I Save The World In A Doomsday Text Game

Chapter 232-2: Rescuing the Nurarihyon, Fleeing Dharma-Aspect Temple (2)

[You possessed the Shell of the Knowledge-Seeking Primordial Hermit!]

[In an instant, your ninja form became a monstrous figure with a dragon’s head and a human body. All the snarling curses around you abruptly ceased!]

[From one of the cages came a voice…]

[“…So you weren’t human after all. You’re a great yokai!”]

[As soon as those words were spoken, the other captive yokai began muttering among themselves.]

[“…Is this great yokai here to free us?”]

[“It looks so strange…like the offspring of a serpent yokai and a lizard yokai.”]

[“Doesn’t matter what kind of mixed-blood it is, if it can break us out, it’s a good yokai!”]

[“…At last! We’re finally saved!”]

Lin Xun’s face twitched.He’d thought revealing his identity would trigger a special event.

He hadn’t expected this bunch of ignorant little creatures not to recognize a Dragon God descendant at all. Truly pathetic!

But on second thought, maybe rescuing them was the special event.

[You swept your gaze around and let out a majestic dragon’s roar that instantly drowned out all the yokai’s voices.]

[In a deep voice, you demanded to know, who was in charge here?]

[All the yokai turned their eyes to the cage closest to the Chaotic Origin Dragon statue…]

[You strode forward and approached the cage…]

[Inside lay a young boy, fast asleep. His body was covered in whip scars and bleeding wounds. What remained of his clothing had been torn into strips by beatings.]

[What surprised you was that despite everything, he had a strikingly handsome face, even the lash marks couldn’t hide it. He looked completely out of place among the other yokai.]

[However, his odd hairstyle ruined the impression, it looked like a tilted dwarf gourd stuck on his head.]

[You have discovered an Origin-Tracing Juvenile Nurarihyon!]

[As if sensing your gaze, the yokai boy suddenly opened his eyes.]

[His pupils instantly focused on you. Then he stared wide-eyed and cried out in shock, “Dragon God descendant!”]

[In that moment, the Golden Hall fell silent. The yokai boy dropped his head and prostrated himself, exclaiming gratefully that the Dragon God had finally sent his bloodline to save them, that they were saved, and so was his grandfather!]

[The other yokai looked around at each other. Though none of them knew when the Dragon God had gotten a descendant, or how such a strange creature as you could be related to divine blood.]

[Once they heard you were here to rescue them, and saw how respectfully the leader treated you, they too knelt down in excitement, their emotions overflowing.]

[Ignoring the lesser yokai, you asked the young Nurarihyon what exactly had happened to Dharma-Aspect Temple.]

[The yokai boy wiped his tears and snot away, then began to explain slowly…]

[Dharma-Aspect Temple had once been a place dedicated to the Chaotic Origin Dragon. Before the War of the Gods broke out, the incense offerings here had never ceased, and worshippers came in endless streams.]

[When the Dragon God was defeated, the temple was seized by the new gods’ followers…]

[His clan, the Nurarihyon, had been the Dragon God’s most devoted believers and the temple’s hereditary guardians. In the war, they were nearly wiped out.]

[But because Nurarihyon were one of the strongest yokai races, blessed by the Dragon God, the new god’s believers could not erase their minds or force them into shikigami servitude.]

[He had survived only because he was still young and weak, no threat to anyone, so they imprisoned him here to suffer endless torment.]

[The new god’s followers hoped torture and humiliation would break his spirit so he would submit and willingly become a shikigami slave.]

[All the other yokai imprisoned in the Golden Hall had also been captured by the new god’s followers. Fortunately, they were too weak to be turned into shikigami, so they were merely locked up here instead of reduced to mindless husks.]

[Compared to the yokai who had been enslaved, those suffering here could almost be called lucky.]

[The boy bowed deeply and begged, “Great scion of the Dragon God, please free them. They would pledge themselves to your service forever!”]

[Will you destroy the cages now and save the yokai?]

Lin Xun bared his teeth in a grimace.

It wasn’t that he looked down on these yokai’s strength or was unwilling to help them.

It was that outside Dharma-Aspect Temple lay the Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions. Figuring out how to break the barrier and lead them all to safety would be an enormous problem.

Moreover, even if he could lead the yokai out of Dharma-Aspect Temple, one couldn’t forget, Thousand Orchid City was nothing like the backwater of Fukoka Castle. Here, the power of the new gods’ followers was simply too overwhelming.

Even if they escaped the temple itself, fleeing the entire city would be nearly impossible.

Bringing along a whole crowd of frail little yokai would be a death sentence, before he ever made it back to his base at Dragon Marsh Temple, not a single one of them would still be alive.

Rescuing that many would be far too conspicuous, and he’d almost certainly be surrounded by an army.

But…if he only rescued a single one, that was much easier.

Lin Xun’s eyes turned thoughtfully, and he quickly came up with a plan.

He had only one Absolute Barrier Token for crossing the ward, and it could only allow one being to pass in or out.

He could remove the ninja’s equipment and have the young Nurarihyon don it as a disguise, then give him the token so he could slip out safely.

As for Lin Xun himself, although he wouldn’t have the token to exit, he could simply commit suicide to respawn for free.

That way, he could successfully rescue at least one yokai.

The only issue was that his respawn point was in Fukoka Castle, returning here again would take quite some time.

By then, the yokai’s escape would almost certainly have been discovered, making it vastly harder to save any of the others.

[You patiently explained all the difficulties of escaping this place. When you were done, the yokai all hung their heads in discouragement.]

[Then you suddenly changed your tone, saying it wasn’t that you couldn’t rescue them, but that you could only save one right now.]

[At these words, the yokai began murmuring among themselves. But before long, every gaze had turned to the young Nurarihyon.]

[The Origin-Tracing Juvenile Nurarihyon understood what the others were thinking. He furrowed his brow, then slowly shook his head, saying that if anyone was to escape, it should be all of them together. If only one could go, then the rest would never have any chance at freedom.]

[All the little yokai began trying to persuade him to leave, but he was stubborn as a mule, utterly unwilling to escape alone.]

“This little fool…so damned stubborn…”

Escaping Dharma-Aspect Temple would require the cooperation of the one being rescued. If the young yokai refused, the whole plan was dead in the water.

Lin Xun scratched his head, feeling that this predicament had no easy solution.