Dragon Clan: Start by obtaining the Sett panel

Chapter 285 The Beginning of the War
It was early in the morning, and the sky was just getting light.

In the mountains outside Tokyo, heavy rain hits the roof of the shrine, and the raindrops falling from the eaves draw beautiful parabolas. The century-old cherry trees in the garden are covered with sad and beautiful cherry blossoms.

Men dressed in black, with short swords in white sheaths on their waists, passed under the burnt torii gate. Their steps were in unison as they walked up the stone steps covered with cherry blossoms. They stopped at the vermilion stone wall in front of the main hall, bowed deeply three times, and then dispersed into two teams to line up on both sides of the road.

The next people to enter the shrine were seven people holding paper umbrellas. They were all wearing formal kimonos, the men in black-patterned tsukiohaori and the women in black tomesode. They wore white socks and wooden clogs. They looked straight ahead and walked very steadily.

As they passed through the burnt torii gate, the men who had led the way bowed deeply and said nothing. The scene was as solemn as a funeral. The seven people holding paper umbrellas also bowed deeply in front of the vermilion stone wall.

The silver-haired old man in the lead lit three incense sticks and inserted them in front of the stone wall. He watched the smoke dissipate in the rain and sighed softly: "The storm is coming..."

After these seven people entered the main hall, a large group of people poured into the shrine. These men in black suits were shoulder to shoulder, and although it was crowded, they were in good order.

No one rushed to take the lead and no one lagged behind. Everyone bowed deeply in front of the stone wall and placed the umbrellas in front of the main hall. In the end, a large group of black umbrellas formed like a flock of crows.

At this moment, nearly a hundred vehicles blocked the roads in front and behind the shrine. Men armed with guns or long swords stood in the shadows, and no one dared to approach the vermilion building even half a step.

This is a very classical shrine, but after careful renovation, it does not look dilapidated at all. The only thing that has not been repaired is the burnt torii gate, and the vermilion stone wall still maintains its original appearance. No one has even been hired to clean it. Large patches of dried blood have seeped into the cracks of the stone.

The floor of the main hall is covered with tatami, and there are no shrines or Buddha statues. The inner walls are surrounded by Ukiyo-e, which are carefully and skillfully painted with vivid brushstrokes. They depict a war between demons, gods and ghosts, with clouds bursting out and flames flying. The eyes of the ghosts are shining in the candlelight, and they are actually painted with phosphorus pigments.

Hundreds of men and women in black knelt in their respective positions. They all knew their position in this huge organization, and no one knelt in the wrong position.

"Patriarch, all the participants have arrived. There are elders from the Strategy Department, such as Ishifusai, Nibu Yan, and Zuo Shangbu, the head of the Liaison Department and his subordinates totaling 34 people, the five small surnames totaling 134 people, 19 branch heads and team leaders of the Kanto branch under the Kassel Academy Japan branch, 17 branch heads and team leaders of the Kansai branch, 14 people from the Ganliu Research Institute, 7 people from the Maruyama Construction Institute... a total of 440 people are here." The secretary in black presented the roster to the silver-haired old man.

"Please have a look, Mr. Masamune."

"Very good, everyone is here." Mr. Masamune glanced at Minamoto Chisei who was sitting beside him. At this moment, he was comforting a red-haired girl.

The girl covered her face with a black veil and wore a black-patterned haori for men, but the wide kimono could not hide her curvy body. She was the head of the Uesugi family and the most important person in the Snake family besides Minamoto no Chisei.

"Okay, Eri... I'll play with you later. Now let's wait for the patriarch to finish the meeting." Gen Chisei was completely different from the cold-faced killer he had before. Instead, he looked as gentle and kind as a big brother next door.

The head of the Uesugi family nodded and stretched out his little finger, as if he wanted to pinky promise with Minamoto Chisei, and Minamoto Chisei could only stretch out his little finger as well. After the pinky promises were made, the head of the Uesugi family finally calmed down.

"Ahem..." After seeing the head of the Uesugi family calm down, Mr. Masamune coughed lightly and looked around the hall.

There are eight small tables in front of the hall, on which are placed different long swords. On the handles of the swords are painted eight different family crests in gold. They are the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum of the Tachibana family, the gentian of the Minamoto family, the bamboo and sparrow of the Uesugi family, the red demon of the Inuyama family, the spider of the Fuma family, the horse head of the Ryoma family, the phoenix of the Sakurai family and the Yasha of the Miyamoto family.

The heads of the eight families will attend this family gathering. At this moment, only the small table of the Yuan family is still empty. Yuan Zhisheng touched his waist, and the cold touch made him feel a little relieved.

The name of the knife on his waist is "Spider Cut". It has been passed down for thousands of years. Successive owners have used it to kill all kinds of incredible things, leaving behind a series of magnificent legends. Originally, it should have been put up there, but since he was the executor of the family, he didn't need to hand over the weapon.

All the family heads remained silent. After all, this was the family shrine, where the souls of their ancestors wandered. Any shouting would be disrespectful to the ancestors.

