Chapter 356: The Dao of Mortals Has Awakened

In the Koto Prefecture of Japan, within the dojo of the Kyūkyū Ichihai Sect, a group of cultivators clad in strange priestly robes sat around a circular table.

On the table rested a basin of clear water, within which floated a single chrysanthemum.

Since yesterday, the flower’s petals had been falling one by one; today, only one remained.

Yet even this last petal clung stubbornly to the stem, refusing to detach, leaving all waiting in unbearable tension.

“Report!”

At that moment, a hesitant voice called from outside the door; almost simultaneously, the final petal in the basin finally dropped.

“Enter.”

The eldest cultivator drew a deep breath, steadying his turbulent emotions, and spoke. Soon after, a young man in his early twenties, dressed in a black formal suit, entered.

“What’s the situation?”

The elder did not ask what had happened, for at this moment, the only news that could enter this dojo was one thing alone.

“The Soul-Stealing Plan has failed. All our operatives in Port City have been eliminated; all Japanese nationals in other coastal cities have been arrested and expelled. However, Yamata no Orochi did inflict damage—Port City’s harbor is now completely shut down, and other coastal cities are in emergency relief mode. Yet for reasons unknown, the western coast, led by Nagasaki, was also struck by a tsunami. Fortunately, losses remain within acceptable limits.”

“No matter. This is normal—it is the backlash of reversed fortune.” The elder barely cared. He glanced once more at the now-bare chrysanthemum in the basin, dipped a finger in the water, and scribbled on a white sheet of paper.

The other priests either closed their eyes in meditation or stared blankly ahead; a strange aura spread through the dojo.

Finally, as if completing a grand calligraphic masterpiece, the elder folded the water-soaked paper into a triangle and handed it to the youth:

“The feng shui of the Central Land has been broken—though only slightly, this share of fortune is enough to protect three thousand souls. Tell Tenno Kuroka: summon the elite of all sects!”

“Hai!”

The youth took the paper triangle, bowed deeply in obedience—but before he had even taken a step away, one of the priests suddenly gasped, eyes wide open. Black blood and half his tongue spilled from his mouth; blood gushed from both ears, and both eyeballs popped out of their sockets, still dangling by nerves and vessels, grotesquely hanging from his face.

Yet he was not yet dead—only staring with sightless eyes, trembling with spiritual power as he emitted a desperate cry—

“Someone is twisting the worship of the Snake God!”

At these words, all were stunned.

The Snake God—Yamata no Orochi—was merely a famous monster, holding no special status for either Japan or the Kyūkyū Ichihai Sect.

Yet in this operation, Yamata no Orochi was the absolute core.

The Soul-Stealing Plan involved eight coastal cities of the Central Land as the head, matched by eight Japanese cities as the tail, with the ocean as the serpent’s body, linking fortunes to borrow the Central Land’s destiny to protect Japan’s people—thus granting Japanese soldiers the same status as Central Land citizens.

This status was not earthly—it was the Dao of Mortals (which Japan called the Dao of Heaven). Each nation’s Dao of Mortals differed. When two nations clashed, all morality and law temporarily lost meaning, for this was a war of survival—existence was the highest priority.

But if the Soul-Stealing Plan succeeded, Japanese soldiers would gain dual “human status.” If a Central Land citizen killed a Japanese soldier, he would incur karmic retribution from the Central Land’s Dao of Mortals; yet if a Japanese killed a Central Land citizen, he could invoke diplomatic immunity to shift the karmic burden to Japan’s Dao of Mortals. And for Japan’s Dao of Mortals—let alone its ancient principle of survival of the fittest—killing enemy nationals incurred no karmic debt whatsoever.

Though only enough fortune for three thousand souls had been borrowed, it was never meant for ordinary soldiers.

Ordinary soldiers did not need to consider karmic consequences at all.

What they needed was to mobilize three thousand cultivators, carrying this borrowed fortune across the sea to fight the Central Land cultivators to the death. Whether they won or lost, the Central Land cultivators would suffer massive losses and be rendered powerless in the coming war.

At that point, Japan could leverage its cultivator advantage to overcome its numerical inferiority and replace them!

But Yamata no Orochi, as the core, was the key to preserving this fortune—a strategy of substitution achieved through the astrological transition of Yi-Si replacing Jia-Chen. Without Yamata no Orochi, this hard-won fortune would become a rootless floating weed.

“The Central Land truly has no shortage of talent—they discovered our plan’s core so quickly and struck back. But Yamata no Orochi is a legend passed down for millennia in Japan—how could it be so easily shaken?”

Though the leader spoke thus, his expression betrayed the truth: this was merely reassurance. If Yamata no Orochi had not been shaken, how could the spirit-guarding cultivator have ended up in such a living hell?

The attendant swiftly removed the priest with his eyes hanging from his chest. The others immediately began setting up altars. As Japan’s largest feng shui sect, the Kyūkyū Ichihai Sect held unique insights into fortune transfer and borrowing. The first assault on Yamata no Orochi’s faith had been absorbed by the spirit-guarder—now came the counterattack!

Yet even as he thought, the leader gave another order:

“Jin Er! Hand your position to Xiongwen. Go immediately to the Imperial Palace to meet Tenno Kuroka and inform the leaders of other sects—they must depart at once!”

Though he said no more, Jin Er of the Tsuchi Yu mon immediately understood: the Dao Master was preparing for defeat before victory—if they could not stop the enemy’s destruction of the Snake God’s faith, they must inflict as much damage as possible before the borrowed fortune vanished!

“Hai! Dao Master, I’m off!”

Jin Er summoned his shikigami, plunged into the earth, and vanished. The Kyūkyū Ichihai Sect’s Dao Master swept his gaze over the room and declared loudly:

“The fate of our Imperial Nation rests on this single moment!”

…

“So ruthless! They used a Human Pill technique? Truly a demon god!”

In a mountain near the Fei River in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, Delilah stood beside the “Spirit Tree,” her expression grim.

As a top graduate of Loki Academy, the highest institution of the Asgardian lineage, she had assumed that once she identified Yamata no Orochi as merely a long-standing indigenous spirit faith, a simple Runic prohibition would easily suppress it.

Her spell succeeded—it produced an effect—but clearly missed its true target.

Undoubtedly, this was a curse-transfer technique. To bear the burden of “not seeing, not hearing, not speaking” required a powerful cultivator. If she continued using this method, she would merely kill the wrong target.

Delilah gazed at the towering Spirit Tree, sighed, and removed her silver-glowing gloves:

“The simplest method won’t work. Fortunately, my divine office includes nobility and knighthood…”

(End of Chapter)