Qingdeng: "At eight o'clock in the morning (2 p.m.)."

"Hey... Then it's almost time." Kiryu smiled slightly, "Then - I will go to the seats with the young master and sit down for the time being."

"Kondo-kun, Tachibana-kun, please work hard later. The young master and I will encourage you from the guest seats."

Qingden laughed and said, "Thank you. With your words, I feel that my whole person has become much more motivated."

Kiryu smiled freely: "Hahaha, Tachibana-kun, you are surprisingly eloquent."

…

…

There are less than 15 minutes left before the game starts.

Whether it is the Trial Guard Hall or the Little Chiba Sword Hall, all the contestants have basically warmed up, checked their equipment, and are nervously waiting for the competition to start.

The number of spectators gathered outside the competition venue is approaching 400...

Because there were so many people, the spectators who arrived late could only be blocked by the dense wall of people and could not see the scene inside the competition venue.

In order to get a good "viewing spot", a few people climbed a nearby plum tree - and were severely scolded by the shrine maidens of Yushima Tenmangu Shrine.

Qingto didn't know what was going on at the Little Chiba Sword Hall, but he knew what was going on at the Trial Guard Hall - almost everyone, including Kondo and Okita, was nervous...

Qingdeng even saw one of his senior brothers' hands and feet shaking as if they were swinging, making people doubt whether he could still hold the bamboo sword properly.

Qingdeng could understand why everyone was so nervous. After all, there were probably only a few people... In other words, it was almost impossible to hold a "red and white battle" in front of so many spectators.

Feeling nervous is inevitable.

Qingdeng's current mentality is not bad. After all, in his previous life, he frequently participated in activities such as "speech contests" that required showing off his talents in public. After undergoing training, he was watched by only 400 spectators.

It won't make Qingden feel nervous.

Because the number of spectators is still increasing, the scene is becoming more and more noisy.

Naturally, some strange sounds gradually increased and began to reach Qingdeng's ears...

For example, right now——

"What kind of swordsmanship is this trial defense hall? Why have I never heard of this swordsmanship hall?"

"It seems to be a sword hall that teaches some kind of Tenniroshi Shinryu."

"It's a natural flow."

"Ah, yes, yes, I remembered it wrong. It is the Natural Rise-Ryu, not the Tennian Rise-Ryu."

"I have never heard of the name of the sword academy or the name of this school..."

"This swordsmanship hall seems to be just a very inconspicuous swordsmanship hall in Edo."

"Why can such an unknown small sword hall compete with a famous big sword hall like Xiao Qianba sword hall? This kind of competition is completely unspectacular, right? The strength of the two sword halls is so different, Xiao Qian

Won’t the swordsmen of the Ye Jian Hall suppress the swordsmen of the Trial Guard Hall on one side?”

"Who knows how these two sword schools got the opportunity to compete together. In short, the reason why I made a special trip to watch this competition is that I just wanted to see Chiba Sanako and take a look at the swords of the famous Xiao Chiba sword school.

How powerful the soldiers are."

"Tsk tsk, that Chiba Sanako is really beautiful."

"Look at her bear and butt, how long she is. The rest of her body is so thin, but only those few areas have so much meat."

"Hey, tell me - Chiba Sanako is so big there, when the game starts and the fight gets fierce, will her side shake a lot?"

…

This conversation came from the mouths of four middle-aged people sitting in a certain auditorium on the west side of the "main formation" adjacent to the trial defense hall.

These four middle-aged men were all wearing heavily patched clothes. At this moment, the four of them were still talking there.

They also knew that what they just talked about would offend everyone in the trial hall, so they all tried their best to keep their voices down.

However - they are all very bad at speaking softly.

Although they had tried their best to lower their voices, Qingto and others who were waiting for the start of the game in the "main formation" still clearly heard the conversation of these four people.

In an instant, everyone's faces suddenly showed a look of annoyance.

Qingdeng's brows also frowned at this moment, and there was visible displeasure in his eyes.

However, Aoto was only displeased, and was not as angry as when he heard Chiba Tamonshiro call the Imperial Guard Hall a "third-rate sword hall".

Because the properties between the two are different.

Although the remarks made by those four people just now are not pleasant to hear, what they said are iron-clad facts that cannot be questioned...

