Xia Hunaio and Feng quickly confirmed their shared intention: strike while the enemy was weak and finish off these samurai as soon as possible. The three of them escorted a large group of samurai back to the dojo, where Mei had already gathered all the ninjas present.
Xia Hunaio looked at the dozen or so people before him. "Feng, we won't be joining. For one, we're not ninjas, and we can't just interfere; what happened earlier was just a coincidence. Secondly, we can stay here and help you guard the place."
Feng understood that Xia Hunaio wouldn't have a place in a ninja-samurai fight. Xia Hunaio finding an excuse to guard the door was already a very strong form of reinforcement.
Feng glanced at Mei. "Mei, you stay with Mr. Hu and the others to guard the dojo."
Mei asked with dissatisfaction, "Why? I'm a ninja too, and I want to participate in this mission!"
Xia Hunaio understood that Feng arranged it this way out of concern for Mei's safety. Xia Hunaio followed up with an explanation, "Mei, you have an important task. Feng is taking all the ninjas with him, leaving only the two of us here. You wouldn't expect us two irrelevant people to guard the home, would you? It would be too much to have no important ninjas present."
Xia Hunaio successfully convinced Mei to stay at the ninja dojo. Watching Feng lead the group, escorting the "prisoners" to find the samurai base, Xia Hunaio clasped his hands together and awkwardly said, "I wish you all great martial fortune."
...
Feng and the ninjas departed. Xia Hunaio lay idly under the dojo's eaves, looking at Mei who was kneeling beside him. "Mei, don't be so tense. Relax. They might not even come. How can you be so tense?"
Mei clasped her hands tightly on her knees. "This is the first mission I've undertaken as a formal ninja. I can't disappoint Feng."
Xia Hunaio leaned against a pillar of the house. "I say, what deep hatred do you have for the samurai?"
Mei sat up straight and began to tell Xia Hunaio a story.
Legend had it that centuries ago, the ancestors of their ninja lineage and the samurai lineage were brothers. The brothers were very close. However, due to a flood in their homeland, they were forced to leave to seek a living elsewhere.
One went south, and the other went north. The elder brother became a ninja, while the younger brother, as he wished, became a samurai. Later, when the elf war broke out, the organizations the brothers belonged to supported different factions, and they ended up meeting on the battlefield.
Xia Hunaio asked, "So what? They wouldn't turn against each other just like that, would they?"
Mei shook her head. "No, to avoid turning against each other, they both left their respective factions simultaneously and returned to their hometown."
Xia Hunaio blinked. "Lived in seclusion? Isn't that harmonious? Congratulations, congratulations."
"It was supposed to be. After returning home, the brothers established their own dojos, and the samurai and ninjas helped the villagers. But one day, a lost woman came to the village."
Xia Hunaio nodded. "Alright, I understand. You don't need to say more. That woman must have instigated the brothers to fight. The two leaders turned against each other over a woman, and the samurai and ninja dojos directly started fighting. This has been going on for centuries, right?"
Mei nodded. "Yes, that's exactly right."
Xia Hunaio sighed. "Fighting like this over a woman – is it because that woman was a femme fatale, or because the two leaders were brainless?"
As soon as Xia Hunaio finished speaking, he saw both Mei and Mu Zhishui staring at him. Mu Zhishui said with a forced smile, "That woman could instigate brothers to turn against each other, and you can provoke the two of us into beating you up. You're not simple either."
Xia Hunaio rolled onto the ground and squatted down, covering his head. "Hit me lightly, and don't hit my face, okay?"
Xia Hunaio's pathetic expression made Mu Zhishui and Mei chuckle. "Alright, we won't tease you anymore."
Xia Hunaio poked his head out from beside the floor. "Really?"
As soon as he peeked out, Mei and Mu Zhishui's small fists came flying, directly hitting Xia Hunaio's eyes. Xia Hunaio fell backward and started rolling around, wailing, "Ah, this is bad! Someone's been beaten to death!"
...
Ten minutes later, Xia Hunaio was lying on the floor again, idle. "So, for centuries, your two families have been fighting like this? Has nothing special happened?"
Mei continued telling the story to Xia Hunaio and Mu Zhishui.
The brothers knew each other too well. Although the two groups had fought for several years, they never found an opportunity to decisively eliminate the opponent. Later, for some unknown reason, the brothers agreed to a duel in the mountains and didn't return for days. When the people from both dojos found them, they discovered only their corpses.
