Eiko Hozuki, Keitaro Gentoga, Yayoi Hozuki, and Red Hood all got into the car and set off for F Park and T Tunnel, leaving Xu Fu alone to face the calamitous god Taisai Seikun.
"Aren't you going to stop them? If they succeed over there, things are going to get very bad for you, you know~" Xu Fu asked.
Xu Fu had not deliberately hidden her discussion with Yayoi Hozuki and the others from Taisai Seikun. Even if certain key details had never been said aloud, Taisai Seikun could easily infer their goal. Yet he had only watched from the side with great interest, showing no intention of interfering at all.
"I can't summon the slightest interest in a battle with no suspense. A victory won too easily would be far too dull. If you can meet my expectations, then this little wait will be more than worth it... Still, I suppose I can't let those brats have things too easy."
Taisai Seikun raised a hand. Spiritual energy churned in the air, and twelve masked figures appeared behind him as if called forth.
"Go, Twelve Divine Generals. Make some trouble for those brats."
The Twelve Divine Generals were also known as the Twelve Heavenly Generals, or the Twelve Divine Generals of Da Liu Ren.
Ten'itsu (Kijin), Tōda, Suzaku, Rikugō, Kōchin, Seiryū, Tenkū, Byakko, Taijō, Genbu, Taiin, and Tenkō—twelve in all.
Xu Fu's first introduction to the Twelve Divine Generals had been through Twin Star Exorcists. Apparently, the twelve held unusual significance in Onmyodo and had appeared in many works about onmyoji.
These twelve proper deities were an important group of gods in the state sacrificial system of Tang- and Song-era China. They symbolized the divine power of twelve directions, presided over auspicious omens for military campaigns and protection in war, and bore the duty of driving away disasters and maintaining peace throughout the realm. Their rites were classified as Medium Sacrifices.
The Twelve Divine Generals now before Xu Fu were shikigami summoned by Taisai Seikun. But Xu Fu knew the truth: the chief priest at Seimei Shrine had originally been the master of these twelve shikigami. Yet because Taisai Seikun had offered them far too much, they had betrayed the chief priest and entered Taisai Seikun's service. The chief priest had been so furious that he cursed them as garbage worse than con artists.
Like eunuchs receiving an imperial edict, the Twelve Divine Generals tucked their hands into their sleeves and bowed respectfully to Taisai Seikun.
The Twelve Divine Generals said, "As you command."
A dazzling yellow bolt of lightning suddenly fell, striking the ground at Tenkō's feet and leaving a blackened scar across the earth.
"You're not the only one with shikigami."
The great bird in a bone mask—the shikigami called Nue—beat its wings and hovered above Xu Fu's head, crackling serpents of lightning coiling around its feathers.
And not only Nue. Divine Dogs, Great Serpent, Tiger Funeral—the shikigami summoned by the Ten Shadows Technique crawled one after another from Xu Fu's shadow, glaring fixedly at the Twelve Divine Generals behind Taisai Seikun.
"Did you think I would do nothing and just let your shikigami go get in Yayoi and the others' way?"
Divine Dogs snarled and charged first, pinning down Genbu and Ten'itsu.
Great Serpent erupted from the ground, opened its bloody jaws wide, and bit down on Suzaku. Tiger Funeral advanced with terrifying force, setting its sights on Tenkū, Tenkō, and Byakko. Tōda, Rikugō, Seiryū, and Kōchin were sent flying by Piercing Ox.
The water cannon fired by Max Elephant struck Taijō and Taiin.
"Hah! You've tied down every one of my shikigami. How wonderfully motivated you are."
Taisai Seikun was more than happy to see what Xu Fu had done. What he wanted was an exhilarating battle and an evenly matched opponent. If the other side could not show some spirit, he would be bored.
The shikigami had each found their opponents. Xu Fu formed a hand seal, then began chanting another spell.
"PROFOUND ANCESTOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, ROOT OF THE MYRIAD QI. THROUGH AEONS OF CULTIVATION BEAR WITNESS TO MY DIVINE POWER..."
"The Golden Light Mantra?"
As a god originating from Chinese Taoism, Taisai Seikun recognized the Taoist art Xu Fu was using at a glance.
"WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE THREE REALMS, THE DAO ALONE IS SUPREME. MY BODY BEARS GOLDEN LIGHT, REFLECTING UPON ME. SIGHT CANNOT SEE IT, HEARING CANNOT HEAR IT. IT ENCOMPASSES HEAVEN AND EARTH AND NURTURES ALL LIVING BEINGS. RECITE AND UPHOLD IT TEN THOUSAND TIMES, AND THE BODY SHALL BE FILLED WITH RADIANCE. GUARDS OF THE THREE REALMS, FIVE EMPERORS, MARSHAL YOURSELVES. TEN THOUSAND GODS PAY HOMAGE, COMMANDING THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. GHOSTS AND DEMONS LOSE HEART; SPIRITS AND MONSTERS LOSE FORM. THUNDERCLAPS WITHIN; THE THUNDER GODS CONCEAL THEIR NAMES. WISDOM PENETRATES ALL; THE FIVE QI SURGE. GOLDEN LIGHT, APPEAR AT ONCE, PROTECT THE PERFECTED ONE. SWIFTLY, AS THE LAW COMMANDS!"
