novelraw Chapter 284: The Saio and the Little Emperor in the Imperial Palace
Chapter 284: The Saio and the Little Emperor in the Imperial Palace
Time flashed by, till it was the following midnight.
[…]
[With the moon at its zenith, Kyoto under the night was utterly silent, only a scant few households still lit.]
[You stood on the eaves corner of a three-story noble residence, gazing into the distance at the Imperial Palace.]
[The vast palace city was like a slumbering ancient ferocious beast. Even asleep, you could clearly sense the dangerous and terrifying aura hidden within.]
[…]
[After a long wait, the palace gates opened, and a carriage rolled out without a sound.]
[Six robust horses pulled the carriage. The coach compartment was extraordinarily tall, yet bore no ornate decoration.]
[The carriage slowly drove into the darkness in the direction of Asuka Spring.]
[As the carriage departed, the dreadful man-eating aura in the palace faded and dispersed.][Once the carriage had gone far, you leapt from the rooftop.]
[When you landed, the old and short figure had already vanished.]
[…]
[Maintaining stealth, you sped to the front of the palace city.]
[You brought your infiltration ninjutsu to the extreme, silently scaling the high encircling wall without drawing the notice of the patrolling guards, and entered the Imperial Palace.]
[Even in the deep of night, the grand palace city before your eyes was bright with lamps, with many samurai patrolling back and forth on duty.]
[According to your memory, passing the palace gate led to the Outer Courtyard of the Imperial Palace. The Great General lived and handled state affairs in the Eastern Courtyard.]
[The former imperial family members all resided in the Inner Courtyard. Without the Great General’s order, they could not leave the palace and could only live within the Inner Courtyard.]
[You proceeded in stealth all the way, heading toward the Inner Courtyard.]
[Crossing layers of palace walls and passing halls and pavilions, you reached the Inner Courtyard.]
[The palace buildings before you were more splendid than those of the Outer Courtyard. Flying eaves and upturned corners, green tiles and vermilion ridges displayed imperial grandeur.]
[Only the number of patrolling samurai here was greater and they were more elite. Each had a burly figure and exuded a strong killing intent, as if this place were not the Imperial Palace but an underground prison holding dangerous death row inmates.]
[The halls of the Inner Courtyard were all of the same grand and luxurious appearance, and the scale of each was enormous, as if stamped from a single mold.]
[You could not tell which palace the Little Emperor lived in and could only explore them one by one.]
There were numerous buildings in the palace city and it was extremely complex. Lin Xun infiltrated a few halls, but none of the people inside were the Little Emperor.
Time ticked away. At this rate, there was no way he could find the Little Emperor before the Great General returned to the palace.
He narrowed his eyes and decided to seize a Shell and search its memories.
The samurai outside the halls moved in groups and were too numerous to target.
He could only choose imperial relatives living within the halls as targets.
[…]
[A distant hall drew your notice. Not only were many samurai guarding outside it, there were also several female attendants serving at the entrance.]
[Clearly the owner of this hall had an extraordinary identity.]
[Will you infiltrate it?]
Lin Xun brightened and quickly pressed ‘Yes.’
[Maintaining stealth, you circled to the side of the hall and silently broke the window latch.]
[You lifted a corner of the window. Without making a sound, you slipped into the hall.]
[The hall blazed with candles. The furnishings were even more luxurious and exquisite than those you had seen earlier.]
[A beautiful woman sat at the side of the bed, holding embroidery and stitching thread by thread.]
“Too bad, not the Little Emperor.”
“But this person’s identity should not be simple. Kill her first and see if I can search for memories about the Little Emperor.”
[You continued to maintain stealth and quietly approached the bed.]
[Suddenly you felt yourself step into the range of a strange power. This power was incomparably familiar and exactly the same as the God Domain power in the Tenmei Grand Shrine.]
[Your form was revealed at once. The woman beside the bed lifted her head and looked at you.]
[She wore a single robe made of twelve-layer Tang silk. This splendid attire, with its many colors and extreme magnificence, could only be worn by a legitimate imperial princess.]
[You have discovered Fire-Worshipping Saio Chisoku-hime.]
[The woman showed no surprise when she saw you. She lowered her head and continued stitching, speaking in a very calm tone.]
[‘So the Great General is finally here to take my life. To die under the blade of the Ninja Master could be considered not disgracing the imperial name.’]
[You frowned at the woman before you as the memories within the Shell slowly revived.]
[A Saio was the title of the highest-ranking shrine maiden in the Tenmei Grand Shrine and could only be held by an unmarried imperial prince, queen, or imperial princess. It was the means by which emperors of old borrowed the authority of Enma to rule Sakura Falls.]
[In the imperial zenith, the Saio’s status far surpassed that of the grand shrine priest. The imperial family dispatched a Saio to reside in the grand shrine, which was tantamount to announcing to the world that sovereignty was granted by the gods and that the emperor was the sole rightful servant of Enma.]
