Looking at Soma Kosuke, whose hair was completely white,
Qin Ze sighed:
"I still rember when you first enrolled in Tokyo Academy."
"That year, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and you sat alone in front of your easel, troubled by the trees full of flowers."
"For three whole days, you didn't even touch a brush to the paper."
"I asked you why you weren't painting, and you said you couldn't capture even a ten-thousandth of the cherry blossoms' beauty, nor the decisive spirit of their fleeting lives."
"You ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) felt your brush was too powerless."
Qin Ze's lips curved into a gentle smile.
"I told you that your brush was powerless because your heart was bound by rules and restrictions."
"Paint whatever you want to paint."
"Even if you only paint a single petal, as long as that petal contains what you want to express, it is the best painting in the world."
"You were so young then, full of vigor."
He looked at the aging Soma Kosuke before him, his eyes filled with lingering lancholy.
"But I didn't expect to see you again so old."
Soma Kosuke's cloudy eyes reddened slightly, and he bowed deeply again.
"Ti turns, years are ruthless; people will eventually grow old."
"After all, nearly forty years have passed since you, Master, died in battle."
Qin Ze's smile grew even brighter.
"In that case, I must thank Kujō Kōji for giving us, master and disciple, the chance to reunite."
He turned to Kujō Kōji, his eyes filled with genuine admiration.
"I never thought that there would truly be a Divine Artifact in this world that could resurrect the dead."
"It truly gave a huge surprise."
However, upon hearing the word "surprise," all color drained from Soma Kosuke's face.
He looked up, disappointnt and pain intertwined deep within his eyes.
"Master, do you know how many people Kujō Kōji sacrificed to resurrect you...?"
His voice trembled with emotion, every word seemingly squeezed through gritted teeth.
"A full 130,000 innocent Sakura Country residents!"
Soma Kosuke's eyes glead with indignant bloodshot streaks; he stared intently at Qin Ze, his voice hoarse with accusation.
"Do you still feel surprised now?"
Instantly, the air on the entire rooftop seed to solidify.
Everyone's gaze focused on the sudden confrontation.
Qin Ze's smile also slowly receded.
Kujō Kōji, however, seed to have heard sothing trivial.
He calmly picked up a glass of red wine, gently swirling it.
Crimson liquid left streaks on the inside of the glass.
"Mr. Soma, why be so agitated?"
His voice was flat, without a ripple.
"Anyway, they were just ordinary people who died."
"They were rely ants living in this world, insignificant. What's there to regret?"
He lifted his eyes, the gaze behind his gold-rimd glasses shining with cold, self-evident light.
"Using their lowly lives to exchange for Mr. Qin Ze's noble life."
"In my opinion, it's quite worth it."
In the shadows of the corner, Zhou Huai was slightly startled.
pendulum of life.
The Kujo Family had actually already used the pendulum of life.
He was still searching the world for clues about this Divine Artifact, yet the other party had already used it to resurrect an SS-Class Expert.
130,000 lives.
Zhou Huai's fingertips grew slightly cold.
This price was truly ruthless.
The casualties caused by a beast tide siege were no more than this.
Kujō Kōji was more cruel than those irrational mutated beasts.
Zhou Huai instantly understood the key.
The reason they didn't directly resurrect the legendary SSS-Class amaterasu omikami, but chose to resurrect Qin Ze instead,
was likely a test.
A test to see what terrifying price was truly needed to resurrect an expert.
Now it seed the price was as enormous as expected.
Zhou Huai had also considered whether the lives of mutated beasts could be used as sacrifices.
Now it seed, clearly not.
Just as the giant beast in the ruins sacrificed countless of its own kind when it was resurrected,
human resurrection could only sacrifice humans.
There seed to be a natural, insurmountable barrier between the two.
As Zhou Huai was rapidly pondering, the atmosphere in the field had already dropped to freezing point.
On Soma Kosuke's aged face, the last trace of respect for his forr colleague vanished completely.
His cloudy eyes stared fixedly at Kujō Kōji, his voice hoarse like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.
"Has long residence in a high position completely extinguished your humanity?"
"Kujō Kōji, have you ever considered that before the age of eighteen, you were also just an ordinary person?"
Soma Kosuke's voice was not loud, but every word was filled with anguish.
"Although the lives of ordinary people are mundane and hard, they also have emotions and desires, and they also want to live diligently."
"By what right do you claim to take it away?"
He stepped forward, the pressure belonging to an SS-Class Expert making the air viscous.
"Today, to resurrect Master Qin Ze, you can sacrifice 130,000 residents."
"Then in the future, how many people do you plan to sacrifice to resurrect your amaterasu omikami?"
"Is it a million? Or tens of millions?"
"If that's the case, Sakura Country will sooner or later be destroyed in your hands!"
Facing this utterly damning accusation, Kujō Kōji rely shook his head dismissively.
He pushed up the gold-rimd glasses on his nose, the lenses reflecting a cold light.
"For the increasing strength of our Sakura Country, this small sacrifice is unavoidable."
His tone was chillingly calm.
"Soma, you, including the Omiya Family behind you, need to look further ahead."
He spread his hands, as if displaying a perfect work of art.
"You see, although we lost 130,000 ordinary residents, we gained an SS-Class Expert in his Peak."
"Our Sakura Country's combat power has received a huge boost."
"Isn't this a good thing?"
Kujō Kōji's lips curved into a gentle smile, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"If you and the Omiya Family can put aside your prejudices and unite against external threats,"
"we will not only resurrect amaterasu omikami, but also Susanoo."
He spread his arms, his posture fanatical.
"Simultaneously possessing two top-tier SSS-Class Experts."
"Tell , who in this world can be an opponent to our Sakura Country?"
"Not even the Free Federation!"
The disappointnt in Soma Kosuke's eyes completely transford into cold killing intent.
On the brush in his hand, thick ink slowly flowed, emitting a dangerous aura.
"More words are useless."
"Kujō Kōji, today I will surely kill you!"
Before his words finished, a white figure appeared out of nowhere in front of Kujō Kōji, blocking Soma Kosuke.
It was Qin Ze.
His eyes held a hint of complexity.
"Soma, out of consideration for our master-disciple relationship, I don't want to fight you."
"You should go back."
Soma Kosuke looked at his forr ntor, that face he once revered so deeply, now feeling so unfamiliar to him.
"Even so, will you still stand with Kujō Kōji?"
Qin Ze nodded indifferently.
"He resurrected ."
"I promised him that I would serve him from now on."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the bustling city night view below the rooftop, as if he could see the 130,000 vanished souls.
"Since he sacrificed 130,000 lives for ,"
"then this Karma should rightly be borne by ."
Upon hearing these words, Soma Kosuke's last trace of hesitation and struggle completely vanished from his eyes.
He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, killing intent perated the air.
"Then I'm sorry, Master Qin Ze."
His voice had cald, but it was more resolute than ever.
"From this mont on, you are also my enemy!"
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