After Soujiro fell into a bottleneck period and his condition declined, in order to get rid of bad luck and seek good luck, Asa accompanied Soujiro to a temple quite close to his home to worship Buddha and pray for blessings.

Under the strong recommendation of a monk in the temple, I bought this wooden statue of Nio, which was said to have been consecrated.

"As long as you place this statue of a benevolent king in the entrance hall of your home, no evil spirits will be able to enter your home! In this way, your family's fortune will gradually improve!" - This is

The exact words said by the monk who recommended this Nioh statue to Soujiro and others.

Anyway, this Nio statue was not very expensive, so Soujiro and his wife bought the Nio statue home with the mentality of "I would rather believe that it exists than that it doesn't exist", and then followed the monk's instructions.

I placed this statue of Nioh at the entrance of my home.

After righting the Nioh statue that had been knocked down by their overly lively cat, Aji returned to the living room.

Looking at her husband who was still rubbing his hair with a distressed look on his face, Asa thought for a moment, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Sojiro, why don't we... let's go for a walk outside together tomorrow?"

"Take a walk?" Soujiro put down his hands that were rubbing his hair.

A Si nodded: "Let's go for a walk outside, look at the scenery, breathe in the fresh air, maybe new inspiration will come out!"

"Want to take a walk..." Shujiro rubbed the center of his eyebrows vigorously, "...well, I haven't walked outside for a long time... but where are we going for a walk? Where in Edo have we not visited?

?What scenery have we not seen?”

"Hmm...ah, I remembered." Asa clapped his hands again, "There seems to be a swordsmanship competition held in Asakusa tomorrow! Why don't we go and watch the competition?"

"Swordsmanship competition?" Sojiro scratched his hair at the temples, "Oh, it seems that there is indeed such a thing...but I have no interest in swordsmanship."

"Just go and take a look." Asashi approached Soujiro with a smile and hugged Soujiro from behind. "Just take a look at how those swordsmen compete with each other. Maybe you can get something."

What inspiration?”

"..." Soujiro raised his hand and gently stroked Asagi's arms wrapped around his chest. After a long silence, he smiled helplessly, "...Okay, let's go take a look tomorrow."

…

…

The next day——

The first year of Kuanyan (1860), April 16——

Edo, Asakusa——

Asakusa is a busy street centered on Sensoji Temple. It is one of the liveliest and most prosperous entertainment areas in Edo. It has even evolved into a unique "Asakusa entertainment culture", with theaters and acrobatic troupes standing next to each other, making it extremely prosperous.

The much-anticipated Aizu Hou Swordsmanship Competition will finally officially start in Asakusa today... This makes Asakusa, which is already quite lively on weekdays, even more lively now.

Early this morning, Shusuke personally led the disciples headed by Aonto who would participate in this competition or wanted to watch this competition, as well as Kondo, Okita, and Hijikata, the three core members of the trial defense hall who were almost indistinguishable from each other.

Asakusa.

"Wow..." As soon as he entered Asakusa, Okita's eyes widened and he looked at the flow of people in front of him in surprise, "There are so many people..."

"It's more lively than I thought..." Qingto, who was walking beside Okita, couldn't help but sigh in surprise.

People, people, people... Looking around, wherever you can see, there are mountains and seas of people. This scene makes Qingdeng unable to help but recall the Spring Festival travels in his previous life.

The dense flow of people are either pushing each other on the street, gathering at a vendor to select goods, or gathering in front of a street performer's stall to watch a performance.

As the first swordsmanship competition of this magnitude that has not been seen for a long time, it has attracted the attention of not only the swordsmen, but also the daimyo who are currently living in Edo due to "participation in pilgrimage", down to the ordinary town residents.

This competition is regarded as a rare grand event.

Anyone with a little brain can imagine that this swordsmanship competition will definitely attract a large number of spectators!

For those businessmen, this is a good opportunity to make a lot of money.

In order not to miss this rare business opportunity, before dawn this morning, a large number of merchants and street performers came to Asakusa to seize good positions and set up stalls, trying to compete in this two-day competition.

Make a lot of money.

"Father, stand back." Kondo took the initiative to take on the important responsibility of being a forward and "cutting the waves" for everyone.

He asked Zhousuke, who was walking at the front, to stand back a little, then walked to the front of the queue, and then shouted to Qingden and others behind him: "Follow me! Don't get lost!"

Having said that, Kondo plunged into the dense flow of people in front of him, feeling like there wasn't much space left.

Kondo, who is tall and strong, is like a sharp awl. All the people in front of him are in vain. Wherever he passes, he squeezes out a channel that is not spacious but is big enough for Qingto and others.

The road of barely moving forward.

Every time Kondo squeezed out a new gap forward, Aomori and others quickly followed up to fill the gap.

The group of people just headed towards the venue of the competition: Higashi Asakusa.

On the way, Qingdeng could feel strange looks from some people around him from time to time, and could hear whispers and discussions like this from time to time——

"Look, it's Tachibana Aoden."

