I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

The skull paused, its eyes turning cold.

"Great Onmyoji, Che."

Chapter 223 Acquires a powerful item, receives an invitation to the Nine Tribulations Academy's secret realm challenge, guess what my amazing buff is?

Bai Banruo's mask remained unmoved, and her eyes behind it remained indifferent.

Uesugi Tetsu stared at the black smoke skull that was so close to him, a fleeting feeling of surprise passing through his mind, leaving only a sense of inevitability.

The Demon Guide Association, upon seeing him in the mortal world, would naturally recognize him as "Great Onmyoji Che".

Because during the Warring States period five hundred years ago, Bodhidharma, whom he not only witnessed but also had direct contact with, escaped under the protection of the Great Master.

At that time, the Grand Master called Bodhidharma "a genius that the Demon Guide Society has only seen once in a hundred years".

Therefore, if Bodhidharma had not died, it would have been almost certain that he would have become one of the high-ranking members of the Demon Guide Association five hundred years later.

And this turning point in his life, which was like a Bodhidharma's, will surely be remembered clearly by the other party.

That can only be the reason.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have much of a connection with the Demon Guide Association—the death of a mere two-and-a-half-star Nue would be of no consequence whatsoever.

Uesugi Tetsuya stared silently at the skull, as if he were looking at the manipulator behind it, who was separated by an infinite distance.

Suddenly, he smiled.

He raised Kaga Kiyomitsu and gestured with it, then a hoarse, chilling voice came from Uesugi Tetsu's throat: "My master said long ago—'Let Daruma wait, I will personally send them to reunite.'"

Of course, Uesugi Tetsu could not admit that he was the Great Onmyoji Tetsu, even though he looked exactly like the Great Onmyoji Tetsu from the outside.

In five hundred years, Bodhidharma and the Demon Guide Society have grown much stronger than before. Naturally, they would consider, "How strong is the Great Yin-Yang Master Che now?"

At least until they have figured this out, the Demon Guide Association cannot act recklessly.

You need to make good use of this.

The skull, having heard his words, fell silent.

Seconds later, the black skull, its eyes filled with fear and a cold expression, vanished into thin air with the gentle breeze.

[Please note that you have been placed under the surveillance of the mortal force, the "Demon Guide Association"!]

He casually brushed away the notification in front of him, and feeling a deep emptiness within his body, Uesugi Tetsuya exhaled and raised his head.

The black phone booth is dead, so the process of turning this area of ​​Shizuoka City into a haunted house will naturally stop and then disappear, and the sky will clear up again.

The brief but long-awaited sunlight shone down like gold.

When Uesugi Tetsu turned his head again, he found that the streets, buildings, and the faces of the survivors in the area that had been shrouded by the haunted house were still not very good.

Or rather, it's very bad.

But this is no longer my responsibility.

Listening to the rumble of a jeep engine coming from afar, Uesugi Tetsu looked at the operators who popped their heads out of the window and greeted them with an incredibly amazed look and tone.

"—Gentlemen, you'll have to work hard from now on."

"No, no, no, it's not hard at all!"

"The little things we did are nothing compared to your contributions, Uesugi!"

No one responded to Uesugi Tetsuya's words; instead, they expressed their admiration and respect in different ways.

Uesugi Tetsu smiled, said nothing more, just sent Tamamo a "mission accomplished" emoji, and then walked back towards the original haunted house.

His work is over.

……

After Uesugi Tetsu leisurely spent more than ten minutes walking out, he found that Tamamo's family members were indeed safe and sound.

Tamamo's parents had fainted from the very beginning, so they were at a loss and didn't really understand what was happening; her two younger brothers were only frightened by the "non-existent danger," and then it was over.

On the contrary, Tamamo, until Uesugi Tetsu saw her still holding Chisa, who was even smaller than her, buried her head in the latter's chest and cried loudly.

With snot and tears streaming down her face, she stained her younger sister's white dress again.

How shameful!

Originally, Tamamo's younger brothers didn't cry either.

As a result, when they saw Tamamo crying for so long, they seemed to be infected by her emotions, so one after another they raised their heads and started to cry loudly.

Tamamo's parents were pulled aside by Yasui's junior officer to learn some basic information, and they had no time to pay attention to this matter.

So only Chisa, who had recently been given a panacea by Uesugi Tetsuya and whose body and mind had been refreshed to their best state, was left to comfort the three "children".

She pats his head here and offers a few words of comfort there, as if she were the eldest sister.

Uesugi Tetsu watched this scene from a distance.

He originally wanted to ask Qian Sha how she felt after taking the panacea, but now it wasn't appropriate for him to go up and say anything.

Let Tamamo finish crying first...

"Sister, may Chisa go wash her face over there?"

The girl in the now-dirty white dress pointed to her face, which looked like a kitten's, and rubbed her chin against Tamamo's forehead, laughing.

"I'll be back soon."

"Hmm... Slurp~ Chisa-chan, be careful..."

Tamamo sniffed, reluctantly letting go of her arms, and watched the girl walk with small, quick steps toward the public restroom a dozen meters away.

After raising her head, Tamamo quickly saw Uesugi Tetsuya standing beside her.

In an instant, the girl's face turned red.

“It’s only natural, it’s nothing… Tamamo, calm yourself down first, I need to go find your sister for something.”

After using his inner energy to condense a thread to transmit his voice, Uesugi Tetsu walked to the door of the restroom.

But as he approached, he faintly heard hoarse, fearful, and almost suffocating sobs coming from the deepest stall in the restroom.

When Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the empty washbasin again, he understood everything without even thinking.

