novelraw Chapter 209-1: Wandering Samurai, Idyllic Pleasure Quarter (1)
Chapter 209-1: Wandering Samurai, Idyllic Pleasure Quarter (1)
[Following the directions on the signboard, you proceed all the way forward…]
[The moonlit streets of the town are utterly deserted. The stately residences near the port have their doors tightly shut, not a single light visible, making the place feel particularly sinister.]
[For some reason, ever since you set foot on the land of Sakura Falls, you have felt a profound discomfort in your heart, as though all your emotions and desires had drifted far away, leaving behind only a dead emptiness.]
[Only a faint, malicious intent coils around you, endlessly gnawing at your body and mind.]
[This feeling is excruciating, like a once-thriving forest scorched by overwhelming black flames, reduced to lifeless desolation.]
[After all things perish, all that remains is a ground of black ash named ‘Malice.’]
[Suppressing the discomfort in your chest, you walk for a long time before spotting a group of figures loitering at the intersection.]
[They wear straw hats, tattered robes, and wooden clogs. Each has a tachi hanging at their waist…]
[You have discovered the Fire-Worshipping Wandering Ronin!]
[The ronin stand motionless around a fire. Beneath the straw hats, their eyes are utterly black, the whites dyed the same color as the flames!][As you gaze upon that vigorously burning black fire, a surge of malicious intent sprouts from deep within your heart, and you cannot help but vent it all…]
[…]
[You uncontrollably raise your spear, thrusting it toward the motionless ronin…]
“Damn!”
To avoid drawing attention, Lin Xun was still possessing the Fire-Worshipping Heartless Thief shell, which had pitifully poor attributes.
He hurried to switch shells, but before he could finish the operation, the text continued scrolling.
[A particularly burly ronin draws the tachi from his waist.]
[A flash of gleaming sword light, and the familiar black flame vanishes in an instant!]
[A perfectly good head rolls to the ground.]
[The headless corpse convulses and collapses…]
[You have died!]
[…]
[A powerful wandering soul is reborn at the desolate port…]
Lin Xun’s mouth twitched.
“Hell, such a familiar door-opening insta-kill. I knew that the sudden kindness of this damned game couldn’t be trusted.”
It was just a throwaway trash shell he had used up and planned to discard, so he didn’t care.
What Lin Xun cared about was the lore in this chapter.
“The black fire is Karmic Fire. I remember last time, when I used the Envoy shell to light a fire on the ship, black fire appeared then too.”
“But at that time, the shell showed no abnormality. Now that I’ve come to Sakura Falls, I can’t control myself at the sight of Karmic Fire.”
There was a Resting Page respawn point at the port, which was perfect for Lin Xun to test his hypothesis.
He switched to the Corrupted Earth Giant shell and set off again for the Idyllic Pleasure Quarter.
[…]
[After walking for a long time, you once more encounter a group of Fire-Worshipping Wandering Ronin loitering at the intersection.]
[They remain in the same posture, standing around the fire.]
[As you gaze at the pitch-black flame, malice wells up in your heart…]
[Your accumulated Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire stacks are too low. You are unable to resist the malice, let alone command it!]
[You swing your Ancient Dragonfang Greatclub, and uncontrollably begin a brutal slaughter…]
[You have defeated a Fire-Worshipping Wandering Ronin. Your experience has increased slightly…]
[You have obtained Broken Sword Guard (Junk).]
[You have defeated…]
[Soon, all the ronin lie dead on the ground, leaving only the black Karmic Fire atop the pile of kindling, burning without end.]
[You attempt to reach out and touch the black flame…]
[The moment your fingertip makes contact with the Karmic Fire, a surge of malice floods over you. You jerk your hand back as if shocked, no longer daring to touch it.]
[In that single instant of contact, the malice nearly devours you whole. You have no doubt that if you lingered even a moment longer, you would become a beast who knows nothing but slaughter.]
Even without the Fire-Worshipping prefix, the Corrupted Earth Giant still could not escape the taint of Karmic Fire’s malice.
Lin Xun recalled that in this chapter, the idol people worshipped was shaped like a mass of black flame.
If that deity was the Karmic Fire itself, then it was almost certainly no benevolent god.
“So, does that mean the being called the Evil God might actually be the righteous faction?”
Lin Xun discarded the old thief shell and picked up a freshly harvested ronin shell.
The ronin shell wasn’t much higher in quality, its gear was pathetic, but compared to the thief, it counted as an elite trash mob.
The ronin shell wasn’t entirely worthless, as it contained some memories…
[…]
[“Whenever the malice surges up, I want to throw myself headlong into the Idyllic Pleasure Quarter.”]
[“If only my clumsy swordsmanship could overcome the guards at the gates of the Pleasure Quarter…”]
[“The guards only smile upon the daimyo, the samurai, and other nobles, never sparing a glance for us fallen ronin.”]
[“This is no surprise. After all, there are no common women in the Idyllic Quarter. Those looking for prostitutes or serving girls won’t come here.”]
[“I once heard a companion say that the courtesans of the Pleasure Quarter, aside from their beauty, are all skilled in song and dance and well-read. Even the lowest-ranking among them are accomplished. Not to mention the oiran and tayu of the highest rank, otherwise, how could the place dare call itself ‘Idyllic’?”]
[“That same companion also said a ninja of higher status than us once tried to enter the Idyllic Quarter, but was told his rank was too low. Unless he paid an exorbitant fee, he could not set foot inside… hahaha!”]
[“…I yearn all the more to see the Idyllic Quarter, but the few coins in my pocket aren’t even enough to pay a serving girl.”]
[“If only I had passed the exam at the Heartless Flow Dojo all those years ago, I wouldn’t be in this pitiful state now…”]
After reading the memories, Lin Xun concluded two things.
First, the ninja shell was within the group the Idyllic Pleasure Quarter was willing to admit.
Second, a ninja’s status was far inferior to that of a samurai, entry was possible, but it would cost extra…
He considered this and switched to the Chunin shell.
He put on the dancer’s Phantom of the Night Cloak, concealing the raptor claw weapons equipped on his limbs.
Once everything was in order, he continued toward the Idyllic Pleasure Quarter.