Chapter 244: Unexpected Explosive Popularity, Known To The World! Huijue Returns, Seed Battle Preliminaries About To Begin
After this sentence was spoken, Shangshan Che could clearly see the fiery gaze of the ashigaru shift away from the soul ash bottle in his hand.
Before he could even ask, “As long as you tell me three pieces of valid information, the soul essence in this bottle is yours,” the ashigaru hastily lowered his eyes and shook his head vigorously.
“Onmyoji… I haven’t heard of it.”
Said the impoverished ashigaru, and before Shangshan Che could speak to stop him, he had already turned and hurried away.
—Even 500 soul ash isn’t enough to make this ordinary ashigaru speak???
Shangshan Che subconsciously wanted to use his soul seal, but then remembered that this was the City of Disorder.
In the City of Disorder, there would be no such obvious loophole for him to exploit.
If he had secretly used his soul seal on this ashigaru, he felt his own fate would not have been good.
However, outside the City of Disorder, Shangshan Che had never encountered any true beings from the Sengoku Period.
Silently watching the ashigaru quickly leave, Shangshan Che, who had transformed into a fifty-year-old bald man using Thousand Faces, couldn’t help but fall into deep contemplation.
Five hundred years ago, after he left in the early days of World Revival, what exactly happened?
The answers were buried by repeated rejections, shrouded in a deep mist.
“Since I can’t ask, I’ll have to go into the Sengoku Period myself again to investigate.”
Shangshan Che sighed softly in his heart and walked into a deserted dark alley.
—For now, I should use some soul ash to see if I can find some cheap and plentiful rations for Hundred-Eyed Demon.
A moment later, a man who appeared to be around thirty years old emerged and began browsing through the stalls of vendors selling demon materials, slowly making his selection.
Shangshan Che didn’t go to the reputable, established shops in the City of Disorder; the flyers distributed to new tourists on the street were placed there after significant expenditure of soul ash.
While those places guaranteed genuine goods, the prices were not so favorable.
Shangshan Che, being able to understand materials just by touching them, naturally wouldn’t be conned.
At this moment, outside another large fighting arena, dense crowds of vendors followed the flow of people, setting up stalls and waiting for the next gullible fool with money.
Shangshan Che was playing with a gray, worn-out stone ball. After weighing it in his hand, he asked the stall owner, who was an evil spirit, “How much is this thing?”
The evil spirit stall owner chuckled, stirring up a chilling wind,
“It’s the Petrifying Eye, reputedly crafted by Ishikori-dome no Mikoto herself! It can petrify anyone you look at if you replace your eye with it. Now, it’s only 60 units of soul essence! No cheating, genuine goods!”
—Ishikori-dome no Mikoto, the god of metalworking in myth and legend. Perhaps the ‘Master Craftsman’ class was created because of Her.
Legend has it that the Yata no Kagami was also crafted by Her.
Heh, a treasure crafted by a Great God herself for only 60 soul ash, is that right?
Shangshan Che gazed at the stone ball’s panel for a long time, pondered for a moment, and then directly struck at the price’s main artery:
“6 units of soul essence.”
“Deal!”
The expected price negotiation and war of words did not begin; the evil spirit stall owner immediately declared in a booming voice.
Shangshan Che:?
What? It’s a deal?
They’re losing money on this?
This thing was bought as trash, wasn’t it?
Thinking this, Shangshan Che’s expression became unreadable: “Never mind, it’s too expensive, I’m not buying…”
Seeing this, the evil spirit stall owner immediately slashed his price again:
“5 units of soul essence!”
Shangshan Che didn’t say another word. He pulled out 4 units of soul ash from the panel and placed them in a small bottle worth tens of yen: “My essence has higher purity.”
The evil spirit stall owner’s eyes lit up with interest, and a good deal of resentment involuntarily welled up within him.
He took the bottle with his semi-transparent hand, and as he unscrewed the cork, his eyes brightened.
