Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

A thousand hands and a hundred eyes!

"Indeed!!! The Shogun's influence is boundless, his power extends wherever his gaze falls! I am a subject of the Shogunate, naturally I can seek the Shogun's protection!" Kujo Takayuki's voice rose, he sneered and laughed, his sword slicing through the ground as he charged forward, "Sangoku-no-miya Ruka! You truly disappoint me! Where are your gods! Where are your gods! How can your gods protect you!!"

Chapter Seventy-Seven: I Will Swallow Death

Kujo Takayuki, wielding the Thunderous Eye of Evil, and Sangomiya Ruka, who was on the verge of being defeated, clashed with each other, swords drawn!

His speed was now no less than that of Ruka Sangokami; the Thunder General's blessing had propelled him directly to the top of the human ranks! He drew his sword and slashed, gradually becoming even faster than Ruka Sangokami!

One cut, two cuts, three cuts, four cuts!

Gold and iron clash!

"Not enough! Not enough! Not enough! Not enough!" Kujo Takayuki roared!

Swords flashed and shadows danced! The humiliation of twenty-five years ago was settled all at once! The veins on Kujo Takayuki's body bulged, and lightning danced wildly around him. Each bolt shattered the fair, jade-like skin of Sangomiya Ryuka, and before the blood could even flow out, it was blasted into charred pieces.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?!" Coral Palace Ryuka roared back.

One's eyes gleamed with ecstatic joy, while the other wailed in despair.

Why!

Why!

Why!

As Coral Palace Ryuka desperately tried to block, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh. She gritted her teeth, her heart was breaking, she blocked each blow, and she questioned the heavens!

Why!

No one knew what she was asking; all they could see was the狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) expression on her once beautiful face.

Thunder roared across the heavens and earth, and the gaze of the Thunder God fell upon this battlefield where only two people stood.

Kujo Takayuki felt his limbs brimming with power. Being chosen by the eye of God was not enough; I was the one truly favored by God!

"Your Majesty!"

A divine light struck Coral Palace Ryuka against a reef, causing the priestess to fall backward, her body charred black from the lightning strikes.

At this moment, she was finally on the verge of death. Her magnificent but tattered twelve-layered kimono bloomed like a butterfly, flamboyant and unrestrained, stubbornly determined to display her beauty even now. She tried to pull out a pipe from her sleeve, but after such a long and fierce battle, everything on her body had been shattered. In the end, she could only smile and look at the sky.

Kujo Takayuki's aged body was covered in bulging muscles, making him look terrifying. This was because lightning had stimulated his muscles, and he would need at least a month of rest after such overexertion. But he didn't care about his body at the moment, and instead walked step by step toward Sangokami Ruka.

He knew that Coral Palace Ryuka was truly at her wit's end this time.

Coral Palace Ryuka knew that, facing imminent death, she finally gave up her last struggle.

She looked down at the piercing wound on her chest. "How ugly. I was beautiful my whole life, and in the end, I died in such an ugly way... My chest is all worn flat. Should I recite some haiku? Forty-five years of prosperous dreams, a fleeting period of glory, a cup of wine, or something like that?"

The Kujo father and daughter stood not far from her, Kujo Takayuki holding a long sword.

"Thinking about it carefully, Goro is a good boy. I'm dead, and his father is dead too. He'll definitely work even harder. He'll train the army into a desperate force, and sooner or later he'll get his revenge on you." She didn't care about what was happening, she just gazed at the sky, her eyes full of longing. "Maybe Shinkai won't be so weak anymore. Maybe she'll inherit my will? Peace and all that... Haha, she'll also walk the path of resistance."

"What are you talking about? Are you pretending to be sentimental because you know you're going to die?" Kujo Takayuki watched her breath grow weaker. "Or are you warning me? Threatening me? Saying that even if you lose Umijima, there are still so many powerful people? Do you think the Shogunate cares?"

“I once said that to become a sea serpent, you need to have enough fangs to bite the shogunate and make you feel pain. Only when you feel pain will you talk about peace,” she said softly. “But I am too weak. I want to become a venomous snake, but I can’t even do that. I thought I could protect everything, but I actually have no ability at all. I was too arrogant.”

"A venomous snake cannot target an elephant."

“That’s just not poisonous enough.” Coral Palace Ryuka laughed. “It’s just that I’m not poisonous enough.”

"You mean, there's enough?" Kujo Takayuki couldn't help but laugh.

But Ruka Sangokami was also laughing.

Kujo Takayuki was getting agitated. He held the knife horizontally in his hand and walked over step by step. "We don't have much to reminisce about. Die in peace. According to the tradition of your Coral Palace, with our gods as witnesses, I will scatter your body into the sea."

"God's witness?" Ruka Sango's expression was one of silent mockery.

She then struggled to her feet, even though her bones were shattered! Kujo Takayuki, who was approaching, instinctively took a step back.

"God will not be my witness! I don't need anyone to be my witness!"

She laughed hoarsely, like a venomous snake, and once again used the shattered sword to prop herself up. Facing Kujo Takayuki and the arrayed shogunate army, she cried out, "Come, God! I will not... flow into the sea!"

