Redemption of a Born Demon

Chapter 239 - 206: Suppressing a God with the Body, Obliterating Hope with a Single Palm

SPURT!!

Inside the room, Tsuchimikado Kazai suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with disbelief.

His gaze fell upon the Divine Altar a short distance away.

The flames atop the two red candles flickered violently, growing ever weaker and more unstable.

Until, at a certain moment...

The two flames were extinguished completely.

"No!! Impossible!!"

Tsuchimikado Kazai refused to believe what he was seeing.

He had clearly taken a step that countless predecessors from numerous schools had failed to take. He had clearly reached a realm his ancestors could never attain. He had personally created a Deity, the legendary Ultimate Shikigami.

’But why? After coming this far, how could I still lose to my opponent?’

Meanwhile, Muraoka Rui and the others froze in place when they saw this.

’The... the Deity was swallowed whole by the Great Demon King?!’

’Just like that?!’

"God! Heavens above! Tell me this isn’t real! He actually swallowed a Deity!!"

"He’s too savage, too terrifying! He’s not human! He must be a Deity reincarnated as a man, like Jesus from the Church Court or Sakyamuni from Buddhism—a being destined for invincibility."

"No one can defeat him. We shouldn’t hate him; we should respect and fear him. Mortals cannot resent the calamities sent by the gods."

"..."

The Japanese people let out cries of despair. Some even began to side with Yi Beidou, believing him to be the incarnation of a True God.

This was the nature of the Japanese people: they feared power but felt no gratitude for virtue, possessing minor etiquette but no great righteousness.

Years ago, when the Starry Sky Country dropped two atomic bombs on their land, they felt not hatred, but submission.

And now, in the eyes of many in Japan, Yi Beidou was beginning to command a similar kind of awe-inspiring power.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! This must be part of the Daoist Lord’s plan! The Daoist Lord deliberately let him swallow the Deity in order to destroy him from the inside! Haven’t you heard the story of Princess Iron Fan from *Journey to the West*?"

Hei Mu Hezi’s entire body trembled. Even at this point, she still believed this was one of Tsuchimikado Kazai’s tactics.

In her worldview, the Ultimate Shikigami was synonymous with ultimate power and legend. How could it possibly be defeated by a mere human?

"Ms. Hezi is right! This must be his strategy! Besides, the man himself has yet to truly appear. He must have other tricks up his sleeve! Friends in the audience, let’s wait and see!!"

Muraoka Rui chimed in hurriedly, trying to rally his side’s morale.

Sure enough, hearing this, a sliver of hope rekindled in the hearts of many Japanese viewers.

After all, the "Deity" had been shattered by Yi Beidou’s palm strike just moments ago, only to revive and reform. Being swallowed didn’t necessarily mean it was defeated. Perhaps there was still a chance for a reversal.

At this very moment, Demon Flame raged within Yi Beidou’s body. He had compressed an intangible magnetic field in his Dantian, where a shapeless, struggling phantom was trapped. Its struggles, however, were completely useless.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Clumps of Demon Flame coalesced into the shape of Long Nails—seven in total—and viciously pierced the Shikigami’s body.

In an instant, the Shikigami’s struggles ceased completely. It was subdued and suppressed within him.

Suppressing the Deity with his own body.

Yi Beidou already had a plan for how to deal with this Shikigami, but now was not the time to think about it.

This battle was far from over.

The birth of this Shikigami was stained with blood and steeped in sin.

He would not easily forgive the culprit responsible for it all.

Only the opponent’s death could properly appease the immense resentment.

Yi Beidou’s gaze shifted to the main house, and he began to walk toward it.

When Muraoka Rui and the others saw that Yi Beidou could still move normally, they couldn’t help but stand frozen in place.

It wasn’t a strategy. It wasn’t a ploy. The Deity had truly, and without a doubt, been devoured by Yi Beidou.

It was cruel and utterly unbelievable, but it was reality.