"Tachibana Aoden? Oh! Is that the 'Little Tengu of Kitabansho'?"

"'The Little Tengu of Kitabansho'? What did it come from?"

"Don't you know? This is Tachibana Aoden's nickname! His sword is as strong as a tengu. It is said that as long as he shows his true skills, not even 10 swordsmen can get close to him!"

"Isn't Tachibana Aoden's nickname the 'New Hero of the Sword'? A 'New Hero' who is comparable to the 'Three Heroes of the Three Great Swords'."

"Fart, I don't think those 'Three Heroes' can be compared with Ju Qingden. There are countless madmen from the 'Expulsion Faction' who died under Ju Qingden's sword. I'm afraid those people like Xin Zuma Kuan can't even compete with real swords."

I haven’t even swung it a few times.”

"It seems that Tachibana Aoden will also participate in today's competition. Hey, there is no suspense in this competition, right? The strength and sword fighting experience of other contestants should not be comparable to Tachibana Aoden, right?"

…

Okita, who was walking beside Aoto, also heard these discussions.

He stood on tiptoes with a smile and whispered to Qingden:

"Tachibana-kun, you have really become a celebrity now."

Listening to Okita's teasing words, Qingto couldn't help showing a dumbfounded expression.

After successfully rescuing Katsu Kaishu and others in the "Battle of Fanshu Tiaosuo" and defeating the conspiracy of the anti-barbarian group to destroy Fanshu Tiaosuo, Aoshito's reputation in Edo, which had repeatedly made great achievements, gained a further boost.

Most of the residents of Edo Town already know that there is an extremely powerful swordsman in the "Sanchai" of Kitabansuo.

At present, Aoto's reputation in Edo cannot be said to be a household name, but it can be regarded as well-known.

He had become a celebrity, and could be appreciated and respected by so many people. Qingdeng felt somewhat happy in his heart.

After all, who would hate being appreciated and respected by others?

However, the series of chain reactions triggered by the increase in fame made Qingdeng feel happy and mixed.

For example... As Aoshinobu's fame grew, the people of Edo began to spontaneously and enthusiastically give Aoshinobu various nicknames.

Giving people nicknames - this should be regarded as a traditional ability of the Japanese nation.

Throughout the ages, the Japanese nation has been fond of giving various nicknames to those important figures, such as dragons and tigers. Each nickname is more prestigious than the last.

During the Warring States Period 300 years ago, most of the well-known daimyo and generals had one or more prestigious nicknames.

"The Dragon of Echigo" Uesugi Kenshin, "The Tiger of Kai" Takeda Shingen, "The Lion of Sagami" Hojo Ujiyasu, "Sanin Kirinji" Yamanaka Shikasuke, "Japan's No. 1 Soldier" Sanada Yukimura...

Qingdeng, who is now famous, inevitably begins to experience the inevitable process of being nicknamed by people.

If the nicknames the common people gave him were quite majestic, then that would be fine, but the nicknames the common people gave him... Qingdeng thought it was quite subtle.

As far as Aomori knows, he currently has the following nicknames: The Little Tengu of the North Fan Institute, the Shinei of the Sword, and the No. 1 Martial Arts School of the Advocate...

To put it bluntly - Qingden didn't really like the nicknames given to him by the people.

However, he couldn't care what other people called him, so when he heard others calling him nicknames such as "Kitabansho's Little Tengu", Aoto could only show a helpless expression.

"Jijun." At this moment, Qingdeng suddenly heard Zhou Zhu, who was walking in front of him, calling him.

Qingden raised his eyes to look at Zhou Zhu, and happened to meet Zhou Zhu's eyes.

"You must not be complacent or careless." Zhou Zhu and Qingdeng looked at each other and continued word by word with serious expressions and tones, "In terms of actual combat experience, I have gone through several battles with the 'Expelling Foreigners' faction.

In this bloody battle, you are indeed much better than most of the contestants."

"But that doesn't mean you can truly be invincible in this competition."

"If you are arrogant because you think you are sure of victory, you are likely to fail miserably."

Shusuke suddenly said this to Qingnobo with a serious face... He must be worried that some people's comments that "Tachibana Aotomo will definitely win this competition" will affect Qingnobo's state of mind.

"Yeah." Qingdeng said seriously, "I never imagined that I would be invincible in this competition."

"Yeah." Zhou Zhu nodded, "You're right to think so."

…

…

The Aizu Domain is indeed one of the most comprehensive feudal domains at present, and it makes big moves whenever it makes a move.

The venue for this competition is located in the eastern part of Asakusa, where there are relatively few people, namely Higashi-Asakusa. A vast open space about the size of eight basketball courts has been designated as the competition venue.

When you come to Higashi-Asakusa, you will feel a sudden sense of enlightenment.

Looking around, we can see that a large number of Aizu clan feudal lords are walking around in Higashi-Asakusa, managing the flow of people in Higashi-Asakusa to prevent overcrowding around the stadium.
To be continued...