Chinese Superman

The two ignored the lifeless Prince Renhui and instead walked towards Liusheng Yaxue, who was sitting on the ground not far away.

With Prince Renhui dead, the Golden Seal fell silent, and she lost the will to resist.

Liu Shengya Xue raised her head, her face as pale as paper, her eyes vacant, holding a mother-of-pearl inlaid sandalwood five-stringed pipa, and looked at Xia Xinghan and Gu Zhi Qiu who were walking towards her.

"Is he...Mr. Chen...really...unable to leave the base?"

Her voice was soft, carrying her last hope.

Xia Xinghan looked at her, nodded, and said calmly but firmly, "You saw it yourself just now; the True Martial Emperor was a backup plan arranged by Elder Qian. Given Elder Qian's style, since he's personally taking action to clean house, do you think Chen Mo still has a chance?"

Yagyu Masayuki's body trembled slightly, and the last glimmer of light in his eyes went out.

She paused for a moment, then asked in a naive, soft voice, "Then... what will happen to Mr. Chen? Will he go to jail?"

Xia Xinghan looked directly into her eyes and uttered four words: "A dead end."

"Yeah……"

Yagyu Masayuki murmured, without crying, a bleak smile on her face.

She lowered her head and gently stroked the pipa in her arms, as if it were her last solace.

"I am from the Xia Kingdom, and my real name is... Yang Yaxue..."

As soon as she finished speaking, her slender fingers gently plucked a string on the pipa.

"Zheng—"

A clear and solitary string note rang out.

There are no sonic blades, and no interference.

But her delicate body, dressed in Tang Dynasty attire, trembled slightly, and a trickle of blood quietly slid from the corner of her mouth, dripping onto the beautiful pipa soundboard, splashing out a small, poignant flower.

The life force in her eyes was like a flickering candle, extinguished instantly by a gust of wind. Her head drooped limply, still holding the pipa, and she passed away peacefully.

"you……"

The self-severing of the heart meridian happened so quickly that Xia Xinghan and Gu Zhiqi couldn't save him in time.

Gu Zhi Qiu sighed softly, her eyes filled with complex emotions. "Alas... what a devoted woman. It's just a pity that she gave her heart to the wrong person and embarked on a path of no return."

Xia Xinghan stepped forward, gently brushed his small hand across Yang Yaxue's eyelids to close them, and then took the mother-of-pearl inlaid sandalwood five-stringed pipa from her bosom.

He examined the heirloom with a heavy heart and said, "Senior sister, Zhou Shuren once said, 'A pitiful person must have something hateful about them.'"

"She's infatuated, she's foolish, but to know it's wrong and still stubbornly persist in it is utterly stupid."

Gu Zhi Qiu was taken aback upon hearing this.

Looking at Xia Xinghan's youthful face and hearing his words that seemed out of place for his age, she was momentarily speechless.

She paused for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject, asking with a teasing tone and curiosity, "Then... junior brother, I have a question for you."

"If in the future, there is another woman who is as devoted to you as she is... with unwavering love and deep affection, wouldn't you... feel happy and moved?"

Xia Xinghan was stunned.

Even a super brain couldn't provide an answer in just a few seconds.

Of course, he didn't activate his super brain; what he wanted wasn't a calculated, standard answer.

This answer requires careful consideration.

Gu Zhiqi covered her forehead and said, "I must be delirious from the fever. Why did I ask you that question? What does a little kid like you know about feelings?"

At this moment, Xia Xinghan raised his head, looked at Gu Zhiqi, and replied in an extremely serious tone, "If I also love her, I would be extremely happy, but because I love her, I hope that she loves herself before loving others."

This time, it was Gu Zhi Qiu's turn to be stunned.

The answer surprised her.

"Should one love oneself before loving others?"

"After all, love is mutual."

"Alright, let's not talk about this. You haven't experienced this before, so you don't understand. I can't explain it to you clearly."

"..."

Gu Zhiqi was furious, and a "well" character appeared on his forehead. He punched Xia Xinghan on the head.

"Alright, the most important thing now is to clean up the battlefield. There's quite a lot of loot this time."

Xia Xinghan ran off, transforming into a little money-grubber, his big eyes curving into two cute crescent moons as he chuckled.

"Great harvest, we're rich!"

He began cleaning up the battlefield with great enthusiasm.

Gu Zhiqi raised his hand slightly, and the scorched earth rose up, the mud and rocks surged, burying Yang Yaxue's body and forming a low mound. It was a temporary burial here, so that her body would not be exposed to the wilderness.

Looking at Xia Xinghan again, he had already found the fallen golden seal of the King of Hanwei.

Gu Zhi Qiu also came over.

Looking at this unremarkable little golden seal, recalling the terrifying power it had displayed when it transformed into a giant golden mountain and suppressed the heavens and earth, he still felt lingering fear and sighed, "Is this the national treasure? After being dormant, it seems to be nothing special."

"Strictly speaking, it's not a true national treasure relic," Xia Xinghan corrected, fiddling with the golden seal. "It can only be considered a near-national treasure."

"Oh? Why?"

Gu Zhi Qiu was curious.

"Incomplete fortune."

Xia Xinghan explained, "This gold seal was bestowed upon the Wa (Japanese) Kingdom by Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, carrying the destiny of a vassal state and the recognition of royal power."

"However, the Wa State later changed its name to Ying State, and many people vehemently denied this history of vassalage. The connection between the gold seal and the national fortune of Ying State was severed, and its recognition was insufficient, resulting in the incomplete national fortune it contained, and it could not truly be promoted to a complete national-level relic."

"Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have been so easy for the Zhenwu Emperor statue of Wudang to break through it today."

Xia Xinghan still remembered the battle just now. The Golden Seal unleashed its power, and although the snake scales reflected the mountains and rivers, they were not complete, and the aura and pressure were greatly reduced.

"So Yingguo used to be our vassal state."

"That's right."

Gu Zhi Qiu nodded repeatedly, and looked at Xia Xing Han with even more surprise: "I see... Junior Brother, you really know a lot."

"That's natural. I read a lot of books when I was at the base. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I have a library in my head."

Xia Xinghan chuckled, carefully put away the golden seal, and turned his gaze to the boy, Yasutsuna, who was lying quietly on the ground not far away.

Gu Zhi Qiu was about to pick it up when he hurriedly stopped her, saying, "Senior Sister, wait! Be careful, this knife... it's a demon knife now."

"A demonic sword?"

Gu Zhi Qiu's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. He frowned as he looked at the ancient longsword, recalling the scarlet callus and the almost completed transformation of Shuten-dōji. He felt lingering fear.

"Could it be... that demons and monsters really exist in this world?"

"Now that spiritual energy has revived, it's not surprising that anything could happen, but whether it existed before is another matter."

Xia Xinghan walked over and carefully sheathed the sword, then held it up to examine it.

"I tend to believe that there was no real Shuten-dōji in history, otherwise how could there be no record of him in the historical records of Japan?"

"And what was that Shuten-dōji from earlier?" Gu Zhi Qiu asked, puzzled.

She clearly saw Shuten-dōji with her own eyes and heard the words "seeing the light of day again".

"It's just a product of the spiritual revival."

Seeing that Dojigiri Yasutsuna wouldn't indiscriminately devour anyone, Xia Xinghan drew his sword, brandished it a few times, and explained, "The legend of this sword slaying the great demon Shuten-dōji has been passed down for hundreds of years and is deeply ingrained in people's hearts. After the spiritual energy was restored, Dojigiri Yasutsuna became a relic, and its essence has accumulated over the long years, absorbing too many ideas about this legend."