Golden light, almost as if it had taken physical form, wrapped around Xu Fu's entire body.
In a single instant, Xu Fu seemed to flicker into place before Taisai Seikun. Her speed was so great that even Taisai Seikun failed to react, and his expression changed sharply.
Her left leg was like a bow drawn to its absolute limit. After Xu Fu closed the distance, that leg became a blurred golden whip, kicking Taisai Seikun hard enough to send him flying.
"That was the Golden Light Mantra? It can be used like that?"
As he flew backward, violent wind whipped through his hair and robes. Taisai Seikun smiled, surprised and delighted all at once.
Overhead, a terrifying fluctuation of spiritual energy suddenly erupted.
Like a black hole, it dragged in the spiritual energy flowing through the surroundings, setting it all roiling.
"NINE ROPES."
"POLARIZED LIGHT."
"CROW AND DECLARATION, BETWEEN FRONT AND BACK."
The red that represented infinite repulsion and the azure that represented infinite attraction began to intertwine and fuse, finally becoming the purple that returned all things to primordial chaos.
She took aim as if with a gun. All Xu Fu had left to do was pull the trigger.
"[HOLLOW TECHNIQUE: PURPLE]!"
Even space twisted as terrifying imaginary mass poured down.
What manifested here was violence in its purest form. Even the foundations that composed the material world fell apart beneath that horrifying violence.
With enormous spiritual energy and the chant's reinforcement behind it, there was nothing restrained about this strike.
Tree trunks, rocks, birds and beasts, the weed-choked earth—all of it was crushed into powder in an instant.
The mountainside was flattened and caved inward, as if an invisible pair of mighty hands had scooped a portion of it out of thin air.
Amid the billowing dust, Taisai Seikun slowly emerged.
Xu Fu's all-out Purple did not seem to have left a single wound on him. He walked out of the smoke and dust completely unharmed.
No matter how severe the injury, spending a single piece of Seer Flesh would restore him completely. As long as he drew spiritual energy from the leyline, the expended Seer Flesh could be replenished.
A troublesome immortality.
"Haha... hahahaha! So this is what being hurt feels like? How long has it been!"
The damaged parts of his body had been repaired by the Seer Flesh, but the lingering pain left Taisai Seikun excited.
Yes. This was pain. This was what it meant to be alive.
It was as if a fire were burning inside him, and he had to let it all pour out.
"Throw everything you have at me! Bring me more surprises, Xu Fu!"
Taisai Seikun charged in at high speed. Xu Fu raised a shin wrapped in golden light and blocked Taisai Seikun's flying kick.
A punch aimed at Taisai Seikun's cheek was blocked by his bent arm, and a claw as fast as lightning swept toward Xu Fu's face.
Xu Fu tilted her head to dodge, then dipped low and drove a heavy punch straight into Taisai Seikun's exposed ribs.
Although Taisai Seikun managed to get his other hand in front of his side in time, he still could not fully disperse the force in Xu Fu's fist and was sent flying.
He had flown only five meters before golden threads suddenly wound around his body and yanked him back. In his eyes, filled with surprise, Xu Fu's heavy fist swung toward him once again.
BANG!
The fist, wrapped in golden light and carrying a fierce gale, smashed into Taisai Seikun's face. His features twisted under the force of Xu Fu's blow.
Taisai Seikun slammed hard into the ground and rolled several times, finally stopping when he crashed into a mass of mountain rock.
Shaking his head, Taisai Seikun hurriedly rolled aside, evading Xu Fu's "Ape Breaks the Branch" as she descended from above. The split mountain rock, however, was crushed to pieces under Xu Fu's stomp.
Taisai Seikun grinned. He plunged his hand into the trunk of a great tree, ripped the entire thing up by the roots, and swung the tall, thick tree at Xu Fu like a club.
The golden light covering Xu Fu's body took shape under her control like kneaded dough. It sharpened, finally forming a golden blade that easily split the massive tree Taisai Seikun had thrown. In the very next moment, Taisai Seikun, hidden behind the tree, revealed himself.
He drew his fist back to his waist, then launched it like a cannonball.
BANG!
Even with both arms raised to block, Xu Fu was still driven back by Taisai Seikun's punch, her feet carving two long grooves through the earth.
"Hah! That protective golden light around you really is annoying."
The feel had been wrong. Taisai Seikun understood it at once. Although his fist had knocked Xu Fu back, it had not actually pierced that layer of golden light and harmed Xu Fu inside.
It was thicker and harder than steel armor. Even armor-piercing rounds might not necessarily break through that golden light.
