Accompanied by an indifferent voice without any emotion, Toshizo Hijikata turned his head slightly and glanced at the executioners aside from the corner of his eyes.

Suddenly, they felt their skin tingling, as if what was shooting at them was not the sight, but knives, like falling into an ice cave, and they shivered several times uncontrollably.

After hurriedly responding, they ran out of the prison as if they were running away.

After a while, they came back to Hijikata Toizan and others, and found two five-inch nails and two hundred-eye candles in their hands.

"Do it."

As he spoke, Hijikata Toizo untied Izumi Mori Kanesada from his waist, sat on a wooden barrel not far away with his golden sword, folded his hands at the bottom of the handle, and held the sword in front of him,

Looking coldly at the pale and trembling Yuya Kiemon.

The executioners looked at each other, and then gritted their teeth in unison.

There was obviously no prior discussion, but they acted in a very tacit understanding.

They pounced on Yuya Kiemon, put down the two boulders on his legs, and untied his legs.

Before Yuya Kiemon could take a breath, a new nightmare came.

The executioners divided the work and cooperated——

One person controlled his head to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide.

One person hugged his body tightly to prevent him from moving.

One person held his legs so that he could drive nails into his feet.

Another man holds a hammer and five-inch nails.

When the skin on the instep felt the cold and sharp touch of the nails, Yuya Kiemon could no longer pretend to be calm.

Although his expression was dominated by a strong look of fear, he still pursed his lips tightly, looking like "even if I am full of fear, I will not give in."

Of course, his "strongness" disappeared after 2 seconds.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-!!!"

The executioner responsible for hammering the nails swung the hammer in his hand vigorously.

The unparalleled severe pain put Yuya Kiemon's nerves under tremendous pressure in an instant.

The shrill scream seemed to tear off his vocal cords.

Even the executioners who were used to seeing horrific scenes and the stubborn Serizawa Kamo couldn't help but change their expressions after hearing such tragic cries.

Only Hijikata Toshizo remained the same, with no sadness or joy on his face, no strange color at all, and he didn't even move his brows.

"Move quickly, I'm in a hurry. If you take your time, don't blame me for punishing you."

Yuya Kemon's screams were certainly terrifying.

But for the majority of the Shinsengumi team members, the angry "Deputy Commander" is even more terrifying!

Under Hijikata Toshizo's urging, the executioners did not dare to neglect.

Within a few moments, both of Yuya Kiemon's feet were turned into a bloody mess, which was too horrible to look at.

And this is just the beginning.

The executioners hung thick ropes from the beams and hung him upside down.

The two large iron nails on his feet were turned upside down because of his body hanging upside down. The executioners set up a hundred-eye candle on each nail tip and lit it.

In the blink of an eye, the hot wax flowed down from the soles of Yuya Kiemon's feet like sticky hot lead and stuck to his calves.

The dizzy feeling of the body hanging upside down, the severe pain of the feet being pierced, the heat and sticky texture of the dripping wax... any of the above are enough to make people's hair stand on end!

To bear all these pains at the same time...is like falling into hell!

I am afraid that even if I exhaust all human languages, I cannot accurately describe the devastation it causes to people!

Yuya Kiemon, who was still able to maintain his integrity during the torture with stone arms, could no longer maintain his calm and heroic demeanor at this time.

"Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

Incessant screams.

Distorted expression.

It can be said that those who see it are trembling with fear and those who hear it tremble!

Not long after, the wax oil flowing down gradually solidified and covered the calf, like being stuck in a quagmire. Every pore on the leg was blocked, which made people extremely uncomfortable and added another layer of pain.

On the other hand, the two hundred-eye candles have just faded a little.

Hijikata Toshizo spoke calmly:

"Tell me, who are you? What's going on with that warehouse full of weapons? What are you planning?"

"...I, I...as a...good man who stands upright...will never...succumb to...the enemy...because of pain..."

After hearing this, Hijikata Tosei seemed to be amused and burst into laughter.

"Okay! I have the guts!"

"In that case, let me open my eyes again."

"I really want to see how long you can last."

"Don't let me down, we have plenty of hundred-eye candles."

Having said this, he turned to look at the executioners on the side.

"If the wax solidifies too much and is too thick, remember to peel it off. Otherwise, you won't be able to let him feel the burning heat of the wax all the time."

"yes!"

The screams continued.

The torture is still going on.

…

…

Kyoto, Gion——

The two dusty ronin looked around, then lowered the low-brimmed hats in their hands and continued to move forward.

Suddenly, a beggar with ragged clothes and dirty face jumped out of the thorn and blocked their way.

"Two gentlemen! Please be kind! I haven't eaten for three days! Please reward me with some money! If you don't have money, I can give it to the stutterer! I beg you! The merit is immeasurable! The merit is immeasurable!"

Although the facial expressions of these two ronin could not be seen due to the low-brimmed bamboo hats they wore on their heads, judging from their actions and the content of their words, they were very unhappy.

"Stinky beggar, get out of here! Don't come near us!"

"We have no money, and even if we had money we wouldn't give it to you. We'd ask others for it!"

With that said, they bypassed the beggar without hesitation and walked away.

The beggar sighed heavily, drooped his head, and retreated to the street with a disappointed look on his face, huddled in the corner.

At first glance, this seems to be just a common "beggar asking for money" that is very common on the street, and no one would pay special attention to this kind of thing.

However, if you look closely, you will find that after retracting to the corner of the street, the beggar pulled off the tattered Sojuro turban on his head to hide his eyes, while quietly squinting his eyes without blinking.

He stared closely at the retreating figures of the two ronin.

[Note: Sojuro's turban: a men's turban in the Edo period, named after its design by Sawamura Sojuro]

His expression was completely devoid of the shabby and dirty look just now, only thinking, deliberation, and murmuring:

"Changzhou accent..."

Who would take the initiative to pay attention to an inconspicuous and dirty beggar on the street?

No one noticed that the beggar quietly retreated and disappeared into the deserted deep alley in the blink of an eye...

…

…

Kyoto, Sanjo Avenue, Izutsuya——

"Boss! Who is the boss?"

Two young samurai lifted the door curtain and walked into the store in a swaggering manner.

"Hey! Here we come!"

A middle-aged man with half-white beard and hair quickly ran out of the room and knelt down to greet the guests.

"Boss, we are having a banquet tonight! Do you have a room?"

Hearing that it was a big business, the boss suddenly smiled and became more enthusiastic:

"Of course we have a room! How many people should we prepare?"

"About 30 people. Well, this is the deposit."

"Okay! Sir, please rest assured that we will prepare the banquet properly!"
To be continued...