Summoning Failed-"Unable to Detect This Person's Soul" / Tyrant? Seeking Immortality Through the Sacrifice of Millions of Lives?

When dozens of Demon Beasts were about to reach the riverbank, Brunhilde realized that her earlier guess had been wrong.

These Demon Beasts were not targeting Xiang Yu. Their target was—the portal.

Was that portal something valuable?

No, rather, it was whatever lay on the other side of the portal that was drawing them in, driving them mad.

Facing so many Demon Beasts, Xiang Yu merely clenched his fist and savagely hurled a punch forward.

At that moment, the air trembled violently. No—the very space itself was shaking.

The surging monsters slammed into what seemed like an invisible Air Wall, each of them letting out involuntary screams.

In truth, they had not actually struck an Air Wall.

Xiang Yu's blow had destabilized space, causing Space Distortion. The charging Demon Beasts had collided with the vibrating space itself.

The weaker monsters died on the spot.

That single blow made Brunhilde's eyes widen, her body trembling faintly.

Achieving such a feat through sheer strength alone was beyond what an ordinary demigod could accomplish.

Brunhilde had seen this technique of striking space and turning its distortion into an obstacle on one other figure before—the Greek god of strength, Hercules.

At that moment, Brunhilde knew these Demon Beasts were no match for him at all.

Yet strangely, even in the face of Xiang Yu's overwhelming power, these Demon Beasts had no intention of fleeing. They still madly charged toward the portal.

So what kind of magic was hidden there, drawing in these Demon Beasts and making them lose their minds?

"What... is over there?"

The last Demon Beast was also a snake—a horned snake, and the strongest of them all.

In its final moments, having regained its clarity, it spoke those words.

Brunhilde pricked up her ears. Would Xiang Yu answer?

"The Qin Empire!"

Xiang Yu answered, but his response left her stunned and confused.

And whether the Demon Beast had heard that answer, no one knew. Its eyes had already closed, and its breath of life was gone.

Then, with a stomp from Xiang Yu, the ground began to shake violently, as though mountains and earth were quaking.

The corpses of the Demon Beasts were swept into the earth and buried deep where they lay.

After finishing all this, Xiang Yu walked toward the portal. Beside it, only one standing figure remained—his physical body.

Suddenly, Xiang Yu looked in her direction.

That gaze seemed to pierce through the barriers of time and space, imposing enough to make cold sweat run down her face.

Then Xiang Yu revealed an unfathomable expression.

Had she been discovered?

Chapter 36: Summoning Failed—"Unable to Detect This Person's Soul"

Those seemingly human eyes, upon closer inspection, looked like Electronic Eyes.

Those Electronic Eyes were also Double Pupils.

As the Double Pupils glowed faintly, they stared directly at Brunhilde.

Then he revealed that unfathomable expression, making her heart tighten.

Had she been discovered?

After that, he turned and walked into the portal, vanishing from Brunhilde's sight.

Just as the light screen was about to disappear, Brunhilde immediately rushed after him and stepped into the portal.

"W-What?!"

Brunhilde could not help but stare in astonishment. To her, the portal was merely an illusory sight like a mirage, as though she had passed through air.

She could not truly disappear into the portal's light screen and be transported elsewhere. She was still standing where she had been.

That should not have happened. She should have been able to enter, since these were Akashic Records. She should have been able to follow them into the past.

Could it be that she had been one step too late, and the light screen had actually already disconnected?

Then she readjusted the time and went back. While Xiang Yu was still slaughtering the Demon Beasts, she stepped into the light screen.

The result was still the same!

What was going on?

She moved farther back again and entered directly alongside Xiang Yu's soldiers. The soldiers vanished, while she once again passed through that illusory scene as if it were a mirage.

"What is going on? This shouldn't be happening."

Logically, this should not have happened.

Although she was now viewing history, contact with historical figures truly was like touching a mirage—she could not interfere with them. Thus, passing through the portal should have been normal.

But Brunhilde had already expressed to the Akashic Records that she wanted to enter the other side of the portal and see what happened there. She should have been transported together with them, yet there had been no response.

Hm? The ground was trembling faintly, as though an army of thousands was charging this way.

It truly was an army of thousands charging toward this place—the forces of King of Han, Liu Bang.

Countless troops rapidly approached until they stopped a hundred meters before Xiang Yu's abandoned physical body and surrounded it.

"Xiang Yu, it seems Heaven intends to destroy you!"

One of Liu Bang's great generals shouted sharply, though fear colored his voice.

With his shout, the Han Army also began to roar, their overwhelming momentum crashing toward Xiang Yu.

Yet all they received was Xiang Yu's silence, his face utterly fearless as he looked at them.

To the Han Army, this was merely Xiang Yu's futile silent resistance. They did not know that the Xiang Yu before them was nothing more than an abandoned body.