[But times changed. Now the imperial house had declined and even the Saio could only be imprisoned deep in the palace.]
[The Saio shrine maiden before you, named Chisoku-hime, was the first imperial daughter and the Little Emperor’s only elder sister.]
[The broken memories ended here.]
“Saio.”
Lin Xun recalled that when he used the Palace Master of Iya Palace Shell to meet the head of the Ogiwara Clan, the clan head had boasted that once he raised troops to seize Kyoto, he would deliver the shrine maidens and Saio of the Tenmei Grand Shrine to the Palace Master as ingredients for secret medicines.
Unexpectedly, he had not seen the Saio in the Tenmei Grand Shrine but had encountered her in the Imperial Palace.
[What is your next move.]
[1. Draw the Dragon Sword Masamune at your waist and stab the woman before you in one thrust to seize the Shell.]
[2. Killing the first imperial daughter like this would be too much of a waste. Better to defile her thoroughly first and be a royal consort for a day.]
[3. Reveal your identity as Enma’s Proxy to her in order to obtain information related to the Little Emperor.]
The Saio Chisoku-hime before him should be the most powerful healer in this chapter.
The two chicken healer Shells in his Shell Slots were somewhat low in quality and could not bring out the power of the healer artifact, Amateru Sakiina’s Harvest Sickle.
If he could obtain the Saio Shell, those two chicken healers could retire on the spot.
However, Lin Xun did not kill for a Shell’s memories and chose the third option.
[Without a word you took out Amateru Sakiina’s Harvest Sickle. The small sickle was mottled with rust, yet bore layered patterns like blazing flames.]
[The Saio Chisoku-hime suddenly raised her head and stared fixedly at the divine harvest weapon in your hand.]
[The flame patterns on the small sickle seemed to resonate with the imperial bloodline, suddenly flickering and leaping as if true flames were burning.]
[The Saio Chisoku-hime froze, her agitation plain upon her face. Two lines of clear tears slid from the corners of her eyes.]
[She hurriedly put down the needle and thread in her hands, knelt before you, and knocked her head to the floor over and over. She wanted to cry aloud but clamped a hand over her mouth, fearing that the samurai and attendants outside would notice.]
[She whispered that Enma had not abandoned His children and had finally sent down an incarnation to save the imperial house and all of Sakura Falls.]
[You helped the Saio Chisoku-hime to her feet. From her words, it seemed she already knew of the Great General’s fall.]
[You conversed with her at length and understood the whole story.]
[After the Great General unified Sakura Falls, at first he still needed to borrow the imperial name to make the people submit.]
[As time passed, the Great General gradually displayed a series of statecraft measures. Whether local daimyos or common folk, all willingly yielded.]
[With more prosperous and peaceful lives, they gradually forgot the imperial house and recognized only the Great General.]
[There was even a rumor among the people that the imperial house levied harsh taxes and misruled the nation, so Enma sent down the incarnation, the Great General, to seek a golden age of peace for the people.]
[But how could the world know that taxes fiercer than tigers were due to Sakura Falls paying tribute to the Vermilion Empire year after year.]
[Once the Great General grasped the people’s hearts, the imperial bloodline was locked within the deep palace, not seeing the light of day for a long time.]
[The reason the Great General did not kill her or the Little Emperor was that the Little Emperor was still useful.]
[The Vermilion Empire was mired in the war of the deities and had no time to attend to itself. The envoy armies it sent were all annihilated by the Great General.]
[The seized Vermilion Ceremonial Scepter was used to harm the gods under Enma.]
[As one god after another fell, fewer and fewer gods responded to the call. Even with the Vermilion Ceremonial Scepter, there was no longer a response from surviving gods.]
[If one wanted to catch the surviving gods in a single net, there was only one method left, which was the Little Emperor.]
[As the last servant bloodline of the imperial house, as long as the Little Emperor was willing, he could obtain the response of the gods with the powerful will bestowed by Enma.]
[Yet how could a devout servant bow to an Oathbreaker.]
[The Great General imprisoned the Little Emperor and applied torture day and night. If not for the powerful will granted by the gods to a pure servant, he would long since have been unable to endure such inhuman torment.]
[Even so, her younger brother, the Little Emperor, did not submit. After months of harsh interrogation failed, the Great General resorted to more venomous methods.]
[The Great General implanted a germinating seed of Extreme Evil into the Little Emperor’s body and let the malice take root and sprout within her young brother’s body.]
[By now her brother was no longer human. Under the ravages and erosion of malice, perhaps tomorrow or the day after, the Little Emperor would lose his mind and become a walking corpse that only obeyed the Great General.]
[When that day came, all things under heaven would fall into Extreme Evil.]
