Four hours later, Jiangxi.
The hotel door was flung open with a bang. Deputy Yu strode out of the room, heading straight for the elevator.
The two agents outside immediately followed him. “Please think carefully, Deputy Director Yu! The higher-ups sent you to Jiangxi for a meeting precisely to temporarily move you away from the limelight. But you ran back to Beijing without a word. If this matter is thoroughly investigated…”
Yu Jingzhong pressed the elevator button and turned to ask, “Who leaked Yan Lanyu’s address?”
His subordinate was instantly speechless.
“When Group Five betrayed us, there was an insider. If I don’t go back and coordinate, my people will be killed. What’s the point of investigating thoroughly then?!”
His subordinate dared not speak. At that moment, the elevator chimed open, and Yu Jingzhong walked in without looking back.
Tokyo Airport.
A black bulletproof Bentley slowly pulled up at the airport entrance. The car window rolled down slightly, revealing a pair of cold yet captivating eyes.
Maha was wrapped in a black trench coat, his silver hair tied into a single ponytail, trailing down the side of his neck, which was so fair it almost looked like ice sculpture.
He sat with his long legs crossed in the spacious leather back seat. His phone kept making crackling sounds, and a moment later, the “GAME FAILED” screen appeared again on the Candy Crush game interface.
The air pressure in the car dropped sharply.
Crash! With a loud bang, Maha’s thumb pierced the phone, and electricity immediately sparked chaotically.
Everyone in the car, from the driver to the bodyguards, was as silent as cicadas in winter. Peacock Wisdom King casually tossed the phone to Yoshinobu Aida, arrogantly saying, “Get another one.”
Aida’s face was ashen, his hands trembling slightly. He picked the topmost one from a large stack of brand-new iPhones beside him, removed its packaging, and presented it.
Just then, a large wave of people surged out of the airport exit. Yan Lanyu, his face as pale as paper, emerged among the crowd, his single shirt standing out prominently. The Esoteric Sect disciples guarding outside the car immediately spotted him. Several of them silently surrounded him, escorting him closely through the throng and into the car.
Aida immediately breathed a sigh of relief: “Your Highness, the demon ghost has returned. Shall we proceed to the shrine’s altar immediately?”
The demon ghost respectfully bowed its head to Peacock Wisdom King. Everyone else in the car was silent, staring intently at Maha’s focused face.
Crack! Bang!
Game Failed.
With a crash, electricity surged, and the iPhone in His Highness Wisdom King’s fair hand turned into scrap metal, then was casually tossed to the ashen-faced Aida.
Maha let out a nasal “Hmph.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Aida immediately desperately signaled the driver, and the black Bentley shot out with a screech.
A dazzling light streaked across the clouds. The phoenix spread its wings, a flurry of wind and fire, soaring across the sky like a meteor.
“So Yu Jingzhong went to Japan on official business back then to steal the Yata no Kagami (Eight-Handed Mirror)?” Chu He asked amidst the howling wind.
“Stealing sounds too harsh!” Zhou Hui shouted. “Yu Jingzhong said it was a legitimate extradition—!”
Chu He: “…”
Chu He said, “The art of human language is too profound, I don’t quite understand. Please continue.”
Zhou Hui nodded understandingly.
“The main body of the Yata no Kagami is enshrined in the Ise Grand Shrine, while its mirror-heart has been passed down through generations of Esoteric Sect masters. By the time it reached the previous master, it had been centuries old. At that time, Yan Lanyu was actually responsible for guarding the mirror-heart; that fragment of the mirror had always been hanging around his neck, said to have the effect of warding off evil gods and all poisons. On his deathbed, the previous master called his two disciples, Ameno Kagishu and Yoshinobu Aida, to his bedside and had Yan Lanyu choose one of them to serve. Yan Lanyu chose Ameno Kagishu.”
“Why did he make Yan Lanyu choose?” Chu He asked curiously.
“It’s said to be because the mirror-heart’s guardian has a more sensitive nose for the so-called ‘heavenly mandate.’ Do you know why such a treasure as the Yata no Kagami is guarded by outsiders?”
Chu He shook his head.
“The Esoteric Sect is a very sinister place,” Zhou Hui explained. “They firmly believe that living humans can gain heaven-defying power by becoming demons. Therefore, for generations, they have been researching how to make living humans become demons, to the point where it once affected the balance of Onmyodo in Japan. The phenomenon of humans and demons coexisting in Japan during the Heian period is not unrelated to this.”
“And the Yata no Kagami, as the alter ego of Amaterasu Omikami, possesses a very strong yang attribute. Only people with extremely fierce and pure souls and compatible birth charts can unleash its strongest power. To use it long-term, one must have a yang-world soul as a basis, and at the same time possess a matching yin-world soul, which the Four Evil Paths call ‘yin-yang dual souls’…”
Chu He interrupted him, “Isn’t that equivalent to a dead person returning to life? Isn’t it something that only exists in theory?”
“Perhaps the Esoteric Sect master has researched a method for artificially refining yin-yang dual souls,” Zhou Hui paused, then said, “—Anyway, a person who wears the Yata no Kagami has both a yang-world soul and a yin-world soul. Not just anyone can wear it, and Xiao Yan’s ability to survive in the Esoteric Sect is precisely thanks to this. The Ameno Kagishu he chose later became the Esoteric Sect master. Yoshinobu Aida therefore hated him deeply, as you saw in City H.”
