night
Shendu Wuming is sitting on the steps at the door of the martial arts gym
The night wind blows from the direction of the stream, carrying the fishy smell of water and the smell of cooking smoke that has not yet dissipated from the market square in the distance.
Usually at this time, he would go to Jueshu Temple on East Street to sit for a while, or go to the training ground on West Street to watch Hundred-Man Squad's night training, or simply go back to the house to sleep.
But tonight he couldn't do anything. His fingers flicked on the handle of the knife again and again, and his nails tapped on the rope, making a subtle clicking sound. The rhythm became faster and faster, more and more chaotic.
restless
He couldn't tell when this feeling started. Maybe it was when he woke up this morning. Maybe it was when he saw Endo coming out of the management office at dusk with a bad look on his face. Maybe it was earlier.
A few days ago he felt something was wrong, like a thorn in the back of his neck. It didn't hurt, but it let you know it was there.
"Shen Du" Wuran came from East Street, Jueshu followed behind him, the rosary turned around in his fingers and stopped.
"Amakusa something happened" Jueshu looked at Shen Du and said in a calm tone
Shen Du raised his head and looked at him, his fingers resting on the handle of the knife, his brows furrowed, the corners of his mouth turned down, his face full of confusion. "How do you know?"
"Heart to Heart" Jueshu stood up with one hand, lowered his head slightly, and the rosary swayed gently on his wrist, making a very subtle friction sound.
"What?" Shen Du was even more confused. He was most annoyed by Jueshu's way of speaking.
It's like this every time. He only says half a sentence and lets you think about the rest. He and Jueshu have known each other for so many years, but they still can't figure out whether this monk can really see something or whether he is just making things up.
"Amakusa hasn't sent anyone back for several days," Wuran reminded
Shen Du stood up and shook his hand with a wide range of movements. "Even if he hasn't dug any new mines during this period, I don't believe anything will happen to him!"
His voice spread far across the open gravel ground. In the distance, there were several Hundred-Man Squad team members packing up training equipment in the martial arts hall. Hearing the sound, they turned their heads and glanced here, then quickly turned back. No one dared to approach Shen Du at this time.
Wuran stood there, his lips pursed into a line, his eyes fell on Shen Du's face, then moved away, landing on the gravel at his feet
In fact, it's not that no one came back. The miners came back and brought first-hand news. Amakusa led people to block the noble prospecting team without authorization. Four Soul Reaper were injured and huddled in the mine tunnel. Then Fifth Division Captain came to the scene in person, and then there was a crushing massacre.
Wuran has ordered those messages to be blocked
He called everyone who knew about this matter to the management office to have a private conversation, and told them to keep quiet for the time being until he figured out how to tell Shen Du
But this matter was so big that Eternal Silence any aunt selling vegetables on the street could smell something wrong from the wind. The group of people Amakusa took away had not come back for several days. Those people were part of Eternal Silence Hundred-Man Squad. They were the husbands, sons, and brothers of countless families who were waiting to go home. They couldn't hide it.
"I want to go take a look!" Shen Du looked at Wuran with firm eyes
"I'll go with you." Wuran pulled away from Shen Du's sleeves, tightening his fingers a little tight, and the fabric wrinkled into a ball between his fingers.
"Amitabha, poor monks, please go too." Jueshu always kept one hand standing
The distance from Eternal Silence to North District 68, Shen Du has been walked many times
But today he didn't pay any attention to those familiar road signs. His steps were so fast that several people behind him had to jog to keep up. Wuran called him twice from behind, but he didn't look back.
The ones leading the way were several miners who had been to the mine before. They walked slowly, not because the road was far, but because they were afraid of what they would see when they arrived, and what Shen Du would look like after seeing it. Some of them were shivering as they walked, not sure if it was because of the cold night wind or something else.
It was early in the morning when they arrived, and it was still dark, but the eastern horizon had begun to glow with a gray halo, a dim light between night and dawn. The light was just enough for them to see clearly the situation in the mine.
The settlement is empty
But there was blood everywhere.
The blood on the gravel floor has dried up and turned from dark red to black, leaving large irregular marks on the gray-white gravel surface, as if someone had used a huge brush dipped in ink to smear on the ground.
