章節 33: Chapter 33: Going to Kyoto
After the dinner party ended, Oda Hirakura prepared a separate villa as a residence for Zhou Ming and arranged for maidservants to attend to him. He was extremely thoughtful and considerate.
Unfortunately, Oda Hirakura's arrangements were in vain, as Zhou Ming's first command upon entering the villa was for the maids to go to sleep and not to enter his room.
He then began his daily practice routine.
First, he absorbed a soul crystal to further strengthen his soul, which was now equivalent to the strength of sixteen people.
Then he used the Grasshopper Gu to add strength to himself.
Almost all Gu worms that can add strength to a Gu Master have a common drawback: they come with intense pain while adding strength.
And the more significant the added strength, the more intense the pain.
For example, Gu Masters who practice the ancient power path often use beast strength Gu worms like Bear Strength Gu, Wolf Strength Gu, Horse Strength Gu, etc., which can add the strength of a bear, a wolf, or a horse.
The strengthening effect of these power Gu on the Gu Master's body is not immediate and requires gradual improvement over multiple attempts.
But even so, the effect of the ancient Beast Strength Gu is stronger than the current popular Jin Strength Gu and Jun Strength Gu in the Northern Plains. Therefore, the pain it causes is also much more intense than Jin Strength Gu.
Although the Grasshopper Gu is not a Strength Gu, it can still increase the strength of the Gu Master, accompanied by a strong sense of pain and requires multiple enhancements.
If operated too hastily, it will only result in excessive pain, increasing until the Gu Master's body can no longer bear it, and even causing death from pain!
At this moment, the Grasshopper Gu is suspended above Zhou Ming's head, emitting a faint green light shining on Zhou Ming's body.
Zhou Ming sits cross-legged, his muscles trembling uncontrollably, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he endures waves of pain.
After a moment, the pain intensifies and becomes unbearable. Zhou Ming knows he has reached his limit and quickly retrieves the Grasshopper Gu.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Zhou Ming takes a deep breath.
"The strengthening of the Grasshopper Gu probably takes about twenty days."
"My own strength has probably reached its limit at the rank 2. Unless I'm willing to use Gu such as Iron Bone Gu or Bronze Skin Gu, which can change the physique and increase the limit of strength the body can bear."
"But if that's the case, the Strength Path Dao marks engraved on the body will interfere with the Wood Path Dao marks and will not be beautiful."
"As for the wood-based Gu worms that can change the physique, although they exist, they are not common, just like the Grasshopper Gu, and can only be searched for slowly in the future."
...
The night passed without any words.
In the following days, Oda Hirakura did not rush to leave for Kyoto to participate in the Top Samurai Tournament, and he rarely showed up in front of Zhou Ming.
It was as if he had forgotten about Zhou Ming and showed no interest in him, completely different from his previous enthusiasm.
On the other hand, Matsui Kyoshin, the personal samurai by Oda Hirakura's side, came to Zhou Ming every day and took him on a tour of Junshan City, accompanying him throughout the journey. The two soon became familiar with each other.
Although Oda Hirakura had not shown up, Zhou Ming was not in a hurry. He practiced every day to improve his strength.
However, the so-called beautiful scenery and delicious food in Junshan City were not worth mentioning in Zhou Ming's eyes. It was more like a diversion from his practice than a sightseeing trip to Junshan City.
After all, Zhou Ming's age in two lifetimes was only over thirty years old, far from the calm and detached mentality of those old monsters who had lived for hundreds of years.
Moreover, besides enjoying the local customs and scenery of Junshan City, Zhou Ming had another thing to do.
In Junshan City, there are martial arts dojos like "Takamine Denshu-ryu"[1] and "Oishigami Fu-ryu"[2]. Although they were not ubiquitous, they were not rare either. Upon closer inspection, there were dozens of schools, some strong and some weak, with varying levels of skill.
On the third day, Zhou Ming couldn't resist the urge to take action and visited the two dojos in a row.
But this time, he didn't kill anyone. With Matsui Kyoshin accompanying him, each school treated him with the utmost respect, and Zhou Ming did not want to go crazy and kill anyone.
The consequence of this was that neither side would do their best in the sparring with the other side, and the martial arts experience Zhou Ming gained after defeating the other side would be much less accordingly.
A half-hearted fight is not enjoyable at all, so just two days later, Zhou Ming stopped this absurd martial arts game and instead asked Matsui Kyoshin if there were any famous bandits or mountain bandits nearby.
