Chapter 183: Chapter 96: Aoto, Charge the Formation! Talent Acquired: Strong Muscle [9,400 words]_4

In an instant, the audience seats erupted in a commotion.

Even those who don’t understand swordsmanship could tell—the Shiwei Hall’s formation was extremely peculiar.

Why deploy only one person in the center? With this, if the opponent concentrates their forces to launch a fierce attack on your center, won’t your defense line be quickly torn apart?

"Hey, Zhouzhu." Abi frowned so deeply that it seemed he could crush a fly, "What’s going on here? Why are Yong and the others using such a strange formation? This defense that’s thick on the sides and thin in the middle can be broken in one strike, right?"

"I, I don’t know either..."

Zhouzhu was just as bewildered now.

He also had a head full of question marks.

Why such a strange formation? Why is Chokata, an important force, staying at the rear? And why is Mr. Tachibana the Grand General...

Next to him, Saito slightly frowned.

Mukiwa stood with slightly parted red lips, her cheeks full of bewilderment and confusion.

At the seats of the Little Chiba Sword Dojo, Chiba Dingji and Chiba Domon Shiro were showing significant expressions—both their eyebrows knitted together.

"...What is Shiwei Hall up to?" muttered Chiba Domon Shiro.

"..." Chiba Dingji remained silent, staring intensely and thoughtfully at the Shiwei Hall’s formation.

Another person showing a similar expression was... Kiryu.

Kiryu and Chiba Dingji—among the vast audience, they were the only two watching the Shiwei Hall’s formation with thoughtful expressions.

...

...

Afternoon came quietly to a close at 2 PM.

The Divine Master of Yudashima Tenman Temple appeared on the south side of the competition venue.

As the "primary sponsor" of the event, after loudly delivering some standard opening remarks and congratulations, he waved to a witch standing in front of a Taiko drum beside him—

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

The witch swung her thin arms, drumsticks in hand, and started beating the Taiko drum.

The rhythm of the drum slowly became more urgent.

With the drumbeats rising, the audience, which had just quieted down a bit, suddenly became lively again.

The increasingly rapid drumbeats announced: today’s swordsmanship competition has officially begun!

However, even after the drumbeats declaring the start of the match stopped, neither the red nor white sides made any move.

The people of Shiwei Hall stood still, entirely in a stance of defending to the death.

The group from the Little Chiba Sword Dojo gathered together, anxiously discussing tactics against the opponent.

"Mr. Chiba!" someone called out to Chiba Shigetarou impatiently, "What are you hesitating for? What’s there to hesitate about? Shiwei Hall has actually placed only Kondo Isami on the center line, so shouldn’t we concentrate our forces and launch a fierce attack against their center to win?"

"Yes, although it’s unclear what Shiwei Hall is up to, no matter how you look at it, launching a fierce attack on their center first is definitely right!"

Many people echoed in agreement.

"..." Chiba Shigetarou’s tightly furrowed brows hadn’t relaxed since earlier.

Chiba Shigetarou instinctively felt there was something fishy about Shiwei Hall’s peculiar formation.

Others who shared his sentiment included Sazanoko and Yamanaka Keisuke. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Like Chiba Shigetarou, they also felt there was definitely something fishy about Shiwei Hall’s formation.

But they couldn’t figure out what sinister threat was hidden in this strange formation.

After pondering for a moment, Chiba Shigetarou gritted his teeth—

Alright! Let’s launch an attack first to probe their strength and weaknesses!

Despite thinking there might be an issue with Shiwei Hall’s formation, he also had to admit: no matter how you look at it, the best strategy for Little Chiba Sword Dojo right now is to attack Shiwei Hall’s fragile center first!

Thus, having made up his mind, Chiba Shigetarou quickly made his deployment: led by the strong Yamanaka, together with three other equally capable apprentices, they would attack Shiwei Hall’s center.

Shiwei Hall’s left and right paths were each met with four people.

Their Grand General: a newcomer named Asakura from the Little Chiba Sword Dojo remained in the "main array."

He and Sazanoko guarded the midfield.

The reason Chiba Shigetarou chose to guard the midfield with Sazanoko instead of joining Yamanaka on the frontline was to guard against Chokata.

Shiwei Hall’s strongest force didn’t stand on the frontline but remained in the rear... This gave Chiba Shigetarou the feeling of a sword hanging over his head.

He and Sazanoko were ready to push forward immediately to intercept Chokata at any sign of strange movements.

"Advance!" Chiba Shigetarou shouted confidently.

On this rare sunny winter afternoon, under the azure sky, the trio of Yamanaka and others charged across the competition field in full force, straight towards Shiwei Hall’s formation!

"Mr. Tachibana, Mr. Tachibana..." Watching Yamanaka and his group charge directly at Kondo, Chokata, feeling anxious, couldn’t help but stammer a bit, "Can Brother Kondo hold them off?"

"..." Aoto did not respond to Chokata.

He simply watched silently as Kondo in the center raised his bamboo sword in front of him.

No time to think carefully, the advancing group from Little Chiba Sword Dojo and the defending side from Shiwei Hall collided violently, like waves crashing against rocks, both armies’ formations clashing loudly!

Little Chiba Sword Dojo sent a total of four people led by Yamanaka Keisuke to attack the lone defender Kondo on the center line...

Almost everyone in the audience believed that Kondo, who was up against four, would quickly fall, the defense line of Shiwei Hall would be torn from the center, and Shiwei Hall would be instantly defeated.