At this time, it was time to finish work in Onomura's fields. Although it was almost dusk, few houses were emitting warm smoke. Because of the continuous drizzle, many houses were corroded and smelled of mold. Only a few smoke pillars came from
There were feeble gasps on the broken roofs, and with the blood-red morning glow reflected among the jagged and strange rocks, the whole village looked indescribably desolate.
"Leader, there seems to be little money in this village. There are only a dozen households, all of which are village women. Even if they were robbed, no one would want them." A thin bandit reported the information about the village to the bald man beside him.
"Is that so... Is there any child that looks like it could be sold at a high price? A sleepover needs a child, and it happens to be sold together with those women." "Don't worry so much, look, there is still smoke in the village, which proves it.
We haven’t reached the point where we can’t open the pot completely, but there is always some food for us to eat and drink.” About a dozen bandits gathered in black crows around the earth bridge outside the village to discuss countermeasures, and finally seemed to reach a consensus.
"Everyone, follow me!" "Ha!" The bald bandit raised his hand as a signal, and the group of people ran towards the village like locusts. Suddenly, there was a chilling sound of chickens flying and dogs jumping in the resting village.
The cries of old people, women and children.
"Here is a child, he looks good!" A child who looked about four or five years old was lifted up by one of the bandits. His parents were killed during the fight with the bandits, and his body was covered in blood.
The body was kicked down in front of the child, and there was even a splash of blood on his hair. His hair, which was originally brown due to malnutrition, turned crimson.
The screams and footsteps in the village were mixed indistinctly. Some human bodies that were still alive were beheaded by the bandits who came before they could climb up a few times. The blood-red sunset, the blood-red village, and the blood-red corpses,
The whole world was awash in blood, reflected in the child's tear-filled pupils. This was his lifelong nightmare and an indelible mark on his bloody first half.
Hiko Seijuro and Kiriko took the lead in leaving the ruined temple in the barren mountains, preparing to go to the mountains where the Choshu Domain Feiten Yukenryu is located. After several days of walking, they were harassed by many groups of robbers who had no eyesight, and Hiko hadn't even taken action yet.
Wuzi, who was greatly improved in martial arts, arranged it so that no one could survive!
"Your martial arts are enough to survive in troubled times. In fact, you don't need to practice anymore." Higu Seijuro said to Kiriko seriously. He did not want the girl to continue to live a lonely life like him and Ichiyo Sorayama.
But Kiriko just wiped the Kodachi quietly and ignored Higu's advice.
"He is already terminally ill. The times are like this, and so are people's hearts. What can he do even if he has a unique skill?" Looking at the indifferent girl, Hiko Seijuro sighed. At the same time, he also admired Sorayama Kazuha for being able to deal with such a child.
We have been together day and night for nearly four years.
We are almost there, and we don’t know where Kongshan has gone...
Kazuyo Sorayama, who was wearing a bamboo hat, did not join the caravan as if he had left Edo. Instead, he walked alone and silently. Compared with a few years ago, Kazuyo Sorayama, who had a stubble on his face and showed no aggression, looked more like anyone else in this era.
The visible ronin, with his current appearance, even if he returns to Edo, he probably won't be easily recognized if he doesn't take the initiative to lift his hat, so the expected attack did not happen, allowing him to quietly experience the ordinary ronin
Life: living on the cheapest liveaboard, eating the cheapest dry food, and taking the safest official road. Fortunately, we finally entered the Changshu domain safely.
Compared with the deep mountains of Kai, although there are still a lot of mountains here, because it is backed by the sea, the climate is very humid, there are streams everywhere, and the lush trees are extremely lush. According to the simplified map drawn by Seijuro Hiko, there should be one day left
After arriving at the mountain gate of Feiten Yukenryu, Ichiyo Sorayama decided to set off overnight. Fortunately, the moonlight was quite bright that night, and the silent mountain forest seemed quite quiet.
Ichiyo Sora sat by the stream, took out his wine flask and drank towards the moon. He couldn't help but feel very happy. Although the days when he was the enemy of the world were full of glory, from the bottom of his heart, he didn't like that kind of life. In essence, he didn't like that kind of life.
He is actually the same kind of person as Hiko Seijuro. Suddenly, Sorayama Ichiyo's face turned blank, "Where is the smell of blood coming from?" He used his ears to listen quietly, and a faint scream came from another mountain ahead.
.
A spear pierced the back of the fleeing woman's head. The bandit laughed evilly and turned the tip of the spear with both hands, making a big hole in the back of the head. The bandit kicked the woman in the back and used his strength to pull out the spear.
White brain matter gurgled down the woman's snow-white neck. The bandit licked the steaming brain matter on the blade, almost trembling with excitement. He ran towards another target without hesitation, almost like an animal.
No different.
On both sides of the mountain road, some scattered corpses were scattered in various twisted postures and even more twisted expressions. This human trafficking team was being brutally intercepted and killed by bandits.
