Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1508 1480. Unbelievable

"It's a bit difficult." Lan En felt the power of the guardian spirit that was expanded to his hand, "But it's basically a small technical problem. Let me study it for another two days? Three days? I think it should be almost done."

Lan En has full confidence and trust in his skills.

【Ninety-nine Weapons】is indeed not difficult for him.

"How can it still be like this!"

Beside him, Wuming sighed with an expression as if he was listening to a foreign language.

"Hmm?" Lan En glanced at her and said, "Aren't you the leader of the Chuye Arrow Clan? Don't you have any record of the Ninety-Nine Weapons?"

At this point, Wuming blushed, lowered his head, and even his voice became softer.

"We... We are indeed in a bad state. A few years ago, a big accident happened and we lost a lot of things."

"By the way, are you really the leader of the Chuye Arrow Clan?"

"Of course! Are you stupid to ask such a question?!"

Lan En raised his hands politely, indicating that he would not ask any more questions.

After the relaxing conversation to relieve the emotions after the battle, Lan En immediately became serious.

"He said before, 'Spread the things out.'" Lan En kicked the charred body of the Japanese guard casually, as if kicking garbage, and broke it into pieces.

"He's probably going to cause trouble. Just look at the way he spreads [Residue] and you'll know that if he wants to cause trouble, he'll definitely do it on a large scale."

Bai Ze also pondered: "Could it be a spirit stone?"

Lan En didn't say anything, but led the way into the courtyard at the end of the stone steps.

After entering the courtyard, the group ignored the Japanese dry landscape and went directly into the hall of Master Rihu.

This is a typical Japanese garden.

The hall is basically a large wooden corridor without walls on all four sides. If you need to shelter from the wind and keep warm, you have to use door panels to block it.

Sitting in the middle, you can see the scenery and courtyard from both sides.

As soon as he entered the door, the vertical pupils in the witcher's eyes began to shrink.

Demon Hunter senses activated.

On the tatami that had no traces in the eyes of ordinary people, Lan En seemed to see many traces.

Following the traces, he found the secret compartment that was set up by Master Rihu.

But after opening the secret compartment, it was empty, with only a long rectangular box left.

"This was supposed to be used to hold scrolls," Lan En said after taking a look at the box. "But there's still such a big gap in the secret compartment."

As he spoke, Lan En reached in and, at the corner of a dark shadow, used the leather palm of his hand to pick up a small piece of golden crystal.

"Fragments of spirit stones." Bai Ze floated to his hand and made a conclusion with just one glance, "There should be a lot of spirit stones in this place!"

Lan En still didn't dare to say that he already knew what the [Spirit Stone] here was.

But he had already seen those monsters on Jiulin Mountain.

Basically every monster has this kind of crystal that emits a dreamy golden light.

At least the fact that 'spiritual stones can give birth to monsters' should be beyond doubt.

"The smell on the tatami is mixed."

Lan En's nostrils flared as he looked at the neat hall floor thoughtfully.

"The smell of sweat, dirt, grass and blood."

"Are the monks from Changzai Temple negotiating business with the bandits?"

It seems easy to understand what kind of business we are talking about.

On the contrary, Wuming remained very calm when he heard that the monks were cooperating with the bandits.

This is probably because the Japanese monks of this period were more vicious than bandits and had more authority than daimyo.

"There are quite a lot of bandits here, and I don't know where they're going." Lan En made a vague guess based on the remaining smell, "But he mentioned Thirteen Sakura Village himself. And there's this account book."

Lan En picked up the account book from the small coffee table in the hall, which was previously submitted by the monks in the temple to Master Rihu.

Just by flipping through it a few times, I understood the conflict between Changzai Temple and Jusanzaku Village.

A village was to be destroyed just because of the rental profits from cattle and horses.

No matter how much compassion is emphasized in the doctrine, once the scale expands and becomes a financial institution, it will eventually return to the logic of a financial institution.

Financial institutions, on the other hand, don't talk about mercy; they only care about profits.

And when this financial institution still holds the power of faith, killing without blinking an eye can only be said to be basic operation.

"It's true that even after death he will leave scars on the world, that disgusting guy!"

Wuming crossed his arms and shook his head.

The fluff ball next to him followed suit, indignant: "Disgusting guy, meow!"

"I will rush back to Shisanzakura Village." Lan En raised the account book in his hand. "No matter what, this place is definitely the most hated place by Chang Zai Temple. The force of the attack here must be very strong."

"You're alone? What about me?" Wuming understood the hidden meaning, "What should I do?"

"Let Kirin take you to Iwamura Castle first and tell Hanbei what happened here. With his intelligence, he will know what to do next. Then let Kirin come back to pick me up."

Lan En patted the neck of the New World Ancient Dragon beside him.

It was just playing by stepping on the holes in the tatami.

"Hanbei is in Mino, and I can talk to him through his father-in-law. Then we can handle it better no matter what happens."

"Do you want to involve the daimyo of Mino? The Saito family?" Wuming looked puzzled and pointed to Mt. Inaba which was facing the courtyard.

"Isn't Saito Yoshitatsu, the head of the Saito family, in Inabayama Castle right now? He's so close, can't we just notify her?"

"Although Lord Ando Morinori is the leader of the 'Mino Three', he is now loyal to Saito Yoshitatsu."

"Inabayama Saito Yoshitatsu"

Lan En muttered to himself and looked in the direction Wu Ming pointed, but his face did not look relaxed. He did not directly respond to Wu Ming's doubts, but asked a question in return.

