Chapter 159: Eight Million Deities

Outside Earth, the Russian space station.

The astronauts stared in shock, sucking in the station's oxygen.

"Japan… got hit too?!"

Facing the heaven-robbing momentum of the pillar of light that thrust straight up into the starry cosmos, they panicked, feeling as if Earth was done for—the shock brought by that pillar of light was simply too terrifying.

Fear came quickly and left quickly; they soon discovered that the horrifying pillar of light only appeared in Beimeizhou. Holding to the mindset that other people's business is other people's business, as long as our own house isn't on fire, they couldn't help but feel relieved, even a little schadenfreude.

But now the scene before their eyes made their settled hearts rise once more.

Just one second ago, an anomaly had appeared somewhere else—an anomaly even more terrifying than the pillar of light—and this place was not Beimeizhou, separated from it by an entire Pacific Ocean.

That place was Japan!

Seeing this, their blood ran cold.

So the anomaly wasn't only appearing in Beimeizhou, wasn't only possibly harming Beimeizhou—even Japan had it appear, so was it possible their own country would have it too.

……

Tokyo, Japan, Yoyogi Park where Meiji Shrine stands.

Called a park, it wouldn't be wrong to call it a forest—the plants planted inside were numerous, over thirty kinds, the vegetation count as many as the stars; just cherry trees numbered eighteen thousand, tall trees in the tens of thousands, and that didn't even count the variety of vegetation.

Looking down from the sky, Yoyogi, covering a total area of 540,000 square meters, was verdant and lush, like a green Wang Yang; the wind blew and the leaves rustled, as if stirring up green waves.

In this fast-paced, high-pressure society, especially in the capital society of Tokyo, Japan, getting close to nature and giving people tranquility, Yoyogi Park became the favorite place for Tokyoites to relax their mood.

Added to that, Yoyogi Park was adjacent to Meiji Shrine, one of Japan's three great shrines, so Yoyogi Park became one of the favorite destinations for Tokyo and even all of Japan.

Today.

Tian Wu had the rare fortune of three days off, so he dragged his son and wife to Yoyogi Park, planning to head from Yoyogi Park to Meiji Shrine, taking advantage of this stretch to take a leisurely stroll through Yoyogi Park.

All around, though winter was near, there were still no small number of trees flourishing in lush green.

The wind blew past, the fragrance of big trees and flowers wrapped in the natural scent of earth drifting over, and the heart living under the strain of the big city relaxed, body and mind alike.

At this moment, besides Tian Wu's family, there were also many tourists coming and going around, enjoying nature's leisure just like Tian Wu.

Walking and walking.

"Daddy, what's that?"

Tian Wu saw a little loli not far away tugging her daddy's hand, her tender little finger pointing at a small shrine among the many big trees.

That shrine was very small, less than a few dozen centimeters tall, stacked from a few stone slabs, very simple, with a small novice-like kindly statue placed inside.

"This is a hokora, a shrine for enshrining deities."

The little loli's daddy squatted down, showed a loving smile, and patiently explained.

"A hokora is that little stone house, the statue inside is the deity. Generally, these hokora placed in the earth, forests, and mountains enshrine the guardian deities of this land, mountain, and forest. The deity my lord will bless this land, mountain, and forest."

"Then daddy, the deity my lord in this hokora is the deity my lord who protects this forest?"

"Yes."

"Then are there a lot of deity my lords? On the mountain path of the mountain shrine daddy took me to before, there were also these little houses—are those also hokora?"

"Yes, smart baby, those are hokora, you're right. There are a lot of deity my lords, you know, in our Japan the deities are said to number eight million, a whole lot."

The little loli's daddy rubbed the little loli's little head.

Then, he opened his mouth, ready to show off his knowledge, to show how learned daddy was, to make the little loli think daddy was amazing, but at the instant he pointed and turned to look at the hokora, his kindly expression suddenly changed.

What changed was not only this little loli's daddy, but also Tian Wu and all the passersby present.

Rumble rumble.

They saw that inside the simple hokora, the little novice statue burst forth with boundless divine light.

The radiance shone everywhere, illuminating this place down to every detail; every inch of earth, every leaf was tinged with the light of the divine.

Tian Wu and the tourists present were all directly stunned.

They saw that inside the hokora, the dust-covered deity statue trembled, the dust shook off, brand-new, bursting forth with holiness.

Then with a sudden hum, the holiness on the deity statue shot straight up at once, slamming into the heavens, erupting in splendor, layer upon layer of radiance, shadow upon shadow, transforming into a god-like phantom.

The phantom was holy, sacred and inviolable.

At the same time that the deity statue inside this hokora in Yoyogi Park erupted with a sky-pillar-like vast divine phantom, the deity statues inside hokora throughout Yoyogi Park also erupted.

Not only that……

Boom!!

In Japan, on a great mountain in Nara Prefecture, a long-standing, already broken-down hokora by the mountain path—the stone enshrined inside it, hailed as the land god of this mountain—burst with holy grand light, soaring skyward, surging into the heavens, transforming into a deity phantom.

The phantom's radiance blazed, illuminating the entire great mountain as dazzling as the sun.

At this moment.

Throughout Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Okinawa, Nara, and every roadside, mountain field, great mountain, forest, and shrine across all of Japan, the 'deities' enshrined inside the hokora—even if what was enshrined was just a wooden plaque or a stone—all burst forth with holy light, transforming into deity phantoms.

The scene was too magnificent!

The hokora spread across every corner of Japan transformed into majestic, holy deity phantoms, packing Japan's sky.

Looking from the space station toward Japan on Earth, at a glance, one could not see Japan's islands—only golden, blazing divine golden light, dazzling them to the point they could barely keep their eyes open. Looking more closely, it wasn't golden light at all; it was towering, grand, holy deities standing in solemn majesty.

"Eight million deities!!"

On the rooftop of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department building, Director Takahashi, who was looking up at the sky, shouted.

By now he could no longer see the heavens; all he could see were countless deity phantoms that filled and occupied the heavens—numbers not just in the tens of thousands, but in the millions.

These were deities, Japan's eight million deities!

In Japan there is a legend that Japan has deities, as many as eight million, and now this earth-shaking anomaly confirmed the legend.

"The eight million deities are returning." Outside the main hall of Atsuta Shrine, Tsuchimikado Kenji's old face was full of excitement and fervor.

Tokyo, Japan, a maid café.

"I'm not seeing things… this many……"

This time Likui's plate was truly startled off, his gaze holding both stupor and horror.

Although every divine spirit in the sky was only a phantom image, the divine might they exuded was terrifying and dreadful, and a single one would have been dreadful enough—yet here came several million of them at once, enough to scare even a Void Demon Overlord into losing control of his bowels.

It was also at this moment.

Like dominoes, like the butterfly effect.

The earth-shaking anomaly showed no sign of stopping; not only Beimeizhou and Japan erupted, but countries and regions across the globe successively experienced anomalies.