Chapter 48 Clues Hidden in Ten Thousand Houses
This tiny nine-tailed fox, no bigger than a palm, immediately attracted the attention of many of the short-swordsmen. The rustling sounds made it hard for the little guy to fall asleep, so he simply opened his eyes.
Seeing the colorful little heads around it, it yawned. Among the group of spirits, it chose the Bingzi Jiaolin Sword. It sprang to life and darted forward, its speed so fast that only a white blur could be seen flashing by.
Bingzi Jiaolin Sword saw the little nine-tailed fox jump into his arms and hurriedly caught it. Seven Star Sword chuckled as he watched this.
"You really know how to pick people."
The little fox twitched its ears and rubbed against the outstretched hand of the Seven Star Sword. It could sense the familiar aura emanating from these two people, a feeling of belonging to its homeland. Therefore, it felt closer to them than to the other tsukumogami.
"Speaking of which, the lord's prototype should be similar to this, right?" After finishing the story, Tsurumaru Kuninaga sidled up to Hanshu and, under the helpless gaze of Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, took a piece of sweet from the plate.
"Hmm, but my true form is quite enormous." Han Zhou took a sip of tea, his pale golden beast eyes glancing towards the sky above the citadel.
Humans who are oblivious to their own mortality...
"My lord?" Tsurumaru Kuninaga called out softly, noticing Hanshu's gaze.
"It's alright, we won't stay long. But... you're all welcome to visit my citadel."
Han Zhou rose to bid farewell to the spirits. Yagen, seeing Tsurumaru Kuninaga's reluctant expression, couldn't help but tease him.
"Lord Tsurumaru doesn't seem to want to return to the citadel. Should we stay here?"
Tsurumaru Kuninaga raised an eyebrow, his golden eyes also filled with mockery, while the white crane crossed its arms.
"Yagen clearly gets along very well with his original spirit, oh—and his first original spirit too."
He immediately realized that this playful old swordsman wanted to tell his first-generation brother about these things. Although he himself wouldn't care, the younger brothers might be curious, and then he'd have to explain himself.
"Lord Tsurumaru—"
Han Zhou's lips curled slightly as he watched their interaction. "Old foxes are still the wisest," he thought. "Although Yagen seems reliable, his experience and temperament still fall short compared to this thousand-year-old master."
"Let's go home," Han Zhou whispered to his tsukumogami.
A dazzling golden array unfolded beneath her feet. She looked at the spirits who had come to bid her farewell, and Han Zhou waved goodbye to them.
——
Meanwhile, Yu Yuwu and Qing Ye, who had arrived at the Wanwu shop ahead of time to search for clues, split up and expanded their search area. Each was followed by their own attendant. Yu Yuwu had already circled the area several times, but hadn't yet cleared out many areas.
Yu Yuwu's expression was rather grim, and the map in her hand crumpled in her grip. It was something as simple as excluding possibilities, yet the completion rate was so poor.
As Mikazuki Munechika's close attendant today, he noticed that his lord was somewhat anxious and stepped forward to gently comfort him.
"My lord, there's no need to rush. Sometimes, the more anxious you are, the more likely you are to miss something. I think Lord Hanzhou said something similar."
Upon hearing Mikazuki Munechika's advice, Miyuki suddenly snapped back to reality. In the very first lesson Kanshu taught them about formations, he had reminded them that 'the mind must not be disturbed'.
When the mind is in turmoil, many things become chaotic and disorderly, whether it's swordsmanship or the execution of formations.
The deployment of an array requires precise control of spiritual energy; any mistake will result in the array failing to function, or even producing the opposite effect.
Yu Yuwu exhaled. Holding her breath and concentrating, she gathered her scattered spiritual energy and began to precisely sense the small area around her. If the large area was difficult to determine, she would divide it into smaller areas.
Having found this method, Yuugiri's efficiency increased significantly. Mikazuki Munechika, who was silently observing behind her, smiled with satisfaction. This was why, even though Yuugiri wasn't perfect...
The reason why swords would also genuinely follow her
Despite her ordinary birth and lack of special abilities—she was just a regular employee—she never showed favoritism to any particular tsukumogami; she treated them all the same. She never looked down on the short swords simply because they were children.
Instead, she would patiently squat down and listen to them talk. Even though the swords had very different personalities, she would never distance herself from the tsukumogami because of any one of their particular hobbies. She would also listen to the tsukumogami's suggestions.
Gentle and patient, not arbitrary, with her own ideas and ambition. Such a person deserves the sincere devotion of the swordsmen.
Soon, she met up with Qingye, who had been checking the other half of the area. They put their maps together, marking the areas they had checked without any abnormalities with an "X".
Now only three locations remain that they can't find through their investigation, and the clues must be among them. All they need to do is wait for Han Zhou to return after contacting Ben Ling, then make another trip to Wanwu to find the clues left by the red-haired Saniwa.
"I hope everything goes well for Lord Hanzhou."
“My lord, there’s no need to worry. But speaking of which, we might be even luckier than I am,” Mikazuki said with a smile, a sentiment he held genuinely.
Because the connection between the original spirit and the divided spirit was severed by the Time Government, the original spirit was unaware of what was happening in the divided spirit's realm. Naturally, it also didn't know that Han Zhou was still alive.
They met Hanzhou before Benling, and they also had new stories and encounters with Hanzhou before Benling.
"My lord, Lady Miyazaki. Someone is watching us in the shadows," Hakata Toushirou whispered as he approached.
Qingye frowned slightly, making no move to avoid alerting the person in the shadows. Their task was now complete; although they didn't know what the other person intended, they wanted to avoid detection.
Yuu-giri and Ao-ye decided to return to the Honmaru now.
Seeing that the person she was observing had left the general store, the woman became even more certain of her guess. She immediately returned to her own citadel.
Given the government's ruthless recruitment of Saniwa (masters), the number of Saniwa was enormous. While many were of questionable character, there were certainly some intelligent ones among them.
Ranlu is an A-rank Saniwa, unlike others who are unfamiliar with the Time Government and Saniwa. She is the child of a Saniwa and inherited her mother's Honmaru.
After her mother passed away, she left behind a shocking secret.
The truth about the current government and the three major families
The Time Travel Army arose because of three powerful families. Their so-called "Time Government," operating under the guise of protecting history, was nothing more than a flimsy and easily exposed lie.
The three major families do not respect the spirits of the dead, and even actively initiate auctions to profit from them. They also do not respect history. As long as it does not endanger themselves, the three major families will not care.
Only responsible Saniwa (masters of the gods) and Tsukumogami (spirits of the dead) care about history.
Upon learning the secret, Ranro immediately sought out the most senior swords in the citadel: Kashuu Kiyomitsu, Mikazuki Munechika, Ichigo Hitofuri, and Izuminokami Kanesada.
They truly knew everything about the Time Government; even the swords of the citadel knew. Ranro's mother had carefully concealed the secret and passed it down through generations.
The hope is that one day, Ranluo will be able to find a leader to lead the rebellion.
And now, Ranluo has found it. She doesn't consider herself a so-called good person, but she feels the truth shouldn't be buried. The three major families, in their attempt to cover up the truth, murdered countless knowledgeable Saniwa.
Her mother was a survivor, but not everyone is as lucky as Ranluo's mother. Countless vibrant young lives have fallen in the darkness before dawn.
Ranluo's intuition told her that her mother was waiting for the dawn.
It has already appeared
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