I'm a demon in Tokyo!

Chapter 174 [Epic+] The Possibility of the Hundred-Eyed Demon! Answering a Deathly Phone Call: A Prerequisite for the Sea of ​​Qi
【Hundred Eyes Demon】

[Quality: Epic]

The deep blue "Rare+" tag that was originally floating above the black-haired Hyakume Oni loli's head has now turned into a purple "Epic" tag!
The black-haired loli skillfully crossed her legs and sat on the throne, which was far more exquisite than before and was made of bones and blood, yawning listlessly.

It's as if I can never sleep well.

One after another, scarlet eyes followed her gaze, as if they had crossed the barrier of the gacha pool and met Uesugi Tetsuya's eyes.

However, upon closer inspection, one can see that the black-haired loli's pupils are not precisely focused, but rather scattered across every part of the black sky background with two moons hanging in the sky.

The gacha pool in Edo Castle itself has not changed.

The only thing that has changed is the Hundred-Eyed Demon on the throne.

After being promoted from "Rare+" to "Epic", Hyakume's appearance did not change significantly.

But whether it's her temperament, her eyes, or the ease in her every move, everything about her proves her "powerful" nature.

"So... she always wanted the 'Eye of the Hundred-Eyed Demon' and even went so far as to exchange it for treasures from the gacha pool, all in order to advance her own level."

Uesugi Tetsu stared at the black-haired loli in the gacha pool, who was repeatedly fiddling with her fingers with great interest, and couldn't help but feel even stranger.

It is perfectly reasonable for demons in the ordinary world to seek the advancement of their own nature.

Even if they don't know what quality is, their instincts, which come from their blood, will still make them subconsciously pursue higher quality.

The problem is that the black-haired Hyakume-ki loli exists in the two-star gacha pool, Edo Castle.

What exactly is she?
Is it a real, epic-quality "Hundred-Eyed Demon"?
Or is it merely a phantom in the gacha pool that will vanish once he draws it?
Uesugi Tetsu observed the black-haired loli who could cause a light drizzle to fall over the entire Edo city simply by raising a finger, but for the time being, he had no idea what she was talking about.

But one thing is for sure.

That is—the quality upgrade of Hyakume in the gacha pool is definitely beneficial to me!

Just as Uesugi Tetsu was about to close the gacha page and think about saving up more Soul Ash to use on the next gacha pull, a large notification popped up in the center of the gacha pool.

[Hyakume has issued a new request to you!]

He looked down, his gaze sweeping across the mountain of treasures and the jade-white, bare feet dripping with raindrops for a fleeting moment, before settling on the sky—

Or rather, the Hundred-Eyed Demon loli who raised her index finger at him, revealing a smile that conveyed a sense of "victory in her grasp."

Detailed information about the request will appear in the next moment.

[Hyakume's Request]

[Quest Introduction: Hyakume needs more "Hyakume Eyeballs" to further upgrade its quality!]

[Note: The material "Hyakume's Eyeball" can be replaced by various "Eyeball Materials" in varying quantities.]

Uesugi Tetsuya spent two seconds reading the prompt and finally understood why the Hyakume-ki loli had such a smile.

Because she was probably certain that, given her current state of being after absorbing so many eyeballs—

Even if she no longer needs to select good items from the mountain of treasures to trade, she can still continuously acquire "eyeballs" that can improve her own quality.

In response, Uesugi Tetsu remained silent...

Hyakume-ki loli was right!
—The Hyakume-ki, which has already reached the epic level and will definitely become one of its own incarnations in the future, is still able to continue to upgrade its quality!
Moreover, she can continue to advance in rank simply by eating the large eyeballs of various demons!

If you miss this village, you'll never find such a good deal again!
It should be noted that, currently, whether it is the Prajna incarnation or the Four-Tailed Fox incarnation, although they can continue to be upgraded, Uesugi Tetsuya has no clue about the quality advancement after Epic.

There aren't many clues, and it's unclear whether we can continue to advance in quality without any obstacles!

