The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

"No need, you should stay home and rest. After all, your current strength is no longer what it used to be, and you might even hold me back," Ishihara Akira said with a smile.

Qin Mengyao remained silent, but then she thought of the difference between the martial arts systems of the Yangshen World and the Fanyunfuyu World she came from. At her current level, as a beginner martial artist who was training her tendons, she was just as Ishihara Akira had said in the past. Not only could she not help him, but she might even hold him back.

"Then be careful yourself." Qin Mengyao sighed inwardly after understanding the situation and gave her this advice.

"Don't worry, I haven't lived enough yet. Besides, I have a beauty like you waiting for me at home." Ishihara Akira walked to the bedside and pinched Qin Mengyao's cheek.

Qin Mengyao remained silent.

"I'm leaving." With that, Ishihara Akira vanished into thin air.

Then, in the next moment, Shi Yuanzhang appeared at the foot of Jade Dragon Mountain, which resembled a reclining dragon. He opened his Heavenly Eye and the Heavenly Demon Eye and looked around. Soon, a place where a large number of clouds of fortune gathered in the sky, as well as immeasurable sins and the poison of the seven emotions and six desires, came into Shi Yuanzhang's view.

Without hesitation, Ishihara Akira took a step forward.

Sure enough, a cluster of palaces, stretching as far as the eye could see, came into view of Ishihara Akira—

This is precisely the goal of Ishihara Akira's trip: Fangxian Dao!

Then, Ishihara Shō concealed himself and sneaked into the Taoist Palace.

Moreover, having already learned the hard way that carelessly unleashing one's senses would be detected by those on the path of the Ghost Immortal, Ishihara Akane did not choose to use his senses to check the situation inside the palace complex. Instead, he continued to use the Heavenly Demon Eye's ability to discern human emotions and desires to search the surroundings. Only after confirming that there were flames of emotions and desires above the palace did he cautiously approach, open the door, sneak inside, find the Taoist priest who was meditating and cultivating inside, and directly suppress him with his primordial spirit, reading the other's memories.

Naturally, it includes everything except the Taoist's personal information and secrets, such as cultivation techniques, the layout of the Taoist palace, and the situation within the Fangxian Taoist sect, transforming Ishihara Akira from an outsider into a Fangxian Taoist cultivator.

Then, Ishihara Sho used the Heaven-Shattering Earth-Shattering Technique to simulate a dream world, throwing the Taoist's soul into it and making him obsessed. He then transformed himself into the Taoist's image and, based on the Taoist's memories obtained from his mind, swaggered around the Fangxian Path.

The first place they went to was the storeroom within the Fangxian Dao sect, where pills were stored.

What's even more surprising is that there are no guards here!

Neither the Taoist priests guarding the outside nor the ghost immortal elders who should be practicing medicine inside were there. They simply set up a magic array here as a defense, which perfectly exemplified the word "lax and careless".

However, this also made it easier for Ishihara Sho to move around.

Therefore, after using the memories in the Taoist's mind to open the warehouse door, Ishihara Akira quickly transformed into a giant rat, like a diligent little bee, taking whatever pills and iron he saw. He took whatever was in the warehouse until he emptied it out. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and leave the warehouse, heading towards the area where the alchemy Taoists lived.

After all, besides obtaining pills that could help Qin Mengyao cultivate, his other purpose in infiltrating Fangxiandao was to acquire Fangxiandao's alchemy secrets, so he naturally wouldn't let go of the alchemy Taoists in Fangxiandao.

Chapter 432 Scattering Flowers Pavilion

The process went smoothly, without alerting anyone. Ishihara Akira achieved all his goals in coming to Fangxian Dao—obtaining a warehouse full of refined pills, blood-patterned steel used in this world to refine magical artifacts, and the secret methods of refining pills, iron, and medicine within Fangxian Dao, or rather, the fundamental inheritance of Fangxian Dao.

Without hesitation, he immediately left Fangxiandao with a head full of knowledge and returned to Yujing City.

"So, experts are still very important..." Shi Yuanzhang muttered with a sigh as he walked towards Sanhualou.

If Fangxiandao had been more vigilant, for example, by having an elder who had cultivated to the level of a Ghost Immortal, even if he hadn't survived the tribulation, oversee the warehouse, although he still wouldn't be able to do much to Shiyuan Zhang, he could at least have stopped him, or even sounded an alarm to alert Fangxiandao and make arrangements for what to do next, and naturally there wouldn't have been any subsequent losses.

But what about Fangxian Dao? There wasn't one! Although Fangxian Dao wasn't a proper martial arts sect, but rather a Taoist sect specializing in alchemy, iron refining, and medicine refining—in fact, just like its name suggests, it was a lackey sect serving noble families and royalty, paying little attention to the inheritance of martial arts and ghost immortality—there were hardly any masters within its ranks.

Even the current sect leader, Xiao Anran, is just an ordinary ghost immortal who hasn't survived the tribulation of lightning. This is related to the fact that he doesn't have enough experts to maintain the basic operation of the Dao Palace.

However, this negligence is the culprit behind all of this!

