Their appearance was even more terrifying than the clan leader’s.

Some had horns growing from their heads, with tentacles writhing on their foreheads; some had twisted limbs, with knees bent backward like a spider's; some had insect wings sprouting from their backs, while others had faces overtaken by wrinkles and eyespots, their human features blurred beyond recognition…

How terrifying! They were all insect monsters!

"Did you think you could surround and wipe us out like this?"

A cold smile appeared on Gojo Masamichi's face.

"Formation, everyone!"

With a snap of his fan, he issued the order sharply.

The Official Exorcists immediately fell into battle formation, driving their Shikigami and casting spells according to their pre-rehearsed techniques, bracing for the fight.

"A dozen or so bug masters who only know backwater techniques are no match for Official Exorcists."

His tone was cold, yet his eyes faintly revealed a power that chilled the soul.

"If you surrender now, you might still retain some dignity."

However, the old man did not respond, merely shaking his head gently as he watched small black insects crawl from his fingertips.

"You don't understand," he said slowly. "Lackeys of the Imperial Court, you have no idea what we are fighting for—enough talk; you juniors are not enough to defeat me."

Attracted by the scent of the living, the insect demons stirred, emitting low groans that were hard to distinguish as joy or weeping, accompanied by the viscous, slurping sounds of chewing.

If they were defeated, the Official Exorcists feared that every orifice on their bodies would be violated. It wouldn't even be a matter of gender anymore.

But Gojo Masamichi never felt he would lose.

The number of magical artifacts, the distribution of spiritual power, the compatibility of the techniques—every variable was rapidly calculated in his mind.

The key to spell combat is strategy. The essence of Onmyodo combat is the precise calculation and arrangement of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.

"Like a moth to a flame—how could a bug master ever hope to defeat fire?"

Gojo Masamichi tapped his fan lightly with his finger. Instantly, the wind circling him intensified, taking on a fiery hue. The oppressive glow of fire began to spread.

A dragon of crimson lotus flames spiraled out from behind Gojo Masamichi. Its body was coiled with dense fire patterns, its eyes like bronze bells, its claws sharp as blades. It surged through the rain, wreathed in scorching flames, possessing infinite might!

In that instant, the firelight burned so brightly it turned the mountain forest into broad daylight!

The intelligence was confirmed, the attributes were countered, and the power was overwhelming; how could he possibly lose? There was simply no reason for defeat!

— —

Ten minutes later, Qi Xing, far away in Shingo Village, finally received the call and flew over to save the situation.

"Fire type losing to Bug type? Are you kidding me? Even an eroge developer wouldn't design a battle like that."

Qi Xing had seen many times what happened to Exorcists in this world when they lost to insect-type enemies, and he truly couldn't bear to look at the scene before him.

After the hot spring incident the night before last, Qi Xing had spent the last day and a half on standby at the inn, training and pondering issues—honestly, there were still many things he hadn't figured out.

But regardless, leaving the Official Exorcists to be [redacted] by bugs was not something Qi Xing liked to do.

However, although Qi Xing had flown over at lightning speed to put out the fire, he was actually a bit puzzled.

In this world, because the competition for official positions is so fierce, the skill level of Official Exorcists is generally not bad. Compared to folk sorcerers, their average quality is quite high. Moreover, the Onmyoryo has the advantage of intelligence; they shouldn't be losing even with a favorable elemental matchup, right?

Could it be that the situation had changed?

090: Truly high and mighty.

In front of the main residence of the Jūyaku Clan, Qi Xing descended from the sky like a thunder god, accompanied by a thunderclap. Electric arcs exploded through the air, instantly clearing all mosquitoes, flies, and miasma within a five-meter radius around him.

The scene was highly inappropriate for children, difficult to describe, and unbearable to look at.

The courtyard in front of the gate was now filled with a thick, foul stench, a strong, fishy odor like mixing household trash with stagnant, rotting water.

What was even more abnormal was the current state of the courtyard itself.