The simple fortification was knocked open from the inside, and the wood and gravel were scattered all over the ground. The blood stain was the thickest at the gap, so thick that dark red condensation that had not been dried by the wind still remained in the cracks of the gravel. There was also blood on the rock wall at the entrance of the mine, in a splatter shape, radiating in all directions from a height of one person, and it was particularly dazzling on the gray-white rock surface.
no body
The corpses have been processed by Fifth Division. According to the standard procedures of Seireitei, the fallen private soldiers were purified on the spot and returned to the atmospheric circulation as Reishi. Those bodies penetrated by Thousand Water Needles, those figures who fell behind the fortifications, and those young people who had not had time to shout a second scream, all disappeared, leaving only blood stains.
Shen Du stood in the center of the settlement, next to the largest bloodstain. His feet stepped on the gravel. There were even finer fragments under the gravel. They were the surface of the rock that was shattered by Reiatsu. When he stepped on it, it made a clicking sound. He lowered his head and looked at the black blood on the ground for a long time.
The wind blew over, picking up the dust on the slag pile, swirling over the empty settlement, and then dissipated.
"... Why!" Shen Du's voice was squeezed out from deep in his throat, hoarse and trembling, as if he was using his last breath to push out these words.
"What is this!"
He knelt on the gravel ground, kneeling next to the black blood, holding his hands on the ground, digging his fingers into the cracks in the gravel, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrank into two tiny black spots in the gray morning light, reflecting the splatters of blood on the rock wall at the entrance to the mine.
At this time, there were two voices calling him in his mind, one was a deep voice; the other was a sharp voice. The two voices were calling him at the same time, and at the same time they were saying to him: stand up, pick up the knife, go to them, and make them pay the price.
"Tell me!"
Shen Du stood up, turned around, and faced the direction of Wuran and Jueshu. His Reiatsu was changing rapidly, from stable to unstable, from unstable to violent, and twisted into some strange shape in the wind.
His voice also changed. It was no longer his usual voice, but a low voice with an ear-piercing echo, as if two people were talking at the same time, one was himself, and the other was something crawling out from the depths of his chest. "Are they those nobles! Those Soul Reaper!"
Reiatsu exploded
The small pebbles on the gravel ground jumped up after being shaken by Reiatsu. The wood chips on the ruins of the fortifications were blown away by the wind pressure. Several thatched huts on the edge of the settlement that had not yet collapsed creaked and groaned. The thatch on the roofs was lifted up layer by layer and swept into the night.
"Shen Du!" Wuran's face changed.
His pupils suddenly contracted, Shen Du had seen him angry many times, he saw it, and saw something that he had always been afraid of.
Something was spreading on Shen Du's face, white, starting from both sides of his cheekbones, growing like porcelain under the skin, pushing out layer by layer, covering his original facial features, and then continuing to spread upward, downward, and to both sides. He rushed up, grabbed Shen Du's shoulders with both hands, and shook it hard, his voice trembling. "Shen Du! Wake up!"
Jueshu stood on the edge of the settlement, his monk's robes rustling in the strong wind caused by Reiatsu. He never lowered his palm, but his eyes, which had always been as calm as water, also showed fluctuations at this moment.
His Observation Seal had foreseen this moment a long time ago. When Eternal Silence was still a broken settlement with only a few dozen people, and when he saw Shen Du for the first time under the moonlit night, he saw the end of this line.
But seeing it and experiencing it are two different things
He saw the result, but didn't know the process; he saw the mask, but didn't know when the mask would be formed.
But he knew that violent mood swings would accelerate the process
I thought that by telling him some bad news indirectly, I could make Shen Du mentally prepared in advance before he confirmed the bad news, and I could give it a name before its fate arrived, thus weakening its power.
he is wrong
What was supposed to come came, exactly as predicted, even more violent and desperate than he expected.
"How is that possible!"
Jueshu's voice lost its usual calmness, with a kind of daze and confusion that was defeated by fate itself. "How could Soul Reaper be Hollowfication!"
The mask is completely formed on Shen Du's face
It is a fanged white face with two very long and sharp horns on its forehead. The tips of the horns are bent backwards, like two upside-down scimitars. The eye sockets of the mask are long and narrow slits. There are no eyes deep in the slits, only two burning lights between gold and orange.
Like (bo) (re), this name has no meaning in Soul Society, but in World of the Living, there is a legend that Hannya was said by a woman who was extremely resentful after her death. It is a resentful spirit with the highest level of resentment.
"Get out of the way!" Shen Du said with an empty voice, and pushed Wuran away.
Wuran flew out completely
He knows Shen Du's Reiatsu so well, but he doesn't recognize this power at all.
