Chapter 689

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 689: Conditions of the Sword Soul

“Blade Soul?” Gu Yuan Liangshu seemed to be amused by the question, “If I could give this blade a soul, what would be the difference between that and forging another Hōzuki blade?”

“Isn’t that your dream all along?” Amamiya Haruki countered.

He shook his head, “Back then, the Great National Deity used all the resources of the Kuni gods to forge nine Hōzuki blades. Now, just because I’m a blacksmith hiding in a mountain valley, you think I can just create a Hōzuki blade? What do you take the Hōzuki blade for?”

“When the Great National Deity forged the blades, most of the effort went into crafting the blade body and its special attributes—like the rain of [Yubō], the paper crane of [Senbaku], and the long-range projection of [Heisō]… But you can completely skip that process now.”

Amamiya Haruki pointed at the two segments of [Zhanbai], saying, “This blade has already been forged and possesses its own special attributes. In terms of material and ability, it does not belong to the Hōzuki blade itself; it only lacks a blade soul.

As long as we can give it a blade soul, it will be the tenth Hōzuki blade in this world.”

“What do you think a blade soul is? A cabbage? Something you can just give?” Gu Yuan Liangshu spoke seriously:

“Becoming a blade soul has very strict conditions.

First, the soul body must not be separated from its physical form for too long. Once its soul power dissipates, it will no longer be complete; the integrity of the soul body is a necessary condition for becoming a blade soul.

Second, the soul body must have possessed great strength in life, able to bear the power of the blade itself. If its soul strength is insufficient, it will be crushed by the blade’s power and completely extinguished.

Third, the soul body must possess high intelligence and have its own thoughts. Even if the blade master is not present, it should be able to activate the power of the Hōzuki blade on its own.

Fourth, the soul body must willingly become a Hōzuki blade soul; otherwise, even if it merges with the blade body, the blade master will not be able to harness the blade’s power, and it will instead render the Hōzuki blade completely useless.

Fifth, and this is the most difficult point, the abilities of the soul body must highly coincide with the blade’s special attributes, with no rejection phenomenon. If your blade’s special attribute is rain, then the blade soul’s ability must also relate to rain.”

After saying all this, he glanced at Amamiya Haruki and then at Lin Qiye, and slowly spoke:

“When the nine Hōzuki blades were forged, the Kuni gods invested a lot of effort to gather eight blade souls from all over Japan. With Master Guyue himself, they barely managed to assemble these nine blade souls.

If I’m not mistaken, the attributes of this blade should be related to space. To give it a blade soul, we first need a soul body that also possesses space attributes, is complete, has great strength, possesses high intelligence, and is willing to become a blade soul…

In today’s society, it’s no longer like the myths and legends. Even if you traverse all of Japan, you won’t find such a soul body. This is also why the Hōzuki blade cannot be replicated in modern times.

So… do you have a soul body that meets these conditions?”

Amamiya Haruki fell silent.

Although he understood the Hōzuki blade to some extent, he hadn’t expected the conditions for a blade soul to be so harsh. Just as Gu Yuan Liangshu said, such a soul body could not possibly exist in all of Japan, meaning that giving this blade a soul was essentially an impossible task…

Lin Qiye sighed helplessly. He walked over to Amamiya Haruki, patted his shoulder, and comforted him:

“It’s okay. As long as we can fix it, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have a blade soul.”

Seeing this, Amamiya Haruki could only give up.

“It’s getting late. You two can find a room to rest in. I need to get to work,” Gu Yuan Liangshu said as the conversation ended, unhesitatingly issuing a dismissal. He picked up the two broken blade segments and walked toward the forging area.

Amamiya Haruki stood up from the small stool and walked with Lin Qiye toward the back room.

“Doesn’t he need to sleep?” Lin Qiye glanced at the time and asked.

“He usually sleeps during the day and forges at night, and he generally only sleeps four hours a day,” Amamiya Haruki replied, looking back at the sturdy, busy figure. “Because he’s been here for so long without interacting with others, his personality is a bit… unique.”

Lin Qiye nodded, recalling those deeply sunken black eye sockets, and understood.

He’s a workaholic…

“If you can’t give him a blade soul, then our previous agreement doesn’t count,” Amamiya Haruki said slowly. “Once that blade is fixed, you should go back first. I’ll handle that place myself.”

Lin Qiye hadn’t forgotten the agreement he made with Amamiya Haruki. If he could give [Zhanbai] a blade soul, he would protect him to a certain place. Now it seemed that since the blade soul couldn’t be established, Amamiya Haruki planned to go alone and didn’t intend to involve Lin Qiye.

Lin Qiye opened his mouth as if to say something, but after a moment, he shook his head.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

He and Amamiya Haruki each entered a room and closed the door. The room had no bedding or pillows, only tatami mats and a few blankets. It was unclear how Gu Yuan Liangshu managed to live here.

Lin Qiye lay on the tatami mat and slowly closed his eyes.

…

The Psychiatric Hospital of the Gods.

Dressed in a white coat, Lin Qiye walked through the hospital, clearly feeling that it was much livelier than before.

In the courtyard, several caregivers were holding freshly washed blankets and bed covers, hanging them on a makeshift rack to dry; Wangcai was leading a group of little brothers, proudly marching toward the restroom with brooms and mops; the kitchen was ablaze with fire, and several enticing aromas wafted out…

As Lin Qiye walked down the corridor, caregivers occasionally passed by him, politely bowing and greeting him with “Good evening, Director.”

It seems that Li Yifei’s management skills are indeed impressive… Lin Qiye thought to himself.

He made his way to the study, where he saw Bragi and Merlin sitting at a small table eating. Eight dishes were laid out in front of them, and there were even two jugs of fruit wine, and they were enjoying their meal.

“Director?” Bragi spotted Lin Qiye at the door and immediately stood up excitedly, waving his hand. “Director, want to join us for a bite?”

“Good evening, Your Excellency, Director,” Merlin smiled and said.

Lin Qiye walked into the study, glanced at another empty chair, and asked curiously:

“Is it just you two?”

“Yeah,” Bragi shrugged as he sat back down. “Li Yifei and the others originally prepared meals for the person in Room Four as well, but… it seems that person doesn’t intend to join us for dinner.”

Merlin nodded, “So I told them to deliver the food directly to the room later.”

Lin Qiye walked to the window and looked at Room Four across the second floor, where the door was tightly closed, and sighed deeply.