So, helping Hyakume-ki is helping yourself...

Uesugi Tetsu readily agreed and thought:

As for those miscellaneous little items and props, we can get rid of them!

Anyway, in the end, you were completely mine.

With that thought, Uesugi Tetsuya closed the gacha page and added "Hyakume's Request" to the top of his mental to-do list.

pat.

Before he could even take a step, an ancient-looking sheepskin map slowly unfolded before Uesugi Tetsuya's eyes.

He raised an eyebrow.

What's going on now?
Staring at this inexplicable national map, Uesugi Tetsu noticed a label above it—

[“Eyeball” hunting ground marker].

A hunting ground for "eyeballs"?

Uesugi Tetsuya immediately understood. He squinted and saw scattered points of light on the map, which could be zoomed in and out at any number of times.

This map was probably created by Hyakume-ki to mark the locations of prey with "eyeballs" on their bodies.

How could she actually do something like that?

All I can say is, as expected of the epic-level Hundred-Eyed Demon...

Staring at the enlarged map, Uesugi Tetsuya compared it with the maps of the present world and the Warring States period that he had already memorized in his mind, and suddenly froze on the spot.

Because the location of this point of light happens to be on a map from the Warring States period...

Three Rivers Country!
A guess arose in Uesugi Tetsu's mind.

Could it be that... the great demon that stirred up turmoil in Mikawa Province and bewitched the people was also a hundred-eyed demon?

This possibility is not nonexistent.

It's actually quite big.

After making this conjecture, Uesugi Tetsuya did not show any fear; instead, he couldn't help but grin.

I was extremely happy.

If the great demon in Mikawa Province is a Hyakume-ki (Hundred-Eyed Demon), then it's truly... an easy find.

It seems that we can postpone drawing cards from the Edo Castle gacha pool for now.

—If you accidentally pull out the Hundred-Eyed Demon incarnation, which is only at the epic level, and then find that it cannot absorb eyeballs to improve its quality in reality, that would be truly heartbreaking.

In short, Uesugi Tetsuya was already itching to go and pluck all the eyes out of that great demon in Mikawa Province.

"Just keep walking."

With a broad smile, Uesugi Tetsu led the two little ones to the entrance of the Imagawa-kan.

As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he saw Okabe Motonobu, who had placed his wine gourd on his stomach, leaned his head against the steps, and was sleeping soundly.

There were no samurai guarding the gate, probably to avoid disturbing her.

The footsteps of the three of them walking together naturally woke up Okabe Motonobu, who was standing nearby.

She half-opened her eyes, still groggy, and chuckled after exhaling a strong breath of alcohol.
"Ah... it's Mr. Che, good morning."

Uesugi Tetsu looked at the setting sun on the distant horizon and couldn't help but feel speechless.

He looked down again at Okabe Motonobu, whose cheeks were flushed, clothes were disheveled, and who could barely speak coherently, and kindly offered some advice.

"Sister Yuanxin, it would be better to go back to your room to sleep."

"It's alright, it's alright~ It's cooler outside." Okabe Genjin fiddled with the sash of her clothes, which was inexplicably tied in a knot. The more she fiddled with it, the more agitated she became. Eventually, sweat could be seen seeping from her forehead.

A dozen seconds later, Okabe Motonobu, who had failed to untie the belt, twisted his body, lay flat on the ground, and asked in a daze,
"By the way, Mr. Che... what were you doing outside just now?"

"Taking a walk. Look at me, I have my family with me."

Uesugi Tetsu sighed, looked away, and pointed to the two dumbfounded little ones behind him.

"Oh, that……"

Motonobu Okabe's tone wavered until it suddenly rose at the end.
"Then in a couple of days, I'll take you to some must-see places in Junfu City—have some fun!"

"okay."

As soon as Uesugi Tetsu replied, he saw that she had already collapsed on the ground and continued to sleep soundly.

Uesugi Tetsu: “…”

With the intention of preventing the other party from freezing to death, Uesugi Tetsu squatted down to check Okabe Motonobu's qi circulation.

