Chapter 485: Victory or Defeat

"How much further?"

Lu Wushuang asked while running at full speed.

"Just ahead."

Nana-ko lay on her back, answering with a stiff scalp.

From the time Yamanaka Shikanosuke came knocking and the two left, to discovering Li Miao heading toward the Izumo Grand Shrine, and following the trail until now, more than half the night had passed.

The sky in the east was already turning white.

The long night was about to end.

Lu Wushuang finally smelled the thick scent of blood in the air ahead.

She flashed onto a giant tree nearby and looked out.

"Is that mountain the Izumo Grand Shrine?"

Nana-ko looked in the direction of her finger, carefully identifying the outline of the mountain traced by the moonlight, and comparing it to her mother's description from her childhood, before answering softly.

"Yes, the summit is it."

"Understood, you wait here."

Lu Wushuang casually hung Nana-ko on a tree branch, ignoring her screaming as she swayed in mid-air, leaped down from the treetop, and ran toward the Izumo Grand Shrine with long strides.

When Li Miao was fighting Yamanaka Shikanosuke, she hadn't gone far, and she had heard their conversation clearly. So, what Li Miao could deduce, she could also deduce.

It was known that two martial arts patriarchs had come to Japan to deal with Shintoism, and both had gone missing. Moreover, the time the Izumo Grand Shrine was built was close to the time Venerable Bodhidharma disappeared. Added to the information revealed in Yamanaka Shikanosuke's words...

Either the Izumo Grand Shrine was related to Venerable Bodhidharma.

Or it was related to the culprit who caused Venerable Bodhidharma's disappearance.

Li Miao leaving the two behind and heading straight for the Izumo Grand Shrine in the dead of night further proved her speculation.

"My Lord... should be fine."

Lu Wushuang galloped to the foot of the mountain and paused. This sudden stop kicked up a patch of scarlet mud.

"This is... the work of my Lord!"

Lu Wushuang slowly shifted her gaze.

She had never seen so many corpses; even coming from the Blood Garment Tower, she had never smelled such a thick scent of blood. The air was soaked in blood, and her nasal cavity felt somewhat sticky when she inhaled.

Corpses, a massive amount of corpses, were laid out along a path leading up the mountain, disappearing at the end of her vision. Just a glance estimated there were hundreds of them.

A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Lu Wushuang couldn't help but shiver, but her face suddenly flushed, and her hands gripped her sleeves tightly.

"This is the real him."

"This, this, this is simply—too beautiful!"

Lu Wushuang leaped onto the steps, running up along the stone stairs while scanning her surroundings, as if she were out for a spring outing.

"Pierced, torn, shattered, sliced."

"Heads, chests, abdomens, waists, limbs."

"Fists, legs, fingers, claws, weapons..."

"Too beautiful, too beautiful! This is the true face of my Lord, this is him! This is the person worth my devotion!"

Lu Wushuang forcibly suppressed the surging emotions in her heart, stepped over Nigo Haruhisa's headless corpse, and continued up the stone stairs.

"No sound?"

"No, that's not right... there is sound, but it's very faint."

Lu Wushuang listened to the faint sounds of fists and palms clashing ahead, feeling surprised.