YM778.TV Chapter 382: How Can There Be Immortals In This World?
Chapter 382: How Can There Be Immortals In This World?
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
This bombing directly killed nearly 100 demon descendants on the enemy’s side. Two-thirds of them were killed on the spot. One third of them was burnt entirely and covered with blood. They would probably not live.
There was a round pit with a diameter of 10 meters left on the field, and the scorched earth was smoky.
“Pui...” Shen Kuo spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with black soil. He felt fearful.
Fortunately, he was far from the center of the explosion, hence he was only affected. Even so, his injury was not light.
The Wang family leader was not so lucky. He was less than 10 meters away from Fire God at that time. After detecting the intention of Fire God, he retreated as soon as possible, but it was too late.
The Wu family leader, who was also similarly close, used his power of speed to save his life. However, one of his arms had been blown apart.
“Fuck, damned old thing. He killed around 20 of my people this time.” Shen Kuo’s face twitched as he was rendered breathless due to heartache.
The people gathered around him were all experts, ranked around the middle of the family’s forces. It was not easy to cultivate each person.
Other forces comprising the Soul Destroying Alliance were also counting the number of people left. After counting, they looked grim.
More than 60 demon descendants died in the explosion. Assuming they were spread out equally, each family lost more than ten people.
These were all family elites. The weakest was equivalent to a Baoze senior employee’s level. The middle-level employees were S-class.
Which of these elites were not cultivated by the families’ resources bit by bit?
“Wright Green is dead.”
“Is the javelin still there?”
“Yes, on Cooper Green.”
That was still okay. The Green family had two peak S-classes and one was dead. The remaining one could still activate the Soul Destroying Javelin.
Fire God died... The ending was unexpected, but expected. This was true for the people of the Soul Destroying Alliance. They were going to kill all of Baoze’s ten gods.
Sakurai Tokimasa pulled his granddaughter aside and temporarily withdrew from the battlefield. He saw the scattered cultivators’ organizations that had already begun to retreat, as well as the Taoists and Buddhists that quickly connected with Baoze’s employees.
He flicked the back of his knife as it clanged. “Don’t you want to know where the Soul Destroying Javelin came from? Now, I can tell you.”
After such a bombing, Fire God gained valuable time for Baoze’s employees. Now, both sides needed to make some adjustments. At the instant of life and death, Baoze’s employees had no time to grieve. They lowered their heads and attended to their wounds.
“Yeah.”
Sakurai Yukinako nodded. As she was on the dominant side, she was not flustered.
“Yukinako, do you remember how the Unparalleled War Spirit was born?”
“The last dying struggle of a dynasty.”
“China is a country with a profound and amazing background. Even though the environment at that time was plagued by internal and external troubles and the people could not live on properly, they could still create such a terrible thing like the Unparalleled War Spirit,” Sakurai Tokimasa said with emotion. “What is the core of the Unparalleled War Spirit?”
“Black Water Spirit Bead.” Sakurai Yukinako continued crisply, “But, what does this have to do with the Soul Destroying Javelin?”
“The Black Water Spirit Bead has another name. It’s called Dragon Pearl.” Sakurai Tokimasa slowly continued, “The Qing Dynasty was the most powerful dynasty in Chinese history, comparable to Qin Shi Huang who unified the six countries. China’s territory today was laid down in the Qing Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, there was only one third of China’s territory presently. However, because of the tragic history towards the later part of Qing, this dynasty has been criticized even till today.”
“When the Manchu entered the pass, the forces of Great Ming resisted. The political powers of Great Ming fell into the hands of different groups of people. Until later, it was said that the Qing government had slaughtered a dragon in the Yangtze River, and the Manchu people made a lot of propaganda. They said that the dragon genes belonging to the Han Chinese had been cut off and that the Qing Dynasty was destined to rule. Since then, Great Ming’s power gradually declined, and it became difficult for them to make a comeback.”
Sakurai Yukinako was stunned. “Isn’t this the methods used by all of the monarchs?”
