He changed Tiwat

Ying turned back to intercept the Puppet Sword Demon, clearly dissatisfied, but the demon mask stubbornly blocked her way, as if covering the retreat for a comrade.

Of course, Sara wasn't without allies; Goro and Manyo had already blocked the Demon Puppet Sword Demon's path at the first moment.

"Inusaka Square Formation - Fortified!"

Goro plucked the bowstring, and a coral palace banner made of rock appeared in the arena. Around the banner, various colored rock barriers appeared to block the advancing demonic sword demon.

"The terrain is in my hands!"

Goro plucked the bowstring again, and the rock barriers shattered with a deafening roar, forming a wave of collapsing rock crystals. Each collapsing rock crystal was like a small cannonball, launching a fierce bombardment at the Puppet Sword Demon.

At the same time, Manyo also unleashed his ultimate move—

"A fleeting moment reveals eternity, a single leaf heralds autumn. I wish to use a fleeting glimpse of a falling maple leaf to pose a question for eternity—"

The profound meaning of "Danwa Isshin's Transmission" flows through the autumn fields.

After being improved by Manyo, this move became known as "Manyo's One-Slash".

With a flash of light, countless maple leaves fluttered up, and a gentle breeze, like the first mist in the mountains, filled the surroundings, forming a domain of wind.

The wind field, combined with Goro's "Rock Crystal Shattering", instantly stirred up flying sand and stones, engulfing the Demon Puppet Sword Demon in it.

Of course, Sara wasn't idle either. With Goro and Manyo buying her time, she had already unleashed her magic weapon, the "Wind and Thunder Fan."

"Praise be to the mighty deity who manifests his power; faithful ones, please pray to the Yellow Thunder. Svaha!"

Tengu Curse Thunder - Vajra Destruction!

Five bolts of lightning descended from the sky, striking the Demon Puppet Sword Demon. This time, Sara held nothing back, unleashing her full power. The lightning fragments merged with Manyo's wind domain, pulverizing everything tangible within the domain into dust.

The Puppet Sword Demon enjoyed exceptional treatment, being joined by a general from the Shogunate, a general from the Rebellion Army, and the strongest young samurai from Inazuma. The combined attack of these three is something few can experience.

When the three combined their ultimate attacks, the Demon Puppet Sword Demon had almost no power to resist and was instantly reduced to ashes.

"It's an afterimage!"

Zaoyou, who had been watching from the roof beam, finally couldn't resist jumping down.

As a "Wuhu Style" ninja, Zayu is most skilled at this kind of afterimage clone technique used to deceive the enemy and escape. She noticed something was wrong when the Puppet Sword Demon rushed towards Sara.

But her reminder came too late.

As the afterimage dissipated, the Demon Sword Puppet suddenly appeared in front of Sara, its sword already pressed against Sara's chest.

Zaoyou landed beside Sara at this moment, but it was too late to defend her. She could only watch helplessly as the sword demon's longsword pierced towards Sara.

A black raven feather drifted down slowly.

These are feathers from Sara's "Wind and Thunder Fan".

The sword demon's sword pierced through the precious fan in Sara's hand, cutting off the feathers on the fan's surface.

But that was all; the sword pressed against Sara's chest, but could not go any further.

A blunt sword, crackling with lightning, pierced through its back and exited through its chest—it was the sword thrown by Yingmei.

Ying, who was entangled by the mask of the unjustly killed Puppet Sword Demon, saw through its target a step ahead, so she threw her sword toward the location where it would eventually appear.

Her sword and the Puppet Sword Demon's sword arrived at almost the same time.

...It is said to be almost because the Puppet Sword Demon's sword was ultimately a fraction faster.

That split second was enough to take Sara's life.

However, the sword in the Puppet Sword Demon's hand stopped.

It wasn't because Ying's sword pierced its back, but because it stopped on its own.

"I……"

The voice of the Puppet Sword Demon was like an old cassette tape, crackling and unclear, but Sara, who was closest to it, could hear it clearly—it, no, it said:

"I won..."

"...Hikari...yo".

Kagemiya Mitsuyo is the current head of the Kagemiya Tengu clan and also Sara's birth mother.

In the eyes of the Puppet Sword Demon, or rather, Mikoto Michiki, Sara's image overlapped with that of Mitsuyo in his youth.

So he challenged that Shadow Tengu for the fourteenth time and won.

The Secret Sword: Tengu's Strike is a sword technique whose speed has reached the realm of gods, and it is said to be an unparalleled sword technique capable of slaying the Sky-Walking Tengu.

However, in reality, the slaying of the Tengu never actually happened.

After all, even after dying for nearly five hundred years, even after becoming a demonic sword demon, his sword could not be used to cut down his beloved.

The Puppet Sword Demon loosened its grip.

The longsword fell to the ground, just like the sword demon's five-hundred-year-old obsession.

With a "bang," the demon mask that had been tormenting Yingmei split in two and fell to the ground.

The sword demon slowly knelt down.

Ying's sword ultimately pierced its "heart," that is, the core of its ingenuity.

"Life and death, staying or leaving, are like puppets on a stage. When the thread breaks, all is lost."