“Good stuff! Truly good stuff!”
The evil spirit immediately poured the small amount of soul ash into his mouth, a look of ecstasy on his face: “Brother, how about 50 units of soul essence, and you can take my whole stall?”
Shangshan Che looked down and saw scattered gray debris, and the vast majority of it didn’t even have a quality color.
“Sorry, I’m short on cash.”
Refusing without hesitation, Shangshan Che left the stall with the seemingly unbelievably cheap stone ball, a slight smile on his lips.
The panel of the seemingly light blue stone ball is as follows—
【 Petrifying Eye · 27th Generation 】
【 Quality: Rare 】
【 Effect: When used correctly, grants the faint power of the “Petrifying Eye.” 】
【 — A Petrifying Eye crafted by a legendary existence. Although time has passed and it has been passed down through generations, the power within the eye has been continuously draining, yet it still possesses some divine efficacy. 】
The truth is, the evil spirit stall owner, who looked like a swindler, was actually telling the truth!
The Petrifying Eye in his hand was most likely truly crafted by that “Ishikori-dome no Mikoto”!
Perhaps, even the evil spirit stall owner himself didn’t realize that the tall tales he was spouting could actually come true.
Although most of its effect had already vanished…
But for 4 units of soul ash, what more could one ask for?
Even if eating it would cause poisoning, it wouldn’t kill Hundred-Eyed Demon!
Shangshan Che opened his storage bag again and scanned the densely packed eyes of various kinds filling the slots, a satisfied smile on his face.
After six hours of meticulous selection, he had spent about 1500 soul ash to buy various eyes with strange effects for Hundred-Eyed Demon.
He had just spent all the earnings from the live stream in the City of Disorder.
Although the quantity was less than a hundred, it wouldn’t provide much promotion progress for Hundred-Eyed Demon.
—But most of the eyes had unique skills, including even powerful ones like “Petrifying Eye.”
If Hundred-Eyed Demon could fully absorb the effects of these eyes, Shangshan Che didn’t dare to imagine how uncomfortable the other party would be after he gained the Hundred-Eyed Demon Incarnation and its first awakening.
Before the sword is even drawn, dozens of different kinds of debuffs are inexplicably applied.
Who could withstand that?
Shangshan Che opened the Edo Castle gacha pool interface and sprinkled all these eyes into it as if in a drizzle.
Then, he received a look of confusion from Hundred-Eyed Demon.
She picked up the eyeballs one by one, her brows furrowing with each careful examination.
After repeating this dozens of times, Shangshan Che could already see the expression of “speechlessness” on her face.
Sigh.
Under his gaze, Hundred-Eyed Demon sighed softly, then waved her hand towards the sky—that is, towards Shangshan Che.
It meant something like, “I’ll handle them all, so don’t bother watching.”
As expected of her!
Shangshan Che gave her a thumbs up and, before leaving, glanced at the progress bar above Edo Castle.
—16%.
The road to Super Epic was still 84% incomplete.
Leaving the remaining time to Hundred-Eyed Demon, Shangshan Che exited the gacha pool page and returned to his inn.
Firstly, he had almost finished browsing all the stalls selling eyes, and secondly, the remaining soul ash should be saved for immediate use later.
……
Several hours later, the Master’s apprentice and Akiyama Mei, who returned empty-handed, along with Shangshan Che and Tamamo, who returned laden with goods, boarded a surprisingly vacant carriage.
—A mere 50 soul ash made it feel like 5000 for Tamamo.
Shangshan Che, carrying large and small bags, thought to himself.
He took a photo with Tamamo, who was also covered in shopping bags, at the train entrance, and then threw everything into his storage bag.
“No matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing, Elder Brother Uesugi.” Tamamo, unburdened, did a little hop in place. “Is this the legendary Great Onmyōdō?”
Shangshan Che remained silent, implicitly agreeing.
“Amazing, amazing.”
