Chapter 485: Falling Cherry Blossoms Like Blood (Part 5)

Meanwhile, inside the car, the three of them all looked up at the night sky.

The energy fluctuations emanating from the World Within the Painting were exceptionally clear, even from a great distance.

"Did you feel that?"

Polina asked in a deep voice.

"Such a powerful aura."

Kalen nodded, his expression solemn.

"At least an SS-Rank Professional."

"And there are two of them."

Finishing his sentence, he frowned deeply, looking quite puzzled.

"Something is wrong with the situation."

"With Wada Hirayama and Soma Kosuke added, there are already four SS-Ranks inside the painting."

Kalen counted on his fingers, and his expression instantly turned ugly.

He slapped his thigh suddenly, "Could Chong Wenguma and Qinze Taichiro have gotten involved as well?"

"If that is really the case, that old bastard Soma Kosuke will have to face three SS-Ranks at the same time!"

"I am afraid he is truly in grave danger!"

Zhou Huai sat in the back row, his fingers tapping unconsciously against the car window, his brow furrowed in a tight frown as he kept silent.

No wonder Kujo Koji dared to pull this off; he really had a backup plan.

Only… could the two SS-Ranks who suddenly popped up really be Chong Wenguma and Qinze Taichiro?

Zhou Huai doubted it greatly.

His Information Bug had been monitoring Kujo Koji's motorcade all along, and he was quite certain those two people were definitely not in the motorcade.

Chong Wenguma had to guard the Ise Grand Shrine and could not possibly leave. Qinze Taichiro was likely dispatched to the border to keep Marshal Zhao Qingcang of the Great Xia Country in check.

If it was not them, then who could it be?

Zhou Huai thought of another possibility: Professionals from the Kimchi Country?

But he immediately dismissed the thought.

Although the Kimchi Country frequently cooperated with the Sakura Country, they only took orders from the Free Federation. They would never send people to participate in the internal strife of the Sakura Country; it did them no good.

Yet besides them, who else could it be?

Just as Zhou Huai was thinking, Kalen in the front passenger seat could no longer sit still.

He abruptly turned his head, staring straight at Zhou Huai in the back row.

"Hey, Ever-changing Star Lord!"

"Isn't it about time for us to enter the fray?"

"Any later, and we will probably be collecting the corpse of that old man named Soma Kosuke!"

Zhou Huai did not speak, simply looking at him calmly, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Soma Kosuke truly could not die.

He was the greatest bargaining chip to keep the Kujo Family in check.

Once he died, the Omiya Family would be left without a leader, leaving no one to manage Kujo Koji, and the entire Sakura Country would fall into his hands.

By then, if he wanted to fish in troubled waters, the difficulty would increase significantly.

Seeing that Zhou Huai did not object, Kalen immediately became excited and began analyzing the battle situation.

"Although the situation is bad, it is not entirely without a chance!"

Kalen stretched out his fingers, gesturing in the air.

"Although Polina and I are also SS-Ranks, our Rank is too low after all. The two of us combined should barely be able to hold off that fellow Wada Hirayama."

"You go and take charge of holding off the one called Chong Wenguma."

"In this way, Soma Kosuke can be freed up to focus on dealing with Qinze Taichiro!"

"Three against three is much better than one against three!"

The more Kalen spoke, the more excited he became: "How is it? Isn't my plan pretty good?"

He looked expectantly at Polina and Insect Emperor Caesar.

After a brief thought, Polina looked at Zhou Huai to seek his opinion.

"How about it? Does the Ever-changing Star Lord need us to make a move right now?"

Zhou Huai opened his mouth, just wanting to say something, when suddenly his whole person froze.

The expression on his face turned bizarre, and his eyes lost focus.

Seeing that his expression was off, Polina carefully leaned her body forward and lowered her voice.

"What is wrong?"

"Do you have other ideas?"

A moments later.

The vitality returned to Zhou Huai's eyes; he snapped out of his daze and slowly shook his head.

"It seems we no longer have time to worry about Soma Kosuke."

Kalen was a bit baffled by this abrupt and nonsensical sentence.

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Huai took a deep breath and spat out a piece of news that caused the temperature inside the car to plummet instantly.

"I have found the Pendulum of Life."

"Right at Lake Kawaguchi."

"What?"

Polina and Kalen exclaimed in surprise at the same time, both of their faces written with disbelief.

Polina's brows knitted tightly together.

"You mean the Pendulum of Life has appeared at Lake Kawaguchi?"

"How is this possible?"

"Kujo Koji is clearly still right here, trapped inside the painting by Soma Kosuke!"

Kalen chimed in as well.

"That is right! Shouldn't the Pendulum of Life be in Kujo Koji's hands?"

A trace of knowing sneer appeared on Zhou Huai's face.

"We were wrong from the very beginning."

His gaze swept across the two startled faces.

"We all thought that the Pendulum of Life would be firmly grasped in Kujo Koji's hands."

"I am afraid the Omiya Family and Soma Kosuke thought so too, which is why they fell into Kujo Koji's trap."

"Going to Karuizawa was just a smokescreen."

"The real location is indeed Lake Kawaguchi."

Polina shook her head, still finding it preposterous.

"Such an important Divine Artifact as the Pendulum of Life, yet Kujo Koji actually trusts someone else with it?"

Zhou Huai looked at her and said earnestly.

"To others, he might indeed not feel at ease."

"But what if that person is his uncle?"

Polina's pupils suddenly constricted, and she reacted in an instant.

"You mean that the other SS-Rank Expert of the Kujo Family, Chong Wenguma, is not here?"

"He is at Lake Kawaguchi right now?"

Zhou Huai slowly nodded, confirming her guess.

Just a moment ago, the Information Bug Zhou Huai planted near Lake Kawaguchi transmitted a scene over to him.

In the scene, an old man wearing shrine priest attire stepped down from a vehicle.

What he was holding in his hand was precisely the Pendulum of Life.

And Zhou Huai had previously looked through the information on this old man while in the Sakura Country.

Therefore, even though it was their first meeting, Zhou Huai recognized the other party.

He was none other than Kujo Koji's biological uncle, Chong Wenguma.

Kalen and Polina were completely stunned by this shocking news.

What a brilliant feint to the east and attack in the west.

Kujo Koji was even willing to use himself as bait, drawing everyone's attention into this interception that looked like a decisive battle.

Once Chong Wenguma's sacrifice at Lake Kawaguchi was completed, the Kujo Family would gain yet another SS-Rank King of a Hundred Ghosts.

And Soma Kosuke would also die under the siege of three SS-Ranks.

By then, truly no one would be able to stop Kujo Koji.

The Omiya Family would undoubtedly suffer defeat.

"What a brilliant scheme!"

Kalen punched the storage box in front of him, producing a muffled "bang" sound.

His face was filled with vexation and anger.

"We've all been played by him!"

Instead, Polina's eyes grew bright.

Her reaction was swift, and she quickly gave orders to Kujo Kazuya in the driver's seat.

"Turn around, we are heading to Lake Kawaguchi immediately!"