Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1567 1539. White Snake Shrine
“So, we made a trip and this is the information we got.”

The night had completely fallen, and the 5,000-man army of Lushan City had already set up camp and started various tasks such as making fires, cooking, and keeping watch.

Although Akechi Mitsuhide had never participated in command work on a large battlefield, he, as a descendant of an orthodox samurai family from a prominent family, would not make any big mistakes in basic tasks such as arranging camps and maintaining marches.

Lan En, A Xiu and the others have returned to the main army camp.

At this time, the flames in the surrounding braziers were swaying and whirring. Outside the curtain drawn by the main camp, the noise, footsteps, and sounds of work of the foot soldiers could be heard.

The map was spread out on a makeshift table, and all the influential people in the camp gathered here to listen to Lan En and his team's report on the results of their reconnaissance.

"You have used the power of the monster to this extent, Lord Yilong. You have already fallen into the evil path!"

Mitsuhide Akechi looked at the monster army marked by Lan En on the map with lifeless eyes, and murmured in shock and pain.

"At least two to three thousand monsters!" Fujiyoshiro didn't have much affection for Saito Yoshitatsu, but he felt jealous of the enemy's lineup. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch, "They even formed a mobile [Eternal Dark]? How can we fight this!"

"Let alone 5,000 soldiers, even if we had 50,000, we would be wiped out if we charged towards them! It would be very difficult to even breathe in [Eternal Darkness]!"

"Iwamura Castle can't defend itself against this thing," Lan En added lightly, "Push the monsters' [Eternal Darkness] under the city wall under the rain of arrows. Under the cover of [Eternal Darkness], the soldiers defending the city don't even have the strength to draw their bows and arrows. It's equivalent to directly clearing out a section of the city wall's defenses."

"A city wall without anyone guarding it is at best just a pile of rocks that takes some effort to climb. Not to mention monsters, even if a human wanted to climb over it, how much effort would it take?"

Under the flickering firelight, the faces of many people in the camp were covered with a flickering shadow, making their already ugly faces appear even more solemn and depressed.

After looking around, Lan En seemed to have finally gotten the chance: "So, can you talk to us openly now?"

There was no threat or tough tone in Lan's words. In fact, he was just looking at the map on the table calmly while speaking, without looking at anyone.

However, these non-targeted and incoherent words caused some people present to have unusual reactions.

Akechi Mitsuhide, who was originally looking at the map, suddenly turned his head to the position of the commander.

In the main camp, the armor of several old hatamoto warriors who were guarding the curtains made slight collision sounds due to the sudden changes.

These movements are very small.

But when there was only background sound outside the main camp and the sound of the burning brazier, it seemed abrupt and eye-catching.

Fujiyoshiro was stunned at first, then he immediately subconsciously moved his stool and took two steps in the opposite direction from Akechi Mitsuhide.

After moving the stool, he finally reacted and looked at Akechi Mitsuhide in surprise and doubt.

And those old hatamoto warriors who made the strange noises, after hesitating for a moment, immediately knelt on one knee in the direction of Lan En with their spears and swords, and lowered their heads.

"Eh?!"

This time, even Wuming and Axiu were stunned.

Only Lan En shifted his calm gaze from the map to look at Mitsuhide Akechi.

As for Mitsuhide Akechi, he gritted his teeth, as if he had made up his mind, then took off the "Close-up of Awareness" from his waist and placed it respectfully in front of him. Then he stood up from the stool and knelt on the ground facing Lan En.

"Now that things have come to this, since Lord Yilong has already done this, and everyone present here is indeed not an outsider, then I will tell you everything."

When he said this, Akechi Mitsuhide glanced at Fujikichiro hesitantly, causing him to twist his body in discomfort.

"Since Her Highness Hidechiyo is the daughter that Master Dao San has found, then Master must have told you why he is so obsessed with collecting spirit stones, right?"

Saito Dosan did say that on the day he met A-Xiu.

Because she fell in love with a monster, she made a promise to create a world where humans and monsters can live in harmony.

When he got older and realized his own limits, he settled for the next best thing, hoping to reduce the unrest in this world.

Although spirit stones are neither good nor evil, they are full of power, and their power can be easily exploited. Of course, they must be confiscated and controlled.

"Spirit stones are dangerous things. Their power and dreamy light can bewitch people and even monsters."

Akechi Mitsuhide's tone revealed his resistance to the Spirit Stone. Obviously, his view on the Spirit Stone was not neutral, and it was different from Lan En's.

"I am not only a retainer of Dao San, but also a follower of his ideals! Spiritual stones are a thing that disturbs the harmony of yin and yang in the world. They should be controlled or even eliminated!"

