Chapter 61: The Death Of Ye Chun
I was tricked.
The ferocious expression on the Hannya Mask flashed and vanished, and the anger that had just risen in Shangshan Che’s heart was ruthlessly extinguished by him.
Because compared to pointless rage, Shangshan Che believed that what he should do now was swing his sword.
Words have never been as powerful as actions.
Since the Horse-Brained Music in front of him was merely One-and-a-Half Star, he would force it back with a single sword strike!
Then rush back at full speed to support Ye Chun and the others.
“Hiss—”
Shangshan Che’s chest swelled like a leather ball under the effect of the Ki-Gong Technique, with abundant power flowing through his limbs and body.
At this moment, every movement of the short black-and-yellow tanuki cat in front of him was clearly visible.
A human-like sly glee, mockery, and disdainful contempt surged across that ugly tanuki cat face.
This seemed far from the first time it had done something like this, so it was especially proficient.
Next, it would repeatedly close in to harass, then run far away to lure, thereby fooling this idiot Hannya until both humans it carried were dead.
—That kind of expression, even though Horse-Brained Music had seen it countless times, still filled it with eager anticipation.
After all, this was the first time it had seen this novel demon.
But the Hannya remained expressionless.
“Hah—!”
The glistening white air wave compressed and surged, finally bursting open in an instant, blocking the tanuki cat named Horse-Brained Music’s line of sight.
“Squeak?”
It let out a startled cry and prepared to retreat, but Kaga Kiyomitsu tore through the white mist, manifesting streaks of phantoms in the tanuki cat’s eyes, slashing down from below at extreme speed!
Reverse Kesa Slash!
Compared to the Tusk Thrust using the Flat-Eye Stance, against a smaller-bodied demon like Horse-Brained Music, slashing was undoubtedly easier to hit and caused larger wounds.
“Squeak—!”
The immense arm strength concentrated at one point, combined with Kaga Kiyomitsu’s sharpness, tore through half of Horse-Brained Music’s small body in an instant, making it emit an extremely pained and terrified shriek.
This sword—it couldn’t react to it at all!
Even though this type of demon didn’t possess a physical body in the conventional sense, it was undoubtedly now in excruciating severe injury.
Run!
Gotta run!
This Hannya was completely different from other humans and demons; if it stayed any longer, it would die!
The pain and instinct told it so.
Horse-Brained Music moved its short limbs, dragging its dangling lower half, and fled desperately toward the other end of the tunnel.
Shangshan Che didn’t pursue, merely narrowing his eyes to memorize all its features.
It’s just a pity that Two-Foot Adult wasn’t here; otherwise, he would have marked this dead tanuki cat and chased it down to kill it.
Without much thought, Shangshan Che sheathed his blade and rapidly dashed toward the tunnel entrance.
—But it was already too late.
By the time Shangshan Che arrived, the Taiko Bell seemed to have decided that this Hannya was not to be trifled with and had already left ahead, turning into a blurry dot at the edge of his vision.
And its method of killing was exactly as Shangshan Che had predicted: killing with an endless stream of drumbeats.
The closer to its main body, the greater the damage it caused.
So even though Two-Foot Adult had reacted quickly and pulled Ye Chun to run in the opposite direction, it couldn’t avoid the girl’s death.
Even Two-Foot Adult herself looked pale and unsteady, nearly dropping back to Half-Star Rank.
After all, no matter what, Half-Star Two-Foot Adult couldn’t outrun the Two-Star Taiko Bell.
Shangshan Che slowed his steps and silently lowered his head.
Ye Chun was dead.
In the pitch-black tunnel, the short-haired girl had a bluish-purple face, stiff and pale skin, but alone lacked the ferocious expression of someone who died violently.
Two-Foot Adult stood beside her, bowing her head deeply and clenching her fists: “I’m sorry, Che Adult, I failed to protect her…”
“No, it’s my fault.”
Shangshan Che replied calmly: “I know too little about supernatural phenomena; if I’d known from the start what Horse-Brained Music’s abilities were, this situation wouldn’t have happened.”
He emphasized: “So, Ye Chun’s death is due to my mistake.”
Two-Foot Adult opened her mouth, still showing self-blame: “Che Adult, Miss Ye Chun asked me to pass a message to you before she died.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘My death is not Shangshan Jun’s fault.'”
Shangshan Che closed his eyes and fell silent.
After a long while, he sighed softly: “Find a place to bury her.”
Two-Foot Adult nodded: “Please let me carry Miss Ye Chun.”
Shangshan Che agreed, but strangely noticed that even after Ye Chun’s death, Main Quest Two showed no change whatsoever.
Normally, if the quest target died, the quest should be directly judged as failed.
Otherwise, how was he supposed to save Ye Chun?
Shangshan Che had no ability to revive the dead.
So the Main Quest Two still displayed on the panel now seemed extremely odd.
Doubts followed one after another, but Shangshan Che knew the most important issue right now wasn’t this: “Two-Foot, did you mark the Taiko Bell?”
“Mm-hmm!” Two-Foot Adult showed a hint of ferocity, “I can clearly see that guy’s position; it’s hiding in the mountain forest to the right of the tunnel right now, still running farther away.”
“Good, next time we’ll kill it.”
That said, Shangshan Che wanted to deal with the already badly injured Horse-Brained Music first; it might have communicated with the Taiko Bell, which was why they appeared one after the other in the tunnel.
This could be utilized.
Without Ye Chun holding them back, it wasn’t long before Shangshan Che reached the outside of the tunnel.
He took out the Foreman’s Crowbar, dug a pit over a meter deep, placed Ye Chun inside, then silently buried her.
Ye Chun was a good person, so at least she couldn’t be left to rot in the wilderness.
Switching back to human form, he held Two-Foot Adult and rested for a while; once fully recovered, Shangshan Che re-entered the Isanuki Tunnel.
At least he needed to scout the other end of the tunnel—besides that tanuki cat, what else was there, and whether it was passable.
He gave a portion of Soul Incense Ash（ small） to the weakened Two-Foot Adult, and had her return to the Ksitigarbha Statue to rest and recuperate.
Next, Shangshan Che stepped alone into the deep and long passageway.
Without the cheerful chatter of the two girls, his forward speed was much faster.
About fifteen minutes later, Shangshan Che reached the end of the tunnel.
Then, he saw the densely packed Sea of Chi that completely blocked the entire tunnel exit.
Countless Chi stood motionless in place, neither speaking nor making extra movements.
Shangshan Che could tell at a rough glance that there were no fewer than several thousand, with discovery prompts nearly filling his entire field of view.
Even if the vast majority were Zero-Star Chi with almost no combat power, it was enough to deter most Two-Star or even Two-and-a-Half Star demons.
But Shangshan Che drew his blade without hesitation and stepped into the vast Sea of Chi.
Then, the clear, crisp sound of Kaga Kiyomitsu’s blade rang through the Isanuki Tunnel.