Sword Demon began to sing a ballad in a low, hoarse voice.

This is "Hana Kyō" by the famous Kabuki artist Zeami. The play says that in life, we are nothing more than puppets, whose bodies are manipulated by the strings of the soul. When the soul leaves the body, the remaining body is a puppet with its strings broken.

"Holding the ghost of delusion, yet filled with fear and anxiety. Desiring eternity... yet fearing even a moment, ultimately swallowed by fear and resentment... This is the consequence of one's own karma."

Leaving behind these final words, the Demon Puppet Sword Demon ceased to move.

Five hundred years ago, the swordsman finally fulfilled his long-cherished wish five hundred years later—whether he founded the "Iwakura-ryu" school or transformed into a sword demon, it was all just to see her again and spar with her once more.

With one's long-cherished wish fulfilled, the soul has no regrets and can return to the cycle of reincarnation.

Ying walked over and pulled her bladeless sword from the body of the Puppet Sword Demon.

She witnessed the incredible speed of the Secret Sword: Tengu's Scroll for the first time today.

To be fair, if she and Sara were in each other's shoes, she might not have been able to block that sword strike either. Iwakura Doin truly deserves the title of swordsman.

Out of respect for the sword strike, Ying silently bowed to the sword demon's mangled body, and then pointed her sword at the person outside the door.

—Kujo Takayuki, the head of the Kujo family, who had been observing from the sidelines, and his bodyguard, Takatsukasa Tokibei.

Without the Demon Sword Demon's interference, if she wanted to kill Kujo Takayuki, no one here could stop her.

“Sara, I said I want to kill those two murderers who slaughtered the people of Inazuma. Will you stop me?” she asked.

Manyo, Goro, and Hayato all looked at Sara. Their mission was to obtain Kujo Takayuki's official memorial, a goal they had already achieved. Assassinating Kujo Takayuki... that wasn't even part of their original plan.

But if we want to kill Kujo Takayuki, now is indeed the best time.

Should we do that?

After a moment of silence, Sara walked up to Ying and said, "I will not stop you, but... please let me punish him myself."

Chapter 162 Fame and fortune are but fleeting dreams, only sincerity endures forever.

In fact, given Ying's personality, she wouldn't consult anyone's opinion when she wanted to take action—she had already killed General Lei Dian, so why would she care about a mere Tian Ling Feng Xing?

She would ask Sara a question beforehand, which actually implied that if you couldn't do it, I would.

After all, Kujo Takayuki had been Sara's foster father for over a decade, so it was perfectly normal for Sara to be sentimental about their past relationship... In fact, when Sara led everyone into the Tenryo Magistrate's residence, he held back against the guards, injuring them but not killing them, all of which Hikari witnessed.

Helping Shaluo avoid the difficult choice of "sacrificing family for the greater good" can be seen as Yingmei's way of showing tenderness to her "comrade-in-arms".

However, since Sara has stated that she will personally punish Kujo Takayuki, Ying is willing to respect her choice.

Upon hearing Sara's "treasonous" words, the first person to react was not her adoptive father, Kujo Takayuki, but rather the head of the Kujo clan's household, Takatsukasa Tokibei.

The head steward of the Kujo family stood in front of Kujo Takayuki, and shouted righteously, "Lord Kujo Sara! As the magistrate of the Tenryo and a senior retainer of the Kujo family, you should be loyal to the lord of the family. How can you associate with traitors and betray the greater good! Quickly switch sides!"

Their self-righteous demeanor made it seem as if they had surrounded Sara and the others, and that the commander of the Eagle Guard was trying to persuade them to surrender...

Ying had a strange, absurd feeling—didn't this person understand the situation?

She couldn't help but sneer, "Hey, are you deaf? Didn't you hear Sara just say that she's no longer 'Kujo Sara,' but 'Shadow Sara'?"

Things have come to this point, and this person is still calling himself "master of the family" and "retainer," using his status to intimidate others. Ying really finds it hard to understand.

When you released the Demon Sword Demon to kill people, did you treat Sara as one of your own?

Sara gently shook her head, indicating that Ying didn't need to say anything more. Then, meeting Kujo Takayuki's complicated gaze, she took a step forward.

Manyo looked at Sara with some nervousness.

After all, Ying was an outsider and didn't really understand the traditions of the Inazuma samurai, nor did she know how difficult the step that Sara had just taken was.

As a native of Inatsuma and a high-ranking samurai of noble birth, Man'yō was well aware of the weight of the "righteousness" in Takatsukasa Kanreishō's words—to put it bluntly, the "righteousness" of the Inatsuma people was "loyalty and righteousness."

"Loyalty and righteousness" can be said to be the foundation of the Inazuma samurai.

To be more specific, it means "loyalty to the ruler," that is, "loyalty to one's own lord."

The social system of the Inazuma Shogunate, or rather the Inazuma country, was such that although there was a Shogunate in charge, each region was governed by a "fungion system" with autonomous lords at various levels.

For example, the "Kami-no-kami" of Umi-no-shima is the Sango-no-miya family, the "Haya-no-kami" of Hachi-no-shima is the Kita-in family, the so-ryo-ryo of Hisaki-mura is the Washizu family, and the so-ryo-ryo of Konta-mura is the Konta family...

