At night, in a valley near the border of the Land of Demons.
Seiki and the Shrine Maidens of the Land of Demons came to a stop here.
"Is it really okay to rest here?" Seiki asked, glancing to one side.
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"Although we also wish to return to Lady Shrine Maiden as soon as possible, your condition is the most important. If you enter the Land of Demons without being at your best, not only will you fail to rescue Lady Shrine Maiden, but you yourself may fall into danger!" Shanchuan said solemnly.
"If you all insist, then I won't push any further," Seiki nodded, then began setting up tents together with the others.
Halfway through setting up camp, Shanchuan suddenly looked pained and held his stomach, saying, "Sorry, my stomach suddenly feels uncomfortable. I might need to go deal with it somewhere."
The others weren't bothered, even teasing him.
"Be careful, Shanchuan. Don't get bitten by any creepy crawlies!"
"If that part down there gets mistaken for a bug and bitten off, it'll be a real problem!"
"You jokers better keep it together!" Shanchuan shouted jokingly before running off holding his stomach.
Running quickly to hide deep within distant bushes, Shanchuan glanced around to confirm nobody had followed him. Only then did he secretly take out a small remote control and sighed, "I'm sorry everyone, I don't want to do this either, but our strength simply cannot oppose the Divine One. For the future of the Land of Demons, I have no choice!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you when everything falls apart!" With a solemn expression, Shanchuan pressed the button.
Boom!
Thunder roared, the ground shook violently, as if the entire valley were about to explode into the sky.
"Sigh… maybe that's just how life goes." Shanchuan shook his head, but suddenly froze. "Wait, why does the explosion sound like it came from behind?"
Shanchuan turned around and saw an impressive sight—countless stone statue remnants falling from the sky.
"This… aren't these the Divine One's Army of Stone Statues?" Thinking of a certain possibility, Shanchuan was scared pale. "That means, what I blew up was actually the Divine One's Army of Stone Statues?"
"Got it right!" Seiki's voice came from behind him. "So your effort wouldn't be wasted, I went out of my way to move all your bombs onto the statues."
Shanchuan turned his head and glared at Seiki furiously. "Then I sure am grateful!"
After saying that, he realized too late, "Wait—does that mean you already knew I was a traitor… or rather, a spy? Damn it, where exactly did things go wrong?"
Upon hearing this, Seiki sighed helplessly. "With how many holes were in your terrible acting skills, trying to pretend I didn't notice was pretty difficult!"
"M-My whole performance was full of holes?" Shanchuan muttered, deeply shaken.
Seiki's followers stared at Shanchuan in disbelief. "Shanchuan… you were really trying to kill us?"
Looking furious, Shanchuan shouted desperately, "What do you know?!
"I'm saving the Land of Demons! The shrine maiden can't possibly stand against the Divine One. Under that unstoppable army's assault, the Land of Demons will be destroyed as easily as clay figurines crumbling to dust!"
A servant weakly pointed at the still-falling stones, "This... is the unstoppable army you're talking about?"
Shanchuan's face stiffened, his voice faltering slightly as he shouted, "This—this is just an unexpected incident!"
Seiki sighed and took step after step toward him, "Really showing no sign of repentance at all!"
Seeing Seiki approaching, Shanchuan grew nervous and cried out, "You—you better not come any closer! I'm actually very powerful!"
At that moment, another servant shrieked in terror, pointing behind Shanchuan, "Those stone statues are coming back to life!"
Shanchuan glanced over his shoulder, then puffed out his chest proudly, "See? This is the might of the Divine One—an army of eternal immortality!"
Standing three meters tall, the stone statue puppets already exuded a suffocating pressure. Coupled with their numbers exceeding a thousand throughout the valley, seeing them all move together truly created an unstoppable, terrifying aura.
Seeing this, the servants were overwhelmed with shock and fear.
"Are you serious?! With this kind of power, conquering a whole nation would be easy—now it's being used against us!"
"We're done for—we'll be crushed into paste underfoot!"
As they wailed in despair, suddenly several terrifying chakra fluctuations arose around them.
Everyone turned their heads in alarm only to see Seiki had created ten shadow clones. Each blocked off one direction and held a [Sage Art: Wind Release Rasenshuriken] in hand.
Feeling the terrifying energy waves radiating outward, Shanchuan swallowed hard with difficulty, "Wh-what is this?"
"Don't worry," Seiki said with a smile. "I'm just checking if they're truly immortal."
"And if they aren't?" Shanchuan asked dazedly.
"Then I'll have to kill them properly." Saying so, Seiki hurled all ten shurikens at once.
Instantly afterward, he grabbed everyone at top speed and escaped from the valley using the [Flying Thunder God Technique].
The next moment, an unimaginable storm of energy erupted within the valley.
Mountains crumbled and earth cracked open. A gale-force wind howled as the entire valley collapsed!
...
Inside the palace of the Land of Demons.
"My immortal army was actually defeated. How could this be possible?" The black shadow's voice showed clear panic before turning venomous toward Miroku, "You sure found yourself a powerful helper, didn't you?"
Seeing Moryo's defeat, Miroku felt both excited and deeply aware of Seiki's strength. After all, she knew well how strong the stone statue army truly was.
Seiki truly is amazing... Thinking thus, Miroku became even more encouraged, saying, "Seiki is a hero capable of saving the world!"
"A hero? Don't make me laugh!" The shadow snarled in a rare loss of composure, "Do you know who I am? There's no way I'd ever be defeated by something this trivial!"
Miroku gave a contemptuous look, "You're nothing but a failed loser cast aside by history. Defeat is only natural for you!"
"A loser? Hmph! Then let me show you how I'll manipulate him!" The black shadow twisted and transformed violently until finally mimicking the exact appearance of Miroku.
Miroku stared in shock. Even standing face-to-face with the impostor, she couldn't sense the slightest abnormality. This was far beyond the level of any [Transformation Jutsu].
"I've already told you, you are me, and I am you!" The impostor Miroku giggled coquettishly, gently patting her chest. "So it makes perfect sense for me to go reward Lord Seiki on your behalf, right?"
Miroku's face flushed bright red with rage, her body trembling violently. "You... you despicable, perverted, disgusting demon!"
The impostor shrugged carelessly, as if throwing a childish tantrum. "I am you! Insult me, and you're only insulting yourself!"
Then, under Miroku's furious glare, the false Miroku walked toward the outside world.
As she stepped out of the palace, a flash of excitement gleamed in Miroku's eyes. "Never thought there were still such powerful humans in this age. Miroku, you've done me a huge favor!"
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