Even this empty shell left standing there still pressured the Han Army.

Every one of them looked fierce but was weak at heart, still unwilling to step forward. Fear showed in their eyes.

Though each of them wanted to cut off Xiang Yu's head and thereby gain noble rank and high office, none dared to take the lead.

After all, whoever charged first would suffer the Hegemon King's direct attack. It was certain death, so there would be no talk of noble rank or high office.

Thus, everyone wanted to hang back and steal the kill. No one wished to sacrifice himself for the others.

The result was this stalemate. They looked at one another, waiting for someone other than themselves to charge first so they could claim the credit afterward.

"Attack!"

Even with the general's command, the encircling soldiers still did not dare advance.

Of course, the ones who dared not move were primarily those in the front. The soldiers behind them, unable to face Xiang Yu directly and feeling little of the pressure, began to step forward.

Thus, the front-line soldiers were forcibly pushed closer by the soldiers behind them.

At once, a disturbance broke out as the soldiers in front clashed with those behind them.

Facing this situation, the commander could only give a new order in embarrassment and irritation.

"Stop!"

"Archers, prepare!"

They had no choice but to resort to this measure.

Following that order, the infantry opened a gap for the Archers to take aim. Arrows were nocked and bows drawn, with ten thousand arrows ready to fly!

"Fire!"

As countless bowstrings snapped back, a dense rain of arrows descended upon the encircled figure. They intended to turn him into a porcupine.

But at the very instant the arrows were about to strike, a burst of force suddenly erupted from Xiang Yu's body.

That immense force seemed to form an invisible defensive barrier, an elastic barrier that bounced away the oncoming arrows.

At that moment, panicked cries rang out, followed by all manner of screams.

This counterattack, which exceeded all imagination, threw the surrounding army into chaos.

Just as some of them were about to flee, they inadvertently glanced at that demon-god-like figure.

"W-What is that?"

They stopped in their tracks, their eyes filled with confusion.

The Western Chu Hegemon King, who had displayed a counterattack beyond human ability only a moment before, now collapsed with a crash. His body instantly disintegrated into dust.

The soldiers and generals did not understand this bizarre occurrence, but Brunhilde, as an observer, could roughly guess what had happened.

Xiang Yu had likely tampered with his own physical body. Before destroying it, he had given these people one final scare.

The next second, Brunhilde pressed stop, and the world froze.

The once colorful world lost its color, becoming monochrome.

With a wave of her hand, the Akasha System interface appeared before Brunhilde.

This time, she planned to first summon a famous general under the Western Chu Hegemon King, then use that general to learn more about the Western Chu Hegemon King's true character.

Because the current situation was rather strange, she did not dare rashly summon the Hegemon King directly.

She would choose this person.

Fan Zeng, a famous strategist and statesman from the end of the Qin Dynasty, was Xiang Yu's chief adviser. He was surely someone who understood Xiang Yu well.

According to widely known history, Xiang Yu later came to distrust Fan Zeng after falling for a scheme to drive a wedge between them, causing Fan Zeng to resign in disappointment and return home.

Otherwise, if Xiang Yu had properly followed Fan Zeng's strategies, he would certainly have pacified the realm and become the true ruler of a new empire.

This showed just how remarkable a talent Fan Zeng had been.

But had Fan Zeng truly been suspected and neglected by Xiang Yu?

Now that she had entered the Akashic Records and witnessed history that was not quite right, that was hard to say.

Then, confirm the summoning!

However—

There was no response?

What was happening?

As she carefully read the description above, Brunhilde's expression changed slightly.

'Unable to detect this person's soul.'

That was why the summoning had failed.

Normally, this message could only mean one thing: this person's soul had been shattered. Any means of resurrection was ineffective, and he had completely become dust in the universe.

So what had happened that required Fan Zeng to be erased so completely?

Chapter 37: Tyrant? Seeking Immortality Through the Sacrifice of Millions of Lives?

Had Fan Zeng learned some secret? Was that why even his soul had to be erased, reduced to dust in the universe?

If the goal had merely been to hide it from the world, killing him would have been enough.

Erasing him so thoroughly that even soul resurrection was impossible was clearly aimed at gods. It was to prevent a god from summoning Fan Zeng and learning some secret from him.

But could she not simply descend into the historical footage and watch Fan Zeng's life to learn what secret had been concealed?

Not necessarily. After all, that portal had appeared just now, and she had been unable to enter it. If someone said something on the other side, she would have no way of hearing it.

Since she could not summon Fan Zeng, she would try someone else. Perhaps they might have useful information as well.

Then this person—Long Ju. Brunhilde had seen him earlier. He had remained by Xiang Yu's side until he entered the portal.

Summoning him should not be a problem.

However—