The sun sets in the west and the sound of the waves sounds like sipping.
On the calm sea, a broken sailboat with its mast broken was drifting with the current.
On the day it set sail, there were about twenty people on the boat, but now, there are only two left.
Terashima Yasuhei leaned against the side of the ship and sat slumped on the deck, looking at the sunset in the distance. Next to him, there was a little boy of only seven or eight years old leaning against him.
"Uncle, is the sun going to set soon?" The boy's eyes had long been blind, but this also made his other senses relatively sharp.
"Yes." Terashima's voice sounded weak, but he still tried his best to sound kind and gentle, "Are you feeling cold? Taro."
"Well..." Taro shook his head, "No, it's very warm around uncle."
"Really... Then go to sleep quickly." Terashima thought, "You won't feel hungry when you sleep. Maybe when you wake up tomorrow, we have already arrived on land."
"Uncle, do you really still believe it? Regarding '朙'..." Taro asked.
"Of course I believe it." Terashima replied, "'朙' exists, there is no doubt about it."
"No...I'm not talking about that..." Taro said, "I mean...does uncle really believe that on the other side of the sea, there will be a place where there will be no wars, no fights, and everyone can be happy?"
Terashima fell silent.
What Taro said was what the leader of the twenty people on the boat, their village chief, said to them on the day they left their hometown; even though...the village chief himself had never been to Dashu.
If even children don't believe it, how can adults believe it? But these people on the ship have no choice but to believe it.
The feudal country they lived in had just been conquered by the shogunate army not long ago. The war swept through their homeland. Their families were killed, raped, and insulted. Their property was plundered, their dignity was trampled on, and their lives were wantonly destroyed like grass.
.
Now that their hometown has become Shura Hell, even if it is the ideal hometown in lies, it is still worth pursuing. After all... they have nothing to lose.
"Stop thinking nonsense..." Terajima lied, not for himself, but because he didn't want the boys around him to be crushed by the despair of reality. "How could the village chief lie to us? As long as we get to Dashu, we have nothing.
Don’t worry anymore, there will be a lot of delicious food there, warm and soft beds, and the friendly villagers will treat us like family members... So, Taro, you should have a good rest and keep your spirits up. Maybe we will be there early tomorrow morning.
I can see those now.”
After hearing this, Taro showed a sad smile: "Uncle...what did you do before?"
Terashima didn't expect that he would suddenly change the topic, but he still replied: "Me...if I hadn't fought, I should still be a swordsman in my father's dojo."
"Ha..." Taro responded with a smile, "It's not unexpected at all... I can still imagine the uncle scolding the juniors loudly in the dojo with a serious look on his face." He paused and muttered, "Like
People like uncle are really bad at lying..."
At this moment, Terashima realized that the child beside him, this child who had been baptized by the fire of war, was far from being as innocent as he thought.
Perhaps, this blind child sees the world more clearly than he does.
"Uncle, I'm tired." Taro's voice gradually became lower.
"Go to sleep, uncle will watch over you." Terajima said.
"Uncle, if I don't wake up tomorrow, please let me sleep all the time..." Taro's tone was very calm. It was obvious that he could act like an adult... no, he could go more calmly than an adult.
Talk about death.
Terashima did not respond to this sentence, because he did not know whether it was cruel or merciful to let the other party "not wake up".
Taro's words continued: "...In that way, maybe I can see my father and mother again..." After a slight pause, he said in a concerned tone, "Promise me, uncle, if I really can't wake up.
Come, please don’t throw me into the sea like the others, before I rot, my blood and flesh..."
"Stop talking!" Terajima suddenly shouted loudly to stop the other party, not letting Taro say the last half of the sentence, "You smart boy... don't look down on adults! You want others to accept the kind of thing from a child that will never be repaid until death.
The favor!”
When the roar ended, two lines of hot tears flowed down Terashima's face.
And Taro did not speak any more, he had fallen asleep leaning against Terashima's side.
The next day, a pirate ship passing by found Terashima, who had fainted from hunger, and the body of a little boy.
There were mostly Japanese people on this ship. After they saw Terashima's clothes and the sword in his hand, they thought that this man was probably a samurai who might be useful, so they rescued him.
And Taro's body disappeared forever into the waves along with the broken ship.
