Chapter 702: Friendship with the Ghost (3.5k)
As the clear and cold voice suddenly echoed from the sky, countless gazes instantly shot over. However, upon seeing the face, they were all stunned. They found the face to be excessively young.
The most surprised should be Lin Chujiu. She looked at the foolishly acting figure in the Taiyi Dojo, filled with astonishment. No matter how wild her imagination, she never thought that the girl who was so good with her “mouth” would actually be a mid-level War God.
This is too sci-fi!
“There’s actually another mid-level War God!?”
Yamanashi also suddenly snapped back to attention and looked towards the center of the battle. She felt both fortunate and somewhat fearful. Fortunate, because if these people hadn’t come to pay the ransom, would she have been easily captured?
Fearful, because she was truly living on borrowed time, daring to demand a ransom from such a formidable figure.
“I didn’t expect that after only a few months apart, she would have such powerful friends by her side…”
Compared to the shock of Yamanashi and others, Su Ze, while surprised, breathed a sigh of relief for his cousin.
At least with this mid-level War God here, the situation was temporarily stabilized. As for what comes next, they would discuss it after resolving the current problem completely.
Lin’s appearance caused quite a stir in the arena. The figures in the sky transformed into several black afterimages, descending from above towards Su Jiu and the other person. Within a few breaths, a encirclement was formed.
“Little Lin’er, you’re too late, aren’t you?”
Sensing the slightly cold temperature behind him, Su Jiu coughed lightly and said with a smile.
Hearing this, Lin’s crescent-shaped eyebrows furrowed, and she lightly poked Su Jiu’s forehead with a finger, her little fangs showing as she snorted, “It’s good enough that I came to save you. Otherwise, if you were done for, I wouldn’t have to repay my debts.”
It felt quite good to be assertive in front of the con artist for once.
Su Jiu rolled her eyes. She knew “Little Foolbird” always expressed herself in such a tsundere manner, as if tsundere hadn’t gone out of fashion yet. Her gaze drifted sideways, looking at the snow-white chin, and she responded with a smile:
“How about that as repayment for ten High-Grade Magic Crystals? As for the other debts, they can be cleared, just return me forty.”
“Eh? Have you been possessed?”
Hearing this, Lin let out a surprised sound and reached out to pat Su Jiu’s head, acting like a cute girl next door, but the smiling eyes couldn’t hide her true feelings.
She had to admit that when the con artist acted in a human-like manner, it was still somewhat pleasing.
Only forty High-Grade Magic Crystals left. With her current abilities, it wasn’t too difficult to obtain them. At worst, she could hunt creatures above Demigod level to obtain top-grade Magic Crystals.
Slowly suppressing the urge to snort, Lin’s gaze swept over Kamishiro Yuichi and the onlookers in the sky before speaking softly:
“Where did you provoke so many War Gods? If I hadn’t recovered my strength, we’d both be finished. But now…”
“It’s all small problems. That scale even allowed me to completely stabilize my mid-level War God realm.”
Her eyes suddenly sharpened, looking straight ahead. She loosened Su Jiu’s hat and, at some unknown time, a crystalline ice arrow appeared in her hand.
Looking at the two talking in front of her, Kamishiro Yuichi coughed a few more times. As he stood up again, his gloomy face was somewhat pale. He raised the back of his hand towards the surrounding crowd and waved forward, saying in a deep voice:
“All of you, attack! This person is related to the missing female corpse. The female corpse possesses top-class Divine Blood. The Kamishiro Family absolutely cannot let this go.”
Upon hearing this, the other three War God level experts suddenly flashed with white light. Three different weapons appeared, and powerful External Qi surged out from their bodies, rushing towards the sky like smoke signals.
The combined might of the three War God level auras made even Battle King level individuals tremble.
“Why hasn’t Uncle Bai returned yet?”
Yamanashi, watching the scene about to unfold, became increasingly anxious. If these people were to fight on the island, the area of impact would be vast, potentially destroying the entire small town.
She immediately summoned a pirate and whispered instructions: “Hurry up and evacuate the family members of these crew members. A major battle might break out soon, and Uncle Bai won’t be able to return in time. The entire town will be affected.”
“Yes!”
The pirate, with a lingering fear in his eyes, looked at the center location and quickly nodded. He picked up a communicator and hurried towards the small town.
“This is no longer something we Battle Kings can solve.”
Lin Chujiu’s eyes flashed with seriousness as she fumbled for her phone and dialed her home.
“Esteemed uncles, please wait a moment. It’s best not to make a move against this lady.”
Just as everyone was retreating, flames ignited, and a figure suddenly flickered between the Kamishiro Family members and Su Jiu. As the flames dispersed, Kamishiro Fujiye’s somewhat unrestrained figure slowly revealed itself.
“Isn’t that the young master of the Kamishiro Family who was competing with classmate Su at the Taiyi Dojo?”
This sudden change startled everyone who was paying attention. Lin Chujiu recognized this young man, but the feeling he gave her was somewhat different.
It was as if he were a different person; that sense of freedom and pride emanated from his core, an illusion that couldn’t be described in words.
It was like facing a young and renowned samurai, confident and unrestrained.
“Fujiye, you’d better give me an explanation, or don’t blame me for reporting you to the Family Head for disrupting official business.”
Looking at the figure before him, Kamishiro Yuichi narrowed his eyes. He didn’t have a good impression of this playboy nephew, especially since he had made him come all this way, which further soured his mood.
“Young Master Fujiye, it’s best not to interfere in this matter.”
The other three War God level experts also stared at him with similar gazes, clearly showing hesitation towards this young nephew from a direct lineage.