Sakurai Tokimasa shook his head. “No, the Qing government really killed a dragon. At that time, when the Qing army was crossing to the south, the army suddenly encountered heavy winds and rainstorms in the Yangtze River Basin. There were huge waves, and the Qing Navy suffered heavy losses. Some Qing soldiers said that they saw a dragon in the Yangtze River controlling the wind and attracting thunder as well as lightning. That was Great Ming’s Guardian Dragon.”
“If there was no exaggeration, it must have been a powerful scaled dragon.” Sakurai Yukinako listened with relish.
“It’s not a scaled dragon, it’s a real dragon. The dragon pearl of scaled dragons can’t contain the power of the Unparalleled War Spirit.” Sakurai Tokimasa continued, “Whether or not that dragon was the Guardian Dragon of Great Ming, it infuriated the Qing Dynasty, the most powerful human regime in Asia at that time. It had to pay for it. The Qing Dynasty sent a powerful demon descendant group to kill the dragon in the Yangtze River.”
“Real dragon... It must have been at Gokudo Path, right?” Sakurai Yukinako’s eyes widened. “The Soul Destroying Javelin...”
At this time, the Unparalleled War Spirit gave up on the Holy Infant and rampaged towards the demon descendants from the Soul Destroying Alliance.
Her eyes were burning with red flames, and her hair was flying with the wind.
Obviously, the killing of Baoze employees by the Soul Destroying Alliance had angered her. For the time being, she gave up on the Holy Infant and came back to reinforce the rest of the employees.
No one could resist an enraged Unparalleled War Spirit.
Seeing the situation, the Baoze employees, with bloodshot eyes, roared in response to her actions.
The Taoists and Buddhists were silently relieved.
The lineup of the Soul Destroying Alliance was too strong. Not counting the Holy Infant, there were nearly ten peak S-classes, and the number of S-classes exceeded double digits. This was in addition to the Shen, Wang and Wu families, who obviously wanted to fall out with Baoze.
On Baoze’s side, there were only the Buddhist and Taoists, but they had been handicapped. Scattered cultivators were the most disrespectful and short-sighted mobs. This was the consistent review of scattered cultivators by all the major forces.
Seeing the power of the Soul Destroying Alliance, they chickened out, afraid to make enemies with them. They neglected the fact that they had become witnesses of this scene. They would definitely be killed by the Soul Destroying Alliance thereafter.
The Taoists and Buddhists had thought of this, so they chose to stand on Baoze’s side.
At this time, seeing the Unparalleled War Spirit coming, the scattered cultivators stopped retreating and looked on from afar.
All the members of the Soul Destroying Alliance did not panic at all, but showed a strong sense of war and excitement as she approached them.
They had been waiting for this day for a long time. After several generations’ worth of secret planning, they had created a Soul Destroying Javelin. They were waiting for this day, which was destined to decorate the history books of the demon descendants’ community.
Its influence and importance in later generations would probably surpass the present opening of the Great Deities’ Palace.
Sakurai Tokimasa squinted and stared at the Unparalleled War Spirit. “After the killing of the dragon, the Dragon Pearl was presented to the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, symbolizing the orthodoxy of the Qing Dynasty. Because its whole body was dark, it was placed indoors to keep it warm in winter and cool in summer. It was also known as the Black Water Spirit Bead. Dorgon, the regent of the Qing Dynasty, was the first owner of the Black Water Spirit Bead.”
“The keel, on the other hand, was kept in the treasury by the Qing Dynasty and sealed. More than 200 years later, this regime, once the most powerful human regime in Asia, was weakened and defeated by Western powers. The keel then reappeared.”
“There was a day of destruction for such a powerful dynasty?” Sakurai Yukinako declared with emotion.
“Life is short. It is like a dream. How can there be immortals in this world...?” At this critical moment, Sakurai Tokimasa actually sang an old ballad. Even Sakurai Yukinako, who was obviously not academically inclined, had heard the famous “Atsumori”. One of the three heroes in Japan’s Sengoku period, Oda Nobunaga, recited it twice.