The things stuck to the walls were writhing constantly, and there were countless eggs on the ground—eggs everywhere, thousands upon thousands of insect eggs pulsing like hearts, and the sewage was teeming with countless things resembling frog spawn. Just looking at this scene would make a trypophobe faint, and it would make any ordinary person's hair stand on end.

"Help, help me!! Master Leipu!! Save me—"

In a corner of the wall were several disgusting lumps of flesh, and four or five Official Exorcists, bound by these lumps, were screaming. The slimy flesh and insect parasites were writhing and forcing their way into every place they shouldn't be.

There were also a dozen or so hybrid bug-men of the Jūyaku Clan in the courtyard, along with the clan leader, Jūyaku Sōgen. Qi Xing scanned the area but saw no corpses or wounded.

Not a single casualty on the other side? How could the fight be so one-sided?

At this moment, in the center of the courtyard, only Jūyaku Sōgen himself was there, swallowing the young Onmyoji from the Gojo Family who had been leading the team—swallowing him headfirst with a crunching sound. His jaw was wide open, his bones dislocated like a snake's, and the sound of swallowing was piercingly harsh in the silent rain.

Qi Xing was not here to watch this kind of grotesque spectacle.

With a flash of lightning, he appeared beside Jūyaku Sōgen. One hand wreathed in electric light, he slashed and ripped at that foul-smelling upper jaw!

"Snap!"

With a teeth-grinding sound of cracking bone, Qi Xing had forcibly ripped off the deformed arm that was pushing the person into the throat! At the same time, his other hand grabbed the sodden collar of the Onmyoji's hunting robe and yanked him out of that bloody maw!

With a tap of his toes, he carried the Onmyoji into the air, and the two of them landed steadily on the stone platform of a dry well at the edge of the courtyard, putting significant distance between them and the insect swarm.

This young prodigy Onmyoji from the Gojo Family was now covered in insect egg mucus, his face pale, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, looking absolutely wretched.

—But to Qi Xing's surprise, his spirit was remarkably resilient. As soon as he landed, he gritted his teeth, opened his eyes, and immediately warned Qi Xing: "Master Leipu, do not be careless! They all have super-regeneration abilities!!"

Before he could finish, Qi Xing had already seen the arm of the Jūyaku Clan leader that he had ripped off; at the stump, dense black and red muscle fibers were rapidly emerging. Blood, flesh, and bone all grew wildly like tangled vines; muscles, joints, and claws reconstructed themselves segment by segment, and in the blink of an eye, a perfectly new arm had regenerated!

Super-regeneration is not a technical term, but a piece of "jargon" in the exorcism industry. Ordinary "regeneration" is nothing—almost all demons possess regenerative abilities, so when demons are injured and escape, they don't need to go to the hospital. Unlike humans, they can heal slowly on their own as long as they have sufficient nutritional energy.

Only when the speed is absurdly fast, rendering attacks almost ineffective, does it deserve to be called a "super-regeneration" ability.

Almost at the same time the Onmyoji from the Gojo Family finished speaking, the dozen or so half-human, half-insect warriors of the Jūyaku Clan surrounding them also lunged at Qi Xing, all rushing up at once!

Some leaped with limbs like crickets, some slid across the ground like centipedes, some had legs transformed into multi-legged insect abdomens, rushing forward with a writhing motion; some had arms transformed into bony pincers, and others had faces that had collapsed, leaving only a giant mouth roaring madly.

These hybrid bug-men—

Qi Xing didn't even glance at them.

"Thunder-Fire Sword."

No weapon was seen; only a half-moon sword energy shimmering with electric arcs slashed out from Qi Xing's fingertips, accompanied by a thunderous boom, slicing the dozen or so lunging bug-men in half on the spot!

Flesh and blood splattered, screams were piercing, and the thunderous fire and lightning even burned through the mud and insect eggs on the ground, blasting out a scorched, blackened patch!

However, the next second, those bug-men with severed limbs, those hybrids that should have been instantly burned to death, were writhing and rolling on the ground; their severed torsos wailed while rapidly regenerating.

Not just hands and feet, but even when the entire lower half of the body was chopped off, it could instantly grow back!

Not just being cut at the waist, even if the head was chopped off, it could regenerate again!

