A person in Japan, a sword that soars to immortality.

The Shinobi Prosthetic Arm, an important item in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, can be simply understood as a "mechanical hand" that can be infused with various items and then used to unleash a variety of magical effects by consuming the vengeful spirits of the dead—paper dolls.

But this is only the role of the Shinobi Prosthetic Arm in the game. In fact, it has another layer of background, which is that it serves as a carrier for storing karma.

In other words, the person who wears the Shinobi Prosthetic can transform into a Shura demon.

But when Taiyi saw this thing, which was actually pressed against Yuhu's right arm, he felt as if his brain had shut down.

How are the cannibal forces and the Fountainhead Palace forces connected?

But clearly, now is not the time to analyze the causes and consequences.

Looking at Yu Hu's right arm, the right hand engulfed in crimson flames, and his azure left hand, Taiyi thought to himself:

"The God's Hand in the left hand, the Prosthetic Hand in the right?"

"But I also had a backup plan."

I glanced at the system. Although there were only 10 seconds left to switch, that should be enough to kill the Jade Pot instantly!

Just when I was worried about not being able to find the mastermind behind the Nezu ninja, they unexpectedly delivered themselves to my door.

Jade Pot, I'll take your head!

"You think you can trap me with this blood demon magic? Break it!"

boom!

The three-colored air currents circulated rapidly, instantly expanding the water prison to its maximum size before it exploded completely.

Then Taiyi, like a tiger released from its cage, unleashed dozens of rotating sword energies, which twisted into one and arrived in front of the jade pot in the blink of an eye, like a drill.

"Whoosh...whoosh!!!"

"I don't want it anymore, you can have it!!!"

Yu Hu's small mouth in its eye sockets was grinning, but after seeing Tai Yi's attack, it immediately felt its scalp tingle and all the fish scales on its body stand up.

Damn it, why give such a good thing away to this human for nothing?

He had originally planned to kill Taiichi by using his shed-skin true form and the Asura power within his prosthetic hand, but now it seems he had really overthought things.

With his left hand, Yu Hu grabbed the prosthetic arm, twisted it sharply, and then threw it at Tai Yi. He immediately retreated back into the pot.

Ok?

Just when he was about to strike the jade pot, the other party threw the item to him and ran away?

The sword energy, which had been twisted into a single, drill-like strand, was about to make contact with the prosthetic hand when it immediately dispersed and shot off in other directions.

A hand then reached out from the middle and firmly grasped the prosthetic arm.

"What do you mean? You came here just to deliver a package?"

Looking at the mechanical hand in his hand and the clay pot standing alone on the roof, Taiyi suddenly felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.

With a casual flick of his sword, the clay pot was instantly cleaved in two, but apart from a dismembered small fish, the jade pot was nowhere to be found.

Standing on the rooftop, Taiyi released his divine sense, closed his eyes, and sensed the surroundings. He discovered that there were several clay pots that still retained the aura of the jade pot, placed in various corners of the castle town.

However, they are arranged in a way that gradually extends towards the suburbs.

"Did you run away?"

Opening his eyes, Taiyi looked at the crowd around him who were putting out the fire, and heard the incessant wails. He took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

The battle tonight is finally over.

However, he really couldn't figure out why Yu Hu would give him this thing.

Taichi casually tucked the prosthetic arm into his lower back, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and after a few glides, disappeared into the night sky in the direction of Himeji Castle.

......

The next day, several fast horses rushed out of Himeji Castle and, after leaving the Himeji Domain, began galloping towards Kyoto and Edo.

At each post station, a cry of surprise would rang out, and then another person would ride a fast horse to continue to the next post station.

Within a few days, shocking news spread throughout the major domains of Sakura.

"The Himeji Domain successfully suppressed the rebels, and the daimyo Sakai Tadamasa was assassinated!"

Edo, Honmaru-dono.

After Tokugawa Ienari folded the letter, he handed it to the side, and his page immediately came over to take it.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly raised his head and fixed his gaze on Matsudaira Aoki.

"Aoki, why did this happen even though Taichi went?"

