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nThen, they looked at Shimura Kumiko, who had fallen to the ground. The sacrificial spirit in her body had been killed without even putting up a struggle.

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nThe wooden house was dead silent. Only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard. No one, including Shimura Takashi, dared to chase after Chen Yiming.

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n…

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nAs Chen Yiming made another move and killed one of the spirits of the Shimura clan, that very night, the outside of the shrine was very lively. There were many people coming and going.

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nThese people were not those who usually came to pay their respects. They were all from the large clans in the region.

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nCoffin after coffin was moved to the shrine, and the aura of the entire shrine suddenly became sinister and terrifying, like a real ghost town.

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nAt this point, the big clans in the region could only give it their all. This was because if they rashly transferred their sacrificial spirits to other regions, they would be devoured by the local clans as a lone force.

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nTherefore, even though they knew that they were falling into the head priest Matsumoto Shigejiro’s scheme, there was no other choice. The Shimura clan was a case in point.

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nThey thought that they could hide their sacrificial spirit by sealing it away, but who would have thought that before it could put up any resistance, it would have died for no reason?

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nIn a secret underground altar in the shrine, on the altar was the corpse of a mutant beast. The corpse twitched from time to time, and it was clearly not completely dead yet.

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nThe head priest, Matsumoto Shigejiro, was carrying out a ritual. He was muttering something that no one could understand and kneeling from time to time.

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nBehind him, two beautiful women were quietly sitting and waiting.

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nThe well-endowed one was called Akino Akemi, and the tall one was called Takeda Akina. Both of them were priests at the shrine, and they were also living hosts for sacrificial spirits.

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nAfter a long time, the ritual ended.

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nMatsumoto Shigejiro stood up and turned to say, “The person from the Daxia Kingdom who is half a foot in the master realm is about to arrive at the shrine. At this moment, we have no way to retreat. We need the two of you to sacrifice yourselves.”

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nAkino Akemi and Takeda Akina trembled when they heard this.

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nEven though they had roughly known what he needed them to do before they came to this place, they were still afraid when the time came.

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nThe specific method of sacrifice was to take a special medicine from the Japanese royal family that could temporarily weaken the sacrificial spirit.

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nThis way, the weaker spirits at the peak of the warrior realm would naturally be unable to resist and would be devoured by the stronger spirits.

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nHowever, this method could only be used on spirits in living hosts. It was equivalent to secretly attacking the spirit in their bodies. Unlike methods to seal away the spirit, this medicine would cause permanent damage to the spirit.

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nTherefore, as long as they consumed this special medicine, either the spirits in their bodies would be successfully devoured, or the spirit would go berserk and devour the soul of its host.

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nMoreover, even if the spirit in their body was successfully devoured, the host would not be able to survive. This was because the external spirit had no rationality and would devour the soul of the host as well.

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nMatsumoto Shigejiro’s expression was solemn as he continued, “This expert from the Daxia Kingdom is only trying to use the opportunity to kill the sacrificial spirits to go down his path of swordsmanship.

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nAnd the Daxia Kingdom already has two martial masters. No matter what, we can’t let a third one appear.”

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nAkino Akemi couldn’t help but say, “Head Priest, even if the strongest sacrificial spirit in the shrine devours the sacrificial spirits in our bodies, it’s far from enough for it to break through to the master realm. It’s not even enough to take even half a step into the master realm.”

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nThe symbol of the master realm was the power to affect natural phenomena. This was not something that could be achieved with just additive accumulation. All the large clans in Japan understood this. Otherwise, they would have gathered the power of the entire country to nurture a large number of sacrificial spirits at the master realm.

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nTakeda Akina couldn’t help but add on, “Head Priest, at the level of the peak of the warrior realm, simply devouring those of the same level is almost useless. Rather than rashly sacrificing the two of us, it might be better to save these two portions of combat strength.”

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nMatsumoto Shigejiro looked at the ceiling of the underground altar and explained, “Of course I know the best solution is to seal off the entire shrine and let all the sacrificial spirits in the region fight and devour each other to create the strongest spirit.

