Don't force me to use my right fist.

The Louguan sword in his hand was trembling slightly, as if it was anticipating the battle to come.

Just as the monsters' claws and fangs were about to touch Sōyū's body, he suddenly took a step forward. Sōyū transformed into a green light and passed through the middle of the monsters. Before they could even react, he was already behind them.

Shaking off the bloodstains from the pristine white blade of the Louguan Sword, Zuoyou turned and stepped back in the original direction. The green light once again passed precisely past each demon, and by the time they regained their senses, Zuoyou was already standing where he had been. If he hadn't turned his back to them, it would have seemed as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Although they didn't know what had happened, since he was still there, they absolutely wouldn't let him go. Their attacks on Saya showed no sign of stopping, but the demons closest to him found their strength draining from their bodies—they couldn't muster any more energy. All Saya did was slowly turn around and sheath the Loukan Sword. The claws and gaping maws that should have shattered Saya's body froze in place. With a crisp clang as the Loukan Sword was sheathed, the demons standing motionless in front of Saya were all neatly severed in two at the waist. They couldn't even scream; they didn't even realize what had happened. By the time they reacted, all that remained in front of Saya was a pile of broken pieces.

"As expected, actual combat is still very important. If it were Youki doing it, he should have killed them all in the first round, and there would have been no need to turn back."

Chapter 457 You definitely need to use AOE to fight invisible monsters.

With just two swings of his sword, the first wave of rabble demons was instantly reduced to corpses, lying neatly at the entrance to the barrier. What chilled the other demons who had held back from charging forward even more was that they hadn't even seen how Saya attacked. They had only seen Saya, in his green form, dash through the demon horde twice. The demons, who had already halted their advance after that, knew that charging in now would be tantamount to suicide.

Most of the monsters were aware of their own strength and knew that they were not much different from the monsters that were killed by Saya in the first wave. Naturally, they did not want to die here in vain.

The remaining monsters, unable to resist having second thoughts, retreated back into the shadows, and for a while, they didn't seem to be planning to attack again.

"No way, you're just going to chicken out like that? Come on, give it your all! I had so many expectations for you."

Saku looked at the group of demons who had suddenly cowered and twitched his lips. He should have deliberately acted weaker; what if these guys ran away now that he had accidentally overdone it?

Sōyū had no interest in hunting down these monsters one by one, but on second thought, he realized there was no need to exterminate them all.

His main objective was simply to stop their offensive.

Zuo You, leaning on Lou Guan Jian with one hand, looked languid, but at first glance, he appeared to be full of openings.

"Pfft. These guys are too scared to make a move. Why don't you try blocking this thing again? I don't want to stay here all night." whl

Sōyū turned around and called out in Tamamo-no-Mae's direction. Now that she was out, there shouldn't be any other problems repairing the barrier.

He'd be fine fighting, but as for guarding the gate, forget it. With a whole circle of monsters surrounding him, him standing there like a log would be no different from a monkey in a zoo being stared at.

"Speaking of which, I'll give you another chance, why don't you charge in again? You're monsters, why are you cowering at a human like me? There's a saying, 'I'm just one person, you...'"

Saya turned back and continued to mock the group of monsters who had retreated into the shadows. He secretly glanced at them and noticed that the monsters he had just killed had lost some experience points. He was clearly not satisfied with the result.

However, the only response to Sōyū was deathly silence, as if all the demons had perished in the first attack.

As Sōyū reluctantly prepared to sheathe his sword and leave, he suddenly sensed a strange sensation coming from directly in front of him, but upon closer inspection, he saw nothing at all.

Even so, Sōyū still placed his hand on the hilt of the Hakurō sword, and his expression became serious.

With his eyes half-closed, Saya, who had relinquished control of his body to his sword-wielding instincts, suddenly drew out the slightly shorter Hakuro sword and swung it horizontally towards the empty space.

"bite!"

After a crisp clang of metal clashing, sword energy bloomed like cherry blossoms in front of Zuoyou, who then transformed into four afterimages and swung a fatal slash at the very center.

Four black streaks of blood erupted from what should have been empty space in mid-air, and the green smoke vanished on the spot.

"Phew, that's more like it. Being a demon requires courage, the courage to face danger head-on."

