Chapter 333: The More The Black-skinned Book Opposes, The More It Proves I’m Right! Surging Heavenly Path Trial Progress!
“Little Black, is this your prophecy, or a reminder?”
Shangshan Che asked with a chuckling smile.
No blood characters immediately appeared on the yellowed paper, and the Black-skinned Book hesitated indecisively for quite a while.
It was thinking whether to tell the truth.
Anyway, with this Shangshan Che’s eyesight, he definitely wouldn’t be able to discern such a thing…
Staring at the Black-skinned Book in his hand, Shangshan Che’s smile slowly faded.
He stroked the thick, heavy black cover, softly saying, “If you don’t know, we can go to the Walking Assembly again and let Wagatsu-sama ask you…”
【Not a prophecy! Not a prophecy!】
【Lord Shangshan! This is just… a little sincere reminder from me.】
Before Shangshan Che could finish his sentence, two slightly panicked lines of blood characters immediately appeared on the Black-skinned Book.
“I see.”
Shangshan Che let out a long “oh,” nodding toward the Black-skinned Book: “Little Black, I understand what you mean.”
This Black Skin Person Book is no good thing.
If not for joining forces with Wagatsu-sama earlier to probe it a bit, who knows how much truth or falsehood was in its words right now.
—So the more the Black-skinned Book opposes something, the more it proves I’m doing the right thing!
Moreover, the Black Skin Person Book is a rare item with certain 【prophecy】 nature; Karuta, on the other hand, is the 【God of Possibility】 that the Factory Owners joined hands to create.
Although the Factory Owners still haven’t managed to create this God of Possibility from zero to one to this day, and even the vast factory built specially in a remote location of the Eternal World has been abandoned.
But from previous exchanges with Karuta, Shangshan Che knew she still possessed some ability to “peek into possibilities.”
—If it’s her, combined with the means Wagatsu left on the Black Skin Person Book, she should be able to use it well, or even control this “prophecy book.”
Making full use of things.
There should be no better arrangement… if Karuta is willing to stay as his shikigami.
Shangshan Che lightly tapped the Black-skinned Book with his knuckles, gazing thoughtfully out the window.
Just, in the future when going to the Eternal World, try not to bring Karuta along as much as possible; even if forced to let her enter the Eternal World of this era together, the time can’t be long.
Heaven knows if those Factory Owners have ways to locate her across tens of thousands of miles and directly come with their true bodies to snatch Karuta away.
From Factory Owner Z’s reaction, Karuta was of no ordinary importance to them.
“Perfect.”
Shangshan Che temporarily halted his thoughts, lowering his head to speak to the Black-skinned Book in his hand: “Karuta will record my schedule later, and I’m just short a practical, durable notebook.”
【Lord Shangshan…】
Blood characters immediately appeared on the seemingly endless yellowed pages.
Shangshan Che gave it a gentle slap and kindly decided,
“Little Black, it’s you.”
【No no no, Lord Shangshan, look, what I mean is…】
The blood characters on the Black-skinned Book hadn’t even formed a full line when Shangshan Che flipped his hand and tossed it into the Storage Bag.
The matter was already decided; where was there room for this Little Black to dither.
After arranging the Black Skin Person Book, Shangshan Che sat down, opening the system panel while gazing at the highly covered, spiritual energy-filled green landscape outside the window.
He wanted to gacha pull enough resources for the Six-tailed Fox to promote to three-and-a-half stars, then start the promotion.
When he had just promoted to Six-tailed Fox earlier, he nearly got chopped by Little Qing; afterward, he speedran the Hanafuda Market, so he hadn’t paid attention to the follow-up promotion situation for a moment.
The soul ash spent was a small matter; delaying time was the big issue.
Shangshan Che casually opened the old gacha pull page, clicking the ten-pull button repeatedly, drawing out massive amounts of Soul Incense Ash and a bunch of fashionable junk.
His luck was rather poor this time; he spent over 1700 soul ash to gather enough Soul Incense Ash for the Six-tailed Fox promotion.
For Red Hannya, it only took just over 1000 soul ash.
【”Six-tailed Fox” promoting: 0%（ Remaining time 30 days）】
Shangshan Che glanced routinely at the remaining soul ash.
【Soul Ash: 10357】
Just over ten thousand soul ash would be left with only two thousand after one ten-pull; for now, there was no need to dump it all into the 【path to supreme power】 materials gacha pool.
