Taisai Seikun's main body, currently possessing Ai Kamiyo, naturally noticed Xu Fu's undisguised, appraising gaze.
"I acknowledge that you have some skill. I never expected that the stray dog who tucked tail and fled from Ying Zheng back then would actually amount to something after coming to this remote island nation."
It seemed even Taisai Seikun's main body had mistaken her for Xu Fu... Though right now, she really was Xu Fu. Just not the Xu Fu of this world.
And what was that about a "stray dog who tucked tail and fled"? That sounded awful. If he had to give her a nickname, shouldn't it be "the cutest girl in the whole world"~?
"So what if you became the ancestor of the monkeys on this island? Before me, you are still nothing but an insignificant brat."
Taisai Seikun's main body made no effort to hide his contempt for Xu Fu or the people of Japan. Every word came from high above. He did not even consider his own bunrei worth taking seriously.
And likewise, his bunrei did not take this main body of his seriously either.
"Forget him. Come on. Fight me again."
Taisai Seikun's bunrei slowly walked up to Xu Fu. His clothes had long since been ruined by the flames and curses from earlier, leaving him in nothing but a pair of ragged, loose trousers. His hair was in complete disarray, and he looked little better than a roadside beggar.
Necrotic, rotting patches covered his body. Although the flames of Divine Flame and the energy torrent of Purple had vanished, the Regicidal Bellflower formation was still continuously pouring curses into him. Under the combined effects of the Seer Flesh and the formation, his body kept rotting and healing, over and over.
But what Xu Fu cared about more than any of that was his trousers... Were those the same model as the Hulk's? His clothes had been blasted away, and his body had been shattered who knew how many times, so why were only those trousers still relatively intact, even if they were a little torn?
"I admit it. You're strong. You won that fight just now. This time, neither of us holds anything back. Let's settle this fair and square!"
I'm happy.
To have met an opponent like you. To have experienced such a satisfying duel.
Did you find satisfaction in it too, the way I did?
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Taisai Seikun's main body, possessing Ai Kamiyo, could no longer watch in silence.
The bunrei before him had not only dared to interrupt while he was speaking, but was still obsessing over that worthless duel?
White divine aura coiled around Taisai Seikun's bunrei's head, then abruptly tightened like a cursed golden headband. The steadily mounting pain made the bunrei bare his teeth, his expression twisting in agony.
"Stop obsessing over that laughably stupid duel. Use the power I gave you immediately and kill the brat before you. Turn her completely to ash. The dignity of a god cannot tolerate the slightest offense. These mere monkeys of an island nation must be judged at once."
"Shut up!"
Taisai Seikun's bunrei slammed a hand against his own forehead and forcibly shattered the "headband curse" on his head, cursing angrily, "Trash who can't even speak without Ai should keep his mouth shut! If you dare interfere with my duel, I'll kill you even if you're the main body!"
Once the white divine aura was scattered, Ai Kamiyo's shining eyes absorbed it.
A mere bunrei dared defy him?
Taisai Seikun's main body felt humiliated. Furious.
In a voice threaded with cold killing intent, he slowly said, "Foolish bunrei... You are prepared to bear the consequences, I trust?"
Taisai Seikun's bunrei felt the killing intent from his main body. As a bunrei, he naturally knew what methods the main body had.
He had touched the other party's reverse scale. The main body no longer intended to tolerate him. He meant to erase this bunrei outright.
He did not have much time left...
And yet, faced with his approaching death, Taisai Seikun's bunrei felt no regret at all.
He only looked at Xu Fu and showed a gentle smile.
"Come. Bring out everything you have. One move to decide the outcome... Let me enjoy this properly."
Settling it in one move was extremely disadvantageous for Xu Fu.
The ability Extinction Malefic Star represented the pinnacle of destructive power compressed into a single point.
Even Purple, one of the strongest techniques in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, might have a larger attack range than Taisai Seikun's full-power Extinction Malefic Star, but in a head-on beam struggle, it would still have great difficulty winning. Xu Fu's Noble Phantasm, meanwhile, was instant death. It killed on contact, but it was not especially destructive. She had no way to win a beam struggle against him.
Mahoraga's massive figure descended from the sky and landed beside Xu Fu. It stood unwaveringly at her side like a stone tower.
At the sight of Mahoraga, Xu Fu's eyes lit up slightly.
"Come on, then. Watch how yours truly, Xu Fu, makes you accept your loss completely~!"
"...Very good. Though you are my enemy, you truly are an opponent worthy of respect."
Taisai Seikun's bunrei leapt into the air. Countless Extinction Malefic Stars gathered behind him, forming an enormous star that constantly poured out light.
