Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1042: Chapter 808: Crimson Leaves

"The literal meaning."

Luo Lao glanced back, asking in puzzlement, "You don’t understand?"

After a brief silence, Yuan Yuan answered, "I... don’t think there’s anything wrong with it."

"That’s fine too. Who in this world doesn’t have a few quirks, right?" Luo Lao said indifferently. "At most it just means you’re not living happily."

When she picked up the Sword she felt no joy, and when she put the Sword down she could not enjoy peace.

Whenever she was alone, she felt an indescribable confusion and dread.

Like someone lost, pacing back and forth, unable to decide.

"Let me guess..."

The old man pinched his chin in thought, his smile growing ever more malicious: "Could it be that even you have come to see yourself as that ’good child’ in other people’s mouths?"

Yuan Yuan did not speak.

"You’re from the Yuan Family, aren’t you?" Luo Lao asked. "I’ve seen your uncle before. Why are you nothing like him?"

"Women and men are always different."

"Are they?" Luo Lao was puzzled. "Then why is it I always hear... that the women of the Yuan Family are even more insane than the men?"

This is the battle blood that belongs to the Yuan Family.

Inherited from the wars, slaughter, and cruel survival-of-the-fittest selection of a few years ago, that bloodline is practically the most perfect violence machine.

Even from primary school, from kindergarten... from the very day they’re weaned, they begin to taste that uncontrollable violent impulse.

This is a struggle engraved in their nature.

The method Yuan Shi adopted was not suppression, but to try to turn this Power toward the proper path. If struggle is base, then they seek a nobler form of struggle, a way to reconcile both sides.

But no matter how dazzling the Halo or glory, it cannot erase its cruel essence.

Men are like this.

Women ought to be the same.

The father was like this, the uncle was like this, the elder uncle was like this, the aunt was like this; including Yuan Zhao, everyone was the same.

Yuan Yuan alone was completely different.

Since childhood she had been quiet to an excessive degree, calm and mature, like some other family’s child. Poised and generous, upright and dignified, she never caused trouble at home, obedient to an absurd extent.

"But that isn’t right, is it?"

Luo Lao said mockingly, "You’re just restraining yourself, restraining yourself... Restraint is not necessarily bad, but you and you alone know in your heart, you have not succeeded.

You’re just overly obsessed with the image of a good child, and have confused it with yourself."

"You and your teacher are different. Your teacher simply takes violence as a means to achieve his ends, and naturally assumes others are just like him, possessing an utterly unreasonable level of self-control, so he never noticed your pain.

But you should know very well, you are not like him..."

The old man pierced in a glance the Teenage Girl’s softest spot, and told her coldly: "You do not have such a strong pillar and Power in your heart, and you cannot suppress this nature of yours that is too vast and ferocious compared to your reason."

"—You can never become him."

"You haven’t even once been your true self."

In the silence, Yuan Yuan gripped her weapon tight, yet had no strength to refute.

Only the Sword Blade rang in wrath.

"Little girl, one day you’ll understand what this Sword your family gave you truly represents."

Before he left, the old man cast one last glance at the Longsword in her hand—the feral blade that bore the name ’Mountain Monarch’.

No matter how ferocious a beast, once locked in a cage, it is nothing more than an ornament for others’ amusement.

"In the end, you must return the tiger to the mountain..."

Release it.

And release yourself.

In that instant, in a brief loss of focus, Yuan Yuan could not help but look up, gazing at the pitch-black night sky above.

No stars could be seen, only darkness.

Yet amid the clamor and shouts, she heard a thunderous roar, like an illusion.

A vast echo came from afar, a secret summons known only to her.

The great mountain roared!

Within the Sword Blade, a feral Soul was howling, resounding in her ears.

In that instant, a high, metallic clash burst forth, tearing through everyone’s eardrums!

The Teenage Girl in a gray dress stepped forward, slicing apart those ridiculous defenses as flimsy as duckweed; as the Mountain Monarch’s Sword Blade cleaved, a gale erupted at arm’s length and spread outward in violent fury.

In an instant, the outcome was decided.

A trembling vibrato, like the cry of a zither string, rose from her hands, adding a strand of indescribable gentle charm to this scene of carnage and ruin.

The battle blood belonging to the Yuan Family began to boil within this melody, bringing an indescribable exhilaration.

And on the smooth Sword body’s Reflection, she saw a face so very unfamiliar.

In the Reflection, that girl was also looking at her, a cruel smile rising on her comely features, the color in her eyes gradually turning scarlet, no longer dignified.

That was herself.

"Since it is my nature, why fear it?"

She whispered softly, closing her eyes, breathing out the scorching heat from her lungs.

But when those eyes lifted again, they had become cold and cruel, with no trace of tenderness.

The Mountain Monarch in the cage roared in silence, tearing off its final shackles!

"Sorry, I’m in a hurry."

Yuan Yuan raised her eyes and crooked a finger at the enemies before her, issuing an invitation: "So, it’s fine if you all come at once..."

She smiled thus at those furious faces.

As if bowing to the audience before the performance began.

This was the final courtesy.

No matter how many spectators there were, it did not matter; no matter how passionate they were, it made no difference.

—The Predator’s performance had only just begun!

In that instant, the Sword Blade fell, and a chilling cold spread with the soundless melody, stealing away the warmth, driving that frost deep into everyone’s bones in a heartbeat.

As though a blizzard descended, and under the increasingly violent tempo, all things rushed in haste toward a desolate extinction.

Making one involuntarily shiver amid the vision of snow filling the sky.

Four Seasons Concerto—Winter!

The "Performance Method," breaking through its barriers and ascending once again, reappeared here beneath the Teenage Girl’s Sword Blade, spreading out from a scene that was all but a massacre.

She stepped forward, one step at a time.

