Mo Chuan felt something deep within his soul twist just by looking at the creature before him, which he could barely recognize as human.
"Ah!! My eyes!"
Hyakki's gaze fell upon the wailing mountain spirit. It clutched its single eye in agony, repeatedly smashing its head against the ground. Even as its spirit form began to grow transparent, it showed no signs of stopping.
As expected… this thing directly affects the soul…
Mo Chuan first used a Nether Azure Flame to digest the contaminated ghost, turning it into the passive ability [Hellwalker]. Then, he opened his mouth and commanded,
"Haruko, go and retrieve that person who just fled." Mo Chuan raised his lantern and shouted, "Hyakki, heed my command! Return to the Nether Lamp! Aid me in battle!"
Although Mo Chuan was the new Ghost King, the assembled ghosts dared not resist after witnessing his formidable strength (summoning the Avici Hell) and the absolute loyalty of the former Ghost King, Shuten-doji, to the new one. They transformed into wisps of faint light and flew into the Nether Lamp.
700 layers… 900 layers… 1000 layers… 1300 layers… Finally, [Hellwalker] stopped at over 1700 layers.
A spell power close to 5000 could allow minor skills like [Desolation] and [Shattered Maul] to deal thousands of damage.
Although most demons and monsters in this world had massive health bars (League of Legends stats, Onmyoji HP), many monsters were characterized by high armor and low magic resistance. This was one of the reasons Mo Chuan could instantly kill them.
Mo Chuan recalled Hyakki, but did not retract the miasma of Hyakki Yagyō or the Nether Azure Flame of the Avici Hell.
However, this monster had clearly lost its ability to perceive danger. It brandished a skeletal samurai sword and charged towards Mo Chuan.
Strangely, though it was running normally on its legs (its running posture even defied biology and physics) and used no special abilities, it moved with abnormal speed. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them significantly closed.
Mo Chuan watched the creature's legs, where blood vessels were constantly bursting and muscles were tearing, and an idea formed in his mind.
He first swung his grappling hook, using [Hextech Pendulum] to push away Tojo Kiyoshi, who had closed the distance.
The sudden knockback caused Tojo Kiyoshi to spit out a mouthful of foul blood, but the skull he held in his left hand flashed with purple light, instantly healing the slight indentation in his chest. The price was the growth of several more eyes on his body.
"As expected… so there's a target now…"
Tojo Kiyoshi charged towards Mo Chuan again. His dislocated joints did not hinder him from swinging his bone sword in a fierce cleave. Mo Chuan sidestepped its two-hit combo, then flung his hook and activated [Night Reaping].
A pure black magical slash tore through Tojo Kiyoshi's left side, spewing a large amount of black blood mixed with pus from his waist. His left hand, which held the skull, also vanished without a trace.
Tojo Kiyoshi's momentum was greatly weakened. Moreover, as he was within Mo Chuan's domain, the Nether Azure Flame instantly covered his wounds, preventing self-repair.
However, Mo Chuan had clearly overestimated this monster.
Without the enhancement of the skull, its self-healing ability was greatly reduced. Besides weeping hysterically in place, it only grew a few tentacles, continuously trying to retrieve its severed left hand.
But this hope was extinguished as Mo Chuan's Nether Azure Flame ignited the remaining stump.
"Fortunately, this thing is likely still in its early stages. If it were more deeply corrupted, it wouldn't have been this easy…" Mo Chuan frowned, raising a hand and launching a [Desolation] at Tojo Kiyoshi's chest.
*Boom—*
The violent magical explosion blasted the latter, tearing his flesh and leaving a gaping wound in the center of his body. His broken ribs exposed his mangled lungs and heart.
But Mo Chuan discovered the problem – the monster did not die even with its heart shattered.
"Is it a soul issue?" Mo Chuan stared at the pool of twisted flesh for a moment, then swung his lantern towards the bone sword, activating [Shattered Maul].
*Bang—*
The asphalt ground immediately showed spiderweb-like cracks, and the right hand holding the bone sword turned into bloody pulp. However, to Mo Chuan's surprise, the bone sword itself remained completely undamaged.
Unwilling to touch these wicked artifacts, Mo Chuan chose to use [Soul Grasp] to hurl the bone sword away.
The monster still wasn't dead… it had regained its senses…
Its scarlet eyes regained their clarity, but the pain from its entire body made it gasp for air. It cried out unintelligibly, but couldn't feel any of its limbs.
The intense agony caused Tojo Kiyoshi to lose the ability to think. His first reaction upon seeing Mo Chuan was not fear, but to shout in Japanese, "Kill me! Kill me!"
Mo Chuan did not understand Tojo Kiyoshi's words. He was contemplating whether to find a ghost to act as a translator when a stream of light flashed across the sky and stopped before him.
Mo Chuan recognized this item – a broken Yasakani no Magatama. It was the bargaining chip when he had previously traded with Daji.
However, what was now before Mo Chuan seemed to be two assembled fragments… He had seen in books that the Yasakani no Magatama was shaped like an Yin-Yang fish, and the piece Daji gave him was its lower half.
This magatama was now interesting – the upper half exuded a green malevolence, identical to the bone sword and skull, while the lower half was a clear jade color, emitting a gentle radiance.
The Yasakani no Magatama flashed, expelling all its malevolent energy and forcefully shoving it into Tojo Kiyoshi's mouth.
Tojo Kiyoshi felt his throat burn and began to struggle incessantly. But he could move nothing but his head, so he could only shake it frantically.
Finally, after expelling the malevolent energy, the Yasakani no Magatama flew into Mo Chuan's chest.
Mo Chuan grunted – the sensation was no less than being punched in the chest.
But the Yasakani no Magatama fell silent again.
Mo Chuan carefully sensed it and finally discovered that his spiritual energy was slowly gathering towards his heart.
It seemed to need to absorb his spiritual energy to repair itself…
Mo Chuan decided to deal with this later and looked back at Tojo Kiyoshi.
Tojo Kiyoshi was still struggling amidst the agony of his body breaking, the blue flames burning, the malevolent energy invading, and his soul being torn apart. However, the malevolent energy within him prevented him from dying, forcing him to endure immense suffering.
Mo Chuan raised his hand towards him and cast a seal to form a [Death Contract], alleviating some of his pain. He then summoned a ghost to act as a translator and spoke to Tojo Kiyoshi, "Reveal your plan, and I'll give you a swift end."
Driven by the desire for death, Tojo Kiyoshi spoke everything with utmost speed: "We previously… placed a curse on the Emperor, causing his physical condition to deteriorate daily… After a power vacuum emerged, we began to contend for power with the elder faction, but were ruthlessly suppressed… So, a few months ago, we planned this coup…"
"What about that sword and skull?"
Upon hearing Mo Chuan's question, Tojo Kiyoshi visibly faltered. He strained to turn his head and saw the bone sword not far away.
"What…" Tojo Kiyoshi's eyes widened in disbelief, as if he had just discovered the truth. He recalled for a moment before immediately speaking, "It's the Cross…"
*Crack—*
Tojo Kiyoshi's head exploded into pieces before he could finish his answer. Moments later, it was reduced to ashes by the Nether Azure Flame.
Mo Chuan wiped the blood from his body, his expression growing increasingly grim.