The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

However, this only means that people no longer need to guard the temple; the temple gates will remain open until after 9 p.m., when they will officially close and refuse entry to unauthorized personnel.

So after closing the temple, Ishihara Sho took off his monk's robes, changed into the everyday clothes of an ordinary young man, took out the cash he used for daily expenses, put on a hat, and took a taxi to Nagoya's most famous all-night street.

The "Never-Sleeping Street," also known as the gathering place for special service workers, is a place similar to Kabukicho in Tokyo, filled with a large number of people in the sex industry and shops.

Of course, there are also supporting services such as restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and shopping malls, so when you enter here, you will see not only what you expect, but also a lot of other normal business activities.

But that's not what Ishihara Akira's purpose is today!

Instead, he planned to break the taboo, enter a shop, and bring out a female 'friend' to facilitate his experimentation with his dream-entry abilities.

Yes, this is the method that Ishihara Akira came up with to have outsiders cooperate in testing his abilities—inviting a friend out, then staying overnight at a nearby hotel, and testing his abilities in his friend's dream while he was asleep.

It's simple, quick, and it'll also give this magician from his previous life a chance to learn about dark magic. Why not?

Chapter 7 Emotions

The process of finding people is not worth mentioning—find a store that looks decent by looking at the signs outside, go in to find people, discuss the intentions and salary with the person involved, and then the two of them leave the store that has been temporarily used as an intermediary facility together, go to a nearby hotel, book a room, and check in.

After that, it's something that all adults understand...

After all, the initial investment has been paid, so there's no reason for Ishihara Akira not to check and inspect the condition of the vehicle, right?

Then, his friend fell asleep, and a white bubble, like the dialogue box of an NPC in an MMORPG, gradually appeared above his friend's head, catching Ishihara Shou's eye. Then, Ishihara Shou concentrated his mind and used his will to collide with his friend's bubble...

Just like when he tested Hanako before, seeing if he could influence the colorful light around her, the bubble expanded as if breathing, but then immediately shrank back, as if the previous change was an illusion...

"Cultivation level..." Ishihara Sho sighed upon seeing this, and touched the bubbles that appeared on his friend's head with his hand without any hope.

Suddenly, Ishihara Akane's surroundings changed. He went from his hotel room to a luxuriously decorated shopping mall. Various luxury brand shops lined both sides of the street, and attractive, well-dressed women introduced their products to the woman standing in the middle with fawning smiles, as if they wanted to stuff their own products into the other woman's hands. They were very mercenary.

At the same time, Ishihara Akira also discovered that the woman standing among the sales clerks was none other than his friend A, whom he had invited from the agency!

Her head-to-toe designer clothes and expensive jewelry made her look completely different from her real appearance!

"Because it's a dream, it directly reveals the thoughts in one's heart..." Ishihara Akira muttered softly as he watched his friend A, who was surrounded by sales clerks and had a reserved yet smug expression on his face.

However, he paid more attention to the colorful orbs of light emanating from his friend A, and even from the female sales clerks around him.

Unexpectedly, he saw such things in his dream, which made him wonder if he could have any thoughts about them in his dreams.

Then, Ishihara Akira walked over to a female sales clerk on the outermost edge of the store and subtly swept his finger across the orb of light emanating from her.

"Damn it, why wasn't that woman me?!"

Ishihara Akira glanced at the woman in front of him with some surprise, then turned his attention back to the ball of light surrounding the saleswoman.

"Why doesn't that bitch go out and get hit by a car?!"

"Ah, I wonder what Tatsuya-kun is doing now? I miss him so much."

"Hmm, that guy I saw earlier was so handsome, I really want to sleep with him..."

All these thoughts, representing human emotions and desires, flowed into Ishihara Sho's mind like radio waves as he touched the various orbs of light, expressing the corresponding emotions of the woman at that moment.

"So, these orbs of light represent the inner emotions of the person in question!" Ishihara Akira muttered to himself, his expression suddenly enlightened after touching all the orbs of light.

