"The fourth one?"
According to the original plot, if Sekiro were to fall into Shura, there would basically be no storyline involving him entering Fountainhead Palace. Therefore, what Emma said at this moment was the answer in Qin Jie's heart.
Before him, other Contractors had entered this world.
Because this world cannot be reset, they left their traces.
So Qin Jie suspected that before he entered this derivative world, other Contractors had already entered, and these Contractors were very likely the reason why this world could not restart.
The question then was what the first Contractor who entered Fountainhead Palace did to cause the entire world to be unable to restart.
"The first person to enter Fountainhead Palace was a woman, very beautiful, with red hair. At that time, Sekiro had not yet fallen into Shura, and the Ministry had not launched a major offensive."
As she spoke, a hint of sadness and nostalgia appeared in Emma's eyes. It seemed her memories still held the image of Ashina in its former glory.
"Is there any more information?"
"I apologize, my interaction with her was minimal, and I don't know anything else. At that time, a large group of people were fighting fiercely within Ashina. To stop them, Sekiro accumulated too much killing intent, and then he fell into Shura."
In the Sekiro worldview, killing is like an addiction; once one succumbs to the addiction of slaughter, one cannot help but fall into Shura.
It seems that those fighting within Ashina Castle at that time were the first batch of Contractors, which was when this world had just reset.
"Were the two people who later entered Fountainhead Palace from the same period as that woman?"
Emma shook her head, "No, they were not from the same period. The second and third people both entered Fountainhead Palace with about a month's interval between them."
It seemed that these two were in a similar predicament to Qin Jie, likely pulled in by Paradise to deal with the problems of this world, but their fates were obvious.
They both failed and subsequently disappeared, presumably either dying in Fountainhead Palace or being erased by Paradise.
Paradise is truly cruel.
Qin Jie curled his lips.
The Sekiro derivative world is a derivative world, its level is medium among First Rank worlds, not high-difficulty, and it doesn't constitute a Second Rank world. Therefore, Contractors coming to this world can only be First Rank, and their Rank is most likely only LV6, like Qin Jie.
However, there should be few LV6s stronger than the current Qin Jie.
Since someone had entered Fountainhead Palace, it was easier to handle. It seemed that the anomaly in this world very likely originated from Fountainhead Palace.
To reach Fountainhead Palace, one must pass through Shuisheng Village. After offering the Mibu Breathing Reed that has been imbued with scent, the path to Fountainhead Palace can be opened.
However, the path to Fountainhead Palace was already open at this time, which saved Qin Jie the time of collecting items.
However, since he was going to Fountainhead Palace, Qin Jie could not do without the Immortal Severance.
After all, the Broken Monk, the guardian of Fountainhead Palace, had a bug attachment in her body. To slay her, the Immortal Severance was indispensable.
But now, both the black and red Immortal Severance were in the hands of Shura, which meant that Qin Jie had to find Shura first and then reclaim at least one Immortal Severance from him.
No.
Qin Jie suddenly frowned.
"Did any of those previous people try to acquire the Immortal Severance? I mean the three people who tried to enter Fountainhead Palace."
Emma nodded, "They did, but none of them were a match for Sekiro."
That was not surprising then.
This also gave Qin Jie a rough analysis of their strength: none of these three people were a match for Sekiro.
Although Sekiro had an immortal body, it still took him some time to recover, and after not fighting for three years, his strength had greatly deteriorated. Although he rapidly evolved later through his terrifying talent, when the first batch of Contractors entered this world, Sekiro's strength should have only been slightly stronger than Genichiro.
Hiss.
Qin Jie tentatively named these three people Calamity A, Scapegoat B, and Scapegoat C.
Leaving aside the strength of Scapegoat B and Scapegoat C for now, Calamity A couldn't even defeat Sekiro at that time, so her strength shouldn't have been great. Why would she cause the entire world to be unable to restart?
Could it be that this Calamity A had something special about her?
This reminded Qin Jie of the man with the stand he had encountered earlier. Although the other party's strength was unremarkable, the scarlet card had yielded something big, a wishing statue, an extremely strange existence.
It seems that sometimes a person's strength is not directly proportional to the trouble they can cause.
Qin Jie sighed with emotion.
Emma's eyes drooped, "If you truly wish to sever immortality, I will help you."
"Even if this is what Genichiro has always pursued?" Qin Jie asked abruptly, "If I'm not mistaken, Genichiro isn't dead yet, is he?"
Before, he naturally didn't know this information, but after returning to the real world and completing Sekiro, this conjecture gradually emerged in Qin Jie's mind.
Because at that time, he had seen the gravestones Emma had erected.
There were three people in total.
Emma's foster father, Dōgen.
Ashina's Sword Saint, Isshin.
The protagonist Sekiro's foster father, Owl.
There was no gravestone for the lord of Ashina Castle, Isshin's grandson, Genichiro.
Although according to the original plot, the black Immortal Severanceappeared in Genichiro's hands, which highly suggested Genichiro was already dead, Contractors had supposedly visited this world, so some changes might have occurred.
Upon hearing this, Emma nodded, confirming Qin Jie's guess, and then said:
"He is not dead, but even if Lord Genichiro possesses the Dragon Heritage Power, he cannot change Ashina's path to ruin. This power will only bring misfortune and disaster."
The Dragon Heritage Power is the exclusive power of the Divine Heir of the Dragon's Heritage. It allows those who form a contract to revive after death by taking the lives of others. Aside from Genichiro, who would stop at nothing to save Ashina, no one is willing to touch this power.
Upon hearing this, Qin Jie's eyes flickered, and then he said, "To sever immortality, I need the Immortal Severance on Shura. I need help."
The Immortal Severance is a weapon collected by Senpou Temple, with two in circulation.
One is called Tears of Farewell, the red Immortal Severance, a ritual blade for collecting the Sakura Dragon's tears.
The other is called Open Gate, the black Immortal Severance, a ritual blade for sacrificing an immortal body to summon the dead from the Yellow Springs.
He needed Tears of Farewell to obtain the Sakura Dragon's tears, which could sever the immortality contract. Without the Sakura Dragon's tears, he couldn't kill Sekiro.
Unless he could replicate the strategy from the last world against the infamous B.I.G., transforming Sekiro into a secondary devouring abyssderivative, and then using the devouring abyss to deal with him.
But Sekiro was merely bloodthirsty, not brain-dead; in fact, the current Sekiro was just an obsessed madman. Aside from being overly addicted to killing, he was otherwise fine.
He was confident he could defeat Shura head-on, but he didn't have the time to waste on an unkillable opponent.
The Immortal Severance can sever immortality, but Sekiro is different. His Dragon Heritage contract comes from the Sakura Dragon residing in Fountainhead Palace; even if he dies, he can revive by taking the life force of others.
Therefore, Qin Jie needed someone to control the reviving Sekiro after he defeated him, preferably by continuously weakening his regenerating body, similar to how they dealt with Dōjun back then.
This way, once he returned with the Dragon's tears, Qin Jie could sever Sekiro's immortality and ultimately kill him.