The first recitation was at the beginning of his brilliant life: the Battle of Okehazama. That was for his opponents.
One was at the end of his life: the Honnō-ji Incident. That was for himself.
“The Western demon descendants who obtained it found that the divine essence of the keels were concentrated and the biggest feature was that they were tough. With the level of technology at that time, they could not cause any damage to it at all, but if they collided the two keels together, they would break.”
“The Unparalleled War Spirit’s body is unrivalled. She is immortal and indestructible. That was the power given to her by the Black Water Spirit Bead. However, the keel can control her and easily destroy her invincible body. The Soul Destroying Javelin you are curious about is made of keel.”
How can there be immortals in this world?
It was a good saying. Even the most powerful dynasty would perish one day. No matter how invincible the powerful were, there would be a day where they would fall.
Today, this ballad “Atsumori” was sung for the Unparalleled War Spirit.
Sakurai Yukinako had another question. Why did the Soul Destroying Alliance, including her own family, have to kill the Unparalleled War Spirit?
However, her second grandfather, Sakurai Tokimasa, didn’t seem to give her an answer that would solve her doubts.
Click!
The 12 bolts securing the box popped open, and Eva Carpe slowly picked up a dark object, a long javelin made of the spine of a particular animal. The workmanship was rough, like the stone tools of primitive society.
When it was taken out, it was like a dragon that had emerged from the abyss. It was filled with faint terror, sending out an aura that exceeded that of a battle between Half-Step Gokudo Paths.
The demon descendants present shivered coldly.
Eva Carpe broke the tip of her tongue, spewed a blood mist at the head of the javelin, looked at the Unparalleled War Spirit in the distance, and snapped, “Unparalleled War Spirit, I, Eva Carpe, on behalf of the Carpe family, will take revenge on you from 120 years ago.”
She threw it out with all her might.
The Soul Destroying Javelin turned into a black and red stream of light. At first, it was silent, but then it burst with a deafening sound. It carried unparalleled power, pierced the chest of the Unparalleled War Spirit, and nailed her to the dark brown land.
All of a sudden, her youth was left behind, and she rapidly turned old.
This elegant and unique woman, once a myth of the demon descendants’ community, grew old at a speed visible to the naked eye. Time had taken back 120 years of patronage, her elegance and uniqueness, as well as her immortality.
Absolute silence!
Countless pairs of eyes stared at her, corresponding to their blank faces.
Their brains had short-circuited. They were unable to comprehend what had unfolded in front of them.
In particular, the Taoist and Buddhists exhibited this expression strongly. Their beliefs, accumulated over decades, shattered in an instant. No one understood the Unparalleled War Spirit better than they did. Their elders were amongst the forces that participated in the creation of the Unparalleled War Spirit back then.
Our national weapon, the Unparalleled War Spirit! At the beginning, this phrase was used to describe her. As the name implied, she was a kind of ultimate creation representing invincibility. However, such an invincible creation was pierced in the chest by a long javelin of unknown origin, causing her to age in a flash.
The Unparalleled War Spirit tried hard to look up as she held the javelin in both hands, pulling it out bit by bit.
“Gauss Kashub, on behalf of the Kashub family, takes revenge on you from 120 years ago.”
The second Soul Destroying Javelin was fired out of its sheath and nailed itself to the left elbow of Unparalleled War Spirit.
“The Unparalleled War Spirit is... by foreign forces...” The Taoists and Buddhists started to mutter amongst themselves.
“They still have weapons. S-Stop them.”
“We can’t let them strike again.”
The rest of Baoze’s employees, the Taoists and the Buddhists rampaged towards the Soul Destroying Alliance hysterically. Some of them hated the Unparalleled War Spirit and wished that she would die. However, when this day came, they were desperate.
As for the scattered cultivators... They were scared out of their wits and escaped.
Faul Anderson looked at them and didn’t care. The demon descendants on his side were stronger than Baoze, the Taoists and Buddhists in terms of quantity and quality.
He held the Soul Destroying Javelin, bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed an amount of blood mist on the tip of the javelin.
