The smile on Rakshasa's face became meaningful.

"Xinzuma-kun, the world is so big and full of wonders."

"Not only do I have very good eyesight, I am also very good at observing words and colors."

“My childhood experiences enabled me to develop the ability to observe words and emotions.”

After saying that, Rakshasa bent his upper body again, put his right elbow on his right leg, raised his right arm to support his head, and the meaningful smile on his face became a little stronger.

"I come from an extremely poor low-level samurai family."

"In order to save food rations, my parents abandoned me in the mountains when I was 5 years old."

"Just when he was about to starve to death, he was picked up by a dojo master who taught Iaido."

"The reason why the dojo master picked me up was not because he wanted to adopt me. He just wanted to bring back a free slave."

"I was forced to do all kinds of chores every day, and every night I was dragged into his room by the master of the dojo to be used as a tool for him to vent his sexual desires."

"The other apprentices in the dojo also treated me like a slave and beat and scolded me arbitrarily when they were in a bad mood. The master of the dojo also ignored this."

"In order to live an easier life, I can only be forced to learn to distinguish changes in people's expressions, and I am forced to learn how to judge what emotions a person is feeling from the changes in their expressions."

"When you find that the dojo master and apprentices are in a bad mood, try to stay away from them."

"When you find that they are in a good mood, you can try to go over to them to please them, and maybe you can get some delicious food."

"In this way, without realizing it, I developed the ability to keenly detect changes in other people's expressions, and to judge their current mood based on the changes in their expressions."

"So there is no need to doubt it."

"I do have the ability to tell that you hate Tachibana Aoden just by looking at you."

"..." The new wife pursed her lips tightly and looked at Rakshasa carefully up and down with doubtful eyes.

After remaining silent for a while, Nitsuma Kuan relaxed his grip on the knife slightly and said in a low voice:

"...What do you mean when you say, 'There is a way for you to have a chance to defeat Tachibana Aoden in tomorrow's competition'?"

"Hehehe..." Rakshasa let out a laugh that made his shoulders tremble slightly, then he put his hand into his arms and took out a small medicine box.

"It's very simple. As long as you take this medicine of mine, you can hope to defeat Tachibana Aoden tomorrow."

"Medicine?" The new wife stared at the medicine box in Rakshasa's hand with broad eyes, and her brows that had just relaxed frowned again.

"The effect of this medicine... simply put is that it can make you highly concentrated."

“Let your state of mind enter a state similar to ‘without distracting thoughts’, thereby improving your reaction speed and thinking ability.”

"According to my estimation...after taking my medicine, although you can't say that you can defeat Ju Qingden 100% of the time, you should at least be able to fight him 50-50."

Shinzuma Kuan's face turned blue and white in turns: "You are highly focused... Such a powerful medicine must have side effects, right?"

"Of course." Rakshasa nodded without thinking, "I'm famous for being honest."

"I will never do that kind of thing where you only tell people the good things but not the bad things."

"I'll tell you frankly - the reason why I intentionally gave this medicine to you is to use you as a test."

As Rakshasa spoke, he placed the medicine box on the windowsill beside him.

"My medicine is still a trial work."

"Although it has a very significant effect, it also has strong side effects - this state of high concentration can only last for one stick of incense. After this state passes, the user will develop a severe high fever."

"If you can survive this high fever, then everything will be fine."

"If you can't survive it, then..."

Rakshasa smiled and stretched out his right index finger to make a horizontal stroke on his neck.

"Because my medicine is related to the human spirit, I want to test it now - if a person with a strong desire for victory takes this medicine during a battle, will his strong persistence for victory be reduced?

What impact will it have on the effectiveness of the medicine?"

"By the way, we will also further test how much this medicine can enhance a person's combat power."

"So...do you understand why I came to you?"

"...Hmph, what you just said are all just your one-sided words." Niizuma Kuan's expression changed several times, but his voice remained low, "How do I know if what you just said is true?"

"You can choose not to believe it." Rakshasa shrugged his shoulders vigorously, "I will not force you to take this medicine, nor will I ask for any reward from you."

