I'm a demon in Tokyo!

Chapter 244: An Unexpectedly Popular Success, Now Known to the World! Huijue Returns, the Seeding Tournament Preliminaries Are About to Begin.

After asking that question, Uesugi Tetsu could clearly see the foot soldier's burning gaze shift away from the Soul Ash Bottle in his hand.

Before he could even ask, "As long as you provide three valid pieces of information, the soul essence in this bottle is yours," the foot soldier immediately lowered his eyes and shook his head heavily.

"Onmyoji... I've never heard of them."

The poor foot soldier said this, and before Uesugi Tetsu could say anything to stop him, he had already turned and left in a hurry.

—500 Soul Ashes weren't enough to make this ordinary foot soldier open his mouth? ???

Uesugi Tetsu subconsciously wanted to use his soul imprint, but then remembered that this was a city of disorder.

In a city in chaos, there would never be such an obvious loophole for him to exploit.

If he were to secretly use his soul imprint on this foot soldier, he felt that his fate would not be good.

However, outside the city of disorder, Uesugi Tetsu had never seen any beings truly from the Warring States period.

Silently watching the foot soldiers leave quickly, Uesugi Tetsuya, who had transformed into a fifty-year-old bald man using his thousand faces, fell into deep thought.

What happened five hundred years ago, after he left at the beginning of the revival of heaven and earth?
The answer was buried by the same rejection, shrouded in a deep fog.

"If I can't get an answer from them, then I'll have to go back to the Warring States period to find out for myself."

Uesugi Tetsu sighed softly to himself and walked into a deserted dark alley.

—For now, let's try to find some cheap and plentiful Hyakume food by taking some Soul Ash.

A moment later, a man who looked to be about thirty years old came out and began to slowly pick through the various vendors and stalls selling demon materials.

Uesugi Tetsu didn't go to the proper old shops in the disordered city—the flyers distributed to new tourists on the street were all places that they had occupied by spending a lot of soul ash.

While they guarantee the products are genuine, the prices aren't so appealing.

Uesugi Tetsuya can understand the materials very well as soon as he gets started, so he won't be tricked.

Meanwhile, outside another large arena, vendors lined up their stalls, waiting for the next rich and foolish victim.

Uesugi Tetsu was toying with a dull, round stone ball. After weighing it in his hand, he asked the stall owner, who was a demon, "How much is this?"

The evil stall owner chuckled, stirring up gusts of eerie wind.
"The legendary [Petrifying Eye], personally crafted by Granny Shi Ning, can petrify anyone it touches. Now available for only 60 Soul Essence! Honest and genuine!"

—Shi Ning Lao Ming, the goddess of metalworking in mythology, perhaps the title of "Heavenly Craftsman" exists because of her.

According to legend, the Yata no Kagami (Eight-Span Mirror) was also created by Himself.

Haha, this kind of item, crafted by a master craftsman, only costs 60 Soul Ash, right?

Uesugi Tetsu stared at the stone sphere's panel for a while, then, after a moment's thought, he made a decisive cut to the core issue of price.

"Six portions of the soul essence."

"make a deal!"

The anticipated price war and verbal sparring did not materialize, the devilish stall owner immediately declared.

Uesugi Tetsu:?

No? This was a deal?
How could you lose money on this?

So, feelings are treated like trash, right?

Upon thinking of this, Uesugi Tetsu immediately wore an indescribable expression: "Forget it, it's too expensive, I won't buy it..."

Upon seeing this, the evil stall owner immediately slashed himself again.

"5 portions of Soul Essence!"

Without saying a word, Uesugi Tetsu pulled out 4 points of Soul Ash from the panel and put them into a small bottle that cost a few tens of yen each: "My essence is more pure."

The evil stall owner revealed an interested look, and a lot of resentment unconsciously welled up from his body.

It took the bottle with its translucent palm, and its eyes lit up after unscrewing the oak cork.
"Great product! Absolutely great product!"

The demon immediately poured the specks of soul ash into its mouth, revealing a dazed expression: "Brother, how about you buy out my entire stall for 50 portions of soul essence?"

Uesugi Tetsu looked down and saw scattered gray ruins, and the vast majority of them were trash that didn't even have quality or color.

"Sorry, I'm short of money."

After refusing without hesitation, Uesugi Tetsuya left the stall with the seemingly incredibly cheap stone ball, a slight smile playing on his lips.

The pale blue surface of the stone sphere is shown below—

[Petrifying Eyes - Generation 27]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: When used correctly, grants a faint "Petrifying Eye" power.]

[—A petrified eye crafted by a legendary being. Though it has been passed down through generations and its power has gradually diminished, it still retains some supernatural effects.]

The truth is, what that cunning stall owner, who looked like a swindler no matter how you looked at him, was actually telling the truth!
The petrifying eye in his hand was most likely indeed crafted by that "Stone Condensation Granny" herself!

Perhaps even the devilish stall owner himself didn't realize that the train he was talking about could actually start running.

Although most of the effect has already faded...

But you can get it for just 4 Soul Ashes, what more could you ask for?

