My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 402: Chapter 149: Oh No! Miss Sazanoko, Are You Blushing?

How difficult is it to cultivate ”Momentum”?

Let’s put it this way—Kondo and Chokata have not yet cultivated ”Momentum” up until now.

Throughout Shiwei Hall, only Zhouzhu has ”Momentum”, while Kondo, Hijikata, and Chokata are still painstakingly exploring this realm.

Not to mention Shiwei Hall, even the renowned Xuanwu Hall and the Little Chiba Sword Dojo currently only have Chiba Dingji, Chiba Eijiro, and Chiba Daisaburo who have successfully cultivated ”Momentum”.

Chiba Domon Shiro, who also hails from the Chiba family with such a strong genetic swordsmanship background, as well as the siblings Chiba Shigetarou and Miss Sazanoko, are still far from reaching this domain.

The reason why cultivating ”Momentum” is so difficult is primarily that it does not have a systematic training method like sword skills.

Whether or not you can cultivate ”Momentum” purely depends on your strength, talent, and opportunity.

Without even moving the body, just a glare releases a ”Momentum” that can strike terror into the heart of the enemy... How many swordsmen dream of this realm?

However, countless swordsmen spend their entire lives without reaching this realm—only managing to make their gaze more fearsome.

”Hmm...” Zhouzhu raised his hand to stroke his smooth chin, frowning just like Kondo, ”Perhaps it’s because Mr. Tachibana has an exceptional talent in cultivating ’Momentum’...”

Standing behind Kondo, Hijikata lifted his gaze to look at Zhouzhu and the Kondo father and son, both furrowing their brows, thoughtfully pursed his lips, and then cleared his throat forcefully:

”Alright, let’s leave these martial arts discussions for later.”

”Now, let’s celebrate our champion properly!”

Hijikata’s handsome face held a faint smile as he walked slowly to Aoto’s side, stretching out his right arm to firmly embrace Aoto’s shoulder, ”Tachibana, congratulations! After today, your reputation in Edo will become even more resounding!”

Kondo was momentarily stunned as he looked at Aoto before him, then at Hijikata, who was now repeatedly congratulating Aoto. The furrow on his brow slowly eased, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

”Hmm... that’s right! Now is indeed not the time to ponder these issues! Mr. Tachibana, congratulations on winning this competition!”

...

...

Watching from a distance as Aoto, who was now surrounded by Chokata and the others, enveloped by their words of congratulations, was Chiba Shigetarou. He twitched the corner of his right mouth, then turned his head and issued a self-deprecating chuckle to his shoulder-to-shoulder sister, Sana:

”Sazanoko, our judgments about Mr. Tachibana these past two days have been inaccurate...”

”Who would have thought... Mr. Tachibana really surpassed Brother Rong’s one-year record of cultivating ’Momentum’. ”

Upon hearing his elder brother’s sigh, a tinge of embarrassment immediately appeared on Sazanoko’s face.

(From the start of practicing swordsmanship to the first release of his own ’Momentum’, it only took our second brother just over a year—if nothing else, just this alone, I think is enough for Tachibana to look up to him.)

Recalling the confident words she had said to her family the night before... Sazanoko felt her cheeks uncontrollably heat and redden with embarrassment and discomfort.

This cold and aloof flower, usually appearing unreachable, surprisingly had a day when her cheeks turned red from embarrassment... Only Chiba Shigetarou, who was standing beside Sazanoko, noticed this rare sight with a stark contrast.

At the first moment of noticing this change in his sister’s expression, Chiba Shigetarou grinned and teased Sazanoko:

”Sazanoko, luckily, the only ones who heard your words last night were me and father. Otherwise, you’d have been terribly embarrassed.”

Chiba Shigetarou’s teasing made the embarrassment on Sazanoko’s face more pronounced, and the blush on her cheeks became even brighter.

After taking two deep breaths to slightly calm her emotions, Sazanoko slanted her beautiful eyes and gave Chiba Shigetarou a fierce glare, then coldly ”hmphed” at her brother with a displeased tone.

Chiba Shigetarou knew that Sazanoko had always been thin-skinned, so he stopped teasing her once it was enough, knowing that excessive teasing could genuinely anger Sazanoko.

Thus, Chiba Shigetarou promptly withdrew his neck and closed his mouth.

After warning her brother with her gaze and that cold ”hmpf”, Sazanoko withdrew her eyes from Chiba Shigetarou.

And in the process of withdrawing her gaze... her eyes unavoidably swept over Aoto, who was still surrounded by people ahead, causing the embarrassment that had just been suppressed to immediately re-emerge on Sazanoko’s cheeks.

Just yesterday, she had claimed that Mr. Tachibana’s talent couldn’t surpass Chiba Eijiro’s, only for Mr. Tachibana to achieve a stunning accomplishment today that left Sazanoko utterly shocked: He unleashed his own ”Momentum” after just four months of practicing swordsmanship!

This was almost eight months faster than Chiba Eijiro’s record!

He and her brother have been practicing swordsmanship for so long, yet they haven’t even glimpsed the shadow of ”Momentum”...

Sazanoko now harbors a peculiar feeling of indignation towards Aoto.

This man has, for two consecutive days, caused her to lose face due to misjudging his strength and talent!

This truly gave the proud and thin-skinned Sazanoko an unusual sense of shame.