Chapter 602: Hyakki Yagyō

"Screech!"

The priest who had transformed into a Kosho-dori suddenly let out a screech, swooped down from the roof like a large plain-white bird, and pounced toward Li Miao.

He was of imperial descent.

The Shinto sect raised so many imperial descendants in Kyoto, naturally not just to cultivate shrine maidens to guard the shrines. These male imperial descendants who disappeared along with the shrine maidens would become priests after brainwashing.

They could not contemplate the divine paintings of Amaterasu and could not shoulder the responsibility of guarding the shrines. But after brainwashing, they had unique advantages in the practice of the Venerable God Sword Art.

In short, after losing their sanity, they would be mentally closer to the gods they contemplated. This was also the reason why the priest contemplating the Kosho-dori did not wait for his companions and pounced alone.

*Whoosh!*

A swordsman guarding the sedan chair changed expression, flashed to the priest’s landing spot, the crimson sword without a guard popped out of its scabbard, and he performed a draw-cut toward the priest!

And the priest in mid-air also let out a screech, slashing at the swordsman with his blade!

Two cold lights cut through the air, approaching with a sharp whistle, and it looked like they were about to collide.

Just at this moment—

"Get out of the way, don’t get in the way."

Following this lazy, disdainful remark, a powerful wind-breaking sound that almost tore the swordsman’s eardrums rose suddenly from behind him!

"!!!"

His instinct as a swordsman forced him to retract his sword move, enduring the excruciating pain of tearing tendons, twisting his body, and desperately throwing himself to one side.

*Boom!*

A muffled sound rang out overhead.

He hurriedly looked up, dumbfounded.

The priest contemplating the Kosho-dori, who was just about to engage him in battle, had already disappeared. Along the trajectory of his pounce, a blank cylindrical space, a full *zhang* square, had pierced through the eaves, the human body, and finally turned into a massive blood mist dissipating in mid-air dozens of *zhang* away.

He suddenly turned to look behind him.

Li Miao retracted his palm with disdain.

"You dare to charge at my face after turning into a bird-man, jumping up in front of me—who gave you the courage?"

Then he turned his head and said to the stunned Sai Seimei.

"What are you stunned for?"

"Ah, ah."

Sai Seimei closed his mouth and looked at Li Miao.

Now, there was not a trace of doubt in his heart.

The realm of the Five Paths in One had already far exceeded all contemporary martial artists and swordsmen, and was only a hair’s breadth away from the Amaterasu who had not appeared for two hundred years!

To all the Eastern people present, Li Miao’s casual strike just now was like the return of myth!

Sai Seimei now understood that he no longer needed to worry about the Shinto priests coming to intercept... What he needed to do was to lead the swordsmen to guard the sedan chair where Nanako was, preventing the Shinto sect from taking advantage of the situation!

"Don’t worry about the surroundings, follow me!"

Sai Seimei gave a violent shout, pulled a short blade from beneath his wide robes, ran wildly to the sedan chair, summoned the swordsmen to lift the sedan chair together, and followed behind Li Miao.

"Still sensible."

Li Miao summoned with one hand, retracted the protective true Qi supporting the sedan chair, and walked forward with his hands behind his back, looking straight ahead.

"Screech!"

"Awoooo—"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh!"

Various screeches came from the roofs on both sides. More and more imperial descendant priests completed their transformation and began to issue fierce roars toward Li Miao and the swordsmen in the middle of the road.

"Hiss—"

Sai Seimei just glanced at the roofs on both sides and gasped.

"Sanrin-ryū—Jorōgumo."

"Kiraku-ryū—Tsuchigumo."

"Fuben-ryū—Niku-nin."

"Oishi Shinkage-ryū—Kurozuka..."

Just one glance, and he took in dozens of different gods... or rather, monsters, famous in Eastern legends.

Although practicing the Venerable God Sword Art did not make the priests truly turn into the ghosts, skeletons, and spiders of myth and legend, the uniqueness of the imperial descendants made their transformation far more thorough than that of ordinary swordsmen.