Of course, this might also be related to the fact that Fang Xiandao simply doesn't care about the things stored in the warehouse...

After all, these are toys that they can make at any time. Even if a lot of materials are consumed when making them, in terms of their value, they are not as important as places like the Scripture Pavilion in the Dao Palace that store the sect's inheritance. Therefore, it is not too surprising that they did not take them seriously.

I never expected that there would be a master like Ishihara Akira who doesn't play by the rules and dares to break into Fangxian Path at night to steal.

Most importantly, Shi Yuanzhang stole the cultivation technique directly from his disciple's mind, without going to the Scripture Pavilion. Otherwise, he would not have been completely unaware that his home had been raided, even after the person had returned to Yujing City.

……

And so, Ishihara Akira walked for a while longer in the Yujing City shrouded in night, and finally arrived at his destination—the outside of Sanhua Tower.

In an instant, a small group of buildings, three stories high but covering a large area, including courtyards and other ancillary parts, covering several acres, and now brightly lit, with crowds of people and bustling noise in front of the door, came into Ishihara Akira's eyes.

After carefully observing for a while, Shi Yuanzhang relaxed and once again used his perception technique to sense the situation inside the Scattering Flower Pavilion in a simple and straightforward manner.

This is different from Fang Xiandao's actions.

Since the purpose of going to Fangxiandao was to steal things, naturally, they would do everything they could to ensure safety.

As for Sanhualou, it's a brothel, and there are probably at least a hundred, if not hundreds, of customers inside. Trying to find Su Mu's whereabouts among these people won't be so easy.

Especially since he wasn't planning to use the main entrance or waste money hiring a courtesan to perform.

Naturally, using perception techniques to directly sweep away enemies is much more convenient and simple.

While the ability to conceal itself from ghosts and immortals is somewhat lacking, its ability to clearly report what it perceives is undeniable.

For example, the strength of one's spirit and the richness of one's blood and qi in the body allow Ishihara Sho to easily discern each person's cultivation level and general condition.

But what kind of place is Sanhualou?

Brothel!

Even if the situation here is special, it's impossible for every woman to be a master of martial arts or spiritual cultivation, right?

As for guests and such...

There are only a few types of people who can afford to patronize Sanhualou: merchants, officials, and sons of noble families.

Let's not even talk about the former. They don't even have enough time to do business, so where would they find the leisure to cultivate themselves? Hiring guards is more like it, so most of them are ordinary people. Even if they occasionally have qi and blood in their bodies, they are only at the martial arts student or martial arts apprentice level. There isn't even a martial arts master.

While the latter certainly cultivated, their situation was different—civil officials focused on the soul but were deficient in qi and blood, while military officials focused on body cultivation but could not separate their soul from their body. This was clearly different from Su Mu, who came from the Supreme Dao and did not give up on either the soul or martial arts. They could be easily distinguished.

What about the spoiled brats who came after?

Most of them are martial arts practitioners. Even if they cultivate their souls, how strong can they be?

There was a clear difference between him and Su Mu, who was already at the Ghost Immortal realm but had not yet undergone the tribulation of lightning. Naturally, they could tell the difference.

Therefore, after eliminating all suspicious persons, the one with the strongest spirit and abundant blood and energy in the building must be the one he was looking for—Su Mu.

So without any hesitation, he activated his Divine Speed ​​Technique, pierced through space, and appeared in Su Mu's room.

However, as soon as Ishihara Akira stood still, a golden longsword, gleaming brightly in the lamplight, came crashing down on him from mid-air.

It is the supreme sword of the Supreme Dao—the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword!

Calling it the Supreme Dao Sword doesn't refer to its power, since it's not a divine artifact like the Eternal Kingdom, but just an ordinary magic weapon. However, its origin is very ancient. It was originally the personal sword of the first ancestor of the Supreme Dao, and later fell into the hands of the Holy Maiden of the Supreme Dao, serving as the inherited artifact of the Holy Maiden lineage and held by the Holy Maidens of the Supreme Dao throughout the generations.

Therefore, in terms of its symbolic meaning, it is indeed the supreme instrument of the Supreme Tao, unparalleled in its kind.

But its power...

Aside from its ability to distort the attacker's will, causing the attacking intent and magic to be reflected back at the source of the attack, the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword's destructive power is actually not very strong.

After all, it was made entirely of gold, and gold is relatively soft among all metals. Even after being refined by the Supreme Daoist Ancestor, it was not much sharper or more durable than an ordinary sword.

However, launching a surprise attack right in front of them would not be a problem at all.

Ishihara Sho then stepped back to create distance, and then a golden light flashed around him as he activated the Golden Light Spell. The golden light then materialized into a large golden hand, which reached out to grab the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword that was chasing closely in mid-air.

"Come here."

Instantly, the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword was seized by Ishihara Sho's golden hand.

The Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword trembled, struggling to break free from the grasp of the golden hand.

But Ishihara Sho wouldn't let go of the opportunity to extort money so easily. With a thought, he sent the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword back to his front, grabbed it with one hand, and pressed the sealing technique he had prepared with his other hand down onto the blade of the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword.

