The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

The two sides, now three, were locked in a fierce battle.

Although Hong Yi's side had far fewer experts than in the original story, and was composed of many skilled warriors, they were still formidable opponents. Their strength lay in their ability to seize power and eliminate threats, and their attacks were always deadly.

No matter if you are a master of the Innate Realm or not, you cannot withstand a single blow from Ishihara Akira. In fact, you don't even need to attack directly; just tripping the opponent to delay their reaction is enough for Qin Mengyao to kill them.

So when the three groups separated again, Wei Lei's situation was even worse than in the original story. He only had two leaders of the Dark Guards at the Innate Realm left by his side, and he himself was injured and looked disheveled.

The pirates were almost completely wiped out, with only three or five remaining who were presumably guards, along with two leaders—the island lord Huang Mei and the Heavenly Sword Scholar Gan Lin.

Hong Yi's side had the most survivors, retaining half of them, which is more than a hundred people. They subtly blocked the surrounding roads, completely surrounding Wei Lei and the pirates.

"Hong Yi, good, very good. I didn't expect you to actually do it." Wei Lei looked at Hong Yi, who was covered in blood but whose aura was still incredibly strong, with a sinister expression and said viciously, "But even if you win, so what? Do you dare to kill me? Besides, the army will be here soon, in full view of everyone. You don't have the guts."

"Why wouldn't I dare?" Hong Yi sneered.

“That’s right, why wouldn’t you dare?” Ishihara Akira walked over and said, “Look who these two are in my hands.”

“…” Wei Lei remained silent.

"I'm not afraid to tell you, I have plenty of ways to get those two to defect to Hong Yi. Then they can personally tell the general that you were fighting bravely for military merit when you were ambushed and killed by Huang Mei and Gan Lin. Tell me, will the general believe what they say, or will he be willing to go to Hong Yi for the sake of a dead man like you?" Shi Yuanzhang looked at Wei Lei with a leisurely and provocative tone.

"And who are you?" Wei Lei asked in a deep voice, his eyes narrowed.

“Then you don’t need to know,” Ishihara Akira said, shaking his head.

After saying that, without giving Wei Lei a chance to speak, he raised his hand and pointed, and a dazzling bolt of lightning suddenly shot towards Wei Lei.

Wei Lei's expression changed, and he immediately unleashed his inner energy, slashing at Lei Guang with his sword.

"boom!"

Wei Lei was struck by the lightning, but he underestimated its power. He was immediately hit by the aftershock and was sent flying backward as if he had been hit by someone.

But Ishihara Akira wouldn't give Wei Lei a chance to escape. With a thought, the blood-patterned steel sword that Qin Mengyao was holding suddenly flew out of her hand and shot straight behind Wei Lei like a bolt of lightning, aiming for the back of his head.

Wei Lei sensed something was wrong, forcibly twisted his body, and continued to resist with his knife.

But the flying sword swiftly dodged the broadsword in Wei Lei's hand and attacked from his side again.

Wei Lei leaned back to dodge, but the flying sword, which had already reached him, suddenly stopped just as it was about to pass directly over his face. It flipped the sword and slashed down at Wei Lei's face.

Wei Lei had no way to dodge and could only watch helplessly as the blade struck his face. He could clearly feel the pain as he completely lost consciousness.

"Pfft."

Wei Lei's body, missing half its head, crashed heavily to the ground.

"Brother Hong, do you want these two dead or alive?" Shi Yuanzhang, who had casually dealt with Wei Lei, pointed his flying sword at the pirates beside him and asked Hong Yi in a low voice.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the two Innate Realm experts guarding Wei Lei roared in unison and charged towards Hong Yi and the others...

Then Huang Mei, Gan Lin, and the others also moved and charged towards Hong Yi's group.

"Not bad!" Ishihara Sho chuckled, and a halo of red, yellow, blue, green, yellow, and black light appeared behind his head. In a flash, six emanations of faith emerged: Vajrapani, Narayana, and the four guardian deities of the East, South, West, and North. The four guardian deities each sought out a master of innate cultivation, while the two Vajrapanis attacked the remnants of the pirates, and they began to fight directly on the training ground...

Naturally, Ishihara Akira himself was not idle either. The flying sword controlled by his mind continued to fly across the sky, occasionally striking out from the sidelines. The two leaders of the secret guards who came with Wei Lei died under Ishihara Akira's sword.

