Chapter 161: Ox Head

Negotiations collapsed; Jiang Zhihui's face was expressionless, and three red paper cutouts flew out autonomously from within her sleeves.

The papers were lifted by the rolling heatwind of the courtyard, swelling rapidly in midair into three shadows.

The first was Qing Fangzhu—a blue-skinned, one-eyed monk standing nearly two meters tall, clutching a monk's staff, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, muscles bulging, tendons knotted.

The second was Hai Fangzhu—a fish-headed humanoid nearly three meters tall, clad in Shinto priest robes, gripping a razor-sharp straight razor.

The third was Niu Gui—a monster with a bull's head and crab's body, eyes blazing red, mouth full of fangs, its size comparable to a giant truck, completely blocking the path ahead.

If the ordinary Xinlingjiao devotees' shikigami were merely slightly stronger "creatures," these three shikigami had already crossed into the category of "demons."

Surrounded by fog-like black demonic qi, they effortlessly deflected bullets fired from shotguns controlled by mechanical arms.

Li Cheng felt no ripple in his heart—he had already seen potential futures through the 【Death-Seeking Notebook】 on the way here, and these three shikigami had appeared repeatedly in the drawings, clearly Jiang Zhihui's usual summons.

He raised his rusted straight blade, using the forward momentum of his batwing motorcycle to stab toward Qing Fangzhu.

The one-eyed monk swung his monk's staff downward at an angle, using the ornate pendants at its tip to catch the blade; beside him, Hai Fangzhu stepped forward, twisted his body, and slashed his razor-sharp straight razor straight at Li Cheng's neck.

At the same moment, Niu Gui raised its crab leg high and stabbed toward the vehicle beneath Li Cheng.

In the nick of time, Huiyu surged from behind, arriving first despite starting later, delivering a Iron Mountain Shoulder Bash to Niu Gui's neck.

Eight hundred kilograms of weight multiplied by sprinting acceleration crushed all force into Niu Gui's neck; the cracking, popping sounds of twisted vertebrae came fast as firecrackers.

It forcibly shoved the truck-sized Niu Gui back several steps.

Taking advantage of this brief opening, Li Cheng pulled the motorcycle's left handlebar, tilting the entire vehicle and himself leftward, tumbling toward the ground to narrowly evade Hai Fangzhu's slashing straight razor.

Li Cheng continued using his left foot as a pivot, revving the motorcycle's throttle, controlling the vehicle as if taming a wild beast, lifting it off the ground and slamming its rapidly spinning rear wheel into Qing Fangzhu's kneecap.

Qing Fangzhu stepped one leg back, loosening his grip—the monk's staff could no longer hold the rusted straight blade.

Li Cheng pulled back the blade, slightly bent his left leg, allowing the motorcycle tire to recontact the ground and regain traction.

Simultaneously, he swung the blade's hilt with his right hand, merging the spinning wheel, his body, his arm, and the blade into one unified motion, slicing across Qing Fangzhu's abdomen.

Shhh—

The rusted straight blade cut through Qing Fangzhu's thick, ox-hide-like blue skin; messy intestines burst forth along with black demonic qi, splattering the ground in a spectacular display.

The blade's momentum did not fade; following its trajectory, it continued slicing toward Hai Fangzhu's chest and abdomen.

The fish-headed humanoid Hai Fangzhu possessed agility wildly disproportionate to his massive frame—he gripped the straight razor's handle with both hands, shifting from a diagonal slash to an upward lift, using the handle as a lever to hook the rusted straight blade.

The straight razor is a Japanese long-handled weapon with a wide blade and long handle. Hai Fangzhu successfully deflected the rusted straight blade, at the cost of his four left-hand fingers being cleanly severed.

Shikigami are not fully living beings and perceive pain extremely weakly.

Meanwhile, Niu Gui, whose neck was nearly broken, fought desperately with Huiyu;

Here, Qing Fangzhu knelt on one knee, scooping up the scattered intestines and shoving them back into his abdomen; Hai Fangzhu felt no pain from his missing fingers, gripping the straight razor with his right hand alone and slashing straight at Li Cheng's right shoulder.

Crack—

Hai Fangzhu's slash was swift and sharp, but before it landed, Li Cheng's right shoulder detached on its own, causing the straight razor to strike empty air.

【Assembled Puppet】 Effect One: Painless Disassembly. The user may remove any component of their own body at will; when removed, the wound does not bleed for a short time and produces no pain.

The severed shoulder's surface was mirror-smooth, clearly revealing every muscle fiber, every fine nerve, every bone cavity.

Blood remained within the vessels, still flowing, yet not a single drop spilled or leaked out.

The detached arm also maintained a similar "stasis" state; propelled by inertia, it flew upward.

It was hard to tell if Hai Fangzhu's fish head showed any sign of shock.

Before it could shift from slash to thrust and stab at Li Cheng, the latter reversed the motorcycle's direction, spinning it in place, lifting the rear wheel high, and whipping it toward Hai Fangzhu's wrist.

Hai Fangzhu was even larger and stronger than Qing Fangzhu; this blow merely slightly altered the blade's trajectory.

But it was enough.

Li Cheng stabilized his posture, precisely reattaching the detached arm to his upward-raised shoulder stump.

Nerves connected, vessels fused, bones locked together—in an instant, he regained perfect control of his right arm, and of the rusted straight blade still clutched in his right hand.

Puch—

The blade drove into Hai Fangzhu's right shoulder, slicing downward with unstoppable force, cleaving through his left flank and abdomen—a near-perfect kesa-giri.

Hai Fangzhu swayed slightly in place for two seconds, his fish whiskers twitching gently, then his entire body exploded into ash, leaving only torn paper cutouts behind.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; by the time Qing Fangzhu had gathered all his intestines, shoved them back in, and raised his head, he saw four shotguns, controlled by mechanical arms, their muzzles pressed firmly against his forehead.

True, the shikigami's demonic qi greatly weakened bullet power—but once the muzzles crossed the safety distance and pressed against the skull, no demonic barrier could hold.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The next volley fired solid slugs that pierced the black demonic mist and slammed into Qing Fangzhu's forehead, instantly erasing the entire frontal cranium as if a shovel had sliced off a large chunk.

Qing Fangzhu likewise turned to ash; the two torn paper cutouts still floated in midair, which Li Cheng snatched with swift hands and stowed in his backpack slot.

At this moment, Huiyu's battle with Niu Gui had also ended—Niu Gui's strength was not to be underestimated; its truck-sized body contained surging power, its crab body covered in a metallic-like chitinous carapace, its defense comparable to special-grade steel plate.

Such a biological weapon could dismantle buildings as easily as playing.

Too bad it faced Huiyu. Pure physical strikes from its claws and legs had no effect on liquid metal.

Niu Gui's only ranged attack—spitting venom—could not poison Huiyu at all.

The latter leapt high, plunged one hand into Niu Gui's eyeball, his arm melting into a stream of metal, first shredding the lens, then plunging straight through the eye socket into the brain.

He twisted and dug, completely pulverizing Niu Gui's brain.

"All Niu Tou must die."

Huiyu muttered softly, withdrawing his arm and landing back on the ground. "Huh? Where's the woman?"

"Up there."

Li Cheng pointed to the night sky—Jiang Zhihui, after summoning the three shikigami, had summoned another tengu, which lifted her shoulders and carried her and the infant in her arms high into the air, flying toward the distant city.