"How long has it been since Jiulin Mountain opened up the eternal darkness?"

"Eh?" Wu Ming was a little confused at first, then he lowered his head and calculated, "About, an hour?"

Although Lan En's spiritual vision led the group directly to the three lotus stone pillars, the time wasted on the road by monsters, or the detours taken to avoid the monsters, did slow down their pace.

Master Rihu was so anxious that he turned on Chang'an without caring about anything. According to the time count, it has been more than an hour and a half, but less than two hours.

Wuming's estimate is not far off the mark.

"But until now," Lan En raised his chin towards the Inabayama Mountain in the distance, "have you seen any signs of mobilizing troops in Inabayama Castle?"

The constant darkness that enveloped the entire Jiulin Mountain, according to Bai Ze, was something that only a prominent monster could do, even in the Heian period when monsters were rampant.

It's no small scene.

Looking from the direction of Inabayama Castle, it would seem that the entire mountain is wrapped in a huge air refraction layer, and the image of the entire mountain is swaying and blurry.

The thick dark clouds that covered the sky were even more magical and ominous.

Such a thing happened right under the nose of Mino Province Daimyo Saito Yoshitatsu, and how could he not react at all?

And Lan En knew very well that sometimes no reaction was actually a reaction.

No matter how complicated the reasons were, Lan En could no longer trust Saito Yoshitatsu for ignoring the obviously abnormal situation at Jōzaiji Temple in Jūrinzan.

Now that it has been made clear, even Wuming, who has been wandering around the countryside hunting monsters, cannot understand why, as a daimyo of a country, he is indifferent to the monster Chang'an in his territory.

It is obvious that the decline of national strength will only bring him disadvantages.

But I also know that it seems that Saito Yoshitatsu really doesn't seem to care about these things.

"I understand." Wuming quickly pulled down the demon mask hanging on his head to cover his face. "I will inform Hanbei truthfully. But by the way, do you need my help?"

Lan En patted Qilin's neck, and the ancient dragon of the New World was not shy and walked to Wuming.

It has begun to shake its neck and move its hooves, preparing to start running.

"At most, they are just a group of bandits who conjured up a few monsters."

Lan En shook his head.

"I'm not worried about how to deal with them. The only possible trouble is that I don't get there fast enough."

"You're really putting pressure on me when you say that."

Wuming turned over with some difficulty and jumped onto the horse's back which was too high for her, while complaining to Lan En.

But then, her tone became very serious.

"I'll try to speed it up!"
-
"Hold it!" Daisuke Kikuchi leaned over and shouted, "Hold it!" after he had made a wooden sign from a door panel.

There was a continuous "dong dong" sound of arrows hitting the wooden board.

On the high ground on both sides of the village gate, Daisuke Kikuchi was leading the village militia to defend his village.

Generally speaking, Daisuke Kikuchi was a retired hatamoto samurai under Ando Morinari.

He hasn't done this kind of nonsense to stabilize the front for a long time.

Because a hatamoto samurai like him mainly served as the general's main camp guard and messenger during wartime.

This kind of encouraging words, which are only needed by foot soldiers who have just entered the battle, was something he only shouted when he was young.

But now, he had to shout.

"Eh~~~!"

Not far away, behind another wooden sign on a door panel propped against the ground, a militiaman held his head with his hands, making confused and panicked sounds out of fear.

Although the world is difficult, everyone has probably seen the bodies of dead people. But can the impact of seeing a dead body be the same as the impact of facing a rain of arrows with only a wooden board between them?

It's natural to be scared.

But it is natural to take it for granted, and it is natural to panic on the battlefield, and the consequence is natural death.

"Idiot!" Daisuke Kikuchi huddled behind the wooden sign and shouted angrily at the militiaman, "Don't hold your head! Hold on to the wooden sign! Wooden sign!"

It was originally a wooden sign made by temporarily removing the door panel and placing a bracket at the back.

If the person behind him didn't hold on with both hands, it would be normal for him to fall over at any time! And if he lost his cover under the rain of arrows, wouldn't he turn into a hedgehog in the next second?

Sure enough, another arrow hit the corner of the wooden sign where the militia was. The uneven force caused the sign to become tilted rapidly, and it was about to fall down!
It is actually not difficult to straighten it at this time. After all, it is just a door panel and it is not very heavy.

But intellectually it is one thing, emotionally it is another.

Even the militiaman himself knew that if he didn't reach out and straighten the wooden sign, he would die.

But he didn't dare to reach out his hand when he heard the whizzing sound of arrows flying through the air outside the wooden sign.

He cried and his face was wrinkled like an ugly orange.

Those who cannot win the battle between reason and fear often cannot control their own destiny.

But just before the wooden sign was about to fall over.

"I'll do it, I'll do it! Don't be stunned, man!"

A figure in yellow clothes, who was also shouting to vent his fear but was quite agile in his movements, ran up to the high ground from the village.

His voice sounds quite deep and powerful, but somehow it makes people feel a little greasy.

In the end, this man helped the militiaman hold up the wooden sign by rolling around like a lazy donkey!
The yellow clothes were covered with mud and became a mess.

"Toukichirou?"

Daisuke Kikuchi shouted in surprise.

"You didn't just turn around and run away like those damn businessmen?"

Upon hearing these words, a weather-beaten face revealed a complex expression that was hard to tell whether it was a bitter smile or a smirk under the shadow of the wooden sign.

(End of this chapter)