Unpredictable Currents

Seeing him withdraw his chakra and finish the treatment, Shizune stepped forward to congratulate him. "Congratulations! You learned the Healing Technique and Mystical Palm Technique so quickly!"

"It was nothing. It was all thanks to Sister Shizune's usual guidance that I achieved this much!" Yizhe replied modestly.

"Thank you both. How much is the consultation fee?" the samurai asked with a slight bow.

"Hmm..." Yizhe was unsure and looked toward Shizune.

"Just one thousand yuan!" she replied with a smile.

Hearing that, the samurai readily pulled out a stack of bills, counted out ten, and handed them over.

Yizhe accepted the payment without counting it again, then asked curiously, "Sir, we've been seeing patients here every day, and lately, we've noticed that more and more injured people have been coming in!"

"And most of them have been samurai wounded by swords. Could it be that your hospitals have closed down? Or has the country been invaded by foreign enemies?"

"Well..." The samurai seemed hesitant, his expression conflicted.

"It's fine!" Yizhe waved a hand and smiled. "I was just asking. If you can't say it, forget it!"

"Ah..."

The samurai let out a long sigh, shook his head, and said helplessly, "It's not that I can't talk about it. It's just a little hard to say!"

"Oh?" That only piqued Yizhe's interest.

"This matter has to do with Lord Daidao!" The samurai's face took on a nostalgic look.

"Daidao?" He and Shizune exchanged glances, both perplexed.

"Mm!" The samurai nodded and slowly recalled, "It began around half a month ago!"

"Lord Daidao said he was going out to challenge a powerful expert. But when he returned, his clothes were in tatters and he looked utterly miserable!"

Yizhe's heart tightened upon hearing that. That must have been when Daidao challenged Tsunade; the timing matched perfectly.

The samurai continued, "Victory and defeat are common in battle. Lord Daidao is strong, but there are many people in this world stronger than him. Losing was nothing unusual!"

"It was just..." The samurai trailed off.

"Just what?" Yizhe pressed curiously, while Shizune listened with great interest beside him.

The samurai shook his head. "It's just that after that, Lord Daidao seemed like a completely different person. There was an indescribable quality about him, and his swordsmanship style became entirely unlike before."

"Even when Lord Mifune sparred with him, he found it increasingly difficult to defeat him!"

"Oh? Even Mifune could barely handle him?" Yizhe was greatly surprised.

He had been in the Land of Iron for some time and knew a fair bit about this nation dominated by samurai. Mifune stood at the pinnacle of all samurai. Though Daidao was strong, there should still have been quite a gap between him and Mifune.

He just did not know what sort of lucky encounter Daidao had experienced to achieve such a major breakthrough in swordsmanship that he could now stand on equal footing with Mifune.

"Mm!" The samurai nodded and continued, "Lord Mifune was extremely surprised by Lord Daidao's improvement, so he went to ask him about it!"

"Daidao was willing to tell him?" Yizhe did not quite believe it.

The samurai shook his head. "Lord Daidao is not a selfish man. He quickly shared his fortunate encounter with everyone."

"He said that after challenging Tsunade, one of the Three Sannin, he suffered a crushing defeat. When his heart had turned to ashes, a friend gave him guidance and bestowed upon him the insight of a great master of the sword."

"An insight?" Yizhe had a bad feeling about this.

"'Only when one reaches the utmost depth of emotion can one reach the utmost height of the sword!'" At the mention of those words, the samurai wore an expression of worship, his eyes filled with fervor.

"How could it be that!" Yizhe was utterly horrified.

Shizune was even more stunned, frozen where she stood as if struck by lightning.

"From then on, that saying spread among the samurai, and everyone became obsessed with the way of the sword as though possessed!

"But the deeper they immersed themselves, the more they discovered the profound difficulty of swordsmanship. Everyone understood the way of the sword differently, and as time passed, their disagreements only grew greater."

"With more disagreements came conflict, yet no one could convince anyone else! In the end, they could only use their swords to decide who was right! That's why our injuries were inflicted by ourselves!" The samurai shook his head with a self-mocking smile.

"So that was it!" Shizune found it utterly unbelievable.

She had been there at the time. She knew Yizhe had casually bluffed Daidao, but she never expected those words to possess such power that they would make all the samurai so obsessed.

"You two are ninja, so perhaps you don't feel it as deeply. But to samurai like us who cultivate the way of the sword, those words are practically an absolute truth!" the samurai praised fervently.

Yizhe and Shizune looked at each other.

"All right, I won't keep rambling. I need to hurry back to the dojo and continue training!" The samurai bade them farewell and hurried away.

Only then did Yizhe and the others finally understand why so many people had recently come seeking treatment, and why they were all samurai suffering sword wounds.

But as time slowly passed, they gradually felt that something was wrong. The injuries of those coming for treatment were becoming increasingly severe.

One day, while Yizhe and the other two were eating in a restaurant, they were surrounded by a group of samurai who filed inside.

"May I ask if you are Lady Tsunade?" A samurai covered in blood, panting heavily, respectfully asked Tsunade.

Something was fishy!

Seeing the group of wounded samurai, Yizhe quietly set down his chopsticks. Under the cover of the table, he pulled out a kunai and gripped it tightly, staying alert.

Just in case!

"I am!" Tsunade pinched her small sake cup and tipped back her head to drink its final drop. Her pretty face was flushed, her eyes narrowed, as she fearlessly asked.

At her answer, several samurai exchanged glances. With a clatter, they planted their swords on the ground, dropped to one knee, and pleaded, "We beg Princess Tsunade to do us a favor!"

Seeing the samurai like this, Yizhe and Shizune were deeply curious. What exactly had happened, and what could these samurai possibly be asking for?

"What is it? Speak!" Tsunade picked up the sake flask, poured herself another cup, held it in her hand, and gently swirled it.

"Lord Mifune was injured by that rebel Daidao due to a moment of carelessness, and his life hangs by a thread!"

"Lord Mifune said that in the entire Land of Iron, only you can save him!" the leading samurai sobbed.

"Mifune? Daidao? What happened?" Tsunade asked hazily, slightly drunk.

The leading samurai said loudly, "Ever since Daidao brought back a cultivation insight from a senior master of the sword, the atmosphere among the samurai has become increasingly tense. They often argued over matters of swordsmanship and even came to blows!"

"Today, Daidao and Lord Mifune sparred. For some reason, after Daidao lost to Lord Mifune, he suddenly launched a vicious sneak attack and severely wounded him! Daidao's attack was like a fuse, directly provoking many samurai into a riot!"

"We beg Princess Tsunade, in the compassion of a healer, please save Lord Mifune!"

The leading samurai's voice was filled with sorrow. It seemed that Mifune held considerable prestige among the samurai.

"Mifune..." Tsunade tapped the tabletop with her left hand, weighing the pros and cons.

She had no relationship with Mifune. Saving him or not saving him made no difference to her.

"Then... give me a reason to save Mifune!" After thinking it over, Tsunade still could not make up her mind, so she threw the question back at the samurai.

The samurai looked at one another. In the end, the leading samurai stepped forward again and said quietly, "Before we came, Lord Mifune said that if you save his life, he will no longer pursue the matter of your companion causing chaos among the samurai of the Land of Iron!"

"What?" Hearing that, Tsunade sobered up considerably.

How had this unrest among the samurai of the Land of Iron become their responsibility?