I created a foundation

In this suffocating silence, a strange sound, like that of an old bellows, suddenly rang out.

The source of the voice was Elder Tsuchimikado, who was lying on the ground.

The two servants who were originally supporting him suddenly let go of their hands as if they were scalded, and stepped back repeatedly, with even more intense horror on their faces.

Everyone's attention was focused on the old man again.

His face, covered in cold sweat, was turning purple at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The blood vessels on both sides of his neck were twisted and bulging like earthworms, wriggling wildly under his skin.

His body began to twitch unnaturally, with the amplitude increasing.

"Uh... ah..."

The old man's originally dilated pupils suddenly contracted and then suddenly dilated.

An inhuman, beast-like fierce light gradually emerged from the depths of his eyes.

The sound coming from his throat was no longer a vague mumbling, but a low roar filled with pain and violence.

In those eyes that were wide open with fear, bloodshot quickly spread like spider webs, covering the entire whites of the eyes.

The color of the pupils seemed to be changing quietly.

A strange dark red color was gathering in the center.

In the banquet hall, after a brief silence, whispers surged again like a tide.

The echo of Kaguya Shinomiya's cold and resolute declaration still echoed among the beams.

Everyone present was a powerful figure in both the political and business circles of Japan, but at this moment they all felt a chill from the bottom of their hearts.

The way they looked at the girl on the stage, who was wearing a black evening gown and had a delicate face like an ice sculpture, had completely changed.

No longer looking at a weak orphan who has lost the protection of her father.

Instead, he was examining a lioness that had just bared its fangs and declared its sovereignty over her territory.

"The world of the Shinomiya family is really going to change."

An old chaebol man was holding a wine glass, but his hand was shaking slightly, and the champagne in the glass was rippling.

"That old fox Huang Ban actually handed everything over to this little girl."

The congressman sitting next to him lowered his voice, his tone full of disbelief.

"The look in her eyes just now... was so scary."

A noble lady subconsciously covered her chest with a handkerchief, as if the cold gaze was still on her.

They discussed, speculated, and analyzed the future direction of the Shinomiya family and how this sudden transfer of power would bring about such a severe shock to the entire Neon.

However, no one noticed.

In a relatively remote and slightly dimly lit corner of the banquet hall.

An old man from the Tsuchimikado family was experiencing a fear completely different from everyone present.

His hair and beard were all white, and he was wearing traditional hunting clothes. He should have looked like an immortal, but now he looked like he had seen a ghost.

His body, from fingertips to hair tips, was trembling slightly.

Beads of sweat the size of beans kept oozing out of his forehead, sliding down his old cheeks and dripping onto the expensive hand-woven carpet, leaving a small dark mark.

The sandalwood rosary in his hand made a subtle and rapid clinking sound due to its owner's violent shaking. It seemed out of place in the banquet hall filled with whispers and the clinking of cups and plates, but no one noticed.

The old man's face was as pale as rice paper just taken out of the freezer, without a trace of blood.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but because of some extreme fear, he could not make any sound. He could only squeeze out a few meaningless hoarse sounds from his throat.

Unlike the guests around him who were uneasy about the change of secular power.

The eyes of the Tsuchimikado family elder, which should have been able to see through the underworld and illusions, were not focused on the radiant new head of the family, Kaguya Shinomiya, who was on the stage.

He didn't even look at the people around him who were looking at him with doubt because of his strange behavior.

His gaze, as if firmly drawn by an invisible force, was fixed on a corridor on the second floor of the banquet hall.

It was an area half-covered by heavy curtains. The lights were dim and the shadows were blurry. It looked deserted.

To all the other guests, there was nothing there.

It was just an ordinary corridor leading to the VIP lounge, now silent and shrouded in shadows.

However, in the "spiritual vision" of Elder Tsuchimikado, who has practiced Yin-Yang magic for a lifetime and has spiritual power far beyond that of ordinary people.

