The old nest of the Evil God Cult was underground, about fifty kilometers away from the town.
When Ryosuke and the other two rushed over, the place was already empty, and they had even buried explosive tag traps, burying them underground.
However, this kind of trap, whether it was Star Platinum's fists, Kakashi's Earth Release ninjutsu, or Tsunade's monstrous strength and slugs, they could easily walk out of it, only delaying a little time.
"They really ran fast."
Tsunade looked at Ryosuke.
Ryosuke nodded.
In the memory disc of the Left Protector, there was the appearance of the white-haired cult leader. After the three escaped from the underground burial, Ryosuke summoned Hermit Purple, pointing out the direction where the other party escaped.
———
At dawn the next day, the three arrived at a village.
The village was of medium scale, at a glance there were more than two hundred households, counting fully there were one thousand eight hundred people alive.
The villagers got up early, the sun had just risen, and already you could see villagers from house to house beginning a day of busyness, surrounded by their own cats and dogs, waiting for their owners to feed them.
Ryosuke once again stretched out his hand.
Hermit Purple floated in his palm, circled around, then stopped in confusion.
Ryosuke said, "The white-haired cult leader is in this village, but the other party used some method that interfered with my lock-on."
"How do we find him then?"
Even if Ryosuke's White Snake could view memories, and Kakashi's Sharingan could perform genjutsu.
But with over a thousand villagers, how long would it take to check one by one?
Tsunade touched her wound.
From last night, the speed of life force draining from the wound had quickened, considering the "Holy Son, Hidan" mentioned in the Left Protector's memory…
This was a bad omen.
Her intuition told Tsunade that a terrifying monster was about to be born in the world.
"We must quickly find the cult leader."
Ryosuke stepped forward, slowly flew up into the sky, and said, "Cover your ears."
"Hm?"
Kakashi and Tsunade were stunned, then saw Star Platinum appear behind Ryosuke, open its arms, take a deep breath.
PA!!
Star Platinum's palms clapped together at a speed surpassing the retina, a sudden clap that resounded in the air like a volcanic eruption.
House dogs were frightened into barking wildly, cats yowled and bolted, villagers in the midst of work were startled and trembled, all raising their heads to look at Ryosuke.
———
If the Left and Right Protectors could disguise themselves as children, then naturally the white-haired cult leader could also change his appearance.
He wore an extremely ordinary face, hiding among the villagers. Hearing the explosion in the sky, he looked at Ryosuke floating above.
'He came!'
'This is Ryosuke! He really came quickly!'
The white-haired cult leader not only didn't fear, but his eyes grew brighter.
He was not a cowardly person.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have voluntarily come to the Land of Hot Water.
At such close distance, the white-haired cult leader could clearly sense the life force in Ryosuke's body, even more vast than Tsunade's.
This was the trial the Evil God Lord had given him.
'Come! Ryosuke! Let me see, what kind of ability you really have!'
At this moment, he saw Ryosuke standing in the sky cut open his palm, sprinkling out a drop of blood.
The white-haired cult leader immediately understood Ryosuke's intention.
As long as one was an Evil God Cult believer, they would perceive the life force contained in this drop of blood, and would desire to obtain it, using it as a medium to curse-kill Ryosuke.
'Whoever looks at this drop of blood is an Evil God Cultist. As long as I act in reverse, I won't expose my identity.'
'Ryosuke, you think yourself clever, you think I will take the bait?'
The cult leader's gaze didn't shift a bit, still staring blankly at Ryosuke. But the next instant, he realized something was wrong,
'No!'
This had nothing to do with being an Evil God believer.
A man standing in the sky, whether he threw out blood or a stone, people's gazes would inevitably follow it.
The suspicious ones were not those who stared at the drop of blood.
It was those who deliberately did not look at the drop of blood.
The cult leader instantly understood the key, and shifted his gaze again.
It was only a small flaw. With nearly a thousand people present, he didn't believe Ryosuke could in one moment see clearly the direction of all their eyes.
But at this very moment...
"Star Platinum: The World!"
One second… two seconds… three seconds…
Ryosuke's gaze swept below.
Four seconds passed…
He met eyes with one "villager" of ordinary appearance.
Time began to flow again.
The cult leader shifted his gaze, staring at the drop of blood.
But, the blood had disappeared. And along with it, Ryosuke in mid-air also vanished.
'Where is he?!'
A hand gently landed on the cult leader's shoulder. Ryosuke's head slowly leaned out from the other side, looking at the cult leader, softly saying in his ear, "Found you."
"Ryosuke!"
The cult leader instantly dispelled the evil art, restoring his true appearance. He drew a short blade from his thigh, stabbing it into his own abdomen.
At the same time, nearby farmers tore off their disguises, drawing knives, steel needles, and shouting loudly, "Protect the cult leader!"
They rushed toward Ryosuke.
Ryosuke glanced at the knife piercing the cult leader's abdomen, shook his head, and said, "No need for so much trouble, today you will die."
He turned his head toward the charging cultists.
"You all will die."
"No one in this village will escape."
Ryosuke had felt something wrong the moment he came to the village.
First, Hermit Purple was interfered with.
And when he flew into the sky, he discovered there were no old people or children in the village, only able-bodied adults. Looking carefully at the layout of the buildings…
It was simply like a formation.
The explanation Ryosuke thought of was, this was a hidden village entirely composed of cultists, unknown even to the Left and Right Protectors, and was the trump card that allowed the white-haired cult leader to dare face Ryosuke's group of three.
Ryosuke twisted the cult leader's neck.
The White Snake extracted his disc.
Ryosuke casually tossed the corpse, "Trump card… with everyone dead, who will play the card?"
"Wait."
The White Snake said, "Something's wrong."
It raised the disc in its hand.
The projection on the disc was of a man with an ordinary face.
On the other side, a woman's face and body rapidly transformed, in an instant changing from a short female into the tall white-haired cult leader.
"You think you can kill me?"
As his words fell, Star Platinum appeared, punching and blowing apart his head.
Another man transformed into the cult leader.
Ryosuke immediately understood.
As long as he was within the formation and embraced by cultists, he would not die.
He was one, and one was all.
The cultists stabbed knives into their chests and bellies, blood gushing, soaking the ground. The Evil God formation arranged with the village as a unit was activated. A dark barrier arose, covering the entire village.
"Space lockdown?"
Tsunade scanned around. One by one strange and terrifying faces surrounded them, and anything that touched them withered, decayed, and died in an instant.
They were trapped in the village.
Crash!
Kakashi heard the noise from the sky.
'Raining?'
He stared up.
Black raindrops fell closer and closer, until finally he saw clearly, these were not raindrops at all.
"They're steel needles! Countless steel needles!"
Not only the sky, but from the flat ground beneath them sprouted sharp knives and fangs. Like piranhas, they prowled across the ground, biting at any flesh they could see.
Once Ryosuke, Tsunade, or Kakashi were wounded, if even a single drop of blood spilled, they would suffer the simultaneous curse-kill of nearly a thousand villagers.
"I really didn't want to open the God Nation so soon, at least after absorbing all of Tsunade's life force, then show you the complete form of the God Nation."
"But, this is the suffering of life, uncertainty, accident, and setbacks."
The white-haired cult leader spread his arms, puffed his chest, deliberately letting more steel needles pierce him, letting the blades below stab him.
His eyes were filled with boundless zeal and ecstasy, "Come! Ryosuke, die together with us!"
"The Holy Son who will build a new world will be born from our deaths!"
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