Chapter 1 The Wine House

In the wine house, a terrifying and cold aura instantly attacked from behind.

With a "clang," the sharpness of a long sword being drawn sliced through the void.

Qiantiao's expression turned cold. Without any hesitation, she drew her sword and slashed horizontally.

The sharp sword energy of the Demon Blade Munemasa sliced through the air like a meteor, easily decapitating six "heads."

However, there was no scene of blood spraying wildly.

Because what was in front of them were not people, but "ghosts."

At the severed necks, there was no scarlet blood, but streams of black spiritual energy emerged. Their bodies rapidly expanded and twisted into bizarre, semi-transparent spiritual monsters. The six monsters grew larger and larger, merging into one huge monster that filled the entire wine house. The tables and chairs were swallowed into its body and rapidly dissolved.

Suren's eyes narrowed as he recognized the famous monster of Yamakakure.

[Devouring Ghost], a ghostly spirit type monster, immune to physical damage!

Qiantiao reacted extremely quickly. Seeing that one strike was ineffective, she knew what was happening. A strange green flame suddenly appeared on the demon blade she was holding. Without hesitation, she slashed in reverse, cutting a burning gash in the giant monster's abdomen.

The demonic aura of the Kimaruhan Hyakume Munemasa scorched the ghost's soul, and a chilling scream echoed in their ears.

"Go!"

Qiantiao shouted softly, leading the way as she smashed through the window and leaped out.

Suren didn't dare to delay and followed closely behind.

As soon as they came out, they saw that the peaceful lantern night market had suddenly become eerie. The rows of lanterns suddenly came to life, changing from black to red, wandering all over the street.

Suren identified it as another type of monster—[Lantern Ghost].

Qiantiao swung her sword, using sword energy to slash down two lanterns. With two "boom" sounds, like hand grenades exploding, violent flames swept out.

He sensed countless monsters filled with malice surging towards them.

Suren released the Death Herald. Looking from the air, the entire Edo City had turned into a city of ghosts.

Visibly dense masses of ghosts surged onto the streets, like a boiling pot of oil. The dark, overwhelming tide of ghosts swept towards the wine house.

Edo City had hundreds of thousands of residents, and the Land of the Dead had more than that.

The sheer number was hair-raising.

Suren called out, "Asakusa Temple is in the South District, let's get out of the city first!"

Qiantiao responded in a deep voice, "Okay!"

Neither of them dared to delay at all, charging south.

.......

Qiantiao led the way, clearing a path with her sword. The armor was released, and six arms wielding six swords moved impenetrably.

Suren didn't stand on ceremony, took out a single-soldier rocket launcher, and blasted a round of artillery fire into the densely packed area of the North Sea Fleet pirates in the distance.

He thought this might help attract the attention of the ghosts.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion blasted a wave of flame dozens of meters high on the street.

However, even with such a large commotion, even seeing the "passersby" around them turn into terrifying monsters, most of the pirates didn't react at all.

They were still gorging themselves at the stalls, riding on the female ghosts...

The pirates' eyes were dull, and their expressions had a kind of listless numbness. Even as the surrounding demons surged forward, devouring them as delicious food, they didn't stop... until their bodies died, and then they turned into "ghosts."

More than ten thousand well-equipped pirates were almost completely wiped out in this Land of the Dead without any resistance.

Seeing this, Suren and Qiantiao were also terrified.

If they hadn't known that the things here were inedible, they probably would have been assimilated like this, and wouldn't have known how they died.

Seeing this, Suren realized why the Omniscient Eye had rated it as a "T-level space"!

However, his artillery fire wasn't completely useless.

The will of several high-level professionals in the Ninth Fleet hadn't been completely corrupted, and they seemed to wake up from a dream upon hearing the sudden explosion.

Their battle instincts made them overturn the demons around them that were gnawing on their bodies.

But the food and seductive ghosts from before were like "anesthetics," paralyzing their minds and bodies.

They had already been contaminated with too much Nether energy, their wills were half-dreaming and half-awake, and they staggered to their feet, struggling aimlessly.

The gluttonous general Iksil Peon, whose body was like a mountain of meat, was the strongest. His talent [Glutton] could absorb energy from all kinds of food, even demons!

In that instant, his crisis instinct made him activate the "Gluttonous Domain" to protect himself.

In an instant, a black vortex that devoured everything appeared, swallowing the surrounding demons like a whale, instantly clearing half a street of demons.

Overbearing and unmatched, his combat power was unparalleled for a time.