The main hall was extremely quiet. The sound of rain became clearer and clearer. Everyone looked at Mr. Masamune. Mr. Masamune straightened his kimono, stood up, took a few steps back and bowed deeply.

This move surprised everyone. The senior members of the family immediately bowed down, and the younger generations also followed suit.

The Eight Snake Families adhere to a very ancient family system, and the patriarch is so respected that normally these younger generations don't even have the opportunity to pay a visit to Mr. Masamune, so they would be grateful if they were "summoned".

Some team leaders who are usually arrogant and domineering become as docile as sheep the moment they walk into Mr. Masamune's office. They would feel extremely honored if Mr. Masamune did not blame them but encouraged them with a friendly face.

And now Mr. Masamune actually paid them a great tribute, a tribute they could not afford. Some people realized that today's topic might be more shocking than re-planning the underworld structure.

"I have been the head of the family for ten years. During these ten years, I have been fortunate to have met you, to be recognized by you, and to shoulder this history with you. I have no regrets about these years. Over the years, I have relied on your care to barely maintain this family. Many things have not been done perfectly, and I am sorry to have caused you trouble." Mr. Masamune said.

"It was Masamune-san who took care of us," said the head of the Fuuma family.

"It was Mr. Masamune who took care of us!" everyone said in unison.

"We are all family. I really try my best to take care of you and hope that you can live a good life. You also really take care of me. Without your efforts, I, the head of the family, would have died long ago." Mr. Masamune waved his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down.

"It's a rainy day again. I miss it so much." Mr. Masamune also sat down.

"When I first came to Japan many years ago, I opened the cabin door when the plane landed. It was raining like this outside, and the wind was wet and cold, chilling me to the bones." He paused.

"Many people here know that I was not born in Japan. It is an unexpected honor for me to be elected as the head of the family. But I have indeed failed greatly in the past ten years."

"I think you all know that in the past ten years, we have lost a lot of territory and many compatriots... All this is due to the blood in our bodies..."

At this point, a look of vicissitudes appeared on Mr. Masamune's face, and at this moment he looked like a weathered old man.

"If the bloodline is unstable, one will degenerate into a ghost and can only be imprisoned by the family. It is precisely because of this that fierce ghosts were born and the struggles in the past ten years have occurred..."

"Mr. Masamune... This is a curse that has existed in our family since its inception." said the head of the Sakurai family.

"Yes, each of us is cursed, and this curse is passed down with our bloodline. To outsiders, the blood of the dragon may be something to be proud of, but it is also a devil. It makes some of us successful, but it destroys others." Mr. Masamune nodded.

"You are all able to gather here today because you are lucky enough to have a stable bloodline. But if you were born with an unstable bloodline, then each of you would be on the monitoring list, waiting to be wiped out."

"I cannot change the rules that have been in place since ancient times, because we cannot allow the blood of the dragon to erode our family. The Eight Clans of Sheqi have existed since ancient times to guard the gate of the dragon and will never allow the dragon clan to be resurrected in the world!"

"Yes!" All the younger generations bowed and saluted.

"But even in such a situation, there are still people who want to break free from the rules. Something happened recently. A child named Sakurai Akira took a potion, and his bloodline was purified to A-level... but the price was also serious. He completely turned into a ghost. After that, he killed many people and could only be killed by Chisheng..." There was a trace of sadness in Yuan Chisheng's eyes. This happened before he met the three people from Kassel headquarters. The person who gave Sakurai Akira the potion was Oyama Ryuzo, a third-rate researcher.

But even so, it caused quite serious consequences, which was his dereliction of duty as an executor.

"The results of the analysis by the Ganliu Research Institute are out. That potion does have the effect of activating dragon blood. It was developed to help hybrids evolve into real dragons. So, who has been wanting to give up his human identity and evolve into a dragon for so many years?" Mr. Masamune suddenly asked loudly.

"A group of fierce ghosts?" After a long silence, the head of the Longma family said in a low voice.

"Then who has been competing with us in the underworld? Who instigated the gangs that once depended on us to betray us, and who has been constantly encroaching on our territory over the years?" Mr. Masamune continued to ask.

"A group of fierce ghosts!" said the head of the Fengmo family.

"Yes, it's still the Ghost Clan. Only the Ghost Clan who inherited the dragon blood like us can challenge us. It is because of the existence of the Ghost Clan that we dare not let go of the hilt of the sword for a moment! Every gang that disobeys us has the support of the Ghost Clan behind the scenes. It is also the Ghost Clan that constantly instigates those children with unstable bloodlines and tempts them to fall. It is because of the existence of the Ghost Clan that we have to closely monitor every child with unstable bloodlines. The law enforcers' knives are stained with blood because we dare not take the risk of leaving any fallen people behind! We are worried that they will fall into the hands of the Ghost Clan!" Mr. Masamune exhaled and spoke, his voice like thunder.

"In Japan we only have one enemy, and that is the Demon Clan! But why have we not been able to eliminate the Demon Clan for so many years?" There was silence below.

"Because the so-called fierce ghosts are actually our own compatriots." After a long time, the head of the Sakurai family sighed softly.