Saya, who had killed the attacker with a single blow through a counterattack, scratched his head. Even though the attacker had only revealed himself once, he had a pretty good idea of ​​what kind of person he was.

Isn't this the same group of pathetic maids under the command of that old monster, Pudu Cihang? As an incarnation of a monster, they ended up getting four of them killed while ganging up on a pure martial artist with a missing hand.

However, in Japan, the situation seems to be slightly different.

At least Sasuke can confirm that her performance in terms of stealth far exceeds the level in the original work. If Sasuke doesn't use parry or counter-attack skills, figuring out the specific direction of this thing is really a problem.

But that doesn't change the fact that she still embarrassed herself.

Just as Sōyu was about to continue mocking the small-time monsters in front of him who seemed to be getting restless because another monster had come forward, he narrowed his eyes as if he had thought of something.

Without hesitation, Zuo You drew the Louguan Sword from its sheath, switching from holding the hilt with one hand to two, and slashed forward into the open space in front of him.

A massive cyan sword aura shot out rapidly from the sword in Zuoyou's hand, sweeping across the empty space in front of him like a crescent moon piercing the sky, which was filled with corpses.

This seemingly casual strike, aimed at an empty space, actually resulted in a series of black-clad maids appearing out of thin air as they were slashed down.

This thing is bullying humans, so four of them have been deployed, Zuo.

If other powers were available, simply throwing a bottle of splash potion would have revealed the exact location of these invisible guys through particle effects. However, since Sawa has set a rule that only swordsmanship can be used, the only option left is to use area-of-effect (AOE) attacks to clear the area.

Fortunately, this doesn't consume much of Sōyū's magic power.

Rather, with the support of his equipment, as long as he doesn't get beaten to a pulp and suffer a humiliating defeat, maintaining his current dream summoning ability indefinitely with his magic power wouldn't be a problem.

"But if all these guys are out, does that mean the main character is almost here too?"

Zuo You stroked his chin, watching the black-veiled maids whose souls had been completely scattered by the sword energy he had unleashed. If he remembered correctly, these seemed to be the limbs of that centipede demon.

Looking towards the street where the demon who dared to impersonate Buddha was located, eager to test his skills with his twin swords, Saya looked at the demons who had scattered after witnessing his attack and had completely lost their will to fight, waiting for the arrival of the white-faced monk he had been waiting for.

Chapter 458 The Fox Rubs

Some things won't necessarily come just because you expect them.

Zuoyou waited in place for a long time, and even the golden light that had been corroding the barrier slowly dissipated, but the white-faced monk he had expected to appear still did not show up.

"Don't wait any longer. With the spectacle of his entrance, if he's going to cause trouble in the city like this, it's not something a few barriers can fool him. If he's going to really break ties with me, he'll have to wait until tomorrow when he goes to the makeshift rain-praying platform outside the city." whl

Tamamo-no-Mae reached out her small hand from behind Saya and patted his shoulder. Saya's actions this time allowed her to get a basic understanding of some of his strength.

Putting everything else aside, just her skill with two swords alone is enough to explain why Yuugo said her strength was no less than his.

The only thing that puzzled her was that, although Saya seemed quite strong, it was still a bit of a stretch to say he could directly confront the monster that had previously occupied that place.

"Is this all the power you have?"

Tamamo-no-Mae poked at the Louguan Sword, which Saku had already put away, a hint of doubt on her face.

If this is all there is to Sōyu, then entrusting him with the most crucial position in the public eye seems a bit too risky.

At least she didn't think Zuoyou could withstand Pudu Cihang's attack, after all, even she couldn't quite figure that guy out.

Sōyū shrugged. Strength is part of strength, and he never intended to show all his power.

"Then you still dare to wait here for National Preceptor Cihang to arrive? Aren't you afraid of him at all?"

Tilting her head, if Pudu Cihang was merely a little hard to understand, then Zuoyou was the kind of enigma in human form.

Tamamo-no-Mae, unable to discern any hidden tricks from him, couldn't help but ask him.

"I have more than just this one skill. Putting aside everything else, as long as it's not a direct confrontation with a god, there's basically nothing I can't handle."