When Matsui Kyoshin heard this, he guessed what Zhou Ming wanted to do, shook his head repeatedly in shock, and said he didn't know anything.
Zhou Ming saw his firm attitude and knew that he definitely didn't want him to leave Junshan City to avoid being blamed by Oda Hirakura.
Since he couldn't get any answers from Matsui Kyoshin, Zhou Ming didn't force him and decided to find a way to inquire about this matter himself.
Unexpectedly, the next day, Matsui Kyoshin came to him and revealed the information about the nearby bandit group, one by one.
Zhou Ming knew that Matsui Kyoshin had been authorized by Oda Hirakura, and he secretly laughed but didn't expose him. He left the city alone that day.
Matsui Kyoshin wanted to follow, but how could he keep up? He was lost after just two streets.
Time is like water in a sponge; it flows away when squeezed.
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed for Zhou Ming in this world.
During this time, a very interesting change occurred.
Oda Hirakura's attitude towards Zhou Ming changed from ignoring him at the beginning to becoming anxious when he didn't return to the city for several days. He repeatedly sent people to look for Zhou Ming and ask him to come back.
Zhou Ming was currently enjoying killing bandits and had no time for him.
For him, the most important goal was always to improve his strength. Besides that, socializing and etiquette were all meaningless things.
How long could he stay in this world at most?
He probably wouldn't see Oda Hirakura and those people again after leaving this world. What was the point of pretending and maintaining those false relationships?
Until that day, Oda Hirakura explicitly informed Zhou Ming that he was going to Kyoto. Only then did Zhou Ming reluctantly withdraw from his promising work of eradicating bandits and return to Junshan City.
The next day, Oda Hirakura eagerly prepared his carriage and, accompanied by a thirty-person team, set out on the road to Kyoto with Zhou Ming.
Junshan City is about 700 miles away from Kyoto, and with a team of thirty people on foot and by horse-drawn carriage, they could only travel about 50 miles a day. Even under the best circumstances, assuming no accidents, bandits, or road damage, it would still take more than ten days to travel the distance.
However, since Oda Hirakura made these arrangements, he must have calculated the timing and would not be late because of wasting too much time on the road.
Zhou Ming had no objection, and his strength continued to improve daily, so he naturally would not miss this opportunity.
When they arrived in Kyoto, the World's Number One Samurai Tournament began, and what awaited him was constant fighting and battles. There was no time to leisurely accumulate and digest to enhance his strength.
Fortunately, the journey was not boring.
Thanks to Nohara Momonosuke's shitty ability to govern the world and cruel rule, the Tosho Island Country seemed unified, but in reality it is still in a state of each state ruling independently under the banner of respecting one emperor.
The daimyos acted tyrannically in their own territories, exploiting and oppressing the people, disregarding human life, extorting and plundering, and causing suffering for the common people. Bandits were rampant, killing and looting, causing chaos everywhere.
In the past few days, Zhou Ming had cleared several bandit groups around Junshan City. Many of them were peasants who couldn't survive and had no choice but to become bandits, turning from victims to plunderers.
During the journey to Kyoto, these bandit groups were also frequently encountered.
Whether it was a heavily loaded horse-drawn carriage or a luxurious escort team, they all indicated to the bandits along the way that this was a fat piece of meat.
The bandits would then rush forward and die one after another.
How could a group of bandits, most of them composed of refugees, half of whom were yellow-skinned and skinny, defeat well-fed, well-trained warriors like Zhou Ming?
Moreover, Zhou Ming was present.
A bandit group with fewer than fifty people didn't even have the qualifications to make Zhou Ming take action. Only when the number was too large, which could cause damage to the samurai, or when a master appeared, would Zhou Ming intervene.
Then it would be a massacre.
The number of bandits encountered along the way was somewhat unexpected for Zhou Ming. He even regretted not preparing a soul-gathering toad, or burial soul toad, or a similar type of gu worm in advance to collect the souls of the dead.
These were resources!
It was too wasteful!
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[1]-"Takamine Denshu-ryu" refers to a traditional style of martial arts originating from Japan, specifically from the Takamine family.
[2]-"Oishigami Furyu" is a type of decorative paper made using a traditional Japanese paper-making technique called "Oishigami". The term "Furyu" means "style" or "taste" in Japanese, so "Oishigami Furyu" refers to a specific style of Oishigami paper. Here in this chapter the author used it as a martial dojo name.
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榜單 
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