Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

Izanami looked at herself, wondering what she intended to do.
Zhang Zhiwei muttered to himself, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

Previously, he had been holding back Susanoo and Amaterasu, refusing to kill them, hoping to lure out more deities of the Dharma lineage and then burn them all to ashes.

Burning the deities within these lineages may seem to offer no benefit to the overall battle, but in reality, it plays a crucial role.

Shinto priests, and even Onmyoji, rely heavily on the entire lineage of Japanese religions.

It can be said that the vast majority of their power relies on the "divine descent technique" of the lineage.

If he could fundamentally burn down the lineage of Japanese Buddhism, they would still be able to use some methods, even with their immense faith.

However, they could no longer command spirits and deities at will as before, and even the power of the talismans they drew would be greatly reduced.

It's safe to say that their strength will decrease by at least 70%. This is undoubtedly a drastic measure that will severely damage the world of supernatural beings in Japan.

Just now, he burned down Takamagahara, and the strength of the Shinto priests, led by the Ise Grand Shrine, will inevitably be severely weakened.

Now he has spread the flames of war to the Kingdom of the Underworld. If he burns down the Kingdom of the Underworld as well, the power of the priests who worship the lineage of the Kingdom of the Underworld will also be greatly reduced.

Just as he was about to do so, Izanami's voice suddenly rang out.

"Shouldn't someone like you cultivate yourself and hone your skills to transcend the constraints of the objective world?"

Why risk your life and get involved in such a monstrous karma for such a corrupt and crumbling country, for a group of ordinary people who are like ants?

"Nothing in this world is ever still. The sum of individual changes is the change of the entire world. But the impact of individuals on the world is different. Some people exhaust themselves but cannot stir up the slightest wave. Others, with a single wrong thought, can turn the world upside down. This is the weight of fate."

"You carry a heavy burden, more than I imagined. But that doesn't mean you can act recklessly. Judging from the current situation, you have no chance of winning this war in Shanghai."

"Even if you intervene, it will be the same. You can't possibly not understand this. Do you really think that your weight is greater than that of a million-strong army or the combined weight of the millions of people in this city? Blindly going against the will of Heaven will only be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, courting your own destruction."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiwei replied, "The future is shrouded in mist and difficult to see clearly. Even if you could see it, it would only be a prediction of future changes. How do you know we will lose this war?!"

"Enough!" Izanami said, "Stop doing this pointless thing. Even if you burn the entire ley lineage to ashes with your rebellious flames, you can't stop this process. Stop now, it's not too late."

Seeing that Zhang Zhiwei remained unmoved, she changed to a more persuasive tone:

"You also carry a great deal of faith power within you. So, the essence of your intervention in this war is still to gain faith, right?"

"If that's the case, I can issue a divine decree to grant you the faith of our Shinto religion, and even give you a status equivalent to the 'Three Noble Sons.' At that time, when we conquer Shenzhou, you will possess all the faiths within this entire continent."

“If you continue to oppose us, even if you defeat us here, our faith will not die, and we will not perish. But your church will lose its roots and eventually wither. Everything you do now will be in vain.”

"So, stop. We don't want to be your enemy."

Izanami's voice drifted over softly.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiwei grinned. Izanami, a spiritual entity formed from pure faith, often overestimates the power of faith.

Humans fight for a breath of air, gods fight for a stick of incense. The power of faith is indeed a good thing, but not everyone will fight for it.

Zhang Zhiwei would never stoop to the level of Shintoism for the sake of so-called faith.

Although Shintoism is dominant in Japan, it is not even a big name in the world.

If he were truly single-mindedly devoted to the power of faith, he wouldn't have bothered with these thankless tasks. Wouldn't it have been better to go directly to the more populous Church of God and emulate the one from the Taiping Rebellion who created some kind of Heavenly Brother or Heavenly Lord?
However, seeing that the other side seemed to have China completely under their control, Zhang Zhiwei countered, "Do you think you can win this war?"

"Is there any doubt? The country beneath your feet has long been teetering on the brink of collapse. Even if we hadn't intervened, it would have perished in its internal strife. We have only accelerated this process."

