From Earthbound Spirit to Tokyo Evil

"I'm not kidding." Kamio Hitomi sighed softly. "Even if my assistant suddenly met a ghost and died in front of me one day, as long as the ghost can't threaten me, I can keep my identity intact and not take action. Even if she died to protect me, the result will be the same, and I won't waver. Mukuroki, this is the difference between the two of us, and it's also the reason why I can stay out of it while you get deeper and deeper into it."

"Can you really do it?"

"If you have time tomorrow, come over and kill her, and kill the agent as well. It happens that I've been having a bad time at work these past two days, and I'm a little annoyed with both of them." Kamio Hitomi said with a smile, as if she was joking, but her temperament suddenly became a little unfamiliar to Natsukawa, that kind of indifference was even a little creepy.

"We are different species after all." Kamio Hitomi continued. "Even if we don't separate today, we will definitely do so one day in the future. Human life is so fragile and vulnerable. If you attach too much importance to them, then no matter how powerful you are, you are just a weakling. Especially the gods, Haibi, I will only say this once today and will never mention it a second time: as a god, believers are just your cattle and sheep, and clergy are just your hunting dogs. Of course, you must take care of them and try your best to make them grow and expand your power, so as not to let them lose easily. However, you must, never take them too seriously, and you should be prepared to give up on them at any time. If you can't see this clearly, then you will never go far, and they will not be your help, but your burden."

"The believers offer their will to the gods, and the clergy do their best. Shouldn't the gods give corresponding rewards?"

"You think this is a deal?" Kamio Hitomi sighed. "You are wrong, and very wrong. The relationship between gods and believers has never been a deal, but plunder, possession and demand. The original gods never gave believers any benefits, they just promised not to take away from them. Moreover, in order to create terror and let believers fully realize their power, they often break their promises at will. Even the kindest gods will only satisfy the wishes of a few people. Haishi, even if you can satisfy everyone's wishes, you can't make them feel satisfied and happy. It will only make them more greedy, more arrogant, and less grateful and satisfied. On the contrary, killing, destroying, bringing plague, disaster and misfortune, the believers' prayers will be more frequent and more pious than when you give them happiness. You do nothing, which is the greatest gift to them."

Xia Chuan has actually always understood this principle, but when he actually does it, he always can't help but forget it.

The tools eventually became new objects that needed protection and attention, and he never punished them even if they made some mistakes.

"You can always be on your own." Kamio Hitomi said. "But, do you really want to?"

#####

Inside the main hall, the priestesses were dispersing and trying to train their pets under Xia Chuan's new oracle.

After the spirit pets were selected as small birds according to Xia Chuan's instructions, it was not a little difficult to do so. Fortunately, after a period of training, these animals had more or less opened up some intelligence, so there was still a chance to attack.

"Yui, have you ever done something like this before?" Kawaguchi Rena and Aoki Yui knelt at the top of the hall, watching the actions of the apprentice shrine maidens with a serious look on their faces, but they were actually chatting quietly with Aoki Yui.

"No." Yui Aoki still wore the mask at Natsukawa's insistence, which allowed her to relax a little and not have to pay attention to facial expression management like Rena Kawaguchi. "At first, I was just playing with Kobori."

"That must be some new experience somewhere else, right?" Kawaguchi Rena said, but she became secretly alert in her heart.

Of course she knew about the existence of the Nomiya sisters and the Nishiohisa Skeleton Shrine. After all, Natsukawa had specifically asked them to work together to kill the monsters of the Styx Society to accumulate combat experience. During the three months when Natsukawa was missing, she and Sato Kentaro had considered various possibilities for the future of the sect.

Since the Skeleton Shrine exists, there may be more forces hidden in the darkness under the command of Natsukawa Daimyojin. Thinking of this, Kawaguchi Rena suddenly felt the pressure becoming unprecedentedly huge.

