"?!?!"
After Gui Long and his group saw Washizu's hairy arm, their eyes first showed shock, then turned strange.
They looked at Morgott, then at Washizu, their suspicion practically overflowing.
"What are you all thinking?"
Morgott flicked his finger, and several golden lights shot out, creating bumps on the foreheads of Gui Long and the others.
"Ouch!" Gui Long cried out in pain. Even with the Hannya mask, he could feel the swelling on his forehead.
He rubbed his forehead through the mask, then stopped thinking about irrelevant things. He didn't want any more bumps on his head.
"You are?!"
Washizu finally noticed Morgott, whose aura had been concealed. Seeing the horns on Morgott's forehead and the downy feathers on his exposed body, he couldn't help but take a few steps back.
This guy was exactly what they would become in the future!
"Morgott, you can understand it as... someone born with this 'illness.'"
Morgott looked up at the people behind Washizu. Although they had bandaged all their exposed skin, the familiar aura within them made Morgott feel a sense of closeness.
It was the aura of the Crucible of Life, the source of all life in The Lands Between. A giant crucible that melted all living beings together, without distinction.
"Congenital? So that means we really became like this pig due to some later factor?" Washizu said, glancing at Ember, who looked innocent beside him.
"Why are you looking at me? If it weren't for me, you'd be like him." Ember walked over to Gui Long and pulled off the Hannya mask from his face.
"Be careful! That mask is expensive!" Gui Long exclaimed worriedly when he saw the Hannya mask he had custom-made for a high price now in Ember's hand.
"Forget the mask, touch your nose," Ember said to Gui Long, waving the mask.
"My nose? My nose is perfectly fine, isn't it?"
"Damn it, when did I start bleeding?!"
Gui Long initially didn't pay much attention to Ember's words, but after feeling the wetness on his fingertips, he immediately cried out in surprise.
Gui Long's palm was covered in fresh red blood—he didn't know when he had started having a nosebleed.
"See? If it weren't for me, you'd be even worse off than him." Ember pointed at Gui Long, whose face was smeared from panic, and raised an eyebrow.
"It would be better if you could tell us about the side effects beforehand!" Washizu glared at Ember.
If he hadn't been the most prestigious and powerful person in Higi Village, some unspeakable horrors would likely have occurred the first time someone in the village manifested the Crucible Aspects.
When an anomaly suddenly appears among desperate people, it means that accumulated malice has found an outlet.
Fortunately, Washizu had the ability to seal this channel, which kept Higi Village free from turmoil.
"What a hellish place? It's evil!" After realizing his nosebleed wouldn't stop, Gui Long snatched the mask back from Ember and put it on again.
Then he hurriedly said, "Money for goods, quickly!"
Washizu readily agreed. His original purpose for coming here was to exchange for grain. Meeting Ember was purely an accident.
"Everyone, put the things on."
Washizu waved to the villagers behind him, then took the lead in carrying a basket full of crystal marrow onto the cargo ship.
Around the cargo ship, some people were unloading, others were loading, and for a moment, there was a lively atmosphere.
The people of Higi Village had extraordinary strength. While ordinary people could only carry one sack of rice, they could carry at least three.
Under these ox-strong villagers, the cargo ship, only about ten meters long, was quickly loaded and unloaded.
"Goodbye, and good luck to you all." After a simple inventory of the goods, Gui Long impatiently ran onto the deck. He suspected that if he delayed any longer, he might end up stuck on Yashiori Island.
"Goodbye, and thank you for the ride!" Seeing Gui Long bidding farewell from the deck, Ember also waved back.
However, the latter shivered violently upon hearing his words and quickly retreated into the ship's cabin.
This made Ember wonder if he had said something wrong.
"Heh heh, goodbye, I hope this fellow lives well." Washizu also waved to Gui Long, speaking with a blessing.
"You and that Gui Long are quite familiar?" Ember asked in surprise, seeing Washizu's actions.
Didn't they say red and blue are the best combination? How is red and purple also acceptable?
"Can't I offer a blessing if we're not familiar?" Washizu took a deep breath and hoisted the neatly stacked sacks on the ground onto his shoulder.
He carried two sacks, each weighing dozens of pounds, one on each shoulder. Even so, he didn't seem out of breath when he spoke.
"That guy is a decent channel. Through him, we can get a lot of scarce items."
With every step Washizu took, he left distinct footprints in the damp mud.
He looked at the decayed vegetation on Yashiori Island and sighed. Ever since Yashiori Island became like this, the environment on the island had been getting worse and worse.
Washizu seriously doubted, if it weren't for the large tree Ember planted in the village, would things still be as they are now?
The answer was no.
So, Washizu silently accepted the changes in himself.
Survive first, as for other things, he would consider them later.
Ember was in the middle of the crowd, watching the silently advancing people, and he inexplicably felt they resembled pack animals.
But being pack animals wouldn't do, Ember stroked his chin, thinking about how to make them more spirited.
But just as Ember was pondering how to make Washizu and the others grow beautiful and sharp horns, the advancing crowd suddenly stopped.
"Hmm? Can't carry it anymore?" Ember ran to the very front of the team, where Washizu had already placed the sacks from his shoulders in a relatively dry patch of withered grass under a tree.
"No, there's someone ahead." Washizu shook his head. He pointed to the trees ahead, where a trail of blood remained.
It had been raining continuously on Yashiori Island, and the bloodstains looked very fresh, not like dried blood.
Only someone who had recently been injured passing through here would cause such a phenomenon.
"A few of you, come with me." Washizu put on the Hannya mask unique to samurai and nodded to the people behind him.
Then Ember followed.
"..."
Ember suddenly felt Washizu's accumulated aura dissipate, transforming him from a powerful wandering samurai into an unknown grunt.
Washizu even lowered his right hand, which had been gripping his sword. He strode casually towards the blood-stained bushes ahead.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"
The sound of rustling leaves arose, and Ember followed, peering in.
What appeared before him was a Shogunate soldier whose uniform was soaked in red.
He wore purple armor like other Shogunate Army soldiers, but it was heavily scarred, and some of the armor plates had long since gone missing.
Beneath the purple armor was blood-stained cloth. His injuries seemed very severe; blood not only covered his cloth uniform but also dyed the muddy water beneath him red.
"Hoo... hoo..., Ro... Ronin?"
Noticing the movement outside, the soldier gasped with difficulty. Upon seeing Washizu, dressed as a samurai, and Ember, a 'tin can,' he visibly relaxed.
The specific manifestation was that he started gushing blood. It seemed he had been tensing his body earlier, trying to prevent blood from flowing out of his wounds.
"So... so good, this... this..., take it..., Grand Narukami Shrine..."
The soldier tremblingly pulled out a blood-stained note from his bosom.
As if doubting that Washizu and Ember would heed his instructions, he forced out another breath and said:
"This... this matter... is of great importance. If it can be delivered..., you will... you will..."
The soldier hadn't finished speaking when his eyes rolled back, and he fell straight down, gushing blood.
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