Almost in the span of a single breath, those bug-men that had been sliced in two had all grown back their missing parts out of thin air, restored to wholeness, and were roaring as they charged at Qi Xing again!

"No wonder."

Qi Xing finally understood why the Official Exorcist squad had been wiped out so quickly.

Dealing with bugs and regenerative abilities generally requires high heat. If flames are ineffective, then never mind ordinary Exorcists; even highly spiritual Onmyoryo practitioners would feel incredibly strained and hopeless when facing a large group of immortal, hyper-regenerative enemies.

"Are you surprised, [Master Leipu]?"

Jūyaku Sōgen stood amidst the swarm of insects, gazing at Qi Xing, licking the residual flesh and blood from the corner of his mouth while grinning.

"Agelessness, immortality, and inexhaustible energy… this is the miraculous effect of [Waka-mizu]!"

"You might be able to kill us ten or a hundred times, and we certainly cannot defeat you. But how long can we wear you down? Ordinary Official Exorcists certainly cannot defeat us. Even you and Jingo Rin cannot be in a dozen different places at once."

"Do not interfere in our war; go back to your Europe, [Master Leipu]. What does this power struggle in the Tohoku region of Japan have to do with you?"

Qi Xing did not answer his question, nor did he pay him much mind. Qi Xing simply frowned slightly, scanned him from head to toe, and then said, "That is not right."

As mentioned before, Qi Xing had a general understanding of Eastern mythology and mysteries, including those of East and Southeast Asia. Although not as academic as Elaine, Qi Xing was indeed aware of the [Waka-mizu] recorded in the *Man'yōshū*, which originated from Japanese mythology related to moon worship.

Therefore, when he took a closer look at the hyper-regeneration of these bug-men, he frowned: "[Waka-mizu] is indeed a divine object of immortality, like heavenly treasures such as the Immortal Peach, Ginseng Fruit, or Immortal Nectar. But the immortality of [Waka-mizu] comes from [Time Reversal]; it causes the body's time to regress, returning it to the state before the injury."

"Your regeneration is clearly biological, relying on new tissue growth; it cannot be [Waka-mizu]… What on earth did you drink?"

Qi Xing had certainly seen monsters and demons with hyper-regenerative abilities before.

However, for a human body to acquire hyper-regenerative capabilities so rapidly—even capable of recovering from being cut in half or decapitated—that was indeed quite rare. Even Qi Xing himself did not possess such strong regenerative abilities. If his brain were blown apart, it would surely be reduced to fragments of a powerhouse.

Qi Xing now suspected that this [Waka-mizu] was not the version from legitimate mythology at all, but rather some counterfeit version from *Sekiro* that they had consumed. After all, the [Waka-mizu] in *Sekiro* was merely mountain spring water mixed with immortal insect eggs.

Jūyaku Sōgen was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

On that face which seemed to no longer belong to a [Human], his eyelids twitched, seemingly revealing a hint of hesitation.

"I see."

He muttered.

"This is not [Waka-mizu], is it? Hahaha—"

He suddenly laughed, his voice hoarse and broken, like the dry, cracking echo of an old drum being stomped on.

"You are right, [Master Leipu]. How could I not have guessed that this is likely not the true divine object?"

He lowered his head, gazing at his palm that had just finished regenerating. He opened it slightly, his five fingers curling gently, and the shadows of insects could be faintly seen squirming beneath his skin. There was no awe in his gaze, only a cold, numbed pragmatism.

"But… what does it matter?"

"A true divine object? A fake? I do not care."

"As long as it allows our ancient family, forgotten in the darkness… even if it is only once, just one chance, to sink our teeth into the flesh and blood of those court lackeys who consider themselves righteous—that is enough."

He lifted his head, his smile wild and arrogant. Rainwater slid down his withered, pale cheeks, mixing with the blood at the corners of his mouth, making it impossible to distinguish between blood and tears.