Seeing the commotion over there, Suren breathed a sigh of relief. At least the surviving pirates could help them hold back most of the city's ghosts.

However, he also knew that Peon wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Because he had identified earlier that absorbing spiritual energy in the Land of the Dead would also lead to assimilation.

The strength of the Gluttonous Domain lay in devouring spiritual energy from one side for one's own use. In theory, any energy was energy, and he could use it all.

But this was the Land of the Dead!

Even a ninth-tier alchemist had never heard of being able to exchange energy one-to-one. The remaining Nether energy would contaminate and assimilate his body.

The result was that the more he absorbed, the faster he would be assimilated!

Peon's combat power was astonishing, and he devoured hundreds of demons in a short period of time. But he himself was like someone who had drunk too much wine; the more he drank, the drunker he became.

His aura became more and more like a ghost.

.......

Even though the pirates had helped delay too many demons, the situation on Suren and Qiantiao's side was equally bad.

They also had to face hundreds of thousands of monsters.

This number was simply impossible to fight against.

Seventh-tier professionals would eventually be surrounded and killed, and so would they.

They could only take advantage of the fact that Peon hadn't died yet and try to escape from the city as much as possible.

Although they weren't sure what was at Asakusa Temple, and why Granny Akiku had reminded them to go there, the number of monsters outside the city was definitely not as large.

The two of them ran wildly all the way.

Qiantiao was a great swordsman and had a demon blade in her hand, so almost no demon could withstand a single blow from her sword.

With their cooperation, the speed of their breakthrough was also extremely fast.

However, Suren also saw that Qiantiao's burden was actually very heavy.

Don't look at her sword energy being dozens of meters long with each slash, cutting down monsters like cutting vegetables.

But in fact, using sword energy attacks consumed a lot of dark spiritual energy from her body.

Killing a hundred or a thousand would be fine, but facing hundreds of thousands of ghosts, they couldn't kill them all!

Moreover, ordinary ghosts were one thing, but there were also some strange monsters.

"Don't get close to the river, the mud in the water hides the [Rotting God]. It can't be killed unless the river dries up! Don't waste your energy..."

"The [Wind Weasel] is immune to cutting wounds, hammer its head with area attacks!"

"Be careful of your shadow, the [Shadow Woman] is缠绕 over here. If she has a shadow, she can teleport..."

"..."

Underneath their feet, in the air, in the shadows, in the river, in the walls, in the trees, in the stone statues... those monsters could emerge from anywhere to attack.

If Suren didn't have soul perception that allowed the surrounding monsters to have nowhere to hide, and the Omniscient Eye that could see through their weaknesses at a glance, otherwise, if they were to rush around blindly, even if their strength was a major rank higher, these monsters with their bizarre methods would have killed them hundreds of times.

Suren was a puppet master who had always relied on a sea of people to win. Now, he also tasted the terror of being dominated by the enemy's numbers.

Because they were running away, he couldn't use the Puppet Theater. He only carried twenty or thirty puppets with him, which shattered one after another.

The ghosts were endless, and Qiantiao's condition also began to decline.

She was charging at the front, and wounds had already appeared on her body.

Moreover, to injure spiritual monsters, or some special ghosts that could be resurrected like [Oni Warriors], she had to use the demonic power of the Kimaruhan Hyakume Munemasa. Although she had tamed this demon blade, controlling demonic power also required a lot of dark spiritual energy, which was a great burden.

Even if they killed wave after wave of monsters, the situation didn't improve at all, but instead became worse and worse.

This was the Land of the Dead, full of ghosts everywhere.

More and more monsters were attracted.

Suren shared the Death Herald's vision in the sky. He saw that the road to the South District was already blocked by various monsters, so he immediately made a decision: "If we keep going like this, we won't be able to escape. Let's find a way to hide first!"

Qiantiao responded, "Okay!"

At this moment, the monocle on Suren's right eye flashed, and he suddenly took out a few high-explosive smoke grenades and threw them forward. A large amount of smoke instantly filled the street, and Qiantiao immediately understood, rushing into it.

In an instant, two figures rushed in from one end and rushed out from the other.

A group of demons also followed closely behind.

Seeing this, two people cloaked in gold-patterned cloaks hiding in a wooden house breathed a sigh of relief.

.......

With Mikoko's shikigami paper dolls attached to the raven, and [Robert's Monocle] able to create almost realistic illusions, they temporarily deceived the group of demons and gave Suren and Qiantiao a chance to catch their breath.

The Mirror Organization's alchemical cloaks could greatly isolate the leakage of aura, and seemed to have concealed them from the perception of the ghosts.