The caravan guards had been killed long ago, and the valuable "goods" were destined to be sold to the young women on Youkuohua Street. They fled in all directions. Originally, they were the most valuable in the team, but this group of bandits
He had no intention of selling them for money, or capturing them and enjoying their sweet bodies, but killed them all without hesitation.
The Choshu Domain, as the center of the world's downfall, had gathered almost all samurai and ronin from all over Japan to break away from the feudal domain. Those people with decent backgrounds, who truly wanted to overthrow the shogunate and were highly skilled in martial arts, were of course immediately absorbed into various organizations.
But this is only a very small part. The remaining people either returned to their place of origin angrily, or wandered around the city with nothing to do. Most of them resumed their old business and started robbing businesses.
But at this time, the Choshu clan was very powerful, and if the matter was leaked, it would definitely attract a large army to encircle and suppress them. Therefore, almost every group of bandits would choose to kill all the witnesses and leave as quickly as possible. After spending all the money on hand, they would proceed.
Another killing, over and over again, until the blood of others or one's own is drained.
Cutting off another woman's head with one knife, the bandit dragged the long knife dripping with blood and prepared to kill the last few people surrounded at the foot of the mountain. At this time, a little boy with crimson hair raised a long knife with difficulty, his eyes firm.
Looking at the bandit, the boy was trembling all over under the bandit's shocking murderous intention, but he had no intention of giving up resistance.
"Oh haha, there is another kid." The bandit didn't care about the boy's bluff at all. Instead, he slowed down and opened his eyes with interest. He decided to chop the boy in front of him into pieces!
"Please! Please let this child go, he..." A young and beautiful woman rushed over, but before she could finish her words, her cassock was chopped in half by a knife from top to bottom.
But the boy did not see this bloody scene and was pulled into his arms by the woman behind him. The long knife in his hand fell to the ground, and there was a pale full moon on the surface of the knife.
"Xin Tai, Xin Tai, you are still young and cannot choose your own life like us. You have to live well, choose your own life while living, and live well in place of those who have died...
"The woman hugged the boy and turned her back to the bandit. She already knew that she would die, but even if she sacrificed her own death to buy the boy a few more moments of survival, maybe a miracle would happen.
She was destined not to see it. The bandit grabbed her hair and pulled her up. The bloody long knife penetrated the back of her neck and pierced her throat, revealing a long blade from the front. The woman who fell to the ground opened her eyes wide.
He looked at the boy with both eyes and murmured: "Live...go on...Xintai..."
The bandit spat, as if he was angry at the woman's tenacious vitality. He pressed the blade down on both arms again, and with a squeaking sound, the blade passed through the woman's body and penetrated the soil almost half a foot deep. The woman's body stiffened upwards, and she spat.
Blood, death with eyes open.
The boy watched helplessly as the last woman who protected him was slaughtered. He recalled that his parents were killed, that he was robbed by bandits and sold to this group of human traffickers, and that the women who had a similar fate to him took care of him in the past few days...
He sat motionless on the ground, as if he no longer had any nostalgia for his life or anything in the world.
The bandit raised his knife and was about to strike when he suddenly heard several screams from his companions. He turned around and looked closely: under the moonlight, a tall man wearing a bamboo hat was holding a white sword in one hand and a wine flask in the other.
, several bandits were already lying silently at his feet.
"You guy! Who are you!" A bandit shouted and asked in confusion.
Kazuyo Sorayama took a sip of wine, and his hoarse voice showed indescribable indifference: "The most ferocious bandits I have ever seen were just for robbing property, and you who take pleasure in killing are no longer human beings.
They are complete beasts. You can kill yourself and leave a whole body."
"Baga! I'm going to kill you!" The spear struck directly at the back of Souyama Kazuyo's head. This position reminded Souyama Kazuyo of the corpse he saw just now with a big hole in the back of his head.
He turned around and appeared behind the bandit. Instead of using a sword, he picked up a Nanman steel wine jug and hit the bandit on the back of the head with a thud.
The bandit trembled rapidly like a big drum being beaten by drumsticks. His brain mixed with blood seeped out from his ears and nostrils. The excitement on his face had not completely subsided, mixed with an expression of fear and disbelief, and his facial features were distorted.
He collapsed into a ball and collapsed on the ground.
"You commit suicide." Sorayama Kazuyo rubbed the wine bottle with his sleeve, took a big sip, and still said indifferently.
The other two bandits looked at each other, shouted in unison, and attacked Kazuyo Sora one from the left and the other from the right.
Kuzan Kazuha remained motionless, allowing the bandits to stab him. When the tip of the knife was still half a foot away from his left and right kidneys, three Kuzan Kazuyo suddenly appeared in the field: one stood in the center without moving, and the other stabbed one to the left.
Stab to the right, as if it suddenly transformed into three heads and six arms.
The two bandits' eyes suddenly protruded like ping-pong balls hanging from their eye sockets. A trail of blood oozed from their eyebrows, and they fell straight to the ground lifeless.
