Chapter 326: Slaying Demons And Exorcising Evil? That’s Not Childish Enough For Me! Spider Cutter, Squeeze Every Ounce Of Value From The Demons
Did this make Gen Shinsui give up on the Spider Cutter issue?
Shangshan Che nodded: “Please speak.”
The boy spoke in a voice calm to the extreme, emotionless like a repeater,
“If you hold me, from this day forward, you must slay demons and monsters day after day, month after month, year after year, even if the sword never leaves its scabbard, your heart must always keep this in mind.
From then on, there shall be no moment of rest, until you step into death.”
After speaking, the boy silently gazed at Shangshan Che.
His “eyes” possessed the power to see through people’s hearts.
So no matter what Shangshan Che said or how he worded his response, he could discern the most genuine answer in Shangshan Che’s heart.
The young man standing before him was very good, better than far too many others.
Even, one could say, among the top five of all trial-takers in a millennium.
So the boy showed him a slight favoritism and said: “Your Excellency, please follow your inner thoughts and answer directly.”
But even with “favoritism,” it was not as if he had to choose this young man.
No matter how good the person or genius, he had rejected them without hesitation before.
As long as their ideals differed, their paths diverged.
Seeing Shangshan Che fall silent, the boy spoke flatly as if reminiscing,
“Eleven years ago, a girl passed my trial barehanded, and I asked her the same question.
Just like the hundreds of times before.”
“Then, I was rejected.”
The boy said: “That girl said though she enjoyed slaying demons and monsters, her ambition lay elsewhere; she wanted freedom thereafter, to follow her heart’s desires, to pursue what she truly wished to chase no matter what.”
“She said she wanted to traverse all things in the world, to make endless choices.”
“She said she did not wish to be bound by a sword, nor should any strong one be bound by external things.”
“—That girl and I rejected each other.”
The boy raised his one black and one white pupils, staring straight into Shangshan Che’s eyes,
“So what is Your Excellency’s answer?”
The girl from eleven years ago.
Who else could it be but the girl from the Minamoto Family who refused Spider Cutter at eight years old?
Shangshan Che asked: “Was her name Gen Shinsui?”
“I did not ask her name.”
The boy shook his head: “If not my master, there is no need to know the name.”
Shangshan Che thought for a moment and asked: “There is one thing I am very curious about.”
He spoke, asking the boy the same question as back then,
“—【The thing one wants to pursue no matter what】, how does one discern it?”
The boy was expressionless: “Your Excellency seems to be the same kind of person as her.”
Shangshan Che shook his head,
“I am simply curious and want to know the answer to this question… I think she answered it.”
“Abandonment.”
The boy repeated the words of that eight-year-old girl from eleven years ago: “Human energy is limited; if one tries to do everything well, one will likely accomplish nothing.
Only【abandonment】 can make one focused and pure.
Blood ties, dispensable friends, ordinary hobbies… abandon all unimportant things, stop doing them, stop caring.
Until the very end, what cannot be abandoned no matter what is the thing one wants to pursue no matter what.”
“—Everything else is inconsequential.”
After hearing this, Shangshan Che thought it was quite like Lili Zi; Gen Shinsui and her would surely get along.
He shook his head,
“I am not like her, not at all.”
Shangshan Che dropped the topic and answered the boy’s first “request.”
Without thinking, he said: “Of course I am willing to slay demons and monsters until death.”
Truth.
The boy was stunned for the first time in a long while.
It had been ages since he met someone so pure.
—Didn’t the young man just say he was not the same kind as that girl?
Now it seemed they were both【pure】…
“But merely ‘slaying demons and monsters,’ is that not a bit too superficial?”
Shangshan Che’s words interrupted the boy’s thoughts.
The boy frowned: “Superficial, what do you mean?”
“To put it bluntly, it’s futile effort.” Facing the boy whose face suddenly turned ashen, Shangshan Che smiled and said, “You are merely moving yourself.”
After he spoke, a chilling killing intent and grudge permeated the darkness, even bolstering Shangshan Che’s spirit by a couple points.
But Shangshan Che remained unmoved, explaining according to the original plan: “One person wielding you to slay demons and monsters for a lifetime—how many demons and monsters can be slain?”
“A thousand, ten thousand… a hundred thousand, a million, ten million?”
Shangshan Che spread his hands: “What does that amount mean for the entire Eternal World?”
The boy lowered his gaze, silent.
His clenched fist revealed his thoughts.
So Shangshan Che struck while the iron was hot: “What I want to do is completely separate the Eternal World from the Mortal Realm.”