"The man’s true body must still have some hidden techniques!"

Muraoka Rui clutched the microphone, still stubbornly addressing the Japanese audience.

"Let’s leave this place for now."

The hunched old man sighed and shook his head upon seeing this.

"Are we just going to ignore the Tsuchimikado Clan’s situation?" someone asked.

"That man is currently using a Secret Technique. If you don’t want to go up there and fight him to the death, a temporary retreat is the best option. After using a Secret Technique of this level, his body will surely be damaged when it wears off. That will be our chance."

"As for the Tsuchimikado Clan? Tsuchimikado Kazai is beyond saving. With the Deity stolen, the Twelve Life Artifacts are as good as destroyed. There’s no longer any value in us making a move for them."

The hunched old man said faintly. His body flickered, and for a moment, it seemed as if many afterimages appeared before his figure vanished completely.

The others fell silent at his words. In his current state, Yi Beidou could swallow a Deity whole. This was indeed not the time to face him head-on. They needed to make more thorough preparations.

One by one, the masters of the Saint Realm turned and left, disappearing into the mountain forest.

They had made their choice.

Meanwhile, Yi Beidou had reached the door of the main house and blasted it with his palm.

BOOM!!

The wooden door exploded into splinters, and Yi Beidou could now see the scene inside the house.

There was a Divine Altar with its Divine Fire extinguished, bloodstains covering the floor, and Dharma Artifacts whose spiritual glow had dimmed, seemingly rendered useless. In the center of the room sat a middle-aged man with a blood-streaked face.

Tsuchimikado Kazai sat dazedly in the middle of the room. His face was deathly still, his hollow eyes staring at the ceiling. He didn’t even seem to react to Yi Beidou’s entrance.

The Deity he had painstakingly forged had been defeated and devoured by another. The extreme emotional swing had already caused his spirit to snap.

He was still alive, but his spirit was dead.

"You relied on external objects and used devious, unorthodox methods. Today, I’ll send you on your way," Yi Beidou said faintly.

Tsuchimikado Kazai remained motionless.

Yi Beidou didn’t waste any more words and violently blasted a palm strike toward Tsuchimikado Kazai.

BOOM!!

A blast of Qi erupted within the room. The various Dharma Artifacts on the floor were all sent flying, and the windows on the walls suddenly shattered. Tsuchimikado Kazai’s body shot out like a cannonball, slamming directly into one of the room’s wooden walls. The immense impact sent his body straight through it.

Outside, Muraoka Rui and the others were still waiting for the Heaven-Reaching Daoist Lord’s next move when they suddenly heard an explosion from the room. The windows burst, and a figure crashed through the wall, tumbling across the ground like a sack of broken rags.

The figure was dressed in the robes of a Japanese Yin Yang Master and was covered in blood. When he finally stopped tumbling, his body was twisted into an extreme posture.

It didn’t look like a position a living person could possibly be in.

’The Heaven-Reaching Lodge’s... Daoist Lord?!’

Muraoka Rui and the others stood rooted to the spot.

This time, all of their hopes were utterly extinguished.

THUD!!

With a soft thud, Hei Mu Hezi fell weakly to her knees. Her aloof expression was gone, replaced only by endless fear and bewilderment.

Then, they saw Yi Beidou’s figure emerge from the main house, his gaze turning toward their location.

At just a single glance, Muraoka Rui and the others couldn’t help but stumble back several steps, feeling as if their hearts would leap out of their chests.

Fortunately, Yi Beidou soon looked away from them, turning his gaze in the direction from which the murderous aura had come a short while ago.

However, he could no longer sense any auras from that direction.

’Have they left?’

Yi Beidou’s gaze was sharp.

At a critical moment in the duel, these people had actually ganged up on him, trying to influence the outcome with outside interference.

This was something he could not tolerate.

Yi Beidou muttered to himself, "I’ve memorized all of your auras. This time, there will be no escape."