I'm a demon in Tokyo!

Chapter 334 Blue, Willing to be Subordinate! Using the Mask of Wrath, the Legendary Evolution Path of Crimson Prajna!

In an instant, all the elders of the Minamoto family in the reception room turned their gazes toward Uesugi Tetsuya, whose expression remained completely unchanged.

Especially the few elderly men who hadn't uttered a single word since arriving here, and whose advanced age was obvious to anyone with eyes.

These old guys, whose average age is over two hundred, know very well what kind of attitude Ao, or rather, Spider Cutter, had towards its previous master... and even towards all the masters who had made contracts with it except for that great Lord Raikou.

Even if connected to the Azure Bloodline, the life-and-death contract lasts for years, decades, or even until death!

Qing's attitude towards its former masters who used it to slay demons and monsters was indifferent.

The transformation from its owner's complete obedience to its equality is already remarkable.

Some of the older men thought to themselves—in modern terms, it's called…a contract worker? A day laborer?
Qing's relationship with its previous owners was pretty much the same.

But this time, it's different.

Really different.

Any elder who has even a slight understanding of Spider Cutting and whose mind is still sound can glean from that single sentence the relationship between Qing and this junior, Uesugi Tetsu.

Uesugi Tetsuya is the one in charge.

Qing, however, was willing to be subservient.

Even someone who easily passed the trials and rejected the Spider Cutter's offer couldn't achieve this level of skill...

Some of the elders of the Minamoto clan glanced at Uesugi Tetsuya without making a sound, then looked away, lost in thought.

What kind of magical power does this kid named "Uesugi Tetsu" possess... that he could subdue Ao, an elder who is practically the head of the entire Minamoto family?

Don't call him the "seed battle champion".

Which of the old folks here didn't have a dozen of these honors and titles when they were young?

Which one of them wasn't a super genius who stood out from the crowd and overshadowed his peers in his youth?

"Why are all the elders of the Yuan family looking at me like that?"

Uesugi Tetsuya exchanged glances with the elders, then smiled kindly and said, "If you wish to talk to Ao about the past, then I will step aside for now..."

Of course, this is all predicated on Qing's willingness.

None of the elders present showed any change in expression, but many of them were cursing in their hearts—whether Qing is willing or not, it's just a matter of whether you, little brat, are willing or not.
Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the Spider Cutter at his waist.

The latter remained motionless and silent as a rock.

Uesugi Tetsu spread his hands, revealing a "helpless" smile: "As you all know, and are aware, Ao is the sword of Minamoto no Yorimitsu from the Heian period a thousand years ago."

"He has probably killed more demons than I have ever seen, so I really can't say anything in front of him."

After a few seconds of silence in the reception room, an old man burst into laughter.
“Young friend is right. If Lord Qing is unwilling, then let’s not talk about it!”

Then an old man chimed in, "It's always good to talk and chat, but since you've just come out of the bamboo forest, you'll probably need some time to adjust."

"My own home is a rare quiet place."

The elders laughed and chimed in, quickly justifying everything Uesugi Tetsu had said.

"I think it's your first time visiting Kyoto, young friend Uesugi."

Despite their many words and heavy voices, the room was not noisy at all. Suddenly, an elderly man spoke up: "How about I let Jing Shui show you around..."

Since entering, Yuan Shizumizu had almost completely reduced her presence to zero, so she frowned almost imperceptibly before calmly replying,

"If I were alone, I'd barely even stepped outside the Minamoto family's gates a few times, so my familiarity with Kyoto is probably about the same as Uesugi-kun's."

Genjiro shook his head slightly and refused directly, saying, "If I were to lead Uesugi-kun, it would be a waste of both of our time."

This straightforward answer left the old man who made the suggestion stiff.

But unusually, no one spoke up for him in the reception room—anyone who knew even a little about the younger generation in the family knew that Yuan Jingshui was always focused on catching up with Yuan Xinshui.

In this generation of the Yuan family, the Xinshui and Jingshui sisters can actually be considered "twin stars".

However, the former's brilliance was so great and dazzling that all the achievements of the latter seemed so simple and insignificant.

That's why Yuan Jingshui abandoned everything and desperately tried to catch up with Yuan Xinshui.

Normally, Yuan Jingshui often goes out to slay demons and monsters and undergo life-and-death trials.

However, she was always picked up and dropped off by a special person when she went out, and was taken directly from the Yuan family's door to her destination.

Even though Kyoto, a bustling city, was right beneath her feet, Minamoto Shizumi hadn't really looked at it seriously more than a few times in the past decade or so.

So there's no need to even mention "being a tour guide".

An old man silently shook his head – applying the principles of social etiquette to Yuan Jingshui was truly a misapplication of the situation.