Then came Huang Mei, the great island master of Whale Island.

Only when the Heavenly Sword Scholar Gan Lin saw that things were not going well and tried to escape, he was killed on the spot by the sonic blade released by the pipa played by the Heavenly King of the Nation, leaving not even a complete body.

With this, all the pirates on Whale Island were wiped out, and Wei Lei died on the spot, thus fulfilling all of Hong Yi's plans since arriving on the island.

"Everyone, immediately clean up the battlefield and search the mansion. Make sure you don't miss a single place!" Although Hong Yi felt that his achievements were somewhat unreal, he quickly composed himself and gave the order to his men.

"Yes!" The soldiers responded quickly, dividing their forces. Some stayed behind to clean up the battlefield and tidy up the corpses, while others scattered to search the entire pirate mansion.

"My lord!" A moment later, a soldier came to Hong Yi with the broadsword that Wei Lei had used and a small bag made of silkworm silk, and called out while holding up the items.

Hong Yi didn't stand on ceremony and took the knife and cloth bag.

"Good heavens, this knife must weigh over a hundred pounds," Hong Yi said, taking the knife and feeling its weight.

"Let's see what's in the bag!" Jin Zhu'er asked curiously, jumping onto Hong Yi's shoulder.

Hong Yi was also curious about this, so he handed the knife to the guard beside him, opened the cloth bag, and took out the contents—

It turned out to be a martial arts manual.

"Thunder Prison Blade Scripture!"

"This is the martial art of Gongyang Yu, the great swordsman. How did it end up in the hands of you Great Qian people?" Jin Zhu'er asked in surprise as she looked at the name on the book.

"A legendary swordsman? Is he that famous?" Hong Yi asked curiously.

"Of course he's famous. He was the second-best martial artist in the world before Hong Xuanji of the Great Qian Dynasty became famous. He was a grandmaster of swordsmanship at the time. The Thunder Prison Sword Manual he used was exquisite. In terms of destructive power alone, few martial arts in the world could compare to it! Unfortunately, he disappeared later, and no one knew anything about the Thunder Prison Sword Manual or his personal weapon, the Shattering Blade. I never expected to see him here." Jin Zhu'er told her the information she knew.

"The second best in the world? Then who is the best?" Hong Yi asked curiously.

“It’s the monk Yinyue from Dachan Temple,” Shen Tianyang explained from the side.

Hong Yi nodded, then handed the sword manual to Ishihara Akira.

“Brother Shi, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with Wei Lei and Huang Mei Gan Lin so easily. So, in terms of merit, you deserve the most credit. Naturally, this sword manual is also your spoils of war. Keep it safe,” Hong Yi said sincerely.

Chapter 472 Wishes Fulfilled

“Alright, I’ll accept the manual. But as you know, I’m a soul cultivator, so I don’t have a high need for martial arts. So when we get back to the camp, you should also copy it down. After all, while you have techniques for body training, you lack combat skills. This will make up for that deficiency.” Shi Yuanzhang nodded and casually put the Thunder Prison Blade Manual into his spatial storage.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony with you, Brother Shi." Hong Yi didn't refuse and nodded in agreement.

“We’re brothers, there’s no need for formalities,” Ishihara Akira said, putting his arm around Hong Yi’s shoulder.

……

Spurred by the potential benefits, the seemingly ordinary Green Standard Army soldiers displayed the qualities of elite troops. They no longer seemed tired or concerned about their injuries, and quickly searched the pirate's residence, reporting their findings back to the authorities.

"We've found the armory!"

"The treasury has been found!"

"Find the study!"

"My lord, we have found a secret underground mechanism in the study!"

A series of reports came in, leaving Hong Yi feeling overwhelmed.

However, they could distinguish between what was important and what was urgent, especially when they heard the news from the authorities, they immediately led their men there.

After all, anything that can be protected by mechanisms is important. Although it's unclear what the pirates valued, for Hong Yi, it was all military merit and gain, so he couldn't help but look at it differently.

So soon, led by the soldier who came to report, everyone arrived at a room filled with all kinds of books...

"Sir, the secret room is in the middle of the study," reported Yang Yingming, one of Hong Yi's captains.

"Oh." Hong Yi nodded and walked to the entrance of the secret passage.

"Wait, let me think for a moment before going down," Ishihara Akira said, stopping Hong Yi who was about to go down.