“This is Grandpa’s will.”
He waved his hand at the Kamishiro Family members and then turned to Su Jiu with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the Gourd at her waist, and he chuckled:
“Miss Su, we meet again.”
“You are… Kamishiro Fujiye?”
Their eyes, flickering with flames, met. Su Jiu’s gaze fell on his face. She gently swung the sword in her hand, which was emitting a white glow, temporarily withdrawing “Dream of Blossoms.”
Moreover, the way he felt towards her didn’t seem hostile or malicious. Instead, it felt like he had something to say.
“Of course, don’t you have a saying in your Dragon Country that one doesn’t visit the temple without a reason?”
Kamishiro Fujiwara smiled and then extended his hand to support an Energy Shield that isolated the Kamishiro Family members behind him. Those who tried to approach found the Energy Shield emitting red flames, with a temperature even higher than Su Jiu’s flames, as if about to incinerate everything.
“What is this situation? When did Fujiye gain this ability? Is it some kind of Alchemy Array?”
This effectively isolated the War God level experts, leaving them only able to watch. Kamishiro Yuichi’s gaze fell upon this Energy Shield, a flicker of thought crossing his eyes. He realized.
In the Kamishiro Family, something immeasurable was changing. Everything seemed to have started from that relic.
Within the crimson Energy Shield, Kamishiro Fujiye’s gaze swept over the alert Lin, chuckling:
“Don’t be so scared. I’m just here to convey the words of the Exalted One.”
“Exalted One? You’re not Kamishiro Fujiye…”
Looking at the crimson surroundings and the flames that were different from her own, Su Jiu’s eyes narrowed. These flames contained an energy that could destroy everything, something she couldn’t control at the moment.
Using her Mental Power to scan, it was like a stone sinking into the sea. This caused Su Jiu’s momentarily settled heart to rise again.
“Be careful, his strength is even above mine. You are no match for him.”
Lin’s somewhat serious voice suddenly sounded. The chill behind Su Jiu negated the scorching heat from the flames. The next moment, a hand gripping an ice arrow blocked in front of her.
“He is… a [Ghost], a ghost possessing a human.”
Arriving in front of Su Jiu, Lin’s lavender eyes flashed with a faint blue figure that was neither entirely human nor entirely mermaid. She had absorbed the scale and also gained some of the scale’s original memories, making her sensitive to [Ghosts].
“I am Sheqi, a mere insignificant subordinate of the Great Exalted One.”
Upon hearing this, Kamishiro Fujiye was slightly startled, not expecting the other party to discover his identity. He immediately bowed and said with a smile:
“The Exalted One has asked me to thank Miss Su. Through his first encounter with the Gourd, he learned of what happened. If you hadn’t intervened, the young lady’s remains might have been destroyed by Kamishiro Yuichi…”
“Thanks? Doesn’t he hate me for destroying the armor? After all, with the armor shattered, his strength might be greatly diminished even if he found someone to possess.”
As the other party paused, Su Jiu patted Lin’s shoulder lightly and moved to her side, looking at Sheqi, who was using the guise of a young man with ghost fire, with some amusement.
“Not at all. If Miss hadn’t accidentally purified the armor, even if the Exalted One revived, he would have been controlled by his death-induced frenzied emotions, and we would have followed the Exalted One like moths to a flame, clashing with the strong of this era…”
Shaking his head, Sheqi’s face was filled with reminiscence. Scales gradually appeared on his face, similar to the one-horned scaled python that emerged from the inn, but with more texture and refinement.
He was one of the earliest soldiers to follow Yamata no Orochi. Unlike those with ambitions and aspirations, he did so simply because Yamata no Orochi was willing to improve his strength and provide him with food, given his humble bloodline.
That year, in the snow, in a human city.
A youth with a rough hood huddled against a wall, his body curled up, watching the comings and goings of the upper-class people. He dared not stand up, fearing his tail would be exposed.
That was not an Avatar. He was a half-demon, a special trait of his demon form. In this era, demons were enslaved, and half-demons were taboo.
Until that day, someone passed by him and said, “I heard there’s a great demon in the west gathering demons to form an army and resist the oppressive Daimyo here. It’s truly laughable, a group of demons daring to overthrow the ruling power…”
The youth suddenly stood up and walked west.
He joined the army.
The Commander did not despise him for being a half-demon. It was a wolf demon that had not yet fully evolved into human form. It grinned at the youth, tossed him a piece of cooked meat, and pointed towards the high platform:
“Following the Great God, you’ll have a good life and won’t be enslaved by humans. We must have our own territory.”
“Mm.”
The youth took the meat and bit into it, then looked at the middle-aged man holding a little girl on the high platform, feeling the savory aroma filling his mouth.
A country without discrimination?
As long as he could eat his fill.
Shaking his head, Sheqi sighed softly, “Instead of chasing the unattainable dream of a hundred demons marching at night, it’s better to soberly lick the wounds of the past.”
After Yamata no Orochi was killed, some of the [Ghosts] were purged, while others scattered like birds and beasts. Sheqi, however, waited silently, like a tomb guardian, waiting for the departure of the two Dragon Kings before picking up the King’s bones.
Once again, he became the blade in the King’s hand.
“What are you saying all this for?” Su Jiu asked, listening to the somewhat melancholic speech.
“I don’t want to do anything.”
Sheqi smiled, fumbled for a black-blue scale from his pocket, rubbed it with his sleeve, and handed it over, grinning:
“Please accept this as proof of your friendship with the [Ghosts]. Just as you helped the Black Monarch and the young lady, we will help you once.”