"Is it possible to control it?"

As he thought this, Ishihara Akira touched the ball of light on the saleswoman's body again, and conceived a plan to make it grow stronger—

Unexpectedly, it actually succeeded. Almost before his eyes, the purple aura representing jealousy and hatred on the saleswoman suddenly expanded, devouring the surrounding white and other colored auras, and enveloping the saleswoman like holy light.

Then, under Ishihara Akira's gaze, the saleswoman threw the goods in her hand on the ground and turned around to scratch the face of another saleswoman next to her.

"You bitch! I'll teach you to steal my clients!"

"Ah!" The attacked saleswoman screamed, and then a red aura, seemingly representing anger, suddenly surged around her, destroying her reason and causing her to tear at saleswoman A on the spot.

“Red represents anger, purple represents jealousy, green represents peace, white represents warmth, pink represents love, and pinkish-purple represents affection…” As Ishihara Akira watched the two female sales clerks tearing each other apart, he summarized the emotions represented by the light orb from the previous tests!

"In other words, as long as I can control the growth or shrinking of the corresponding light cluster, I can influence the target individual's loves, hates, and even various physiological desires, thereby affecting the individual to the extent that I can influence them..."

Unfortunately, he seems to be able to manipulate the emotions of people in his dreams now, but not in reality. However, he has gained a lot from understanding the emotions represented by the ball of light!

Because he can judge the target's mood and general thoughts by observing the composition and size of the light clusters on the target, thereby enhancing his understanding of the other person, and then influencing their emotions and thoughts through language...

"Hmm, it looks more like a demon now."

Then, at that moment, Ishihara Akira's friend A was pushed out by the chaotic sales staff, lost his balance, and fell towards him.

Ishihara Akira subconsciously reached out to steady himself, and his mind became extremely noisy, as if he had entered a kindergarten.

What's going on with these salespeople?

How dare they push themselves?

Those disgusting women.

Thoughts like "I'm going to file a complaint" flooded Ishihara Sho's mind like a dense radio wave.

But before he could push his friend A away, his attention was drawn to another situation that was unfolding before him—

In the brief moment that he made contact with his friend A's dream consciousness, Ishihara Akira discovered that wisps of smoke-like lines were drifting out from the ball of light on his friend A's body and flowing into his own.

"Am I... absorbing my friend A's emotions?!" Ishihara Akira thought in astonishment.

But upon further reflection, it doesn't seem so surprising.

According to legend, the Heavenly Demon is a creature that feeds on human emotions, desires, and negative thoughts. Now, not only has he been corrupted by the Demon King Mara, but he also seems to have been targeted by Satan, the king of demons in Christianity. Naturally, he can obtain some of the Heavenly Demon's power—such as the previous ability to observe human emotions and desires with the naked eye, enter dreams, and now feed on human emotions.

"It's just so noisy!"

Thinking of this, Ishihara Akira no longer cared about discovering her. With a little effort, he helped his friend A, who was falling towards him, and then let go and moved a little distance away from her.

However, although the sound was gone, the smoky emotional energy still surged towards Ishihara Akira's body like a lingering thread.

Chapter 8 Ideas

"What are you all doing? Don't you even want to work here anymore!" Just as Ishihara Akira was pondering the problem of absorption distance, several women who looked like store managers of luxury brands ran out of the store and roared at the female employees of various stores who were fighting in a chaotic mess.

Immediately, all the female employees who were fighting paused slightly, and their movements became less agitated than before...

"What are you all standing there for? Get them separated right now!" the female store managers roared again.

"And don't think you're off the hook. These, these, and these—all the goods on the ground, I don't care if you stepped on them or not, as long as they're from the store, you'll have to pay for them all at the original price. Otherwise, you can expect me to call the police!"

Immediately, all the female shop assistants who still had ideas gave up their thoughts and retreated from the area full of various luxury goods as if avoiding a plague, exposing the luxury goods that had been trampled and deformed or damaged.

