Yashiro the Blind

But the girl controlled these emotions very well. Even though the person in front of her should be unable to see, she still maintained a sweet smile and hid all her disappointment in her heart.

Just assuming that Yashiro, like the others her brother had brought before, was helpless about her situation, and worried that she might feel frustrated—after all, it wasn't like this hadn't happened before—Hatsume even took the initiative to comfort her, saying, "It's okay, big sister. I've been doing this for so many years, I don't find it inconvenient anymore..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yashiro had already stood up unsteadily, supporting himself on his knees.

"It's a bit troublesome..."

She frowned slightly, and the meaning behind her words made the girl pause in surprise.

There is a world of difference between "a bit troublesome" and "no solution".

"Big sister, do you mean... could it be..." Her almost extinguished hope suddenly surged up again. She swallowed and asked timidly.

“Hatsume, I do have a way to solve your problem.” Yashiro nodded at her, but her expression still held some hesitation. “However… doing it directly might be a little painful. If you don’t want to, I can think of another way—”

"I-I do!"

Before she could finish speaking, Chuya interrupted her urgently. The little girl, who had always acted maturely, finally revealed a side appropriate to her age at this moment, "I'm not afraid of pain, really... Big sister, can you really help me stand up again?"

"To be honest, I can't guarantee anything... I can only say there's a chance."

"That's enough!"

"confirmed?"

"kindness!"

The little sprout nodded vigorously.

Considering that the Dragon Palace Boy and his group had probably invited him for this reason, and having obtained the consent of the person involved, Yashiro no longer hesitated. With a flick of his left hand, he drew his sword. Under the bright moonlight, a clear sword light shone into the girl's dark, jet-black eyes.

You could hear Chuya gasp.

“If you’re scared, close your eyes,” she advised.

The girl hummed in agreement, but her eyes remained wide open, fixed on the sword in Yashiro's hand, as if afraid of missing any step, or that the straw that had finally appeared before her would vanish without a trace if she blinked even slightly.

Yashiro stopped trying to persuade him. He held his sword in his left hand and his cane on the ground in his right, tilting his head and tilting his right ear as if listening to some distant sounds, but his mind was slowly sinking into a distant memory.

It was late autumn three years ago, the autumn wind was chilly, and small animals were running around in the woods.

She sat in the drafty little house, listening to the familiar footsteps that seemed to come and go, pacing around her. A strange fragrance emanated from the person, wafting into her nostrils and making her feel dizzy.

Only that melodious voice, word by word, clearly fell into my heart:

"...This extraordinary technique is called the Nine Gods Life-Locking Needle. It was first created by a strange man surnamed Jing in the Tang Dynasty. It combines the essence of medicine and Qimen Dunjia, and is extremely mysterious. Later, it was introduced to this country by the young monk Jianzhen when he crossed the sea to the east. After hundreds of years of ups and downs, it is now on the verge of being lost."

"Since you've decided to follow in your father's footsteps and walk this path of swords and bloodshed, you must have some means of survival..."

"So today I'm passing on this skill to you. Although it can't bring the dead back to life or heal bones, it will come in handy in certain critical situations, such as when you've been accidentally harmed and poisoned by some incurable poison, and you can't find an antidote in time... Well, first, here's the incantation, listen carefully—"

The words still echoed in his ears, and all the past events resurfaced in his mind. Yashiro silently regulated his breathing, his hand holding the sword as steady as a rock, without the slightest tremor.

Chuya held her breath and watched this scene quietly. Her heart was pounding. Long-standing disappointment and anticipation intertwined, making her restless. The long, sharp sword in front of her added a touch of coldness to the scene.

Without a sound, a breeze blew by.

A rough, loud voice echoed in the wind: "Chūyā, I'm back. Just like before, I didn't see anyone at the village entrance. I knew it! Lord Martial Flow couldn't possibly be back so quickly—hey, who are you, and what do you want to do to Chūyā!"

The tone of his voice suddenly changed, perhaps noticing the gleaming longsword, and he strode towards them, his voice becoming both anxious and angry.

"Ah, it's Brother Da Zang..." Hatsune suddenly looked up and exclaimed in surprise.

The other party arrived extremely quickly, approaching from afar and arriving in an instant. Hachiro only heard the whistling of the wind behind him, and a large, fan-like hand grabbed straight for his shoulder. The person roared, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, booming loudly: "Get out of the way!"

Sigh, I should have known better than to be so impulsive...

Yashiro didn't blame the other party. After all, putting herself in his shoes, to an uninformed third party, if she had drawn her sword in front of the young girl, she would most likely have done something heinous. It was only natural for her to rush over to stop her.

She understood, but it was incredibly troublesome. She sighed inwardly, briefly reflected on her actions, and then flipped her cane upward, the end of which stopped abruptly in front of the man's nose.

"Shh, be quiet."

With just this one move, the opponent came to an abrupt halt, staring wide-eyed at the half-wooden staff that suddenly blocked his way, unable to advance or retreat.

