Kyoto Prefecture, the political, economic, and cultural center of Eastern Ocean, was, of course, in this era.
For over 400 years since its establishment, Eastern Ocean had experienced various battles, big and small, with almost every city suffering the ravages of war, except for Kyoto.
This city, located in a basin, covered an area of over 600,000 mu, with flat land and a beautiful environment. Even earthquakes, which were common throughout Eastern Ocean, rarely visited here.
Therefore, Kyoto was also known as Heian-kyo.
Speaking of the glory of Heian-kyo, even the poorest beggar in Kyoto would proudly puff out his chest.
However, today, this city, which symbolized the glory of the entire Eastern Ocean, ushered in its darkest hour.
When that goddess, radiating a sacred aura yet simultaneously spreading death, descended from the sky, everything was already irreversible.
The scenic Kyoto, originally planted with numerous flowers, grasses, and trees, was visible everywhere in the streets and alleys, a model of harmony between man and nature. However, this harmony had now been completely shattered.
Plants, plants were everywhere.
Grasses and trees grew wildly, vegetation sprouted profusely, trees grew taller and taller, vines crawled over walls, green grass stubbornly emerged from any available crack—stone paths, earthen walls, wooden floorboards... Colorful flowers bloomed throughout the city, and everything was spiraling into chaos and madness.
Humans living in the city naturally could not remain untouched; they, too, became soil and nutrients in this growth frenzy of plants and vegetation.
In the imperial palace at the city's center, a thick, sturdy tree shot up from the ground, rapidly ascending to a height of a hundred meters. Its vast canopy covered the entire palace, blotting out the sky and sun, visible even from outside Kyoto City.
At the top of the great tree, countless branches and leaves intertwined to form a wide, verdant throne. Zhou Ming sat high upon the throne, looking down at Yagyu Ichinyo, who was kneeling at his feet, bound by vines and unable to move.
Kaka stood to the side, expressionless.
"Raise your head," Zhou Ming spoke, as if his words commanded reality. Soft yet tough vines pulled at Yagyu Ichinyo's hair, cupping his chin, forcefully lifting his head.
"Open your eyes and look directly at me."
Grass strands as fine as spider silk emerged from beneath Yagyu Ichinyo's eyelids, prying them open, forcing him to look directly at Zhou Ming.
"Now, look at this city."
The vines lifted Yagyu Ichinyo and slowly rotated him. From a hundred meters high, the view was enough to encompass the entire city.
He saw... a city full of blooming flowers, fresh greenery, countless plants vying for beauty, vibrant life and thriving growth. This dreamlike natural beauty, however, appeared to Yagyu Ichinyo as a great terror comparable to an earthly purgatory.
"Do you see? How many people are in this city, you know better than I, don't you? Because of your stubbornness, all these people will be buried with you."
"But it doesn't matter, just over a hundred thousand people. It's fitting for your status as the Shogun of the Bakufu, isn't it?"
"If that's not enough, we'll go to the next city. There's a city in that direction, what was its name again?"
Zhou Ming pointed into the distance, a chilling coldness piercing through the depths of his smiling eyes.
"If over a hundred thousand isn't enough, then hundreds of thousands. If hundreds of thousands isn't enough, then millions. When the entire Eastern Ocean is covered in blooming flowers, you should be satisfied, shouldn't you?"
"Evil, evil spirit..." Yagyu Ichinyo barely managed to squeeze out these two words from his throat.
"Thank you for the compliment." Zhou Ming bowed slightly, without the slightest hint of anger.
Kaka, standing nearby, secretly wiped a cold sweat from his forehead, feeling as if he would go mad if he stayed here any longer.
Just a short while ago, a flying flower drifted above the palace, followed by countless plants growing wildly within the palace, quickly filling every corner with flowers and grasses, including all the people within the palace.
As the center of the entire Eastern Ocean, Kyoto's palace was naturally of utmost importance, gathering many experts to protect the safety of the imperial family and important ministers.
However, when those experts attacked the giant flower in the sky, they were all easily annihilated by Sword Qi flying out from the flower.
Those renowned masters who had been famous for decades, and talented young samurai, were carelessly cut down by streaks of Sword Qi, dying lightly, dying for nothing.
Realizing they couldn't resist, the experts began to retreat. Yagyu Ichinyo had also long been escaping towards the city outskirts under the escort of his subordinates.
However, before he could escape, he saw streaks of Sword Qi descend, and then he lost all consciousness.
When he woke up again, he found himself on that flying flower, facing that woman for the first time. She merely frowned her delicate brows and said, "Your will is truly resolute."
Then, he passed out again.
Now, he woke up once more, the entire city had been destroyed, yet he still didn't even know what the woman in front of him wanted to do.
"You, you killed over a hundred thousand people, what exactly do you want...?"
Yagyu Ichinyo used all his strength to roar out the confusion in his heart.
This question, not only Yagyu Ichinyo wanted to know, but Kaka also wanted to know.
If it was to capture Yagyu Ichinyo to force Yagyu Killing God to appear, they had already achieved that.
