Chapter 325: Spider Cutter’s Trial, Hundred-eyed Demon’s Rare Incarnation Appearance! Tsuchigumo Projection, Slashed With One Strike
Huh?
Shangshan Che’s CPU short-circuited for a moment.
This guy… what is he saying?
This uncle, no matter how you look at him, seems only in his thirties or forties, but his actual age is over a hundred years older than Tokugawa Motoyasu?
And he called me “little bro,” so if he meets a few more generations of the Minamoto Family later, won’t the titles get all messed up?
The man touched his healthy stubble, walked in front of the two with a half-smile, and asked Minamoto Shizuka: “Little Shizuka, it’s this Shangshan little bro who came to get the Spider Cutter, right?”
Minamoto Shizuka nodded: “Yes, this time I brought the Eastern Region Seed Battle Champion Shangshan Che to obtain the champion reward Spider Cutter. Please open the way, Great-Grandfather.”
The man acknowledged, then looked at Shangshan Che, sized him up for a while, and chuckled: “The commotion at the doorway earlier wasn’t small.”
“Not bad, kid, your body’s pretty sturdy.”
He patted Shangshan Che’s shoulder, producing a dull thudding sound.
Shangshan Che didn’t feel any “terrifying gaze scrutinizing him completely,” but only sensed an ordinary inspection from an elder.
And in Shangshan Che’s eyes, Minamoto Shizuka’s Great-Grandfather looked completely like just a middle-aged man, not at all associated with the word “Supernatural.”
As everyone knows, the stronger the essence, the greater the “existence,” and the more it exceeds the current Mortal Realm’s “Sea Level,” the harder it is to conceal.
Even though Shangshan Che can now blend in among ordinary people, once he promotes to Ghost God and his Life Essence changes, he might not be able to do it.
But this man was just as “unremarkable” as Shangshan Che.
Hard to imagine how powerful he really is.
Shangshan Che breathed a slight sigh of relief in his heart—good thing he had anticipated this and didn’t incarnate as the Four-tailed Fox and then use Thousand Faces to enter the Minamoto Family.
Otherwise… the probability of not being seen through would be almost zero.
Clack clack.
Shangshan Che could hear the man’s toes tapping twice on the stone slab path beneath his feet.
Thus, the Deep Bamboo Forest standing behind him, which also gave Shangshan Che a full sense of danger, was cleared in the blink of an eye to form a wide avenue enough for several people to pass.
Even some “terrifying existences” within the Bamboo Forest turned to flying ash in that instant.
Disappearing without a trace.
The man jerked his mouth toward them,
“Go in, this path is now 【clean】.”
“Thank you, Great-Grandfather.”
Minamoto Shizuka slightly bowed, then led Shangshan Che toward the dim depths.
“Also.”
The man’s voice came from behind: “Although the Spider Cutter’s trial usually doesn’t take long, remember to come out before midnight tonight.”
His voice was somewhat eerie and terrifying,
“Otherwise, if I fall asleep, I won’t know what might happen.”
“Shizuka will remember Great-Grandfather’s teachings.”
Shangshan Che didn’t reply; he only reacted after feeling the bone-chilling cold from behind disappear.
Turns out, his back had been covered in cold sweat at some point.
The Minamoto Family truly is a place where tigers hide and dragons lurk…
The temporary path leading to where the Spider Cutter was stored was very quiet, so quiet that he could hear the suppressed, almost imperceptible heartbeat of Minamoto Shizuka beside him.
Shangshan Che’s thoughts wandered, and he couldn’t help calculating the Minamoto Family’s combat power based on the recent information.
—Just Minamoto Shizuka’s Great-Grandfather’s generation of brothers and sisters alone, who knows how many there are, and this “Great-Grandfather” might not even be that generation’s “Minamoto Shizuka,” but rather not “Gen Shinsui.”
The middle-aged man and Minamoto Shizuka are four generations apart, meaning there are at least three or four existences on par with this “Great-Grandfather.”
Maybe even older antiques from earlier are still alive, just not showing up.
Shangshan Che couldn’t help smacking his lips.
