Chapter 164 Takamagahara

Ise Grand Shrine—this is precisely where the gateway to Takamagahara lies.

After Su Baiwei woke up last time, she ordered a group of Japanese cultivators to join forces and open the Takamagahara gateway within the Ise Grand Shrine.

Unlike Fushimi Inari Taisha, which was almost entirely dominated by the Abe Family, Ise Grand Shrine, due to its special nature, was not completely controlled by any single Family.

Almost every major Family and power had people holding important positions within the Ise Grand Shrine.

Of course, the Tsuchimikado Clan still held the most dominant position; otherwise, they wouldn't have been trying to compete with the Abe Family for the status of the main lineage all these years.

However, after Tamamo-no-Mae appeared, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu gave up any thought of competing with Abe Kusuku. He couldn't win; he simply couldn't win.

The other guy had already acknowledged a thief as his father. Although he himself was compromising for the sake of survival, that was merely an expediency. Did anyone really expect him, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu, to truly bow his head to Tamamo-no-Mae?

Pipe dreams!

As he was thinking, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu saw Tamamo-no-Mae and Jiang Chen flying down from the sky.

His heart trembled, and his previous stirring thoughts vanished instantly as he hurriedly knelt and prostrated himself.

"Greetings, Great Deity Fushimi Inari."

Two people came this time. Since I didn't greet Jiang Chen, it doesn't count as a greeting.

Tamamo-no-Mae looked at the large crowd of Japanese Onmyoji kneeling before her, her eyes devoid of joy or sorrow.

At this moment, her bearing changed completely as she once again became the center of attention, the Great Deity Fushimi Inari seated high upon her divine throne.

She ignored the crowd kneeling on the ground and walked straight toward the main hall where the gateway to Takamagahara was located.

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, the gateway is open. Shall we enter now?"

Jiang Chen walked into the hall and saw that at the front, where the shrine had originally been placed, a deep black hole like a space-time tunnel filled with lightning had appeared.

Just a single glance was enough to make one's skin crawl.

This Takamagahara gateway was not something that could be opened casually.

After the War of the Gods in Takamagahara ended, Amaterasu, as the final victor, bestowed the keys to the Takamagahara gateway upon several Japanese families.

They needed to join forces to open this gateway. However, in all these years since Takamagahara closed its doors, not a single divine oracle had been sent down.

The various families had gathered many times to discuss matters, and on many occasions, someone proposed opening the Takamagahara gateway, but it was always rejected in the end.

This was simply because the divine majesty was too heavy, and they did not dare to truly step into this gateway leading to Takamagahara.

Indeed, opening the gateway didn't mean one could just enter. The gateway was filled with lightning and danger, and one could easily lose their way. One needed at least the strength of the Late Stage Mystic Light Realm to even attempt it.

But in an era where Spiritual Qi was receding and the Laws were not apparent, achieving such a level of cultivation was easier said than done.

At least for now, the entire country of Japan could hardly scrape together two cultivators at the Late Stage of Mystic Light.

So for many years, Japanese cultivators could only use the wisps of divine charm emanating from this gateway to cultivate, never daring to overstep.

Now that the gateway was open, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu had originally thought they would face accountability from Takamagahara.

But once it was actually opened, they were surprised to find that there was still no message from within. It seemed as if this gateway, and this mortal world, had been abandoned by the gods.

Jiang Chen felt the wisps of extraordinary divine aura coming from inside. It was very powerful, but at this moment, it felt somewhat dilapidated and weak.

He understood that the gods of Takamagahara should still be in a state of slumber and had not yet awakened.

However, seeing how active this divine charm was, he knew the gods inside were not far from waking up.

This truly was an era of Spiritual Qi recovery, where demons and ghosts were beginning to emerge in an endless stream!

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, after you."

Jiang Chen's figure did not move an inch. His expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, "Currently, this humble Daoist is the guest and Your Excellency is the host. There is no reason to reverse the roles of host and guest."

Su Baiwei smiled. She wasn't worried about whether Jiang Chen would play a trick on her; she leaped up and jumped into the deep gateway.

In an instant, her figure disappeared. Following that, the lightning within the gateway suddenly shifted, looking even more terrifying.

Jiang Chen followed closely behind, leaping directly into the gateway.

As soon as he entered, the scene before his eyes changed abruptly. It was as if he were in a long corridor whose end could not be seen.

The boundary walls around this corridor were pitch black, with many bolts of lightning wandering through them. When they sensed Jiang Chen's entry, it was as if he had fallen into a hunt by these lightning bolts.

Suddenly, bolts of lightning began to lash out and wander around Jiang Chen as if testing him, seemingly possessing their own intelligence.

Lightning constantly vanished and was reborn, but its quantity increased rather than decreased. The crackling sounds produced by the bursts were swallowed by the Void Realm.

Jiang Chen acted as if he saw nothing, walking as if on level ground, striding forward to follow Su Baiwei's path.

These lightning bolts followed Jiang Chen for a while, continuing to gather in greater numbers until, finally, they almost wrapped Jiang Chen into a purple-white ball of electricity.

Finally, one bolt of lightning could no longer restrain itself. It suddenly charged out from the swarm and headed straight for Jiang Chen!

This seemed to be the signal for a charge. Countless lightning bolts began to blot out the sky, rushing toward Jiang Chen one after another.

But Jiang Chen still ignored them and continued forward.

Just as the first bolt of lightning was about to touch his body, Jiang Chen pinched his fingers slightly and easily caught the bolt in his hand.

"Lightning born from the Void. Interesting, but the power is too weak."

The power of such thunder could kill an ordinary Dao Entry Realm cultivator and was enough to cause a bit of trouble for a cultivator who had just entered the Mystic Light Realm.

If there were thousands of such thunderbolts here, it was no wonder those Japanese cultivators didn't dare enter Takamagahara; they would have perished halfway.

This bolt of lightning seemed to remain defiant, twisting and struggling at Jiang Chen's fingertips, but it was like a fish on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered—it had no lethality and couldn't even leave a white mark on Jiang Chen.

Feeling bored, Jiang Chen gave a casual wave. The sky full of thunder seemed to be drawn in by the gravity of a black hole, falling one after another into his palm.

Countless thunderbolts fell into his palm, yet his palm remained empty.

This continued until the corridor returned to a deep, pitch-black state, with not a trace of lightning to be seen.

Jiang Chen opened his palm to see a deep purple, almost black, winding bolt of lightning coiled within.

At this moment, this lightning bolt was still defiant, crashing around in Jiang Chen's palm and erupting with terrifying power.

But it didn't even stir a ripple.

Jiang Chen took a look, then put away the lightning. His figure suddenly accelerated, crashing through the corridor like an arrow shot from a bow.

In the blink of an eye, he saw Su Baiwei's figure ahead.

Su Baiwei naturally saw Jiang Chen following behind and a slight smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

Then, she began to use her own divinity to connect with the divinity within Takamagahara.

Soon, her eyes flashed. She pointed a slender finger toward the void ahead, and space began to collapse like a singularity. A wisp of brilliant light burst out from the point of collapse.