"[Master Leipu], we have also investigated the illustrious you. I know you are very arrogant, able to walk the world alone relying only on righteous cultivation, looking down on us heretics who hybridize with insect demons, make twins █ █, and use live burials and sewing eyes shut and █ █ to gain power…"

"However,"

He slowly raised a hand, pointing toward the dark, cloud-covered northern sky, his fingertips trembling, as if in anger, and also in sorrow.

"Seven hundred years ago, when our ancestors first settled in this desolate land of the northeast, farming and clearing the land, where was the righteous path? When the evil gods walked out of the snowy mountains and skinned the villagers along the way, where was the self-righteous path then?"

As he spoke, his hand dropped, clenching tightly, knuckles turning white and bones protruding. Those hands, heavily modified, no longer even possessed a complete human shape.

"We just threw children into the insect granary to █ █, transforming them into powerful warriors capable of fighting demons and evil. We at least truly saved some lives; if we had not done so, more people would have died. Yet you demote us to heretics."

"Now the times have changed; the evil gods are gone, there are stronger righteous heroes, and there is no need for the rustic magic of country heretics that requires sacrificial offerings. So the court comes to loot under the banner of justice… Fine, that does not matter; history and worldly affairs have always been like this."

"Then let us fight, let us battle, let us kill, and see who laughs last! The one who wins in the end is justice!"

Jūyaku Sōgen took a deep breath and looked down at the center of his chest, at those insect patterns constantly squirming due to power overload.

Then he suddenly looked up, a fierce light flashing in his eyes.

"However, [Master Leipu],"

His voice was low, carrying almost a hint of sincere questioning,

"Since you consider yourself an outsider, not associating with our filthy methods, and since you are from out of town—then I would really like to ask you, why on earth do you have to interfere?"

"You outsider, why do you come to interfere in the messy affairs of our small place, and by what right do you decide our fate?!"

The head of the Jūyaku Clan, Jūyaku Sōgen.

He was actually very clear that he could not possibly defeat [Master Leipu]. If there were a hundred times, or even a thousand times more clansmen, perhaps they could exhaust Qi Xing's True Qi… but they did not have that many.

So, he was actually just resentful, hating Qi Xing—this out-of-towner, this foreigner, a person completely unrelated to the matter—for meddling in the power struggle between the central government and the local region in this foreign land.

"Do not pay attention to his sophistry, [Master Leipu]! He is merely a ghost obsessed with past history!"

The Onmyoryo practitioner Gojo Masamichi immediately retorted, although he had been █ █ by the bugs for ten minutes. His mental strength was exceptionally resilient, showing no signs of breaking down at all,

"The current era no longer needs to rely on sacrificing infants or torturing the living to maintain social order!"

"You say [Master Leipu] is an outsider? A hero like him, who travels the world, is upright and unyielding, chivalrous and righteous, and always ready to draw his sword to help—how is he an outsider! The righteous path is not the government, not nationality, and not where one comes from!"

"The righteous path lies in not bearing the suffering of sentient beings, and in saving the world and bringing peace to the people! The righteous path lies in the hearts of all people across the world!"

In truth, these words from Gojo Masamichi had a bit of an intention to curry favor with Qi Xing, this super reinforcement, although he did phrase it quite nicely.

It is just a pity that neither Jūyaku Sōgen nor Gojo Masamichi could ever have imagined that Qi Xing was not only an out-of-towner and a foreigner, but even a person from another world.

The incident at the hot springs the day before yesterday had already put him in a bad mood, and now, listening to both sides, Qi Xing was truly getting fed up. After all, both sides' words seemed somewhat laughable to Qi Xing.

Most of Jūyaku Sōgen's words were full of loopholes, which goes without saying. The court lackeys claimed that the current era no longer needed to sacrifice individuals to maintain social order—such words could only be laughed off. He said Qi Xing was not an outsider because the righteous path was the aspiration of the world, yet Qi Xing was precisely not a person of this world.

As for Jūyaku Sōgen cursing Qi Xing for being an out-of-towner deciding their fate—that question was actually quite interesting.

By what right?

Of course, by the right of being a high-and-mighty Transmigrator! By the right of being a Descender from a higher world! By the right of being the [Strongest Man on Earth]! By the right of my world-shaking wisdom and great power!