The reputation, scale, number of apprentices, and quality of their student body of the Imperial Guard Hall are indeed far inferior to those of the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

The reason why there are so many spectators for this match that is about to start is largely due to the small Chiba Sword Hall.

Many of the spectators present in the auditorium must have been attracted by the name of Little Chiba Sword Hall.

Trial Guard Hall? What did you come from? I don’t know him at all. We came to see the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

Several apprentices with bad tempers turned their heads at this time and cast vicious glances at the four middle-aged men.

After the middle-aged people noticed the gazes that were about to condense into concrete murderous intent, they immediately realized that what they had just said might have been heard by everyone in the trial defense hall. Their faces instantly turned pale, and they hurriedly turned around and left.

Someone stood up and wanted to chase the four middle-aged men, but Kondo stopped him.

"Where do you want to go? Come back!"

After the man looked at Kondo angrily for a few times, he gritted his teeth and sat back down in his seat.

Kondo naturally heard the unflattering remarks made by the four middle-aged men just now.

The competition was about to begin, and it was naturally impossible for Kondo to let his apprentices interfere with the competition.

Besides... Kondo, like Aoto, has a rational judgment on what those people just said.

What they just said was not wrong. If you try to argue with them, everyone in the Trial Guard Hall will ignore it.

In order to train Kondo, Zhousuke gave all the management and command rights of today's game to Kondo to take full responsibility.

He himself will not interfere in any matters related to the game today. He will stay in the "VIP seats" with Abi and watch the game until the end.

Kondo, who shoulders such a heavy responsibility, took a deep breath after looking at the people with dissatisfied and displeased expressions on their faces:

"Everyone pay attention! Don't pay attention to those people's trivial remarks!"

In order to revive everyone's morale, and also to relieve everyone's tension as much as possible, Kondo launched a short but passionate "mobilization speech."

Kondo's "mobilization speech" was quite effective, and many people looked much better after listening to it.

Qingdeng also suppressed his displeasure a little.

At this time, Qingto suddenly discovered that in the "main formation" of Xiaochiba Kenkan opposite, Sanako was still warming up there.

She held a bamboo wakizashi, sometimes striking the air in front of her with a heavy slash, and sometimes turning the blade and stabbing forward.

His expression was serious and meticulous.

Qingden always felt that even if he called Sanako now, she would not be able to hear any other sounds except for the sound of her own sword as she was warming up extremely intently.

Looking at Sanako's extremely focused face... Qingto couldn't help but tilt his head and sighed in a low voice to Okita beside him:

"Miss Sanako looks very motivated..."

Okita glanced at Sanako opposite and smiled: "Miss Sanako is a person with a very strong personality."

"Because she has such a strong personality, she is extremely serious, focused and energetic no matter what she does."

"Because she has such a strong personality, Sanako-san... cares about winning or losing."

"Tachibana-kun, do you still remember what I told you: Our Imperial Guard Hall defeated the Chiba Sword Hall twice in the 'Red and White Battle'?"

"I'm very impressed. Every time we beat Chiba-chan, Miss Sanako would show a very unwilling expression."

At this point, Okita suddenly licked his lips.

"Ah... I seem a little thirsty."

Okita raised his head and looked behind him.

"Ji Jun, I remember there is a sugar water stall not far behind. Would you like to drink a bowl of sugar water with me now?"

After hearing what Okita said, Qingto realized that he was also a little thirsty now.

So without thinking too much, Qingden nodded to Okita.

There is still a little time, enough for Aoto and Okita to go to a nearby place to drink a bowl of sugar water and then come back, so Kondo did not stop Aoto and Okita, but only reminded them to "come back early".

Qingto and Okita ran to the candy stall that Okita mentioned was very close to the competition venue.

The sugar water stall happened to have few customers at this time, so Qingdeng and Qing Deng each ordered a bowl of sugar water and drank it all in one gulp.

"Ha... After drinking what you like, you won't feel so nervous anymore." Okita sighed as he handed the empty bowl back to the owner of the sweet water stall.

"Okita-kun, are you nervous now?" Qingden poured the last sip of sugar water in his hand into his mouth.

"I was quite nervous just now." Okita chuckled, "But after drinking my favorite sugar water, I felt much better."
To be continued...