Fantasy Library.

Chapter 534 A Chance to Solve the Problem Once and For All
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"...

This is the sound of countless tentacles, blending into the darkness, falling to the ground.

As the jet-black tentacles struck the ground one after another with a loud thud, the ground immediately kicked up thick dust as if struck by a heavy blow, turning into smoke that enveloped the surrounding mountains and forests.

In an instant, gravel flew through the air, dust filled the atmosphere, and tentacles swept through the air, stirring up the dust and shattering the deathly silence of the mountains and forests.

Countless evil spirits launched a simultaneous attack, swinging their tentacles and ravaging the land, making the mountain path seem to shatter, with one pit after another appearing, instantly turning it into a pitted and dilapidated mess.

Under these circumstances, Aize's eyes gleamed with a faint golden light, and he fearlessly charged into the fray, dodging the oncoming tentacles.

He moved with the speed of the wind, his movements agile, like a stuntman, sometimes sidestepping, sometimes lunging forward, sometimes flipping in mid-air, sometimes spinning and crisscrossing, managing to dodge the overwhelming tentacle attacks one by one, thrilling and exciting.

At this moment, he had already activated the divine power within his body, which improved his physical fitness, nerve reflexes, and motor skills, to the point that he could perform such acrobatic-like movements.

He could even leap into the air and onto a nearby tree, using the trunk as a springboard to shoot forward, transforming himself into a bullet, ignoring the tentacles that kept intersecting with him, and rushing into the horde of evil spirits that resembled a black tide.

The next second, the sword suddenly appeared.

"Pfft!"

The cold blade light, like moonlight bursting forth in the darkness, pierced through the air and displayed astonishing destructive power, instantly cleaving a demon god in two.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"...

The blade flashed continuously, each flash severing the body of a malevolent spirit, causing it to vanish in silent wails.

Faced with countless evil spirits, Aize was like a beast that had fallen into a flock of sheep, slaughtering them with a cold gaze and expression. In the blink of an eye, he killed no less than ten evil spirits, causing great chaos among the group.

"Okay, so awesome!"

Hitachi Mako, who had struggled to get up from the bushes, was stunned by what she saw.

"Aze!"

At the same time, Asagi Yoshino, who had fallen into the bushes, seemed to have woken up as well, her eyes widening instantly at the sight before her.

"Lady Yoshino!" Upon seeing this, Hitachi Mako quickly stepped forward, helped Asatake Yoshino up, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"How...how did I get here?" Asatake Yoshino, still unaware of what had happened, asked in a somewhat confused manner, "Why are there so many evil spirits here?"

"This is because..." Just as Hitachi Mako was about to answer Asatake Yoshino's question, she keenly heard a sound of something cutting through the air, which made her expression change.

"Ah!" Yoshino Asagi exclaimed in surprise as she was suddenly tackled to the ground by Mako Hitachi.

"Snapped!"

A tentacle that had merged into the darkness immediately brushed past where they had been standing and landed heavily on the trunk of a tree, sending splinters flying.

"We'll discuss the details later, Lady Yoshino, let's get out of here quickly!"

Hitachi Mako pulled Asagi Yoshino along, quickly dodging several tentacles, and ran outside.

"But...but Aze is still inside...!"

When Yoshino Asatake saw Aizawa wreaking havoc amidst the encirclement of the evil spirits, she instinctively tried to break free from Mako Hitachi's grasp.

"Danger!"

Hitachi Mako held onto Asatake Yoshino tightly and once again tackled her to the ground.

"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"...

Several dark shadows suddenly darted over the two of them, crashing onto the ground and trees not far away. After a while, they began to writhe like mud, returning to their original, malevolent forms.

One after another, the evil spirits pounced on the two of them, or rather, on Yoshino Asatake. Their empty eyes were not directed at Mako Hitachi at all, but were completely aimed at Yoshino Asatake.

"whispering sound……!"

Hitachi Mako immediately stood up, holding a kunai, and stood in front of Asatake Yoshino with a grim expression.

"No! Moko!"

Asatake Yoshino then realized how bad the situation was. Seeing Hitachi Mako standing alone in front of her, about to be overwhelmed by a large number of evil spirits, she couldn't help but scream.

"Go away!"