"I'll just put this medicine here."

"The choice whether to eat or not is entirely up to you. I won't interfere."

"If you don't want to believe me and don't dare to take my medicine, then you can just throw him into the smelly ditch outside your house, and I won't have any objections."

After saying that, Rakshasa turned his body back and stood on the eaves outside the window.

"I've already said everything I need to say and want to say."

"See you later."

Before the sound lingered, Rakshasa leaned back and fell from the eaves outside the window.

The new wife took three steps at a time and ran to the window and looked out the window - no Rakshasa could be seen anywhere as far as the eye could see.

After glancing back and forth outside the window several times, Nitsuma Kuan turned his gaze and looked at the pill box Rakshasa had placed on the windowsill.

He stretched out his hand, grabbed the pill box and opened it. There was only a white pill in it that was only as big as an adult's thumb.

Smelling the refreshing fragrance of medicine escaping from the box, the hand holding the medicine box at the wide end of the new wife's hand tightened and moved. The emotions on his face became extremely complicated at a speed visible to the naked eye, making it difficult for people to see through his current situation.

’s thoughts.

…

…

After Rakshasa ducked into a dark alley, a short, middle-aged man who had been waiting here for a long time quickly came up to him.

"Lord Rakshasa, did you give the 'Wu Nian Medicine' to that new wife?"

Rakshasa smiled and nodded: "Now, let's wait and see if he will take the medicine tomorrow."

The short, middle-aged man smiled bitterly: "Lord Rakshasa, do you think he will take the 'Wu Nian Medicine'?"

"I don't know about that. After all, I'm not that roundworm with a new wife. Anyway, whether he eats it or not, we won't suffer."

"...Lord Rakshasa, please forgive me." The short middle-aged man pursed his lips and sighed, "Is it really okay for you to do this? Just throw away a precious nothing.

Read the medicine and give it to the new wife Kuan."

"'Wu Nian Medicine' is indeed still in the experimental stage, and it urgently needs a large number of experimenters to conduct experiments."

"If the new wife Kuan really has a strong desire to defeat Ju Qingden... as you said, Lord Rakshasa... then I do not deny that he is indeed a person to test whether the 'firm fighting will' can enhance the efficacy of the medicine, and to further confirm that 'no

Nian Yao is an excellent test subject that increases personal combat power."

"But I still don't think it's necessary to find someone who I haven't met before and don't know his details at all to do the experiment."

"If we need good enough test subjects, don't we have everything?"

"Hehehe..." As soon as the short middle-aged man finished asking questions, Rakshasa let out a weird laugh of "hehehehe", "Yes, as you said, if you want to experiment, you don't have to go to any other place to find out."

That new wife is generous."

"No matter what type of experiment you want to do, there are easier and simpler channels."

"But-"

Rakshasa suddenly changed the subject, then tilted his head towards the short middle-aged man, with a sunny smile on his face that reminded people of a warm spring day.

His sunny smile seemed to make the darkness around him a little warmer.

“It’s fun to do this!”

"That person must be very confused now, right?"

"Do you want to believe what I say? Do you want to take this medicine? Is the side effect of this medicine really just a high fever afterwards?"

"Whirring whirring……"

The weird laughter that wanted to laugh loudly but was suppressing it with all his strength leaked out from Rakshasa's lips and teeth.

"I really want to hurry up to tomorrow... Look at the tangled face of my new wife Kuan in the viewing gallery."

…

…

Edo, Okemachi, second floor of Chiba Sword Hall, Chiba Nobuyoshi's bedroom——

"Father, how are you? Is the strength okay?"

Chiba Jutaro was sitting cross-legged, pulling his shirt up to his chest, exposing his back, and lying on the tatami next to Chiba Seikichi.

On the back.

Sanako knelt down next to her brother and gave her brother a hand. The two brothers worked together to apply medicine to Chiba Sadakichi, who had been suffering from recurring back problems recently.

"Yes." Chiba Nobuyoshi nodded, "The strength is just right. Thank you for your hard work, brother and sister."
To be continued...