T/N: From now on, I will always translate this pronoun “祂” as “It,” since I’ve noticed that the gender of 祂 can be confusing. This pronoun is typically used to refer to deities, but in some novels, I’ve also seen it used for systems or other entities. According to the dictionary, its primary and most common meaning is “He,” though it can also mean “She.” However, to avoid any gender confusion, I will consistently use “It” in my translations.
Chapter 177: Who in This Court is Accusing This Official…’s Mother?
Day after day.
The black cocoon grew larger with each passing moment, absorbing the nutrients of the cherry blossom tree.
However, the tree’s nutrients were not infinite.
When the cherry blossom tree realized that Yamata no Orochi was not a “newborn” god, but had deceived it in some way, the tree stopped providing nutrients.
And in the black cocoon, a snake-like shape was constantly writhing, desperately trying to absorb nutrients from the tree.
But even so, the amount was negligible, enough only to maintain its own state, but not to grow.
To rely on absorbing the free-floating energy in the earth to restore its complete form would take who knew how long.
Yamata no Orochi clearly knew this as well.
“I need to find other ways to restore my power.”
A hoarse, bitter snake’s hiss slowly echoed.
It was too weak now.
When Susanoo had killed it, Yamata no Orochi had used all its power and consciousness to curse Susanoo, parasitizing its own consciousness onto the god-slayer.
And now, Susanoo had used a unique method to remove the curse, leaving only this one consciousness. The others had all been neutralized by Susanoo.
If all of Yamata no Orochi’s consciousness had remained and gathered, it would not have been so weak now.
Thinking of this, the black cocoon spewed out an unparalleled, filthy black aura, dark and gloomy, filled with an endless resentment and anger.
“Susanoo…!”
“I will surely, I will surely kill you…!”
“I will devour your entire body, I will crush your soul! I will stain your everything with my filthy power!”
Yamata no Orochi’s consciousness showed signs of confusion.
Being inside Susanoo’s body, combined with Susanoo’s unique method of eliminating the curse, had made Yamata no Orochi’s language a bit chaotic.
It referred to itself as “I,” but did not use “thou” for others, instead using “you,” mixing its past and present vocabulary.
Of course, this was insignificant to it.
What was most important was how to restore its power.
Its power’s upper limit still existed. What it needed to do was to obtain energy as much as possible.
“Divinity… energy…”
“My power is too weak now. I can’t go to the areas where other gods are to obtain divinity.”
In Yamata no Orochi’s current situation, never mind devouring other gods, it would be lucky not to be beaten up by their unconscious divinity.
Moreover, if the divinity of other gods sensed its existence, they would surely awaken a part of their consciousness. At that time, Yamata no Orochi wouldn’t even be able to run away.
Yamata no Orochi pondered.
Soon, it thought of a way.
“Those people who have multiplied on the ground, they’re like ants now, and many of them have a weak energy.”
“That energy is like divinity diluted a thousand times.”
“But as long as I eat enough…”
“—It’s feasible!”
Yamata no Orochi roared, and from within the black cocoon, a black, filthy substance fell.
It splattered on the ground, creating a puddle of mud.
Then, from within the mud…
Streams of filthy, purplish-black aura emerged one after another, floating towards the upwind and gradually seeping out of the ground.
Plants that encountered the purplish-black aura instantly turned black and lost all their life force.
A rabbit happened to pass by and sniffed the purplish-black aura. It immediately kicked its legs and died.
And on the dead rabbit’s abdomen, a bulge suddenly formed.
“Squelch—!”
The sound of flesh being pierced.
A deep black snake emerged from the rabbit’s abdomen, its forked tongue flickering. Its cold snake pupils looked down from the high mountain, able to see a distant town.
It lowered its body towards the town and slithered away.
A mountain cat leaped down from a tree, saw the dead rabbit, and took a bite, preparing to savor it. But before it could enjoy the taste, it also kicked its legs and died.
Not long after, another black snake emerged from the mountain cat’s head and headed towards the town.
If someone were to look down from the sky now, they would find that this phenomenon was continuously appearing in this large area, as hundreds, even thousands of black snakes swarmed towards the town from all directions.
It was a veritable plague of black snakes.
All the people and animals in this world, with the development of a thousand years, more or less possessed supernatural power. Those with insufficient concentration of supernatural power could not become supernatural users.
So, the black snakes were only born from animals. Their targets were the humans in the town, the supernatural users in the town.
They didn’t need to kill the humans, they just needed to…
—Take a bite.
Natsuba Main Residence.