After sitting down, Tamamo took out her mobile phone—on the Kisaragi train, internet access was naturally essential.
Clatter, clatter.
Not long after the empty train started, Tamamo’s murmuring could be heard.
“If we go back now, we can just catch Yagyu’s Shizuoka Prefecture finals, right?
Hehe, this is really good… Wait, could it be that the Master’s apprentice chose this return time with that in mind?”
“Oh! And, Elder Brother Uesugi, look quickly!”
After a perfunctory exclamation, Tamamo paused for a moment before craning her neck to stare at the screen, asking in disbelief,
“Brother… is all the traffic regarding you being blown in by the wind?”
……
【 Special Affairs Office Seed Shangshan Che defeats Sengoku Hojo Clan’s Five-Colored Guard and Legendary Ninja Fūma Kotarō in a 3-on-1 battle! Post-battle sweat: “You are not worthy of me bleeding.” 】
After reading the long string of titles, Shangshan Che:?
How did this matter become so exaggerated? The Five-Colored Guard is even involved?
Also, when did he ever say such boastful words?
As time went on, the topic of Shangshan Che not only wasn’t buried by new hot topics but instead spread wider and wider, with more and more people knowing about it.
Among them, a mysterious editor named “Great God in the Deadlines” meticulously edited Tamamo’s live stream clips, adding special effects and AI upscaling the bitrate.
Coupled with the reposting by the newly established official account of the Special Affairs Office, these two played a significant role in pushing it forward.
Shangshan Che was unaware of the former.
But the latter…
Shangshan Che didn’t even need to think to know that Nanjo Emi was definitely behind the official account’s actions.
“—This title is quite impressive.”
On the sidewalk, Huijue, who was holding prayer beads but wearing a two-dimensional cartoon t-shirt under the guise of “experiencing new culture,” smiled and forwarded the edited video to Shangshan Che on LINE.
Soon, Shangshan Che’s reply arrived.
【 Moon Sand Sauce: I saw it… Why is everyone forwarding this video to me? 】
【 Huijue: Because it’s not badly done. 】
【 Moon Sand Sauce: Holy crap! Master, how did you learn to speak like that? 】
【 Huijue: So much time has passed, I should have made some progress. 】
【 Huijue: By the way, Benefactor Shangshan, are you in Shizuoka Prefecture recently? I’ve finished my current matters and can be there in the next couple of days. 】
【 Shangshan Che: Thank you, Master, I’ll send you my location. 】
……
Special Affairs Office Branch, Tokyo Shinjuku District.
Tokugawa Haruhiko, who had just finished his current task, looked at the screen displaying the repeatedly playing video and frowned. He then opened his phone to search for more information.
Soon, after watching the video and the simplified reports, Tokugawa Haruhiko’s frown deepened.
What’s going on?
In just about a month, has the guy carried by Lili Zi grown to this extent?
Are these media outlets, only seeking attention and traffic, exaggerating?
Tokugawa Haruhiko’s impression of the name “Shangshan Che” was still from right after the True Sword Match ended.
He searched further on the Special Affairs Office app and, after reviewing Shangshan Che’s entire journey over the past month, fell into silence.
Solo kill of the Black Phone Booth, solo clear of the Mokumokuren Labyrinth, and yesterday’s solo clear of the Hojo Clan…
The pretty boy who was far inferior to him back then is now stronger than him, Tokugawa Haruhiko?
Is this a joke?
“It’s only been a month, how did he…”
Tokugawa Haruhiko clenched his phone, so hard that sparks flew from the cracks in his special mobile phone, before he finally reacted.
Kyuuketsuin Branch Family Mansion.
Yawning, with dark circles under his eyes, Kyuuketsuin Kin opened the door and let in the black-clothed bodyguard who had been knocking for a long time.
He sat down with a snap and picked up his PS5 controller, his eyes filled with deep resentment.
