Chapter 84

"Money."

Under Qi Xing's [Command], the Kito Family's supreme elder, Kito Genzai, obediently confessed,

"A ten-billion down payment, with a requirement that we assist her in establishing shell organizations and acquiring facilities like hospitals to serve as laboratories. Another fifteen billion will be paid upon completion."

"Furthermore, she is willing to pay extra to purchase young, beautiful girls with shrine maiden qualifications, at two hundred million each."

Twenty-five billion, two hundred million.

How much money is this, roughly?

Because the numbers sound quite large and might lack a sense of reality, let's use an example here.

The annual profit of a medium-sized listed company in Japan, such as a regional bank or a second-tier tech enterprise, is roughly around ten billion or so.

Twenty-five billion yen is at least enough to maintain the Kito Family's entire operating expenses for several years. If managed properly, it could even be doubled through investment.

If placed in regions like Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe, this sum would be enough to arm a small paramilitary unit of several hundred people, fully equipped with weapons, training, smuggling logistics, and so on.

It would also be enough to infiltrate the political systems of small to medium-sized nations, or to support local regimes, militia groups, and the like.

So, even in a lewd and absurd urban fantasy world, money is still very useful… Or rather, perhaps it is precisely because it's an absurd urban fantasy world that money is especially useful.

—After all, even the strong can get stuck due to money in an eroge, and then be forced to sell themselves!

"Where exactly is their money coming from?"

That was why Qi Xing was puzzled.

Although he wasn't short on money now, with the Church acting as the sucker footing the bill, he understood all too well the feeling of [a single penny can stump a hero] from back when he first transmigrated and was a lone wolf.

"It can't be that they're capturing a bunch of shrine maidens to run a brothel, right?"

That doesn't make sense, right? Even in the world of an eroge, money can't just be spawned out of thin air, right? That's impossible, right?

Regardless, no matter where the money came from, under the power of money, the Kito Family's elders and heads chose to cooperate with the mysterious [Ise].

It was an extremely confidential collaboration; even within the Kito Family, only a few people knew about it, and the actual interactions were infrequent.

However, through their interactions, the Kito Family's elder gradually learned some things about [True Buddhism].

For instance, their internal membership seemed small, mostly consisting of outsourced personnel tied together by money and connections.

For example, they didn't just have such dealings with the Kito Family, but also with other exorcist clans across various regions—though, of course, the Kito Family didn't know the specific list.

For example, judging from the occasional slip of the tongue, it seemed to be a secret cult established after World War II. Although they worshiped the Buddha Mother Mahamayuri, it wasn't standard Tantric doctrine.

"They… believe that Mahamayuri is the root of all gods and Buddhas, interpreting the Shinto Three Noble Children—Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo—as the [Three Great Manifestations] of the Buddha Mother."

"Mahamayuri's [three heads and six arms], they claim, are the incarnations of the Three Noble Children."

"Amaterasu is the source of light, order, and life. Her left hand holds the Sun Mirror, representing the power of rule; her right hand holds rice ears, symbolizing abundance and prosperity."

"Tsukuyomi is the essence of secrecy, divination, and the cycle of life and death. Her left hand holds a Magatama, governing the judgment of fate; her right hand holds a bow and arrow, dispensing judgment upon sins."

"Susanoo governs the power of destruction, purification, and rebirth. His left hand grips the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, severing filth; his right hand holds a sake gourd, commanding the wind and summoning thunder."

Kito Genzai paused here, as if carefully checking to see if anyone would immediately slap him to death.

However, neither Rin nor Qi Xing obviously had any such intention. Rin just frowned, while Qi Xing asked with great interest, "Anything else?"

"That's basically it…"

Kito Genzai said fearfully, "Everything, all gods, are reduced to the manifestations of the [Buddha Mother]. That is what is called [True Buddhism]."

Actually, the idea that all gods in the world are manifestations of a single Buddha is not common in Tantric or emerging religions.

As a half-immortal in the mortal world, Qi Xing had his own insights into Eastern religions. Kito Genzai's confession didn't surprise him particularly.

The only problem was that it had to be Mahamayuri.

Qi Xing knew a bit about Mahamayuri. Although she had some fame in Japan, she wasn't a very orthodox Buddhist deity. From the perspective of mythological analysis, she likely originated in ancient Persia, the region now known as Iran-Iraq, and was an image later absorbed by Buddhism.

If one carefully examines the source of her image, it might indeed be related to the Peacock Angel worshipped by the Kurds, as Elaine had mentioned before… However, it was still hard to say for sure based on this alone.

"Any other clues?" Qi Xing simply used [Dominator] to reinforce the command, "Rack your brain and come up with something useful."