The young man before him spoke softly, but the faint volume roared like thunder in the boy’s ears.
“—Simply put,【destroy the Eternal World】.”
Truth.
“Those I approve of, let them enter the Mortal Realm; those I do not, let them perish with the Eternal World.”
Truth.
The boy looked up, incredulously reappraising the smiling man before him.
Was this man mad? Or out of his mind?
No, even a madman could not sincerely say such things.
Destroy the Eternal World?
Who did he think he was?
An ant’s jest?
Even Lord Yorimitsu had never dreamed of such a thing…
Yet all these were heartfelt truths.
Undoubtedly.
This man not only said it but truly believed he could do it.
“What do you think?”
Shangshan Che gave ample time to wait, then took the initiative by extending his hand to the boy,
“—Will you become my sword and see together how beautiful the destroyed Eternal World is?”
Silence.
After a long silence, the boy nodded reluctantly yet with eager anticipation.
In that instant, he suddenly understood that girl’s words from eleven years ago.
He wanted to see this scene.
No matter what, he wanted to see this scene.
—Everything else was inconsequential.
He extended his rough palm and tightly grasped Shangshan Che’s offered hand.
Shangshan Che felt a slight pain from his palm, then saw the boy’s right eye shift from ordinary black to turquoise green,
“Whether these are the ravings of the ignorant or a promise to be fulfilled one day, please let me witness it at your side.”
Shangshan Che smiled, shaking the boy’s palm firmly: “No need to be formal. I am Shangshan Che; call me whatever… Right, what should I call you?”
“Call me【Qing】.” The boy said.
“Then I’ll call you Little Qing from now on.”
Shangshan Che breathed a sigh of relief; good thing he did not have to name him: “Then Little Qing, you must get along well with Little Jia from now on!”
Qing stared at him, saying nothing.
Silence speaks louder than words at this moment.
……
The darkness faded.
Shangshan Che opened his eyes, feeling the existence of light once more.
He looked up.
Time had probably passed… only half an hour?
Minamoto Shizuka, who had stood silently outside the light circle for half an hour, looked at him: “Shangshan Jun, how did the trial go?”
“Did you pass?”
If Shangshan Che became Spider Cutter’s master, then let him stay at the Minamoto Family for a few nights and conveniently meet the Sword Saint together.
Otherwise, politely and courteously ask Shangshan Che to leave.
—That was what the family elders said this morning.
So Minamoto Shizuka asked.
Shangshan Che did not answer; he extended his palm to the ferocious spider stone sculpture and grasped its grayish-white forelimb.
Crack… crunch…
Amid crisp cracking sounds, the massive stone sculpture shattered inch by inch, turning into invisible flying ash in the breeze.
The deep grudge from before completely dissipated.
In the center of the stone platform stood a pitch-black hilt wrapped in faint Qing Se silk threads, with a blood jade even redder than blood embedded at its base.
Like an eye.
Below it, the plain guard and the exposed section of scabbard were equally unremarkable.
Shangshan Che gripped that part of the scabbard and slowly drew out the tachi embedded in the stone platform.
A cool wooden texture came from his palm; Shangshan Che then gripped the hilt and effortlessly drew the blade.
Hum…
A pure, clear sword cry rippled out, instantly calming the eerie presences lurking and peeking in the originally dim, profound bamboo forest.
They dared not make a sound.
“So beautiful…”
Shangshan Che’s gaze gently caressed the deep Qing Se blade.
He raised the blade, letting sunlight glide bit by bit over the dense, chaotic small edge patterns spreading across it, savoring the profound grudge contained in every mesh.
After two hundred years, the true Spider Cutter finally reappeared in the world.
“Lord Shangshan.”
The Spider Cutter in his hand vibrated slightly; he heard Qing speak in slightly unfamiliar “sword speech”: “Since you cannot yet bear it, I have sealed part of my power.”
“—If you forge Sword Heart or become a Ghost God, I will immediately unseal it.”
“I understand.”
Shangshan Che sheathed it, touching the now warm blood jade on the hilt: “Also, we don’t need honorifics when speaking.”
Qing: “…”
As Qing’s words fell, the blood-colored panel belonging to Spider Cutter popped up before Shangshan Che’s eyes.
【Spider Cutter（Sealed）】
【Quality: Super Epic】
Even sealed, it’s Super Epic…
Shangshan Che thought of Kaga Kiyomitsu, whose quality was still stuck at【Epic+】.
The soul ash shortage lately had really been tough on Little Jia.
Thinking of soul ash, Shangshan Che checked his soul ash gains from the entire Spider Cutter trial.
