607: Chapter 607 Blind to Talent

The monster stood nearly ten feet tall, with crimson hair and red skin, and two curved ghost horns growing from its head.

His body was incredibly robust, with knotted muscles and bulging veins, looking like a war machine forged from blood and steel.

He was shirtless, with an animal skin skirt wrapped around his waist, holding a massive sake gourd in his right hand and a Tachi taller than a man in his left.

Shuten-doji.

One of the strongest Ghost Kings in Japanese legend and the most powerful being in the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

Rumor had it that he was originally a son of a Noble Family from Echigo Province, admired by countless women for his extraordinary beauty.

However, he was violent by nature and addicted to wine and killing, eventually falling into the demonic path and transforming into a Great Yokai.

His strength was far above that of the Great Tengu.

His ferocious reputation had intimidated Japan for over a thousand years.

Shuten-doji lowered his head, his scarlet eyes falling upon Seimei Kangan.

"Was it you who summoned me?"

Seimei Kangan knelt down, his forehead striking the ground heavily.

"Lord Shuten-doji, a person from the Dragon Kingdom broke into the Demon Suppression Gate, killed my brother, and even attempted to meddle with the secrets of the Sealed Land."

"I implore you, Lord, to take action and slay him!"

After listening, Shuten-doji slowly turned his head, his gaze landing on Ye Chen.

He sized him up for a moment and suddenly laughed.

The laughter was as piercing as a Night Owl, making one's scalp tingle.

"A little brat from the Dragon Kingdom?"

"Is he worth summoning me for?"

Seimei Kangan knelt on the ground, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Lord, this person... is extraordinary."

"He was able to open the Demon Suppression Gate, which means he has mastered the Power of Dao."

Shuten-doji's smile stiffened slightly.

Power of Dao.

That was the greatest nemesis of the Hundred Ghosts.

A flash of wariness crossed his eyes, but it quickly vanished.

"So what if he has the Power of Dao?"

"How deep can the attainments of a wet-behind-the-ears boy be?"

He shook the gourd in his hand, which was surrounded by black mist.

"I would like to see if his Power of Dao can withstand my gourd."

Before he had even finished speaking.

Shuten-doji's figure vanished from the spot.

The next second.

He reappeared right in front of Ye Chen.

The gourd he had been holding was now floating in front of Shuten-doji, its mouth aimed at Ye Chen.

Inside the mouth of the gourd, black mist surged like the entrance to an abyss.

The next second.

Within the black mist, a bloody, cavernous mouth suddenly swung open.

That mouth was densely packed with fangs, each one like a sharp blade, glinting with a cold, sinister light in the dim environment.

"Swallow!"

Shuten-doji shouted sharply.

The bloody mouth expanded violently, the gourd opening widening to its limit like a giant python, lunging to devour Ye Chen.

A terrifying suction force surged from the gourd's mouth, pulling everything around it like a black hole.

Rubble in the passage was sucked up, runes on the walls were stripped away, and even the air seemed as if it were about to be swallowed into that giant mouth.

Standing behind Ye Chen, Yan Qingwu was pulled off balance by the suction, stumbling forward two steps.

But in an instant.

Ye Chen raised his hand, and a golden screen of light enveloped her, instantly cutting off the suction.

As for himself, he stood in place, completely unmoved.

The surging mouth of black mist had already loomed over Ye Chen's head, its fangs trapping him in the center like a cage, seemingly about to snap shut.

A hint of smugness flashed in Shuten-doji's eyes.

"My gourd can swallow all things."

"No matter how strong your Power of Dao is, it will be nothing more than another dish for my gourd."

Before he had even finished speaking.

He clenched his right hand, and the giant mouth bit down hard.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound rang out.

It wasn't the sound of bones being crushed; it was the sound of teeth shattering.

Shuten-doji's smile froze on his face.

That giant mouth biting down on Ye Chen felt like it had bitten into a piece of indestructible divine iron.

The fangs shattered!

Fragments flew everywhere!

The black mist churned violently!

A shrill wail even came from inside the gourd, sounding like a severely injured beast screaming in pain.

The giant mouth retracted abruptly, a puff of black smoke rose from the gourd's opening, and the entire gourd trembled violently.

"Impossible!"

Shuten-doji's pupils constricted suddenly.

"My gourd can bite through even a mountain in one go, how could it possibly fail to bite you?"

Ye Chen stood in place, glancing down at himself.

His clothes had been pierced with a few holes by the fangs, but not even a white mark was left on his skin.

A layer of faint golden runes flowed beneath his skin, appearing and disappearing.

That was the protective divine light of the Power of Hou Tu.

It was the nemesis of all yin entities and the foundation of being impervious to all techniques.

Ye Chen didn't even need to cast it; it operated on its own.

After all.

If the successor of Hou Tu were injured by a yin entity, it would be Empress Houtu who would lose face...

Ye Chen looked up at Shuten-doji, the corners of his mouth curling slightly.

"Maybe it's because your teeth aren't very good."