Even if eating it would cause poisoning, it wouldn't kill the Hundred-Eyed Demon!
Uesugi Tetsu opened his backpack again, scanned the compartments filled with countless different kinds of eyeballs, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

After six hours of careful selection, he spent a total of about 1500 Soul Ashes to buy various eyeballs with strange and wonderful effects for the Hundred-Eyed Demon.

Perfect timing! I spent all the profits from the live stream on the City of Chaos.

Although there are fewer than a hundred of them, they cannot provide much progress for Hyakume's advancement.

—However, most of the eyeballs have unique skills, some even possessing impressive abilities like the "Petrifying Eye".

If Hyakume could absorb all the effects of those eyes, Uesugi Tetsu couldn't even imagine how uncomfortable Hyakume would be after he gained Hyakume's incarnation and opened its eyes.

Before the sword was even drawn, dozens of different types of debuffs were inexplicably applied to my body.

Who can stand this?
Opening the Edo Castle gacha interface, Uesugi Tetsu scattered all those eyeballs into it along with the drizzling rain.

Then, he received a look of confusion from Hyakume-ki.

She picked up each eyeball with her finger, her brow furrowing slightly after each close examination.

After repeating this dozens of times, Uesugi Tetsu could see a look of speechlessness on her face.

Ugh.

Under his gaze, Hyakume sighed softly, then waved towards the sky—that is, towards Uesugi Tetsu.

The gist of it is that I can handle everything, so there's no need to look at it.

As expected of her!

Uesugi Tetsu gave the latter a thumbs up and glanced at the progress bar above Edo Castle before leaving.

—16%.

There's still a full 84% of the way to becoming an epic game.

After leaving the rest of the time to Hyakume, Uesugi Tetsu returned to the inn after exiting the gacha page.

Firstly, I've already visited most of the stalls related to eyeballs; secondly, I should save the remaining soul ash for later use.

……

Several hours later, Shihan Dai and Akiyama Mei, who were empty-handed, and Uesugi Tetsu and Tamamo, who were carrying a full load, boarded a carriage that had unexpectedly become empty.

—A mere 50 points of Soul Ash gave Tamamo-no-Mae the feeling of 5000 points.

Uesugi Tetsu thought to himself as he carried large and small bags.

After taking a photo with Tamamo, who was also covered in shopping bags, at the train door, he threw all his things into his storage backpack.

"No matter how many times I see it, it's still amazing, Uesugi-nii!" Tamamo, feeling light as a feather, jumped up and down twice. "Could this be the legendary Great Yin-Yang Technique?"

Uesugi Tetsuya remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.

"awesome."

Tamamo took out her phone after sitting down—on the Kisaragi Train, internet access was, of course, indispensable. Clang, clang.

Not long after the empty train started moving, Tamamo's mutterings could be heard.

"If we go back now, we can watch Yagyu play in the Shizuoka Prefecture finals?"

Hehe, this is really good... Wait, could it be that the teachers' college considered this factor for you and chose this time to return?

"Oh! And there's more, Uesugi-nii-san, look!"

After letting out a formulaic gasp, Tamamo paused for a moment before craning her neck to stare at the screen, asking incredulously,

"Brother... do all the traffic you get come from nowhere?"

……

[Special Affairs Division seed Uesugi Tetsuya defeats three Sengoku period Hojo clan's five-colored guards, as well as the legendary ninja Fuuma Kotaro! After the battle, sweating profusely, he says, "You are not worthy of my blood."]

After reading through the long list of titles: ?
This story is getting more and more outrageous. Have all five colors of armor arrived?
Furthermore, when did he ever say such arrogant things?

As time went on, the topic of Uesugi Tetsuya was not overshadowed by new hot topics; instead, it spread wider and wider, and more and more people knew about it.

Among them, a mysterious editing expert with the ID "Deadline Deadline Master" meticulously edited Tamamo's live stream clips, added special effects, and AI bitrate supplementation.

The reposting by the newly established Special Affairs Bureau's official account, along with the other two, played a significant role in promoting this.

I don't know about the former, Uesugi Tetsu.

But the latter...

Uesugi Tetsuya didn't even need to think to know that the official title was definitely orchestrated by Nanjo Manami.

"—This title is quite intimidating."

On the sidewalk, Huijue, who was holding Buddhist prayer beads but wearing a big anime-style headdress and claiming to be "experiencing emerging culture," smiled and forwarded the edited video to Uesugi Tetsu on LINE.

Soon, Uesugi Tetsuya's reply arrived.

[Tsuki-suna-chan: I've seen it... Why is everyone forwarding this video to me?]

[Huijue: Because it's really not ugly.]

[Moon Sand Sauce: Holy crap! Master, how did you learn to talk like that?]

[Huijue: So much time has passed, this humble monk should have made some progress.]

[Huijue: By the way, Uesugi, are you currently in Shizuoka Prefecture? I've finished my business and should be able to get here in the next couple of days.]

[Uesugi Tetsu: Thank you, Master. I'll send you my location.]

……

Special Affairs Division, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

Having just finished his task, Tokugawa Haruhiko glanced at the video playing on a loop on the hanging screen, frowned, and then opened his phone to search for it.