After all, the Hundred-Eyed Demon’s Heavenly Path Trial was still far from completion…
Shangshan Che blinked, looking at the Heavenly Path Trial progress on the panel, a flash of surprise in his eyes.
【Current Trial Progress: 0.13%】→【Current Trial Progress: 5.41%】
He hadn’t expected that in just a blink, not even two days, the trial progress would surge by a full 5% or more!
Shangshan Che thought it was probably because he and Little Qing had contracted with that legendary famed blade from the Heian Period.
And because he went to the Eternal World to witness, or even directly participate in, the “Karuta Plan” initiated by the Factory Owners in the Edo Period hundreds of years ago.
At this progress rate, perhaps after a trip to the Sengoku Period and doing something major, he could complete over half, or even directly finish the Hundred-Eyed Demon Heavenly Path Trial progress?
“Good news, good news.”
Shangshan Che closed his eyes again to sense, discovering that the acupoints in his body had unknowingly opened from twenty-nine to thirty-two acupoints.
During this time, he hadn’t actively opened any acupoints at all.
Now, he could truly cultivate and progress continuously even while sleeping.
Besides that, the Myriad Spirit Furnace Core had been quietly and diligently operating—the Circulatory Flame Seeds had gone from ten to twelve, and the Five Thunder Technique proficiency had risen by over a hundred points.
To think, it had only been a day or so since Shangshan Che last used internal vision to check himself.
To gain so much proficiency progress in this short time… and at expert level proficiency progress, no less.
Without a high-strength opponent willing to be blasted to death for free, even if Shangshan Che incarnated as Six-tailed Fox and blasted Heavenly Thunder in the Eternal World for a whole day, he’d probably only gain about this much proficiency.
Additionally, the Void Qi Sea had further stabilized its structure due to the change from Four-tailed Fox to Six-tailed Fox, with the expansion speed still maintaining a steady rate.
The massive qi barrier stored in this “five-colored” qi sea, which was rapidly increasing, sometimes even gave Shangshan Che the illusion that “Ghost Gods are nothing special.”
Now, to temporarily perfect this Five Elements Qi Sea, he was just short one qualified 【Earth Attribute Defining Object】.
Shangshan Che opened his eyes in satisfaction, exhaling a slender pure white qi sword, then pinching it with his fingers and tossing it into the qi circulation.
He looked up at the sun and moon overlapping in the sky.
Dawn was breaking.
With a slight thought, Shangshan Che opened the door to the guest room, causing Minamoto Shizuka, who was walking over outside, to pause her steps briefly.
Minamoto Shizuka glanced at Two-Foot Adult, who was chattering away on a mobile phone about modern common sense, then at Spider Cutter beside her and… a stranger with pink hair.
She stared at Karuta for two seconds, then looked away.
She had never seen this woman before.
Was she also Shangshan Che’s shikigami?
But in Minamoto Shizuka’s perception, this pink-haired woman had no qi circulation around her, no gathered spiritual energy—not even a trace of demon supernatural phenomenon aura.
At best, she was just an ordinary woman with some training marks.
But Minamoto Shizuka didn’t ask more.
Someone else’s shikigami had nothing to do with her.
As for not sensing her depth—perhaps this pink-haired woman was just a support-type shikigami.
In a few seconds, Shangshan Che appeared in her line of sight.
Minamoto Shizuka nodded slightly toward him,
“Shangshan Jun, the family elders request your presence.”
Pausing, she looked again at Spider Cutter, who was sticking close to Two-Foot Adult and absorbing modern knowledge intently.
Shangshan Che immediately understood.
“I know.”
He plucked at his heartstrings: “Little Qing, we have to go first.”
The blood pupil on the hilt turned, pausing toward Minamoto Shizuka’s direction before dissatisfiedly replying in the heartstrings,
“Lord Shangshan, I’m in the middle of learning here…”
“The Source Family’s old friends want to see you; you should at least meet them and hear what they have to say.”
“Fine…”
Qing rarely showed excess emotions.
He nodded the hilt toward Two-Foot Adult, then flew to Shangshan Che’s waist.
Shangshan Che patted the dual blades at his waist and lifted his chin toward Minamoto Shizuka,
“Let’s go.”
……
After spending over ten minutes passing the grand mansion at the center of the Source Family, Shangshan Che also saw that expansive hall, which was no less grand than the Imagawa Clan’s Audience Hall—in fact, larger by several measures.
However, Minamoto Shizuka said they weren’t meeting there; it was too formal.
The place they were going was just an everyday reception room nearby.