"How dare you!" Su Mu, who was in the room, shouted angrily upon seeing this.

Without hesitation, he flashed in front of Ishihara Akira with a swift movement, his right fist striking out with imposing force, aiming straight for Ishihara Akira's face...

Chapter 433 Su Mu

After more than half a month of research, and based on Su Mu's current performance, Ishihara Akira can basically confirm that although the martial arts system of the Yangshen World follows the blood and qi energy system, in essence, it still cannot be separated from the three aspects of form, intention, and momentum.

The "form" refers to stances, routines, and attack techniques, primarily used to facilitate training and the formation of combat habits.

The "intention" refers to the intention in martial arts, or the understanding of martial arts, or even the personal pursuit of martial arts. When applied to reality, it manifests as various boxing intentions—such as domineering, strict, and sinister.

The next level is pure momentum, which is the fundamental reason why Yang Shen martial arts can surpass martial arts from other worlds!

Take Su Mu as an example. She simply threw a punch, but with the support of form, intention, and momentum, it was as if the stars were evolving. Not only was her fist huge and powerful, but the oppressive feeling was also unavoidable, giving people the feeling that they could only withstand it but it seemed that they might not be able to withstand it.

Simply put, it means seizing control of the enemy's mind.

If it were someone of lower cultivation level than Su Mu, they might have been truly intimidated by her punch. But who is Ishihara Akira?

Heavenly Demon!

Most importantly, he had just survived in the world of "Turning Clouds and Overturning Rain," a world that also values ​​intention and power, but whose martial arts level is slightly lower than that of the world of "Yang Shen," and had even learned two martial arts that emphasize spiritual cultivation: the "Dao Xin Seed Demon Technique" and the "Heaven and Earth Strike Technique."

With this, plus his Buddhist cultivation gained through countless reincarnations, and his nearly half-formed Yang Transformation Primordial Spirit, which is at least equivalent to having survived four tribulations in the Yang God World, Ishihara Akane regained his mind with a mere thought, making Su Mu's fists appear ordinary.

Then, with a thought, two new arms emerged from his shoulders in the form of golden light, one palm in front and one palm behind, pressing down with both hands to meet Su Mu's fist.

"boom!"

The air rippled, and as Ishihara's golden barrier flickered, Su Mu couldn't help but take two steps back to dissipate the remaining power on his body.

However, thanks to this clash, Ishihara Sho also used sealing techniques and the power of the Secret Book of Wisdom to temporarily shield the spiritual consciousness on the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword, causing it to stop resisting. Ishihara Sho then casually tossed it into his personal space.

"Who are you!? How dare you forcibly seize my Supreme Dao's supreme treasure, the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword? Aren't you afraid that my sect's Dao Master will personally come knocking on your door?" Seeing that his martial arts were inferior to his opponent's, and realizing that he couldn't defeat him head-on, Su Mu's expression changed. With a cold and stern look, he took off the Supreme Dao's tiger skin and questioned Ishihara Sho.

"I am scared. But he's not here right now, and you can't send a signal. Even if I secretly use the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword, what good will it do?" Ishihara Akira asked with a chuckle.

Unlike other magical artifacts, the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword is a symbolic artifact controlled by the Saintess lineage. It may contain methods left by Meng Shenji, but the probability is relatively small. It is more likely that it is related to Su Mu's life. Therefore, as long as Su Mu's life is not harmed, it should not activate the methods on it and attract Meng Shenji's attention.

Otherwise, the time it would have taken for Ishihara Akira to seal the Heavenly Dao Demon-Sealing Sword would have been enough for Meng Shenji, who has now undergone at least seven tribulations and reached the Creator realm, capable of tearing through the void and directly performing time-space teleportation, to cross thousands of mountains and rivers and arrive in front of Ishihara Akira.

In that case, aside from quitting and restarting, Ishihara Sho really wasn't confident he could gain any advantage from the Dream God Machine, who had already cultivated the Supreme Dao's Cosmic Second Scripture to an extremely high level, had already made initial contact with the Great Dao of Time, and also carried the Eternal Kingdom with him.

Even worse, it's not impossible that one could die at the hands of Meng Shenji if they're not careful.

This is why, even though they knew Su Mu was at Sanhua Tower, they hadn't focused their attention on her.

"Who exactly are you, and what is your purpose in coming here?" Su Mu's expression shifted slightly as he questioned in a deep voice.

"I won't tell you my name, lest you find a way to track me down by name. But as for my purpose... aren't you the most beautiful courtesan at Sanhua Pavilion? What do you think I could be here for at this hour?" Ishihara Akane said with a smile as he walked toward Su Mu, who looked wary.

"A courtesan? That was just something I used to conceal my identity," Su Mu retorted.

"Is it really just to cover up your identity? Then why choose to be a courtesan when there are other better professions to disguise yourself? And not only you, but even your previous Holy Maiden, Meng Bingyun, did the same. Or is it that the way your Supreme Dao Holy Maiden lineage cultivates is by disguising yourself as a courtesan and then achieving the goal of transcending emotions through entanglements with men?" Shi Yuanzhang asked.