159: reason

Tanaka Mori's death, due to the lack of a body or evidence, could only be recounted through the oral accounts of Su Ze and Xiao Xu.

However, Su Ze was merely a puppet, so even in front of the Emperor, it was Xiao Xu who spoke while Su Ze was responsible for confirming.

"Hmm... I understand everything. You have completed your mission very well. Commander Tanaka's failure to resist the temptation of the divine beast crystal core, leading to such a result, was his own doing. I just wonder about that divine beast crystal core..."

The Emperor looked at Xiao Xu, who immediately became nervous upon hearing this, cold sweat continuously breaking out on his forehead.

Finally, under pressure, he had no choice but to hand over his spoils of war, placing them respectfully before Emperor Meiji.

He nodded at the sensible Xiao Xu, then let Yamata no Orochi behind him swallow the divine beast crystal core in one gulp.

After stroking the only intact snake head in the middle of the excited Yamata no Orochi, he said, "Lord Xiao, until a new General Commander is found, the people left behind by Commander Tanaka will be temporarily handed over to you. You may all return."

Su Ze knew that this meant the Emperor had given up on pursuing the matter further.

He might have guessed that Tanaka Mori's death wasn't exactly as Xiao Xu described, but Xiao Xu's convincing performance led him to believe that even if some tricks were played, it was merely for the sake of the divine beast crystal core.

Taking away the divine beast crystal core now served as a warning to Xiao Xu.

Handing over all of Tanaka Mori's Fusang Dark Guards to Xiao Xu was still for the sake of balance.

Zaraki Kenpachi's face turned extremely ugly the moment the Emperor spoke those words, and he looked at Xiao Xu with some hostility.

Their mutual hostility rather than cooperation was exactly the situation Emperor Meiji wanted to see... That night, in Xiao Xu's room, he was comforting Tanaka Katsuya, who was grief-stricken after hearing the news.

After learning of his father's death, he came to ask about every detail of the incident.

Xiao Xu's responses were also airtight.

Tanaka Katsuya said through tears, "My father was cautious by nature; indeed, only the appearance of a divine beast crystal core would make him lose his reason..."

Xiao Xu sighed and said, "The last thing your father said to me was that he was most concerned about your safety and hoped I could help look after you."

"His Majesty the Emperor has handed over your father's original teams in the Dark Guards to me, but I am now appointing you as Vice General Commander to continue leading Commander Tanaka's subordinates!"

Tanaka Katsuya looked at Xiao Xu and said with a trembling voice, "Brother Xiao..."

After another round of weeping and complaining, Xiao Xu sent Tanaka Katsuya away.

Not long after leaving, Tanaka Katsuya immediately wiped the tears from his face.

Xiao Xu then looked into the shadows nearby and asked, "Everyone's gone, aren't you coming out?"

Su Ze stepped out from the shadows and said with a sneer, "How ironic. You're clearly the one who killed his father, yet in the end, he's still grateful to you."

Xiao Xu shrugged and said, "Do you really think he hasn't noticed anything? It's just that the benefits I promised him are large enough that he's unwilling to pursue the matter further."

Su Ze was stunned for a moment, and thinking back to how Tanaka Mori had committed self-detonation for his son, he couldn't help but feel a chill.

Only then did he speak, "Your hearts... are truly filthy!"

"So tell me, for what reason was I sold out by you? Exactly how much benefit can it bring?"

Xiao Xu nodded, "Same as the old rule, let him explain it himself."

"Lin Xi" appeared from the shadows once more and began to explain in the face of Su Ze's aggressive gaze, "Actually, it's very simple... we need divine beasts; Great Xia needs divine beasts."

"Fusang thinks their confidentiality work is excellent, but in fact, we've known about their plan to complete Yamata no Orochi for a long time."

"But we didn't choose to stop them; instead, we want to help them finish the final completion."

"It just can't be too deliberate. We need them to realize how difficult it is to obtain divine blood from Great Xia so that they won't have any suspicions."

"To fully gain the trust of the Fusang Emperor, even my death was necessary."

"All of this is to wait for the moment Yamata no Orochi is completely finished, to execute the final step of the mission: to usurp its contract!"

Lin Xi did not explain in detail how the usurpation would work.

But this still made Su Ze frown, and he said in confusion, "So you've been fueling the fire to help me make Feng Qingyi a divine beast just to hand her over?"

"Why does it have to be this way? Isn't the Golden Feather Phoenix also a divine beast? Are Feng Qingyi and I not trustworthy?"

"Lin Xi" continued, "No, it's different."

"The Golden Feather Phoenix is only the most common Star Radiance Level divine beast; her power is far from enough. But the completed Yamata no Orochi is a Moonlight-rank Divine Beast, which is enough to stand against the Monster Beast World."

Then, seeing Su Ze's confused look, he gave him a brief lesson on the grading of divine beasts.

Su Ze finally understood everything. He shook his head with a bitter smile and then asked, "What about Senior Brother Xiao Sheng? Does he know about this plan too?"

"Lin Xi" shook his head, "He only knows part of it, not much. That boy isn't good at lying. Only under these circumstances could he produce a genuine reaction to my death. That Emperor is very suspicious."

"As for you... he has actually always been against it."

Su Ze shook his head quite dejectedly. The two people he thought were best to him had ended up teaming up to sell him out.

He finally knew now why Lin Xi had apologized to him before "dying."

"Great Xia needs divine beasts, at least Moonlight Level ones, but doesn't care what kind of divine beast it is, even if it's this ugly giant snake of Fusang, right?" Su Ze suddenly looked up and said.

"...That's right." "Lin Xi" nodded after a moment of silence.

Hearing this, Su Ze's eyes suddenly became firm bit by bit, and he nodded, "Good... very good!"

Although it was understandable from the perspective of the bigger picture, he loathed this feeling of being used.

Then he turned and left.

Xiao Xu walked over from the side and said, "This kid won't go and report us, will he?"

"Lin Xi" shook his head and said nothing.