Suren looked at Qiantiao's pale face and asked, "Are you okay?"

Qiantiao's chest rose and fell sharply, sweat covered her forehead, and she looked like she had exhausted a lot of energy. She replied, "I'm fine."

Suren said, "The illusions won't last long, we have to leave here."

"Okay."

Qiantiao nodded, took the recovery potion that Suren handed over, and poured it into her mouth.

The two of them only stayed for a few breaths before quietly sneaking out of the door.

But after all, this was a "T-level curse space."

They hadn't walked a few steps before Suren's expression suddenly changed drastically.

Because at this time, they saw a handsome, flower-robed youth standing at the entrance of the alley.

This guy's chest was exposed, and there was a strong妖异 on his face. He didn't have any demonic aura leaking out, but just standing there gave people a creepy, majestic pressure.

Qiantiao also sensed the terrifying pressure that felt like needles on her back. She turned slightly to the side, blocking Suren, her eyes full of solemnity, "If you get a chance, leave first, don't worry about me!"

She was also a decisive person, and naturally knew that this was a time of life and death, and that one of them could escape.

Hearing this, Suren narrowed his eyes and remained silent.

The name identified by the Omniscient Eye was [Oni King Shuten-dōji].

One of the most terrifying oni kings in the Yamakakure Hyakki Yagyō legends, invulnerable to swords and spears, with unfathomable strength.

This was also the strongest being in Suren's soul perception.

Seeing the two of them come out, Shuten-dōji's bewitching face showed a contemptuous smile, and he sized them up, saying, "Humans, you have some good tricks. The Land of the Dead hasn't been this lively in a long time... I really don't want to just kill you like this."

Suren immediately realized that the gold-patterned cloak couldn't hide from this guy's perception. He quietly retreated into the house.

Shuten-dōji naturally noticed his actions, but didn't stop him, sneering, "Your companion seems to be running away."

No living person could escape in the Land of the Dead.

Qiantiao was expressionless, slowly drawing the long sword that had already been sheathed at her waist.

"The sword is a good sword. It's a pity, your swordsmanship is still a bit lacking."

Shuten-dōji glanced at the demon blade, a cold light flashed in his eyes, but he didn't show much fear.

As he spoke, the forked scarlet tongue in his mouth, like a snake's tongue, suddenly licked his lips, and he became even more interested in Qiantiao's body, "Tsk, tsk, the sweet scent of a maiden... and it's rare to find such pure yang energy, it must be an extremely delicious body."

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere should have instantly become tense.

But Suren didn't know why, but he felt that something was strange when he heard these words.

He knew that this [Shuten-dōji] liked to eat people, but Qiantiao-nee was actually a... virgin?

Qiantiao ignored the provocative words, and her sword energy accumulated to the extreme. She seized the opportunity, drew her sword, and charged forward, "One-Sword Style - Evil Ghost Funeral!"

The Kimaruhan Hyakume Munemasa was wrapped in a layer of green flame, and the blade slid through the air like a green line.

In a flash of lightning, Qiantiao slashed at Shuten-dōji.

With a "clang," there was a sharp sound as if she had struck gold or stone.

Looking closely, Shuten-dōji had a contemptuous smile on his face, and a ball of crimson lotus fire in his hand easily caught the blow.

Qiantiao drew her sword and retreated violently, her hands forming a mudra, and the phantom of a Rakshasa with fiery, upright hair appeared behind her for the first time.

Six arms and six swords, she was finally about to go all out.

Seeing this, Shuten-dōji finally took a serious look, "Oh... a Rakshasa woman? So you're cultivating the path of hell. Heh heh, that's a bit interesting."

With a "snap," a sound of air exploding resounded, and Qiantiao stomped hard on the ground, her whole body rushing up.

In an instant, sword energy crisscrossed, and sand and stones flew.

Shuten-dōji didn't show any weakness, his fists wrapped in crimson lotus fire, raising his fists to resist, fist shadows filled the sky.

The sword energy that could cut stone and break gold couldn't injure his body at all.

Waves of ripples from the collision rippled through the air, and the surrounding buildings were cut down piece by piece...

.......

Hiding not far away, Suren wasn't surprised to see this. As expected, the ghost [Shuten-dōji] was invulnerable to swords and spears.

He also knew that Qiantiao was going to risk her life.

However, although the Rakshasa state was strong, the consumption also increased exponentially. Judging from the current situation, she couldn't hurt the enemy, and the outcome would be predictable.

Suren still didn't take action. He couldn't change the situation by blindly joining the battle now.

