Chapter 217: Ghost-God Level Eyeball, Great Terror

Uesugi Toru raised his fingertip.

Scorching pure-white Qi Coating instantly wrapped around Kaga Kiyomitsu's tail, sending it hurtling toward the Five-Eyed Demon in an instant!

Inside the deep tunnel, air explosions and sound waves suddenly erupted.

The already startled Five-Eyed Demon, upon seeing this scene, immediately tried to turn its eyeball back and flee wildly into the darkness on hands and feet.

But how could its speed compare to Kaga Kiyomitsu's?

If it were just Kaga Kiyomitsu himself, the Five-Eyed Demon might still have relied on the distance advantage to escape unharmed into the depths of the tunnel.

But under the propulsion of Uesugi Toru's unhesitatingly compressed Qi Coating, Kaga Kiyomitsu's speed was more than doubled!

A hundred meters, gone in a finger snap.

And coincidentally, the direction the Five-Eyed Demon was facing happened to be exactly toward Uesugi Toru, so Kaga Kiyomitsu didn't even need to turn.

The pale sword blade arrived first and struck precisely into the edge of the crimson eyeball.

Then, at such extreme speed, it calmly and precisely drew a circle like a surgical knife.

Completely removing that one eyeball embedded behind the Five-Eyed Demon.

"Hiss—!"

A shrill, furious roar trembled out from within the Five-Eyed Demon's body.

But it not only did not turn back to fight Kaga Kiyomitsu, instead it seemed to activate some secret art, turning blood-red all over, and its escape speed increased even more.

Kaga Kiyomitsu only managed to gouge out one more eyeball before the Five-Eyed Demon completely disappeared from Uesugi Toru's line of sight.

Buzz buzz!

Xiao Jia hummed proudly, wanting to chop off the head of this ugly eyeball demon.

Uesugi Toru plucked the heartstring, forbidding Kaga Kiyomitsu from pursuing further.

"Xiao Jia, come back."

When he emphasized it a second time, Kaga Kiyomitsu finally floated back unwillingly and slowly.

Even if Xiao Jia didn't speak, Uesugi Toru knew it wasn't too happy.

After all, whoever was halfway through a game and forcibly called to sleep wouldn't be happy.

But when one shouldn't chase, one simply cannot chase.

This deep tunnel filled with the uncanny had too many unknowns; just now so many yokai had surged out, and it was dark and long, obstructing his vision to a certain extent.

Moreover, behind him stood Yagyu Shou and Tamamo, two existences equivalent to his half-employer bosses.

So Uesugi Toru could not possibly get up and follow Kaga Kiyomitsu charging in.

And if he let Xiao Jia, a knife, go chase...

Uesugi Toru was even less likely to do such a stupid thing.

—The eyeball would eventually be obtained, there was no rush at this moment, and there was absolutely no need to take risks.

He reached out, catching the two crimson eyeballs, not much different from before, that Kaga Kiyomitsu held up with its blade, and patted its sword hilt to comfort it.

Thus Kaga Kiyomitsu stopped being angry.

The little fellow's joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures always came fast and went fast.

Behind him, Tamamo, whose vision had just been pulled away and dragged back, continued the sentence, stuttering: "Big Brother, your knife... is both handsome and smart."

She rubbed her hands, eyes expectant: "Can you get one for us?"

To her surprise, Uesugi Toru actually nodded and stated a specific method: "It's very simple, as long as—"

Under Tamamo's expectant gaze, Uesugi Toru smiled and raised a finger,

"As long as you win the Seed War, you can get a knife that is both beautiful and smart—Spider Cut."

Uesugi Toru shrugged, skillfully pouring water: "Although it still can't compare to Xiao Jia, it's also quite good."

After hearing this, Tamamo's complexion turned wooden, and she lowered her hands speechlessly: "Seed War champion, I can't see any hope at all..."

She glanced at Yagyu Shou, who had been vigilant of their surroundings, sighed, and set a not-too-big, not-too-small goal,

"I... uh, if Yagyu can make it into the top thirty-two of the Central, that counts as success!"

But Yagyu Shou calmly refuted, as if stating a fact: "That Spider Cut, I will obtain it."

Tamamo rolled her eyes and immediately waved her hands,

"How could you possibly get it!"