[At this point the Saio Chisoku-hime was overcome with tears. She begged you to save the Little Emperor and save the people of the world.]
[You have learned the exact location where the Fire-Worshipping Emperor of Sakura Falls is imprisoned.]
[You wiped away the Saio Chisoku-hime’s tears and promised that you would go to the hall where the Little Emperor was imprisoned to meet him, and also promised that you would save the people of the world.]
[The Saio Chisoku-hime gradually stopped crying. Perhaps the oppressive feeling that the whole world was an enemy, pent up from long imprisonment in the deep palace, had finally released, and you were Enma’s Proxy whom she trusted completely. She slowly lowered her guard and fell asleep in your arms.]
[You placed the woman upon the bed and quietly left the hall.]
[You once more performed your escape art, merged into the night, and headed for the hall where the Little Emperor was imprisoned.]
Lin Xun glanced at the time. Only one hour remained before the Great General returned to the Imperial Palace.
He had to complete the rescue of the Little Emperor or the task of calling the surviving gods within one hour.
[Strangely, the closer you drew to the hall where the Little Emperor was imprisoned, the fewer the patrolling and guard samurai there were.]
[By the time you neared the hall, there was not a single guard samurai in your vicinity.]
[You furrowed your brow. Things did not seem simple.]
[The distant building was no different from the other halls, except for the lack of many samurai on guard.]
[You narrowed your eyes and observed carefully.]
[The area around the hall was silent and dark with no sign of people. Only a burly figure leaned at the hall’s main door.]
[You have discovered Extreme Evil hatamoto samurai.]
[Will you continue to infiltrate the hall in utter silence or cut down the hatamoto samurai first.]
The hatamoto samurai’s strength was extremely great, as could be inferred from the elder head of the Ogiwara Clan.
Dealing with the aged clan head had already caused such a commotion for Lin Xun. To eliminate in utter silence a hatamoto samurai in his prime, and one bearing the prefix Extreme Evil, was simply impossible.
If he caused too great a disturbance, it would draw the encirclement of endless samurai armies and might even draw the Great General.
“Hope the Ninja Master’s escape art holds up. Do not get discovered.”
[You brought your escape art to bear with all your might. Each footfall was light and cautious, not daring to make the slightest sound.]
[At an extremely slow pace, you approached the hall and tiptoed around the hatamoto samurai, edging toward the hall’s side.]
[…]
[You finally reached the window on the hall’s side and fiddled with the latch.]
[There was a faint click as the latch opened. But with no other samurai patrolling here and utter silence all around, even such a tiny sound felt piercingly loud.]
[Your heart jumped. You knew something was wrong.]
[You quickly pushed off with your toes. The energy called Qi surged within your body. With a single leap, you rose into the air.]
[Your form rose straight up and landed upon the upturned corner of the hall’s flying eaves.]
[You crouched and hid your body within the shadow of the roof-beast at the eaves corner.]
[The Extreme Evil hatamoto samurai had clearly heard the abnormal sound. He drew the sword at his waist and slowly approached the hall’s side.]
[The footsteps came closer and closer. You carefully craned your head to look.]
[The hatamoto samurai looked around beneath the eaves corner. After patrolling for a long while without seeing anyone approach, he could not help but yawn, sheathed his blade, and returned to stand guard at the main door.]
[You quietly breathed out and lifted your Qi to float down.]
[Carefully, you opened the window without making the slightest sound and slipped inside.]
[Maintaining stealth, you entered the hall.]
[The hall imprisoning the Little Emperor was utterly dark, without a glint of light, and permeated by a pungent stench of decay.]
[The stench was extremely foul, like the smell of rotting, maggot-infested rats in a gutter.]
[Forcing down your nausea, you soon adapted to the darkness and saw the hall’s interior.]
[In the depths of the hall’s darkness was a twisted shadow. Malicious branches and leaves sprouted from a body of flesh and blood, absorbing every nutrient available and taking root in the ground.]
[The twisted shadow no longer bore the slightest human shape. Sturdy, luxuriant roots had replaced what had once been human legs. The flourishing leaves and boughs had become the monster’s body.]
[The twisted shadow seemed to sense your arrival. The layers of leaves writhed, and from within them a childlike head poked out. It grinned at you and laughed without a sound.]
[The corners of its mouth stretched almost to its ears. The eerie smile made one’s back go cold.]
[You have discovered Extreme Evil Emperor of Sakura Falls.]
“Damn.”
Lin Xun could not help but curse.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. He knew he had come a step too late and that the Little Emperor had already fallen into Extreme Evil.
Perhaps the Great General had already learned the coordinates of the surviving gods from the Little Emperor’s mouth.
Perhaps even the last gods had likewise been corrupted by the evil god.
[T/N: Hime primarily means ‘princess’ or ‘young lady of noble birth’ for anyone curious.]