Uesugi Tetsu didn't say anything, but he felt that what Minamoto Shizumi said was completely correct.

It would be better to use Google Maps or have Xiaoqing tell him about the history of Kyoto over the past thousand years than to let this seemingly otherworldly cultivation fanatic take him out.

At this moment, Gen Kiyohiro, who hadn't spoken for a long time, smiled and waved.
"Whether or not we go to Kyoto, and who takes us around, is not something we old folks should worry about... Let the young people decide for themselves!"

The seemingly kind-looking head of the Minamoto clan cast a gentle gaze at Uesugi Tetsu: "Young friend Uesugi, the key is... that sword saint."

"Juggernaut?"

Uesugi Tetsu blinked, not expecting that the head of the family would mention the Sword Saint, who was above the three major families, in such a public place.

“Yes, that Sword Saint.” Gen Kiyohiro said with a smile, “In a few days, aren’t you going to meet him as the champion of the seeded tournament?”

Uesugi Tetsu nodded.

"Then, let me offer some advice."

Gen Kiyohiro casually remarked, "In front of this sword saint, try to speak as little as possible, or better yet, not at all. The less you say, the fewer mistakes you make."

Why is that?
Uesugi Tetsuya pondered in bewilderment.

Gen Kiyohiro continued, "In short, the current Sword Saint has a fondness for geniuses, and you are naturally one of them... moreover, you stand out among them, so you must be even more careful."

This nonsensical logic left Uesugi Tetsu completely bewildered.

You cannot speak in front of the Sword Saint.

Furthermore, the Sword Saint admires geniuses, but the more talented the genius, the more careful one must be...

Did he accidentally wander onto the set of some bizarre and unbelievable film?
Despite his many doubts, Uesugi Tetsu nodded and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Master."

At the same time, he silently asked Qingqing why she didn't know the reason for this.

Qing: "I don't know."

"Is it that you don't know, or that you can't say?"

Ao sighed: "Lord Uesugi, I really don't know much about this... Think about it, the average tenure of a sword saint is only a hundred years, and some are even replaced after only a few decades."

"It's been so long, the Sword Saint must not be the same one."

In the Edo period, this swordsman might have been born a hundred or two centuries earlier, so my experience is completely irrelevant.

"Ok."

Uesugi Tetsu hesitated for a moment, but still did not ask Minamoto Kiyohiro the reason directly on the spot.

There must be a reason why an old leader who has lived for decades or even centuries doesn't speak up.

Next, Uesugi Tetsu chatted casually with the elders of the Minamoto family for a few minutes before leaving the reception room, with Minamoto Shizumi following behind him.

Inside the reception room, the elderly men silently watched the direction where Uesugi Tetsu had left, each with their own thoughts.

After a while, an old man spoke up.
"This young friend Uesugi Tetsuya appears to be kind and friendly, but he is actually very cunning and calculating."

"I didn't think that much about it."

The black-haired old man, Yuan Qingzheng, glanced at him and scoffed, "He's just too lazy to argue with the old folks of the Yuan family. They have to go through countless roundabout ways to discuss anything." An old man who wasn't from the same generation as Yuan Qingzheng asked why.

"Because that's who I am."

Yuan Qingzheng dusted off his robes and also got up and left the reception room.

……

"Uesugi-kun, I still have to finish my daily sword practice later, would you like to come along?"

Yuan Jingshui raised her chin toward another fork in the road.

"No, I have some things to take care of later."

What Uesugi Tetsu was referring to was going to the Tokoyo incarnation, the Red Hannya, to use the Wrathful Hannya Mask he had obtained from Hoshiguma Doji yesterday.

Seeing that they were still some distance from the intersection, Uesugi Tetsu casually remarked,
"Besides meeting the Sword Saint, I'm also interested in Fushimi Inari Shrine during my trip to Kyoto."

He asked, "It is said that when the first wave came, it was the Yin-Yang Bureau that, together with Fushimi Inari Shrine and many other temples in Kyoto, suppressed the demons?"

Yuan Jingshui nodded: "Yes."

When Uesugi Tetsu recalled the first wave, a netizen named "Go Die at Work" had also told him on LINE that he had friends at Fushimi Inari Shrine who could protect him.

There are even "gods".

Surely, there must be something real among them.

Uesugi Tetsu continued, "I might go over there to take a look when I have some free time these next couple of days."

"Once you leave the Yuan family, it's not easy to come back in without someone to guide you."

Yuan Jingshui's implication was that he didn't want to go out.

“It’s nothing.” Uesugi Tetsu shrugged. “I wasn’t going to stay for more than a few days anyway, because I was going to see that Sword Saint who I’d only ever heard of but never actually met.”

"Then, Uesugi-kun, I'll be going now."

At the fork in the road, Yuan Jingshui walked straight to the other side.

