Chapter 982

Sakura had lost all vitality.

Uesugi Muneyuki felt his vision go dark.

Below a hundred meters in the ocean, light barely penetrates, and the black seawater enveloped Uesugi Muneyuki's body, but no matter how dark the surroundings, they could not compare to the darkness in his heart.

Sakura's body was rapidly growing cold.

Though Uesugi Muneyuki held her tightly, Sakura merely rested quietly against his chest, her limbs limp in the water, swaying slightly with each kick.

Uesugi Muneyuki still tried to give Sakura oxygen, blowing air into her mouth again and again.

But it was no use.

He is a doctor, he knows how to determine death.

The forensic pathologist is also a doctor!

Why did it come to this?

In the water, Uesugi Muneyuki raged and fumed: Why did things turn out like this? Why? Why, just because of one encounter with a cultist, did Sakura lose her life?

All along, relying on his abilities, he had faced countless threats with ease; though his first encounter with Saijo Yasue had been perilous, afterward he rarely faced such trouble again! He never imagined that merely a bunch of cultists could bring things to this pass!

Why???

Around him it was dark, Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes kept going black; he had endured countless cases before, and had once remained calm in the aftermath. He could rely on "procedural justice," "objective judgment," "this is my duty" to build a platform for himself to stand on. But this time he could not!

This time it was he who had Sakura do it. It was he who had her infiltrate the enemy camp.

He was not wrong; her ability truly completed the mission perfectly.

She succeeded in infiltrating, found Eto Miyabi's position, relayed intelligence, and even crouched for hours behind that dark door without exposure—she did everything he asked.

Then she died, she died from her own carelessness, she died from failing to control her emotions at the end, but in the end, everything must be blamed on Uesugi Muneyuki for making her do this!

Did I not sense the danger? Was I too presumptuous? Did I rely on having multiple Wisdom King Dharma Images for protection, thus dismissing the danger Sakura might face?

But, but…… if Sakura had not gone undercover, what could we have done? The existence of the Inner World is not much stronger than firearms! Uesugi Muneyuki's left arm tightened, pulling Sakura's body closer to his chest.

His lips left hers, he gently rested her head on his shoulder, seawater streamed from the corner of his eye, salty and indistinguishable from tears.

He did not understand why such hatred could arise between people; these cultists…… aside from Fujitō Chengyi, the male companion of Shimura Sayuri, Uesugi Muneyuki did not even know the names of the others, they had no deep grudge between them, he did not know their origins, did not know what they believed in, did not know why they performed that ritual in the Kuroshio Strait.

He and Mai Xuejie merely ran into them, only because they wanted to blow up the ship, wanted to kill, wanted to sacrifice, he intervened to stop them!

And then, someone had to pay with their life for this!

This is too absurd! Too cruel!

A night wholly out of goodwill, private, without any conspiracy, brought the frenzy of a pack of madmen and the death of a girl! Uesugi Muneyuki gritted his teeth, his fingers clenched Sakura's soaked fabric into wrinkles.

He recalled her first appearance before him.

That was in front of the Odaiba Building at Fuji TV, she wore her performance outfit, head bowed, voice soft as a mosquito's hum.

She said she wanted to ride a bit of popularity, to leverage the fame of Shirakawa Mai and Uesugi Muneyuki.

She even frankly admitted it: "I want to ride a wave of popularity, I want to stand out, I have ambition!"

Back then Uesugi thought this girl was quite interesting, at least honest.

He did not refuse, because he did not dislike honest ambition, even burning ambition has always been a symbol of vitality, a manifestation of life force. Later she really did ride the wave, she appeared on variety shows, had columns in magazines, accumulated hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, achieved tens of thousands of concurrent viewers in live streams, her name began appearing on the list of "new-generation faces worth watching," and in Fuji TV's Monday 9 national drama 《Hand of God》 she became the second female lead Fujitō Sakura.

She achieved half of it; the other half only needed time to gradually accumulate to be completed.

Then she died.

In the deep sea at 110 meters, in the hands of an old man she did not know, because of a conspiracy she originally had nothing to do with.

Uesugi Little Blessing Star?

No, clearly it is a death proclamation, a bearer of funerals!

Does my presence truly bring misfortune to those around me? As an Inner World entity walking between the Outer Worlds, must I still frequently be drawn into Inner World activities—is that correct?

Why is life so fragile? Why does parting from life and death come in an instant?

Uesugi Muneyuki now understands why most Inner World people choose to live in seclusion.

His eye sockets burned, but he did not cry; Uesugi Muneyuki simply did not know how to face this outcome, he could now hold Sakura and surface, but…… then what? Then what should he do, how should he explain to those around him, to the police, to the outside world?

He truly does not know what to do now.

The incident with Nanami had already dealt him a heavy blow, yet he never expected it to happen again!

Sakura!

The dark panic enveloped him, he raved, he hystericized, he convulsed in the seawater, under intense emotional outburst, various scenes appeared before his eyes.

Kill!

Kill Kill Kill!

Heaven creates all things to nourish man! Man has nothing to repay Heaven!

Only blood and skull can forge the path to the throne!

Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!

These cultists! Cultists! I will use a chainsaw to cut their flesh, stuff it into the sausage maker…… ah ah ah ah ah!!! Uesugi Muneyuki's face twisted with ferocity, he soaked in the black seawater, wanting to calm himself down.

Just then.

He saw light.

From the bottom of the deep sea, from the pitch-black darkness beneath his feet that seemed endless, a vast expanse of green light suddenly burst forth.

