"Sword Master! Please take this sword and kill Shuten Doji for me!"

Minamoto no Yorimitsu knelt on the ground, his head resting on the wooden floor, and bowed to the ground.

The dim candlelight was swaying in the room, and the demonic ukiyo-e paintings on the walls on both sides were twisting in the firelight, making the atmosphere in the room even more weird.

"Sword Master? What are you talking about? I'm not." The woman waved her hands repeatedly and comforted gently, "And it's not your fault that you can't kill Shuton Doji. I just said that I want to explain why you can't kill Shuten Doji.

You have to understand weird concepts.”

"Please give me some advice."

Minamoto Yorimitsu sat up straight, like a lowly servant who obeyed his master's instructions.

"I want to ask you a question first."

"Excuse me."

"Why did you kill Shuten Doji?"

"Shuten Doji kills innocent people indiscriminately. Countless people died because of him. Of course I want to kill him."

"Conquer demons and benefit the world?"

"yes."

"You killed Shuten Doji and saved many people, and then what?"

"Then? Then...then all the people around here were saved." Minamoto no Yorimitsu didn't know why.

"Well, Shuten-douji is dead, but there are great monsters like Shuten-douji in other places. Do you still want to kill them one by one?"

"..."

Minamoto Yorimitsu was silent.

The woman continued: "I know how to make bicycles. You might as well learn how to make bicycles from me, and then teach everyone how to make bicycles. From now on, everyone here can ride a bicycle."

Hearing this, Minamoto no Yorimitsu was stunned. He looked at the female sword master with a puzzled expression, wondering what the other party's words meant.

"I mean, it's useless if you kill Shutun. If you kill Shutun, you kill Shutun. Everyone knows that you killed him, but so what? No one can kill him except you.

, but it’s different if you teach them to build bicycles. If you build a bicycle, they will each build one for themselves.”

"Wait a minute, I don't understand what you mean. Can you explain it in more detail?" Minamoto Yorimitsu asked.

The female swordsman let out a burst of laughter and asked gently: "Does it have to be you who kills Shuten? Can no one kill Shuton except you? Do you think everyone is expecting you to kill Shuton Doji?"

"Of course!" Minamoto Yorimitsu exclaimed, "This is my destiny!"

But immediately, he lowered his head again, clenched his fists with a pale face, and said in shame: "But I failed."

The female sword master burst out laughing: "Hahahaha! There is no shortage of self-righteous people in the world. They don't expect you to kill Shutun, they expect a way to kill Shuton!"

"Because they have no other way, they expect you to do it, and asking you to do it is just a helpless method they chose...Methods, methods, the most important thing is the method! Not a certain person!"

Minamoto Yorimitsu was as silent as a stone, he couldn't understand it at all.

The female swordsman continued:

"Weird, is it weird? I've been thinking about this question recently... But the pursuit of methods is definitely right. It's like a bicycle. Everyone wants to go on a long journey. You ride a bicycle and carry them back and forth.

They seem to need you and appreciate you.

"But people are riding in your car just because they don't have bicycles... They don't need you on a bicycle, they need bicycles."

"Can you please stop mentioning the bicycle? I'm already confused." Minamoto no Laiguang was sweating profusely and his back was dripping.

"I'm sorry, what I said is too abstract, but you don't actually want to save those people. You are just addicted to your own legend. In short, it is right to teach everyone how to build bicycles. These are the manufacturing blueprints for bicycles."

After saying that, the woman took out a roll of paper from somewhere and placed it on the tatami.

"What?!"

"I'm leaving, General Minamoto no Yorimitsu. See you again if we have a chance."

She stood up, turned around, opened the door, and walked out.

Minamoto no Yorimitsu's lips trembled, he held the boy Che Yasuna tightly, stood up, chased him to the porch, and shouted angrily: "Are you going to die without saving me? Why can't you accept this destiny!"

"Don't save yourself from death? Haha, death is just a result, it does not lead to the future." The woman smiled calmly, opened the door and walked out.

"Can you...can you tell me your name?" Minamoto Noraimitsu whispered softly to the other person's back, feeling that all the dignity he had left was lost.

The woman stopped for a moment and replied: "He is just a person who wants to pacify the world. It doesn't matter who he is or what his name is... If you must remember one name, it would be the Ping clan."

Just like that, her voice disappeared in the glow of the stars and moon that night, and dissipated in the night wind.

But her voice has traveled through the years and has been echoing in Minamoto Yorimitsu's ears.

As time passed, Minamoto no Yorimitsu still kept in mind those confusing words, but had already given up thinking.

Now, looking at the burning village in front of him, Minamoto no Yorimitsu suddenly remembered these things again.

The howls of the villagers came from afar, mixed with the crackling sounds of burning charred wood, faint and vague.

He suddenly remembered what he had said to Pingshi back then.

He said that he wanted to kill the demon in order to save the people who were harmed by the drunken boy.

but now……

He actually turned into a murderous monster.

When did he lose his vows and goals? Was it that great success that seemed to be at his fingertips, so close yet so far away, that eroded his mind?

What she said is absolutely correct.

It turns out that he was not trying to save the people, but was just trying to kill Shuten and become the famous Minamoto norimitsu who was predicted to conquer the Shuten boy!

Salvation is just a lie, and achieving unparalleled fame is the desire deep in his heart!

"How could I become like this? How could I do something like this?"

Hot tears flowed from the golden pupils. Minamoto Noraiguang looked at his blood-stained hands and felt that something he had always believed in was broken.

The sins committed are irreparable.

He believed that his destiny was to kill demons and save the weak and helpless.

In the end, he turned into a monster that everyone hated.

…

In the burning ruins, the flames slowly cooled down. Zhou Ming pushed away a huge tree with one hand and stood up with force.

The hunt is not over yet. He must not fall before Minamoto no Yorimitsu falls.

If he wants to follow Sister Xingyue's path, he must pass through the door hidden deep in the iron city, walk through the Shinto, and get the stone.

Next to Zhou Ming, a blue light flashed, and a stranger suddenly appeared in front of Zhou Ming. He helped Zhou Ming pick up the big sword and long sword that were left on the road.

"Now that Minamoto no Yorimitsu has been seriously injured, we can retreat temporarily and consider the long term!" Yanagawa Hisaku suggested.
Chapter completed!