Four Extremes Breathing Technique… compared to Onmyoji, it’s still too overpowered. At the “Great-Grandfather’s” level, slaying Ghost Gods or the Great Onmyoji before the Tide would be one slash each?
In the end, it’s still that one phrase.
Sword Saint is truly awesome…
Twenty minutes later, Minamoto Shizuka’s footsteps stopped, pulling Shangshan Che’s thoughts back to reality.
He looked up but didn’t see a Divine Weapon or Sharp Tool similar to or even surpassing Kaga Kiyomitsu.
What he saw was only a strangely shaped ancient stone pillar, crawling with moss like a real spider with claws and fangs.
The stone pillar Spider Cutter was huge, even overflowing the circular stone platform specially holding it.
Shangshan Che pinched his nose tip and smelled a distinct, intense, and extremely complex Demon Qi and nauseating bloody smell from the stone pillar Spider Cutter.
It was like an entire ancient battlefield laid out before him.
Minamoto Shizuka said: “Shangshan Jun, this is the Spider Cutter.”
“How long has this thing been here? Why is it full of Demon Qi?”
Shangshan Che locked eyes with the lifelike compound eyes of the spider; if it weren’t grayish-white, he’d be afraid it would suddenly pounce and bite him.
“Around two hundred years, I think.”
Minamoto Shizuka thought for a moment and answered: “The Spider Cutter’s previous owner dates back to the early Edo Period; in the past one or two hundred years, only a scant seven or eight people qualified to touch it and participate in the trial.
And among those who participated in the trial, only my elder sister passed… that was a long time ago.”
As Minamoto Shizuka spoke, she didn’t notice the faint pride in her expression.
Shangshan Che was puzzled: “Since she passed the trial, why didn’t she take the Spider Cutter?”
Minamoto Shizuka immediately answered,
“The Spider Cutter and my elder sister’s ideals didn’t match; they rejected each other.”
“I see…”
Shangshan Che pondered.
So, the Spider Cutter before him indeed has a “spirit.”
Shangshan Che had just taken two steps forward when “buzzing” sounds came from his waist and directly ahead simultaneously.
It was Kaga Kiyomitsu and the Spider Cutter.
Accompanied by drifting grayish-white powder.
Buzz buzz…
Buzz buzz?
Buzz.
Crack crack…
Slash!
The grayish-white statue of the Tsuchigumo stirred, on the verge of revival, with a hint of red light surging in its compound eyes.
Kaga Kiyomitsu suddenly popped out of its Scabbard, pale and pitch-black flowing on its Blade.
After a brief exchange in “sword language,” the two blades shifted from tentative communication to sharp confrontation.
“Little Jia, don’t make trouble.”
Shangshan Che pressed down Kaga Kiyomitsu and said seriously in his heart: “This might be your colleague in the future.”
“No good, Little Jia doesn’t like him…”
After saying that, Kaga Kiyomitsu pretended not to hear and stopped responding.
Like a sulking child.
Shangshan Che sighed helplessly, also somewhat puzzled.
—This Spider Cutter isn’t like the Demonic Swords such as “Hotarumaru” or “Murasame”; how come its resentment is so heavy, almost wringable with water.
Seeing this, Minamoto Shizuka said nothing more, just took a wooden plaque from her waist and tossed it onto the stone platform.
In an instant, the resentment that would kill an ordinary person on touch was fully suppressed, and a light circle lit up centered on the stone platform.
Minamoto Shizuka,
“Shangshan Jun, step into the light circle and touch the spider statue to start the trial.”
“Okay.”
Shangshan Che didn’t waste words, did as told, and reached out to touch the grayish-white long leg of the stone sculpture spider.
Cold, rough…
A familiar sensation came.
When Shangshan Che opened his eyes again, he was on a desolate plain empty of everything.
He looked up and recognized it as the Eternal World’s sky.
Only slightly different from what he’d seen before.
Moments later, a bloodstained torn cloth strip fell from the sky to Shangshan Che’s front.
Two lines of words were written on it.
【Trial】
【Slay all monsters… completely】
The four words “Slay completely” were written in scarlet blood.
