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Last embryo Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 7

「Oh, that one? I basically stole it from that old fart Yuanshi Tianzun. . . .  oh fuck, I. . . . I mean I got it from him, of course I got it from him, because we both thought that It would be such a great waste if a weapon such as that remained unused and just continued to collect the dust while mounted on a wall on in some kinda stuffy display case or whatever, you know? And as for how is it possible for me to be wielding a spear with such finesse without having any prior training in spearmanship, then, well. . . . . . . I guess you could just chalk it up to me being an amazing, natural born genius! After all, the title of a Sage is not given to just about anyone, you know? No, but seriously, if you know your kung fu, even a little bit of it, then you are basically ready to go around swinging practically any kind of weaponry, and the rest is simply a matter of adjusting your movements accordingly to the type of weapon that you are going to be using, mufufufun. . . . ~~」

Shen Gongbao laughed, visibly proud of herself, and at that moment, Ayato recalled what exactly her role in the 「Investiture of the Gods」was.

(I see. . . . . certainly, Shen Gongbao described in 「Investiture of the Gods」was an Immortal Sage who always felt the need to prove her own excellence to others, even if it had to be done through the use of various underhanded means such as lies and deception.)

That desire of hers to prove herself to others was the source of her strength, but at the same time it was the source of her greatest misfortune. If only she was able to rid herself of her jealousy she might have become an even better Sage, but because she was unable to fix that flawed part of herself, her life ended up going the way it went, bringing here exactly where she was right now as a result. But just as Ayato was about to use that fact against her to continue getting more information out of her. . . . . . . . . Uesugi has stepped in between the two of them with a rather tense expression on her face.

「Forgive me for interrupting your talk, Shen Gongbao, but I, Uesugi Kenshin of the 「Heavenly Army」would like to ask you a question as well, if I may.」

「Hmm. . . . . . . . . ? 「Heavenly Army」. . . . . . ? Oh, w-wait a minute! Did you just say 「Heavenly Army」?!! Are you one of the old man Tianzun’s lackey’s!?? Did he sent you to get me?!」

「No, what I want to ask about is an entirely separate matter. I wanted to ask about the original owner of the Fire-tipped Spear that you are carrying, Crown Prince Nezha. Are you aware that he has been missing for decades now?」

Both Ayato and Asuka made sure to step back and listen carefully, since these were the information they were hearing for the very first time. However, Shen Gongbao grimaced at Uesugi’s words and answered her while sounding cautious.

「I do not know what you are talking about. I just met with Nezha quite recently.」

「You. . . . . . you met him? Really? Is that true?」

『Yes, definitely. I can personally guarantee that she is not lying about that.』

「If that is really the case, then when was it?」

「A little while before 「『The Bull of Heaven』 Incident」I believe? Instead of trying to take the Fire-tipped Spear back from me, he said that I am free to keep it if I want, and he did not even yell at me for stealing it from the old man Tianzun! Can you believe it?」

Shen Gongbao admitted that she did stole that spear, or maybe she realized that there was no sense in trying to hide that fact anymore. Either way Ueasugi listened to her and then asked her with her hand on her chin:

「I see. . . . . Did you asked him where he was heading? Or did he say anything to you himself?」

「He did. I think he was going to go to the West Side. . . . . . no, wait a moment. . . . . .」

Shen Gongbao’s face immediately became full of suspicion. She glared at Uesugi from top to bottom, and resumed her talk after she clicked her tongue.

「That is right, I forgot where exactly he was saying he was going to go. And besides, you should have better chances of figuring where he is, because he is a former member of 「The Heavenly Army」. . . . . . and you also have a stench of his old man on you. Are you related to Bishamonten, by any chance?」
Shen Gongbao said that while returning to her hostile self, causing Uesugi to narrow her eyes with her question. She was not trying to hide her identity, but now her not introducing herself fully has backfired on her terribly. She was a Japanese warlord from the Warring States period who made a name for herself as an incarnation Bishamonten in Japan, but she is not well known in the countries beyond the sea. That is why Uesugi decided that it would be useless to continue to hide her identity now, and so she reintroduced herself to their prisoners.

