Chapter 539: Golden Body

Before Li Miao officially stepped into the *Jianghu*, army formations were the reliance of the imperial court to suppress the *Jianghu*, and the fundamental reason why Heaven-Man Realm experts dared not reveal themselves to the world.

But this had to be based on a premise—either the army formation was on suitable terrain, completely sealing off the escape route of the Heaven-Man Realm expert being besieged; or there had to be experts capable of dragging the Heaven-Man Realm expert down, forcibly restricting their escape space.

Unfortunately, Nigo Haruhisa had neither enough people nor generals capable of tangling with Li Miao.

Thus, the outcome of this war was destined from the beginning.

When the full moon set in the west, the dust settled.

"Forty-nine, nineteen years..."

Nigo Haruhisa, while trying to pry open the hand gripping his throat, squeezed words out of his throat with difficulty.

"Still want to recite?"

Li Miao tilted his head and looked at him.

"Your subordinates are all dead, and you are about to die too. Not begging for mercy, not cursing me, just intent on finishing the poem?"

"I actually want to hear what you are going to recite."

He let go and threw Nigo Haruhisa to the ground.

"Recite, great man of letters."

Nigo Haruhisa fell into a pool of blood, his sleeves and trousers soaked through in seconds. He coughed several times and propped up his upper body.

Blood and corpses covered his vision.

In the distance, there were still some wails and the sound of fleeing footsteps, getting further and further away.

It was gone; everything was over. The foundation of the Nigo family for hundreds of years, which flourished because of Izumo Taisha, finally perished today because of Izumo Taisha.

Nigo Haruhisa only wanted to finish his death poem.

At the very least, to preserve a shred of dignity for the Nigo family.

He spoke hoarsely.

"Forty-nine years, a dream."

"A lifetime, glory..."

He got stuck.

Only then did he suddenly remember—he hadn't finished writing this poem; Li Miao had interrupted him before he could finish it in his mind.

He raised his head abruptly and looked at Li Miao.

"Can you give me—"

*Swoosh! *

The head fell to the ground.

Li Miao curled his lips.

"Pretending for so long, and it wasn't even finished. Last words are something that should be prepared in advance; I've never heard of an enemy giving you time to finish a poem when you're dying."

"Zhu Bajie wearing glasses, *tch*."

Li Miao turned and stepped onto the stone steps, walking toward tonight's destination.

Izumo Taisha.

The oldest and most historic shrine in Japan, rumored to have existed for a thousand years, and currently the most prestigious shrine in Shintoism besides Ise Grand Shrine, far surpassing Hachiman-gu, the birthplace of the Venerable God Sword Technique.

On the massive *torii* gate, bells rang with the wind.

Li Miao crossed the *torii* and walked to the front of the main hall of Izumo Taisha.

The main hall door was wide open. On both sides of the road sat dozens of shrine maidens, dressed in red and white *hi-bakama*, holding short swords called *wakizashi*, pressed against their own necks.

On each young and pretty face, their eyes were as calm as water, their lips sewn shut with black cotton thread, the thread already grown into the lips, stained with red and yellow pus and blood.

"*Tch*."

Li Miao stopped and sneered disdainfully.

"What are you doing? Taking me for a playboy who cherishes flowers and pities jade, using women's lives to stop me?"

"Naturally not."

The answer came from within the main hall.

A figure in red and white *hi-bakama*, identical to the kneeling shrine maidens, walked out from the darkness inside the main hall and stood before the hall.

That was a woman.

An old woman.

From her brows and eyes, one could faintly see the beauty of her youth, but she was so old that her skin hung loose, appearing bizarre and inexplicable under the dim moonlight.

And on her lips, there were also dense furrows left by cotton thread. Although the thread had been removed, the scars formed over decades were hard to mend.

She looked respectful and bowed gracefully to Li Miao, but it was not a Japanese etiquette, but a genuine Central Plains lady's etiquette.

Seeing such a standard bow in Japan, Li Miao couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Central Plains person?"

"You could say that."

The old woman's accent was strange, overall like a Guanzhong accent, but with many differences. Yet it was clearly Central Plains speech.

"How so?"

Seeing that she had the intention to explain something, Li Miao was not in a hurry, so he crossed his arms and asked.

"Our..." The old woman opened her hands, gesturing to the kneeling shrine maidens on both sides: "ancestors were Central Plains people."

"To be more specific, they were people of the Qin Dynasty."

"On this point, I think you should be clear. Didn't you kill our ancestor's junior brother? I think you must have received some news from him, right?"

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have traveled thousands of miles to Japan."

Li Miao frowned.

He keenly sensed something... that didn't match up.

What the old woman "thought he knew" and what he "actually knew" did not match.

The old woman had already explained the origin of the shrine maidens—people of the Qin Dynasty; Zheng Anqi Sheng's senior brother was Xu Fu. They were the descendants of the three thousand boys and girls Xu Fu had tricked from the First Emperor back then.

But the old woman did not know that Zheng Anqi Sheng had lost most of his memories regarding Xu Fu during his thousand-year reincarnation process. Li Miao's coming to Japan was not entirely for Xu Fu; at the very least, before this, he did not know the relationship between Xu Fu and Shintoism.

So the old woman put on such a frank and open posture... because she felt that Li Miao already knew something from Zheng Anqi Sheng.

With thoughts flashing through his mind, Li Miao said calmly.

"I do know some things, but only limited to before Xu Fu left the Central Plains."

He said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, Zheng Anqi Sheng and I can be considered relatives, and you can be considered my half-juniors. How about saving me the effort of interrogating you and just move aside, how about that?" ===== CHAPTER 540 =====