【You gained a total of 4637.2 soul ash in the “Spider Cutter Trial”!】
【Soul Ash: 12057.2】
Enough for another ten-pull with some left over.
Shangshan Che nodded inwardly—once he gathered the Ghost God promotion materials for Hundred-Eyed Demon, he would use soul spirit points to upgrade Little Jia’s quality to Super Epic.
Though Little Jia probably surpassed most epic grade swords and even some Super Epic quality ones.
Yet its quality had not budged.
Though there was no explicit task prompt, could it be missing a【key condition】?
Like, using Little Jia to chop off a Ghost God’s head?
“A bit of a tall order…”
Shangshan Che showed no extra expression and continued looking down.
【Effect One: Indestructible. Spider Cutter once existed as a “Boundary Marker”; few things can destroy it.】
“Boundary Marker,” what is that?
【Effect Two: Demon-Slaying Blood Transformation. When Spider Cutter slays any demons and monsters, the blade automatically absorbs the flesh and blood essence within that demon.
Prioritizes replenishing the holder’s physical strength and energy via the “Blood Jade.”
Next, repairs the holder’s internal hidden injuries and chronic ailments.
Then enhances the holder’s body strength and potential cap.】
【Effect Three: Grudge Soul Dominion. After Spider Cutter slays any demons and monsters, it can later summon them again to fight for you once.
Current usable grudge souls in Spider Cutter: None.】
His confusion about the Boundary Marker was instantly shattered by these two effects.
Even with Shangshan Che’s composure, he nearly burst out laughing.
Actually, Spider Cutter’s two effects were powerful, but not inherently funny.
But a demon slain by him—its soul turns to soul ash, its flesh absorbed by Spider Cutter, and even after death, it gets dragged back to work for him once.
Just thinking of it made Shangshan Che unable to hold back.
Contributing in life, working after death… truly squeezing the last bit of surplus value from the demons.
His smooth combo was even more ruthless than Hayek’s invisible hand.
【Effect Four: Sealed.】
【Effect Five: Sealed.】
【…】
【Effect Nine: Sealed.】
The multitude of subsequent effects summed up in three words left Shangshan Che quite regretful.
Finally, the description.
【—Spider Cutter, also known as Hizamaru, Thin Green. Minamoto no Yorimitsu once wielded it in the Heian Period to slay the great demon Tsuchigumo and used it as the Boundary Marker separating Mortal Realm and Eternal World for over a hundred years.
It awaits its master, a hero capable of ending this millennium-long chaos.
It does not know if it has found one now.】
Shangshan Che looked at the brief three-line description, then at Spider Cutter in his hand.
He said nothing more, simply fastening Spider Cutter to the other side of his waist.
—In two hundred years, the first to draw this millennium-inherited famed sword was not a Minamoto Family member, but an outsider.
Minamoto Shizuka watched Spider Cutter docilely settle at Shangshan Che’s waist, feeling a touch of emotion.
“Shangshan Jun.”
Minamoto Shizuka hesitated a moment before asking: “What exactly differed between my elder sister and its ideals?”
“Little Qing asked if I was willing to slay demons and monsters with him for life, until death.”
“I said yes.”
Shangshan Che told part of the truth.
“For life…”
Minamoto Shizuka parted her lips, then nodded: “Shangshan Jun, you deserve Spider Cutter.”
“Also, Shangshan Jun, would you be willing to stay at the Minamoto Family for these few days? Some elders are curious about you.”
Minamoto Shizuka turned, walking half a step behind Shangshan Che toward the bamboo forest exit: “Conveniently, in a few days we can go meet the Sword Saint together.”
“No problem.”
Shangshan Che waved his hand, his voice coming from ahead.
Staying as a guest at the Minamoto Family saved him the trouble of finding a safe house outside.
Kyoto had no Special Affairs Office as a safe house; who knew what the Onmyo-ryo higher-ups thought of him.
—Otherwise, the plan to speedrun the Karuta Factory tonight would have to be delayed by two days.
—Also, the Four-Tailed Fox Incarnation would promote to three-star in a few hours, requiring entry into the Eternal World with eyes closed.
Perfectly, he could study the bizarre abundance of spiritual energy in the Minamoto Family over these days.
Shangshan Che looked at the countdown panel for the Four-Tailed Fox and the glowing Four-Tailed Fox Jade Pendant in his storage bag.
He had a premonition.
The Four-Tailed Fox’s promotion to three-star would bring even greater changes than White Hannya’s evolution to Red Hannya upon reaching three-star!