Uesugi Tetsu returned to his guest room and saw, through the open door, that the two adults and Karuta were still standing there.

Karuta was kneeling obediently beside the man in his "Two-Foot Form," almost touching the ground.

He was holding a pen and notebook that appeared out of nowhere, and was taking notes, looking every bit the model student.

As Uesugi Tetsu approached, Karuta's ears twitched slightly.

She closed the pen cap, then stood up and walked to the door, standing beside it and giving Uesugi Tetsuya a slight bow, revealing a gentle and charming smile.
"Lord Uesugi, welcome back."

Then she expertly squatted down to help Uesugi Tetsuya take off his shoes, but he immediately stopped her.

"No need, no need, I can do it myself... Karuta, you know this is not the Edo period anymore, and I don't need my friends, my future shikigami, to serve me like this."

Uesugi Tetsu took a half step back and smiled at the somewhat disappointed Karuta.

Karuta pursed her lips slightly, a hint of sorrow filling her eyes: "I simply wish that I could do something more to help Lord Uesugi, who saved my life..."

"Huh? Lord Che, when did you get back?"

The two-foot-tall man was concentrating on explaining modern common sense when he suddenly noticed two more voices.

She turned her head and realized that Karuto, who was sitting next to her, had disappeared!
The two-foot-tall man looked at the doorway, beginning to recall what important information he had just overlooked...

The moment she thought about it, she almost crushed her phone in her hand.

Okay, I'll go!

—I've been diligently and painstakingly teaching you, you vixen, without holding a grudge, and before I knew it, you were seducing Lord Che!

Uesugi Tetsu took off his shoes, offered a few words of comfort to Karuta, and then came in.

Qing slipped off his waist, wanting to continue listening to the Second Master's lecture.

Karuta also bowed her head to Ao, greeting her gently.
"Master Qing, welcome back."

Qing didn't reply, but floated to the side of the two-foot-tall lady and touched her twice to indicate that she had arrived.

Seeing this, the two-foot-tall man chuckled and nudged Qing's knife hilt with his fist.

Karuta didn't show any expression after being rebuffed. She simply picked up her pen and notebook from the ground and moved closer to the two-foot-tall man who was squinting at her.

"Teaching you modern common sense is Lord Che's order. After you've learned it, don't come near us, understand?"

The two-foot-tall man clicked his tongue in annoyance and muttered in a very low voice, "I get annoyed just seeing you, you little vixen who just appeared out of nowhere. Hopefully, you won't also have a childhood sweetheart vibe to your name..."

"We already had enough trouble with the Great Demon King, Nanjo Daishu, and that Imagawa Yoshimoto, and now we have a fox spirit who is good for nothing but looks, trying to steal our unique shikigami position."

The key issue is that even at such close proximity, where they have an absolute advantage, Lord Che remains an impenetrable fortress... He's completely unyielding, impervious to both gentle persuasion and force!

The two-foot-tall man was silently venting his frustrations.

She started considering whether she should find some allies and adopt a strategy of befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones.

After all, sharing with someone is better than becoming a forever good shikigami or a forever good friend, but ending up not getting a single bite.

"Xiao Jia, you go play with them. I have something to do."

"Great!"

Uesugi Tetsu went to the inner room and, without waiting long, closed his eyes and entered the world of the living.

Ao saw Kaga Kiyomitsu slip out alone and looked inside thoughtfully.

Could it be that... Lord Uesugi entered the Edo world without making a sound?
Is this the ability to walk?
Lord Uesugi certainly has many secrets.

But Qing didn't care.

Because this lord truly meant to destroy the mortal world, and he was qualified, and had even the slightest possibility, to achieve it.

that's enough.

……

Uesugi Tetsu opened his eyes and looked around.

He noticed no change in the wilderness around Kisaragi Station.

It seems that the last rift was a low-probability event.

Transforming into the Red Hannya, Uesugi Tetsuya took out the purple Wrathful Hannya Mask from his storage backpack.

Sure enough, as soon as it was held by the Red Prajna, the entire face of the Wrathful Prajna shone, and the eyes became even more piercing.

Immediately, a purplish-red notification popped up.

[The key evolution item for "Red Hannya"—"Wrathful Hannya Mask"—has been discovered!]

【use or not? 】

"Yes."

[Detection has been detected that you have used the critical evolution item "Wrathful Hannya Mask" on "Demon Incarnation: Red Hannya"!]

Please choose the next evolution path for "Demon Incarnation: Red Prajna"!

Please note that this choice will affect the future potential and ceiling of "Demon Incarnation: Red Prajna". Please choose carefully!

[Evolution Route 1 (Super Epic): Wrathful Prajna]

[Evolutionary Route Two (Legend): ...]

(End of this chapter)