Before, she once thought that Yui Aoki was a stumbling block blocking her way forward, but after God left the apartment where they lived, he only contacted Yui Aoki through magatama, and occasionally gave her some orders through magatama. Such days made her deeply realize that if Yui Aoki did not exist, then she might be nothing in front of God, let alone other things.

Thinking in this way, Yui Aoki was not a stumbling block on her way forward, but rather a piece of drifting wood that she had to hold on to tightly in the rapids. Especially after her remarks that had surprised Kawaguchi Rena and even made her withdrawn for a while, she no longer had any hostility towards Yui Aoki.

"I wonder when the Lord God will come to inspect their situation? Are we too late?"

"Probably not during this period." Natsukawa did not authorize Yui Aoki to tell others about her latest situation, so although she felt a little sorry, Yui Aoki still carefully kept the secret. Even when Kawaguchi Reina repeatedly hinted at her, she didn't say anything. "He didn't rush us. We should be fine if we follow the plan and take our time."

"Yui, don't you want to show your abilities in front of God?" Kawaguchi Rena said with regret.

She had also seen Chiyu Moriyama, but she didn't know what was so good about her other than her figure.

What they didn't know was that Natsukawa was just looking at the apprentice shrine maidens through the magatama on Yui Aoki's chest.

Should we start with them, stop caring about them excessively, and just treat them as tools?

Looking at the faces of those young and energetic girls who were full of curiosity and expectations about the future, Xia Chuan felt that he could not bear to be cruel no matter what.

This is the case with most things in the world. Even if you know what is the right thing to do, when the time comes, there is always a reason that prevents you from doing it.

still is……

Xiachuan left quietly, and a moment later, he returned to Kiryu Kazuryū's side.

He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room with no lights on, a ghost mask on his face and a demon sword in his hand, as if he was tempering his will and spirit through the confrontation with them.

"Kiryu Ichiryu..."

"Yes." He immediately changed his sitting position and placed the demon sword in front of him. "What do you want?"

"Go find someone." Xia Chuan said. "Spread out those knives and let them find someone who can control them. Then..."

As usual, Kiryu Ichiryu said nothing and just waited silently.

"Let them become your subordinates in the dark world, or... kill them."

"I understand." Kiryu Ichiryu nodded without asking any questions. He just picked up the demon sword again and put it on his waist. Then he walked to the corner of the room, opened the safe hidden behind a cabinet, and took out all the five fake demon swords that Xiachuan had given him. After thinking for a moment, he put four of them back and only picked up one and stood up.

"If it falls into the hands of the Styx Society or Akasaka..." Natsukawa said.

"I won't let that happen." Kiryu Kazuyu said calmly.

This was slightly different from what Xiachuan had thought before, but since Kiryu Kazuyuki had such confidence, he accepted this arrangement.

What a pity! If Kiryu Kazuyu could be more talented and learn any kind of magic, his achievements would be much more than this.

"Don't be reckless." Xia Chuan said. "I will ask Tengu to support you."

"Yes!" said Kiryu Kazuyuu, opening the door.

#####

Looking at the person in front of him, Matsumoto Takashi felt dry mouth and his brain even went blank for a short while.

So the legend is actually true?!

The knife was less than twenty centimeters away from him, in the man's outstretched hand, and he could grab it by just stretching out his hand.

But... according to the legend, anyone who cannot wield this sword will become a monster...

"Um... why? Why me?" His originally nimble tongue suddenly seemed to be tied up, and that short sentence seemed to have drained all his strength.

"What is your choice?" The man wearing the devil mask did not answer his question at all, but asked again.

He exuded a disturbing aura, and Matsumoto Takashi had a feeling that he would kill him at any time.

After owning this knife, can you really become the king of the underworld?

Does he really have the right to refuse?

Matsumoto Takashi's body began to tremble slightly. He finally mustered up the courage and reached out for the knife with his trembling right hand, but at this moment, the man suddenly put the knife back.

"You do not deserve."

A strong wind suddenly blew, and Matsumoto Takashi's eyes went dark and he immediately fainted.

