My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 151 - 89: "Mr. Tachibana, Are You Married?" [5600 Words]

Thus – the Divine Master approached Zhouzhu and Dingji, whom he was familiar with, and extended an invitation to Shiwei Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo.

The Divine Master was also quite generous; he didn’t intend for his two friends to work for free, offering them a generous appearance fee of "15 taels of gold for each dojo."

Faced with this novel invitation from the Divine Master, Zhouzhu and Dingji, for their own reasons, both agreed readily.

Regarding this "Red and White Battle," both Shiwei Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo were extremely familiar with it – because, for the past few years, they had used the "Red and White Battle" to allow disciples within their dojos to exchange swordsmanship skills with each other.

The reason Boss Kiryu initially recommended Shiwei Hall to Aoto, who "hoped to spar with as many people as possible," was due to the deep bond maintained over decades between the Kondo family and the Chiba family.

Thanks to this bond, Shiwei Hall often engaged in "swordsmanship exchanges" with Xuanwu Hall, established by Chiba Shusaku, and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo, established by Chiba Dingji.

Aoto had always thought – that Shiwei Hall, Xuanwu Hall, and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo allowed their apprentices to exchange swordsmanship skills in the form of "paired duels," each side sending one person forward to compete.

It wasn’t until now that Aoto learned from Chokata that this was not the case.

In the beginning, they did indeed exchange swordsmanship in a manner of "paired duels."

But gradually, those like Zhouzhu and Dingji, who served as Hall Masters, realized a significant flaw in this method of "paired dueling" – it could only assess the disciples’ personal martial power.

The initial intention of the three dojos holding frequent "swordsmanship exchanges" was to allow their disciples to discover their shortcomings and improve their skills through sparring and exchange.

Letting disciples duel one-on-one... what could they gain from this kind of swordsmanship exchange? What could disciples learn from it?

Nothing more than gaining a bit of "one-on-one combat experience," with no other noteworthy gains.

Therefore, upon realizing that "paired duels" couldn’t adequately train their disciples, Zhouzhu, Dingji, and others, after some discussion and research, ultimately decided – to change the way of exchanging swordsmanship to the "Red and White Battle."

Changing directly from "individual battle" to "team battle."

Team battles are much more challenging than individual battles and can better test the comprehensive abilities of the disciples.

Personal martial power is no longer the sole factor for victory.

Team battles require strong personal martial power and a certain "overall perspective," strong adaptability, and efforts to achieve harmonious cooperation with companions who might not be very familiar...

Convinced that team battles could more effectively train the disciples, Zhouzhu and others fully promoted the "Red and White Battle" about two years ago.

Since then, Shiwei Hall, Xuanwu Hall, and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo have been exchanging swordsmanship in the form of team battles, abandoning the outdated "paired duels."

After silently listening to Chokata’s introduction, Aoto let out a low exclamation of praise:

"Letting disciples hone and exchange skills in the form of a ’Red and White Battle’... this method certainly is more interesting and can better develop the disciples’ comprehensive abilities..."

Which of the two – the one-on-one duel, where victory is achievable as long as one’s personal martial power is strong enough, or the "Red and White Battle," where even the strongest martial power can easily lead to defeat – tests the disciples’ overall abilities more is evident at a glance.

And clearly, the dull "one-on-one duel" compared to the interesting and straightforward "Red and White Battle" is more likely to stimulate the disciples’ enthusiasm.

For Aoto, he naturally welcomed this kind of "team competition."

Because compared to "individual battles," obviously "team battles" made it easier for Aoto to spar with the various masters from Xuanwu Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo and then replicate their talents from them!

Aoto couldn’t help but secretly give a thumbs up in his heart to Zhouzhu, Dingji, and others for reforming the swordsmanship exchange method.

As soon as Aoto’s low voice of praise fell, Chokata continued:

"In the past two years, we’ve had countless ’Red and White Battles’ with Xuanwu Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo, and we’ve become quite adept at organizing a lively ’Red and White Battle.’

"The master and Mr. Dingji had already accepted the invitation of the Divine Master at Yudashima Tenman Temple, willing to hold a ’Red and White Battle’ in the Yudashima Tenman Temple on the day of the ’Plum Blossom Festival.’

"The result – some priests at Yudashima Tenman Temple kept obstructing us...

"Those people said: ’The Plum Blossom Festival is a festival commemorating the "God of Learning" Sugawara Michizane. How could we invite a group of samurai to fight and kill in such an elegant festival? It’s indecent, and there’s no precedent for it.’

"They kept pressuring the Divine Master to cancel the plan to have us fight and kill in Yudashima Tenman Temple on the day of the ’Plum Blossom Festival.’

"Though the Divine Master is the head of Yudashima Tenman Temple, he doesn’t hold unilateral power in the shrine and can’t have the final say, so he was quite distressed by the pressure from his subordinates.

"However, the Divine Master didn’t retreat; he insisted on hosting activities that the common people would enjoy on the day of the ’Plum Blossom Festival.’

"So – this matter has remained at a stalemate, with no conclusion yet decided."