Hunting God Era

Chapter 218 The Slit-Mouthed Woman

Kagoshima City.

The central city of Satsuma.

Throughout Japan, the most prosperous areas are mainly located on their main islands. In the Kansai region, there is Namba City, in the Kanto region, there is Edo Castle, and in the middle there is the Imperial Palace Nijo Castle, but the other central cities are not too bad either.

The population is mostly concentrated in cities, and Kagoshima is no exception.

When Li Ye arrived, it was dusk. The huge city was deserted, with few pedestrians and even fewer vehicles. It should have been the time for people to get off work, but it seemed empty.

The few pedestrians who were there also seemed to be in a hurry, clearly anxious to get home.

Looking around, you can see talismans hanging at the entrance of every household, and some large houses even have Ksitigarbha sculptures.

There is some barrier aura inside, as well as fragments of magical artifact aura, which can help to resist demons.

Li Ye even sensed more complete magical artifacts inside some large mansions.

Like in the West, this is a business in Japan. From ancient times to the present, local shrines and temples have sold talismans to protect against demons and some easily obtainable magical items.

The poor buy talismans, one of which is enough for a whole day; the rich buy magical treasures, judging their quality by price. As for truly excellent magical treasures, money can't buy them, so a recommendation system comes into play.

It has long been the norm here for powerful ethnic families to firmly control everything.

Li Ye could tell at a glance that those talismans could only protect against the lowest-level demons, and wouldn't work against higher-level ones. Therefore, more talismans were needed, which meant paying more money.

Money represents goods and labor. For the most elite people, money is not important; what matters is that people can produce what they need according to their own desires.

The rest of them are busy making money.

And sometimes it's not just about money.
Such talismans would definitely not be able to stop even slightly powerful demons, and if they could not stop them, humans would either be seriously injured or die. If they were contaminated, they would spread the contamination outwards after killing people.

such as
As dusk fell, Li Ye saw a pedestrian hurrying by, followed by a shadowy figure that appeared and disappeared intermittently. He focused his gaze and saw a figure so short that it was only half the height of the pedestrian, resembling a hunched old man.

Its entire body was bluish, and its head stretched backward like a worm, making it look furtive and somewhat lewd.

It can also be invisible
Ordinary demons do not possess the ability to become invisible; once they appear, they simply do so, often concealing themselves so that mortals cannot detect them. However, they can still be observed upon close inspection.

Such invisible demons are rare. If one hasn't cultivated the Soul-Stabilizing Barrier in the Second Realm, they might not be able to detect anything.

And it still looks the same.
Seeing that the demon was about to go home with the pedestrian, just as the pedestrian opened the door and entered, the demon behind also stepped in. However, when it encountered the talisman, the talisman clearly flashed a faint light, hindering the demon's steps. But soon, the faint light disappeared, and the demon was about to step in.

"Come here."

At that moment, Li Ye suddenly made his move, simply reaching out to grab and pull, and with a sudden suction force, the demon was caught in Li Ye's hand.

"Wow!"

The demon's legs thrashed about, its little hands flailing about, its face contorted in pain from being pinched, yet it still revealed its blue face and fangs, exuding a menacing aura.

"demon?"

Erica then realized that she had felt something was wrong, but hadn't noticed it. Li Ye's breath had revealed his true form to her.

"Slippery gourd".

Li Ye looked at the little gadget in his hand and a smile appeared on his lips. "This thing takes a long time to develop, but once it's fully grown, it'll be incredible."

The so-called "guest god" among the "eight million gods" is known for turning the tables and taking over the house. As soon as it enters a person's home, it can make the person feel that they are the master of the house, and then they will be treated with great hospitality.

These demons typically appear in chaotic homes. The more a family is filled with constant arguments and endless worries, the more likely it is to generate or attract such demons.

Once someone enters a home and takes over, they can exploit the person to the point of utter desperation, making the person worship them. Eventually, the person will be reduced to serving their entire family, leading to the destruction of the family and the death of the inhabitants. Then, the imposter will escape and move on to the next home.

This kind of demon initially has no destructive means; it only relies on bewitching mortals to gradually drain their life force. It is the lowest level of demon, but it has one characteristic.
By absorbing and controlling numerous humans, one can ascend to the position of Demon Lord. At that time, the area under its control will be its domain, and it may even rule over other demons, forming a demon kingdom.

Bang!
With a thought, the gourd in his hand was crushed.