Kujo Takayuki frowned, not daring to go any further, and gestured: "Firearms Battalion!"

Hundreds of people simultaneously raised their guns, aimed, and pulled the triggers to fire! Even the artillery shells were repositioned!

Coral Palace Ryuka's expression became even more mocking. She didn't even bother to look at the enemy in front of her. Turning her head, she saw a small boat crash into the shore, and a black figure staggered down the boat.

Suddenly, a smile bloomed on her face, "Liang..."

"Boom—" The continuous sound of artillery fire scattered the tender words that had not yet been uttered in the smoke.

—Now it's up to you, my dearest little boy.

This is the era for you young people.

----------------

Suddenly, Kujo Takayuki saw a teleportation screen open in front of him, and a boy with long black hair emerged from the screen, followed by Coral Palace Chieftain who chased after him from the small boat.

He was about to retreat and gather his guards almost immediately, but he soon realized that the boy looked exactly like the Liyue person that Kujo Sara had described.

Kujo Takayuki immediately grinned, almost bursting out laughing.

But Shen Liang didn't even see him; his attention was entirely focused on the blasted, unrecognizable rock in front of him.

He reached out and touched it; it was covered in blood. Then he picked up a strip of cloth, made of fine silk, the lining of the twelve-layered kimono that Coral Palace Ryuka loved most.

Normally, when Sangomiya Ruka holds him, she is wearing a twelve-layered kimono as an undergarment, and he is already very familiar with the feel of this silk.

He held the strip of cloth, his expression somewhat bewildered.

However, Coral Palace Heart Sea was at a loss. She knelt down beside the reef, carefully checking the clothes—the clothes she had personally chosen for her aunt that morning. Then she could no longer restrain herself, clutching the clothes tightly and desperately collecting them, as if this could bring her aunt back to life... Then she realized she was doing something futile and burst into tears.

"Auntie! Liar... big liar! Didn't you say you had a plan... where is the plan?! The plan... how could it be dead... it can't be..."

Shen Liang turned her head and stared blankly at the little witch who had completely lost her composure and was almost crying herself to death.

He instinctively covered his chest.

--how……

—He's just a cunning and calculating person from another world. Our relationship is purely based on mutual interests, so there doesn't seem to be any affection between us, right?

—Even though I look down on all the people of Haizhi Island, and I treat them as natives, even with Coral Palace Ryuka, my wariness of her outweighs my friendship.

At most, there's some mutual appreciation, and maybe we can become trustworthy partners in the future, that's all.

—But why do I feel a little sad?

A new chat window suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

[Currently Eligible Stigmata Users]

Name: Coral Palace Ruka

[Progress: 100%]

Coral Palace Ryuko loves you deeply, and wishes you a bright future and good health.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Sprouting of Life

The clouds that had just been blown apart by the war gathered back together, and the heavy snow that had stopped began to fall again.

Shen Liang looked at the system panel again and again, staring at the row of simple annotations.

He couldn't hear anything right now, whether it was the system saying something about what function had been activated, or Kujo Takayuki saying something like, "Mr. Shen, we have long admired your name. As long as you leave that Kōji behind, we will still treat you as an honored guest."

He just stared at the small print.

Shen Liang understood that regardless of whether he could make it in time, Coral Palace Liuge would take this step.

—That was her plan.

She exhausted all her resources, even risking the entire island of Kaiji, just to force Kujo Takayuki to come forward and then kill him.

Or, be killed.

She had achieved her goal. She didn't care whether she won or lost the battle; she just wanted to drag both sides into a fight to the death, and she was willing to do anything for it.

This island cannot afford the slightest weakness or compromise. She once asked Shen Liang what to do if seawater rice could not save the Haizhi people. Shen Liang did not know how to answer, because as long as there is hope, it is easier for humanity to retreat to a state of peace.

A life of partial peace is not an option; the struggle on Umijima Island cannot cease. Even if seawater rice is successfully cultivated, it will only allow the shogunate to increase its exploitation; a few years of peace will merely postpone the real war. These are meaningless; a genuine solution is needed.

She has now found a solution: let the people's hatred outweigh their hope for life.

Whether Kujo Takayuki was killed or Kujo Takayuki killed him, the shogunate and Umijima would be truly locked in a life-or-death struggle. The execution of the living human-god priestess, who held the highest position in the Umijima people's faith, on the battlefield, was a hatred far more vivid and bloody than the killing of the serpent god thousands of years ago.

The current Umijima Island is the Umijima Island that Coral Palace Ruka wanted: it has food reserves to support the war, an obsession with revenge, and a fighting spirit to grind its teeth and suck blood.

There is no possibility of compromise. The people of Haiqi Island are known for their fierce and courageous nature, and they will rather die than submit.

—Yes, that was her goal. Even if Haizhi Island were to perish, it would be better than abandoning faith, dignity, and bloodline, becoming an inferior race that lived a life of complacency.

She has never changed.

"My aunt has never been wary of handsome boys!"

"How about you call me Mom?"