She retorted: "Yagyu, you clearly know how many countless strong experts there are in the Central! Let alone others, even Big Brother Uesugi can't beat them!"

Tamamo stuck out her tongue and made a face at him: "Rather than starting to fantasize, you might as well first learn Big Brother Uesugi's flying sword trick!"

"Flying sword must be learned, and the championship must also be taken."

Yagyu Shou glanced at Uesugi Toru, the desire to learn in his eyes running high.

Then he spoke clearly and calmly: "If you don't want to fight for first place, you will never achieve it."

"—If even you yourself, who knows all your own efforts, sweat, and polishing, don't believe in yourself, then who can you expect to believe in you?"

Uesugi Toru smiled at him: "I like those words... Besides, there is still plenty of time before the Seed War, so it's not completely impossible."

"—Until the moment the battle ends, everything is still possible."

This is impossible.

Tamamo sighed softly, thinking helplessly in her heart.

—Because of her job position, no one knew better than her the gap between the Central, that is Tokyo, and the Place young genius strong experts.

This gap, describing it as a chasm between heaven and earth is not an exaggeration at all...

The brief conversation ended here.

Next, just as previously said, Uesugi Toru would open the way, and they would kill their way deep into the tunnel.

Correct, not sneaking in.

But killing... or rather, describing it with the word "cleaning" would be more vivid.

Under Yagyu Shou's gaze, Uesugi Toru's Gang Qi and Spirit Power seemed endless, casually sweeping out a large expanse that melted those weak yokai.

It was like using a cannon to swat mosquitoes.

But this cannon's ammunition also seemed endless.

It was puzzling.

——Whether it was the bloody handprints appearing one by one on the tunnel walls, or the wandering souls suddenly drilling out from various places.

Or the "Weeping Woman," whose danger level was extremely high, whose crying could be heard before she was seen, and who could kill hundreds or thousands of ordinary people with her cries in an instant if placed in a city.

All were reduced to ashes under the Gang Qi blazing like the Great Sun, and under the lightning that made Yagyu Shou's hair stand on end just by looking at it.

Clearly, Uesugi Toru's level far exceeded the limit of this Jun'ei County Tunnel; he belonged to high-rank players coming down to fish.

"But the Soul Spirit Points dropped by these low-star yokai are really few..."

After Kaga Kiyomitsu dealt the finishing blows, Uesugi Toru fell into thought watching the Soul Spirit Points increase by only a dozen or so.

Similar to hand seals, for low-star yokai like wandering souls that appear in huge numbers, killing one wouldn't even yield half a point of Soul Spirit Points; one had to kill a group to gain one or two points.

Moreover, nearly half an hour had passed, and Uesugi Toru still hadn't discovered a second yokai carrying eyeballs.

That previous Five-Eyed... now it should be called a Three-Eyed Oni, it hadn't appeared again, not even leaving a trace.

Who knew where it ran off to.

The only good news was that the headlamp that burst out not long ago was quite useful.

Uesugi Toru, deliberately standing to the front side, stared at the bloody handprints exposed without exception under the headlamp's illumination, raised his fingertip, and destroyed them with fine lightning.

——This headlamp, besides being bright enough, could also expose all yaoguai within its range!

At least, that was the user experience so far.

Tamamo, rotating her head at a fixed frequency to ensure not a single spot in the tunnel ahead was left unlit, clicked her tongue and poked Yagyu Shou beside her.

"Yagyu... do we really have to fight this kind of monster?"

She first layered armor: "It's not that I look down on you, but we're really not on the same level at all."

"That suits me just fine."

Yagyu Shou drew his sword silently and beheaded the confused wandering soul drilling out from the ground with one slash: "With a high mountain standing before one's eyes, allowing one to stop and climb it, isn't that a good thing?"

Tamamo opened her mouth after hearing this, clicked her tongue,

"I really can't figure out what you martial artists are thinking."

Another twenty minutes or so passed, and Tamamo suddenly felt the package at her waist vibrate once.

She immediately shouted loudly:

"Big Brother Uesugi, it's here!"

Uesugi Toru looked around and found that this section of the tunnel had nothing mysterious about it.

Moreover, this Jun'ei County Tunnel was also far too long... It seemed that after being abandoned, some subtle changes had occurred in the space within it.