Clusters of green light like a giant lantern suddenly pulled open, surging upward from some extremely deep ground, illuminating the entire seabed's outline. "The light, so dazzling!" Uesugi Muneyuki hastily raised his arm to shield his eyes, after a few seconds of adjustment he looked downward. The green light before him was not the seabed's scenery, not the seabed, seafloor, or rock; Uesugi Muneyuki saw a vast boundless space emitting a faint green light, like the heavens inverted, the earth split open, revealing the other side of the universe.

In that void there was nothing, only light, only a kind of near-eternal tranquility and emptiness; he faintly saw in the depths of the void something flowing, like lines, like meridians, like countless fine threads of light slowly drifting in the void, weaving some shape that human eyes cannot track.

"Void?" Uesugi Muneyuki subconsciously associated it with something.

Maha Bo, City of the Gods! The domain where the Old Gods once dwelled and where the New Gods now retire! The idle New Gods sit in the Hall of the Gods, and according to the Village Flower Palace, the Old Gods went to the deeper universe, that is, the void!

Exactly! It must be!

The void!

It is the void that countless inner worlds and New Gods have painstakingly sought. That is where the Old Gods went after they left!

Beneath the Kanmon Strait, it connects to the void?!?

He hovered above that expanse of green light, holding Sakura in his arms, his entire mind swallowed by that void for a moment—there it was too beautiful, too quiet, like the world's reverse side had finally been lifted at a corner.

Cold, that is the void.

Then he felt a tremendous vibration.

The seawater gradually churned violently, from the boundary between void and reality, a massive, indescribable outline slowly emerged, rising from the green light like a silent mountain growing from the void at the seabed.

It was so vast that Uesugi Muneyuki could not estimate its size—perhaps as large as the entire Asuka 11, perhaps larger than the Yamato, and even this might be only a projection; if compared to the surrounding void scenery, its true body diameter might exceed 7000KM.

The surface of this being was covered with a skeletal structure, like the exposed bones of some deep-sea creature, those bones showing a translucent, jade-like texture under the green light, interwoven with countless thick, dark-green tentacles, each thicker than his whole body, covered with fine suckers and glowing patterns, pulsing with blue-green light like blood vessels.

This is a colossal, fully skeletal, tentacle-entwined octopus-form supreme being.

On the upper part of its skull was a layer of uneven hard carapace, beneath which two dark eye sockets could be vaguely seen, containing no eyeballs, only two slowly rotating, nebula-like green halos; its tentacles in the seawater extended and retracted orderly, like breathing, or like caressing the surrounding seawater.

Uesugi Muneyuki knew who it was.

Chi is the Old God of Love and Desire, Rui An!

Or it can also be called Svwian!

Chi's image differs from any depiction in human classics; in human classics, Rui An's image is a woman with a peach head, her body composed of layered breasts, many arms extending from her body.

But in Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes, this true Rui An now before him is neither beautiful nor ugly, nor anything that can be judged—she simply exists there, vast, ancient, indifferent, like a temple sunk in the deep sea unknown to anyone.

And at the center of Rui An's coiled tentacles, there is a pair of structures like human arms, encircling something.

That thing, under the green light, reflected a dim metallic luster—it is a sword.

The blade is long and slender, slightly curved, the edge in the green light bearing a thin layer of golden luster.

The hilt is wrapped with some dark silk, the tip pointing downward, embraced by the tentacles at the center.

Divine Sword, Heavenly Clouds!

Uesugi Muneyuki recognized it at a glance!

It is the genuine article!

The Kusanagi Sword, that is, Heavenly Clouds, one of the Three Sacred Treasures, since the day it sank into the sea surface at Wall of Ura in legend, has never appeared in human sight!

He suddenly recalled that history: the Battle of Wall of Ura!

In 1185 AD, the Taira fell, the eight-year-old Emperor An Di embraced the Kusanagi Sword and the Ba Zhang Qiong Gou Yu among the Three Sacred Treasures and plunged into the sea, the Taira clan's glory utterly sank to the seabed of Kanmon Strait, afterward the Minamoto tried to fish out the Ba Zhang Qiong Gou Yu and the Ba Ya Jing, but to this day the whereabouts of Heavenly Clouds remains a mystery—legend says it is guarded by the Taira's vengeful spirits, locked in the Dragon Palace beneath the sea.

Rui An's tentacles gently enfolded that sword, like a mother holding an infant.

Uesugi Muneyuki stared at that sword, stared at Rui An's vast and tranquil form, and suddenly understood something—

The Battle of Wall of Ura.

The Taira imperial palace sank beneath this sea area.

For eight hundred years, countless people have salvaged the Kusanagi Sword, none have found it, because it has always been in the old abyss, in the embrace of an Old God, sunk beyond the reach of all worldly eyes.

The Taira imperial palace lies beneath the sea! This statement turns out to be true!

Que-shi Bada! All are emperors of the New Gods' imperial lineage!

New Gods and Old Gods! The last Old God also departed around 600 AD!

Three Sacred Treasures! The Imperial Palace explosion case and the entanglement with the Kansai New God!

The legend of Tian Zhao Da Shen! Xu Shu Zhi Nan!

The sigh of the former New God Uesugi Kenshin! As a transmigrator, I am unaffected by the Logic Tide!

Everything, everything, is now connecting in Uesugi Muneyuki's heart!

And the key node of all this is right here, in the Setouchi Sea, where Old Gods once acted, the anchor point between inner and outer worlds! Cultists……

At this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki heard a sound.

No, not a specific sound, but a vibration from the void and a language of higher dimension, just as when he once faced the Village Flower Palace in the rain, this is his unique ability—he can converse with curses, communicate with the inner world, even with the Old Sovereign of the Old Days……the green light before him! Green light? Azure light?

Qinghui Stone!

Understood, the Qinghui Stone in my right hand is essentially a creation of the void, so my transmigration is because……【Drifter.】

A message entered Uesugi Muneyuki's brain.

Old Gods, they have spoken.