"Witness it! This is my full power...!"
With a series of cracking sounds, the incandescent star gradually split apart, as if the terrifying power stored inside was about to burst through its shell and be released.
"MAXIMUM-COMPRESSION AGGREGATE FORM!"
"[EXTINCTION MALEFIC STAR: HYPERNOVA]!"
All of that power focused into a single point, becoming a terrifying beam of energy that erupted in an instant. It was as if one were witnessing a supernova firsthand, the searing white light almost burning through the eyes.
"NINE ROPES."
"POLARIZED LIGHT."
"CROWN AND DECLARATION, BETWEEN FRONT AND BACK..."
Xu Fu was unmistakably chanting the incantation for Hollow Technique Purple.
However, Purple could not stand against Hypernova... Taisai Seikun could see that, and Xu Fu herself understood it even more clearly.
Mahoraga abruptly stepped forward, planting itself before Xu Fu like a towering wall and taking that blazing aurora pillar head-on.
Thanks to its previous adaptation, Mahoraga's body would not be destroyed instantly by the aurora pillar, but fully blocking it was still far too difficult.
Xu Fu used the time Mahoraga bought her to begin her next move.
Purple, formed by blending Blue and Red, hovered at her fingertip, but Xu Fu did not fire it.
When she saw Mahoraga, Xu Fu remembered. Ryomen Sukuna had once used Mahoraga's method of breaking through Satoru Gojo as a model, expanding the target of his technique to invent the World Cutting Slash that could cut through space.
If Ryomen Sukuna could improve his slashes, why couldn't she improve Purple?
Imitating Taisai Seikun, she compressed the vast imaginary mass at her fingertip. Compressed it, and compressed it again.
She did not let it explode. Instead, she continued compressing it to increase its density.
Until the energy sphere at her fingertip gradually shifted from purple to black... like a pseudo-black hole from which even light could not escape.
At the very moment Mahoraga's body was about to vanish beneath the aurora pillar's torrent, Xu Fu hurled the sphere into the beam. Facing that blazing light like the eruption of a supernova, Xu Fu suddenly felt that a line she had once read would be perfect right now.
"TYRANT OF THE HEAVENS! BEHOLD THE SIGHT OF A STAR BEING CRUSHED!"
In the next instant, a tiny black dot suddenly appeared within the incandescent light.
Compared to the torrent of light, that black dot was as insignificant as a pebble in the ocean. Yet that tiny black dot erupted with terrifying attraction, sucking in every grain of starlight gathered into the torrent around it as it forced its way upstream against the aurora pillar.
Because this was one move to decide the outcome, Taisai Seikun's bunrei had held absolutely nothing back with this attack. He had left himself no room to dodge, nor any time to form seals to defend.
Together with the released Hypernova, Taisai Seikun's bunrei was dragged into the pseudo-black hole and crushed over and over. In the blink of an eye, even the Seer Flesh supplied by the main body was exhausted.
"...That is why I told you, didn't I?"
A huge hand ignored the pseudo-black hole's gravitational waves and pulled out Taisai Seikun's bunrei, who had been battered beyond recognition and had only half a body remaining.
The divine aura lingering around Ai Kamiyo's eyes formed a spatial gate above her head. Behind the gate was a strange space covered in talismans and hung with several lanterns. A white figure sat within it. He was the one who had reached out and saved Taisai Seikun's bunrei.
This being was Taisai Seikun's main body.
Xu Fu's strength had exceeded his imagination. He had not expected Xu Fu to defeat the bunrei even after he had lent it thirty percent of his power.
He intended to retreat for the time being. This main body of his could not exert too much power in the island nation of Japan. As long as he survived, there would be other chances. Besides, he still had a score to settle with the bunrei in his hand.
"Trying to run? Did you ask my opinion?"
Xu Fu's voice stopped Taisai Seikun's main body just as he tried to withdraw.
"What? If I wish to leave, do you intend to stop me? Who gave you that courage? Do you truly think defeating one of my bunrei gives you the right to act arrogantly before me?"
Taisai Seikun's main body spoke with pure condescension. Even though his bunrei had lost to Xu Fu, his attitude toward Xu Fu had not changed in the slightest. It was still full of contempt.
The white figure's face had only a pair of eyes and no other features, yet Xu Fu could read the arrogance in his gaze, as if he were looking down on ants.
Xu Fu met his eyes without fear. "Yours truly, Xu Fu, isn't just going to stop you. I'm going to threaten you too~! Leave this place right now. Also, hand Ai and your bunrei over to me. Otherwise, you're going to regret it~!"