Tamamo immediately took out a brand-new Array Plate from her waist pouch and dripped the blood already drawn and stored in a syringe onto the exact center of the Array Plate.

——Something as painful and stupid as biting one's fingertip to drip blood was probably only done by prehistoric humans.

In an instant, a faint glow bloomed from the seams of the palm-sized Array Plate.

Uesugi Toru's pupils moved slightly, and on the ground of the right tunnel he glimpsed an extremely faint Onmyo Jutsu Formula appearing.

This jutsu formula was layered and extremely complex, the kind that ten Uesugi Torus tied together couldn't figure out.

So, could this ordinary person Tamamo figure it out?

It wasn't that he doubted Tamamo, but Onmyo Jutsu Formulas, having theory without true practice, made it hard to achieve anything — not being able to feel the flow of Spirit Power was a major problem.

Tamamo, holding the Array Plate, coughed twice and stepped forward: "Big Brother Uesugi, leave it to me."

Uesugi Toru asked: "Don't need me?"

The girl shook the Array Plate: "This thing is bound to me, so only I can activate it... the subsequent matters will be completed by it."

"I understand."

Uesugi Toru withdrew his gaze, shrank his Perception Field, limiting it to a radius of thirty meters.

He held Kaga Kiyomitsu, ready to use Three-Stage Thrust and Mumyo Ken at any time: "As for safety, don't worry."

Tamamo squatted before the Onmyo Jutsu Formula, sighed in relief,

"With Big Brother you saying that, I'm relieved."

Yagyu Shou stayed close behind her, serving as the last line of defense.

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the Array Plate landing, Tamamo began silently chanting certain spells.

Eerie Spiritual Power Fluctuations surged out, causing the darkness deep in the tunnel to churn violently.

Uesugi Toru indifferently raised his eyes, dozens of pale, coarse lightning bolts shooting from his entire body into the Shadow Movement darkness.

A shrill scream.

Just from this one strike, the surrounding movements settled down quite a bit.

Uesugi Toru, who had consumed nearly half of his Spirit Power in an instant, quickly and silently operated the Spirit Control Technique, thinking the effect was not bad.

If the yokai on both sides of the tunnel really surged forward, it was hard to say whether he could block them all.

Time trickled by.

Uesugi Toru could clearly feel that the eerie Spiritual Power Fluctuation behind him was beginning to subside.

It seemed this tunnel journey would end safely...

"Big Brother Uesugi!"

Crack crack!

Tamamo's exclamation and the stiff sound of a jammed casing were almost uttered simultaneously.

The girl, shocked into sitting on the ground, couldn't care about anything else; she first put her hand back on the Array Plate, then spoke at an extremely fast pace: "Brother Uesugi, come over!"

"Xiao Jia, deploy Domain."

Uesugi Toru released his hand, letting Kaga Kiyomitsu float in place; he took three steps in two, arriving before Feather and the technique formula emitting pure white light.

Feather continued: "Big Brother, you use Spirit Power to connect to the Array Plate, help me clear the Yokai at the other end of the technique formula... if I go, it'd probably just be delivering food."

Yokai at the other end of the technique formula?

Uesugi Toru immediately reacted — this technique formula counts as a passage between Chang Shi and Genjitsu, an Entrance?

"Good."

He immediately placed his finger on the Array Plate; Spirit Power rapidly surged from his body, smoothly connecting into the Array Plate and technique formula under Feather's guidance.

Hwa!

In a flash, Uesugi Toru discovered his vision brightened.

He opened his eyes, discovering the dark tunnel around him, the Array Plate technique formula, and the calm-complexioned Feather had all disappeared.

Only pure white.

In his vision, a solid-beyond-compare pure white corridor stretched endlessly without end or boundary.

Outside the corridor, the sound of surging waves echoed, far clearer than any previous time.

Uesugi Toru lowered his head, discovering he had appeared here in a special state.

— No equipment on his body had come along, but Four Dimensions, and the Qi Sea, Gang Qi, Spirit Power and such inside his body had all been inherited.

No time to ponder the reason, or how the concept of "solid-beyond-compare" appeared in his mind.

Before Uesugi Toru's eyes, a bio-mecha roughly one and a half persons tall appeared, its outer shell entirely forged of brass, stuffed inside with crimson flesh and blood, spouting scalding steam outward.

It was crouched on the only-half-closed technique formula, forcefully obstructing Feather.