Sōyū shrugged, and seeing that the barrier had been repaired, he directly conjured a clock-like magic spell in his hand right in front of her.

In the instant the world turned gray, Saya first walked up to Tamamo-no-Mae and gently pinched the downy fur in her fox ears, which trembled nimbly with her mood. Then he walked around behind her and slowly walked to the gate of his own courtyard.

Sawa snapped his fingers, casually canceling the time stop, bringing Tamamo-no-Mae back to her senses from the shock of his sudden disappearance.

Leaning lazily against the gate of his courtyard, Sōyū grinned at the fox-eared girl who looked surprised.

"For example, is something like this enough for me to explain why I can say such arrogant things?" whl

The soft touch of Tamamo-no-Mae's ear hair still lingered on his fingers as Saku rubbed his fingers together and smiled faintly at her.

It was only then that Tamamo-no-Mae noticed the peculiar tingling sensation coming from her ears.

Her memory was still stuck on the moment when the clock-like pattern flashed in Saya's hand. When she was pulled into the bow again by Saya's snap of the fingers, she had to admit one thing.

That was something Saya did in that instant, something she herself couldn't even perceive. But the strange tingling sensation emanating from her sensitive fox ears constantly reminded her that just a moment ago, Saya had not only circled behind her without her noticing, but had even touched her precious ears from an angle she couldn't see.

"Oh, come on! My ears are a sensitive area. If you touch them like that, you'll have to take responsibility!" whl

Tamamo-no-Mae, realizing what was happening, let out a coquettish cry, but her eyes showed a hint of apprehension as she looked at Saya.

If Saya hadn't touched her own ear but instead chosen to attack herself, she would probably have been beheaded in that instant.

Although as a great demon, she was no longer someone who could be killed simply by destroying the physical body, this was enough to give her a new understanding of Sōyū's strength.

This guy really has a lot of trump cards up his sleeve. The only thing she can be thankful for right now is that at least Sayu is on her side.

If such a guy were an enemy, he would be deadly. A powerful enemy that can be seen with the naked eye is certainly terrifying, but a guy who pretends to be weak while actually being strong is even more terrifying.

After all, nobody really enjoys the feeling of opening blind boxes, right?

Especially the feeling of opening a blind box and finding a monster's grand prize, that really messes with people's mentality.

"Can't you be normal for once? You're the one who wants to figure out my true strength, and you're also the one who's acting out." whl

"Isn't it normal to like strong people? I understand now why Yuugi likes you so much. I'm also finding you more and more pleasing to the eye."

Tamamo-no-Mae tapped her lower lip with her finger and gave Saya a charming smile.

"Forget it, instead of wasting your energy on this, you should think about how to handle tomorrow's ceremony. If you were right last time, if this ceremony works, then you should be qualified to become a god, right?"

Sōyū frowned, having no intention of joking with her, and seriously shifted the topic to tomorrow's business.

The midway through the ceremony shouldn't be considered too risky, since it was basically just a temporary light rain carrying bone powder, which wasn't much of a risk for her.

If someone intervenes at this point, even if Saya doesn't make a move, she can still free up her hands to deal with the other party.

The real challenge lies in the fact that if this ritual succeeds, the villagers who notice the crops beginning to recover will undoubtedly offer her a tremendous amount of faith.

These beliefs will become the final piece of the puzzle to complete her ascension to godhood.

Then the problem arises: if she were to transform into a god, she would certainly be unable to attend to what was happening around her, and that would be the time for those covetous monsters to make their move.

All the pressure will fall on the head of Saya, the unlucky guy who was dragged into being the security captain.

"That's how it is. So I'm asking you to take care of things tomorrow. If I succeed, maybe I won't be able to fall in love with you as completely as Yuugi does."

Tamamo-no-Mae winked at Saya and giggled as she walked back to her room.

Chapter 459 Stall? I just want to kill them all.

Sōyū did not take Tamamo-no-Mae's words to heart.

Whether she likes him or not has absolutely nothing to do with him. Instead of thinking about those questions, it would be better to get some rest so that he can prepare for the challenges he will face the next day.

After yawning, Saya went straight back to his room, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.

Sōyū slept soundly through the night, his sleep quality as good as ever, a quality that was the envy of many. He then adopted a tired and listless appearance.