218: ants

"At a time like this... a Planar Rift has appeared?!"

Leader's expression changed drastically, his teeth clenched tight. The crisis inside the Purple Barrier was still unclear, and now a spatial rift leading to the unknown had torn open without warning? Misfortunes truly never come singly!

This rift was completely different in nature from the barrier and was clearly an independent event, but the timing and location were bad to the extreme.

"All units, alert! Watch the rift's movements!" Instructor Luo barked his orders while simultaneously focusing part of his attention on the rift. The Special Affairs Department members and the Demon Slayer Corps members gripped their weapons, their eyes focused on that dark opening.

The demon side was also on guard. Muzan narrowed his crimson eyes, showing a look of scrutiny for the first time; Kokushibo's six eyes locked onto the rift; Doma stopped smiling, his rainbow eyes flashing as his fan half-covered his face.

A Planar Rift is extremely unstable, often connecting to world fragments on the verge of collapse or serving as cross-domain passages for certain powerful beings—either way, it meant unpredictable danger.

Just as everyone held their breath in concentration—

The pitch-black rift suddenly expanded, pulsing like a breath.

Then, a figure stepped out from within.

Walking through the Void Realm, mysterious light seals naturally condensed under his feet like invisible steps supporting his descent. A solid, flowing golden halo enveloped his body, and as the light intertwined, it faintly transformed into an ancient and majestic garment of Law draped over him.

What made Souls tremble the most were those eyes slowly scanning the world.

Pure, cold, and seemingly containing the river of time and the cycle of Reincarnation—

They were a pair of golden eyes.

Divine light extinguished and was reborn in the depths of his pupils, devoid of any human emotion, possessing only the absolute indifference of looking down at the world and treating all things as straw dogs.

He stood in the Void Realm like an ancient god awakened from a long slumber, looking down and scrutinizing this familiar yet strange world.

"Lin... Lin Luo?!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha cried out in shock, almost unable to believe her eyes. The outline of that face was indeed Lin Luo, but that aura, those golden eyes, and that unknowable power flowing around him... he was a completely different person from her memory!

The Butterfly Sisters were shaken to the core and subconsciously wanted to step forward, but their feet were as if nailed to the spot—not just them, everyone present, from the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps to the Upper Moons, and from the Special Affairs Department elites to Leader himself, were completely imprisoned by an invisible power of Law the moment that figure stepped out of the rift and his golden eyes swept over them!

It wasn't pressure or fear, but a more fundamental fixing of their "existence." Like insects in amber, even their thoughts became sluggish under that gaze.

The stronger one's power, the clearer the sensation and the greater the fear.

Veins bulged on Instructor Luo's forehead as he used all his strength to circulate energy, trying to break the restraint. But when he forced himself to "look" at that figure, everything in his vision rapidly blurred and faded, leaving only a pair of indifferent, giant golden eyes looking down from the depths of his consciousness!

"Ugh—!"

After less than a second of "eye contact," Instructor Luo felt a splitting, agonizing pain in his eyes, and his Divine Soul felt as if it had been struck by a heavy blow! He let out a muffled groan and forcibly looked away, but two trails of blood had already trickled from the corners of his eyes—this was the backlash his Soul and Physical Body could not endure after being absolutely crushed by status and comprehension.

What he saw was not a person, but a concept, a rule, a pair of eyes.

Dead silence.

An absolute silence, forcibly created by power, enveloped the area. Only the Purple Barrier continued to emit an uneasy low hum from within, along with the slight sizzling sound of the rift slowly contracting.

When "Lin Luo" withdrew that paralyzing gaze and looked back at the ground, the golden light around him dimmed slightly, as if "allowing" all things here to continue existing. Most people remained immersed in the aftershocks of their trembling Souls, not daring to move recklessly.

"Is it... Lin Luo?"

Shinazugawa Sanemi's throat was dry as he whispered hoarsely, suppressing the urge to draw his sword. No one answered.

Muzan's crimson pupils were dead-locked on that figure, killing intent and wariness surging in his heart. It was this human who had once caused him to lose several Upper Moons. Now that the other had returned in such a state, unfathomable and deep, he had become the biggest variable.

In this moment of absolute silence and high tension—

"Heh."

A very soft chuckle, filled with venom and resentment, rang out.

It was Doma.

His rainbow eyes appeared from behind his fan, with no trace of a smile left in them, only cold fury and near-insane resentment. His fingers inside his sleeve moved almost imperceptibly—

Swish!

Several transparent yet freezing mist-like ice crystals, like poison-tipped needles, tore through the air without warning and shot straight toward Lin Luo's back!

This strike was insidious and swift, concentrating the full power and poison of Upper Moon Two.

"Fool!"

Muzan's sharp shout rang out almost simultaneously with the attack, but it was already too late to stop it.

The ice crystals reached Lin Luo's back in an instant.

However, Lin Luo didn't even move a fingertip against this sneak attack.

He simply... turned around.

Those indifferent golden eyes calmly "looked" at the incoming ice crystals.

There was no explosion and no flash of light.

Under the "gaze" of the golden eyes, those poisonous ice crystals, which were enough to freeze a Soul and corrode flesh, melted and vanished silently in the air several feet away from Lin Luo, like melting snow meeting its nemesis, without leaving a single trace.

It was as if they had never existed.