Li Ye waited for a while, then shook his head: "This is a typical Japanese demon. It seems that it is not a god among the eight million gods, but merely a name without substance."

"Another typical example."

Erica asked, "Can the demons of Japan really live for such a long time?"

Along the way, Li Ye mentioned three typical examples.

Human head balloon, wall paint, slippery gourd
Her hometown, the Star Ring Federation, is a vast and sparsely populated area. The so-called typical legends are all based on a town or a region. She hasn't encountered many of them, but each typical one is extremely difficult to deal with.

This is a typical example of the problems in China, and also an incurable problem.

For example, the painted skin is everywhere, so it's a typical example.

However, the typical Japanese fighters don't seem to be that strong. Not to mention Li Ye, even when she was at the third realm, she could easily handle them.

"No, the main problem is that no one has completely controlled them. For whatever reason, these demons have always existed, so they have become typical examples. They are not typical because they are difficult to cure, but because they are incurable."

Li Ye smiled and shook his head. "Eight million gods? I think it's eight million incurable demons, completely useless. Let's go, since we've come all this way, let's find a place to eat and try this unique Japanese demon food, see what it's really like."

Before leaving, Li Ye exchanged some Japanese currency, all in cash, so it wouldn't attract attention.

As for how much, it's enough no matter how much.

He hadn't walked far when the crowds and traffic around him disappeared. He had come to a small street, which, under the glow of dusk, had a reddish sheen that gave it an eerie feel.

The twilight had a sticky feel to it, as if it had entered a state of stagnation.

It's completely different from what I experienced in China.
"dusk."

Li Ye suddenly realized, "The Oddity of Twilight in Japan."

This place itself is in a state of about to ascend but never will ascend. Although time is the same as in the normal world, it is special in that it will lengthen people's perception, causing the sense of time to be lengthened.

Although Li Ye didn't stay long, he noticed that this special sense of time would appear once at certain times in Japan. Dusk was the "moonlight of demons," which was also the place where the most demons appeared.

There are people ahead.

Erica suddenly looked ahead. The narrow street, which should have been deserted, suddenly had a person standing under a telephone pole, facing them, without making any move.

The person was clearly a woman, wearing a coat, but it was obviously a fitted style that couldn't hide her graceful figure. Her hair was like a waterfall, and she was wearing a mask. If you got close, you could see her bright eyes and high nose bridge. She looked like a beautiful woman.

For a fleeting moment, Li Ye felt a strong urge to strike up a conversation, though it vanished instantly. He knew this was yet another form of contamination.

"Interesting." Li Ye followed the pollution and approached the woman. He found that she was also very tall, with a high chest and a voluptuous lower body, exuding a strong sense of desire.

Following his instincts, he asked directly, "Miss, take off your mask and let me see."

He was speaking in a Chinese dialect, which the woman shouldn't have understood. But for some reason, she followed his words, staring intently at Li Ye, and said softly, "Do I look beautiful to you?"

The sound was crisp and pleasant to listen to, with a touch of allure that made it even more irresistible.

What they spoke was also the Chinese language.

I met a woman by chance who could speak Mandarin.
"Whether you're beautiful or not, I have to see for myself. Although wearing a mask isn't necessarily a bad thing," Li Ye said with a rare joking tone.

The woman paused, but didn't seem uncomfortable with Li Ye's words, as if following some kind of mechanism, "Then do you want to see me?"

"Go ahead and pick it. Stop talking so much. How am I supposed to know if you look good if you don't pick it?" Li Ye said with a smile.

"Are you sure you want to see me?" the woman asked mechanically.

A hint of impatience flashed in Li Ye's eyes, but he still smiled and said, "If you don't pick them now, then don't pick them at all."

"Since you want to see me, then I'll show you."

Following the mechanism, the woman slowly raised her hand, removed her mask, and revealed a huge, gaping mouth that stretched straight to her ears, resembling that of a dog.

Its beautiful eyes and nose appeared extremely strange and terrifying in the face of this gaping wound.

"Am I still beautiful now?" the woman asked, opening her mouth wide, even drooling.

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman."

Li Ye laughed and said, "Another typical example."

One of the typical Japanese demons, like the human-headed balloon, it belongs to the category of modern demons.

She will stand in a certain place, posing as a beautiful woman wearing a mask, to lure people to approach her out of curiosity. Once she is lured to take off her mask, revealing a tear, she will ask people if they are still beautiful.