At the same time, the girl twisted her left hand, and the long sword was already thrust out!

"you dare--"

The man behind him was furious at the sight and was about to rush forward to stop him, but he was hit on the forehead by Hachika's cane. He staggered backward and saw the long, narrow sword tip swaying like water, piercing nine acupoints with a single strike. The sword light was dazzling and even covered Hatsume's entire left leg.

"...Treading on the path of Heavenly Heroes, I return to my Heavenly Duty; standing tall on the Azure Spirit Wall, I ascend to Heaven. Stepping upon the Heavenly Pillar, I embrace the heart of Heaven; from this point onward, I will ascend to the Heavenly Bird..."

The enchanting voice whispered in her ear, each word like a chant. The tip of the Eight-Foot Sword pierced her flesh, yet not a drop of blood flowed. Instead, the girl's expression changed, revealing a look of surprise and disbelief: "This…"

It seems... the spot where I was pricked is a little itchy?

"Leaning on the Heavenly Assistant and gazing at the Heavenly Soaring, entering the Heavenly Realm and emerging from the Heavenly Canopy... I've got it!"

After eight shallow stabs, the girl suddenly increased her strength at the ninth stab, and with one thrust, blood finally spurted out. However, the blood was not bright red, but a strange color that was black with a hint of purple.

The girl was prepared. As the black blood splattered, she swept her longsword horizontally, and the resulting gust of wind directly knocked the few drops of blood away.

laugh!

The black blood landed with a soft thud.

Chuya subconsciously looked over. Her eyesight was excellent. Even in the dim night, by the light of the moon, she could still spot a short needle as thin as a cow's hair on the ground at a glance. This needle was also completely black, piercing the ground at an angle, and vibrating incessantly.

But the next moment, the girl suddenly cried out, "Ouch!"

"You...you bastard, you really were planning to do something bad to her!"

This series of events happened in the blink of an eye. The young man called Daizo had just been hit by a staff and staggered backward. Before he could even regain his footing, he saw a handful of black blood splatter out as the Yashiro sword thrust out.

Even with his limited knowledge, he understood that human blood should be red. The scene before him was clearly unusual. Just as he was filled with doubt and uncertainty, he suddenly heard Chuya cry out in pain. He became anxious again, clenched his fists, and decided to fight this strange, unfamiliar girl to the death without thinking twice.

"Wait a minute, Brother Da Zang, my foot hurts, my left foot hurts a lot!" Chu Ya hurriedly stopped her.

"Yeah, she stabbed you with a sword, your left foot must hurt! Don't worry, I'll beat her up and get revenge for you—"

Clenching her fists, she was about to rush forward when Yashiro heard the commotion and her right cane began to move again. But this time, before she could make a move, the young man suddenly stopped.

"...Feet hurt?"

It seems like they finally realized what was happening.

"Yes, my foot hurts!" The girl's voice clearly indicated she was in real pain, and she was almost crying, but her smile grew even brighter.

She covered the wound from the sword stab with one hand, black blood gushing out between her fingers, but in less than half a minute, the color gradually changed from black to red, and she looked no different from a normal person.

"You... why does your foot hurt? And why is this blood black..." The young man fumbled around for a while, then suddenly realized, "That's right, I remember now, Yanwu said he would ask someone to come and diagnose Hatsume, and that it was my eldest sister's idea, and that we should all be polite to her... So it was you..."

He paused, considered his words carefully, and then changed his address, "Is it you, sir?"

"..."

It would have been better not to change your address at all.

Yashiro almost couldn't keep up her smile, barely suppressing the urge to slit his throat with a single sword strike—after all, she wasn't Heiichi—and turned her back to the particularly sweet-talking young man to express her displeasure, while reminding him:

"Don't be too happy yet. This is just the first step. There's still a long way to go before she can walk freely. And before that, let's bandage the little girl up first, in case she loses too much blood later... Do you need my help?"

"No, no need to trouble you, I can handle it!" the young man said hurriedly. "You just need to rest, get some rest, don't overwork yourself!"

"..."

His hand gripping the sword trembled slightly. Yashiro gritted his teeth and slowly sheathed the sword with his cane, finally suppressing his killing intent. When he turned around, he again appeared calm and collected: "This...is your name Mr. Okizo? I..."

"No need for any 'Mr.' or 'Mr.', I'm just a rough man, you can just call me Daizo—" The young man knelt on one knee, tearing off a piece of his sleeve to bandage Hatsume's wound, and turned around to smile honestly at Yashiro.

"..."

"Brother Da Zang..."

"Ok?"

Sensing the increasingly ominous atmosphere around her, even the unfamiliar pain and numbness in her left leg seemed to vanish for a moment. Chuya sighed with a wry smile, "Please don't say anything, okay?"

"Well, but..."

"Shhh."

"……oh."

……

Chapter Nine: The Life-Locking Needle

"I am so sorry!"

Night fell, and the moonlight shone brightly.

The group moved from outside to inside, where a roaring fire burned brightly in the center of the floor, its warm light illuminating their various expressions:

Chuya's face was full of curiosity, her left hand covering her bandaged calf, her eyes rolling around.