After walking a few more minutes, Shangshan Che, who had been tilting his head counting the beams supporting the house, paused his steps.
They had arrived.
This was a fact he knew without turning his head.
Minamoto Shizuka’s steps beside him also stopped.
Shangshan Che heard her say: “Head of the Clan Kiyohiro, Lord Shangshan Ge Xia has been brought here.”
Kiyohiro?
Hearing the familiar name, Shangshan Che was stunned for a moment, looking in the direction Minamoto Shizuka spoke and seeing the white-haired old man sitting in the main seat, smiling and waving at him.
Still the Head of the Clan?!
Even though Shangshan Che had guessed at the identities of the two Go-playing old men yesterday, his thoughts couldn’t help but short-circuit for a moment.
He had originally thought the white-haired old man Minamoto Kiyohiro was just an ordinary elder, while the black-haired old man held real power.
No, mainly, yesterday this Minamoto Kiyohiro had dragged him in as an external aid, and after winning, he was smug—where was there any trace of a Source Family Head of the Clan?
Shangshan Che looked over and found that in this modestly sized reception room of about a hundred square meters, roughly half the chairs were occupied.
Most looked older than the combined age of him and Minamoto Shizuka.
—Many old men were probably forcibly summoned by Source Family Head Minamoto Kiyohiro, so few were truly paying attention to Shangshan Che.
Instead, the black-haired old man who lost the Go game yesterday spoke first, nodding toward Shangshan Che and breaking the silence,
“Gen Kiyomasa, Source Family Elder.”
“Right.” Minamoto Kiyohiro on the main seat also smiled and spoke, “Young Friend Shangshan’s game yesterday was well played—short time, yet every move brilliant…”
Seeing Shangshan Che and Minamoto Shizuka still standing without speaking, he beckoned over two chairs: “Sit, sit, sit—Little Shizuka, and Young Friend Shangshan, let’s sit and talk.”
Minamoto Shizuka hesitated briefly wanting to thank him, but Shangshan Che had already sat down boldly.
Helplessly, she also sat down following suit.
Seeing this, Minamoto Kiyohiro’s smile widened as he continued,
“—Not only young, with deep Go skill, but even the overall perspective far surpasses us two old codgers.”
“The Head flatters me.”
Shangshan Che replied evenly—actually, if it went on much longer, he might burst out laughing.
Yesterday’s win for Minamoto Kiyohiro over Gen Kiyomasa wasn’t due to him, Shangshan Che at all… it was basically a smart machine dog!
But in the Source Family, aside from the youngest generation risking contact with electronic devices, who else knew that in this era, AI could play Go, operable right on a mobile phone.
“Hahaha…”
Minamoto Kiyohiro laughed twice, then scanned the surroundings,
“Everyone, seeing Young Friend Shangshan’s arrival, doesn’t seem very happy.”
—Of course not.
Shangshan Che thought calmly in his heart.
This group practicing the Source Family’s Guī Yuān Breathing Technique were at least unmatched foes at Ghost God level, possibly even Wild Gods—Source Family old men who would take interest in a junior not even at Ghost God level?
Him being called here today was probably still because of Little Qing…
Sure enough, before he could chat idly with Minamoto Kiyohiro and Gen Kiyomasa, a silver-haired, spot-faced old man looked toward Spider Cutter at his waist and hoarsely spoke,
“Your Excellency Qing, long time no see.”
The old man strained to open his eyes into slits, bowed his hunched back, and forced a smile: “It must be two hundred twenty-three years now.”
No response.
Qing remained unmoved.
Spider Cutter quietly stayed at Shangshan Che’s waist, the blood pupil on the hilt motionless.
As if a dead object.
Shangshan Che listened to the question in his heartstrings, a smile curling at his lips.
He tapped Spider Cutter at his waist and calmly, clearly spoke,
“Qing, not going to catch up with old friends?”
Only then did the blood pupil on Spider Cutter’s hilt look toward the silver-haired old man greeting him, Qing replying indifferently, neither warm nor cold,
“Mm, it’s been a long time.”
The topic was abruptly ended by Qing.
But the fact revealed in this question and answer was of extraordinary significance.
In the instant after Shangshan Che spoke and Qing replied, all the previously casual, disinterested old men in the reception room sat up straight.
The Source Family old men had sharp glints in their eyes, unanimously looking toward Shangshan Che, who was smiling at them.
They immediately understood one fact.
This generation’s master of Spider Cutter… was probably different from all the previous ones!