"Yes, because the fierce ghosts are our compatriots and have exactly the same blood as us. Every ghost in the fierce ghost group was born from a family. They are the shadows of the Eight Clans of Sheqi, and we cannot kill our own shadows. As long as we multiply from generation to generation, new ghosts will always appear among our descendants, and ghosts gathered together will be the fierce ghosts. This group of fierce ghosts has been following the Eight Clans of Sheqi for thousands of years. This is our destiny!" Mr. Masamune suddenly stopped here.

"Now is the time to cut off fate..."

"Mr. Masamune, are you going to declare war on the demons?" said the head of the Inuyama family.

"Regardless of the family's chances of winning, some people in the family think this is tantamount to fratricide. The fierce ghosts are not all fallen, they are just mixed-bloods with unstable bloodlines. Is it okay to kill them? After all, they are brothers and sisters with blood ties!"

"The fierce ghosts are indeed related to us by blood, but are they our compatriots? They chose the path of dragons. In their eyes, dragons are perfect creatures and the emperors of the world, and humans should endure their slavery. But we chose the path of humans. In our eyes, dragons are demons, and they are our nemesis who must be killed at the cost of our blood! Can the servants of dragons and the guardians of humans be considered compatriots?" Mr. Masamune pointed his finger to the sky.

"The fierce ghosts, that is all the evil! All the sins! Only when the fierce ghosts are completely wiped out can there be peace and tranquility!"

Yuan Zhisheng was stunned. He vaguely felt that the reason why Mr. Masamune was so decisive this time was because of the visitor from Kassel headquarters. No wonder he restrained himself a little. Was everything already planned?
"Erase it completely?" A trace of uneasiness appeared on the face of the head of the Miyamoto family.

"Can we do this?"

"Yes, but it is by no means an easy task, so it requires great determination!" Mr. Masamune turned to the head of the Fuma family.

"I received a tip that the Ghost Clan is considering taking action against the Divine Burial Center. In the past five years, three Japanese institutions have been researching submersibles that can dive to the bottom of the Japan Trench! And all three institutions have financial support from the Ghost Clan!"

"They believe that the beginning of the Yellow Spring Road is at the place where their ancestors buried the gods, and the end of the Yellow Spring Road is the 'Dragon Gate'. By crossing that gate, they can evolve into pure-blooded dragons! And the key to open that gate is the bones of the god in the deep well!"

"They want to dig up the God's Burial Ground? That's impossible... No one can go back there! That's the place sealed by Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi!" The head of the Fuma family was a little surprised.

He had also heard of the legend of the Yellow Springs Road, which was a road that could allow people to evolve into dragons, but since that man burned the family archives, no one should know about it anymore. Where did the Ghost Clan get the news?
"That's why I said the opportunity has come. I think everyone has received the news that the executive commissioner of the headquarters has arrived?" said Mr. Masamune.

"They have perfectly resolved the crisis of the Dragon King's resurrection twice. With them here, it will be our best chance to blow up the God's Burial Ground."

Is that really the case? Yuan Zhisheng had to admit that this was the best opportunity, but would those guys really obey his orders?

"But will the guys in our headquarters follow our arrangements?" asked the head of the Fengmo family.

"Their mission this time is to explore the God's Burial Ground and place bombs, so we don't need to worry about this, but... I hope that you will keep the situation of the God's Burial Ground secret, and the secrets here must never be known to the headquarters." Mr. Masamune said.

"After all... our bloodline comes from that person, not the four dragon kings. If possible, it would be best to kill them after they complete their mission and keep the secret forever."

"Is this really okay? That's the headquarters, and that person is there..." The head of the Inuyama family seemed to have thought of something, and his body couldn't help but tremble.

"Don't worry, Master Inuyama..." Mr. Masamune said soothingly.

"If that person comes, I will take all the responsibility. If necessary, I am willing to commit seppuku to apologize."

"Head! You can't do this!" All the family heads were stunned by this sentence, and even forgot that Mr. Masamune said he wanted to go to war with the fierce demons.

"So... I hope that after I die, everyone can completely end the fate between us and the demons, please!" As he said this, Mr. Masamune made the Dogeza gesture to everyone.

"I will follow the orders of the head of the family." Gen Chisheng returned the greeting to Mr. Masamune with a complicated expression. He knew that this man was serious now.

"I will follow the orders of the head of the family..." The head of the Inuyama family hesitated for a moment and could only make a compromise helplessly.

When a person who has devoted himself to his family is ready to sacrifice his life, who can stop him?

"Chisheng, do you think I'm despicable for doing this? I sacrificed those innocent people..." After standing up again, Mr. Masamune looked at Minamoto Chisheng.

"This is my way of survival. For the sake of my family, I am willing to become a demon like the demons."

"Dad, you are not a ghost...you just can't control yourself." Yuan Zhisheng couldn't help but speak.

Since Mr. Masamune said so, he could only say sorry to those guys in his heart.

All of this is fate's choice. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame Angers for sending you here...

(End of this chapter)