Shuten-doji's expression darkened completely.

He glanced down at the gourd in his hand.

Black smoke was still rising from the mouth, and several fine cracks had appeared on the body of the gourd.

He could feel that the entity inside the gourd had been heavily damaged and could not be used again for a short time.

"Baka-yaro!"

Shuten-doji let out a furious roar, hung the gourd back on his waist, and gripped the Tachi that was taller than a man with both hands.

Black mist swirled around the blade, and ghost faces faintly emerged, letting out shrill wails.

"Since the gourd cannot swallow you, then I shall slay you with my blade!"

He stomped his foot, blasting a large crater in the ground, and lunged toward Ye Chen like a bolt of black lightning.

The Tachi traced an arc in the air, black mist surging on the blade's edge as it slashed straight down toward Ye Chen's head with unstoppable force.

He put all his strength into this strike.

Because.

He had to reclaim his dignity as a Ghost King!

For a moment.

The power of the Ghost King poured into the Tachi. Wherever the blade passed, the air was torn apart, producing a piercing sonic boom.

The walls on both sides of the passage were sliced by the blade qi, leaving deep gouges and scattering debris.

Seimei Kangan, kneeling in the distance, watched this scene with a flash of crazed joy in his eyes.

"Hack him to death!"

The guardians hiding outside the passage also poked their heads out, their eyes full of anticipation.

However.

Ye Chen just sighed as he watched the Tachi slashing down.

"If you insist on seeking death, then I will grant it to you."

He raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together into a sword gesture.

He tapped the air.

A golden light lit up at his fingertips.

The light was pure and vast, like a small sun rising in the passage.

Shuten-doji's pupils constricted, and he instinctively wanted to retract his blade and retreat.

But it was already too late.

Ye Chen's sword finger moved through the void, stroke by stroke, as a complex rune formed in the air, emitting a terrifying aura that suppressed all yin entities.

The moment the rune was formed, the yin energy in the passage dissipated instantly, as if meeting its natural enemy.

The black mist on Shuten-doji's body surged violently, as if suppressed by something, desperately shrinking back into his body.

He felt it.

The power contained in that rune was the power of the earth, the power of the Netherworld, and the end of all evil.

It was his greatest nemesis.

A natural enemy.

An existence at a higher level than him.

"No—"

Shuten-doji let out a wretched scream and turned to run.

But Ye Chen's sword finger was already pointing forward.

"Go."

A single, simple word.

The golden rune turned into a streak of light, shooting out from Ye Chen's fingertip.

Its speed was astonishingly fast, not even leaving an afterimage.

Shuten-doji had only taken two steps when the light struck his back.

"BOOM!!!"

An earth-shattering roar.

Shuten-doji's body was sent flying forward as if struck by a cannonball.

He tumbled several times in the air, smashing the rocks at the top of the passage before crashing heavily onto the ground.

Then.

He slid more than ten meters away, plowing a deep trench into the ground.

The Tachi even flew out of his hand and embedded itself in a distant wall, the blade buzzing.

Shuten-doji lay on the ground, covered in blood. At the wound on his back, the golden light was still burning his flesh, making a sizzling sound.

He struggled to climb up, but as soon as he propped up half his body, he spat out a mouthful of black blood and collapsed back down.

"You... you..."

He looked up at Ye Chen, his eyes filled with terror.

One move.

Just one move.

He, one of the strongest Ghost Kings of Japan, didn't even have the chance to fight back.

Ye Chen withdrew his sword finger and looked down at Shuten-doji lying on the ground, speaking indifferently.

"I said, if you insist on seeking death, I will grant it to you."

"Do you believe me now?"

Shuten-doji lay among the rubble, his whole body trembling.

"I believe... I believe..."

"I beg... I beg for your mercy, Lord..."

He had no doubt.

For the human before him, killing him would be no different from taking a sip of water.

If he continued to persist...

He would only die more miserably!

Ye Chen looked down at him, expressionless.

"Spare you?"

"Didn't you want to swallow me just now?"

"Didn't you want to slay me with your blade?"

Shuten-doji's face was as pale as paper: "It was... it was this lowly one being blind and ignorant! It was this lowly one not knowing the heights of the heavens! I beg the Lord to give me a chance..."

One of the dignified strongest Ghost Kings of Japan was now like a stray dog, groveling at Ye Chen's feet for mercy.

The guardians hiding outside the passage were completely dumbfounded when they saw this scene.

Especially Seimei Kangan, whose mind had already gone blank.

The strongest Ghost King he had summoned...

Was actually begging that young man from the Dragon Kingdom for mercy?

How was this possible?

How the hell was this possible?

Ye Chen ignored the reactions of those people, looked down at Shuten-doji, and suddenly asked a question.

"Do you know Daji?"

Shuten-doji's eyes were full of bewilderment.

"Da... Daji?"

He frowned and thought for a long time before shaking his head, "This lowly one... this lowly one does not know..."

Ye Chen looked at him and said indifferently, "Oh, she's Tamamo-no-Mae."