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No, it wasn't just his palms... there was a lot of cold sweat on his forehead and back.

Thump, thump, thump, thump... The beating speed of the heart further increased...

Qingdeng sensed that this was not due to the further deepening of the "lonely" effect that caused the heart to beat faster - it was because of the great psychological pressure that caused the body to experience abnormal symptoms such as increased heart rate and cold sweats.

.

After Zhousuke opened his eyes and the aura of a tiger descending from the mountain emanated from his body, Qingden felt as if a big stone had been pressed against his heart.

This feeling... really feels like being stared at by a tiger, or confronting a tiger.

This is the first time Qingden has seen such a fierce and powerful side of Zhou Su, and it is also the first time he has faced off against a swordsman with such a strong momentum.

It was really difficult for him to equate the tense-faced swordsman in front of him, who constantly exuded a fierce aura, with the old comedian from the Trial Guard Hall that he was familiar with.

The current owner of the Shiwei Hall, the third generation head of the Natural Rishin-ryu clan - at this moment, for some reason, because Shuzuke's daily behavior is so humorous, Qingto always forgets this sequence of events unconsciously.

The titles held by Zhou Zhu flashed through Qingdeng's mind.

——Ha, I subconsciously forgot about it... How could the head of a swordsman clan be just a simple henpecker?

Qingden, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, tightened his palms that were dripping with cold sweat, took a deep breath, and looked solemn.

In his eyes, fighting spirit was burning.

Qingdeng himself didn't realize it at this time - facing the fierce and powerful "tiger" on the opposite side, he didn't feel any timidity or fear in his heart, but instead felt more fighting spirit.

--bring it on!

His eyes were fixed on Zhousuke opposite him without blinking, guarding against any of his next moves.

Just as Qingden was preparing for the attack and was seriously thinking about how Zhou Zhu would attack next, Zhou Zhu, who had been assuming an attacking posture, suddenly took a long breath and slowly lowered the bamboo sword in front of him.

While putting down his sword, Zhousuke slowly lowered his eyelids.

His eyes returned to squinting, and a soft, friendly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth again.

And as Shusuke closed his eyes again, the fierce aura that had been erupting from his body since just now suddenly dissipated, and he turned back into the old comedian from the imperial examination hall that Qingteng was familiar with.

"Okay, let's stop here first..." Zhousuke stretched out his hand and rubbed his left shoulder, "Tachibana-kun, come on, come over to me."

"Huh?" Qingden, whose face was full of confusion, blinked hard at Zhou Zhu.

Suddenly, he hit him without any explanation, and then suddenly announced, "Let's stop here first"... Qingden felt that he was a little unable to keep up with Zhou Zhu's overly vigorous pace.

Since Zhou Zhu had already put down his sword, indicating "no more fighting", Qingdeng could only obediently put down his sword along with Zhou Zhu, and then walked quickly to Zhou Zhu's side.

"Tangerine-kun, sit down."

Zhou Assistant pointed to the floor in front of him, and then he took the lead and sat cross-legged on the ground.

"Ji Jun, what do you think about our competition just now?" Zhou Zhu paused, and then added, "Just say whatever comes to mind. Just say everything you thought about in the competition just now.

."

"What do you think..." Qingdeng crossed his legs like Zhouzhu and sat still on the ground. After thinking for a moment, he said calmly:

"At the beginning of the sparring session, although you were very strong, Master, you didn't give me the feeling of 'you are scary'."

"But just now, after you opened your eyes wide... your aura suddenly changed."

"It's like going from a cat to a tiger."

"With the sudden change in your momentum, I, who could have fought you back and forth, were instantly suppressed by you."

"Well..." After listening quietly to Qingdeng's explanation of his feelings, he grinned, "From a cat to a tiger... Haha, this evaluation is quite accurate."

Zhou Assistant raised his hand and touched his bare chin again.

"Tachibana-kun, you should know that my grandfather... is also the founder of our Natural Rishin-ryu: Kondo Uchizosuke?"

"Of course I know." Qingto replied without hesitation, "When I first joined the Trial Guard Hall, Kondo-kun and Okita-kun told me some of our master's deeds."

The master of their natural Rishin-ryu: Kondo Uchizosuke, was originally a Katori Shinto-ryu swordsman.

After practicing Katori Shinto-ryu to great perfection, he added his own understanding on the basis of Katori Shinto-ryu, and created the Natural Rishin-ryu during the Kansei period 70 years ago.