There is definitely nothing there.

He saw it.

Or rather, he sensed it.

An indescribable "existence" that transcends the scope of ordinary understanding.

There is no specific shape, no clear outline.

It was more like a mass... a chaos formed by the deepest darkness of the universe and the faint light of the most distant stars.

Its mere presence causes subtle distortions in the surrounding space that are imperceptible to the naked eye.

As the light approached that area, it seemed to be swallowed up by invisible gravity and became dimmer.

An indescribable pressure, like billions of tons of sea water, poured down from that direction, weighing heavily on his soul.

It wasn't anger, it wasn't malice, it wasn't even any emotion at all.

It is just a pure, absolute indifference that transcends all living things.

It’s like a god in the sky, overlooking the ants that are bustling about in the mortal world.

The elder's breathing almost stopped at this moment.

His heart seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and every beat was accompanied by tearing pain.

He wanted to look away, to escape from this suffocating pressure.

However, his body seemed to be nailed to the spot, and he didn't even have the strength to move his little finger.

Fear, like an icy poisonous snake, climbed up from his tailbone, wrapped around his spine, penetrated into his bones, and finally exploded in his brain.

He had never felt such pure, such extreme fear in his life.

Even when facing the most ferocious wild god in the legend, he had never felt so powerless and desperate.

Because he could sense that that existence was fundamentally different from all the "abnormalities" he knew.

It's not a demon, not a ghost, and certainly not an evil god.

That is... a higher level, indescribable, even "looking directly at" it itself is a blasphemy... "existence".

"No...impossible..."

Elder Tsuchimikado's teeth were chattering violently, making a "clacking" sound.

He tried to mobilize the spiritual power in his body to resist, or at least protect himself.

However, his spiritual power, which he was usually proud of and could exorcise hundreds of demons, was like thin ice in early spring encountering the scorching sun, melting away in an instant without a trace.

Even the slightest thought of resistance could not arise.

In the face of such absolute pressure, all his skills and experiences seemed so ridiculous and insignificant.

He was like an ant that accidentally entered the courtyard of God. He could do nothing but tremble and wait for judgment.

Cold sweat had completely soaked the hunting clothes on his back, sticking tightly to his skin, bringing waves of cold wetness.

But he did not feel the slightest bit of coolness. Instead, he felt as if he was in the crater of a volcano about to erupt, with every inch of his skin being burned by invisible flames.

He saw that in the shadow, there seemed to be a vague human outline, leaning leisurely on the carved railing on the second floor.

The silhouette tilted its head slightly, as if watching with great interest and a detached look the "farce" about power and desire being performed by mortals downstairs.

There was no movement, no sound.

But the elder clearly "heard" the warning from the depths of his soul—

Do not look directly.

Can't guess.

Incomprehensible.

"thump!"

A muffled sound was not particularly loud in the banquet hall filled with whispers, but it was enough to attract the attention of several people around.

The elder of the Tsuchimikado family, this Onmyoji who was considered a big figure in the other world, could no longer support his body which had already been overwhelmed by extreme fear.

His legs went limp, and his whole body felt as if all his bones had been pulled out, and he sat down in a mess on the cold carpet.

His face was pale from blood loss, but his eyes were still wide open, and his pupils had dilated to the extreme due to fear.

Turbid tears, mixed with sweat, flowed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.

Finally, a few broken, discordant syllables came out of his mouth, accompanied by endless trembling and despair.

"God... God... God..."

He opened his mouth and gasped for air like a fish out of water.

“It’s…it’s coming…”

Drops of sweat dripped from his graying forehead.

Chapter 95: The First Blood at the Banquet

Elder Tsuchimikado, who was lying on the ground, suddenly stopped muttering in fear.

There was a hoarse sound in his throat, as if something was trying to struggle out from inside.

A few guests who noticed his unusual behavior showed confusion and a hint of uneasiness on their faces.

The next moment, there was a sharp scream.