“You have an old saying, ‘A short pain is worse than a long one.’ Rather than letting it continue to sink into endless internal strife, we should help you end the war and establish a new order. You should be thanking us, not resisting like this,” Izanami said matter-of-factly.

"Thank you?!" Zhang Zhiwei sneered, "The country you call 'teetering on the brink' has stood for millennia!"

"Even if the dynasty falls, China will not be forever in decline, and the people of China will continue to march firmly on the road to rejuvenation."

"And your atrocities have brought nothing more than a little hardship."

"As for so-called ghosts and gods like you, you can only hide in the inner world forever, a puppet controlled by the power of faith."

"Since you support the atrocities committed by your followers, then let it burn!"

"Since your followers have gone mad, then let the entire lineage burn!!"

As he spoke, Zhang Zhiwei stretched out his palm and gave Izanami a firm grip in the distance!
A colossal hand formed from azure flames descended from nowhere, crushing the figure into dust in one swift motion.

Under the burning of the Samadhi Fire, Izanami's figure completely disappeared into the spider lilies.

It wasn't her true form that came, but only a wisp of her consciousness. Having been burned alive by flames before, she had an instinctive fear and dread of the Samadhi True Fire; how could she possibly send her true spirit to her death?

The Samadhi Fire burned fiercely amidst the vibrant cluster of spider lilies, quickly incinerating them completely.

And the flames quickly spread throughout the entire Underworld. All the evil spirits floating within were burned to ashes. The fire raged everywhere; the entire Underworld was ablaze!

Zhang Zhiwei, his entire body covered in bluish-green flames, strode into the Land of the Dead like a fire god descending to earth. Wherever he went, he left the most intense footprints on the lava-like earth.

But at that moment, Izanami's figure reappeared deep within the sea of ​​fire. Her form began to expand thousands of times, transforming into a colossal, azure ghost that blotted out the sky, staring intently at Zhang Zhiwei and uttering a voice filled with venomous resentment:
"You want to turn the tide of the war? You can bear the consequences of so many people's actions! You're courting death!"

Whether I choose to die or not is my own decision, none of your business. However, I am now sending you all down the path to your deaths!

In Zhang Zhiwei's palm, a destructive storm of fire was rapidly gathering, which he was about to unleash to completely incinerate this filthy world.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened!

He noticed that eleven huge, pitch-black voids had suddenly appeared around the interior space!

Inside each hollow stood a colossal figure. They were shrouded in dazzling divine light, obscuring their faces; some were humanoid, while others were indescribable.

Zhang Zhiwei noticed that when these figures appeared, Izanami looked at one of them with a complex and intense resentment in her eyes.

Zhang Zhiwei followed her gaze and immediately saw through the hazy light to see what was inside.

It was an incomparably majestic male deity, dressed in ancient attire, holding an equally ancient spear, looking down at Izanami with a complex gaze.

Seeing this appearance, coupled with Izanami's resentful gaze, Zhang Zhiwei realized almost instantly that this must be Izanagi, the creator god in Japanese mythology and the father of the "Three Noble Children."

Since this is Izanagi, then the other figures... Zhang Zhiwei glanced around and, sensing the ancient power emanating from them, immediately knew their origins.

They are the "Seven Generations of Gods" in Japanese mythology.

In Japanese mythology, when the world was first separated, five "Kotoamatsukami" (or "Farewell Gods") first appeared in Takamagahara.

These five Kotoamatsukami are Amanomiminakanushi, Takamimusubihi, Kamimusubi, Umashiasakabihikochi, and Amanomitsunetate.

They are pure embodiments of rules and do not directly interfere in worldly affairs, somewhat similar to the wisdom body shared by all Buddhas in Buddhism.

After Kotoamatsukami, several more generations of gods appeared.

The first generation were the permanent gods of the nation, representing the earth.

He appeared alone, hence the name "the solitary god".

The second generation is the god of Toyokumo, who represents the swamp and is in charge of the abundance of the earth and the weather. He is also a solitary god.

From the third generation onwards, the gods that appeared were all like Izanagi and Izanami, appearing in pairs, male and female.

These deities are called "paired gods".