When he founded Tennorishin-ryu, Kondo Uchizo Sukeno was still a young man who was not even 30 years old - it can be seen that this master of Aoden was not an ordinary person with ordinary talent and strength.

"Yes." Zhou Zhu nodded, "Then have you heard from Cong Yong and Souji about the story of our master and his master?"

"Uh..." Qingdeng was startled, "I'm really not sure about this..."

The story of the great master Kondo Uchizosuke and his master... This is the first time Qingto has heard of it.

"Yong and Souji haven't told you yet... Well, let me tell you briefly now."

Zhou Zhu cleared his throat.

"Our master, Kondo Uchizosuke, had a particularly mysterious master."

"According to the secrets passed down by our Kondo family, our master's mysterious master did not give him any specific instructions on swordsmanship skills. He only taught him one sentence -"

"'When engaging in a life-and-death fight with others, as long as you can win, that's fine. As long as you can win, it doesn't matter even if you use despicable means such as taking out a blunderbuss to sneak attack your opponent, which in the eyes of outsiders are completely heretical.'"

When Qingdeng heard this, he couldn't help but trembled in his heart.

This teaching... suits him very well!

If it weren't for the lack of access to guns, he would have wanted to get himself a gun a long time ago!

At present, almost all feudal states, including the shogunate, are still using matchlock guns on a large scale that have been outdated for more than 200 years... Even most of the feudal lords are unable to get themselves a Western musket.

, let alone Qingdeng, who is currently just a "capital policeman".

If he could get a pistol and enough bullets... when those "anti-barbarian" madmen came out to trouble him again, he would just take out his pistol and blast their heads one by one. How fun it would be!

Qingdeng is still very confident in his marksmanship. When he was studying in school in his previous life, his marksmanship was always on par with other students of the same level.

While Qing Deng was silently applauding the teachings of his master's mysterious master, Zhousuke continued:

"After receiving this teaching from this mysterious master, the master used this teaching as the basis to create the secret meaning of our natural Rishin flow - when fighting with others, you must hold on to 'I'

"You must win no matter what," the firm belief. As long as you can hold on to this belief, it will not be easy to lose momentum."

Having said this, Zhousuke changed into a more serious and serious tone.

"Whether it is swordsmanship or spearmanship, no matter what kind of martial arts it is, momentum is the most important when competing with others."

"You may not have a strong enough physique, you may not have enough exquisite skills, but you must never lose the courage to dare to fight with others and dare to defeat your opponents!"

Qingdeng nodded lightly - Qingdeng quite agreed with what Zhou Zhu just said.

One boldness, two strength, three kung fu... This sentence is universal no matter what kind of martial arts it is.

When practicing martial arts, the most important thing is to have enough courage to confront the opponent in front of you.

If you are timid in a fight, afraid of this or that, you may not be able to exert 50% of your 100% strength.

The second most important thing after courage is physical fitness.

Martial arts skills are the third most important thing.

"This kind of courage to fight and win is particularly important for a school like ours, which focuses on attack, Natural Rishin-ryu."

"You don't even have the courage to fight and defeat your opponent, so how can the sword you swing be sharp enough?"

Zhou Zhu stretched out two fingers at this time.

"So, to put it simply - the secret meaning of this natural rational flow created by our master requires us to do the following two things."

"1: When fighting with others, you can do whatever it takes to win."

"It's understandable to talk about martial arts ethics in friendly martial arts exchanges. But to talk about martial arts ethics when engaging in a life-and-death fight with the enemy is just brainless."

"Two: No matter what, you must not lose the momentum of daring to fight and win."

Zhousuke put down the two outstretched fingers.

"Tachibana-kun, in the battle just now, you should have deeply realized the importance of momentum, right?"

Qingdeng's expression was slightly stern.

"Tachibana-kun, think about it carefully now - in the battle just now, did my strength and speed remain the same from the beginning to the end? But after I released my momentum, my moves suddenly changed.

Be fierce."

Qingden half-closed his eyes, carefully recalled all the details of the battle just now, and nodded.

In the brief confrontation just now, Qingden could see very clearly - before and after Zhouzhu's sudden change in momentum, strength, and speed, there was no change from the beginning to the end. It was always the same power, and it was always the same speed.

"This is what momentum does."

Zhou Zhu smiled calmly.

"If I remember correctly, it should have been 60 years ago that a certain great swordsman whose name and identity are unknown, integrated a brand new martial arts concept based on the predecessors."

"That's 'qi', or 'mo' for short."

"And this is what I just said about the 'next stage' that you are now qualified to learn."

Zhousuke changed to a more comfortable sitting position.
To be continued...