“Faul Anderson, on behalf of the Anderson family, takes revenge on you from 120 years ago.”
The third Soul Destroying Javelin was fired from its sheath and nailed itself to the right elbow of the Unparalleled War Spirit.
“William Murray, on behalf of the Murray family, takes revenge on you from 120 years ago.”
The fourth Soul Destroying Javelin was fired from its sheath and nailed itself to the left knee of the Unparalleled War Spirit.
“Cooper Green, on behalf of the Green family, takes revenge on you from 120 years ago.”
The fifth Soul Destroying Javelin was fired from its sheath and nailed itself to the right knee of the Unparalleled War Spirit.
The Unparalleled War Spirit was still alive. Her limbs were each nailed with a Soul Destroying Javelin. There was still one designated for her heart. She lay on the ground weakly, looking at the light grey sky.
Kashub, Anderson, Murray, Green... I remember. It’s them.
In 1900, there was a war of historic significance in a country located in the Far East, which spanned 9.6 million square kilometers. Since the industrial revolution in Europe, it was the first time that Western powers had joined hands to exert force against a certain country, firing their artillery.
Although the scale of this war was not worth mentioning in the history of human wars, the impact to this country in the Far East could probably rank in the top three in its 5,000-year history. This even exceeded the later Second World War.
This was because it completely broke the backbone of the Chinese nation. This country, with a brilliant history of civilization, was fragmented into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The pain caused by this war was still deeply imprinted in the hearts of its people, even after 120 years. To this day, its knee was still unable to be straightened, figuratively.
This was known as the Eight-Nation Alliance.
“Including our Sakurai family, all the families of the Soul Destroying Alliance had lost their lives in the hands of the Unparalleled War Spirit.” At the last moment, Sakurai Tokimasa was still providing knowledge to Sakurai Yukinako. It was not because he remained calm. On the contrary, he was too excited and was shivering. He needed to do something to divert his attention.
“After the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s national strength had reached a bottleneck. It wanted to learn from the west to establish the gold standard system, but it required banks. Japan was the first country in Asia to have banks. Not yet back then, because the government didn’t have enough money. Without silver and gold, we couldn’t build a gold standard system.”
“What could we do without money? Fight. War was the best way to make money. However, the Qing Dynasty was still the most powerful dynasty in Asia. There were endless arguments between the left and right wings of the country. Our Sakurai family stood on the side of the pro-war faction. Later, it was the pro-war faction who prevailed, so there was the Battle of the Yalu River.”
“This battle involved putting our national interests at stake. Japan won this battle. From then on, the country rose. As a result, the Sakurai family rose as well.”
Sakurai Yukinako nodded. Although she was not cut out for studying, she still knew her family’s history as she was a direct member of the Sakurai family.
“However, in 1900, in the war that was supposed to crush China, the elites of the Sakurai family stepped out and set foot on the territory of the Qing Dynasty, with the ambition of splitting the benefits with everyone... That was the final struggle of the Qing Dynasty. The Unparalleled War Spirit failed to turn the situation around. The international situation could not have been changed by demon descendants. No matter how strong an individual’s power is, he will be defeated. However, in the battle between the demon descendant communities, we lost.”
Sakurai Tokimasa sighed.
It was an old story that the family didn’t want to face. At that time, all the elite families in China died there. The murderer was the Unparalleled War Spirit.
“The last shot will be fired by our Sakurai family.”
Sakurai Tokimasa retrieved the box on his back and opened it. In the box lay an ancient sword whose material was unknown. It was four feet long and its body was bright.
This sword was well-known in Japanese history; it was one of the three magic weapons. It was known as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
Compared with the other two more symbolic weapons, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi was a real weapon, invincible and unbreakable.
It was said that it was once buried deep in the trench, and the qi from the sword could break through the water, killing any flying seabirds that passed by.
One could see the sharpness of this sword.
By just looking at it, her eyes ached. Sakurai Yukinako couldn’t help but close her eyes, as her tears rolled. If she continued to stare at the sword, her eyes would be blinded by the qi from the sword.