This command was no trivial matter. In an instant, Genzai's face turned purplish-red; the irresistible divine command forced him to truly rack his brain, to dig deep, trying to squeeze anything useful out of the memory of every single one of his brain cells.

And if he really could only provide this much information, yet was [Commanded] by a god to come up with useful clues, the result would naturally be…

"Forget it."

Seeing that Kito Genzai was already bleeding from his seven orifices, as if his brain was about to explode, Rin finally spoke up, "He's going to die like this."

"Fine. [Cancel previous command]."

Thus, Qi Xing said.

Kito Genzai immediately collapsed, half-dead.

Qi Xing didn't yet know what would happen if two [Commands] directly conflicted. Sasa refused to explain the functions of the [silver coin] directly. Therefore, Qi Xing was still testing it, and obviously, he couldn't find innocent human test subjects for such experiments.

However, for some people, such as the bastard old man before him who sold shrine maidens to [True Buddhism] as human test subjects, Qi Xing didn't mind at all using him as a living test bench.

"You don't kill, but they are accomplices to the enemies who tried to assassinate you."

Looking at Kito Genzai's miserable state, Qi Xing curled his lip.

"I know." Rin nodded gently, her tone flat, "But I don't like having people die in front of me."

"Not some absolute bottom line, not some Batman-esque obsession?" Qi Xing raised an eyebrow, trying to ask jokingly, "Just don't like it?"

"Correct." Rin replied crisply, "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Speaking of which, she actually sighed first: "Many people impose their ideals on me without permission, and then get disappointed in me without permission… I really hate that. I have always just done whatever I wanted to do."

"I understand. There's nothing wrong with that."

Qi Xing couldn't help but grin, the smile carrying a hint of self-mockery and also a hint of… relief, "Anyway, I'm the same way. I have no right to judge you."

This remark made Rin pause slightly. But Qi Xing was telling the absolute truth.

"I actually quite like shonen manga… Hmm, that doesn't seem quite right; actually, I think I prefer hero-type protagonists."

Qi Xing said casually, though his voice didn't sound as much like a joke anymore, "In the past, at least four or five years ago, I was still striving to be a hero, rather than someone who uses power to torture evildoers, making them suffer; cutting off their balls, making them fear me more than they fear bad guys… Do you believe that?"

"But I later discovered that being a hero is actually very tiring. The heroes in manga, if you make them fight in a quagmire of evil endlessly, for ten years, with no clear evil BOSS, no enemy that you can defeat to end the story and make the world better… they might also start doubting what they are actually doing."

There are actually quite a few people in the world who can step up to be a hero once.

But the number of people who can constantly wipe away the dust, never letting it settle, is much smaller.

"I often reflect on this issue."

Last month, when Samael mocked Qi Xing in the Sistine Hall, she had already commented on his mindset. Qi Xing had already admitted it back then.

In the end, he only did things based on his own preferences, doing what he [wanted to do]. He didn't even have the high-purity kindness that Rin had. Because he acted out of [fear] and [anger], and even a bit of [contempt].

Superman is someone who, as long as he does good deeds and sees others happy, is happy himself.

Captain Marvel is someone who does what she believes is good, and is happy when she realizes the justice in her heart.

In reality, there are many others—some who are doctors or firefighters, saving lives without caring whether the other party is grateful or not.

Jingo Rin is obviously this kind of person. Her doing good is simply because she wants to do it. Therefore, she neither needs emotional feedback from the outside world, nor does she need to gain any benefits. True kindness is its own reward.

Conversely, Qi Xing beating up those lewd evildoers is due to his own [fear] and [anger] toward evil.

"Once, when I was a child, I read manga because I admired heroes; later, now, I read manga to relax and rest after killing people, to kill time, and by the way, to rethink how I actually want to do things."

The "once" he spoke of was already a matter from his previous life, long before Qi Xing transmigrated.

Once, he had also longed for other-world transmigration, wanting to go to another world full of possibilities to show his skills. Unfortunately, the Qi Xing of his previous life never expected that he would transmigrate into such an absurd, muddy, lewd, and terrifying world to show off his skills.

So Qi Xing asked now: "What about you? When you read shonen manga, what are you looking at?"

This question made Jingo Rin show a somewhat subtle expression, looking a bit embarrassed: "Me? Half of the time I'm studying how to hit people. Have you never thought about, like in "Dragon Ball", hitting the enemy flying and then continuing to combo them in mid-air?"

Qi Xing couldn't help but laugh.

He had indeed thought about this fighting style—after all, it was so cool!

Therefore, from their first meeting to the words he heard her say to Reima earlier, Qi Xing had always felt—Jingo Rin, this person really suited his tastes.

To Rin, reading shonen manga was not her pursuing some hero dream. It was the exact opposite of the past Qi Xing.