He didn't say much or push the door open to go inside.

I just stood at the door, quietly listening to the sobs inside grow louder and louder, then gradually fade away from their peak, finally turning into sporadic sniffling sounds.

It's unclear whether those emotions were finally released or if the girl suppressed them again.

Wow.

The sensor-activated faucet dispensed water automatically, followed by a series of gurgling sounds, like someone vigorously washing their face.

After the tap had run several times, Uesugi Tetsu finally saw Chisa emerge from the bathroom.

Now, Chisa's eyes are only slightly red.

Apart from that, there was absolutely no indication that she had just been crying.

Chisa, who had just stepped off the stairs, paused in surprise.

"Big brother……"

Upon seeing the familiar clothing worn by Uesugi Tetsuya, who seemed to have been waiting there for some time, and the swaying Hannya mask at his waist, the intelligent Chisa naturally knew who he was.

He probably heard everything that had just happened, but he didn't say anything to save face for the child.

The girl's face immediately turned as red as a hot kettle, and she lowered her head in embarrassment, fiddling with her fingers.

"What's there to be embarrassed about?"

Uesugi Tetsu tapped Kaga Kiyomitsu, causing it to add eight layers of demon-repelling debuffs to the small black amulet in its hand, before extending it in front of Chisa.

"Chisa, this amulet is for you. If you wear it close to your body, you won't be afraid of demons and monsters."

Chisa stared at the powerful-looking protective amulet radiating various colors in front of her nose, immediately forgetting her embarrassment and waving her hands hastily.

"No, no, no, big brother, you've already saved me, I can't let you..."

"Now that I've saved you, I really don't want anything to happen to you." Uesugi Tetsu said, forcefully shoving the amulet into Chisa's hand. "Otherwise, wouldn't all my efforts have been wasted?"

Chisa was taken aback when she heard this.

What my older brother said does seem to make some sense.

"And Chisa."

Uesugi Tetsu gazed at the girl who had looked up, her eyes still a little red, and spoke in the exact same tone he had used when he rescued her from the black phone booth.

"I'm very optimistic about you."

This is not a lie, but a fair assessment by Uesugi Tetsu after he had thoroughly learned about Chisa's personal situation and what she had done before his arrival.

A calm and collected mind in the face of danger, an indomitable will to never give up in the face of difficulties, and the courage to risk one's life in critical moments...

If Chisa were willing to come into contact with the supernatural and join the Special Affairs Department, she would surely achieve great things in time, and might even become a powerful deity guarding a region many years later.

Such a promising talent should naturally be brought over to Nanjo-nee for a closer look and to be properly nurtured.

Therefore, Uesugi Tetsu said, "Chisa, if you want to become strong enough to protect your family, you can come to the Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Office in Tokyo."

Chisa's eyes lit up at first.

But then, the girl holding the amulet shook her head dejectedly.

"Big brother... I took the test in my hometown before, and the uncle who came to test me said I didn't have the talent for cultivation."

Afterwards, with my sister's help, I studied the basic spirit-gathering technique for a long time, but it didn't have any noticeable effect.

"talent?"

Uesugi Tetsu laughed and shrugged. "Is this kind of thing important? I've never had any talent either, but I've still gotten to where I am today."

Staring blankly at the girl, Uesugi Tetsu held up a finger in front of her eyes: "Chisa, remember this. What limits you is never your talent, but whether you want to or not."

"If you want to, you can do it—belief is your magic, and anything is possible."

“And another thing,” Uesugi Tetsu corrected, “My name is Uesugi Tetsu. You can call me Uesugi-kun or Uesugi-nii-san. Just calling me ‘big brother’ feels a bit strange, like some old man talking about watching goldfish.”

Chisa blinked.

After a long while, she gripped the amulet that made her palms slightly numb, and nodded emphatically.

"Uesugi-nii, I understand!"

"That's good."

Uesugi Tetsu snapped his fingers, leading her toward the source of the demonic aura that had descended from the sky.

Chisa walked casually to Tamamo's side, while Uesugi Tetsu looked at the demon-level figure who had appeared in the perception circle half a minute earlier and arrived much faster than the scheduled support time.

Noticing Uesugi Tetsu's gaze, Yasui immediately introduced the man in front of him, who was wearing an unusually large, pure black haori.

"Lord Nakamura, this is the young hero who single-handedly eliminated the black phone booth, Uesugi Tetsu, Uesugi-kun!"

The man called Nakamura turned to look at Uesugi Tetsuya, and nodded slightly to him: "In any case, I must thank you for standing up for me, Uesugi-kun."

After thanking him, Nakamura finally took a good look at him.

The man patted Uesugi Tetsuya on the shoulder and exclaimed, "No wonder Nanjo wanted to raise your potential level without hesitation. Now it seems that her judgment was indeed very accurate."

Uesugi Tetsuya found it rather strange.

Because, in his perception, the aura emanating from this demon-god level Nakamura was slightly different from that of the demon-god level figures he had encountered before.

Although there are still fundamental differences in their life forms, comparatively speaking, it seems to lack a bit of majesty, a bit of oppression, a bit of... power?

Or is it that all those ghosts and gods I've encountered before were extraordinary?

Which one is the reason?

Uesugi Tetsu didn't understand for a moment.

He couldn't possibly ask such a personal question to a supernatural figure he was meeting for the first time.

So Uesugi Tetsu had no choice but to keep the question to himself and wait for an answer later.

"If there is nothing else, Lord Yasui, I will conduct a thorough inspection of Shizuoka City for a week and then leave."

Nakamura glanced at his phone, then rubbed his temples in frustration.