There was another characteristic of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. If one was struck by it, one would surely die. From ancient times, no one survived its sharp edge. Any treatment was futile.
“The Soul Destroying Javelin has dissipated the power of Unparalleled War Spirit. She is at her weakest moment. In the past, even the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi may not have been able to kill her, but now, her head will be taken by this sword.”
Sakurai Tokimasa held the hilt of the sword, and the sharp qi from the sword made his right hand shrivel.
His blood was absorbed by the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Its snow-white sword body turned red and bright, just like the bright blood jade.
Sakurai Yukinako was shocked. Her second grandfather turned ten years older in an instant. Wrinkles appeared on his face and his white hair turned silver.
“This is the price that must be paid to activate the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.” Sakurai Tokimasa’s eyes were shining with excitement and agitation. He knew that he would go down in history as the man who killed the Unparalleled War Spirit.
“Unparalleled War Spirit!” Sakurai Tokimasa declared in a deep and low voice and threw out his Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. “Remember, the person who killed you, Sakurai Tokimasa from the Sakurai family!”
The bloodied sword flew through the air.
At this moment, countless eyes followed the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
If the sword hit its intended target, it would send a wave of chaos through the demon descendant communities internationally.
Time seemed to freeze.
The Baoze employees’ faces were full of shock and anger. There was a sight whereby Thunderbolt Battle Lady screamed hysterically. The sight of the giant ape rushing back to rescue her but having his arm torn apart by the Holy Infant.
Of course, there were also the faces of all the people from the Soul Destroying Alliance. Their lips were taut, and their expressions were nervous and excited. Shen Kuo, the head of the Shen family, had a wild and crazy expression as he murmured, “Kill her, kill her...”
The situation was unbelievably dangerous.
Boom!
A rocket hit the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, and it was engulfed by the flames. However, this obviously couldn’t stop the flight path of the sword. It burst out of the fire and continued to advance towards the Unparalleled War Spirit.
“Gluttony!”
From afar, the demon descendants could still feel an extremely sinister aura approaching them.
From the side, a gorgeous giant tiger approached along with the wind. A young man was on the back of the tiger. He jumped up and rushed towards the invincible Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
He stood between the Unparalleled War Spirit and the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, clasped his arms and grasped the body of the sword.
He still couldn’t stop the path of the sword.
His right arm was broken by the qi from the sword in a moment. His left hand was intact, but it made a heartrending cry. “What is that, what is that...? It hurts, it hurts...”
“Li Xianyu!” someone shouted.
The Li family descendant was here. His cheeks were covered with black material, and dark red blood vessels protruded from his skin. His eyes lit up with scarlet fire and his expression was ferocious. The aura emanating from his body sent chills towards everyone. It looked like he was a potent opponent.
Everyone’s mood was raised because the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi was slowly retarding, not like just now where it appeared that it could not be stopped.
“He can’t stop it. How can he stop the blade of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi?” Sakurai Tokimasa stood up, his fists clenched.
Sakurai Yukinako also clenched her fists. Her eyes wandered between Li Xianyu and the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Her mood was very complicated.
“Ah!” There was a shrill cry. Hua Yang fell out of Li Xianyu’s body, and her translucent body was like a lingering candle flame in the wind.
She and Li Xianyu resisted the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi together. However, she was not indestructible like Slime. She was seriously injured by the qi from the sword and her primordial spirit nearly disintegrated.
“Rage!” With a roar, the black material had crawled all over his body, and he turned into an ugly, fierce monster.
The speed of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi decreased again.
“Stop, stop!”
“You better fucking stop!”
The sword stopped.
It was less than half a meter away from thhe Unparalleled War Spirit.
Li Xianyu grabbed the sword and stood in front of Great-Grandma. His feet sunk into the ground, leaving behind a mark more than ten metres long.
Great-Grandma looked up at his back and saw the half of the sword that had pierced through his heart.
Clank!
He pulled out the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and threw it on the ground. Li Xianyu covered his chest and staggered to Great-Grandma’s side.
