealing a smile that could make a man enchanted. The sickly red color on her cheeks added to the temptation. Even with Sorayama Kazuha's willpower, she couldn't help but lose consciousness for a moment, as if this woman was a vortex that could engulf the man's body.
Take your soul into the abyss with you.
Seeing such an outstanding swordsman as an empty mountain, she couldn't help but be attracted to her. The woman who had already felt like a dry well also felt proud, and patiently explained: "My fighting talent is far inferior to Kiriko, and I am not qualified to practice.
The most advanced secret technique in the school. She was only taught an illusion specifically designed to charm men. She became a wandering girl at the age of fourteen to collect information and funds for the village. Haha, in these years, whether it is Yoshiwara in Edo or Shimabara in Kyoto,
I have spent a lot of time in Osaka's Shinmachi. Although it is not honorable to sell one's body, it is the only time during which I don't have to suffer from hunger."
Wandering girls are the prostitutes of this era. What this woman is talking about are some of the most famous gathering places for wandering girls in the Edo period. Of course, Kazuyo Sorayama doesn’t know this because no one dares to mention it in front of him.
I have no interest in these either.
"Ninjutsu is the foundation for the survival of people like us. The same goes for Kiriko. Maybe you samurai think this is cruel, but if she hadn't practiced superb ninjutsu, maybe we would have died at the hands of the previous waves of bandits. It's surprising.
Really? In fact, she has protected me most of the time... But there is a price for practicing secret arts. Both me and Wuzi are only half women." The woman continued.
"Half?" "A woman who cannot bear children is not a complete woman." "This price... um... she is your daughter?" "Not biologically, Kiriko is her father's child, I am just hated by the village
She is just a human being, and her father married me because he saw how pitiful I was."
They are all pitiful people! No, although I am lonely, it would be too pretentious to insist on saying that I am pitiful. "Your body looks very bad." Sorayama Kazuha has seen women coughing up blood several times,
This is the most prominent symptom of lung disease.
The woman raised her lips. Although she was smiling, the coldness in her words could not be concealed: "Since I contracted tuberculosis a few years ago, I can no longer continue to work. An ineffective ninja is like a broken one."
It is inevitable that tools will be abandoned."
It seems that this is the reason for the woman to hide in the mountains with her child, but what makes him puzzled is, where is the child's father? Is it like this to let a woman who has only a short time to live in the barren mountains with her young daughter?
Seeming to see Kazuyo Sorayama's doubts, the woman said calmly: "Her father was the leader of the Ninja Village. He died in the mission a few days ago. In order for more people in the village to survive, he knew he would die, but he still brought him with him.
All the ninjas accepted the mission, but no one came back alive."
As a ninja, caution is a commandment that must be observed, but this kunoichi practices ninjutsu on how to deal with men, so it always makes Kazuyo Sorayama, who is not good at words, want to talk. It is not so much an illusion.
Rather, it is a collection of communication science, psychology, and micro-expression science. As for why she reveals her most secret experiences so easily, she certainly has her own plans.
She knew she didn't have long to live, so she wanted to commit suicide from the day she learned she had tuberculosis. In the Edo period, tuberculosis was the number one terminal disease, and the emperor had no choice but to wait to die. The only difference was that tuberculosis was the most serious disease.
Just a few years to live.
Her husband saw her as pitiful and married her regardless of the risk of infection, which was the greatest favor in her life. After her husband died, how to take good care of his children became her only and most important task.
Who are the people I meet these days? They are either bastards who look kind but actually covet the beauty of their mother and daughter, or bandits who want to eat them alive. Instead of getting any help, there are dangers everywhere. Although Wu Zi’s martial arts
She can protect herself, but she is still a little girl after all. If she really falls into the hands of those scum, she will die in peace!
Only the swordsman in front of her has no intentions towards them. The ninjutsu she has practiced and the men she has experienced allow her to see through the other person's nature at a glance. As long as he promises to take care of Kiriko, he will definitely do it. And with the other person's swordsmanship
, it would be best if Wuzi could live a life no longer poor.
That's not what Ichiyo Kuyama was thinking about at this time.
Secret arts, illusions, leaders, villages, the whole army was wiped out... Hearing this, a short and old figure suddenly appeared in Kazuyo Sorayama's mind. The Fuma Ri ninja who was caught by him with his own hands seemed to be called Heihachi or something. Could it be that
Yes... "Is the Ninja Village you are talking about called Fumori? The leader is a ninja named Heihachi?"
The woman's expression changed drastically when she heard this, and she suddenly stood up and stared at Sorayama Kazuha: "How do you know?! Apart from being a ninja, Fuma has never been known to outsiders, and he will not reveal his own information!"
"My name is Kazuyo Sorayama." Kazuyo Sorayama had no intention of concealing his identity, and he didn't care whether the woman planned to take revenge on the spot. He just lamented the uncertainty of fate.
"It's you! Sword Master Sorayama Kazuha!" The woman's expression was quite complicated. After all, she was the enemy who killed her husband and Kiriko's father. But with her own martial arts, no, with the martial arts of the whole village, she was no match.
, wanting revenge is tantamount to wishful thinking. But this person is equivalent to destroying the village, but it is also equivalent to saving the village.
Without him, Fumari might still be passed down, but without the commission from this mission, how many people would starve to death except for a few ninjas in the already almost unsustainable Ninja Village? Besides, he himself was just a victim.
It's just that, if it weren't for the swordsmanship, he would be the one buried in the soil, so it's not certain who is whose enemy.
"Hehe, hehe, is this the Bodhisattva's arrangement?" the woman whispered to herself. She originally planned to find a way to get him to accept Wuzi!
Kazuyo Sorayama also felt that the arrangement of fate was really terrible. He thought that he would never have any interactions with this group of ninjas in this life, but when he met the widow of his enemy in this desolate mountain, he didn't know how to deal with it.
.
Kill them to reunite their family? Sorayama Kazuyo is not that cold-blooded yet; help them? Not to mention whether he has any reason to do so, it is not certain whether they can accept it.
Kazuyo Sorayama stood up with his sword in hand, and took out a small pouch from his arms containing all the small coins given by Boss Shimada. Putting it at the woman's feet, he turned around and said: "It's just a little money, I don't want to help you with anything, it's just...
…Forget it, it’s up to you.”
Just when he took a step forward, the woman behind him asked lightly: "Master Sword Master, why don't you kill us?"
Sorayama Kazuha paused, "Not interested."
The woman picked up the money bag, twirled it, and threw it again at Ichiyo Sora, "If you don't kill us, I won't be grateful to you, but there's no need for us to accept your help."
Kazuyo Sorayama still didn't turn around. He caught the money bag with his backhand and stuffed it into his arms again. At the same time, he admired this woman who was extremely weak in body but extremely strong in spirit.
In this era, countless people have killed people for money. They are as far away as the ronin in Edo Castle, and as close as there are mountain bandits. Although the reasons are all very good: they cannot survive. But do you have to kill people in order to survive?
? Maybe it’s excusable, but it’s still more of an excuse to cover up. If they really can’t survive, why not directly draw a sword to take revenge on the shogunate who is the culprit that caused them to survive? Instead, start with a weaker target and use it to
Isn't it despicable to deprive others of their lives in exchange for one's own survival?
Kazuyo Sorayama shook his head, not intending to say anything, just treating it as an unexpected encounter.
But just as he was about to take a step, he turned around and shouted loudly into the dark woods: "Come out! For such a master to be sneaky, wouldn't he be devaluing his status?"