His back hit a raised slag rock, and the huge impact caused his lungs to vibrate violently in his chest, and he almost couldn't breathe.
He knelt on the ground holding his chest, raised his head and looked at Shen Du. His eyes met Wuran at that moment, and the two burning lights deep in the eye sockets of the mask
"Broken!" Jueshu stretched out his hand forward, with his palm open and his five fingers together.
Word-Spirit Seal: Broken
A fist-sized light bullet detached from the palm of his hand, dragged a straight white trail in the air, and shot toward Shen Du's chest. The light bullet accurately hit Shen Du's chest.
There was smoke, and after the smoke cleared, a palm-sized hole was burned into the clothes on the chest, revealing the intact skin underneath. Shen Du didn't even lower his head to look at it.
Jueshu He knows that he is no match for Shen Du. His Word-Spirit Seal is a auxiliary spell, not a combat weapon. The main function of breaking the seal is to repel small virtual and auxiliary attacks.
"Charge!" He took a few steps back, distanced himself, made a seal with his hands, intertwined his fingers, and faced each other, forming an inverted triangle cavity.
Word-Spirit Seal: rush
A circular shock wave spread outward from the center of the palm print. The shock wave hit Shen Du who was rushing towards him, making a deep muffled sound. Shen Du's body was pushed back a few steps by the impact. His feet plowed two deep grooves on the gravel ground, and gravel and dust surged outward from both sides of the groove.
"Forbidden!" Jueshu seized this short gap and formed seals with his hands again
Word-Spirit Seal: Forbidden
The translucent binding spell poured out from the ground, wrapping around Shen Du's body like countless invisible chains from all directions. The chains tightened, fixing his arms to his sides, bringing his legs together, and wrapping his entire body in a cocoon made of spell power.
The binding spell is constantly being strengthened, Jueshu's Reiatsu is continuously outputting, beads of sweat are beginning to appear on his forehead, the rosary is shaking violently on his wrist, the spell power is continuing to be consumed, and he can feel the pressure inside the chain rising sharply. Shen Du has not given up resistance, and is tearing apart the chains composed of the spell power in the most primitive way.
Bang
A chain is broken
Bang
second root
Bang
The third root
Jueshu's body shook for a moment. He had lived in Rukongai for decades, and had never been broken by Reiatsu of this level.
Shen Du tore into pieces the last few chains, and the fragments turned into light blue Reishi light spots in the air, floating in the morning breeze.
He didn't glance at Jueshu. The two black holes in the eye sockets of the mask turned to the south, where was Seireitei, where Soul Reaper was, where the nobles were, and where the power that killed his lover, his brother, and everything he cherished was located.
He rushed out in that direction, using primitive and violent movement, his legs kicked hard on the ground, and a shallow pit was created in the gravel. His whole body flew close to the ground like a black arrow, flying at extremely fast speeds.
"Jueshu!" Wuran got up from the ground, clutching his still numb chest, staggering a few steps and ran to Jueshu, his voice was rapid and hoarse.
"I must stop Shen Du!"
His Reiatsu perception was running in the direction of Shen Du, but the speed of Shen Du was so fast that his perception could only barely capture a black spot that was rapidly moving away, and the black spot was moving south, towards Seireitei.
Jueshu stood on the gravel ground at the edge of the settlement, looking in the direction where Shen Du disappeared.
The morning light spread gradually from the east, dyeing the slag heap gray-white, dyeing the black blood stains dark brown, and dyeing his monk's robes pale gold. The standing palm of his one hand drooped down to his side, and his fingers were slightly bent, like a handprint of giving up after pinching halfway.
The morning breeze blew through, bringing with it the damp smell of rust deep in the mine tunnel and the earthy smell of withered grass in the wilderness further away. His voice was extremely soft, so soft that it was almost blown away by the wind, as if he was talking to himself, or making final confirmation of a certain outcome that was already destined. "Is there still no way to prevent this outcome?"
He was silent for a long time, so long that Wuran thought he was not going to speak anymore. Then he clasped his hands together, lowered his head slightly, and the rosary swayed gently in the middle of his closed palms. "Sin, sin."
"... sin"
He said these two words with a tone full of regret
"Jueshu!" Wuran's voice brought him back from his brief trance.
His eyes were different from before he set off. Before he set off, he was worried, but now it was a determination that came out after being pushed to the limit by worry. "I must stop Shen Du!"
"Let's go together" Jueshu put his hands together and shook his head