At the critical moment, Aize charged back with astonishing speed, the blade of Murasame in his hand emitting bursts of dazzling spiritual light, transforming into a divine sword that could cut through iron like mud, slashing towards the vengeful spirit that was rushing towards Hitachi Mako.

The sword light flashed like rain or a waterfall, one strike after another, forming a vast expanse of sword light and shadow that cut the evil spirits that were pouncing in the air in half.

Aize, who was late to the party, seemed to have entered a killing frenzy, triggering a mowing-down-the-grass mode, and in just a few seconds, he killed all the vengeful spirits that rushed towards Hitachi Mako.

"Lord Aize!"

Hitachi Mako immediately looked at the invincible Aize with eyes that seemed to have survived a disaster.

"Yoshino!" Aize said urgently, his back to the two women, "Give me the token!"

The evil spirit's target was this thing, which is why it abandoned him and attacked Yoshino Asatake instead.

"Petition?"

Yoshino Asagi had no idea she was holding the token until Aize reminded her, at which point she noticed the large fragment clutched in her hand.

At this moment, the fragments of the vessel were still emitting a red light and strange fluctuations, attracting all the evil spirits.

Judging from the reaction of the spirits, Aize has reason to suspect that their desire for the replacement has surpassed their hatred for the bloodline of the Chao samurai family.

In other words, their primary goal now is substitution, and everything else has to take a backseat.

As long as Yoshino Asagi continues to hold the token, she will be subjected to a constant barrage of attacks from the evil spirits.

Therefore, Azer must shift his focus.

"Here, take it!"

Yoshino Asagi was clearly still in a daze and didn't know that Aizawa wanted the hyōdai to protect her and get her out of danger, but she still immediately threw the hyōdai to Aizawa.

Aize, having taken the token, immediately ran to the side, successfully diverting the attention of the evil spirits.

"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"...

Tentacles shot out again, creating sharp, piercing sounds as they cut through the air.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"...

With the divine power enhancing his reflexes and agility, Aize managed to evade the attacking tentacles, albeit with a perilous but successful maneuver. The tentacles struck the ground, kicking up dust and creating a series of muffled thuds – a dangerous and violent maneuver.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"...

Some of the evil spirits that rushed towards Aize were pierced, cut, and cleaved open on the spot by his lightning-fast slashes, and were quickly killed by him, turning into wisps of black mist and dissipating.

Even though Aize displayed his divine power and killed one evil god after another, the evil god swarm, which resembled a black tide, still looked densely packed and endless, as if it had not decreased at all.

No, they haven't decreased at all.

Because, not long after they were killed by Azer, these evil spirits reappeared, merged into the group, and continued to attack Azer.

"how so?!"

Murasame, possessing Murasame's body, clearly noticed this anomaly and exclaimed in disbelief, "I was clearly killed by Murasame, so why wasn't I exorcised or purified?!"

You should know that Murasame is a divine sword specifically designed to slay things that should not exist, and it is a divine weapon that can suppress spirits.

Without exception, the evil spirits slain by Murasame are exorcised, their filth is purified, and they eventually disappear.

As a result, these evil spirits completely ignored Murasame's divine power, and could immediately revive even after being killed, which was obviously illogical.

But soon, Cong Yu discovered something else.

"No, the deity wasn't left unexorcised, nor was the defilement left unpurified, but in the instant of exorcism and purification, the fragments of the spirit immediately absorbed the remaining defilement on this land, forming a new deity!"

This is why evil spirits are constantly reborn.

As long as there is a fragment of the vessel as the core, it is considered that the evil spirit has been exorcised and the original filth has been purified. The fragment of the vessel can absorb new filth to form the body of the evil spirit, regenerate a new evil spirit, and let the new evil spirit continue to attack Azer.

"Because the token in the master's hand is constantly emitting signal fluctuations, attracting the other scattered token fragments, the will of these fragments to 'return to one' is collectively aroused, which is why they repeatedly absorb the filth accumulated on the land of Suizhi and transform into evil spirits to attack!"

Thanks to this, the fragments of the stigma that would have subsided after just one exorcism in the past have become so persistent this time.

"I'm afraid that all the fragments of the spirit tablets on the mountain have now transformed into evil spirits and gathered here!"

Cong Yu spoke frantically in Aize's mind, causing Aize's eyes to flicker.