…………
Terashima opened his eyes.
In front of him was a wasteland, and above his head was a bright moon.
Tonight, Kang Haijiao kept him waiting for a long time, so long that when he closed his eyes and rested his mind, he recalled some distant and vague past.
Now that I think about it, Taro did see things more clearly than he did.
Dashu is naturally not the ideal hometown described by their village chief. This is just another place where the weak and the strong prey on each other.
After that day, Terashima still lived a life of drifting with the crowd: he was rescued by Japanese pirates and boarded a pirate ship, so he could only follow them as Japanese pirates. Later, the group was wiped out by Dazao's army, and Terashima was lucky
He escaped and became a wandering robber again.
It’s not that he didn’t want to put down his sword and become an upright and law-abiding person, but at his age, it was almost impossible to change his accent and mannerisms. It was unrealistic to hide his Japanese identity. At that time, the Japanese pirates were causing trouble along the coast.
The common people had long hated the Japanese, and there was no talk of deportation in those days. People like him with criminal records would basically die if they were caught by the government.
Therefore, for Terashima, there is neither a hometown to return to nor a harbor that can truly accept him.
He can only live a life of licking blood day after day, using the only thing he is good at, that is, the pursuit of "martial arts"... to numb himself.
It was also during this process that Terashima's swordsmanship became increasingly sophisticated and he gradually became famous; until a few months ago, a well-known figure in the Central Plains martial arts found someone to get in touch with him and offered to take him under his wing.
Being a "client", of course... is the kind that cannot be made public.
Terashima had no reason to refuse. Even though he had been a thief for many years, he still believed in his heart that he was a samurai and it was better to find a "lord" to serve him than to make a living by doing some robbery that made him feel ashamed.
Just like that, tonight, he met that man.
When Lin Yuancheng walked towards Terashima, Terashima could feel it from the other person's eyes - this was also a man who sought the truth, a man who was extremely honest with the sword.
Although Terashima also saw Sun Yihe and Kang Haijiao with iron chains tied to their bodies in the distance, he had no interest in asking what was going on; at this moment, he only had Lin Yuancheng in his eyes.
Just like in Lin Yuancheng's eyes, he was the only one.
"Good sword." When Lin Yuancheng stood in front of the opponent, he first commented on the Japanese sword at the opponent's waist.
He didn't even confirm whether the opponent was Terashima Kohei... because who the opponent was and what his name was, it didn't matter at this moment.
"Oh? Do you think this is a sword?" Terashima asked slightly surprised.
"Of course this is a sword." Lin Yuancheng said, "And you are also a very powerful swordsman."
"Ha..." Terashima smiled, "Yes, I am a swordsman, and I also practice 'kendo', but...my weapon looks like a sword to you Central Plains people, so most people think that I am a swordsman."
.”
"Most people in this world are ignorant." Lin Yuancheng said.
"Then it seems you are in the minority." Terajima said.
"Me?" Lin Yuancheng thought for a while, and a trace of sadness appeared on his face, "I'm different, I've always been 'alone'."
Others may not understand this, but Terashima vaguely understood it. He looked at the expression on the other person's face, and he didn't know whether it was envy or sympathy in his heart: "Huh... you are either so arrogant that you can't even think of yourself."
Either you were deceived or you are really pitiful."
"You will know the answer soon." After Lin Yuancheng said this, his hand was already on the hilt of the sword.
Terashima stopped talking, silently drew his sword out of its sheath and took a stance.
The long sword, plain and simple, is still in its sheath, but the diffused sword intention is already coming majestically like the majestic mountains.
The Japanese sword is strong and strong, and its edge has appeared, but the raised blade is still as quiet as a cicada, and there is no ripple in the ancient well.
This battle can definitely not be called a duel between the top masters in the world, because the internal strength of these two people is still far behind those of the first-class masters; they can't hurt anyone with anything more than a few feet away.
Even with his sword energy, he cannot forcefully break the enemy's weapon by suppressing it with his skill.
But this is indeed a duel between top-notch swordsmen, and their understanding of their respective swordsmanship is unparalleled in the world.
Hiss——
The wind blew and Terashima's sword moved.
At the same moment, Lin Yuancheng's sword was finally unsheathed.
To be continued...