Yet he didn't know that Rin actually had quite complex thoughts about Qi Xing as well.

Although Qi Xing blatantly used dark powers to interrogate prisoners in front of her, which wasn't something Rin liked. However, due to the erroneous information in the "Qi Xing Dao" written by the third-rate novelist Samael, the Qi Xing in Rin's eyes was [a pathetic Church experiment], [a Devilman], [an Asura fighting against a cruel fate], [a lone star of disaster who brings death to countless confidantes].

He was a helpless victim hiding tears beneath a mask of smiles.

Thinking about the heavy burden Qi Xing was carrying, Rin couldn't help but feel sympathy.

At the same time, he was also one of the very few people in this world who could happily brawl with her and also understand her mindset.

(Sigh. He has to use this kind of dark power, treating evildoers cruelly; there's no other way.)

So now, while watching Qi Xing torturing the Kito Family's old man over there, Rin couldn't help but think in her heart,

(Always relying on such power… there will be a price to pay sooner or later, right? But without it, how could he continue to fight against evil?)

Because of the third-rate novel Sasa wrote blindly, Rin didn't even know that Qi Xing was already a world-class expert before he even started using dark powers.

(Hmm?)

So very quickly, based on the erroneous information, Rin's train of thought soon drifted to an even stranger place.

(If the devil's power is his burden, and he is forced to use this power he doesn't even want himself to fight against evil, to become a hero, to become a lone star of disaster—then as long as I become stronger than him and help him fight against evil, wouldn't that work?)

Hmm, that's a really good idea!

In Rin's simple little head, she immediately made a resolution that she had to become stronger!

Afterwards, because there was no more information to dig out from the Kito Family, Rin and Qi Xing directly called the official exorcists to come and arrest all the implicated personnel. Although some resisted stubbornly during the process, the details naturally don't need to be mentioned again.

Not long after, everyone reunited with Elaine. After listening to what Qi Xing had interrogated, she pondered for a moment and said, "The information collected so far is too scattered; we need to spend some time reorganizing it…"

Speaking of which, Elaine paused, looked at Qi Xing, then at Rin, and observed their current appearance and distance. She, who had always been good at observing how Qi Xing interacted with heroines, immediately had an epiphany.

"Since it is confirmed that the local family here is colluding with [True Buddhism], continuing to stay in Aomori City is probably not a reasonable choice."

She said calmly, speaking very reasonable words,

"You are currently a target of [True Buddhism]. If we don't stay too far from the Shingo Family, it would be more convenient for both sides to look out for each other."

"Out of consideration for safety and mutual support, Miss Shingo, may we temporarily stay at the hot spring hotel in Shingo Village?"

What idea was Elaine hatching… that would be more complicated to explain.

But Rin, with her thick-headed nature, naturally didn't have any complicated thoughts. Or rather, she seemed to be distracted at this moment, not knowing what she was thinking about in her head.

After a while, she seemed to think the idea was good, and said, "Okay."

"There is still a long time before the Christ Festival, and I think there should be many rooms that are empty."

As she spoke, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and she looked—actually quite happy.

085: Not that kind of like!

Flight, even in the supernatural world, is not a universal skill that everyone possesses.

For example, people like Wolf Lord and Father Amos, although they count as top-tier experts in the mortal world, cannot fly; at most, they know some other high-speed movement methods. For example, Wolf Lord can turn into a giant wolf to run and jump at super speed.

Many martial arts experts can lift their qi to leap high and move around. But the number of people who can actually step on the air and fly is very rare.

What about mages? Whether they can truly fly actually depends on their school. Some witches, despite having poor skills, can use potions and broomsticks to fly freely; some great mages, even with profound cultivation, can only move quickly in very stupid ways. Because their school's traditions do not include flight magic.

For example, Nordic Rune Masters—if you ask them to fly, no matter how high their cultivation is, they can probably only use indirect flight methods like [I'll turn myself into an eagle first and then fly] or [I'll conjure a flying horse for myself first, then ride it]. You want them to levitate and fly on their own? Their heritage doesn't contain such a skill, so they can only find ways to bypass it.

Furthermore, in myths and legends, not every immortal or god can fly on their own. Many need mounts, vehicles, or need to [ride the clouds]… Those who can fly without needing [anything at all] are actually in the very small minority.

As Zhuangzi said, the ultimate [attainment of the Dao] is to have nothing to rely on, nothing to lean on, not even needing [wind] or [qi]—things that are like [nothingness]—to be able to say one is [not bound by anything], which is the highest realm of [attaining the Dao].

Not to mention mortals, even the vast majority of immortals and gods have not actually reached that realm. Because there is still room for [further progress], and they have not reached the ultimate realm of [unfettered freedom].

Why specifically mention this?