From the third to the seventh generation, a total of five pairs of gods appeared, making up ten deities. Izanagi and Izanami are from the seventh generation.

After the seventh generation, no new gods were born.

Therefore, the six generations of gods before them, along with several other gods, assigned the couple an important task: to create the continent and then give rise to the gods.

Izanagi and Izanami accepted the mission.

Izanagi, wielding the Ama-no-Mago spear bestowed upon him by Kotoamatsukami, stirred the ocean, bringing up the silt and sand from the seabed, thus creating the islands of Japan.

Then, the two began to "have children" tirelessly, producing a large number of gods, until Izanami was burned alive while giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi.

Thus ended the era of the seven generations of gods and ushered in the era of the Three Noble Gods.

Zhang Zhiwei wasn't afraid of these so-called "Seven Generations of Gods." They were just a bunch of worthless idiots; he could simply burn them all down!
But at that moment, he was surprised to find that the twelve gods did not attack him directly, but instead formed hand seals and cursed him.

The moment the curse was cast, Zhang Zhiwei could clearly feel, and even see, that his own intricate, even solidified, lines of destiny were being violently pulled by a tremendous force.

Although its own lines were extremely strong and were not broken, they were still stretched and became somewhat messy.

If his previous fate was like a solid steel cable, then now it is a tangled mess of knots.

"not good!"

Zhang Zhiwei thought to himself. His level of insight into the Dharma was extremely high, so he naturally knew what this meant.

As Izanami said before, the weight of fate is very important. Some people exhaust themselves but cannot make a ripple, while others can turn the world upside down with a single wrong thought.

To change something, you need to have a greater personal weight than the thing itself. Only if you can hold it back can you succeed.

However, with the curse of the seventh generation of gods descending, Zhang Zhiwei's own influence was no longer enough to stop what he was about to do.

It's not that the seven generations of the Divine World had a great influence on Zhang Zhiwei; to be precise, they were the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Because what Zhang Zhiwei is about to do is itself something that goes against the general trend.

He single-handedly changed the fate of tens of thousands of people, saving them from death.

It was like a tug-of-war; he used his own immense strength to pull these people out of the abyss of death.

Force is reciprocal; while pulling them out, he himself naturally bears enormous pressure.

With the arrival of the seventh generation of the Gods, this pressure finally reached its peak.

Zhang Zhiwei's seemingly unshakeable fate was shaken.

The consequences of one's own fate being so unstable...

It's hard to say, it varies from person to person.

In the original storyline, many people attempted to break into the Twenty-Four Heavenly Valley, and their fates were forcibly disrupted.

Their fates varied; some choked to death while drinking water, while others choked to death while eating bones.

However, comparing Zhang Zhiwei to the fate of those petty scoundrels is clearly inappropriate.

To be precise, he will face the same situation as Zhuge Liang or Wang Mang.

Zhuge Liang was defeated by Heaven, succumbing to the calamities of Heaven and Earth. The Seven Star Lamp at Wuzhang Plain went out, and he died with regret.

As for Wang Mang, Heaven and Earth sent a "meteorite" to stop him!
Wang Mang was an extremely powerful sorcerer who knew how to avoid disasters. But even so, he could not escape the meteorite that fell from the sky.

If Zhang Zhiwei, like Wang Mang, had made all the necessary preparations and acquired all the means to avoid disaster, then he might also trigger an event akin to a "deus ex machina"—a phenomenon akin to a "meteor shower."

But Zhang Zhiwei was not Wang Mang; he had no intention of avoiding disaster.

The most likely life-threatening disaster he faces now is not an assassination attempt from the outside world, nor the Japanese ghosts and gods in front of him, but rather something that comes from within himself.

His cultivation has reached a state of perfection, and he is about to face the wind calamity, one of the three calamities.

Originally, according to Zhang Zhiwei's own calculations, there was still some time before he would face the typhoon.

However, with their own fate severely affected, the calamity that was supposed to arrive some time later came without warning.

Moreover, due to his previous actions against the odds, coupled with the curses of the Japanese gods, all sorts of negative influences were added to his current typhoon.

This resulted in the storm he unleashed being of an outrageously powerful and terrifying degree! (End of Chapter)