Tokyo: My Hundred Demon Scroll

Tamaki Iijima approached Tanigumo and asked softly, "Who won? Was it really a tie?"

Gu Yun smiled but did not give a direct answer.

"The more assertive, the better."

He made an OK sign, indicating to his mother that he had won, and won easily, completely dominating the opponent.

The outcome of their duel was kept secret, but it was kept internally without any problem.

Anyway, no one but Hiratsuka Shizuka would spread this around.

In fact, Jingke is a person of little influence and not from the paranormal community.

She's just a bystander; her attitude is irrelevant, and nobody will believe her anyway.

Moreover, Gu Yunhui had spoken to her, telling her not to publicize the process of this magical battle to anyone.

"understood!"

Iijima Tamaki's bright eyes lit up, and a confident smile instantly bloomed on her face. She then strode forward and came to the shrine maiden's side: "Miss Higa, I am very interested in your earlier suggestion. May I ask if we can discuss it?"

"..."

Kotoko Higa knew that the Great Demon King had arrived.

He was defeated by Gu Yun, just like a loser on the battlefield.

Now that negotiations have begun, who knows how Iijima Tamaki will be bullied?

But refusing was not an option, so Higa Kotoko still hoped to invite Gu Yun to come out of seclusion and work with her to reorganize the Ten Famous Gates and the Exorcism World in preparation for the future rampage of ghost stories.

'Even if there's only a sliver of hope,' the shrine maiden vowed to herself, 'I cannot give up!'

If we can get Gu Yun out, then unifying the ten famous sects and crushing the strange tales of the Void World will be no problem.

'Thinking about it carefully, perhaps I can take a roundabout approach.'

Kotoko Higa's mind raced, trying to find a breakthrough with Tamaki Iijima to see if she could get her to agree to her request.

'what? '

Suddenly, Kotoko Higa noticed Tamaki Iijima's spiritual power: 'Her spiritual power is so weak, is it only enough to see ghosts?'

She didn't know much about the Iijima family, only that Iijima was a folk master from the older generation, known as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Wild Fox Zen.

Kotoko Higa hadn't really heard of the other members of the Iijima family.

'I see! ’

Kotoko Higa's lips curled slightly; she had a vague feeling that she might have found a way to deal with Tamaki Iijima: 'If that's the case, then maybe it really will work.'

Upon thinking of this, Higa Kotoko immediately adopted a weak and defeated posture and obediently sat down opposite Iijima Tamaki.

“I have always wanted to visit you,” Higa Kotoko said. “Today, my wish has come true, and it is my honor to be hosted by you personally.”

After speaking, Higa Kotoko gave a proper bow.

Not wanting to be impolite, Iijima Tamaki also gave a graceful bow: "Not at all, I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to meet such an outstanding young man as Miss Higa."

The others stood a little further away, lining up behind Iijima Tamaki, while the three-tailed fox, along with a boy and a girl, served tea and refreshments to everyone.

"Thank you."

Gu Yun took the glasses from Sister Fox, put them on, and his demeanor immediately returned to normal, resembling a handsome young scholar.

It was at this moment that the negotiations at the front began.

“Miss Higa…”

"You can just call me Kotoko, Mrs. Tamaki."

"Ah."

Iijima Tamaki was a senior, and her status was above Kotoko's, so she had no reservations: "The Exorcist Association you mentioned earlier, if I remember correctly, is that the new department that applied dozens of times but never got approved?"

From the outset, Tamaki Iijima indirectly belittled the Exorcist Association.

Her meaning was simple: she wanted to lower the status of sorcerers like Higa Kotoko, turning what was originally an equal exchange into an unequal hierarchical system.

"There's nothing we can do about it."

Kotoko Higa didn't care about Tamaki Iijima's attack at all, and casually accepted the humiliation: "Although we are exorcists, we have neither money nor social status. Apart from the meager skills passed down from our ancestors, we are not much different from ordinary people in today's society."

"Hooray~~"

Tamaki Iijima opened her fan, covered her mouth, and chuckled, "Then may I consider you an entrepreneur who has come to me with goods and wants my investment?"

"Of course!"

Higa Kotoko smiled and said, "In front of Lady Tamaki, I am both a junior and a junior. It is my great honor to be able to listen to your teachings."

The girl's humble attitude actually put Tamaki Iijima in a difficult position.

It must be said that Higa Kotoko's tactic of retreating to advance was indeed quite effective.

Humility is a virtue.

Tamaki Iijima closed her exquisite folding fan and gently tapped it against her palm: "So, to be honest with you, Kotoko, I don't know much about the exorcism world. Could you explain the relationships involved to me?"

"For example, what are the goals of the Exorcist Association, and what is the attitude of those ten sects?"

"Of course!"