The moment the attack dissipated, the madness on Doma's face suddenly froze, turning into complete horror.

He didn't even have time to make his next move—

Bang!!!

A muffled sound rang out, like a water bag bursting from the inside!

Doma's beautiful body exploded completely without warning, turning into a mist of blood and scraps of flesh that splattered everywhere!

Only his head, which still bore a look of shock and malice, was caught mid-air by the quick-reacting Akaza and held in his hand.

Akaza held that head, which still possessed consciousness and whose eyes were twitching slightly, feeling the cold stickiness on his fingertips. He froze in place, his Battle Spirit solidified. He looked toward that indifferently standing golden figure, and an unprecedented chill rose up his spine.

An instant kill?

No, he hadn't even seen the process of "killing." With just a single "gaze," a negation of rules, Upper Moon Two was reduced to just a head.

The dead silence was even heavier than before.

Lin Luo's gaze calmly swept over the head in Akaza's hand.

That look was like a human looking down at a wriggling insect they happened to spot underfoot.

"Ants."

Those two indifferent words fell without emotion, but they made the hearts of all who heard them stop.

Before his voice even faded, Lin Luo had already raised his arm and casually pointed a finger at that solitary head.

There was no surge of energy and no manifestation of Law.

It was just the simplest of movements.

But at the moment his finger pointed—

Buzz... an indescribable rhythm spread silently.

Akaza was horrified to find that his arm holding the head was rapidly turning into gray dust starting from the fingertips, with skin, flesh, and bone spreading upward at a terrifying speed!

Even more terrifying was that his proud Battle Spirit and regeneration ability were useless before this power, and they even seemed to accelerate the annihilation!

He wanted to let go and retreat, but his body was as if nailed to the spot, and even his thoughts were sluggish and hard to turn.

"Retreat!"

A low shout exploded!

Kokushibo's figure flickered like a ghost, and a sharp side kick landed heavily on Akaza's waist!

Bang!

Akaza was kicked away by the massive force, escaping the center of annihilation and rolling clumsily into the distance. Doma's head also flew out of his hand.

However, in the next moment, Kokushibo's body froze—his right leg, half of his waist, and his right shoulder silently turned into flying ash, and he crashed to one knee on the ground.

Akaza crashed in the distance, half of his body already gone.

He looked at his annihilated arm and side with lingering fear, then at the half-vanished Kokushibo whose aura had suddenly weakened, his face full of shock.

Doma's head rolled on the ground, not yet completely erased, but the skin and flesh on its surface had begun to rapidly turn gray and peel off, looking as if it would soon face total annihilation.

All of this had originated from just the aftershock of Lin Luo's finger.

Muzan's pupils shook violently, and the chill around him almost solidified. Doma was on the verge of death, Kokushibo's body was half-annihilated, and Akaza was heavily injured... and this was just the aftershock! The losses far exceeded his expectations!

"Mu... Lord Muzan..." Doma's remaining head let out a weak cry like a flickering candle in the wind, his rainbow eyes dimming as his desire for "existence" reached a peak of despair.

A cold calculation flashed through Muzan's crimson eyes.

No! Such a loss is unbearable!

In a flash, Muzan turned into a blood shadow and swept across the battlefield, picking up Doma's head and flashing between Kokushibo and Akaza.

He suddenly turned his head, his crimson eyes locking onto Instructor Luo not far away, his voice suppressed and urgent, rarely carrying a clear intent to ask for help: "Instructor Luo!"

Instructor Luo's brow furrowed as his gaze quickly swept over Lin Luo, then fell on the Butterfly Sisters.

"Mr. Lin Luo," Kochou Kanae spoke softly, her voice gentle yet clear.

At the same moment her voice rang out, "Lin Luo" withdrew his finger.

However, in the next instant, Leader's body was sent flying back as if struck by a heavy blow. Though he didn't suffer a fatal injury, his internal organs were significantly damaged, and a trace of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.

"Instructor!" Several people from the Special Affairs Department quickly ran over to stabilize Leader's injuries.

Muzan took this opportunity to turn his ten fingers into blood-red needles, simultaneously piercing the vital points of the three—Doma's forehead, Kokushibo's heart, and Akaza's chest.

Squelch!

The Demon King's Origin blood was forcibly injected!

"Ugh—!"

The three shook simultaneously. Kokushibo's mangled flesh writhed and regenerated frantically, only to collapse again under the lingering effects of the annihilation; Akaza's missing parts tore and reformed; Doma's head stopped turning to ash as flesh began to fill and spread in reverse... "Lin Luo" no longer cared about the life or death of the ants behind him, his gaze swept indifferently over the Butterfly Sisters without stopping, turning directly toward that Purple Barrier.

He stood still before the barrier and raised his right hand, seemingly wanting to break it with force, but his fingers suspended in mid-air eventually loosened. His golden eyes lowered slightly, as if he were considering something.

A moment later, he opened his palm, and the cicada song collection quietly appeared.

In the next moment, the book turned into a soft purple light and slid into the barrier wall like a swimming fish—that indestructible barrier now silently rippled open a portal.

"Lin Luo" stepped inside, his figure disappearing into the flowing purple light.

He left behind a dead silent battlefield and countless pairs of disbelieving eyes.

This barrier, which couldn't be moved an inch even with the combined strength of everyone present, was... so easily opened by him.