After finding it intact, he led the two little ones to step over Okabe Motonobu, who had suddenly appeared again and become a second, uneven "threshold".

The rest of the journey was smooth sailing.

When Uesugi Tetsu returned to his small courtyard, he found that the plain gun he had ordered from the blacksmith shop had been fitted with its barrel and was leaning against the door of the room.

His eyes lit up, and he strode over, grabbed the plain gun, and checked the information.

[Plain Gun]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect 1: Pierce. When using the spear to thrust, it will deal a large amount of additional damage.]

[Effect Two: Unity. The spearhead and shaft are integrated; if the spearhead breaks, the spear will not be destroyed.]

[Effect 3: Recovery. When not in use, the gun will continuously recover its durability.]

[A plain spear meticulously forged by the blacksmith of Junfu City.]

Like the katana, it doesn't deserve a unique name.

It still has the same three simple effects as the previous katana, but the effects have been changed quite a bit to better suit the function of the plain spear.

"Solid, so very solid."

Uesugi Tetsu stroked the smooth barrel of the gun with his hand, sparing no words of praise.

He took a short breath, and lightning surged in his palm, instantly covering the entire plain spear with tiny bolts of lightning.

A moment later, the lightning went out.

Uesugi Tetsuya examined the plain gun in his hand once more.

However, no signs of damage were found on the tip or body of the gun.

This was in stark contrast to the two plain guns he had used before, which belonged to the Special Affairs Department.

—Those two guns were basically disposable after he used the Five Thunder Technique: Qi Gathering.

This plain spear will not suffer from the embarrassing situation of breaking halfway through a real sword duel, which happened before.

This blacksmith truly deserves the praise he received from Imagawa Yoshimoto; his skill level is consistently high.

Value for money.

After a simple flourish, Uesugi Tetsu put the bulky plain gun back into his storage backpack and turned to look at the two little ones who had been whispering to each other not far behind.

It seems that the relationship between Nichi and Shiraishi has indeed become better...

That being the case.

Uesugi Tetsu thought for a moment and said to them, "You can play by yourselves for a while, or you can train if you want. I had some insights after I made that cut in the test ground, and I want to go into seclusion for an hour or two."

As he spoke, he touched the heartstrings and revealed the true purpose of Lord Erchi, then gave further instructions.

Don't let anyone into the room.

'popo!'

The two-foot-tall man blinked and answered earnestly in the Heartstring Channel.

Uesugi Tetsuya wasted no more time. He returned to his room, closed the sliding door, and simply used his internal energy to lock it in place to prevent anyone from accidentally pushing it open.

He took out the Key to History - Shrine and used it without hesitation. A surge of immense water pressure sent Uesugi Tetsuya back to the present world.

"call--"

Upon opening his eyes on the hotel bed, Uesugi Tetsu immediately pulled out his phone from his backpack, not wanting to waste a single moment.

Because the time flow rate is 15 to 1 on both sides, a few minutes of chatting in the real world will result in an hour passing in the other world.

She opened her contacts and dialed Nanjo Aimi's number.

Uesugi Tetsu looked out through the gap in the curtains and saw the sky as dark as ink.

The call was answered instantly.

"You have something to say."

Nanjo Amina's calm and indifferent voice, which was noticeably more subdued than before, came from the speaker.

She didn't sound as dry and tired as she had a few days ago, which probably means her working-class spirit has kicked in and she's adapted to the current workload.

Uesugi Tetsuya got straight to the point and explained to Nanjo Ai that he needed "eyeball material".

Ideally, I could also take the opportunity to slay demons and monsters—after all, the current shortage of Soul Ash is still quite large.

Nanjo Manami: "Oh, this? I just happened to see it when I was going through the mission database a couple of days ago."

Upon hearing the unexpected news, Uesugi Tetsuya simply chuckled.

How could a mission location that meets such stringent requirements be found so easily?
Am I having a stroke of good luck lately...?