The burly Da Zang looked completely bewildered, sitting there blankly, while a hand pressed down hard on the back of his head. Unfortunately, the two were far apart in strength, and no matter how hard the latter tried, he still couldn't make the honest young man lower his head.

Left with no other choice, the other party released his arms, lunged forward, and performed a textbook-perfect "tiger landing," speaking earnestly and with great emotion: "Daizang has never been very bright since he was a child. He just accidentally offended you. I hope you will be magnanimous and not hold it against him. At least, at least spare his life—please!"

His voice still sounded a bit hoarse from puberty; he was the Dragon Palace Boy who had met Yashiro twice before… or rather, the boy named Hikogoro.

He has now removed his mask and no longer speaks in a muffled voice, but he still appears trembling and fearful, kneeling on the ground, shaking.

He didn't look up, so he naturally couldn't see the girl's complex expression across the stove.

"In your eyes... am I the kind of person who kills indiscriminately?" After a long while, Yashiro asked with great difficulty.

"Of course -" Hikoro was about to answer.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, a soft hum was heard from the girl.

He quickly changed his tune: "Of course not! In all my years of life, I, Yanwulang, have met so many people, but you are the kindest, most amiable, and most averse to killing among them all!"

"..."

Well, not only did he lose the "decisive and ruthless" label, he also gained a "good guy" card.

What did I do to deserve this...?

Yashiro suppressed her urge to complain, after all, ignorance is no excuse, and the girl's temper wasn't so bad that she would draw her sword and kill someone over such a trivial matter.

She shook her head: "Alright, I don't blame him. What I did just now was indeed ill-considered. If it were me, and I suddenly found a stranger with a sword in his hand, I would also rush to stop him."

"That's right, I didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, you hit me twice with a stick, and my forehead still hurts!" Da Zang said gruffly.

"Well...I'm sorry?"

"It's alright, it's alright. You're here to help Chuya get treatment. Even if you manage to get a big bump, I won't blame you." The young man waved his hand generously, indicating that the matter was now settled.

Yashiro smiled upon hearing this. She quite liked this straightforward personality. At least there was no need for deceit and intrigue, and she didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back. Of course, part of the reason was that she was the one who hit the other this time, not the one who was hit. Since the person who was hit didn't care, why should she care?

Enough of the small talk, let's get to the main point. Yan Wulang braced himself with his hands and returned from a kneeling position to a sitting position, but his eyes still held a hint of lingering fear as he looked at the girl opposite him.

He was in a hurry to find someone to take away this hot potato, but halfway there he suddenly realized that leaving the person on the horse like this was probably not very polite.

However, what's done is done, and it's too late for regrets. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and search around. After asking a few people, he learned that his elder brother was out of town and not in the village. Ignoring his disappointment, he rushed back, fearing that if he was too slow, he might anger that evil spirit and cause a massacre in the village...

Although reason told him that the girl was not a ruthless killer, the battle in the hotel room was too clean and efficient, especially the fatal throat-slitting sword, which left a large shadow in Hikogoro's young mind, and even now, thinking about it still makes his hands and feet cold.

Therefore, one can imagine how many emotions and thoughts flashed through his mind when he rushed back and happened to see Yashiro stabbing the girl in the basket with his sword, while his right cane hit Daizo's forehead hard.

It is no exaggeration to say that in that short span of less than a second, Hikogoro had already come up with seven versions of his suicide note.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

There was no need to write a suicide note, but the cloth underneath still had to be replaced with a new one. After all that fuss, the other three were relaxed and at ease, while he was filled with fear and trembling, kneeling and begging for mercy. At this moment, he felt his face burning and almost wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Unfortunately, there was no crack in the ground around, so after thinking for a moment, Hikogoro decided to settle for second best and put on the fire man mask as well.

With the mask on, he felt a little more confident. His gaze first lingered on the bandage on Hatsume's calf, then turned to Yashiro—of course, he didn't dare look directly at her face, but just kept staring at her knee, recalling his older brother and sister's usual speaking style, and coughed twice in a serious manner.

"Ahem, well... Miss Yashiro, first of all, I must thank you for your help." He bowed his head again to express his gratitude, and this time Yashiro accepted it readily. "To be honest, although my elder sister said you had a way to help us, I didn't really believe it... After all, we had already tried all sorts of methods before, and were somewhat disheartened. I never expected..."

As Hikogoro spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Hatsume again, his tone still somewhat incredulous, "But... could you please tell me what kind of supernatural power you used? I think I just saw you draw your sword..."

Moreover, it was a sword that had just killed someone.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

"Of course... I certainly won't press you if you don't want to talk about it—"

“There’s nothing I can’t say.” Sensing his concerns, Ya Xun smiled. “This move is called Nine Gods Locking Life Needle, also known as Nine Needles Locking God. It’s both a needle technique and a needle name.”

She paused deliberately at this point, giving the other three some time to understand.

"Forehead……"