"We can talk about ideals and not ideals later. We want to maintain the harmony of yin and yang in the world." Lan En looked at Mitsuhide Akechi kneeling on the ground, and the Xuanwu vaguely emerging behind him, "Let's talk about the key points now."

Perhaps it was this concept of "maintaining the harmony of yin and yang" that allowed the "Xuanwu", which means "tortoise and snake are one, yin and yang work together", to possess him.

"Yes! I was just about to get to the point." Akechi Mitsuhide knelt down and bowed, "The elders around Master Dao San are actually aware of this matter." "It's about that giant snake that none of us know, right?"

Lan asked calmly.

It is normal that Lan En, A Xiu and Wu Ming do not recognize this monster. After all, Japan claims to have eight million gods, and anything with a little supernatural power can be included among them. It is a manifestation of animism.

And the big snake in front of us should be some kind of remote and unpopular monster.

Even Abe Haruaki did not dare to say that he had learned all the information about all the monsters and demons in Japan.

Perhaps only [Bai Ze] has the ability to say this.

But unfortunately, it seems that Shirasawa and Takenaka Hanbei are now trapped with Saito Dosan in his father-in-law's Iwamura Castle.

"That big snake is called [Yadogami]."

Akechi Mitsuhide said in a deep voice.

"Originally it was just a monster that lived in the mountains, forests and swamps, but after Master Dosan built a shrine and worshipped it according to the rituals, it became a god."

"Sir, you have also come into contact with spirit stones. You should know that even if spirit stones are not used by any secret method, just gathering them together may summon monsters or other unclean things."

"Even the piled up spirit stones will breed monsters themselves!"

"So if we want to collect the spirit stones and control them, the difficulty lies not only in collecting them, but also in how to store them properly. Master Dao San worshipped [Yato God] as a god in the hope that the spirit stones could be stored in the shrine in the divine domain without any danger."

"But now it seems that the batch of spirit stones that gathered two or three thousand monsters should be the ones stored in the White Snake Shrine."

The overall appearance of [Yatogami] is a huge white snake, but green plants have grown on its back and head, so it looks a bit dirty.

"But how does Lord Yoshitatsu know that place?" In the main camp, one of the old hatamoto warriors who was kneeling on one knee in front of Lan En suddenly looked up and said.

"Although the White Snake Shrine is also the place where the lord prayed for the blessing of the True God for Lord Yoshitatsu, the lord did not tell others the exact location."

"Collecting spirit stones, suppressing spirit stones. If it weren't for people who share the same ideals, Master Dao San would never reveal this kind of thing to others!"

They are old people who have followed Dosan since the Soba Yashu days, and they even know Dosan better than Saito Yoshitatsu.

"You mean to say." Akechi Mitsuhide, who was kneeling facing Lan En, turned around and looked at the old samurai who spoke, "Did someone betray Master Dao San?"

"It's not necessarily a betrayal." Facing the other party's questioning, the old warrior said calmly, "There are ways to take information from people through magic or guardian spirits."

"you!"

"Okay." Lan En interrupted Akechi Mitsuhide and the hatamoto samurai who had already started to argue with each other.

"Yes!"*2
His voice was like an order, causing the two groups to suppress their resentment without delay and bow their heads to him again.

As if it was the most natural thing, Lan En's prestige in the army had gradually grown to this level even though he did not manage or interfere much.

For example, in the quarrel between Akechi Mitsuhide and the veteran hatamoto samurai, basically no one present was qualified to intervene, not even Hidechiyo.

Even in the entire Mino Province, only Saito Dosan and Saito Yoshitatsu were qualified.

But now Lan En directly asked them to be quiet, so they immediately quieted down without any complaints.

Fujiyoshiro was so shocked that he jumped up from the stool and stood stiffly and straight, not daring to move for fear of making a sound.

"You are right. Spells, guardian spirits, monsters, there are many ways to make people unable to control themselves."

Lan En first said something meaningful to the old warriors, but then changed the subject.

"But discussing this now will not produce any results and will not help the reality. Don't dwell on it and get down to business!"

The awkward character of the Japanese always makes Lan En feel awkward at certain times.

For example, now, even if they are facing difficulties, they will still hold on to a non-critical matter that is of no help, and they are so obsessed that it seems that dealing with this matter will help the difficulties.

Only when an absolute force and authority emerges and takes control of the situation again can they be made to calm down.

From this perspective, their character flaws may also cause them to be more dependent on a stronger leader.

This will further increase the "worship of power" in one's character.

(End of this chapter)