After Shangshan Che finished reading, the cloth strip turned to flying ash in spontaneously appearing sparks.
Following that, one after another Demon’s Life Essence entered Shangshan Che’s perception.
Though weak, the number…
Was overwhelming across the mountains and plains.
Standing at a relative high point on this plain, Shangshan Che looked around and saw countless dense label prompts surging endlessly, like a gray tsunami sweeping in.
【Red Ogre’s resentful soul】
【Little River Kappa’s resentful soul】
【Grandma Fire’s resentful soul】
……
Too many prompts; Shangshan Che couldn’t keep up.
“So that’s where those resentments come from; turns out this trial regularly finds free cleaning for the Spider Cutter…
Otherwise, the Spider Cutter’s ‘spirit’ would eventually be eroded by these early-dead things.”
Shangshan Che realized, and smiled: “But this is right up my alley.”
He glanced at the Panel and found he could still use Demon Incarnation.
“Originally had some difficulty…”
Shangshan Che initially planned a classic Four-tailed Fox Thousand Faces + Red Hannya Mask + Hundred-Eyed Demon possession combo.
But thinking carefully, he realized he hadn’t incarnated solely as the Hundred-Eyed Demon yet.
Shangshan Che stared at the exquisite card of the enticing Hundred-Eyed Demon loli, wondering what he’d look like incarnated as the Hundred-Eyed Demon…
Perfect chance to test telekinetic force in detail with these “live materials.”
With that thought, Shangshan Che gently closed his eyes.
Demon Incarnation, Hundred-Eyed Demon.
Sparse black mist that devoured all light rose up.
Seconds later, a man in an impeccably neat black tailcoat, formal black tie, and spotless white gloves replaced Shangshan Che.
The man’s figure was slim, his skin sickly pale, and his angular face shrouded in deep black mist.
Only a pair of blood-red pupils like rubies lit up.
“So the Hundred-Eyed Demon incarnation looks like this.”
The man somehow produced a Mirror and examined himself all over,
“Why so corporate slave-looking… this is the born office drone outfit.”
Indeed, this mysterious suited man still fiddling with the black mist on his face was Shangshan Che.
Precisely, Shangshan Che in Hundred-Eyed Demon incarnation form.
At this moment, the nearest kappa had opened its duck beak wide, cackling strangely as it bit toward Shangshan Che.
Pfft pfft—
Midway through its pounce, the kappa was crushed mid-air into a ball of blood-spraying meat mush.
【You killed Little River Kappa’s resentful soul, gained 0.1 Soul Ash.】
Shangshan Che, still studying the black mist on his face, was slightly stunned.
It was his first time seeing a Soul Ash unit below “1.”
But that wasn’t the point.
The important thing was…
Cross-shaped light bloomed deep in the blood pupils, dispersing all the black mist on his face, revealing a pale cheek grinning with ferocious delight.
A hoarse voice carried irrepressible laughter,
“So, killing monsters here drops Soul Ash too!”
“Roar roar roar!”
The endless Demon tide let out liver-shattering roars.
“Great great great! Even mosquito legs are meat!”
At the top of the small mound, the tailcoat fluttered in the windless air.
Pfft pfft pfft—!
Following that, countless Demons were crushed from above by invisible colossal force into minced meat.
Shangshan Che walked down the slope, eyes lightly closed, finely sensing the All-Seeing Eye’s omnidirectional view and the telekinetic force freely manipulating within it.
He strolled slowly amid the roars and sea of resentment, silently crushing all the chaotic noise with overwhelming force.
“Telekinetic force, so that’s what it is.”
After some unknown time, Shangshan Che standing atop a corpse mountain dozens of meters high removed his white glove to wipe the sweat beading on his forehead.
He exhaled lightly and gave a warm smile to the remaining Demons, now visible to the end at a glance.
“Thanks to all of you, selflessly helping me get started in this discipline.”
Shangshan Che said sincerely.
For these polite Demon brothers even in death, he had nothing to repay.
The only thing he could do was probably give them a quick end.
Thud.