"I really should have picked up that knife..." A few hours later, when he had to solicit customers on the street with another guy from the same gang to make a living and endure the insults from those damn office workers, he finally couldn't help but say it out loud.

"Come on..." Such words were immediately regarded as bragging and caused a round of ridicule and mockery.

At this moment, a scream suddenly came from the alley in the distance, and a drunk guy ran out from there howling and screaming.

"Dead man! A headless dead man!"

Chapter 159 Beheading

"This is the third time." Tachibana Koichi said. For some reason, he felt very irritated, even more uncomfortable than when he was with M.

Looking at the remains of his fellow creature being thrown casually on the roadside like garbage, imagining what killed him, why it did this, whether the same thing would happen next, and where it would happen, I felt extremely bad.

"The cut was very smooth. The neck was cut off with just one blow. It is exactly the same as the previous two incidents." Kimoto Juri stood up from the corpse and sighed slightly.

She also felt a little uncomfortable.

But they had clearly seen more tragic and terrifying scenes. It could only be said that they had been away from the scene for too long and stayed in comfortable situations for too long, and thus both of them had become weaker.

Fortunately, M had let them go, leaving only Inaba Rika by his side.

Inaba Rika and Kimoto had discussed M's purpose more than once. Kimoto felt that M might feel that the people from the Corpse Organization would be useless if they stayed by his side, so it would be better to have them come to the scene frequently. They might encounter people from the Styx Society someday like Passer and Henman did before and be killed completely.

However, this was Akasaka's fate. If their death could really allow the Skeleton Society to cooperate with Akasaka again, Kimoto felt that his death in this situation would be more meaningful than dying quietly at a certain scene like his predecessors who had sacrificed themselves before.

"We didn't find any surveillance video. The cameras over there are either broken or fake." Qingdao came back from the alley. "Damn it! There are always people doing illegal activities in this area. They never thought of installing working cameras. Even the cameras installed by the police are always deliberately destroyed by them!"

"The three people who were beheaded were all members of the Yakuza, but they should have no connection with each other." Sugishita, who had been on the phone, finally stopped talking. "The three of them were just the lowest-level thugs, and they were all the worst. The killer who could do such a thing should not think highly of them. They were just testing their swords casually, right? Like those crazy swordsmen in ancient times?"

This kind of speculation is simply the worst kind. Random crimes are always the most difficult to solve. If the other party just randomly beheads the thugs he encounters on the street, how can they stop him?

"I found a clue!" One of the two people with the least on-site experience in the Corpse Agency excitedly rushed in from the other end of the alley. "I found a clue!"

Daisuke Sasaki was pulling a young man who had a simple tattoo on his arm. Anyone who knew a little about the Yakuza would know that this guy was just the lowest member of the organization.

"Say what you just said again!"

"That..." Matsumoto Takashi looked uneasily at the strange masked guys in front of him, and accidentally saw the half-exposed corpse on the ground, and his body shivered involuntarily.

"What do you know?" Mu Yuan asked immediately.

"I met a strange guy last night..."

#####

Urban legends were once the focus of Akasaka's monitoring and debunking, and their work has always been considered effective.

However, as more and more strange incidents occurred in Tokyo, the task became increasingly difficult, almost to the point of being impossible.

The rumor about the demon sword had indeed been on Akasaka's watchlist, but like many unknown legends, it was soon "temporarily shelved" because it was not spread by a large group of people and had no subsequent impact. It was not until Kimoto and others began to investigate that it was listed as a priority and put back on the list of strict control and investigation.

"We must stop this legend from spreading as soon as possible!" Kuroda Koji also paid attention to this incident.

Many urban legends themselves are not destructive, but some urban legends, after being widely circulated, will react on the subjects of the legend and enhance their power.

If many people heard and believed this legend, then power would most likely be attached to the demon sword that is the main character of the story, making it even more dangerous.

At the same time, they must also find the source of the legend, because the first person who spread this legend is most likely the guy who wears a ghost mask and asks people if they want power.