Since Natsuba Rinrei and Natsuba Genryū’s fight, the Natsuba main residence had been unprecedentedly quiet for several days.
This was because Natsuba Genryū had, after a long time, left the main residence. With a part of his confidants, he had gone to Kyoto to see the Kamishiro imperial family.
And Natsuba Rinrei had taken this opportunity to return to the main residence as well, to tell Natsuba Hanae about her battle achievements.
Natsuba Rinrei’s expression was incredibly high-spirited. Her two silver twintails swayed with extra effort, and she gestured with her hands as she spoke.
“That day, that old geezer and I fought a world-shaking battle. Neither of us could do anything to the other!”
Hearing this, Natsuba Hanae nodded slightly, pursed her lips, and replied,
“Yes.”
Seeing that her little sister didn’t show the look of astonishment Rinrei remembered, but was instead unprecedentedly calm…
Natsuba Rinrei’s brow twitched slightly. She closed her eyes with a sigh and shook her head, continuing,
“Although that old geezer has peak A-rank strength, and I’m only a low A-rank, he couldn’t suppress me at all.”
“In fact, there was a period where I was even suppressing him.”
“But this is nothing. It was just a battle of a few small levels within A-rank.”
“Although in the end, I was only slightly inferior to that old geezer, I still lost.”
“But when I reach mid-A-rank, I have a feeling I can definitely go toe-to-toe with him!”
Hearing this, Natsuba Hanae said with a calm face,
“Yes.”
Natsuba Rinrei: “…”
Rinrei looked at Natsuba Hanae’s consistently bland expression. The look of astonishment and shock she had expected was not there; there was not a single change in Hanae’s expression.
Natsuba Rinrei was a little annoyed. Her cheeks puffed out, and she said with a hint of anger,
“I see you don’t understand at all.”
“But that’s understandable. You’re just an ordinary person. When that old geezer and I were fighting, you must have run far away, and you couldn’t understand the quality of my battle.”
Natsuba Rinrei complained and sat down beside Natsuba Hanae.
Since Rinrei was on the bed, her body even bounced a couple of times.
Her room had been completely destroyed in that battle, and Natsuba Genryū showed no signs of wanting to repair it.
So, Natsuba Rinrei was now staying in Natsuba Hanae’s room.
Natsuba Hanae’s room was not badly damaged, and with the help of some civil engineering-related supernatural users, it was restored to its original state in less than a day.
In front of Natsuba Rinrei and Natsuba Hanae, Chikari Makoto stood, hesitant to speak.
Looking at Natsuba Rinrei’s boasts, Chikari had to suppress the smile on her lips.
Natsuba Rinrei had long since told Chikari Makoto not to reveal her identity as a member of Summer Harvest Mountain to Natsuba Hanae. In fact, because of this, Makoto had even received a Calamity-level supernatural material as a benefit.
Little did Rinrei know, Chikari Makoto’s ‘mother’ was Natsuba Hanae, and Hanae had known all along.
And Hanae had also specifically told Chikari Makoto to just go along with what Natsuba Rinrei said.
As the meeting time drew closer, Chikari Makoto was looking forward more and more to Natsuba Rinrei’s expression at that time.
Chikari followed Natsuba Hanae’s gaze out the window.
Natsuba Rinrei also quickly noticed Natsuba Hanae’s gaze.
“Hanae, what are you looking at? What’s so interesting about staring at that oak tree? But the leaves on that oak tree have really yellowed a lot.”
“I remember in the past, the leaves on that oak tree never yellowed, even in winter.”
Natsuba Hanae continued to reply softly,
“Yes.”
“Things always have their own laws. The oak tree that symbolizes the current Natsuba conglomerate will also have its day of withering.”
And what Hanae had to do was just to slightly speed up this withering.
On the day Natsuba Genryū learned of Natsuba Taiga’s death, after Kujō Yūsuke had left the Natsuba estate, he had died tragically on his way back to the Kujō family.
A single burn from the Sanctuary Flame would not leave any trace.
With Kujō Sujin already suspicious of Natsuba Genryū, if Sujin couldn’t find Kujō Yūsuke, who hadn’t returned for a few days, he would only think that the Natsuba conglomerate had been very clean in their work.
Next, as long as Hanae patiently waited for the meeting to end, she could then wipe out the Kujō family first.
With the Kujō family suspicious of the Natsuba conglomerate, they would not ask for help at the first moment. This would undoubtedly greatly reduce the difficulty of the two conglomerates joining forces.
After all, if Natsuba Genryū came with a divine artifact, and with the Kujō family’s god, there would inevitably be some variables.
