Chapter 85: Taiko Drum Beats On And On, Life And Death Hang In The Balance
Dong!
Dong! Dong!
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Four intact ragdolls with eerie grins stood atop the towering wooden rack.
Two of them held jade-white drumsticks, gradually increasing the force as they struck the bizarre drum surface, while the other two temporarily hid behind the taiko drum, shaking brand-new bells.
Shangshan Che turned back to look and discovered that the taiko drum debris scattered all over the ground had disappeared at some point, and the koma-inu that had been biting the ragdoll in its mouth suddenly bit empty air.
The taiko drum’s muffled sounds swept slowly through the mountain forest like waves, and in just an instant, it caused the two koma-inu charging forward to explode entirely, turning into straw and burlap scattering through the sky.
Neither the taiko drum nor the ragdolls are the true body of the taiko bell?
Shangshan Che’s gaze immediately locked onto the two exquisite jade-white drumsticks held by the ragdolls, which clearly didn’t fit in with the surrounding environment.
—Could it be that those drumsticks are the true body of the taiko bell?!
“Tch.”
He hadn’t expected a mere non-human supernatural phenomenon to have so much cunning and ingenuity; he had to admit that the taiko bell had truly deceived him with this move.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood from the shock, Shangshan Che’s eyes showed no hint of retreat.
Corona Breathing Technique, First Form!
Dense, scorching internal qi flowed through his body, quickly clearing the blood clots and repairing the injuries.
Facing the taiko bell with its bizarre methods, Shangshan Che wanted to play it safe as much as possible.
If he were more aggressive, he might fall into its trap again.
“Hee hee hee!”
“Hee hee hee!”
The ragdolls emitted creepy mocking laughter, striking the taiko drum one beat at a time, as if disdainful of the stupidity of the hannya before them.
The taiko drum’s echoes accumulated more and more in the mountain forest, with the damage growing higher; if this dragged on, even Shangshan Che with his berserk talent wouldn’t be able to hold out.
“Trying to anger me?” Shangshan Che slowly assumed the three-stage thrust stance and sighed, “Unfortunately, you’ve picked the wrong target.”
In the gap between the last drumstick falling and lifting, Shangshan Che unhesitatingly stepped forward, exhaling blazing internal qi, enduring the echoing sound wave assault to deliver Kaga Kiyomitsu!
Pfft!
The sturdy taiko drum immediately emitted a deflating sound, and the previously overlapping echoes stalled and broke apart.
But the four ragdolls showed no fear on their faces; instead, they all revealed triumphant mad laughter simultaneously.
“Hee hee hee—!”
Shangshan Che halted his sword swing, shaking open the blessed folding fan in his hand, his gaze icy cold: “You think the same trick will work on me a second time?”
Gentle Breeze activated, causing the hannya’s mid-air figure to instantly shift three meters to the left.
The next moment, a pristine black-yellow leather face slammed heavily onto the damaged drum surface, fully repairing the leaking taiko drum.
If Shangshan Che had been hit, he would likely now be sealed inside that taiko drum, shattered by sound waves echoing thousands of times in an instant.
“Eh—?”
The ragdolls stopped their hands that were about to strike the drum, staring in shock and suspicion at the hannya that hadn’t died as expected.
—This demon is something off.
—Maybe join forces with Horse-Brained Music another day to take it down together?
The taiko bell had already developed intent to retreat; though it had many killing moves left unused, fighting to the death with this outsider demon for no clear reason offered no benefits.
Shangshan Che wouldn’t allow such a thing; the taiko bell had already wounded him severely—did it think it could just run?
But he figured the taiko bell still had some unused moves, and defending against them all wouldn’t be easy.
“In that case, time for a quick battle to avoid prolonged complications.”
The priest’s robe suddenly draped over him without warning, intensifying the taiko bell’s intent to retreat.
Just as it made the ragdolls shake the bells, wanting them to quickly carry it away, a bolt of lightning precisely struck the drumsticks.
Zap!
Whether the taiko drum, the bells, or the ragdolls’ movements—all froze for an instant.
As expected, the two drumsticks are the true body and core!
Shangshan Che once again maintained the three-stage thrust stance and charged forward, but this time his speed was far beyond before; if listened closely, one could even hear the hannya compressing the cold, clear air into a series of piercing bubble bursts.
In the mountain forest, the hannya flashed and charged like a ghost.
Corona Breathing Technique, Fifth Form!
—No matter how much Corona Qi remained in his body, it would be exhausted in a single breath.
Thereby unleashing an all-out strike never seen before!
“Woo woo woo!”
After recovering from the brief paralysis, the taiko bell sensed the shadow of death’s threat pressing down like a canopy.
Under the pressure, it had no time to think or counterattack, instinctively hurling the massive taiko drum at Shangshan Che like a disposable item.
Crack!
First sword: Kaga Kiyomitsu tore through the taiko drum’s center, burning it apart; the expressionless hannya continued closing the distance.
“Squeak squeak squeak!”
The four ragdolls hurriedly merged into one, becoming a one-meter-tall drummer with a ferocious, terrifying face and countless stitching marks on its body.
But before it could pick up the drumsticks to have them strike each other, Kaga Kiyomitsu’s blade edge had already arrived.
Second sword: Shangshan Che dodged the flying wide wooden rack and the drummer’s grapple like a swimming dragon.
He crouched halfway, driving the sword blade from below upward through the drummer’s entire head, incinerating it to ashes.
In the nearby clearing, only the two lone jade-white drumsticks desperately fled into the distance; though the ragdolls and taiko drum’s regeneration would take only a brief moment.
But this demon’s assault speed was too fast, too—
The taiko bell’s curse hadn’t even left its mind when its thoughts abruptly stopped.
Third sword: The hannya assaulted like a storm.
The cold blade light twisted, striking from the side and rear yet piercing both drumsticks—not on the same straight line—in an instant!
—Natural Reason School · Three-stage Thrust!
After the final thrust, the two drumsticks emitted a bewildered wail, and the previously faint eerie echoes suddenly dissipated completely.
—Taiko Bell, exorcised!
Shangshan Che’s five senses immediately cleared.
He looked at his hand.
Kaga Kiyomitsu’s blade pleasantly trembled, absorbing and draining the two exquisite, beautiful drumsticks into two segments of ash in moments.
Shangshan Che stood in place, blood seeping from under the mask; he breathed heavily with some difficulty.
Only after the combat ended did the many pains in his body surge like tides, especially since he had just used the complete three-stage thrust and Corona Breathing Technique’s Fifth Form simultaneously for the first time.
The power of these two techniques unleashed together was too immense, for both himself and the enemy.
Just the running and swinging earlier had nearly caused his body to collapse midway.
Shangshan Che felt this could almost be called a Secret Technique.
Still, it was all worth it—
【You slayed the two-star supernatural phenomenon “Taiko Bell” and obtained 340 soul ash!】
【You used Kaga Kiyomitsu · Replica to slay “Taiko Bell”; Kaga Kiyomitsu · Replica’s quality has slightly improved.】
【Your skill, Corona Breathing Technique proficiency +92!】
【Your skill, Natural Reason School proficiency +94!】
【Because you slayed the Taiko Bell, Main Quest Three progress has increased!】
【You obtained, Life and Death Taiko Drum!】
Five chapters complete!
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