Chapter 603: Return of the Age of Gods

In Kyoto, with the chaotic wars of the *daimyo* and the gradual decline of the Emperor’s power, Suzaku Avenue, as the main axis of the city, had long been abandoned into a long strip of mud filled with ruins.

Many refugees and bankrupt merchants built sheds in the ruins on both sides of Suzaku Avenue to barely survive.

It was now mid-morning. If it were in the past, it would have been bustling with noise, but because of the fire and loud noise at the Emperor’s Palace last night, the people here were also trembling and staying behind closed doors.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

On a small path beside the dense sheds, a youth walked stealthily along the shadows and secretly swiped a salted fish hanging on a wall.

Chaos brought opportunities. For the youth, a salted fish was enough to make him take the risk... let his mother stew a bowl of fish soup, and she wouldn’t have to worry about hunger when she slept at night. Perhaps she could even tell him a few of his favorite stories.

What monster did the last one talk about?

Oh... it seemed to be "Niku-nin" (Meat Man).

Speaking of which, because it had been over half a year since his mother was in the mood to tell stories, he couldn’t remember the story about "Niku-nin" very clearly.

What did it look like?

The youth recalled while groping his way back.

"Screech!"

Before he had walked a few steps, a shrill screech suddenly came from afar, like the roar of a wounded beast, exceptionally loud. Even the ground beneath his feet seemed to vibrate along with the roar.

He looked back instinctively.

*Pat.*

The salted fish he was carrying fell to the ground.

The youth’s eyes gradually widened, watching the blurred humanoid figure flying backward from the edge of his vision and crashing onto Suzaku Avenue.

The plain-white priest robe had become a circle of rags wrapped around his body, and the crimson sword without a guard had only an inch of blade left. Fortunately, the humanoid had completely lost its sanity; it flipped over, climbed up, and let out a screech toward the direction it had flown from.

"Wooooo!!!"

The sound was extremely shrill, lingering for a long time.

The youth shuddered violently.

The humanoid, skinless all over, hairless, earless, eyeless, mouthless, bathed in blood... Niku-nin!

He finally remembered the story his mother told... that blurred humanoid was clearly the Niku-nin his mother had spoken of!

Monsters in myths really existed!

The youth sat down on the ground with a *thump*, trembling all over. He wanted to get up and flee, but his legs and arms were unable to move due to fear.

"No, no... must flee..."

"Flee quickly, flee quickly, flee quickly!"

He stared fixedly at the end of the passage, the few *zhang* of Suzaku Avenue road surface that were exposed, trembling as he tried to support his body.

"Niku-nin is a monster that eats people!"

"If it discovers me, I’m dead!"

"Leave quickly, leave quickly, leave quickly!"

The youth trembled and finally stood up half a foot.

Before he could even stand straight—*Boom!*

A muffled sound!

The Niku-nin that had just disappeared from the edge of his vision was actually flying backward again at ten times the speed of its pounce!

*Clatter!*

No, it wasn’t just flying backward.

It had been blasted onto the ground by a giant force far exceeding its own weight! The tailbone that first touched the ground shattered instantly, followed by the spine, the back of the head, the torso, and the limbs, splashing apart with a *clatter*.

"!!!"

The youth had just climbed up a bit when his legs went soft and he sat back down.

What was going on!

Why did the Niku-nin die!

Who killed it!

Could it be that besides the Niku-nin, there were other monsters!

As if to echo the words in his heart, the next moment, another figure flew backward from outside his vision.