As if to refute Uesugi Tetsu's idea, Nanjo Manami continued,

"This task was taken over by the locals about a week ago... but I don't think they can handle it."

Hey.

The sound of the ballpoint pen being pressed made a sound, and Nanjo Manami pondered for a moment before saying, "So if they ask the Special Affairs Department for help, I'll put your name first, is that alright?"

"Thank you so much, Nanjo-nee."

A hint of a smile crept into Nanjo Manami's voice: "But if you're parachuted in there, you'd better be prepared to be a babysitter for a dozen adults."

nanny?

Uesugi Tetsu sneered: "Knock out all the disobedient ones, and beat them until they submit. When facing dangerous demons, there's no time for explanations."

"Then please do your best."

With the sound of keyboard clicks, it seemed a new document had been sent.

Then, Nanjo Manami's tone became somewhat serious.

"Besides that, Uesugi-kun."

She said, "Don't answer random phone calls during this time."

Uesugi Tetsu asked, puzzled: "A phone call?"

Nanjo Manami: "Yes. Recently, there has been a phenomenon where 'if you answer an unknown phone call, the person who answers will die shortly afterward.'"

At first, ordinary people died, but then the deaths quickly spread to some special agents who were investigating the matter.

The current area encompasses a significant portion of Tokyo.

Upon hearing this, Uesugi Tetsu instinctively asked in return,
"A strange story?"

"should be."

Nanjo Aimi's voice was unpleasant, revealing her frustration from working overtime: "Perhaps it has been eliminated, but the ghost story of the Black Telephone Booth has reappeared. However, some of the details revealed now don't seem to be it."

Therefore, I suspect that there might be even stranger ghost stories disguised as black phone booths.

Uesugi Tetsu: "The Special Affairs Division can't find it?"

Nanjo Manami sighed.

"Because these ghost stories target people who are easy to kill... More importantly, when we tried to investigate by divination, we discovered that there was an even bigger hand behind the scenes erasing the traces."

This is why I mentioned before that there was a possibility of over-skinning.

"Although it has quieted down considerably after I and several other senior subordinates took notice of it, this strange tale is still extremely dangerous."

Nanjo Manami solemnly said, "If you happen to receive a call, remember to tell me immediately."

"it is good."

After confirming that Nanjo Aimi had finished speaking, Uesugi Tetsu hung up the phone, then immediately opened Line and told Ririko and Kitano Runa about it.

Especially Kitano Runa.

Given her physical condition, the likelihood of her encountering such a thing is extremely high.

But to his surprise, Kitano Runa replied instantly.

[I will never be a loser!: I already knew about this from yesterday when it spread quickly through the Special Affairs Department, but thank you Uesugi-kun for reiterating it!]

[Never be a loser! : A heartfelt thank you.jpg]

[Tsuki-suna-chan: That's good.]

Then Kitano Runa sent him a group chat invitation.

Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the nicknames in several groups, and after finding that they were all acquaintances, he joined them.

A quick glance at the group revealed that everyone there was a potential talent belonging to the Arakawa Ward Special Affairs Department, including Hattori Ayako, Maki Hitomi, and even Ririko.

The group owner is Kitano Runa.

Uesugi Tetsu smiled.

—As expected of a socially awkward anime girl who is also socially awkward online, it's not surprising that she did something like this.

It's probably late at night now, and even though Uesugi Tetsu has joined the group, no one has sent a welcome message.

After casually setting up "group message blocking," Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the time and realized that only three minutes had passed.

There's still a full halfway to go before the six-minute deadline.

So Uesugi Tetsu clicked on Ririko's profile picture, thought for a moment, and then sent her a message.

He knew that Ririko was definitely not asleep, or she was either pretending to be asleep and practicing in her visualization world.

[Moon Sand: Ririko, I've finished the skin tempering.]

[Moon Sand Sauce: Also, I was lucky enough to find the subsequent methods for forging tendons. I'll teach you when I get back.]

Sure enough, when Uesugi Tetsu silently counted to the tenth number in his mind, a big exclamation mark appeared.

