Outer God Patriarch

Splat!

Blood shot into the sky, while the headless body remained frozen in place.

Skylark was covered in splattered blood, but his Cosmo had begun to weaken. Nearly pushed to the brink of death by the aftershocks of Shigeo Kageyama and Saitama’s battle, he had no idea what had happened.

Only when the large hand clutching his neck, nearly strangling him to death, suddenly lost its strength did he stagger several steps and fall to the other side, finally seeing what had happened.

Mercenary Tao’s head had been blown apart?!

He looked to the other side. The enormous black figure still held out its hand toward Mercenary Tao.

Without question, the Spirit World Evil Lord, Shigeo Kageyama, had attacked Mercenary Tao!

But… why?

Skylark’s mind was in chaos. Before he could sort out his thoughts, a massive force struck him and hurled him out of the Spirit World.

The disgusting flesh buds on Bai Cangshu’s neck kept twitching. Thanks to Intermediate Immortality and the traits of a Perfect Individual, he no longer had any concept of vital points.

The heart and head were merely the two parts that had the greatest impact on his bodily functions. Losing his head prevented him from thinking, while losing his heart cut off his blood supply and drastically reduced his physical functions.

That was all.

It could not kill him completely.

In the pure white Consciousness Sea, Bai Cangshu opened his eyes. Having lost his head, his consciousness had returned here.

"Yo, looks like our host has run into another powerful enemy."

Satoru Gojo teased Bai Cangshu. Bai Cangshu sat high upon the Throne of the Heart, overlooking the empty Consciousness Sea below. Yellow Springs churned, but the tens of thousands of yin spirits had yet to fully return. At this moment, his Consciousness Sea was very empty…

Buzz—

Suddenly, the Consciousness Sea shook violently. White light appeared above it, and in an instant, that light flooded everything.

It was Satoru Gojo’s first time seeing something like this in this space. It was even more unusual than that fellow who called himself Roland.

Bai Cangshu remained seated on the Throne of the Heart. The moment he raised his head and saw the white light, he already knew the answer.

The white radiance grew increasingly intense, as though it would drown everything. In the next moment, a massive figure seemed to lower its head from beyond the world, a gigantic scarlet eye standing vertically above the Consciousness Sea.

The thousands of weakened yin spirits below immediately let out piercing shrieks. Their forms collapsed within Yellow Springs before gathering again, repeating this cycle over and over.

"Heh, still playing god? Looks like Lord Inari Ōkami is in a good mood?"

You have completed the quest: Divine Power

You have unlocked the special hidden faction: Outer God Abode

You have successfully guided an Outer God into this world. You have gained immense reputation with the faction Outer God Abode. Current status: Revered (34/100)

You have unlocked the reputation exchange function for the faction Outer God Abode

The enormous eye blinked twice. Then, immense power and a voice echoed through the Consciousness Sea.

"You desire power."

"I can grant you… power."

There was an inexplicable undertone to the voice, the same kind of force that carried the senseless malice hidden within Cursed Seal: Inari Ōkami’s Strike.

The being Bai Cangshu called "Inari Ōkami" was probably far from being such a purely benevolent god.

In many cultural systems, gods were usually two-sided. They possessed both the image of a benevolent god and that of an evil god, distinguished from one another and receiving worship separately.

But in truth, the two were one and the same.

Without allowing Bai Cangshu to object, intense Divine Power began pouring into this space.

Bai Cangshu did not stop it. He merely looked down at the scene in silence, an obvious smile on his lips.

"Does Lord Outer God think you can finally rest easy?"

"Unfortunately, in this world, gods have never been supreme. Since you could revive from an altar, aren’t you curious why gods needed to prepare such altars for resurrection in the first place?"

The pure white energy stopped pouring in.

Specks of white light gathered. In the next moment, the image of a mature fox woman appeared, draped in white gauze, with pinkish-white hair flowing below her waist and two ears poking through her hair.

She was far more mature than the previous Fox Divine Envoy, radiating an alluring power from head to toe.

But Bai Cangshu merely clicked his tongue without any reaction.

"What do you want, human?"

This god had successfully used a wisp of divine intent to have Bai Cangshu bring It into this world from a world where mystery had nearly vanished. It was indeed in a good mood.

It could forgive this human’s minor betrayal of leaving directly at the end of the ritual.

After all, the powerful human who had competed with It for Divine Power had ultimately left, and that was also connected to the human before It.

Bai Cangshu watched as an illusory booklet unfolded before him.

This was the item catalog for the reputation exchange of the so-called special hidden faction, Outer God Abode.

Time flowed vastly differently in the Consciousness Sea than in the outside world. Bai Cangshu was not afraid that staying here would result in Shigeo Kageyama killing him outright.

For one, he was indeed difficult to kill. Shigeo Kageyama’s most convenient method was to seal him away.

For another, and more importantly, Saitama would not let Shigeo Kageyama kill him in front of him.

Saitama was a pure, classical hero. No matter how incompatible they were or how much their ideals clashed, as long as Bai Cangshu remained a lawful human on the side of heroes, he would not die!

Bai Cangshu lowered his head and quickly browsed the exchange items. As expected, the items Outer God Abode could offer were far beyond anything those Shintoism people could provide.

Bai Cangshu’s mind was clear. His gaze shifted as he rapidly weighed the pros and cons of the situation.

Soon, he found an item. Raising his head, he looked at the Fox Outer God.

"I want to sit in this Patriarch’s seat~"

Eternal Destiny casually pulled, and the windows, doors, walls, and entire building came crashing down together.

The reincarnators who had just been arguing below, along with the ordinary people in the surrounding streets, fell silent in an instant.

He had not used much force. He had merely known from the start that this building’s "lifespan" had reached its limit after being battered by wind and sand for so long.

He had chosen this place simply because the opportunity had presented itself. Destroying the building now was likewise only going with the flow.

The title Eternal Destiny was perhaps the strangest and most mystical among the titles of Supreme Experts of the mental type. Likewise, few could wield it properly.

At the very least, Eternal Destiny knew that the previous Supreme Expert who had held this title had not done well. Otherwise, how could he have been ambushed and killed by Eternal Destiny in the Native World?

"Your Excellency, Saitama really…"

Tree Herder emerged from the ruins. The strange blood in his veins burst directly out of his body, like energy tentacles rapidly clearing away the obstacles nearby.

Even the heroes running over from afar were casually pierced through by him.

Yet he still frowned. The name Saitama was simply too terrifying.

Eternal Destiny merely smiled, but in the next moment, his smile slowly faded.

He sensed space trembling unstably. Something seemed to be surging toward him from beneath space.

Buzz!

Buzz!

Buzz!

Blazing White lights suddenly flared up one after another from within the ruins…