Both sides were convinced that the other side had killed their leader, so the conflict escalated. What had been minor skirmishes turned into all-out war when the new leaders took charge. They fought to kill each other on sight. This continued until decades later, when the leaders of both sides agreed to a truce, maintaining a certain distance and living their own lives.
The war reignited just a few decades ago. The leader of the samurai dojo believed that after a century of rest, the ninjas had weakened and were no longer worth their attention, so he started causing trouble. However, in the past few decades, with the rapid development of technology, both samurai and ninjas had gradually faded from public view. The ninja dojo had very high standards, while the samurai side had devolved into something akin to hooligans.
Xia Hunaio nodded. "I see. So, in terms of combat effectiveness, Feng and his group definitely have the advantage. But because they've degenerated from samurai to hooligans, they'll become even more unreasonable and will do anything. Feng and his group need to be careful."
Hearing Xia Hunaio's words, Mei became even more worried. Seeing Mei's tense expression, Xia Hunaio picked up a Fomantis. "I told you to calm down. How can you be like this? Let's just have a spar."
Mei and Mu Zhishui were taken aback. "A spar?"
Xia Hunaio nodded. "Yes, let's have a spar. Maybe you'll be able to relax a bit."
Mei got up to stand but stumbled forward. Xia Hunaio caught her. "Be careful. What's wrong?"
"I sat for too long, and my legs are a bit numb."
After a short rest, Xia Hunaio and Mei's spar was about to begin. Just then, a person in ninja attire rushed into the ninja dojo. "This is bad! Leader Feng is surrounded! We hope you can go and provide support."
Hearing that Feng was surrounded, Mei panicked for a moment. Xia Hunaio stroked his chin, glanced at the person in ninja attire, and then slammed the floor. "Impossible, absolutely impossible! I clearly arranged several moles in the samurai's ranks. Have they all been discovered?"
Hearing Xia Hunaio speak fluent Man'ying fluently, Mu Zhishui and Mei were stunned. What was going on? Xia Hunaio could speak Man'ying too?
After slamming the floor, Xia Hunaio said to the ninja, "Go back and tell him directly: 'Sato-kun, this is your chance to make a name for yourself.' That should break the encirclement."
After Xia Hunaio said this, the ninja ran back. It was unclear what he was going back to do. Xia Hunaio watched the ninja's retreating back. "As expected."
"Was that ninja a samurai in disguise?"
"Mm. Although I haven't been here long, I've gotten to know most of the ninjas in the dojo. There's no one like that."
Mei leaned in and asked, "When did you learn to speak Man'ying?"
Xia Hunaio took an earphone from his ear and showed the phone screen to Mu Zhishui and Mei. "Do you understand now? You think I'm a god, to learn Man'ying in just a few days?"
Mu Zhishui looked closely and saw that the phone screen displayed a translation app. So, all those words were translated by the app. Xia Hunaio breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, I almost slipped up."
Mu Zhishui asked, "What about Sato-kun?"
Speaking of that, Xia Hunaio scratched his head. "In my memory, Sato is a very common surname in Man'ying, so I was betting whether there was a samurai named Sato."
Mei also asked, "Then what if there's no samurai named Sato?"
Xia Hunaio picked up his phone again and scrolled down with his thumb. "If I lose the bet, I'll do this."
The phone screen clearly read: "Bastard, of course, it's an alias! Hurry up and go!"
Mu Zhishui and Mei applauded. "Impressive. This is the first time I've seen something like this."
Xia Hunaio seemed somewhat displeased. "I still really wanted him to ask. That way, I could slap him across the face openly. That feeling would be quite satisfying."
Mu Zhishui laughed. "Aren't you afraid he'll turn around and attack you directly?"
Xia Hunaio thought for a moment. "Me? I'm not afraid. With the two of you here, what can he do to me?"
"Then what if he has reinforcements? Do you think the few of us can stop them?"
"We'll see. But if they're using this kind of tactic, it means they're at a disadvantage over there. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to trick us; they'd just bring their men in."
As he spoke, Xia Hunaio sighed and looked at his hand. "Damn it, I should have slapped him first before letting him deliver the order."
Hearing Xia Hunaio say this, Mei smiled. She then walked over to Xia Hunaio and, while Mu Zhishui wasn't paying attention, whispered to Xia Hunaio, "If you really want to fight, I can cooperate with you."
Xia Hunaio was about to say something when another person rushed in and interrupted. "We won! We won! A great victory! Leader Feng asked me to inform the three of you to gather."
Xia Hunaio stood up and said in a low voice, "We'll talk tonight." Then he looked at the ninja. "Song, let's go. I need to go congratulate Feng."