【Li: ! 】

[Li: Okay!]

[Li: I'm waiting for you to come back!!!]

—In the villa of Uesugi Tetsu in Arakawa Ward.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the large character "武" (Wu), bathed in the cool moonlight, the girl fell into deep thought after replying to the message.

—How much time has passed since Uesugi-kun went on his "business trip"? A whole day? He actually went from just finishing the toughening process to completing the entire tempering process.

The training in the Palace of Flesh must be done step by step in reality; there is no room for faking it.

What method did Uesugi use to achieve such speed?

Incomprehensible.

A fleeting look of distress involuntarily appeared on Ririko's small face.

She stared at the words "Good luck" on her phone screen and sighed, "But it's alright, although I can't keep up with Uesugi-kun in terms of progress in the Palace of Flesh..."

Ririko closed her eyes and began to "introspect" herself.

She murmured softly, "But after two thousand three hundred attempts, we have finally achieved some results. The internal tempering of the five internal organs has been perfectly completed, and the flow of qi to the four poles should be achieved in a few days as well."

Of course, there's also the [Double Circulation Without End] which follows, and the most important one in the Sea of ​​Qi stage,
—【Clear and bright!】
Although there's no clear direction yet, the first two steps have been completed, so it's impossible for the latter two steps to completely block me.

Try more, make more mistakes, and die more.

Standing on the backs of countless fallen "selves" will always yield some results.

According to the third sister's notes, having clear vision of all orifices is a necessary prerequisite for opening the sea of ​​qi.

and.

There is a world of difference between one aperture, ten apertures, and a hundred apertures.

Based on the information that Ririko has obtained so far, it seems that the complete Tongming Baiqiao (通明百窍) method is only recorded in the Four Extremes Breathing Method.

This is one of the reasons why geniuses who rarely emerge from small places and small training grounds are often brutally beaten by even some mediocre members of the three major families.

Because the Four-Pole Breathing Method is truly on a completely different level from most other breathing methods!

"Then I'll give it my best."

Ririko lowered her eyes and deleted everything she originally wanted to say, word by word, wanting to give Uesugi Tetsuya a surprise when he returned home in the future.

He helped me discover the path to forging tendons, so I will forcibly open this sea of ​​qi shrouded in mist for him—

To break new ground!

the other side.

Uesugi Tetsu looked at the "typing..." message that had lasted for a long time but then disappeared, and smiled silently.

It's probably been less than 24 hours since he left home, so it's understandable that Ririko would be shocked.

After delivering the good news, Uesugi Tetsuya tossed his phone back into his storage bag, closed his eyes again, and lay down on the bed.

Everything in the present world vanished in an instant, accompanied by this somewhat familiar yet strangely distorted feeling.

Wow——!
But this dive seemed to be different from the previous ones.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

Before his consciousness began to fade, Uesugi Tetsuya seemed to see the distant horizon, an unknown distance away on the sea...

It stirred up a colossal wave that blotted out the sky!

……

In the room of Uesugi Tetsuya at the Imagawa residence.

He took two heavy breaths, expelling all the stuffiness and repression from his lungs, and then gently jumped up to retrieve the Key of History from the roof beam.

Before Uesugi Tetsuya could recover from the dazed scene just now, he heard the extremely panicked voice of the Second Master outside the room.

"Hey! Um, um!"

The two-foot-tall man blocked him from the left and right, anxiously saying...

"Lord Imagawa! Can we go in later? My Lord Tetsu has instructed that no one is allowed in. If I let anyone in, I'm going to get a good spanking tomorrow!"

Unfortunately, these words seemed to only fuel the already strong curiosity of the girl outside the door.

Through the thin sliding door, Imagawa Yoshimoto's deliberately suppressed laughter rang out simultaneously with the utterly dejected voice of the two-foot-tall man, who hadn't even noticed the change in his heartstrings.
"Waaaaah, Lord Imagawa..."

"Che-jun, I'm coming in..."

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(End of this chapter)