Close-quarters combat was unfavorable for him.
That reality struck Taisai Seikun as funny, and he could not help laughing.
"Haha... hahahahaha!"
He was a god, while his opponent was a Taoist. Even body cultivators, the ones most skilled in close combat, could almost never match a god's physical ability with the naturally frail body of a human.
And yet what was happening now? He was at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat.
He, a god, had lost to a human in close-quarters fighting.
Was that not laughable? If that was not laughable, then what was?
It was like a little white rabbit training its body until it could fight and kill a dragon. Such a thing was simply unheard of.
"You human! You truly delight me! I like you so much!"
Xu Fu was currently a proper girl, at least in body, and Taisai Seikun had become extremely interested in the Xu Fu before him—so interested that he even wanted to make Xu Fu his bride.
If Xu Fu became his bride, would he not be able to spar with her whenever he pleased?
Ai Kamiyo was only the sacrifice the Kamiyo family had offered to him. Although her body had been nourished by his divine aura since childhood and her constitution was extraordinary, Taisai Seikun was far more taken with Xu Fu, the human who kept bringing him surprise after surprise.
"Hmph~ hmph~! Of course you like me. After all, yours truly, Xu Fu, is the cutest girl in the whole world~!"
Xu Fu steadied herself. The golden light protecting her body constantly changed form: at times tough threads, at times sharp blades, at times sturdy shields.
"As a reward for opening my eyes, let me show you... a god's curse."
Fists and feet would not be enough to break through that layer of golden light.
So Taisai Seikun was prepared to reveal his true ability.
A curse unique to him, a supernatural phenomenon on the level of a natural disaster.
Terrifyingly vast spiritual energy and life force gathered overhead, roiling like a storm. Under Taisai Seikun's precise control, that immense power was compressed again and again, until it was reduced to the size of a fingertip.
The turbulent currents of spiritual energy drawn into it and the air compressed to an extreme degree rubbed against each other, triggering ionization and making the technique look like a shining star.
It was only a tiny particle of light, yet it could destroy on the atomic level. Enemies struck by this move would either be smashed to pieces or annihilated entirely, reduced to particles so fine they could only be observed under a microscope.
Taisai Seikun could even make this move destroy only a person's DNA. The target would look completely unharmed on the outside, but the damaged genetic material would pass to their descendants, producing a terrifying "curse" that continued from generation to generation.
This was the curse that belonged only to Taisai Seikun—Extinction Malefic Star.
Taisai Seikun divided the particle of light in his palm into five smaller particles, then made them orbit him like electrons circling an atomic nucleus.
"Promise me one thing..."
One particle of light flew to Taisai Seikun's fingertip. He looked at Xu Fu and grinned.
"Don't you dare die."
As Taisai Seikun pointed from afar, the light particle containing ultra-high energy shot straight toward Xu Fu.
"[DISMANTLE]."
Xu Fu brought her index and middle fingers together and used the technique Dismantle against the incoming light particle.
The slash that had cut through everything before could not sever the tiny light particle in front of it, nor could it stop the particle from continuing forward.
As techniques went, Taisai Seikun's Extinction Malefic Star completely surpassed Xu Fu's invisible slash.
Xu Fu leapt high into the air, while also lashing the golden light against the ground and using the recoil to speed up her evasion. The light particle streaked beneath Xu Fu and struck the golden light that had not yet fully withdrawn.
It only grazed it, yet a huge chunk of the incomparably hard golden light vanished, as if a pencil drawing had been erased—suddenly, completely.
This was Extinction Malefic Star, the very pinnacle of the phenomenon called destruction.
Still in midair, Xu Fu did not wait to land. She shot straight toward Taisai Seikun, amber eyes sharp as sword blades.
"After witnessing the power of Extinction Malefic Star, you not only refuse to run, but close the distance yourself? That's right! That's exactly how it should be! Come, Xu Fu! Show me what you can do!"
Xu Fu's advance instead of retreat left Taisai Seikun overjoyed. Another light particle shot out violently, only to pierce Xu Fu's afterimage.
The real Xu Fu had already flickered in front of Taisai Seikun. She placed both hands at her waist in a charging stance and took a deep breath.
Her fist, covered in golden light, struck out with ferocious force.
"A punch that slow will never hit me!"
His eyes clearly captured the trajectory of the incoming fist. Taisai Seikun smiled smugly and leaned back, preparing to dodge Xu Fu's blow.
All at once, a strange suction erupted from Xu Fu's fist. In the end, Taisai Seikun not only failed to dodge backward, but was instead dragged back in.
Surprise flashed in Taisai Seikun's eyes. Xu Fu's heavy punch, carrying the power of Blue, smashed hard into his head, and that savage violence made Taisai Seikun's skull explode like a watermelon crushed beneath a wheel.
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T/N: GOJO TECHNIQUES AND MEGUMI??????????