And Natsuba Hanae’s move was to completely nip these variables in the bud.
Because she had not yet seen the strength of a divine artifact, or the strength of a mid-level or higher god, Hanae could not be too careful.
There was one more thing.
Natsuba Genryū had actually taken people to Kyoto, which had exceeded Natsuba Hanae’s expectations.
Hanae didn’t know what he was thinking.
Could Genryū be going to Kyoto to learn more about Hanae’s battle with Kamishiro Naraku, to judge her strength?
But her strength was now far from what it was before.
Natsuba Hanae pondered.
Before the war with the Kujō family in a dozen or so days, she suddenly felt a little bored.
And…
[Main Mission: Seize all of the Natsuba Conglomerate!]
[56% Complete]
[You will draw a new template]
Although during this period, Natsuba Hanae had not added any new branch families, the main mission had been advanced.
The ultimate reason was actually very simple: the deaths of Natsuba Kouryu and Natsuba Taiga.
Sometimes, seizing all of the Natsuba conglomerate was not just about taking over its forces, but about eliminating its forces, while her own original Natsuba conglomerate forces remained unchanged. This could also greatly increase the completion rate.
However, the new template she had drawn made Natsuba Hanae a little confused and puzzled.
[The template you have drawn is—Yamata no Orochi!]
[Yamata no Orochi Template (Special): This template can only be used on Yamata no Orochi]
Natsuba Hanae of course knew Yamata no Orochi.
And the black snake that had fallen off Natsuba Taiga before—the aura it exuded was very similar, even identical, to the scale that Kamishiro Hime had shown Hanae.
The conclusion she had come to was naturally that Yamata no Orochi had not yet died, but had survived through a special method.
Could it be that she had to subdue Yamata no Orochi as her daughter?
But leaving aside whether Yamata no Orochi was male or female, it was a god who had lived for who knew how many thousands of years, and its mind was extremely vast. To subdue it as her daughter was easier said than done.
Natsuba Hanae fell into a deep thought. She felt that this template was a bit useless.
Kyoto.
A few days later, Natsuba Genryū had arrived in Kyoto.
To give Kamishiro Hime a good impression, he had specially gone to the Ryūko Shrine and had worshipped its statue before going to Kamishiro Hime’s location.
However, Genryū didn’t know why…
When he was worshipping the bird-masked statue, the Saigū of the Ryūko Shrine appeared and was trying to hold back her laughter. Genryū didn’t know what she was laughing at.
Even as the head of the Natsuba conglomerate, just worshipping a god shouldn’t be so funny.
If an ordinary person had laughed at him like this, he would have already cut them down with his sword.
But the woman was a Saigū. If Genryū did that, not to mention whether he could kill her, he would definitely offend the Kamishiro imperial family.
After all, the Ryūko Shrine was now a state religion.
With a heart full of confusion, Natsuba Genryū came from the Ryūko Shrine to Kamishiro Hime’s palace.
Kamishiro Hime’s palace was not far from the Ryūko Shrine. As an A-rank supernatural user, even with a few B-rank confidants, it only took less than ten minutes to get there.
Although the Ryūko Shrine was a state religion, Kamishiro Hime’s palace and the shrine were really close.
It was worth noting that Kamishiro Hime had not yet returned to Takamagahara, but was still in Kyoto. Genryū didn’t know why.
Of course, this also made his trip more convenient.
The current representative of the imperial family was this Kamishiro Hime. After learning that she had advanced to A-rank, most of the imperial family’s power was being transferred to her.
And Kamishiro Hime was still young. Although she had received the imperial family’s imperial education, she was much easier to persuade than the two old and shrewd A-ranks of the imperial family.
And Kamishiro Hime had just become the imperial family’s external representative; she probably needed some achievements urgently.
To deal with Summer Harvest Mountain, this new and threatening force, once successful, would also be a good thing for Hime.
So for this trip, Natsuba Genryū was extremely confident.
When he arrived at Kamishiro Hime’s palace, the confidants by his side were stopped. Natsuba Genryū didn’t mind; this was a necessary etiquette.
A servant wearing a tengu mask led him to a side courtyard and pushed open the door.
Natsuba Genryū immediately saw, on a high platform, a figure in a white, gold-threaded robe, with a green mist coiling around her.
He knelt on one knee, his words straight to the point.
“The head of the Natsuba conglomerate greets Lady Hime.”
“I request that Lady Hime join forces with the Natsuba conglomerate to annihilate the rebellious force—Summer Harvest Mountain.”
Wow finally a good suprise snek wife