Spiritual Power dripped one by one into the black-red furnace core, pulsing in sync with his heart, shaking the vast earth.
Then, Heavenly Thunder manifested.
Lead-like thunderclouds blanketed the firmament.
On this plain where consequences didn’t matter, endless lightning was precisely guided by telekinetic force to equally turn every Demon to ash.
Until Shangshan Che’s Spiritual Power was nearly depleted for the third time, the roars of the Demons in his ears completely vanished.
“Phew… no wonder only Gen Shinsui passed the trial in one or two hundred years; with this lineup, who below Ghost God could suppress it.”
As Shangshan Che tried to descend the corpse and blood sea, his steps paused slightly.
The scarlet Hundred-Eyed Demon’s Eye turned its gaze to the horizon’s end.
【Tsuchigumo’s resentful soul Projection】
The massive label prompt spanned the sky, confirming its BOSS status.
“Tsuchigumo’s 【Projection】… so this is the Spider Cutter’s final challenge.”
Shangshan Che clearly sensed the Ghost God’s “Qi” from the dozens-of-meters-tall giant eight-legged spider.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t a Ghost God, more like forcibly restricted below Ghost God by some special means.
—Because he hadn’t become a Ghost God yet, and this was another trial?
“Reasonable.”
Shangshan Che, who had just been beheaded again by Fang Xiang Shi not long ago, descended the corpse and blood sea, knowing full well the depth and length of that “abyss.”
“If it were before getting the Hundred-Eyed Demon, I might have had trouble beating you.”
Amid the earth-shaking, Shangshan Che walked unyielding toward the Tsuchigumo charging like a hurricane.
He slowly drew Kaga Kiyomitsu; the tailcoat and white glove incarnation dissipated in the black mist.
Replacing it was a crimson mask sufficient to make a hundred ghosts retreat!
“Hiss—”
In the Tsuchigumo’s furious roar, spider silk tougher than threads and harder than steel fell like a rain curtain.
Hundreds of thousands of bristles shot out like missiles from its huge body.
Rumble, rumble…
Two hearts pumped vast power together in Shangshan Che’s body; Rin Character Technique’s silver light bloomed on his hand.
Five-colored Qi Barrier flowed and mixed between black and white in a blink, then sliced through the Tsuchigumo’s center and eight legs.
“Too bad, now it’s too late…”
Black and white five colors bloomed in mid-air.
Shangshan Che turned back, calmly watching the dozens-of-meters-tall monster turn into massive chunks of shattered corpse crashing heavily to the ground.
Distinct pain came from his left shoulder.
Shangshan Che pulled out the dozens-of-meters-long huge forelimb and casually tossed it to the ground.
The ground trembled slightly.
Just a moment short, and this Tsuchigumo’s right forelimb would have torn half of Shangshan Che’s body, causing him no small trouble.
【You killed Tsuchigumo’s resentful soul Projection, gained 99 Soul Ash!】
“Ninety-nine points!?”
Shangshan Che, staring at his nearly healed wound, shifted his gaze and exclaimed: “Nine hundred ninety times that kappa’s!”
As he spoke, everything around turned to nothingness.
Whether Tsuchigumo’s remains, corpse and blood sea, plain, or sky…
In the silent darkness, Shangshan Che saw endless Slaughter, Slaughter, and Slaughter from the Spider Cutter…
Beyond slaying Demons, it was still slaying Demons.
Until Shangshan Che grew drowsy from watching, these slaughter scenes gradually faded.
He “looked” up.
Though lightless, he saw a boy in samurai garb standing before him.
The boy’s left half-face crawled with ferocious spider patterns, eye white empty; the right half-face was delicate and serene, gaze calm as water.
A short dark-red prompt like congealed blood clot hovered above the boy’s head—
【Spider Cutter】
“Your Excellency, congratulations on passing the trial.”
The boy, or rather the Spider Cutter’s “spirit,” spoke to him,
“Next, I need to test your 【Compatibility】 with me using a very simple question.”
“If it succeeds, I will devote myself to you until death.”
“If not, I will continue sleeping here, waiting further.”