Atop the bio-mecha's head, a prompt popped up as expected.

— 【Combat Sequence Prototype·072 (One-Star)】.

Combat Sequence?

Factory Master?

Katsumi's words flashed through Uesugi Toru's mind.

But he didn't overthink; Rin Character Secret activated, he raised his hand and a Mumyo Ken struck into the bio-mecha's body.

— Given this passage's stability and breadth, afraid not a day could send at least thousands of Yokai into Genjitsu.

— Therefore in this critical situation, the faster this mecha is solved the better; heaven knows if the Factory Master placed any backdoors in it.

Rumble!

The bio-mecha didn't even have time to react before the whole mecha exploded into blood-colored fireworks and juice, falling downward.

Immediately, Uesugi Toru could feel the remaining half of the technique formula disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He let out a light breath: "This time..."

The thought had not yet landed.

Uesugi Toru felt a bone-chilling cold intent surge up from the bottom of his spine, straight to the crown of his head.

Terror!

Great Terror!

Something is coming here!

He instantly turned his head and gazed into the distance, seeing bio-mecha almost identical to the one just now far beyond the white corridor.

But not just one.

One, ten... hundreds, thousands upon thousands.

Boundless bio-mecha seemed to sense the soon-to-close passage, so they were frantically striding toward here.

How many is this number?

Hundred thousand?

Or even more?

Even if these things are all bottom-tier goods of Half-Star or One-Star, if they can simultaneously activate some ranged attack, what would that scene become?

Gazing at prompts filling his entire vision, enough to give one Trypophobia, Uesugi Toru swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty.

"Feather, quick."

A faint voice came from the other end along the Array Plate: "Brother Uesugi, what did you sa..."

— The vast-as-the-sea prompts slowly disappeared.

And manifested in their rear was an eyeball.

An eyeball covering the sky and blotting out the sun, crystal clear, emitting terrifying Ghost God Level pressure.

It was indifferently casting its gaze downward.

Like a Surveillance.

"— I said, close at full speed!"

Uesugi Toru's scalp went numb; he raised his voice three octaves, scaring Feather who was operating the Array Plate into a startled cry.

But immediately, the technique formula passage's closing speed went up one, no, two levels!

Feather shouted hoarsely: "Brother Uesugi, you have to come back, the passage is about to close!"

Uesugi Toru was just preparing to dive back in, but at the moment his fingertip touched the passage entrance he inexplicably turned his head back.

That eyeball had not noticed him.

— This is an excellent opportunity.

Uesugi Toru held his breath, subconsciously thinking.

At this distance, using the invisible blade in his hand as a foundation, he could achieve flying sword techniques without regard for loss.

At worst, he would only lose that Substitute Doll and gain nothing.

But if successful, Hundred-Eyed Demon would be able to consume part of a Ghost God Level eyeball.

So, what do we do?

The art behind him closed to only one-tenth its size, leaving no more time for Uesugi Toru to think and choose.

The decision had to be made in this instant.

Uesugi Toru's thoughts nearly stagnated.

He dove headfirst into the final art channel.

Then, when his awareness was swallowed until only his head and hands remained.

Uesugi Toru clenched his five fingers with all his might.

He didn't even need Gang Qi or flying sword techniques.

Following where his gaze fell and the Mirror Heart's illumination, the invisible blade originally in his hand directly appeared at the near end of that eyeball, completely defying common sense.

Then, while the eyeball was completely defenseless, the essence of Mumyo Ken blossomed here.

Crack!

A shattering sound like an illusion rang out.

As if a trivial needle had pierced the epidermis, the eyeball that had originally hovered in the pure white channel air, gazing downward, paused.

The next moment, it directly locked onto Uesugi Toru's position.

No anger, no murderous intent, and no omen whatsoever.

Red light representing destruction and death emerged from the Void, annihilating all matter there into nothingness.

But by now the art had completely closed.

White vanished, and deep darkness and a beam of dazzling light once again enveloped Uesugi Toru's awareness.

"Uesugi Big Brother..."

Tamamo's small face turned pale.

Almost.

Just a little more, and something terrifying would have surged out.

She tightly gripped Uesugi Toru's shoulders with both hands, trembling as she asked: "What was inside the art just now?"

"Hah— hah—"

Uesugi Toru panted violently.