Soon, after watching the video and the simplified report, Tokugawa Haruhiko frowned even more deeply.

what's the situation?
In just about a month, the guy that Ririko was carrying has grown to this extent?
Are these media outlets, which only aim to grab attention and traffic, not exaggerating?
Tokugawa Haruhiko's impression of the name "Uesugi Tetsu" was still from when the real sword trial had just ended.

He searched on the Special Affairs Bureau APP for a while, and after reading through all of Uesugi Tetsu's experiences over the past month, he fell silent.

Soloing the Black Telephone Booth, soloing the Mokumen Maze, and yesterday's solo run of the Hojo House...

The pretty boy who was far inferior to him back then has now become stronger than Tokugawa Haruhiko?
Are you kidding?
"It's only been a month, how could he..."

Haruhiko Tokugawa gripped his phone so tightly that sparks flew from the gaps in the specially made phone before he realized what was happening.

The main house of the branch family of the Nine Tribulations Institute.

Yawning and sporting dark circles under her eyes, Jiu Jieyuan Jin opened the door and let in the black-clad bodyguard who had been knocking for a long time.

He slumped down, picked up the PS5 controller again, and his eyes were filled with resentment.

"You'd better have something to say, or I'll unleash all the anger I feel from being attacked and tortured to death a hundred times over all night on you."

The bodyguard in black was not afraid at all; he simply recounted the major events of the previous day in an orderly manner, as instructed by the head of the family.

According to the head of the Nine Tribulations Clan, even if Jin Cheng stays at home all day and doesn't go out, he should at least keep up with this ever-changing world.

After hearing about Uesugi Tetsuya's story, Kyuuketsuin Kin, who had once again fallen to his death in front of the treasure chest, nodded with a smile.

“That’s great, that’s great. I could tell he was special right away. My judgment is pretty accurate.”

"Oh right, Uesugi-kun will definitely be participating in the Tokyo seeding tournament, right?"

Kujouin Jin rubbed the joystick and thought for a moment: "After the competition starts, I'll send him a box of chilled lemon tea made with Yin-Yang techniques."

Otherwise, if you get thirsty halfway through the game, you'll be ripped off by the unscrupulous organizers.

The bodyguard in black was stunned for a while before he realized that his young master was not joking.

"Yes……"

The bodyguard in black sighed silently, thinking that the head of the family had specifically asked me to tell you this news so that you could prepare some gifts in advance to make friends with the other party.

So, all they sent was a box of lemon tea?
Young Master, you look down on them too much.

……

"Holy crap, a bottle of 'special offer' Coke is selling for 1800 yen! Just reach into my wallet and grab it!"

"Selling it for 1800 yen, do you have 1800 pieces of driftwood?"

In front of the largest dojo in Shizuoka City, Uesugi Tetsuya, wearing a mask and sunglasses, couldn't help but complain with Tamamo about the outrageous price of the drinks.

Today the sky is cloudless and the sun is hot and bright.

It just so happens that it was also the day of the Shizuoka Prefecture division seeding tournament finals.

Naturally, the small shop in front of the dojo held the sole monopoly on pricing power.

Don't want to buy?
Of course you can—then just walk to a convenience store about 1.2 kilometers away to buy it.

Together with Tamamo, they grumbled as they entered the special stadium, which had been temporarily converted into a viewing area. Uesugi Tetsu followed the empty VIP passage to the best viewing area.

There were quite a lot of spectators in the venue, as evidenced by the fact that the regular passageways were completely blocked.

However, most people didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about watching the game—after all, in the internet age, spiritual practice has been widespread for some time now.

Even ordinary people can see the difference between local and central governments.

Especially the video that went viral a couple of days ago, "Uesugi Tetsu soloing Hojo."

Having witnessed clashes between masters, one naturally loses much interest in relatively ordinary battles.

Uesugi Tetsu looked up at the referees and notary-like figures higher up—god-level figures from different factions supervising each other to prevent any favoritism or corruption.

"However, the faces of these demon-level figures are all unfamiliar."

Moreover, there were actually six people in total.

A regional final of a seeding tournament attracted six god-like players.

This would have been unthinkable in the past.

It seems that the supernatural beings that emerged from the aftermath of the recent wave are real, and not just fabrications to fool the forces of the mortal world.

After scanning the room several times, Uesugi Tetsu heard the teacher, who was already seated in the front row, speak calmly.
"Young Uesugi, what are your thoughts on this match?"

“Yagyu-kun will definitely win.” Uesugi Tetsu shrugged. “Otherwise, why would you tell me not to hold back?”

The teacher was taken aback by this answer and shook his head: "You kid, you haven't seen your opponent yet..."

"This is called having confidence in you, Lord Saionji, and Mr. Yagyu."

As Uesugi Tetsu was speaking, he noticed his phone vibrate.

He opened it and found that it was an Excel spreadsheet sent by Nanjo Manami.

[Nanjo Manami: The seedings for the 23 wards of Tokyo have been finalized. Don't forget to check them before the official meeting; you need to have a general understanding of the situation.]

(End of this chapter)