Chapter 222

—"Nether Butterfly"

Unlike the cold and darkness felt by the body, visually, these released butterflies of death were full of magnificence and warm colors. The purple light shimmered, gorgeous and noble, enticing people to sink into them.

Whether human, animal, or some yokai, as long as they touched those seemingly harmless black-death purple butterflies, even if just brushing past them, they would fall into eternal darkness.

This was the embodiment of death; below a Great Yokai, one would basically die upon contact. Of course, there were some special cases, such as races like the Hunpo Yaoji, who were half spirit, and had an extraordinary resistance to death.

And Ba Yun Zi was, after all, a Frenzy-rank Great Yokai. Although she had been injured due to a moment of carelessness, as long as she was prepared, she could still resist. The same applied to Jia Ji...

Munch, munch, munch~

Munch, munch, munch~

"Hey, why did you start eating?"

Although it wasn't the first time little Feng Jian Youxiang had felt this way, seeing Jia Ji grab a "Nether Butterfly" that had landed on his finger, throw it into his mouth, and swallow it, she still sincerely felt that she could not understand his thought process.

WTF, how did humans become like this. jpg

"This thing can be considered a specialty of the Xixing Temple; if you don't eat it now, you'll only be able to find it in the Netherworld later."

If Jia Ji were to exert his power now, his protective Qi could be a full ten zhang thick, making it easy to block the Xixing Yokai's Soul-Returning Nether Butterflies. However, that would be meaningless.

Compared to simple defense and response, he decided to use his own body to experience what the Xixing Yokai was capable of.

—【Super Beidou Dragon-Swallowing Breathing Method】

Like the "Fighting Spirit Breathing Method," both were special breathing methods used in battle. The difference was that the "Fighting Spirit Breathing Method" was for short bursts of power, while the "Dragon-Swallowing Breathing Method" was for increasing defense and endurance, allowing one to be unaffected by enemy attacks.

A cold, incomparably chilling aura rushed straight to his brain, making the hair on Jia Ji's body stand on end, and he couldn't help but shiver.

"Hmm, it's like eating a whole Cirno," he commented.

As they kept approaching, on the land of death, the huge yokai tree twisted slowly, emitting a silent roar toward Jia Ji.

Countless spirits emerged under the shadows of its branches and leaves, countless aggrieved wandering souls poured out from the trunk, and skeletons crawled out from under the ground.

Ten times, a hundred times more Nether Butterflies than before surrounded them from all directions.

"With so many, you don't intend to eat them all, do you?"

"Of course not... eating until I'm eighty percent full is about enough."

Soul-Returning Butterfly: Eighty Percent Bloom. It was an excellent battle formation that used Nether Butterflies for defense while waiting for an opportunity to attack. Those who fell into it would only be continuously attacked without being able to strike the main body.

The aura of death turned into pairs of delicate arms that wrapped around Jia Ji, hugging his arms, grabbing his ankles, and choking his neck. Hundreds of thousands of dead spirits and skeletons surged like a tide, blocking his path.

But clearly, the Xixing Yokai, relying on itself without Yuyuko's manipulation, could never stop a Super Beidou martial artist whose pure combat power stood above a million yokai.

"Heavenly Tyrant Wind God Kick!"

A slash of unparalleled power swept across.

Countless spirits and skeletons, guys whose strength couldn't even be called Tree Sentinels, were blasted apart by the fighting spirit contained in the shockwave, all turning into black fragments of the weak.

The power of death surged out like a tide; even in the Avici Hell, one could not taste death energy of such quality. An ordinary person would be taken to the Netherworld with just one breath.

And for this death energy, which was enough to drag an entire city into hell, Jia Ji was only slightly affected from start to finish, roughly equivalent to the feeling of eating too much ice.

Patting the dust off his right leg, Jia Ji couldn't help but think that it was such sturdy thighs that supported such astonishing techniques...

"No."

It seems that one shouldn't eat death energy indiscriminately; it might cause one to have wild thoughts.

However, the Xixing Yokai rooted in place was indeed at its wit's end. After all, this plant whose main body hadn't transformed couldn't pull itself out of the ground to hit people like some War Ancient Tree.

With only a few dozen steps of distance, Jia Ji walked until he was just one step away from the Xixing Yokai before stopping. At such close range, even the strange patterns on the tree's branches, which looked like meridians, could be seen clearly.

Blowing through the empty courtyard, the sound of wind like a shakuhachi and faint death energy brushed past, and cherry blossom petals shook down like snowflakes, landing on the withered, black, mottled earth that had been dead for many years.

The Xixing Yokai was not a yokai born by chance, at least not a cherry tree that became a yokai after gaining a spirit.

According to common sense, plant-type yokai mostly possess vigorous life force, like Feng Jian Youxiang, and this life force is exactly what conflicts most with the power of death.

However, apart from it, Feng Jian Youxiang had never heard of any yokai that mastered the power of death.

This Xixing Yokai Cherry Tree was clearly abnormal and unusual.

"Double-bodied."

Feng Jian Youxiang judged it so.

She could feel that the cherry tree on the ground was only half of the Xixing Yokai, while its other half was firmly rooted in the Netherworld.

This was an existence that no "living creature" could completely kill. Even if one could destroy the Xixing Yokai's body on the ground, one could not harm its foundation in the Netherworld.

"Can it be killed?"

Jia Ji asked.

"..."

After a moment of silence, the green-haired loli finally shook her head.

As a fellow holder of a double-bodied existence, she knew better than anyone how difficult such an existence was to deal with. No matter how many times one uprooted this Xixing Yokai on the ground, it would not help in solving the problem at all.

The Xixing Yokai was actually at the top of the list of yokai that must be exterminated in the Oriental world.

But... Yuyuko not only possessed the power of the Xixing Yokai within her, but she was also bound to it by life, rather than simply borrowing, channeling, or sealing it.

If one were to blast and kill this Yokai Cherry Tree on the ground, it might cause Yuyuko to perish along with it.

Seemingly understanding the malicious conversation between the two, the Xixing Yokai, having exhausted all its tricks, couldn't stop its trunk from trembling, and cherry petals fell down like snowflakes.

"What a cowardly yokai, might as well change its name to 'Tremble-Tremble' instead."

Jia Ji didn't seem to have much understanding of his current state.

Feng Jian Youxiang, the most ferocious and evil Great Yokai who had crushed countless yokai, had killing intent sufficient to scare ordinary humans out of their wits on the spot, equivalent to carrying a fear aura at all times.

And Jia Ji, who had punched his way through several worlds and killed countless demons and monsters, even the malice he revealed accidentally was no less dangerous than Feng Jian Youxiang's.

If he hadn't been hanging out with vicious yokai of high power levels these days, but had gone to stroll around human society twice, he would probably have made it into the "Records of Gensokyo" very soon, becoming a Great Yokai with extremely high legendary status.

"Is that so... I understand."

Upon hearing that Feng Jian Youxiang also had no countermeasure, Jia Ji made his decision in an instant and looked at Ba Yun Zi.

"Let's go, we're going to call for backup."

(End of chapter)