Even outside the sword hall, the roar of Ishikawa's soldiers and horses can be clearly heard.
Not all the disciples of the Ishikawa Sword Hall followed Toyama and the others to go mess around.
There was also a small group of people who stayed in the sword hall and practiced swordplay peacefully, without interfering with Yuan Shan's actions.
For example - the two disciples who are currently guarding the gate of the Ishikawa Kenkan did not follow Toyama and the others to cause trouble at the Sakakihara Kenkan or Ryuya.
So they don't need to go to the dojo to listen to training.
But precisely because of this, the two of them were temporarily assigned to guard the gate of the sword hall, preventing anyone from entering.
Ishikawa Hyōma has decided to spend all the remaining time today reprimanding Toyama and others.
Therefore, the sword hall will be temporarily closed today. No one will be allowed to practice swords in the dojo anymore, and no one will be allowed to enter again.
Guarding the gate is a tedious and boring task. After a while, the two disciples who were responsible for guarding the gate started to chat.
"Hey, master, how long will he continue to lecture..."
"Who knows..." Another disciple shrugged, "Master looks really angry. He probably won't be able to stop giving lectures for a while."
"Toyama-senpai is too unstable... Even if he has a conflict with that so-and-so at Sakakibara Kenkan, they should be resolved privately... Why bother with so much trouble?"
"Sigh... When a person is angry, he can do anything. Speaking of which - who is the person that Senior Yuanshan and the others are looking for?"
"Let me think about it... I remember it was called... ogata... yisei... Yes! I remembered it! The person Toyama-senpai and the others are looking for is named Ogata Isei!"
"Ogata Issei... what did that guy do to make Toyama-senpai so angry?"
"Who knows. He must have done something unforgivable to make Senior Yuanshan so angry."
"I don't know where this Ogata Isei is now..."
"Hahahahaha, he must have been hiding somewhere for a long time and didn't dare to come out. When he learned that so many people were looking for him aggressively, he must have been scared to death."
"Hahaha, yes, he is lucky. When Toyama-senpai looked for him, he happened to be away from Sakakibara Sword Hall. When he returns to Sakakibara Sword Hall now and learns that so many people are coming to settle accounts with him, he will definitely be shrinking in fear.
Somewhere, I don’t dare to go out on the streets anymore.”
"I guess that Ogata should be hiding behind his master Sakakihara Hanbei right now, praying for his master's protection."
"I think so too! With so many people coming to his door, that Ogata will definitely not dare to go out on the street! He should be huddled in the Sakakibara Sword Hall right now, asking his master to quickly help him resolve today's incident.
"
"It's normal to feel scared. If it were me, I would be too scared to go anywhere... Hey! Who are you?"
While this disciple was chatting happily, he suddenly noticed someone walking slowly towards them out of the corner of his eye.
They turned their heads and looked intently at the guy who was slowly walking toward them.
He is a rather young samurai.
Dark blue top and black hakama.
What is noteworthy is that this young samurai did not shave his head, but kept his hair long, and there was still a lot of hair hanging down from his forehead.
The hair hanging down from the forehead is quite long, and the tips of the hair have blocked some of the young warrior's eyebrows.
"...Is this the Ishikawa Sword Hall?"
When the two disciples guarding the gate heard the young warrior asking this question, they were stunned for a moment, and then said with pride:
"That's right!"
"If you want to enter our sword hall to learn swordsmanship from our master, please come back on another day. Something happened in the sword hall today. The door of the sword hall will not be open to the public until tomorrow."
At this time, a young samurai came to visit - the two disciples watching the gate thought that the young samurai came to learn swordsmanship from his master.
When Ishikawa Bingma sent the two of them to guard the gate, he gave them a special death order - no outsiders were allowed to enter the sword hall before getting his consent.
Therefore, without waiting for the young warrior in front of him to speak, the two disciples guarding the gate drove the young warrior away and asked the young warrior to come back another day to become their disciple.
The young samurai ignored the two men's expulsion.
He raised his head, looked at the wide wooden door in front of him with calm eyes, and said softly:
"It seems I didn't go the wrong way."
After saying that, the young samurai stepped back on his feet and walked straight towards the gate of the Ishikawa sword hall in front of him.
"Hey! You kid! Didn't you hear what we just said? Today, the master will not see anyone else! If you want to learn the sword from him, you can do it some other time... Hey! What do you want to do? What do you want to do?! Uh-huh--!"
"
"You, you bastard! What do you want to do?! Let him go... ugh...! My shoulder..."
…
…
"……master."
Itagaki had been silently listening to Ishikawa Hyōma's scolding since just now.
It wasn't until Ishikawa Hyōma temporarily stopped scolding him and adjusted his breathing that was disordered by anger and continuous roars that Itagaki finally spoke again.
"I admit - what we did today was indeed a bit excessive..."
"But Master, please forgive Senior Yuanshan. He also has his own reasons for doing this."
"If you knew Toyama-senpai's difficulties and what Ogata Issei did to Toyama-senpai, you should be able to understand me."
As soon as Itagaki finished speaking, Bingma roared again:
"Itagaki! Tell me quickly! What is the conflict between Toyama and that Ogata?"
"...I'm sorry, I can't say."
Toyama's wife had an affair with Ogata - Itagaki really didn't have the guts to tell the truth.
"You...sigh..." Hyouma sighed, "When you went to the Sakakibara Sword Hall, you should have come back when you learned that Ogata was no longer in power!"
"What on earth are you thinking in your head! You actually forced your way into the Sakakibara Sword Hall! It's fine now! I don't even know how it will end!"
"At that time, we suspected that Ogata hid in the Sakakibara sword hall and did not dare to come out after hearing the news of us entering the sword hall." A disciple sitting behind Itagaki responded in a calm tone.
After saying this, the disciple paused for a moment.
Then he changed to a mocking tone and continued:
"I don't know where Ogata is hiding now."
"He should have learned by now that we are looking for him."
"That Ogata should be hiding in a hidden corner at this time, afraid that we will come to the door, and he is trembling with fear..."
Bang——!
Before the last syllable of this disciple's words could be uttered, a loud noise suddenly sounded outside the dojo, enough to forcibly interrupt the attention of those who heard it.
Everyone in the dojo followed the sound and looked outside the dojo.
"...What happened..." Bingma frowned and murmured in a low voice.
The soldiers and horses heard the sound coming from the gate of the sword hall.
The soldiers and horses couldn't help but feel a little uneasy in their hearts. They got up first and hurried towards the gate of the sword hall.
Itagaki and the others, who were equally puzzled, quickly stood up and followed closely behind the soldiers and horses.
Arriving at the gate of the sword hall, the scene reflected in Hyouma, Itagaki and others made Hyouma and the others shrink in shock.
The originally closed wooden door was opened.
Behind the gate, lying on the stone road paved with white sandstone, was a man moaning in pain.
This is the disciple sent by Ishikawa Hyōma to temporarily guard the gate.
Standing in front of the gate was a young samurai wearing dark blue Wu uniform, black hakama, and long hair.
In the right hand of this young samurai, he still held an unsheathed sword, but with the back of the sword facing the person.
At his feet lay another man who was also moaning in pain.
This is the other one of the two disciples sent by Ishikawa Hyōma to temporarily guard the gate.
The young samurai raised his eyes and looked at the soldiers, Itagaki and others who had just galloped out of the dojo with a calm and somewhat terrifying gaze.
Then——
"Ogata Yishi, please refer to the above."
In the same calm tone, he said words that made Hyōma, Itagaki and others feel no longer calm.