The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend-Chapter 650 - Mutant

Hanwu and the merchant hid in the tree's crown, the thick leaves concealing their bodies. Night had fallen, and in theory the darkness alone would keep the giants from spotting them.

Hanwu expected the giants to disperse once they couldn't find their target. Instead, their numbers grew! More giants crowded beneath the tree, pressing shoulder to shoulder as they tried to climb. They looked so excited that they showed no signs of leaving.

The original Hanwu hadn't been the sharpest tool in the shed, but Han Wu was. There had to be a reason. When he had been alone, the giants had behaved normally. After the merchant joined him, they turned crazy and kept attacking without leaving. Evidently, the merchant was hiding something.

The merchant stared at the giants below in mounting panic. At the same time, Hanwu noticed that whenever the merchant grew anxious, his hand unconsciously drifted to his abdomen. Hanwu felt certain that the merchant possessed something that roused the giants.

The merchant caught him watching. He unconsciously held his abdomen and forced a smile. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m just considering how to make sure you pay me by the end of this,” Hanwu said calmly. “Maybe I should take the item you are hiding under your shirt as a deposit?”

The merchant stiffened and clutched the item beneath his shirt tighter as if afraid Hanwu would snatch it.

The merchant’s reaction confirmed Hanwu’s suspicion about the valuable item. There was no doubt now.

“More giants are arriving as time passes. Give me that item, and I will lead the giants away,” Han Wu demanded. “If you don’t, you will die here today. You need to understand that I am more than capable of running away from the giants.”

Alarm flashed across the merchant’s face. The item he guarded was priceless, and he couldn’t trust anyone with it. Yet Hanwu spoke the truth. If the giants continued to ram the trunk, they would topple this tree, and he wouldn’t be able to escape. He would lose both the item and his life.

“How should I trust you?” the merchant asked.

Hanwu replied simply, “I am the young master of the Kokkai family, a clan with its own Hijutsu. My name is Hanwu Kokkai. You can seek my family after this.”

The merchant relaxed slightly when he heard that Hanwu came from a family with their own unique Hijutsu. An established family whose secret technique could be learned only by its bloodline offered reassurance. If Hanwu disappeared, the merchant could seek compensation from them.

Still cautious, the merchant asked, “Do you have proof that you are the young master of the Kokkai family?”

Hanwu checked his belongings and realized he carried no token of identification. Even so, he still possessed their Hijutsu: Water Style, Black Water Bullet.

He formed a sequence of hand seals and guided chakra through his meridians. A dense sphere of black water gathered in his mouth, and he fired it downward like a bullet.

The projectile moved faster than a bullet and tore through two giants in a single line. The wounds it left behind festered at once, flesh blackening and corroding under the technique’s virulent effect. This corrosive property marked the Kokkai family’s Hijutsu.

The power came at a steep cost: it drained half of Hanwu’s total chakra in one use.

The merchant had seen the Kokkai Hijutsu before. The display was enough. He accepted that Hanwu indeed came from the Kokkai family.

With the proof, the merchant carefully took out what he was hiding beneath his shirt. It was a palm-sized box containing five sealed vials of liquid. The moment it appeared, the giants below grew agitated and started ramming into the tree. They desperately wanted to seize the box.

Hanwu didn’t have Divine Points right now, so he couldn’t identify the liquid. Nonetheless, it represented his payment of 2 million gold. With it in his possession, the merchant would have no choice but to pay.

“I will take this for now and return to the Giant Wood Village. Wait until the giants disperse, then escape,” Hanwu instructed before leaping from the tree.

The giants down below opened their mouths to eat him. However, he used Substitute midair, and their jaws closed around a log. Hanwu then activated Steel Palm and sliced through a giant’s neck with ease. He didn’t have time to pick up the orb and sprinted toward the village.

After his Speed reached the value of six, his velocity had improved tremendously; the giants couldn’t match him. He soon left them behind. Before he could catch his breath, however, a low rumble rolled across the ground.

Under the moonlight, a ten-meter giant charged on all fours. He recognized it at once as a mutant. Giants like this were among the most troublesome to face. They moved unlike ordinary giants and were much faster, which made them especially dangerous compared to others of the same height.

The mutant closed the distance in seconds. Hanwu knew he couldn’t outrun it, so he decided to turn back and attack.

The mutant noticed his approach and opened its mouth excitedly to eat him.

As he sprinted forward, Hanwu made a series of hand seals. A dull explosion sounded, and a clone appeared beside him. This was Clone Ninjutsu, a technique that produced only an illusion with no power to attack. Its sole purpose was to confuse his enemies.

The mutant saw two identical figures running toward it. Without hesitation, it lunged at one at random. By sheer misfortune, it chose the real Hanwu.

“What bloody luck,” Hanwu grumbled.

He had not expected the giant to guess correctly with a 50% chance. Still, he didn’t panic and kept running.

Just as the mutant opened its mouth to eat him, Hanwu spent the last of his chakra on Substitute. In that critical instant, he had switched places, and the mutant bit into a wooden log.

Hanwu seized the opening, leaping onto the mutant’s back and driving both palms down with Steel Palm. He struck the base of its neck multiple times until he severed it as cleanly as chopping through a stalk of cabbage.

As the mutant died, it released a lot of heat, and its corpse burned to ashes. A yellow orb the size of a ping-pong ball dropped to the ground. He picked it up and sprinted toward the village with every ounce of his strength, racing to outrun the other giants before they could close the distance.

Undying accelerated his recovery, knitting his wounds, and he ran with renewed vigor. Within an hour, he reached the Giant Wood Village’s entrance.