If the answer is not beautiful, or if there is fear, it will provoke its rage, causing your mouth to be torn open and making you like it. However, this violent method usually leads to direct blood loss and death, and the more you resist, the faster you die.

But if the answer is "beautiful," it will say that making someone as beautiful as itself will also tear open their mouth and cause them to die.

This is qualitative; pollution determines that those entangled in it will definitely die.

It is also a demon that appears in stages. It usually starts by asking questions of children, but as the level of pollution increases, it will ask questions of adults. It usually appears at night, then at dusk, and finally it can appear during the day.

The method of restraint is also simple: use the smell of hair wax to scare away the Slit-Mouthed Woman. However, this can only be used for self-defense. The Slit-Mouthed Woman will not question people who have applied hair wax. But if you try to provoke her by using hair wax, you will still provoke her rage.

This demon is said to have been a great beauty in her previous life. One day, while undergoing plastic surgery, she kept writhing because she smelled a musty odor from the doctor's head. As a result, the doctor accidentally cut both sides of her mouth. Upon seeing her disfigured face, the woman flew into a rage, killed the doctor, and fled. Later, because the citizens mistook her for a monster, she died in a hail of bullets.

But this is a bizarre folk legend, because a demon is a demon. A person's death will not cause a specific demon to appear because of a particular event. It is always just resentment that gives rise to demons.

It's absurd to say that every time a plastic surgeon has a failed surgery, they cut off both sides of someone's mouth.

To be precise, this demon is the resentment of an ugly woman. Ugly women have never been well-liked throughout history; they are discriminated against and despised, like stray dogs.

Just like that stray dog, she was abandoned, discriminated against, and despised. So the two merged, and resentment gave rise to a demon, forming the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

It belongs to the category of "Inugami" among the "Eight Million Gods" and is a derivative demon of Inugami.

Demons don't speak the language of China; rather, they use the words spoken by people to automatically express meanings that people can understand.

To the ears of the Chinese, that is the Chinese language; to the ears of others, that is another language.

Are you God?

Li Ye reached out his hand, about to grab the slit-mouthed woman.

Once it's killed, we'll know whether Inugami is a true god or just a so-called demon.

"careful!"

Just as he made a move, a loud shout suddenly came from ahead, and a figure rushed in quickly. With a flick of his hand, several beams of light burst forth and headed straight for him.

Erica frowned, about to make a move, but Li Ye waved his hand, "Not towards us."

The light shot towards her at lightning speed, striking the slit-mouthed woman and causing her to scream in agony. Her hands, which had transformed into giant scissors and were about to cut off Li Ye's mouth, were now forced to change direction and rush towards the figure radiating light.

"demon!"

The figure shouted again, "If you don't retreat, I will seal you away!"

As he spoke, he uttered a Sanskrit chant, his voice booming like a bell, causing the Slit-Mouthed Woman to sway and even emit smoke from her body. She let out another miserable scream, leaped, and disappeared into a side alley.

Li Ye suddenly inhaled, and the slit-mouthed woman who was about to leave the alley suddenly froze, turning into a wisp of smoke that entered his mouth and nose.

Not
It's just an ordinary demon; even the dog god is just a demon, it seems to have no divine attributes.

The figure didn't notice the Slit-Mouthed Woman's death; he just breathed a sigh of relief, assuming she had disappeared. He then spoke to Li Ye and the others with concern, but no one could understand what he said.

It was only then that Li Ye realized that this was actually a monk, wearing a monk's robe and holding prayer beads in his hand, but he had hair.

Japanese monks can marry and have children, and they also have hair.

This is a business and a profession, and it can be considered part of the aristocracy.

“I am a Chinese,” Li Ye said with a smile.

The man was taken aback, realizing that the Chinese language was spoken. He quickly said, "You're from China! I'm sorry to have startled you. Are you alright?"

"Do you understand Chinese?" Li Ye asked.

"It has a long history, so naturally I know a bit about it."

The monk said, "Are you here for tourism? Please try not to go out at dusk and night. Dusk and night are quite dangerous here, and it's not really suitable for tourism right now. It would be best if you went back."

Yo.
She's a kind-hearted person.

"How dangerous?" Li Ye asked.

“Things have been unsettled lately, with demons appearing frequently. You know demons, right? They're very dangerous. They can appear even during the day if you're not careful. If you absolutely must travel, don't stay here. Go to Edo or Nijo Castle instead,” the monk said.

(End of this chapter)