"You win," Tokugawa Yamato sighed, dropping the broken blade in his hand.
"Indeed, I won." Zhou Ming caressed the adamantium alloy blade, a smile appearing on his face.
Although the process was difficult, and he still relied on the advantage of his weapon, a win was a win.
He hadn't used any Gu, nor had he resorted to firearms.
However, he wouldn't have the chance to be so reckless next… The combat experience belonging to Tokugawa Yamato echoed in his mind. Zhou Ming digested these experiences while using the Vine Root Gu to recover from his injuries.
"Zhou-kun, you are very powerful. The title of Kyoto's number one is now yours. But…"
Tokugawa Yamato lowered his hands, a complex look in his tired eyes.
"But you cannot let me leave here alive."
The smile on Zhou Ming's face was even wider than when he won the duel, but his eyes were cold, devoid of any warmth.
"I am sorry." Tokugawa Yamato sighed again, taking a few steps back. At the same time, the sliding doors of the room opened, and eight samurai wearing full armor and demon masks walked out.
Including Tokugawa Yamato, nine people surrounded Zhou Ming.
Taking a blade handed to him by a samurai, Tokugawa Yamato said, "Zhou-kun, please allow me to introduce these samurai."
"No need." Zhou Ming scoffed, glancing around. "Since they're all wearing masks and not even showing their faces, why bother with names?"
He slowly raised his long blade, its gleaming surface reflecting the ferocious demon masks.
"They're all going to die anyway," Zhou Ming murmured.
"Kill!"
As if in perfect synchronicity, all nine samurai, including Tokugawa Yamato, shouted, drew their blades, and slashed at Zhou Ming.
Blade glints flashed, Killing Intent surged, and in an instant, it was as if a massive meat grinder had appeared, intending to dismember Zhou Ming into a thousand pieces.
"Heh." Zhou Ming chuckled lightly, his inner Qi rapidly depleting.
When the opponent chose not to follow the rules, this battle was already over.
The first sound to ring out was the sharp, piercing howl of a specter.
Every samurai participating in today's battle to kill Zhou Ming was a master among masters.
Someone like Tokugawa Saron, once he had made up his mind to kill him, would not allow even the slightest oversight.
The sharp shriek of the Soul Howl Gu was a powerful attack capable of harming the mind of ordinary people, yet these fully armed samurai merely had their movements slightly disrupted before quickly readjusting their stances and continuing to charge at Zhou Ming.
However, in a battle between masters, a hair's breadth miss is a thousand miles off.
The reactions of the few after being attacked by the Soul Howl Gu had already allowed Zhou Ming to discern the subtle differences in their strength and quickly lock onto his priority target.
Swish!
The Ghost Shadow Gu activated, and Zhou Ming's figure flickered, charging towards the samurai to his front left, at the ten o'clock position.
The Poison Ivy Gu shot out from his left hand, sweeping towards the samurai's right side, blocking other samurai from approaching.
At the same time, Zhou Ming activated the Tiger Specter Gu, and a translucent, ashen-faced Chang Gui (Tiger Specter) flew out from behind him, charging directly towards the samurai to the left of his target.
"Am I to be your first target?"
A cold glint flashed in the samurai's eyes. The expression beneath his mask was unseen by anyone, but the sudden surge of chilling aura allowed others to feel his burgeoning Killing Intent.
"Then let me show you my Divine Shadow Style!"
The samurai met him without fear, slashing horizontally with his blade.
However, the next moment, he felt his vision go black; he couldn't see anything at all!
Ghost Eye Gu!
The samurai was greatly alarmed, but years of combat kept him calm in danger. He did not rashly change his move or retreat, instead maintaining his original force and slashing forward.
Thud!
The slash landed squarely, yet the samurai felt no joy, because the sound was wrong!
That dull thud wasn't the sound of a blade cutting into a human body, tearing through flesh; it was more like… cutting into wood!
The next moment, he felt a chill at his neck, followed by a sensation of the world spinning.
Just then, his vision returned, but he only saw a headless corpse, blood gushing from its neck, twitching as it fell backward.
"That's my body…" A flicker of realization crossed the samurai's mind.
Thud, rumble… The samurai's head hit the ground, rolling a few times. In the last moments of his life, his gaze finally fell upon Zhou Ming, seeing what he had relied on to block his slash.
On Zhou Ming's body, he was wearing a close-fitting rattan armor!
The rattan, entirely bluish-black, was incredibly tough. The samurai's fierce slash had only cut halfway into the rattan armor, unable to break through it!
Rattan Armor Gu!
Zhou Ming's face paled slightly. Simultaneously activating several Gu consumed a large amount of Qi in a short time, making him feel as if he couldn't catch his breath.
Fortunately, he acted decisively, enduring a direct hit to successfully kill one person, tearing open the encirclement. He activated the Ghost Shadow Gu and flashed out through the gap.
"Kill!"
Among the many masters present, only Tokugawa Yamato could keep up with Zhou Ming's movements. Before Zhou Ming could break out of the encirclement, he abandoned the encirclement and charged in the direction Zhou Ming was escaping.
The moment Zhou Ming broke through the encirclement, the blade in Tokugawa Yamato's hand, like the most cunning venomous snake, pierced through a gap in the rattan armor, about to pierce Zhou Ming's flesh.
The next moment, a resistance traveled up the blade.
Tokugawa Yamato was startled. He quickly abandoned his blade and retreated, narrowly dodging a slash from Zhou Ming. If he had been a step slower, his blade-wielding hand would have been severed at the wrist.
"He has two layers of defense! Besides the rattan armor, there's another layer of translucent gauze!"
Tokugawa Yamato retreated repeatedly, shouting to warn the other samurai.
"Old man, you really are the most troublesome." Zhou Ming grinned ferociously, a ghost-like flicker, dodging two slashes coming from behind.
The so-called translucent gauze was naturally Zhou Ming's Ghost Garment Gu. Its purely physical defense was not as good as the Rattan Armor Gu, but stacked with the Rattan Armor Gu, the defense naturally increased greatly.
Zhou Ming continuously activated the Ghost Shadow Gu to dodge attacks coming from all directions. His figure was ghostly, and at the same time, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head, able to detect and dodge attacks from even the most treacherous angles.
"Flower Bud Gu, come out!"
A Flower Bud Gu appeared on Zhou Ming's shoulder. It was shaped like a flower bud, entirely light blue, yet it was crystal clear and translucent.
The Flower Bud Gu cannot retrieve items from within when it's in the Aperture. It must first be taken out, and then with mental control, whatever item is desired will fly out of the Flower Bud Gu by itself.
Zhou Ming's mind swept over it, and an item immediately flew out, landing in his hand.
It was a smoke grenade.
"Go!" Zhou Ming pulled the pin, casually threw the smoke grenade to the ground, and kicked it away.
Immediately, thick smoke poured out, quickly filling the spacious room.
"Oh no! Stop him quickly!"
Tokugawa Yamato exclaimed.
"Too late, hahahaha!"
In a very short time, Zhou Ming had already thrown several smoke grenades. The entire room was filled with thick smoke, and visibility was so low that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
Activating the Ghost Eye Gu, the whites of Zhou Ming's eyes rapidly expanded, and his black pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks.
The thick smoke could no longer obstruct his vision. The figures of the samurai fell into Zhou Ming's eyes, with nowhere to hide.
Zhou Ming's lips curled into a cold smile, and a ridiculously chuunibyou line popped into his mind: "The God of Death is here to collect souls."