Hong Yi nodded.

Ishihara Akira then used his thoughts to create an avatar, which acted as a sentinel and was the first to enter the secret chamber—

"There's no one in the secret room, you can come down now." Immediately afterwards, Ishihara Akira's voice came from inside the secret room.

Without further hesitation, everyone jumped into the secret room to check the situation inside.

It wasn't complicated, because there were no extra decorations in the secret room. There was only a solemn Buddha statue with one hand forming a mudra and the other hand touching the ground. The statue was so dignified that many of the soldiers who followed Hong Yi in instinctively bowed to it.

Qin Mengyao is the same.

Although she had also practiced the Amitabha Sutra, before her cultivation, she was still a Buddhist disciple. Cihang Jingzhai, from its founder Di Ni, was a special representative of the Buddhist lineage. So even out of respect for those who had attained enlightenment before her, Qin Mengyao would still bow to them.

"It seems this is a place of worship," Hong Yi remarked after looking around.

"Hong Yi, do you want this Buddha statue?" Just as Hong Yi was about to have someone move the Buddha statue out, Ishihara Akira suddenly spoke up again.

"What does Brother Shi mean?" Hong Yi turned to look at him and asked.

“If Brother Hong doesn’t mind, I would like to take this Buddha statue with me,” Ishihara Akira said seriously.

“Since Brother Shi likes it, then Brother Shi is welcome to take it. It’s nothing important.” Hong Yi replied immediately without the slightest hesitation.

After all, it was just a Buddha statue. Even if it held some secrets that he couldn't discover, Hong Yi wouldn't mind using it to repay Ishihara Sho for his help.

He understood this point very well.

Therefore, in terms of temperament and character alone, Hong Yi is indeed worthy of being the chosen one of the era. An ordinary person would not be able to make such a decision so easily.

"Then I'll thank Brother Hong in advance," Ishihara Akira said with a smile.

Why had he followed Hong Yi for so long? Wasn't it all for the scriptures on the merit robe and the hidden Tathagata Sutra inside the Buddha statue? Now that both things were in place, it was no wonder that Ishihara Akira was happy.

This means that he can temporarily leave Hong Yi to pursue his own interests.

After all, a year is neither a long nor a short time. It is not an easy task to accumulate enough strength to overcome the ninefold tribulation in such a short period of time. Naturally, it is necessary to deal with it quickly.

Immediately, Ishihara Akira had an idea and put the Buddha statue away.

Afterwards, everyone left the secret room and returned to the study. While waiting for the soldiers' reports, they casually browsed through the books in the study.

I did see quite a few martial arts manuals, and most importantly, the Fighting Buddha's Notes.

Ishihara asked Hong Yi to lend the notebook to Qin Mengyao for a while so that she could understand the immortal's insights into martial arts, and then return the notebook to Hong Yi.

Hong Yi naturally had no objections and readily agreed. He then handed the Doufo Notes he had just received to Qin Mengyao, who thanked him, accepted them, and stuffed the notes into her bosom.

At this point, there was nothing left on Whale Island that Ishihara Sho could pay attention to, so he stayed put, browsing through the martial arts manuals on the bookshelf while waiting for the army to arrive.

Oh, and while we're at it, let's also deal with Xiao Shan and Xiao Yu, the couple we captured earlier, and reform their will so they'll pledge allegiance to Hong Yi.

……

Li Hongsheng, the commander of the First Army, did not expect that even though he rushed there, he was still a step too late when he arrived at the destination. He only saw Hong Yi, but did not see Wei Lei, whom the commander-in-chief Deng Yuantong had instructed him to keep an eye on.

"Hong Yi, where is Wei Lei?" Li Hongsheng asked Hong Yi with the last glimmer of hope.

"Reporting to the General, when our army arrived, we found General Wei Lei locked in a fierce battle with Huang Mei, the Great Island Master of the Giant Whale Sect, and Gan Lin, the Heavenly Sword Scholar. Perhaps seeing our army arrive and thinking the main force was already there, he despaired and disregarded his own safety, forcibly embracing General Wei Lei in a life-or-death struggle, allowing the Heavenly Sword Scholar to kill both of them at once. After that..."

"What did you say?" Li Hongsheng interrupted Hong Yi's story, his eyes wide as he pressed for an answer.

“Commander Wei has already sacrificed his life for his country,” Hong Yi repeated.