"Can you give me a reasonable... explanation?"

Upon hearing the question, Matsudaira Aoki immediately leaned down, his head resting on the tatami mat. His lips moved, and after hesitating for a long time, he answered bitterly:

"Your subject cannot."

Huh~

Seeing the other man's predicament, the old Chinese man, Tadakuni Mizuno, remained expressionless on the surface, but inwardly sneered.

He wasn't the only one dissatisfied; many other daimyo who routinely climbed the city walls to pay homage to the general, as well as other ministers, were also very unhappy.

But the most unhappy one was Tokugawa Ienari.

As a powerful retainer outside the Tokugawa family, the Sakai clan was an important pawn that Tokugawa placed near Kyoto.

Although he was a hereditary successor, he valued him more than the three great families and the three great ministers.

Himeji was an important pass that held back Kansai and resisted Kyushu, and it was also a key location for the Tokugawa family to monitor Kyoto.

Therefore, we must not let Mr. Sakai feel disheartened.

"Investigate this matter thoroughly and give those who are loyal to us a satisfactory explanation!"

Tokugawa Ienari spoke with a grim face and a serious tone.

"I understand."

Matsudaira Aoki never raised his head from beginning to end.

......

On the sea.

On a large ship used for transporting grain, Taiyi sat on the roof of the cabin, letting the sea breeze blow his long hair, while he kept his eyes closed and meditated, his hands constantly forming hand seals.

Seagulls circled overhead, and occasionally landed on the side of the ship or rested on the roof.

However, because Taiichi was sitting in the middle, no seagulls landed around him.

As he practiced breathing exercises, he crossed his hands and tucked his index fingers inward to form a "array" seal. Soon, the seagulls above his head filled the cabin ceiling.

Another one tried to land in the middle, but after touching Taiyi's shoulder, it cried out in surprise and struggled to fly back into the air.

"Hoo..." Taiyi opened his eyes, looked at the azure sea, and slowly exhaled.

"This trip to Himeji was definitely worthwhile."

Taiyi smiled slightly, feeling extremely pleased with himself.

Inside the cabin were Sachi and the female ninja who had been taken prisoner.

In the past few days, he made full use of his time to obtain all the methods of ki training from the ninjas of Nezu.

Of course, it's impossible to know all of them, because those who knew the most were all eliminated by themselves.

Furthermore, he arranged for the heads of those people, as well as the maimed Nezu ninja prisoners, to be escorted back to Edo by land to Sugen.

Although it wasn't all the knowledge, he memorized the most important hand seals, the accompanying incantations, and the knowledge about the breath-concealing technique.

The content concerning the Nine Syllable Mantra, in particular, had the greatest impact on him.

Just as he thought, different hand seals could grant different buffs.

It improves the quality of Qi, accelerates the circulation of Qi, and restrains the flow of Qi.

The seal with the character "在" brings Taiyi's deduction of the Five Elements Returning to the Origin a step closer.

"All things are level, and heaven and earth are one with me."

"With the seal, I have a much better grasp of the five elements."

"Now all that's left is to obtain the breathing techniques of the earth and wood elements."

Extend a finger, and the seagulls overhead seem to receive a signal, naturally landing on it.

Stroking the downy feathers on the seagull's head, Taiichi began to ponder where to obtain these two breathing techniques.

"It's been a while since we last contacted the Demon Slayer Corps. I wonder how Raizo and the others are recovering."

"I guess he and Wu are getting married soon."

Taiyi thought to himself with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, in a Kanagawa post town, a woman dressed in white with red hakama, wearing a white top and red bottom, was enjoying a large bowl of noodles on a bench in front of a soba shop.

Besides her alluring face, her coat, embroidered not with pine and crane but with a white snake, also attracted the attention of many passersby.

After bringing over another bowl of soba, the shop owner looked at the strangely dressed shrine maiden and asked curiously:

"Divine Child, are you waiting for someone here?"

"A person? Hmm..." The shrine maiden smiled, ignoring the stunned shop owner and the customers around her, and said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand:

"It's not really a person, it's more like the sun returning from the sea."