“It’s okay, it’s okay...” As he muttered, he pulled out the Soul Destroying Javelins that was nailed to his great-grandma.
Just like their first encounter with a Soul Destroying Javelin on the coast that day, these strange weapons quickly turned into ordinary materials after stabbing into Great-Grandma’s body.
“Fuck, the real target of these bastards was you, Great-Grandma.”
“Motherfuckers, you want to deal with my great-grandma, would I agree?”
“I wouldn’t agree...” Great-Grandma stared at him, looked at his chest, and said in a trembling voice, “Li Xianyu...”
Following her eyes, he looked down, and then raised his head, squeezing out a pale smile. “My self-healing power... has failed.”
It was not that his power had failed. The qi from the sword was destroying his vitality far faster than the recovery speed of his self-healing ability.
He fell into Great-Grandma’s arms and his tears welled up.
He no longer spouted nonsense to distract attention and no longer pretended to be strong. He quivered. “I feel so miserable, Great-Grandma. I feel so miserable...”
Every cell in his body was dying one after another, as the qi from the sword destroyed his vitality bit by bit.
It was more painful than death by a thousand cuts.
“I don’t want to die, Great-Grandma. Help me. Help me.”
Facing his own death, he seemed to have become the ordinary young man when they first met three months ago. However, that boy was handsome in Great-Grandma’s eyes.
However, he was ugly beyond recognition at this moment. The black matter had disfigured his face, and his dim blood vessels resembled ugly earthworms.
Great-Grandma reached out to touch his face. She was peak Gokudo Path, a creature born to kill. She could destroy the earth, but could not reverse death.
She had worked so hard to continue the Li family line, but she didn’t expect that her family lineage would end because of herself.
His vitality was continually disappearing. His self-healing ability, which he had prided himself on, was slowly neutralised by the sword, and his body heat started to dissipate.
Knowing that death could not be changed, he accepted his fate.
“I’m sorry, Great-Grandma. I couldn’t bear a son for you. I heard from Jie Se that Shangqing Sect has Grand-Teacher’s blood. You, you... go and find them. Promise me, don’t destroy your spirit bead.”
“Ah...” He exhaled and groaned.
“Everything about you is good in my eyes, but you are too cold. There’s only one of you, but you can have many grandsons. Am I the same as the other grandsons in your heart? Just an ordinary successor in your long life... Don’t answer me.”
“You said I would die. That was so fucking accurate.”
“Don’t, don’t hurt Baoze’s people. They are all my friends.”
As his life gradually came to an end, Li Xianyu looked back on his short life of 21 years. He was young, had a thin resume, but he had experienced many ups and downs. However, he had no idea of the vicissitudes of life. There was really nothing worthy of qualifying as an old memory.
However, in the past three months, he had been in more life and death situations than people had in 30 years. Thinking about it, everything was fate. Heaven let him experience life that no one else had experienced in their whole lives in advance, for three months.
It was a life that couldn’t bear the ultimately heavy burdens. He was mentally and physically tired.
“It’s not bad to end like this too.”
On his deathbed, he raised his hand and touched the mole near her eye. He had fancied it for a long time but did not dare to touch it. “Beautiful...”
His hand slumped to the ground weakly, along with the black pearl.
The pearl was assimilated with her descendant. When her descendant died, the pearl would leave the host by itself.
She had witnessed this five times. The collective pain of those five times could not amount to this instance.
Beautiful...
The wind blew on her face.
Deep inside, it was as if a giant animal was roaring to break free of its cage.
Unparalleled War Spirit, what else could still make you devoted, and who else could still make you nostalgic? Did your long life bring about endless pain and suffering, or the joy of finding the right person in the long passage of time?
A bleak cry sounded out.
The old woman stood up slowly. She was a myth of the demon descendants’ community, a legendary creation in modern history who was uniquely unique through all of time. The Unparalleled War Spirit started to cry.
She wailed loudly.
She wept heartrendingly.
In pain, she grabbed her hair and cried, “You beasts!”
Her past memories flashed in front of her continuously at this instant.
Time flashed back to 120 years ago.