His face was solemn, and the streamer in his left eye trembled rapidly, carefully observing everything, thinking, "This demonic aura is so condensed... It's not that the [Demon Blade Munemasa] isn't sharp enough, but that the crimson lotus fire formed by the demonic aura is a big problem. It's a bit like the 'Haki' of a sixth-tier professional. If you can't break through that layer of demonic aura domain, no matter how sharp the knife is, it won't hurt its body. That guy's combat skills are also very clever, he won't give me a chance..."

After observing for a while, Suren couldn't see any opportunity.

This guy was an oni king, and ghost techniques were not very useful under ability suppression. Since he wasn't blinded by the demon blade, he was afraid that the black umbrella wouldn't be very effective either.

Unbreakable Body?

Then...

Suren knew that he only had one way to hurt the oni, and that was the [Hypnos' Night Scythe]!

However, the chance was small.

This guy was not only very skilled in combat, but also very cunning.

Qiantiao couldn't gain any advantage in skill comparison.

Even if she used a big move to slash, if he couldn't resist it, he could block and avoid it.

Suren didn't have any certainty that he could sneak attack it with the black scythe.

However, it wasn't completely impossible!

In an instant, his brain was like a computer, rapidly calculating and deducing all possibilities.

The appearance of such a powerful oni king made the situation extremely bad. But the good thing was that since this guy had shown up, the other demons seemed to be very afraid of this oni king and didn't dare to approach. It was like a tiger's prey, it wouldn't share it with jackals.

Suren took another look at the movements of the North Sea Fleet in the distance, which were getting smaller and smaller. If they dragged on, the situation would become more and more unfavorable for them.

Qiantiao was obviously aware of their situation. She had thought there was a chance to fight just now.

Now it seemed that there was no chance of winning at all.

With an unbreakable body, he was already invincible.

Seeing that Suren hadn't left yet, she used her telecommunicator to send a message, "You go first!"

She knew that Suren's escape methods were very strong. With her holding this guy back, he might be able to get out alone.

A cold light flashed in Suren's eyes, and he didn't say much, replying, "Qiantiao-nee, I have a way..."

........

As soon as he finished speaking, Suren rapidly formed a mudra and shouted softly in his heart, "Rune Vajra - Condense!"

As soon as this mudra was formed, a dark gold luster suddenly flowed over his skin. Looking closely, dense dark gold runes overflowed on the metallic luster.

But that wasn't all!

Suren changed the mudra in his hand again, the veins on his temples bulged, and his expression suddenly became ferocious. He seemed to be enduring something very difficult, and a low roar like a beast came from his throat, "Flesh Alchemy - Hormone Overdrive!"

For the first time, he activated the fourth-stage state in battle.

He was risking his life.

As soon as this technique was released, hormones surged into his body, limbs, and organs like crazy. His muscles visibly swelled, and his whole body had a surging power like a volcano erupting!

[Rune Vajra] + [Fourth-Stage Hormone Overdrive], he only had three minutes.

Suren's muscles began to heat up, steam billowing out, and a grim smile hung on his face as he stomped on the ground and shot out like a cannonball.

With a "snap," a step in the air, the figure he left behind had already dissipated.

Looking again, the figure had already rushed out a hundred meters away.

His speed had reached its limit!

This commotion was not small, and naturally couldn't be concealed from Shuten-dōji, who was in the middle of the battle.

"Oh?"

Looking at Suren rushing towards him, he knew he couldn't avoid it, and his demonic aura surged, punching forward.

"Boom!"

Two exaggerated shock waves, one black and one red, collided, and Suren retreated dozens of meters, while the oni also took three steps back.

The violent shock wave swept across several streets like a sea wave.

Shuten-dōji felt the exaggerated power of the collision, and looking at Suren, who looked like a bronze man, his interest increased greatly, "Yo, I underestimated you. You're clearly not very strong, but you actually have such power. A secret technique to stimulate the body's potential? Tsk, tsk, it reminds me of a guy who was proficient in 'Armor Evasion Technique' that I once met."

"..."

Suren didn't talk nonsense with him at all.

From this collision, he immediately judged that he could fight!

His [Rune Vajra] could completely withstand it, and the damage was within a predictable range.

Moreover, although this [Shuten-dōji] was invulnerable to swords and spears, he only had physical attack methods, and was not good at movement. He didn't see any magical attacks, which was also his weakness!

Although this guy was talking a lot while fighting.

But in fact, Qiantiao's sword and his own fists were not a small threat to him!

The thought flashed through his mind, and Suren rushed up again after his punch was ineffective.