“You better have something important to say, otherwise I’ll take out all my anger from being killed a hundred times in Dota through the night on you.”
The black-clothed bodyguard was not afraid at all, merely reporting the important events of yesterday in an orderly fashion as per the Head of the Family’s instructions.
According to the Kyuuketsuin family head, even if Kin sits at home all day without going out, he should at least keep up with this ever-changing world.
After hearing about Shangshan Che’s deeds, Kyuuketsuin Kin, who had once again died in front of a treasure chest, smiled and nodded.
“Very good, very good. I saw he was extraordinary back then. My judgment is quite accurate.”
“Oh right, Shangshan Jun will definitely participate in the Tokyo Seed Battle, won’t he?”
Kyuuketsuin Kin rubbed the joystick and thought, “After the competition starts, I’ll send him some Onmyōdō-chilled lemon tea in a box.
Otherwise, if he gets thirsty halfway through watching, he’ll be ripped off by the black-hearted organizers.”
The black-clothed bodyguard was stunned for a moment before realizing that their young master was not joking.
“Yes…”
The black-clothed bodyguard sighed silently, thinking that the family head specifically asked him to deliver this message to the young master so that he could prepare gifts in advance to befriend the other party.
In the end, just a box of lemon tea?
Young Master, Young Master, you underestimate him too much.
……
“Holy crap, a ‘special offer’ cola for 1800 yen! Just reach into my wallet and rob me!”
“Selling it for 1800 yen, do you have 1800 pieces of driftwood?”
In front of the largest dojo in Shizuoka City, Shangshan Che, wearing a mask and sunglasses, couldn’t help but complain with Tamamo about the outrageous price of the drink.
The weather today was clear, with hot and bright sunshine.
It also happened to be the day of the Shizuoka Prefecture sectional seed battle finals.
Naturally, the small shop in front of the dojo held a monopoly on pricing.
Don’t want to buy it?
Of course you can—then walk the 1.2 kilometers to the convenience store and buy it.
Walking into the special dojo, temporarily converted into a spectator venue, with Tamamo and grumbling, Shangshan Che followed the empty VIP passage to the best viewing area.
There were quite a lot of spectators in the venue, which could be seen from the ordinary passage being completely jammed.
However, most people didn’t seem to have a particularly strong passion for watching—after all, in the internet age, cultivation had been popularized for some time.
Even the general public could see the gap between the local and the central.
Especially since there was that video of “Shangshan Che soloing Hojo” that went viral the other day.
Having seen high-level duels, it was natural that one wouldn’t be too interested in relatively normal combat.
Shangshan Che looked up at the referees and roles similar to notaries in the higher levels—Ghost God level individuals from different factions were supervising each other to prevent any form of favoritism or cheating.
“However, the faces of these Ghost God level individuals are all unfamiliar.”
Moreover, there were six of them in total.
For a regional final of a seed match, six Ghost God level individuals had appeared.
In the past, this would have been unthinkable.
It seemed that the Ghost God levels that emerged from the aftermath of the tide a few days ago were real, and not something fabricated to deceive the Eternal World factions.
After his gaze shifted a few times, Shangshan Che heard the Apprentice Master, who had already taken a seat in the front row, speak in a low voice,
“Young Friend Shangshan, what do you think of this match?”
“Ryūgen Jun will definitely win,” Shangshan Che shrugged. “Otherwise, why would Lord Saionji have told me not to hold back when the time comes?”
The Apprentice Master was momentarily stunned by the reply and shook his head: “You brat, you haven’t even seen your opponent yet…”
“This is called having confidence in Lord Saionji and Ryūgen Jun.”
As Shangshan Che spoke, he noticed his mobile phone vibrate.
He opened it and found an Excel spreadsheet sent by Nanjo Emi.
【 Nanjo Emi: The list of participating seeds for Tokyo’s 23 wards has been finalized. Don’t forget to look it over before the official meeting so you have a general understanding. 】