"You, who are you! I, we will give you all our finances." The remaining bandits were so frightened by the extremely miserable death of their three accomplices that they couldn't help but start begging for mercy.
"Kill yourself." The answer I got was still the same words that sounded cold to the bone.
"Long sword, long body, long hair, afterimage technique, you, you are...Sword Master...Song, Sora Ichiyo...Master..."
A guy wearing half leather armor who looked like a bandit leader pointed tremblingly at the man under the moonlight. This name seemed to have magic power. The bandit who had originally wandered about to escape was immediately nailed to the spot and did not dare to move at all.
If it was really the legendary man, I might be killed if I just move my fingers!
"I didn't expect that there are people in this barren mountain who know me?" Kazuyo hung up the wine bottle, took off his hat, and revealed his face that almost everyone knows, "Okay, you can commit suicide."
The bandit leader laughed miserably, "It will happen one day, but I didn't expect it to come so soon..."
I saw him turning around to hold the handle of the knife with one hand and the blade with the other. Regardless of the blood on his palm, he slashed hard on his neck from left to right. Half of his head drooped down, and it was unexpectedly hit by Kazuyo Sorayama's name.
He was so frightened that he killed himself.
Two more bandits silently walked up to each other, put their knives to each other's throats, shouted loudly, and stabbed each other into the neck at the same time. They both fell to the ground dead.
Only the bandit in front of the boy was left watching all this happening blankly. When he saw Sorayama Kazuyo turning his eyes towards him, he dropped his long knife with despair, took out the short knife and was about to have his belly disemboweled.
At this moment, the bandit suddenly heard the rapid breathing of the boy behind him, which made him feel hopeful. He decisively turned around and put a knife on the boy's neck, shouting crazily: "Let me go! Otherwise, kill this guy immediately."
Little devil!"
Sora Kazuya sighed: "Why do you have to ask for trouble? Let's start with yours." In the eyes of the bandit, Sora Kazuha quickly grew in size and suddenly appeared in front of him. He was horrified and was about to cut it off first.
The boy's neck suddenly found that the hand holding his wakizashi had flown into the air.
"Let's start with your hands." Kazuyo Sorayama had just finished speaking.
Looking at the bandit who was kneeling and screaming while holding his wrist, Kazuyo Sorayama shook his head and said, "I saw you kill three women. I thought you were a ruthless person, but I didn't expect it."
He cut off the bandit's other hand with a knife, "It's just a piece of trash." He cut open the bandit's abdomen again. The bandit subconsciously wanted to cover the flowing intestines with his hand, but found that he only had a short big arm left.
Suddenly, he let out a cry of despair that didn't sound like a human voice.
"The woman you killed must have been feeling like this before she died. Have you realized it?" Sorayama Kazuha cut off a section of the bandit's body without saying a word.
The last knife swiped his throat, and the bandit's ghost-like voice suddenly stopped.
The boy looked at the bandit that had been broken into several pieces. There was no fear at this age in his eyes. He had seen too many tragedies, and his nerves had become as tough as Kiriko's. However, Kazuyo Sorayama saw in his eyes
When it comes to something that Wuzi doesn't have, it's the hope of life.
"Your name is Shinta?" "Yes." The boy nodded slightly. "You..." Kazuyo Sorayama suddenly stopped talking. He heard a familiar sound of footsteps.
"Kuyama! What on earth is this..." Hiko Seijuro was in front, Kiriko was behind, and they followed the mountain road composed of corpses, blood, and mutilated limbs to Kazuyo Sorayama.
"Are you really the incarnation of Shura? Now I somewhat believe it." Bigu said seriously.
"I didn't want to. I killed some animals, but fortunately I saved the next one."
Higu Seijuro observed carefully and suddenly understood, and sighed: "This kind of thing is too common. In this mountain filled with the smell of blood and the fragrance of white plums, it is hell to be killed by bandits like a wild dog, and to be killed by human traffickers
Being sold into the world of mortals is like hell. Alas, it is indeed too common. It was like this in the past, it is like this now, and it may still be like this in the future." He glanced at the boy who lowered his head and said nothing, "There is no resurrection after death. No matter what, the revenge is over.
I’ve repaid you so that you can take care of yourself, let’s go.”
The figures of the three people gradually disappeared. It was not that they didn't want to save the boy, but that they really couldn't help them one by one. Just like Higu Seijuro said, this kind of thing is too common, and every time one is saved, one person must be taken care of.
The reason why Kazuyo Sorayama brought Kiri with him was because he felt guilty. The female ninja was kind to him and was fundamentally different from the boy he met by chance.
The boy named Xintai did not pray. Instead, he looked at the three young women who died to protect her. He clenched his young hands and made up his mind. He stood up and struggled to carry the body of one of the women in the direction he came from.
Go, there is a mass grave not far from here, and he wants to bury all the dead bodies by himself.
It was his behavior that gave him the opportunity to transform from a child in a mountain village to a person who will become famous all over the world in the future. When the sun rises tomorrow, his destiny will be completely different.