"All of them?"

Aize slashed down a demon god that lunged at him, then quickly retreated to create distance between himself and the other demon gods, all the while speaking.

"This is not necessarily a bad thing."

After all, once this hurdle is overcome, all the evil spirits are exorcised, and the fragments are recovered, the vessel can become whole again.

This is a crisis, but also an opportunity.

A chance to collect all the tokens once and for all.

The premise is that Azer can truly slay all the evil spirits and get through this hurdle.

"No! This is too reckless, Master!"

Cong Yu seemed to have sensed Aize's thoughts and tried her best to stop him.

"So many evil spirits, and they can even come back to life! Even you, Master, couldn't possibly handle this!"

Putting aside everything else, her own divine power is limited and simply cannot sustain a prolonged battle.

Azer's divine power is even more limited. Once it is exhausted, he will not only be greatly weakened, but he may even collapse due to the burden of activating his divine power and be unable to fight anymore.

"Unless Suizhi's filth is completely removed, the enemies will be endless and impossible to kill!"

And how much filth is contained in the sui-ori?

Even though the Chaowu family has been purifying the land for a long time, a lot of filth has accumulated on this land over the years. It's just that it's not as terrible as before, and it doesn't cause natural disasters or man-made calamities.

Cong Yu didn't believe that the filth on this land would be completely absorbed.

As long as filth exists on this land, the fragments of the spirit can continuously absorb it, forming new evil spirits, which will eventually exhaust Azer to death.

"Retreat, Master! We have no chance of winning!"

Cong Yu began to persuade him.

Unfortunately, Aize had no such thoughts at all.

“I don’t believe that the fragments of the vessel can absorb filth without any limitations, otherwise why haven’t the fragments of the vessel in my hand turned into evil spirits?”

As Aize fought and retreated, he had already killed more than a dozen evil spirits. Even though evil spirits continued to surround him from all directions like a pack of hunting wolves, he did not lose his composure.

"Not only this piece of material that is emitting red light, but even the fragment that I initially killed and retrieved from the evil spirit has not yet turned into an evil spirit."

Aize took out the fragment and threw it into the tablet he was holding in his other hand, causing the two to quickly merge.

This tablet is perfectly fine, showing no signs of absorbing any filth.

Therefore, Aize has reason to believe one thing.

"As long as we collect the fragment and keep it near us or Muramasa, who possess divine power, the filth will be unable to get close!"

Given this, the next steps are obvious.

"Slaying the evil spirit while recovering the fragments is the only way out!"

With that, Aize stepped onto the ground and, without retreating, quickly darted forward.

"Pfft!"

One of the demons charging at the forefront seemed completely caught off guard, as if it had never expected Aize to suddenly rush over, and was killed with a single strike.

The filthy body was purified by the divine blade and disappeared like a mirage, revealing its core—a fragment of the vessel.

Aize immediately caught the fragment and threw it into the tablet in his hand, making the two merge together.

Sure enough, after doing this, the fragments of the vessel would no longer absorb filth and transform into evil spirits.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"...

Aize immediately activated his unparalleled mowing mode again, charging into the horde of evil spirits with overwhelming strength. While slaying the evil spirits, he collected fragments, making the token in his hand more and more complete. Finally, the number of evil spirits decreased, no longer appearing densely packed and endless.

"All that's left is to persevere."

When Aize had this thought in his mind and was mentally prepared to fight to the end even if he was exhausted, the situation changed.

"------"

The evil spirits that had been rushing towards him suddenly stopped moving.

"Gululu..."

Amidst a nauseating wriggling sound, the evil spirits suddenly disintegrated on the spot, turning into black mud and collapsing to the ground.

The black mud mixed with each other, eventually forming a large pool of black mud, murky and pitch black.

The enormous mass of black mud continued to writhe, combine, and confuse, before it soon transformed back into its beast form.

"...You must be kidding me."

Cong Yu's blank voice appeared in Aize's mind.

"How could this be...?!"

Asatake Yoshino and Hitachi Mako, who had already caught up, also stopped in their tracks, looking utterly astonished.

Even Aize's expression changed at this moment.

"Ouch!!!"

A tremendous roar then echoed through the mountains and forests, terrifying and horrifying.

(End of this chapter)