Kotoko Higa made no secret of her plans and began to describe to Tamaki Iijima her plans, the status of the Ten Famous Gates in the exorcism world, and the shrines, temples, high-ranking Japanese officials and their cooperative relationships.

'Applyed dozens of times and still not approved, is this a warlock?'

'Won't they use their powers against high-ranking officials?'

Gu Yun, who was resting with his eyes closed, heard Hiratsuka Shizuka's thoughts echoing in his mind. After a moment of thought, he conveyed his voice to the girl's ears: "Because the nature is different."

"What kind?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka is determined to enter the exorcism circle.

She practices breathing techniques and is an exorcist who uses physical means to exorcise spirits. Exorcists without the ability to see ghosts have never had a high status in the community.

Fortunately, thanks to the special tools created by Gu Yun, Hiratsuka Shizuka was able to briefly detect traces of the alien.

So this issue isn't actually that big of a problem.

Gu Yun knew he couldn't stop her, so he decided to give the girl a proper lesson to avoid any future embarrassment: "Ever since Ashiya Dōman's curse, the Abe family has declined, and the profession of Onmyoji has been on the decline for over a thousand years."

“By the Warring States period five hundred years ago, witches, sorcerers, and exorcists had replaced yin-yang masters and officially become the mainstays of the supernatural community.”

What he was talking about was the history of the exorcism circle, and also the most basic part: "Witches and sorcerers are the predecessors of sorcerers, while exorcists are professionals who use swords and other martial arts to kill demons."

The former depends heavily on talent, hence their scarcity.

Although the latter are numerous, their exorcism efficiency is extremely low, and they are often helpless when faced with demons from other dimensions.

Simply put, no matter how powerful your sword is, it's useless if you can't cut down a ghost.

Some might say that by imbuing swords with spiritual energy, one can slay demons.

That's true, but there's actually a big problem here.

So how should exorcists deal with people who are possessed or afflicted by evil spirits?

There are also spells cast out of thin air by the enemy, and invisible curses; these methods are all impossible to defend against.

Disadvantages are disadvantages after all. No matter how strong the demon hunter is, spirit rank determines everything.

Those whose spiritual level is not high enough cannot see demons or reach deeper levels of the world, and are destined to be at a disadvantage in the struggle against demons.

“Humans think, and so do demons,” Gu Yun said. “With the ease of media and information transmission, the number of ghost stories is increasing day by day, and these are precisely the types that swords and knives are the most difficult to deal with.”

Over time, the profession of exorcist has fallen out of favor.

About 200 years ago, the Ubuyashiki family, the most powerful family of demon slayers, retired.

"From then on, the profession of Demon Slayer Swordsman, which is the backbone of exorcists who mainly use breathing techniques, became a legend in the exorcism circle."

Gu Yun said, "Xiao Jing, the breathing method you are learning has been passed down from that era."

Exorcising demons and exorcising spirits are essentially two different things.

Exorcising demons refers to killing monsters with physical forms, while exorcising spirits generally refers to exorcising intangible things such as ghosts and spirits.

"Most monsters have physical forms, but they are not enemies."

“Breathing techniques are restrained by supernatural tales,” Gu Yun said. “It’s only a matter of time before they decline.”

"More than a hundred years ago, the Abe family put forward a new theory of Onmyoji, believing that sorcerers should devote themselves to the development of divination, prophecy, methods of changing fate, and feng shui."

With the arrival of the new era, Japan has become a capitalist society, and the influence of money, power, and status in this country is growing.

The era when demons were subdued by force was gradually replaced by shrines and the opposition between gods and ghost stories.

"Gods and ghost stories?"

"This is the position we exorcists hold."

Gu Yun organized his thoughts and explained, "People like us from the Iijima school are folk exorcists. We are like protectors of the local area, only responsible for this small region."

"The top ten sects are mainly responsible for coordinating the entire paranormal community, deciding the general direction, and preserving ancient documents and traditions."

As mentioned before, the Exorcist Association did not exist before. The original work of the Ten Famous Sects was to actively eliminate dangers and protect the human world in the process.

In this regard, the Japanese government often chooses to turn a blind eye.

why?

Previously, the government was basically controlled by the Abe family.

They are businessmen, capitalists.

Without any profit to be made, who would allow a group of sorcerers with mysterious powers to gain the right to speak and challenge them?

The Abe family is very clever; they voluntarily gave up what makes them different from ordinary people.

Their research focuses on how to interact with ordinary people, how to use money and success to gradually control people's hearts and minds, and how to make those in positions of power inseparable from them.

In Gu Yun's view, the fact that the Abe family was ridiculed by the entire paranormal community is somewhat like "sour grapes."

Snail, as an exorcist, is not exactly poor, but he is not rich either.

Most of the money he earned came from royalties, which had nothing to do with exorcism or sorcery.