At the same time, Qiantiao also drew her sword tacitly, and the two of them attacked together.

"Clang," "Clang," "Clang"...

"Boom," "Boom," "Boom"...

The attack frequency was very high, and fists and sword light flashed on Shuten-dōji's body, creating countless sparks.

After discovering that he couldn't completely avoid the two people's high-frequency attacks, this oni king simply stood his ground and outputted. His demonic aura condensed on the surface of his body into a raging crimson lotus fire, allowing various methods to strike him, but he remained unmoved.

According to legend, Shuten-dōji was arrogant, conceited, and proud...

Suren had been testing for so long, and he had also confirmed this legend.

Even though the battle was so fierce, this guy was still talking from time to time.

"Yo, these methods can't hurt me..."

"Tsk, tsk, you guys look like you're not doing so well?"

"..."

As in the legend, he liked to humiliate his opponents verbally.

After fighting for so long, Suren also knew that that guy must have discovered his weakness!

That was that this kind of physical secret technique didn't last long.

In fact, it was also true. Suren's body was almost on the verge of collapse.

After the high-intensity battle, countless muscle fibers in Suren's body seemed to be about to break, cracks appeared in his bones, and the temperature was burning his skin like melting metal.

This was not his own strength at all, but what he had obtained by squeezing his body.

The longer it dragged on, the more serious the injuries would be.

At this moment, Suren's state in the battle visibly weakened. Shuten-dōji seized the opportunity and punched him in the lower ribs. Suren's breathing stagnated, and he instinctively twisted his body, curling his arms around his ribs, wanting to protect his vitals. But a big flaw was exposed in his abdomen.

"Heh!"

Seeing this, Shuten-dōji sneered in his heart.

He didn't need to think about this kind of opportunity at all, and he instinctively thrust out a hand knife.

"Puchi!" Although it was a hand knife, it sharply broke through Suren's [Rune Vajra], and blood spurted out.

Shuten-dōji was thinking that even if he couldn't kill him with one blow, there would be no suspense later. He was just about to thrust in again to injure his internal organs, but at this moment, Suren suddenly released his hands and clamped down on his arm.

After acting for so long, wasn't this a flaw that Suren had deliberately revealed?!

"Oh... looking for death?"

Shuten-dōji didn't understand why his opponent would make such a move, but at the same time, six long swords were placed on him.

Not to hurt him, but to control his other arm.

"Want to capture me?"

Shuten-dōji understood something, but was confused by this move.

What could these two people do by controlling him?

He was being controlled, but weren't these two people also being controlled?

Moreover, he could break free from this degree of restriction in an instant.

But his death intuition told him that something was wrong!

.......

"Puh~"

Suren's abdomen was pierced with a hole, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of old blood, tasting the腥辣 in his throat.

However, a grim smile overflowed from the corner of his mouth, "Silk Control Secret Technique - Titan's Hand!"

In an instant, silver threads that had never appeared in the battle suddenly condensed into a实体.

These were the 13,000 strands of hair he had recently engraved with the "Sixth-Order Toughness Rune," and the line control technique was also the strongest weaving technique he currently mastered for single-target control.

In just an instant, the threads tightly缠绕 Suren's body and Shuten-dōji's arm.

The bewitching oni finally changed color, vaguely realizing something.

He exerted force on his arm, breaking countless threads.

Just as he was about to break free,

But at this time,

He suddenly saw a Dharma form phantom holding a black scythe rise behind Suren!

"This is?!"

In the instant of eye contact, he seemed to see the gaze of some high-level being, and his gaze paused.

Seeing this, Suren was overjoyed in his heart, "It's done!"

As he expected, the second-stage Death God Phantom could also震慑 advanced ghosts to this extent!

With such a close distance, the Death God Phantom's 震慑, even if it was only for an instant, was enough.

Almost at the precise moment calculated to the millisecond, a spatial rift suddenly appeared on Shuten-dōji's neck, drawing a thin line.

However, the spatial rift that was always effective was cutting the 金刚不败 body protected by the demonic aura, like cutting cowhide with a knife, it wasn't very smooth.

"Eh..."

This was the first time Suren had encountered a black scythe cutting so unsmoothly.

But the result was still good, because of the multiple preparations, the Death God's 震慑 prevented Shuten-dōji from reacting in time, and this knife finally cut off that head.

Suren looked at the "gray mist" dissipating on the corpse, not knowing if the ghost mist had other resurrection methods, but he didn't give it a chance at all, and directly controlled the Death God Phantom to devour it.