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nHowever, who knows when that expert from the Daxia Kingdom will descend? We don’t have time to wait slowly.”

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nAlthough Matsumoto Shigejiro did not say it explicitly, Akino Akemi and Takeda Akina could hear the meaning hidden in his words.

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nHe planned to let the strongest sacrificial spirit in the shrine devour the spirits in their bodies first. At the peak of the warrior realm, although it could not cause a qualitative change, a certain amount of improvement could be achieved.

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nNext, the sacrificial spirits transferred over from the various large clans to the shrine would become the food for the strongest spirit in the shrine.

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nThis way, although its accumulation of spirits was far from enough to reach the master realm, it was still possible for it to temporarily have the power to fight against someone who was not yet fully a martial master.

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nHowever, this would undoubtedly offend all the large clans in the region centered around Osaka City. Matsumoto Shigejiro would be under unimaginable pressure after this.

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nThis was because the evolution of such spirits followed a rule. If a qualitative change could not be achieved by devouring other souls, they would return to their original form.

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nMatsumoto Shigejiro finished what he had to say and fell silent, waiting for the two of them to make their choice.

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nThe conversation between the three of them was understood by all except the sacrificial spirits within the women’s bodies. However, Akino Akemi and Takeda Akina could communicate with the spirits to put up a resistance, so Matsumoto Shigejiro could not force them to take the special medicine.

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nThe entire underground altar fell silent.

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nOnce the two of them decided to sacrifice themselves, the outcome for them would be death.

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nAfter some time, Akino Akemi and Takeda Akina eventually chose to take the special medicine.

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nSoon, a black shadow appeared on the altar, and many tentacles pierced the bodies of the two women.

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nAfter a series of gurgling sounds, the entire underground altar fell silent again. The two women lying on the ground had blank expressions on their faces. Matsumoto Shigejiro squatted down and stretched out his arm to close their eyes.

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n…

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nThe sky had just turned bright.

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nChen Yiming and Asou Nishiko strolled through Osaka City, heading towards the shrine outside the city.

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nThe shrines contained powerful sacrificial spirits, so it was naturally impossible for them to be built within the cities. They were usually built near the space-travel passages so that it was convenient to catch mutant beasts to feed the spirits.

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nAfter leaving the city, the journey was smooth sailing. They did not see anyone on the way. Occasionally, they would encounter mutant beasts that were hunting for food. Chen Yiming didn’t even need to make a move, and just let Asou Nishiko deal with them.

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nThe two of them were not far from Osaka City, so most of the mutant beasts wandering around were at the lower levels of the disciple realm.

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nChen Yiming suddenly asked, “How did the Japanese come up with this method of using the blood of virgin girls as a medium to create a sacrificial spirit?”

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nHe thought about how there was a limit to the number of sacrificial spirits in Japan. He did not know how long it would take for them to recover after this fierce harvest.

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nHowever, the reason for creating new life through martial arts on the blue planet was due to the invasion of the otherworld. Generally speaking, one could always find the corresponding clues in the otherworld.

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nThe Daxia Kingdom did not allow such sacrificial spirits to be created, so he had never read about them in any document.

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nAsou Nishiko remembered her status as a servant and explained, “There are humanoid creatures in the otherworld. The eastern countries call them barbarians, and the western countries call them ogres.

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nThese humanoid creatures hunted powerful creatures and sacrificed them to their gods.

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nIn addition, it is not only Japan that knows how to make use of the power of the sacrificial spirits. Most of the countries in Southeast Asia are the same. It’s just that the form of the spirits is slightly different.”

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nWhen Chen Yiming heard about the barbarians, he immediately understood.

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nHe knew about these humanoid creatures from the otherworld. They were very powerful, and their average cultivation talent was much higher than that of humans.

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nIn this race, there were not only powerful warriors, but also those who had mastered various special abilities, similar to the bloodline warriors.

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