If the village chief of Konta Village were to lead the "Konta Uprising," the responsibility would fall on Konta Densuke, the soro-ryo. If his subordinates, such as Tejima, followed him in rebellion, that would be considered loyalty to the Konta family, a display of righteousness, and in the moral code of the Inatsuma samurai, it would be something worthy of praise.

Similarly, if Goro and his comrades rebelled with Kokoro-no-miya, then it is Kokoro-no-miya, the lord, who will be branded as disloyal and unjust. Goro and the others are merely Kokoro-no-miya's loyal retainers, and it is only because they rebelled with their lord that they are truly loyal and righteous.

The "Three Commissioners" of the shogunate pledged allegiance to the shogun and were loyal to him. However, the families under their command only pledged allegiance to the "Three Commissioners" and were loyal to their own heads of households. They were only responsible to their own heads of households. For example, before Manyo rebelled against the "Eye Hunting Order" and even joined the resistance army, he had already disbanded the Kaedehara family and severed his ties with the Kamisato family as a retainer.

A samurai without a lord is a "ronin," and has no obligation to uphold "loyalty," so his status as a wanted criminal did not implicate the Kamisato family. Even though Shinkai actually instigated a rebellion, nominally she still had to uphold the feudal lord's loyalty to the shogun, raising the banner of "purging the court of corrupt officials" as a form of "military remonstrance."

If the "military remonstrance" succeeds, then it is "remonstrance," not "rebellion"—Xin Hai simply used a very "unpleasant" way of "admonishing" her lord, General Lei Dian, and in Inazuma's history books, Xin Hai's behavior is still evaluated as "loyalty and righteousness."

But Saro is different.

She was the adopted daughter of Kujo Takayuki, a retainer of the Kujo family, and a subordinate of the Tenryo magistrate. Her lord was Kujo Takayuki, the head of the Kujo family, not the higher-ranking Raiden Shogun.

For Sara now, loyalty to Kujō Takakō is her only duty.

Even if Sara wanted to sever ties with the Tenryo Magistrate and the Kujo family, in the eyes of the world, she was still "Kujo Sara," with no other identity.

As for her identity as "Kujo Sara," her loyalty lies in obeying all the orders of the head of the family, Kujo Takayuki.

Even if Kujō Takayuki wanted to kill her, it would be a legitimate exercise of power by the head of the clan against a retainer. She committed seppuku on the spot, and her name would be remembered in history as a symbol of loyalty and righteousness.

But if it were the other way around, and Kujo Sara swung his sword at Kujo Takayuki, that would be disloyal and unjust, and he would also be considered unfilial. If word got out, it would be an unforgivable crime, and he would be condemned in history books for thousands of years.

Sara's journey in without killing anyone was not merely out of consideration for past relationships—she did not kill anyone. In name, it was merely "Kujo Sara stormed into the Heavenly Territory to persuade the head of the family, defeating those who stood in her way," not "Kujo Sara's rebellion," which is the same as Shinkai's "military remonstrance."

If she were to make a move against Kujo Takashi here, that would be a completely different story...

But Saro still chose to bear this eternal infamy.

Or rather, she chose loyalty and righteousness.

“My lord is only Lord Mitakenami Oogami,” Sara said.

She approached Kujo Takayuki step by step.

"Master! Please make a decision!"

Takatsukasa Tokibei turned around to look at Kujo Takayuki.

Along their journey, they had seen the fallen soldiers and knew that Sara had shown leniency. In other words, the conflict between them and Sara had not yet reached an irreconcilable point.

Sara did say something like "Kujo Sara has died in Nashiina," but Kujo Takayuki didn't confirm it at the time. Even when he ordered the Demon Puppet Sword Demon to kill the traitor, he didn't name Sara by name... As long as Kujo Takayuki didn't speak, Sara was still "Kujo Sara," and Takatsukasa Tokibei still had to call her "Lord Kujo Sara."

He can only act upon receiving orders from Kujo Takayuki.

Kujo Takayuki's face was somber, and he did not utter a word.

The rebels stormed into the Tenryo Magistrate's Office, and all the guards of the Tenryo Magistrate's Office were defeated. Even the hidden trump card, the Puppet Sword Demon, was no match for the rebels... If there is any possibility of reversing the situation, it does not lie with Tokibe beside him, but with Sara.

As long as Sara is still "Kujo Sara," all of this is just an "internal conflict" within the Kujo family. Sara's actions and her connection with the traitors can be investigated later; getting through this immediate crisis is the best course of action.

—Kujo Takayuki was well aware of this.

But he couldn't bring himself to speak.

Whether you reason with him or appeal to his emotions, the fact that he has spoken to Sara now is tantamount to "begging for mercy."

The "father" begged the "daughter" for mercy, the "head of the family" begged the "retainer" for mercy... Kujo Takayuki gripped the hilt of his sword, hesitating.

As he hesitated, Sara spoke up, asking, "Commander Takatsukasa, did you give the order to kill the refugees from Hisaki Village?"