The people of Akasaka became extremely anxious when they thought that such things were happening everywhere and that perhaps someone had really obtained the power of the demon sword.

The person who was beheaded was most likely someone who was unable to harness the power of the demon sword and lost control and turned into a monster. That meant that the legendary demon sword had not yet found its master, and such incidents would continue to occur.

Sasaki Daisuke said, "Look at it from a bright side. At least that guy didn't let these guys kill people randomly like before... and, since he hasn't succeeded yet, we still have a chance to catch him, right?"

"That is..." Tachibana Hiroichi said, but was quickly interrupted by Kimoto.

"You're right! We must catch him before he succeeds!" She said to Sasaki, and also to everyone in the Corpse Agency. "Seal that demon sword forever!"

energetic!

However, you will probably never succeed.

Xia Chuan watched this group of guys silently, not knowing whether he should be happy or feel sad for them.

It was a good thing that M released the Corpse Mechanism, but he did not expect that Kuroda Koji would immediately use the Corpse Mechanism on such a blade again.

One group of my men is trying hard to catch another group of my men... Those senior police officers who are in charge of the undercover department probably feel similarly when facing similar situations, right?

However, their thinking was correct at the beginning, but it went completely astray later on.

Because Kiryu Ichiryu did not kill those who were out of control - those people were knocked unconscious by the handle of his sword before they had time to go berserk, thus breaking free from the control of the demon sword - he killed those who had clearly passed the test of the demon sword and could still remain rational when holding it, but because they were too arrogant, they refused Kiryu Ichiryu's orders, or tried to deceive him.

Kiryu Ichiryu approached many more people than Akasaka had imagined, and most of them rationally chose to keep the secret, especially after knowing that someone had been beheaded.

The vast majority of them did not actually meet Kiryu Kazuyuki in a remote alley on the side of the road, but were woken up from their sleep by him in their shabby and small apartments and then faced that choice.

Many people were interviewed but did not tell the truth they knew, because telling the truth would not bring them any benefits, but if they told it, who knew if they would have such a nightmare again one night?

As members of the Yakuza, they believed in violence and were more afraid of the power of ghosts and gods. Compared with this, Akasaka's warning to them was simply not worth mentioning.

If they are afraid of the law, why are they doing this?

The rumor was not dispelled. On the contrary, following Akasaka's questioning, more people who originally did not believe in or understand the rumor also learned of its existence.

Moreover, desire and ambition began to spread rapidly.

If I had the chance to face that evil sword and that man with a ghost mask, how would I respond?

Chapter 160 Recruitment

Spring is the season for cherry blossom viewing. As a couple, even if you are just pretending to be a couple, it is necessary to go to Meguro River or Ueno Park.

This was of course an unprecedented experience for Chiyu Moriyama. She had been working hard since the day before to prepare light meals for the next day's cherry blossom viewing, as well as blankets and other things to put on the grass. In total, she had prepared a large basket. Xiachuan did not have the morbid love for cherry blossoms that the Japanese had, but he did not resist it either. He just felt a little regretful, because his ideal scene should be that everyone would gather together, happily drinking wine on the grass under the cherry trees, sharing food and interesting stories.

Such a scene may never come to pass, at least not in Tokyo where the Watchers and Akasaka are in charge.

If he gathered everyone together, he would most likely be greeted by a huge fireball from the missile.

"You can always stay on your own. But, do you really want to?"

"If we agree with the value of this society, are willing to abide by its rules, and even defend it, then why can't we be accepted and treated fairly?"

The words of Kamio Hitomi and Long Qingting appeared in his mind one after another, making him let out a long sigh.

"Kamiya-kun?" Chiyu Moriyama asked uneasily.

"Eh? Sorry, it's the cherry blossoms in front of me..." Xiachuan said.

The falling cherry blossoms flying all over the sky are indeed beautiful, but they always make people feel an indescribable sadness and harshness. Perhaps only the Japanese can enjoy this fleeting beauty and even make it a part of their culture.