"Why aren't you cleaning up yet! Are you all idiots?"

The female shop assistants didn't dare to talk back and started tidying up their own merchandise.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am. It's all because we didn't discipline you properly and made you look foolish. So as an apology, all your purchases in our store will be 30% off. What do you think..." A female store manager who was good at getting along with people ran up to Ishihara Akira's friend A and said with a smile.

"Hmph, you think you can bribe me with a mere discount? Do I look like such a cheap person?" Friend A sneered, putting on airs.

"That's not what we meant. We really only offered the discount out of apology. If you're not satisfied, we can discuss it further," the female manager said with a smile.

"Too late, I'm not interested anymore," friend A scoffed.

After saying that, he turned around and looked at Ishihara Akira beside him: "Hey you, thanks for earlier."

She does know how to express gratitude, which shows she is quite a well-mannered woman.

Otherwise, an ordinary nouveau riche woman might not have this thought.

After saying that, without waiting for Ishihara Akira to speak, he turned around and walked towards the mall's entrance.

Ishihara Akira didn't follow, but instead kept an eye on the distance between the two, assessing the absorbable range of emotional energy—

"About two meters..." Ishihara Sho muttered.

This distance may continue to increase in the future, but Ishihara Akira doesn't have much of a clue as to how exactly it will increase!

Even the fact that she could absorb emotional power was only discovered now. She didn't even know what benefits she could gain from absorbing this emotional power, let alone anything else derived from it.

However, one thing he is certain of now is that if he wants to continue absorbing this emotional power, he will definitely need to invite friends to the hotel to participate in the room service experience activities in the future!

Because until now, this is the only way he knows how to absorb emotional power.

Therefore, money is destined to become a high-consumption product in the coming period of time!

Unless he can find a regular girlfriend who can come and spend every night with him during this period...

Otherwise, such things would definitely happen frequently.

Therefore, wealth, land, Dharma, and companions are indeed the true secrets of cultivation; the ancients were right.

"How do I find a suitable girlfriend..." Ishihara Akira pondered as he emerged from his friend A's dream.

Logically speaking, you should definitely look among people you know. This will increase your success rate, make it easier to reduce the cost of your strategy, and even allow you to get results as soon as you open your mouth.

But that's for a traditional scumbag who's a master of PUA. For Ishihara Yu, this monk, an outsider whose social circle shrank drastically after graduating from university, he doesn't have any female friends with whom he has mutual feelings; female followers are more like him...

But those believers also have families, so it's best not to interfere if you don't want to break up their families.

Besides, even if he succeeded, those women wouldn't come to accompany him every day as he imagined.

It would be more appropriate to say it's about finding a wife.

So after thinking it over, I still think that the current way of being accompanied by friend A is the simplest and most convenient.

Even if it costs a lot, Ishihara Akira isn't unwilling to admit it for the sake of his golden finger.

"If only I had the chance to meet actresses in the sex industry, perhaps I could fulfill my ambitions..."

Although their work may be unacceptable to normal men, if it's just a relationship based on exploitation rather than a future commitment, it's not impossible to tolerate it.

Let's just consider them as friends A who aren't materialistic.

Anyway, there's not much difference.

Then there's the issue of money.

Although the incense at the Arako Kannon Temple was quite good, coupled with the savings left by the original owner's father, they were not exactly middle class, but they never lacked anything in terms of spending. That's why Ishihara Akira was confident enough to change brides every night and be a groom every day.

But that only refers to a short period of time—within a month. If he were to continue his spiritual practice regardless of everything, Ishihara Akira estimated that even if he didn't go bankrupt after a month, he would have to return to the temple to abide by the rules and regulations, and only after the religious support funds for the next quarter or the next year came in could he continue to live a carefree life.

"So making money is the top priority, finding a girlfriend who can help me cultivate is the second priority, and as for cultivation... well, let fate decide!"