Tokyo, but I'm a deceitful scumbag.

It took him quite a while to climb out of the water. He looked at the fox frolicking in the raging flames, sweat dripping from his forehead and mingling with the water in the pool.

Such unrestrained foxfire, such immense demonic power...

This...this is way too strong! It's definitely not an ordinary fox demon!

Wait, what's the color of this foxfire...?

"You...you're a smiling fox!"

Finally, he recognized the troublemaker's name.

"You just remembered? You rascal, how annoying~"

Hoshino Hideyuki chuckled mischievously, his voice high-pitched: "You've committed the sins of arrogance and forgetfulness, so let me punish you a little..."

As he spoke, runes suddenly lit up on the surrounding land, and even the pool where Tendo Ryuji was located seemed to boil, constantly bubbling up!

"This is... a barrier!?"

Ryuji Tendo instantly felt all the power draining from his body, and his voice trembled slightly.

Congratulations on answering correctly! Unfortunately, there's no reward.

Hideyuki Hoshino laughed even harder.

The barrier was naturally set up in advance by Asuka Tendo.

After all, it's a trap, so it must have some kind of poison needle, sharpened bamboo, or a pit full of dung, otherwise what's the point of the fox going to all this trouble to lure people here?

Speaking of which, Fox has always been playing against the odds by relying on other people's barriers, and today is the first time he has enjoyed the help of a barrier.

"Let me see what kind of genius you are, the one from the Tiantong family..."

Hoshino Hideyuki snapped his fingers again, and his body instantly transformed into an armored giant over ten meters tall. He leaped into the air, brandishing his flaming longsword with immense force, and slashed at Tendo Ryuji in the water!

boom!

After a loud crash... the longsword did not reach the bottom.

Just moments before, Tendo Ryuji had summoned back his demon swords, ten against one, to block Hoshino Hideyuki's thunderous attack.

Not only that, he also used a combination of parrying and striking to make the other six swords circle behind Hoshino Hideyuki, creating a whirlwind of metal as they slashed at the gaps in the giant's armor on his arms and thighs!

With a soft thud, the blade pierced flesh, and Hoshino Hideyuki's giant was destroyed—well, after all, it was a fake created through seventy-two transformations, and compared to the opponent's clearly genuine treasured sword, it was still inferior in quality.

"You won?" Tendo Ryuji raised an eyebrow after his successful counterattack, but then his hair stood on end, and he quickly rolled away from the pool in a sorry state.

The next second, the flames on the giant's longsword coiled around his demonic blade like vampire vines, and then burned the area where he had been standing! In an instant, half the pool of water turned into steam!

"This is unbelievable... This smiling fox is actually so..."

Ryuji Tendo glanced back with lingering fear, wondering what to do next, when he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hideyuki Hoshino had caught up with him again!

Damn it! He hasn't even caught his breath yet!

"Ghosts? Where are the ghosts?" The fox's eyes widened as it scanned the area, finally shrugging. "Sorry, there's only one fox demon here, no ghosts."

"You spread rumors and intimidate the public, which is an even greater crime. Be punished!"

Despite his words, the fox didn't stop. He summoned two more identical armored giants. One continued to wield a sword, while the other simply raised a Gatling gun, aimed the barrel at Tendo Ryuji, and started spinning it rapidly!

Tendo Ryuji was terrified and dared not take the attack head-on. He continued to flee in a disheveled state, and then suddenly felt a trace of spiritual energy being drained from his body again, almost causing him to fall halfway.

No!

We can't win here no matter what!

If this continues, he will be suppressed indefinitely, and soon he won't even be able to cast spells!

This is the only way...

He shouted at the three ninjas who were completely out of the way in the battle, "Call the people up here!"

"But then we won't be able to collect information anymore..."

"Call him down!"

"Okay, okay!"

The ninjas hesitated for a moment, then obediently took out their walkie-talkies. But after saying only half a sentence, they suddenly felt a surge of heat in front of them. They looked up and...

He was hit squarely by the Heart Moonfire.

The ninjas were all defeated.

After setting the fire, Hoshino Hideyuki turned to Tendo Ryuji and said, "What a pity, I was planning to keep them alive for questioning."

"you……"

Just as Tatsuji's forehead was beaded with sweat, and he was preparing for a desperate fight, birdsong filled the sky.

Clearly, the ninjas' final message did reach their destination.

The man and the fox looked up at the same time and saw eight giant cranes, each three stories high and carrying ninjas on their backs, swooping down!