He stared at the tunnel before him, thick with yokai energy, yet now inexplicably bringing him a sense of security.

He succeeded.

Although his Gang Qi and mind were completely exhausted, in a time so minuscule it was nearly immeasurable, he brushed past death.

And, he successfully tore a piece off that Ghost God Level eyeball using Mumyo Ken!

Utterly exhausted, Uesugi Toru glanced at his Storage Backpack from the corner of his eye and said softly: "Let's get out first, it's not convenient to talk here."

Tamamo and Yagyu Shou, seeing his state, had no doubts, and after Uesugi Toru stood up with difficulty, they quickly walked toward the tunnel exit.

The way back was smooth, with almost no yokai blocking them.

A few stray wandering souls appeared, but were dealt with by Kaga Kiyomitsu and Yagyu Shou in two or three moves.

In less than half an hour, the three of them returned to the tunnel exit and saw the sun already high in the sky.

Faint warmth poured down, dispelling some of Tamamo's anxiety.

She first confirmed once more that the Special Affairs Division's recovery vehicle was already on the road, then took a Boundary Scroll from her bag and tore it open.

A warning and defense integrated Kekkai unfolded.

Only then did Tamamo ask Uesugi Toru, who looked utterly exhausted: "Uesugi Big Brother, what exactly was inside just now?"

Uesugi Toru sat on a stone, rubbed his nose bridge, and thought this was a good opportunity to reveal all the factory intelligence.

So he began with the shortest, and most impactful, intelligence,

"At least ten thousand, with no upper limit, biomechanical constructs from Common World Factory ranging from Half-Star to about One Star, plus an eyeball that isn't weak even among Ghost God Level."

Tamamo, who was about to take notes, froze; her fingers hovering over the keyboard did not fall for a long time.

Gurgle.

Tamamo's lips turned white now.

She looked at Uesugi Toru, then heard him repeat it word by word.

Immediately, Tamamo wanted to black out and collapse, hoping someone would tell her after waking that all this was a dream.

But Tamamo's tough professionalism instead made her thinking calmer and clearer, typing every word faithfully onto her mobile phone.

She asked with a hoarse voice: "Any more..."

Uesugi Toru continued speaking, revealing everything.

Yagyu Shou beside him, hearing these words, couldn't help but tighten his hand on the sword hilt.

"Now, who knows how many colleagues will die..."

Five minutes later.

"Anyway, report it first!"

After confirming once more that everything was correct, Tamamo directly stamped the documents with a blood-red 【Absolute Secret】 seal.

Then she divided the documents into three copies, sending them respectively to the Shizuoka Prefecture Special Affairs Bureau, Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Bureau, and the Five Person Council's mailbox.

After finishing the work at hand with utmost seriousness, the petite girl suddenly slumped to the ground.

She cursed in a Kansai accent, her voice fierce: "This is way too fucking scary, I almost died without a whole corpse left, damn it……"

"Damn, there's been way too much bullshit lately."

Tamamo hugged her knees with both hands, resting her chin on her knees as she counted off while muttering: "Another Warring States Secret Realm phenomenon, another Yomi Train, and all sorts of urban mononoke reviving one after another, and now some Factory Master of the Eternal World……"

She grabbed her hair, threw her head back, and let out a long cry,

"Uwaaaah! So annoying!"

Uesugi Toru, having heard the key words, did not speak up directly to ask, but first opened the Edo Castle Card Pool page.

——The Hundred-Eyed Demon had long since finished eating the two eyeballs he had previously thrown in, and the progress bar above its head had already reached 【86%】.

Uesugi Toru then shifted his gaze to the eyeball fragments, about palm-sized, that he had scraped off at the cost of his life just now……

Or rather, the outer skin of the eyeball was more appropriate.

Because it was merely the outer skin of a Ghost God Level existence, not even counting as a prop or material, so no panel popped up on it.

I don't know, what surprise could it bring me.

Uesugi Toru moved his mind slightly and threw this small fragment before the Hundred-Eyed Demon's eyes.

And then, Uesugi Toru saw the Hundred-Eyed Demon Loli frozen in place, lowering her head to examine it seriously for a long time, and for the first time revealing a shocked expression.

The next blink, the progress bar that had originally stayed at 【86%】 was filled up.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon's promotion had begun.

End of Chapter