Why did Zhou Ming go to such great lengths, expend so much effort, to slaughter the entire city?
Based on Kaka's understanding of Zhou Ming since entering this plot world, she didn't seem like the type of person who would engage in mass slaughter for revenge.
He had been wondering about this since yesterday when Zhou Ming destroyed a city lord's mansion.
'Could it be that after turning into a woman, her endocrine system is imbalanced, and her temperament has drastically changed?'
Kaka thought with no small amount of dread, simultaneously worrying about his own personal safety, as there was no reasoning with a woman gone mad.
"Killed over a hundred thousand people? Hehe, they're not dead yet."
Zhou Ming smiled radiantly.
"Wh-what! You mean they..."
Yagyu Ichinyo was greatly shocked, trying desperately to turn his head to look around again, wanting to find a moving figure among the dense plants, but he couldn't do it no matter what.
His body was completely occupied, even his insides were filled with thin vines, his life and death were at the whim of the woman before him.
"I'll just show you."
Zhou Ming gently clapped her hands.
Rustle... rustle... Tiny sounds rose, one after another, converging to gradually form a wave-like roar that echoed throughout the city.
One by one, "people" covered in flowers and grasses were lifted high into the air by thick roots, hanging suspended. Men, women, old, and young, over a hundred thousand of them, densely packed, swaying gently with the breeze.
It was like... strings of cured meat and salted fish hung out to dry.
This extremely impactful scene made Kaka's eyes widen, and also made Yagyu Ichinyo struggle even more frantically.
Zhou Ming beckoned, and the "grass man" closest to her was moved over, hanging by its roots, brought close to Yagyu Ichinyo's face.
"Do you hear his breathing? He's not dead, he's just asleep, perhaps he's having a beautiful dream."
"You see, the people of this city, they are all not dead, they are all waiting for you to save them. I, you know, am very benevolent."
Zhou Ming spoke softly, like a lover's whisper, echoing in Yagyu Ichinyo's ears. That devilish voice finally shattered Yagyu Ichinyo's will, which he had held onto until now.
Tears streamed down, snot ran freely. Yagyu Ichinyo's lifelong persistence, tenacity, the arrogance and dominance from his high position, all turned to flowing water, naturally ceasing to exist.
"What do you want... what exactly do you want... Please, as long as I can do it... I will agree to everything... everything..."
Yagyu Ichinyo pleaded bitterly, only hoping the woman before him would show mercy and spare the living people of this city.
"Really, anything?"
Zhou Ming placed her right index finger on her lower lip, her large eyes blinking as she looked at Yagyu Ichinyo, an innocent expression like a little girl hearing an adult's promise, making Kaka's scalp tingle.
"Really, anything... please..." Zhou Ming's reaction gave Yagyu Ichinyo hope, and a glimmer of expectation flashed in his eyes.
However, the next moment, Zhou Ming's words plunged Yagyu Ichinyo completely into an abyss.
"What I want, precisely, is their lives."
Zhou Ming wore a sweet smile on her face, and gently clenched her raised right hand into a fist.
Splat!
The "grass man" hanging next to Yagyu Ichinyo, its grassy head suddenly exploded like a squeezed tomato, red and white matter splattering onto Yagyu Ichinyo's face, completely freezing the lingering hope on his face.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A continuous series of dense explosions echoed in every corner of the city, like firecrackers going off, and flowers of red and white bloomed throughout the city.
"Now, they are really all dead, you know."
Zhou Ming tilted her head and smiled sweetly.
Kaka, beside her, was completely stunned.
Yagyu Ichinyo let out an inhuman roar and scream; he had completely gone mad.
And Zhou Ming, she spread her arms, and the throne beneath her rapidly ascended, as if to embrace the entire city, her face beaming with the joy of harvest.
"Soul Devour!"
The Killing Move, City - Spring Grass and Trees Grow Deep, covered the entire city. The roots of the great tree beneath Zhou Ming's feet spread throughout the city. All plants, every vine, every blade of grass, every flower, were all connected as one.
Thus, when Zhou Ming executed the Soul Devouring Refining Scripture, an invisible force instantly swept through the entire city. Over a hundred thousand Souls were transported and gathered to Zhou Ming along the plants spread throughout the city.
City - Spring Grass and Trees Grow Deep, variation, second form!
Countless Souls were devoured by Zhou Ming. Zhou Ming's Soul strength increased at an unbelievable speed, and a massive amount of memories, like a mountain flood and tsunami, surged into Zhou Ming's mind, instantly shaking Zhou Ming's consciousness to the brink of collapse.
The Souls of over a hundred thousand people, the consciousness of over a hundred thousand people. Zhou Ming's mind was instantly filled with countless noisy sounds, incessant and utterly chaotic.
It was like forcibly pouring an entire lake of water into a single basin! And the water originally in that basin, compared to the vast volume of the lake water, was minuscule.
Zhou Ming's consciousness was completely submerged in the ocean of over a hundred thousand people's consciousness.