The phoenix plunged into the churning sea of clouds. Below, the clouds gradually thinned, and the outline of the Japanese islands gradually appeared in front of the shimmering sea.
“Darling, are you tired—?” Zhou Hui asked diligently.
The phoenix seemed to be pondering something, perfunctorily shaking its head, then suddenly asked, “Wait, since the Yata no Kagami is so important to the Esoteric Sect, why did Ameno Kagishu easily let Yan Lanyu go to China in the first place?”
“A pawn’s heart is like a needle in the bottom of the sea; how would I know?” Zhou Hui shrugged. “I’ve never had much sympathy for pawns. They’re not my kind, so I couldn’t care less.”
Chu He: “…”
The noble corner of Phoenix Wisdom King’s mouth twitched slightly.
“However, shortly after Yan Lanyu left, Ameno Kagishu became a demon. After becoming a demon, he couldn’t control his heaven-defying power and killed hundreds of people in the Esoteric Sect overnight… After killing them, he went to the Four Evil Paths. The Esoteric Sect was severely weakened overnight, so they spared no expense to trade Yoshinobu Aida back from China, counting on him to find a way to lead the disciples and retrieve the Yata no Kagami back to Japan,” Zhou Hui said enthusiastically. “I guess he must have performed a ritual to summon Maha from the Sea of Blood and promised him some good stuff to convince Maha to act—damn it, I don’t know what treasure it is, I should just beat Maha up and steal it for myself.”
The phoenix was practically speechless: “His dad, please don’t be like that!”
The clouds suddenly cleared, and the phoenix plummeted rapidly. The wind howled past its magnificent wings, generating millions of dazzling, lightning-like flashes.
Zhou Hui’s hairstyle was completely ruined. In the strong wind, he looked more like a true hell demon than his beast form. He covered his ears and roared into the wind: “Darling—! I accepted those two kids because I love you; otherwise, they’d just be a dish on my table—!”
With a mighty roar, the phoenix returned to human form in a blinding flash. Chu He fiercely gripped Zhou Hui’s ear, falling rapidly from high altitude.
—Bang!
A large pit appeared out of nowhere in the wilderness by the highway. At the center of the pit, Zhou Hui cried out in pain, clutching his ear, with Chu He, who was almost out of breath, pressed beneath him.
“Darling, what’s wrong?” Zhou Hui quickly picked up Chu He, struggling to sit up. “Are you alright?”
“…” Chu He was dizzy, his back bones aching intensely. It took him a while to barely regain consciousness from the spinning world. For a few seconds, he thought he had become Zhou Hui’s human cushion. Then he looked down at their posture and realized he was on top, instantly feeling an even deeper resentment:
“Why aren’t you hurt?”
“Huh?” Zhou Hui was confused. “It’s just a fall of a thousand or two thousand meters, what’s there to be hurt about?”
They looked at each other, Zhou Hui’s face full of innocence. After a moment, he cutely made a peace sign.
“…” Chu He covered his face and said, “Never mind.”
They helped each other crawl out of the pit. Zhou Hui laboriously filled the pit with dirt to cover their tracks, while Chu He sat cross-legged on the nearby lawn, drawing a glowing circle in the air with his bare hands. The void immediately displayed a network of intersecting lines, like major and minor roads on a map.
In one corner, a light dot twinkled, moving rapidly in a certain direction.
At the end of this direction, the light outlined a temple-like building.
“What is this?” Zhou Hui finished burying the dirt and walked behind Chu He, asking curiously, “A tracking route map?”
“When I fought the demon ghost at the airport, I grabbed Yan Lanyu’s neck. At that time, my blood flowed into his wound through my fingers. This is the sensing effect of phoenix blood. This building should be… the Ise Grand Shrine. The demon ghost is taking Yan Lanyu’s body to the Ise Grand Shrine.”
Chu He put away the ethereal image and patted Zhou Hui’s shoulder: “We must get there as soon as possible. Tycoon! Your turn!”
Five minutes later, Zhou Hui stood by the roadside, reaching out to stop a speeding motorcycle.
The young man with dyed yellow hair on the motorcycle looked bewildered. Zhou Hui didn’t waste words, directly pointed at the motorcycle in English: “Mine!” Then he conjured a thick stack of money out of thin air from his flat jeans pocket, and pulled out another thick wad from the wallet: “Yours!”
The young man: “…”
The young man had a “are you kidding me” expression.
Zhou Hui pulled out another equally thick stack of money from his wallet: “OK? Is this good enough now? No problem?”
The young man stared blankly at the money. Three seconds later, Zhou Hui grew impatient, let go of him, and walked towards the opposite side of the road, preparing to hail another passing motorcycle.
“—Hey hey! Chotto matte!” The young man, who had finally reacted, immediately grabbed Zhou Hui, slid off his motorcycle, and with a beaming smile, shoved the handlebars into Zhou Hui’s hands. Then he quickly ran off, clutching the money.
Chu He watched in awe, clapping his hands by the side.
Zhou Hui triumphantly gave a thumbs-up, straddled the motorcycle, and struck a very handsome pose: “Wife, get on, I’ll take you for a ride! Watch this handsome guy flatten that broken shrine!”
