"Izanami! You still refuse to reveal where the ancient book is!"
As soon as they entered.
Ye Liang heard a deep male voice angrily shouting from above. He glanced around and saw Izanami kneeling in the middle of the shrine, along with several elderly elders.
"This is the Elder Council," Susanoo-no-Mikoto quietly explained, noticing Ye Liang's gaze.
Just then.
The middle-aged man berating her turned his head.
"So you're the man that Izanami insisted on bringing back?" He was the only middle-aged man among them and appeared to be the head of the Izan family.
Ye Liang looked at him with confusion.
Susanoo-no-Mikoto moved closer again. "This is Lord Izan Yamato, our father and head of the Izan family."
Ye Liang immediately bowed respectfully.
"It's an honor to meet Lord Izan Yamato. My name is Ye Liang—I was brought here from the lower world by Izanami." According to what the servant girls told him, Takamagahara lay above the clouds—but since he didn't know another way to explain where he came from, he just called it the lower world.
"Ye Liang? I've never heard of that name before. You must just be an ordinary human then."
"Ordinary human?"
Ye Liang felt puzzled.
He didn't understand exactly what Lord Izan Yamato meant by that.
Susanoo-no-Mikoto stepped forward with another bow. "Indeed, Ye Liang is an ordinary human. He is neither descended from any deity nor holds the noble status of an earth or spirit god—he's just a commoner."
"A commoner dares to set foot in Takamagahara!"
Lord Izan Yamato's face immediately darkened.
Ye Liang didn't fully understand what they were arguing about, but he clearly caught the word "commoner" Susanoo-no-Mikoto had used to describe him. Just as he was about to stand up and protest, Susanoo-no-Mikoto grabbed his shoulder, and suddenly, his entire body went numb, as though struck by a bolt of lightning.
Lord Izan Yamato grew furious.
"Not only have you, a mere commoner, illegally entered Takamagahara, but you've also bewitched my daughter into stealing cultivation techniques for you! Such a grave crime cannot be forgiven!
Guards!
Behead him immediately and scatter his ashes into the heavens! Let this serve as a warning to any other lowly mortal who dares trespass in Takamagahara again!"
"Yes, sir!" At Lord Izan Yamato's command, the guards stormed in aggressively.
Just then, Susanoo-no-Mikoto stepped forward to block them.
"Father, please hear me out first."
He bowed respectfully toward Lord Izan Yamato. "Although he is indeed a commoner, he isn't a native human of our world.
From what I know, he once fought alongside my elder brother in Yomi. It was also him who successfully returned our Izanami clan's sacred artifact, the Yasaka Magatama Sword."
"Oh! He's had dealings with my son Kee before?"
Lord Izan Yamato hesitated slightly. "So that means he defeated Dugu the old ghost and rescued Izanami from the Yomi World?"
"Exactly!" Susanoo-no-Mikoto nodded respectfully.
The elders in the shrine started murmuring among themselves.
After a long pause.
Lord Izan Yamato looked at Ye Liang again with a new perspective. "If that's true, then you're not guilty—you've actually done us a great service."
Ye Liang exhaled deeply. The terrifying pressure lifted completely.
He glanced at Susanoo-no-Mikoto and knew it was him who had released the bindings. Then he turned his gaze toward Izan Yamato. "What do you think?"
"Hehehe."
Izan Yamato immediately chuckled. "This is the first time someone dares to speak to me like that!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an overwhelming pressure instantly crushed down onto Ye Liang.
Caught off guard, Ye Liang dropped to one knee on the ground.
"Do you think you're worthy of confronting me directly?!" Izan Yamato coldly sneered. At the same time, Ye Liang's other leg also gave way.
"What a fickle guy!"
Ye Liang inwardly grumbled!
The immense pressure felt even stronger than what Otsutsuki Tenji had emitted! Besides resisting the pressure, he seemed to be intimidated by a certain indescribable and invisible momentum!
"This is impossible! This fellow hasn't even used any actual power!" Ye Liang exclaimed. Just as he thought, Izan Yamato hadn't unleashed any energy—merely suppressing Ye Liang through his mere aura.
Ye Liang had studied the Samurai's cultivation techniques and researched intangible forces like killing intent and pressure. If it was merely ordinary pressure, it wouldn't have overwhelmed him like this!
"[This is Father's Kamui!]" Susanoo-no-Mikoto's voice suddenly echoed in his mind. "[People possess their own human aura while gods have divine might! Even if mortals cultivate to the extreme, they remain mortals, forever incapable of opposing deities with divine powers!]"
Kamui!
Ye Liang's mind echoed Susanoo-no-Mikoto's words!
"Damn it! Without emitting even a shred of power, he can make me kneel like this! What about all the effort I painstakingly put into gaining my strength then?!"
Fury burning in his eyes, he glared straight into Izan Yamato's gaze.
"So what if it's Kamui! So what if it's divine power! As long as it's not absolute power, I won't fear such emptiness!" he roared inwardly, slowly rising from his kneeling position.
Creak!
His knees let out a crisp sound!
This was Ye Liang's willpower clashing against the divine might!
Bones had already been split under the two forces' pressure, yet he endured the excruciating pain and kept pushing forward!
Another sharp crack, and his entire knee shattered completely! He maintained a half-squatting posture, refusing to kneel before this deity who looked down upon mankind, even though his entire leg was ruined!
"You call yourself a god!" he shouted. "I ask you, have you ever done *anything* a true god should do?
Where were you when Minato sacrificed himself to save the village, consumed by the Dead Demon!
Where were you when The Third was killed by Orochimaru for protecting Konoha!
Where were you when Jiraiya was murdered by the Six Paths for safeguarding Konoha!
And where were you when my wife was taken away by the Otsutsuki!
You haven't done one thing a god should do! Why should we mortals bow before you!" Staring at Izan Yamato, Ye Liang stood upright. "God said, 'Let there be light'—and there was light!
You're *almighty*, aren't you!
But I am selfish! You've never done anything to care for mortals, so why should we respect you!"
A shockwave of disbelief rippled through the shrine!
They could hardly believe that Ye Liang, the most ordinary of mortals, would dare to utter these words to none other than the supreme deity of Takamagahara!
"Ye Liang, you're asking for death!"
Ye Liang also heard the voice of Susanoo within his mind.
Suddenly!
A tremendous force struck him!
Ye Liang dropped directly to his knees.
Blood seeped from both his knees, his bones having been pulverized to dust. The direct cause of this was Izan Yamato seated high in the center of the shrine.
"You said you wouldn't kneel—what's changed? Kneeling again already?"
Ye Liang revealed a bitter smile.
A colossal, ghostly hand loomed over his shoulder!
Divine power!
Izan Yamato had unleashed divine power!
This wasn't some invisible pressure anymore—it was real, divine power anyone could see with their own eyes!
"If you won't kneel willingly, then I'll make you kneel! I refuse to believe a lowly mortal like you could ever defeat a god!"
"Hmph!"
Ye Liang sneered, "I admit I can't beat you—but I still won't submit! I won't yield—no matter what! What are you gonna do about it?!"
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