No matter how many enemies there were.

That brutal yet solemn spectacle almost cowed all the watching Souls, crudely and directly conveying this beauty that belonged to Power and art into every trembling heart.

Crushing all opponents like rotten wood,

toppling everyone blocking her way, one step at a time.

The wounds left by those slashing blades could not halt her; instead, like a Predator in the dead of winter, she grew ever more ferocious, ever more cruel.

Blood splashed across her gray skirt, like flames burning within the mist.

Screams and roars rang out again and again, only to vanish in the next moment, leaving only the high, ringing clash of metal and the low thuds of bodies hitting the ground.

The eye could no longer track that figure swift as lightning, yet when one closed their eyes and ceased to be bewildered by the chaotic scene, then they could finally feel the rhythm and beauty hidden within the slaughter.

"It’s practically a performance, truly marvelous."

In the distance, on the top floor of a tall building, an elderly Samurai looked down from afar, unable to keep from murmuring with feeling, "Such skill is truly rare... Have you confirmed her background?"

"She should be from the Hybrid Alliance. From the looks of it, she seems to be a student of that King of Tanbo."

The other Monitor from the Dojo replied, "To be able to teach such an outstanding talent, that King of Tanbo is not to be underestimated."

Who didn’t know that the leader of that Alliance had never been one to sit quietly by?

The remark drew wry smiles from everyone. "So it seems the newly rebuilt Tanbo also plans to meddle in the affairs of Huangquan Slope now?"

"Sword Hunting is not confined to one place. As long as they come bearing a ’Sword’, regardless of good or evil, man or woman, young or old, all may try... That is the Dojo’s rule."

The elder lowered his gaze, staring at the blood‑stained Teenage Girl on the Long Street. "All we need to do is pay attention to the Sword Hunting. Everything else need not concern us for now."

He watched that beautiful scene with full focus, praising the changes in footwork and technique.

Everyone here was a seasoned expert and prodigy steeped in the Dojo for countless years; only now could they fully appreciate how rare and precious this level of artistry was.

"She weaves even her opponents’ counterattacks into her own strategy, unifying every complex Transformation into a single through line. Such exquisite control Ability is truly astonishing."

The person beside him sighed. "I’ve witnessed plenty of scenes far more gruesome than this, but a duel this merciless and a decision this swift—perhaps even Benkei in his day was no more than this?"

Benkei?

"How is this some monstrous monk?"

The elderly Samurai shook his head with a faint smile. "If you ask me, that’s clearly Red Leaves!"

For a brief instant, it was as if they stood in the deep Demon Realm of Shinshu’s Togakushi.

Crimson everywhere.

One could no longer tell whether it was fallen maple leaves or fresh blood.

Against that backdrop of leaves and blood, that composed, austere face turned bewitching, so alluring, like something stained by demons...

Only, this eye‑searing splendor was bought at the price of tragic injuries and wails.

Someone sighed. "Should we send in the standby medics?"

"No need."

The old Samurai said indifferently, "Trash who can’t even win a gang beating can crawl to the hospital on their own; maybe they’ll remember the lesson better. Besides... no one’s actually dead, are they?"

Everyone fell silent.

It seemed impossible.

Yet when they widened their eyes to examine the scene closely, they discovered it was just as the instructor had said: it looked so brutal, yet in truth, not a single death had occurred beneath that Sword Blade.

Even faced with such a vast disparity of numbers, in a clash this chaotic, she had still left her opponents a way out.

This was no letting the tiger return to the mountain; at most, it was merely letting the tiger maul people. The shackles of her combative nature remained firmly in her grasp.

She could tighten or loosen at will.

Never once losing control.

"The younger generation is truly fearsome..."

The old Samurai sighed, waved his sleeve, and turned to leave.

He had already foreseen the outcome.

There would not be the slightest suspense...

From the very moment she hauled that chair over and sat down here, it had been decided that tonight, on the Central Great Avenue, there would be only one victor.

Ten minutes later, Yuan Yuan calmly waved her hand, shaking off the last trace of sticky blood from the Sword Blade.

The Mountain Monarch returned once more to its cage.

So docile.

Amid dead silence, behind her, the Huaizhi Gang carried stretchers, loading the last Samurai who had passed out cold into the ambulance.

They left behind only a spreading wash of crimson and countless harsh glints of steel.

"Total number of blades: three hundred and seventy‑one."

Wood Cottage pushed up the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and clapped in admiration:

"Congratulations, Yuan Yuan. You’ve made your name in a single battle."

In less than an hour, the Sword Hunting incident staged on Central Great Avenue exploded like a bomb, sending unprecedented shockwaves through Huangquan Slope.

In barely twenty minutes, over sixteen Samurai who had set foot on the path of Sword Hunting were utterly routed here; a total of ninety‑two challengers suffered the most complete defeat at the hands of a single person.

The title "Lady Red Leaves" spread like wildfire, whispered into every ear.

Countless people, jolted awake, turned in stunned awe toward Tanbo, marveling at the handiwork of that Alliance lord, wondering whether this heralded the arrival of a new storm.

Meanwhile, in the infirmary beneath the Stone Marrow Pavilion, Huai Shi bit down on the thread snips as the tweezers in his hand guided the suture into a neat little Butterfly knot.

Finally, he used the scissors to cut off the excess.

"All done. Two days of rest and you’ll be fine. It won’t scar."

Huai Shi put down his tools, reached out, and ruffled Yuan Yuan’s hair. "You worked hard... Want a late‑night snack?"

Yuan Yuan thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay."

Walking behind her teacher, she couldn’t help but smile.

Because she’d secretly done something bad without letting her teacher know.

Under another patch of night sky, Wood Cottage hung up the phone and couldn’t help rubbing his hands together.

Full of anticipation.

Time to start doing bad things...