Seven of them pecked at Hoshino Hideyuki, while the last one grabbed Tendo Ryuji and flew south.

"We're saved! Thank goodness!"

Once Tendo Ryuji reached the sky, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, the next second, the white crane's scream startled him so much that he gasped for breath.

Turning his head, he saw that all six white cranes, along with the ninjas on their backs, had been burned to a crisp. The last one was under a genjutsu spell, grabbed a fox, and chased after him.

Hoshino Hideyuki waved and said, "So, this is your high-altitude reconnaissance officer? Hmm, not bad~"

"You, don't come here!"

Tendo Ryuji finally broke through her defenses.

Ever since he entered the secret realm and seized the body, he had been showing off, but he never expected that today he would be defeated from head to toe by a fox!

Why are there foxes like this in this world?!

He was clearly the main character of this trial, so why did he have to encounter such a monster?!

Across from him, Hideyuki Hoshino blinked his innocent-looking big eyes and continued to wear a kind and warm smile:

"You don't want me to come?"

"I don't want it~"

"I'm coming over, I'm coming over~"

As time went by, the two cranes flew closer and closer, until the one behind could stretch out its long beak and peck at the tail of the one in front.

Immediately, the white crane in front felt pain and uncontrollably turned around to fight with its own kind.

After the two white cranes flapped their wings and lost many feathers, they crashed to the ground with a loud thud!

A few seconds later, blue flames rose up, and Hoshino Hideyuki emerged from under the white crane's corpse.

He looked around...

Hey, what a coincidence! Just like that giant centipede from before, they fell down next to an inn in Ashihara!

"Brother Rukawa!?"

At that moment, Himeno Aoi, who was inside the inn, was startled by the noise. She went out the door and met the eyes of the fox.

Not far from her, Tendo Ryuji also swayed as he got up.

Hoshino Hideyuki frowned, and to prevent any accidents, he rushed between the two, turned his head slightly, and said to Himeko Aoi behind him, "It's going to get chaotic here soon, you should hide somewhere else first."

Himeno Aoi blinked her big eyes, nodded her little head, and then...

He pulled a kunai from his pocket and stabbed it into Hoshino Hideyuki's back!

Chapter 219 The clever fox sees through the female ninja's trick!

It's too late, it's faster than that!

Just as he was about to be stabbed, Hoshino Hideyuki seemed to have foreseen the future and transformed back into his original form, quickly dodging the kunai with his suddenly shrunken size.

Then, a flame of the Heart Moon ignited on his tail, and with a sudden flick, it scorched Himeko's wrist, causing her to release her grip in pain and drop the kunai to the ground with a thud.

"Oh dear, this is such a dangerous thing, let Brother Liuchuan keep it safe for you~"

Hoshino Hideyuki placed one foot on the kunai, put his paws on his hips, and wagged his tail as he spoke to Himeno Aoi.

Himeko Aoi took two steps back and her face darkened.

At this moment, Naoko Sakuragi and the others also ran to the hotel entrance and were astonished by what they saw.

Naoko Sakuragi asked, "W-What's going on?"

Why are Makoto Rukawa, the Onmyoji, and Aoi Himeno fighting?

However, no one at the scene had the time to explain to Naoko Sakuragi.

Himeko Aoi stared at the fox and said coldly, "You figured it out a long time ago?"

"It's not that early."

Hoshino Hideyuki took a half step back, making sure Himeno Aoi and Tendo Ryuji were both in his line of sight, and then spread his little paws apart to count:

"It was probably from the first time we met..."

Himeno Aoi raised an eyebrow: "That's just very early!"

"Haha, that's true. What can you do? You're such a skilled woodcutter."

Hoshino Hideyuki smiled with narrowed eyes:

"A thin little girl of about ten years old, no matter how skilled she is at chopping wood, cannot make up for the lack of strength... However, in the woodpile that day, there were quite a few thick pieces of wood, the grain of which clearly indicated that they had been split open with an axe..."

"This is hard not to be suspicious, Minister of Woodcutting."

Himeko Aoi pouted: "Yeah, it was my mistake. I was indeed a little impatient at the time."

Hideyuki Hoshino continued:

"And then, when I showed you the copper coin, you immediately recognized the Chinese characters on it. Later, I tried asking a few other members of the Yukawa clan, but unfortunately, none of them could read..."

Himeno Aoi pouted: "Tsk, I shouldn't have read it out loud back then."