In the deep sea, the yokai of the Sea Nation remained silent, still reeling from the shock of the ancient golden mechanical giant's appearance. Upon hearing Kikyo's words, the shock in their hearts deepened further.
"The Emperor who once ruled the Western Empire and proclaimed himself the first of ten thousand generations? Are you... speaking of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang?" Uminari asked Kikyo with an uncertain tone. Miketsu, possessing Kikyo's body, replied calmly.
"Mhm... Who else could it be but him?"
Receiving her confirmation, Uminari took a deep breath. He finally understood why the origin of these sea rock martial statues was unknown to all. The era of Qin Shi Huang was over a thousand years ago, far older than the history of the Sea Nation. Before the sea yokai of this region had even begun to flourish, the empire established by that Emperor had already fallen.
"Hey, hey... What's with this First Emperor and Sea God stuff? What do those guys have to do with our Sea Nation or these metal hulks?" Otakemaru spoke up, his face full of confusion. His words drew slightly disdainful gazes from those around him.
"Hey... Why are you all looking at me like that? Even you, Kujira..." Otakemaru’s voice trailed off sheepishly. His performance made Miketsu realize that apparently, not all Yokai Lords were well-versed in their history lessons.
"Young Lord, you truly need to spend more time studying with Lord Uminari to improve your cultivation. The First Emperor was a great ruler of a human empire in the west. As for that so-called Sea God..." At this point, Kujira fell silent; it seemed he wasn't entirely clear on the details of that story either.
"The so-called Sea God was an evil god that appeared in the East Sea just as the First Emperor had unified the world. It was a being of immense power and a cruel nature, the source of all calamities within the ocean. It stirred up massive waves to swallow ships and islands, flooded vast stretches of land, and commanded its minions to raid and slaughter living beings. The coastlines were left in ruins, and the armies of mortals were powerless before it.
"To slay this evil god of the sea and to seize the secret of immortality from its body, the First Emperor excavated sacred relics from Mount Li that his ancestors had enshrined for generations. He gathered all the weapons of the world, the knowledge of the hundred schools, and the labor of hundreds of thousands of people to successfully create this iron army. Finally, he personally led a campaign to the East Sea, using this military force to slay the evil Sea God and slaughter its entire clan."
Miketsu continued to speak through Kikyo’s body. The story she told was based on the Hata Clan legends that Okina had shared with her previously. After hearing that tale, Miketsu had immediately made a series of connections, guessing the truth behind the Sea Nation's situation with high accuracy.
"These giant metal things... were actually built by humans?" Looking at the massive mechanical construct before him, Otakemaru’s expression became even more incredulous. As someone who knew how the ghost ships were built, he found it incredibly difficult to believe that human strength could create such things.
"Then... are these iron men the reason for the Sea Nation's decline?" Uminari spoke. Compared to past history, he was more desperate to know why the Sea Nation was fading.
"No, the Sea Nation's decline is not because of the First Emperor’s iron legion, but for another reason... Before I answer why the Sea Nation is declining, you need to understand why it flourished in the first place." Using Kikyo's body, Miketsu turned around to face Uminari and the others.
"Why the Sea Nation flourished?" Hearing Miketsu's words, Uminari was momentarily stunned before he began to ponder.
"It is true... normally, the deep sea regions are utterly desolate, yet only the Sea Nation was incredibly prosperous... Rather than saying the Sea Nation is declining, it would be more accurate to say it is reverting to the state a deep-sea land should naturally be in..." Uminari murmured. Kikyo smiled and picked up where he left off.
"Correct. Therefore, the true reason for the Sea Nation's decline... is that the power which once blessed its prosperity is fading. And the cause of that fading is the evil Sea God that the First Emperor slew..."
"The evil Sea God? Are you saying the Sea God isn't dead? That it is stealing the power that blessed the Sea Nation?" Uminari understood Miketsu’s meaning instantly and responded in alarm.
"That is mostly correct, but to be more precise, it isn't stealing the power—it is reclaiming it. The Sea Nation's prosperity was created by the life force that leaked out when the evil Sea God fell. Now that the Sea God is awakening, it is naturally reclaiming the power it lost. Thus, the Sea Nation began to decline..."
Kikyo held up a finger as she spoke. In truth, according to Miketsu’s guess, this power likely didn't belong to the ancient Sea God itself; otherwise, the yokai of the Sea Nation would have shown traits of ancient god power, much like the Earthquake Catfish.
Therefore, this power was likely something it had sent its minions to plunder from the land to perform a resurrection ritual. After all, there weren't many ley lines in the deep sea for it to devour, so it had to target the coastal waters and the mainland.
That ancient god likely obtained the energy for the resurrection ritual by directly sacrificing lives and siphoning ley lines. However, this method caused immense disasters for the creatures along the coast, and the newly established Qin Empire was heavily affected. When conventional methods failed to solve the threat of the ancient Sea God, the First Emperor somehow thought of using the sacred relics his ancestors had guarded for generations to forge weapons.
In a sense, Miketsu’s 'grave' had been robbed by the First Emperor... though from his perspective, rather than respectfully enshrining such powerful items in a mountain, it was better to dig them up and do something practical with them.
Ultimately, the First Emperor led the legion forged from Miketsu’s remains to destroy the ancient Sea God's resurrection ritual, killing the being just as it was about to complete its revival and wiping out its entire clan. However, due to the damage sustained in battle, most of the iron legion sank here. Otherwise, the First Emperor likely would have used this army to conquer the world.
However, the First Emperor had clearly underestimated the ancient god's vitality. Even after being killed again, this evil Sea God had not completely perished. With its divine soul still lingering, it had finally awakened after a thousand years of slumber and began to reclaim the energy it had worked so hard to collect—which led to the Sea Nation's decline.
"So... it's that former Sea God sucking away the Sea Nation's life force? That guy is the culprit behind the Sea Nation turning into this mess?" Hearing Kikyo's words, Otakemaru spoke with agitation. Having been troubled for years by a decline with no apparent cause, he had finally found the root of the evil.
"It's not just the reason for the Sea Nation's decline. Perhaps... even the fact that you invaded the land only to suffer heavy losses was its doing..." Miketsu continued through Kikyo’s body. Hearing this, Uminari was stunned.
"Our invasion of the land... was also because of that so-called evil Sea God? Could it be... could it be that my revelation was..."
"Indeed. Your revelation was given by it. What it wanted... was for you to go to the land to wage war, to go to your deaths."
"To go to our deaths? Why? Why would it want us to die?" Otakemaru became increasingly agitated and shouted loudly. Kikyo replied calmly.
"Because... you yokai of the Sea Nation were also nurtured by the power it leaked. In its weakened state, it cannot directly siphon the power from your bodies. Therefore, it needed you to go to your deaths. Once you die in great numbers, your power returns to it."
Rate on N.U.