「It would seem that I did not introduced myself properly before, so allow me to fix that mistake. My name is Uesugi Kenshin, Dragon of Echigo and the current incarnation of The God of War, Bishamonten.」

「I see. Well in that case, could you run back to your idiot boss and pass him a message from Nezha? He says 『This time, I want to really help my friend』.」

「A friend?」

「Yeah. And sorry, but that is all you are going to get from me. If you really are a member of 「The Heavenly Army」 and want to know more, then you will just have to look it up yourself.」

Hearing Shen Gongbao’s thorny voice, Uesugi looked as if she just bit into a particularly bitter-tasting worm. Ayato could not be one hundred percent sure about it, but she had a good idea of where Nezha might have gone, because that friend whom he wants to help this time is his one friend whom he was not able to help before.

(No way. . . . . . . . is he planning to do something with Sun Wokong?!)

「Ah-ha, looks like you are already onto something.」

『Since the battle is now over, I would kindly ask you to untie us, headhunting knight. We lost to you, and so we must pay the price for our defeat.』

「A price?」

『Yes. As it happens, we have a copy of one of the stone monument’s contents on us. If you let us go free, we shall pass it on to you.』

「HEY, hold your horses, Byakko! You cannot decide that on your own!」

『And what else we can offer them, huh? That is right, nothing else. Or perhaps you want to be thrown to the bottom of the sea to act as a plug once more? Because I am going to pass on that hard.』

Byakko refused to even try to negotiate with them, most likely because he concluded that it would be best to give them the information they were searching for anyway than to have Ayato and the others rob Shen Gongbao of her weapons and Gifts as compensation for their battle. That being said:

(If they have a copy, then they could make multiple ones or memorize the contents of the stone monument, so they will not really lose anything by handing it away to us, so this is really the best deal possible for them.)

The reason why Byakko did not stop Shen Gongbao’s rampage earlier must have been because he was trying to think of a trump card I negotiations that he could use in the eventuality of their defeat. And since Ayato and the others were in a hurry here, then the sooner they give them the information that they have, the better. After Ayato untied the rope that bound shen Gongbao and Byakko and got the copy of the stone monument’s contents from them, she then asked her:

「You guys must have been from the preliminary search group after all. When exactly did you enter the Labyrinth?」

「Last night, and there was another pair of people besides us.」

『Jin did not even try to hide his hostility towards them. They might be battling at the lower levels now.』

The three of them looked at each other while thinking the same thing. If Jin Russel was openly hostile to someone, then that someone was likely from 『Uroboros』. And there is a deep connection between 『Avatara』 and 『Uroboros』. And most importantly, everyone got worried about You, who went to the lower levels ahead of them.

「Now that we have all the information we need and we do not have to look for the monument on this floor, we should hurry and rejoin Miss Kasukabe below.」

「Wait a minute. How many floors have you checked in search of the monuments in the first place?」

『Almost every floor available, including the hidden rooms because some of uur comrades are especially good at these kinds of Games. The reason why one of the copies of the monument’s contents was entrusted to Shen Gongbao was most likely because the others anticipated that she will be captured pretty quickly.』

「Eh?! Really?!」

Shen Gongbao looked greatly surprised. In other words, whoever made their plan for this Game, they already anticipated the possibility of Shen Gongbao’s capture.

The three girls looked at the stairs in silence.

「If Jin was really the one who came up with this plan, then he is going to need a serious spanking and an earful to make him remember what he had apparently forgotten since he ran away from home, so if we run into him, leave that to me. Part of my training was exactly for occasions such as these!」

「You trained spanking and yelling at people?」

Ayato tilted her head with a difficult look.

「But now that we have our hands on the contents of the stone monuments, it would be a good idea to study them as well.」

「would that not be an overkill? We have a limited number of people, so we should not be allowing our greed to get the better of us.」

「Yes. After all, he who hunts two hares at once will catch neither, and in our case, there are three hares. So we should really not push our luck here and leave looking through this copy to Homura when we will be done here.」

And at that time when the three of them were worrying about what they should be doing. . . . .
Ayato’s phone began to glow while playing the sound of its set ringtone.