Space seemed to tremble faintly—so faintly that one almost wondered whether it was an illusion.
Taisai Seikun's main body laughed in sheer fury.
"Threaten me? You brat, I'd like to see exactly how you intend to threaten me!"
"Then you'd better watch carefully~!"
Xu Fu smiled as if her plan had succeeded. As she raised her hand, golden Daoist patterns emerged from thin air and surrounded her.
Just like Taisai Seikun's bunrei in the original plot, who had been ambushed by Yayoi Hozuki because of his arrogance, this main body also sat there quietly, waiting to see what this brat Xu Fu could possibly come up with.
However, as the formation diagrams around Xu Fu gradually took shape, Taisai Seikun's main body sensed an aura that was both strange and familiar.
"How could you possibly possess that thing—?!"
Absurd. Laughable.
That thing absolutely could not appear in the present world. It was even less possible for it to be held by some island-monkey brat.
In that era, it had stirred up storms of blood. Youkai and loose immortals had done everything they could to be selected, while immortals and disciples of the two teachings had killed others to avoid being selected.
It was a magical treasure, a roster of divine offices jointly drafted and agreed upon by the three teachings of Chan, Jie, and Human Dao, recording the offices of the three hundred and sixty-five proper gods of the Heavenly Court under Haotian Shangdi. It was later entrusted to Jiang Ziya to manage, announce, and execute.
Its name was—the Fengshen Bang!
The earlier calm and arrogance vanished in an instant.
Taisai Seikun, whose true name was Yin Jiao, was the son of King Zhou of Shang. He had once taken Guangchengzi, an immortal of the Chan Sect, as his master, following his teacher to learn arts on Mount Jiuxian.
He was the three-headed, six-armed, blue-skinned, red-haired giant from Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, mocked by netizens as a fifty-cent special effect.
After mastering his skills, Yin Jiao descended the mountain at his honored master's command to assist King Wu in his campaign against King Zhou of Shang. However, Shen Gongbao turned him, and he fought against Jiang Ziya, Yang Jian, and the others, even injuring his own teacher, Guangchengzi.
After Yin Jiao died, his soul went to the Investiture Altar and was enfeoffed as the "Yearly Tai Sui God."
"Hmph~ hmph~ hmph~! Actually, yours truly, Xu Fu, has a bit of a connection to Jiang Ziya~!"
Xu Fu smiled faintly, seemingly very satisfied with Taisai Seikun's main body's reaction. Then she continued, "Of course, this isn't the real Fengshen Bang. It's a Taoism Arts technique Jiang Ziya wove with the Fengshen Bang as a reference, specifically to deal with you gods he once enfeoffed... I don't think I need to explain its exact effect too much, do I~?"
After hearing Xu Fu's explanation, Taisai Seikun's main body finally reacted. Although the aura was very similar, this thing was not the real Fengshen Bang at all. It was only a technique.
Being enfeoffed as a god sounded impressive, but in reality, it was not like that at all.
When ancient people cultivated immortality and ascended to godhood, their ultimate goals were mostly the same: first, immortality; second, freedom and ease.
The immortals and gods recorded on the Fengshen Bang not only had to abandon their physical bodies, but were also subject to strict restraints. They gained immortality, but lost their freedom. They would forever be controlled by the Fengshen Bang, essentially becoming "tool gods" of the Heavenly Court.
Yang Jian and the others could achieve sainthood in the flesh, but the gods placed on the Fengshen Bang all had to abandon their bodies. The upper limit of their cultivation was locked, and they had to accept the power of incense from the populace, or else they risked having their souls scattered.
For mortals, loose immortals, and youkai, being enfeoffed as a god was an enormous blessing. After all, no matter how low their position was, they were still gods recognized by the Heavenly Dao—proper gods. It was the same logic as a civil servant: no matter how low their rank, they were still part of the system. On top of that, they obtained immortality, so the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.
But for someone like Zhao Gongming, the eldest outer disciple of the Jie Sect, whose teacher was Tongtian Jiaozhu, his future could be called limitless. He already had both immortality and freedom. For him, being placed on the Fengshen Bang was pure harm with no benefit at all. Back then, when someone said he was fated for the Fengshen Bang, he was so angry he nearly beat them to death.
Therefore, for gods who already held status, being enfeoffed as a god was essentially a demotion.
And the effect of Xu Fu's art was to weaken a god and lower that god's divine rank. It could even imprison and seal the god directly.
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T/N: woah... an upgraded porple, can someone tell me what it does im too dumb so its like a blackhole?