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The Okami Clan, due to their perennial consumption of the Fountainhead Waters contaminated by the Divine Dragon, began to undergo physical mutations, developing crystalline fish scales. On one hand, they mastered the ability of immortality and spells like lightning illusions. On the other hand, they became reliant on absorbing human life force to survive.

When the Fountainhead Waters flow into the river, ordinary fish mutate into large koi. Among the koi, the fish with the most scales becomes the Fish King. In the game, the corpse of a Fish King lies at the bottom of the Fountainhead Palace's lake, surrounded by a large number of parasites.

Originally ordinary carrion maggots, after feeding on the flesh of koi affected by the Fountainhead Waters, transformed into terrifying immortal parasites. These strange worms can parasitize living organisms, granting them longevity, but not immortality.

The parasitized creatures, upon death, are controlled by the worms, becoming mindless, walking corpses.

The Fountainhead Palace is located at a high altitude, and these immortal worms drift downwards, reaching places like Mibu Village and Senpou Temple, where they parasitize human bodies, making them immortal.

In the game, defeating powerful enemies grants "Combat Memories." After praying at the Buddha statue, these memories are used to increase attack power and become "Combat Arts Usage," described as: Memories of battling extraordinary warriors, residing within. These memories have certainly become a source of strength for Wolf, now reduced to mere remnants.

From the "Guardian Ape's" remains, one can learn about the Ape's past. It was parasitized by a worm, granting it rebirth after death. However, its beloved partner did not possess immortality, forcing the Ape to witness her passing, leaving it in profound sorrow and loneliness.

This book is first published on 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞.

"The Guardian Ape's roar perhaps carries a plea..."

Clearly, gaining immortality is not a blessing, but a curse. Even the desire for death cannot be fulfilled.

The most tragic case might be Mibu Village, located downstream. When the water reaches downstream and is consumed, it grants longevity, but the body undergoes more severe mutations. The Okami Clan deliberately mixed this degraded Fountainhead Water into the sake given to the villagers of Mibu Village. Due to the addictive nature of the Fountainhead Water, these villagers quickly became addicted and drank uncontrollably. The Okami Clan then took the opportunity to guide them to worship the Divine Dragon.

Thus, the villagers gradually became the Okami Clan's livestock, mutating day by day until they were indistinguishable from monsters.

After gaining immortality, the Okami Clan gradually became arrogant and self-important, regarding themselves as nobles. They launched wars of aggression to obtain more life force, but were ultimately defeated by the united resistance of the Ashina people.

Kongou Temple's Senpou Temple was also a member of the resistance against the Okami Clan. However, after the war, some people became curious about the Okami Clan's miraculous abilities.

One monk, driven by a desire for power and immortality, exhausted every means to explore the Fountainhead Palace. Driven by desire, he broke his vow of abstaining from meat and consumed the flesh of the Fish King's corpse from the Fountainhead Palace, transforming into an "Infested," hence the name "Corrupted Monk."

The Corrupted Monk's story is actually derived from the Japanese legend of Yao Bikuni. Legend says that Bikuni ate mermaid flesh, thus gaining immense longevity. However, she also deeply experienced the impermanence of the world, living a life of immense suffering. At the age of eight hundred, she entered a cave alone and died of starvation.

The immortal worms and the degraded Fountainhead Water of Mibu Village were soon introduced into Senpou Temple, perhaps through the Corrupted Monk's efforts.

Thereafter, the monks of Senpou Temple were also lured by the power of immortality and began to study it diligently.

They hoped to understand the Dragon Heritage through the immortal worms, and gave the degraded Fountainhead Water a very Buddhist-sounding name: Rejuvenating Waters.

A high-ranking monk named "High Priest Senpou" at Senpou Temple, after careful study, understood the origin of the Divine Dragon and the Dragon Heritage. He felt that this was not a beautiful blessing at all, but a disease and a curse, an inescapable parasitism.

He began searching for a way to break the immortality. After a long time, he finally developed, or found, two enchanted swords: one red Immortality Severance Blade, with the true name "Tears of Defeat": Its crimson blade would take the life of the wielder, and without the power of resurrection, one could not possess the Immortality Severance Blade. If one holds the Immortality Severance Blade, one can perform a deathblow on those infested with worms.

The other is a black Immortality Severance Blade, with the true name "Opening Door," a sword that can open the gates of the underworld. The black Immortality Severance Blade can sacrifice someone with the Dragon Heritage as a living sacrifice, allowing another person to be resurrected in their prime. Later, it was taken by Ashina Genichiro.

In the game, there are two main storylines: one is the Divine Dragon and the Dragon Heritage, and the other is Isshin Ashina's coup, which happened shortly before the start of the game.

Sword Saint Isshin Ashina, dissatisfied with the shogunate at the time, used force to lead a "coup," together with several ninjas such as "Owl," "Lady Butterfly," and "Lone Shadow Longswordsman," to retake Ashina Castle.

The shogunate was naturally unhappy about being driven back and repeatedly tried to launch wars, but they were all repelled by Ashina Genichiro, Isshin Ashina's adopted grandson.

Wolf's adoptive father, Owl, had great ambitions. He wanted his name to resound throughout the land, and the Dragon Heritage, which could grant immortality, was the key to achieving this goal. So, he arranged for Wolf to be a spy by the side of Kuro, the Dragon Heir, patiently waiting for an opportunity to seize it.

However, at the last moment, something went wrong. Wolf's loyalty to his lord moved Kuro, and he shared his Dragon Heritage with Wolf, resurrecting the dying Wolf and escaping the Hirata Estate together.

On the other hand, facing the powerful shogunate's offensive, Genichiro also felt that his power was too weak to protect Ashina, and the strongest warrior, Isshin Ashina, was gradually aging and ill. Therefore, Genichiro also wanted to obtain the Dragon Blood to grant Isshin Ashina immortality.

There are four endings in the game. The first is the Shura ending, where Wolf listens to his adoptive father's instigation and betrays Kuro. His inner principles are overthrown. After killing Lady Emma and Isshin Ashina, he backstabs his adoptive father as he laughs heartily, falling into the path of Shura and entering endless slaughter.

The second ending is Severance of Immortality, where Kuro, after seeing the effects of the Dragon Heritage, wants to sacrifice himself to sever the power of immortality. He hides some of the truth about immortality from Wolf, and Wolf gradually completes the task, finally fulfilling Kuro's wish. Wolf also loses his purpose in life and can only carve Buddhas in the temple like the Sculptor, constantly washing away his sins.

The third ending is Return to Human, where Wolf learns the truth about immortality through frequent eavesdropping on his companions. In the end, he chooses to die in place of his master, and Kuro returns to being an ordinary person.

The fourth ending is Dragon's Homecoming, which is also the most troublesome ending, which involves defeating the Divine Dragon and sending it back to its homeland.

Among the four endings, there is actually no good ending in the true sense. Sacrifice is always unavoidable. Even in the Dragon's Homecoming ending, which seems happy on the surface, the Divine Dragon originally ran to Ashina to heal its wounds. Now, after being beaten up, its injuries are even more severe, and it goes back to harm the people of its homeland, or be harmed by the people of its homeland.