Chapter 212: Ice Lantern Festival (Part 3)

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“This, what is this?” Fatty pointed at the Hakone Fire Dragon and asked Itomi Sayaka with a stutter.

“Sister Sa?!” Yuka also looked at Itomi Sayaka.

Itomi Sayaka was as incredulous as they were.

On Mount Bankei, in the ice palace complex, everyone was also in disbelief.

A hundred practitioners below the tenth level—there were a few with low levels but high cultivation—actually turned into a Kasen-level yokai!
They did not lose their minds.

They retained all their strength.

Although because there were many people, their strength could not be fully exerted, but through practicing tacit understanding and adjusting personnel, sooner or later, these hundred people would no longer be dispensable.

No, not just these hundred people, but all low-level practitioners!
They were no longer the cradle of Kasen, where the vast majority were destined to be eliminated!

Some people couldn’t help but think: Minamoto Kiyomoto, who created this spell, to what extent would he rise because of this spell?

He was already the Honshu Shinto Lord, below three people and above ten thousand people. Further up, was he on equal footing with the three, or…
Because of the appearance of the Hakone Fire Dragon, everyone’s imagination was like a bullet out of a chamber, shooting through one glass bottle after another, thinking of one possibility after another.

In these bottles, there was sweet and delicious mountain spring water, and also rotten and smelly mud.

The swimming Hakone Fire Dragon let out a low roar, waking everyone up.

Compared to just now, it was simply like a pile of copper wires and metal. After being assembled by Minamoto Kiyomoto, it became a cold and savage steel machine.

“Roar—” the Hakone Fire Dragon suddenly opened its dragon mouth and roared at Abe.

His clothes clung to his skin, and the muscles on his face rippled like waves, with a sharp pain like a knife cut. A small storm was stirred up with Abe as the center.

The momentum was fierce and violent.

Before Abe could recover from the storm, the head of the Hakone giant dragon rose and flew towards the night sky.

The practitioners who were on guard in the distance saw a red and black giant dragon, as if leaving its nest, rising from the brightly lit ice palace in the dark night.

In mid-air, the giant dragon stopped rising, and its huge body coiled around a snow mountain.

Looking at the scene in front of them, any human would be in awe and stare blankly.

“Is that the Honshu Shinto Lord?” someone couldn’t help but ask.

“No! It’s a hundred ordinary practitioners!”

“What hundred practitioners?”

“The Honshu Shinto Lord let a hundred people combine to become a demon body!”

The news was like sparks, falling into one crowd after another. The discussion was lit up like a cluster of bonfires.

Abe stood in the ice palace, looking at the giant dragon on the distant snow mountain, gritted his teeth and rushed up.

He knew that the outcome of this challenge was no longer important. Whether he could defeat the Hakone giant dragon or not, Minamoto Kiyomoto had already won.

“Everyone, be careful, he’s coming!” In the vast red light, Rabbit couldn’t help but shout.

“Received!”

“Understood!”

A hundred people didn’t know where they were now, or what state they were in. Before Minamoto Kiyomoto took over this body, they subconsciously moved, which would only make the corresponding part of the dragon’s body move.

Compared to the Hakone giant dragon, Abe was only the size of a grain of rice.

It roared at this grain of rice like a mad thunder.

The hundred people in the dragon’s body roared along.

“Kill him!” Their various capacities were all integrated with the domineering capacity of the Hakone Fire Dragon.

With a “swoosh”, the Hakone giant dragon was like an arrow shot from the “bow” of the snow mountain, pouncing on Abe with the momentum of smashing everything.

In the eyes of the practitioners in the ice palace, Abe was simply a body of flesh and blood, facing a huge meteorite falling from the sky.

At the moment when the meteorite and the flesh were about to collide, Abe split into five figures.

“Bang!” The figure facing the dragon’s head was blown away like a puff of mist, and strands of it climbed onto the dragon’s scales.

“Boom!” The dragon’s tail swept across, shattering the second figure, and at the same time, it made a gully on a snow mountain.

“Swish!” The dragon’s claw swung, crushing the third figure.

At this time, a figure in the distance flew quickly towards the night sky.

“There!”

“Chase!”

The Hakone Fire Dragon did not listen to them. Instead, it opened its dragon mouth, and a pillar of light as bright as magma spewed towards the nearby figure.

“Hah!” The figure’s dull face tensed in an instant.

A dazzling light flew out of him, blocking the pillar of light spewed from the dragon’s mouth.

The shockwave caused by the volcanic divine energy spread out in layers in the sky. The surrounding air quickly heated up, and the snowflakes in the sky melted in the warm air current.

In the cold February, it rained for the first time in Sapporo.

After a while of confrontation, Abe split again.

Five figures quickly scattered. One flew into the clouds, one rushed into the snow mountain, one flew towards the horizon, one stayed in place to prepare a spell, and one rushed into the sea of the distant Sapporo harbor.

“Kill the one in the sky first!”

“Go to the snow mountain!”

“In the sea!”

The Hakone Fire Dragon did not move. Its eyes heated up rapidly, and then, it suddenly opened them.

“Hiss—” two thin high-temperature rays swept in all directions.

The clouds were pierced, the sea was evaporated, and the one that went to the horizon and the one that stayed in place were strung together.

It took only the time for the giant dragon to see them to eliminate these four figures. It was all done in the blink of an eye.

In the next blink of an eye, the Hakone giant dragon turned around and rushed towards the snow mountain. The figure was hiding behind the snow mountain.

One person and one dragon, a fierce battle unfolded behind the snow mountain.

The crowd in the ice palace could only hear roars, loud noises, and see strings of dazzling lights exploding between the snow mountains, like clusters of fireworks.

The giant dragon galloped, and wherever it passed, it was devastating, and the mountains collapsed and the rocks shattered.

From time to time, they could see a red light ray shooting into the sky, like a giant searchlight, sweeping between the mountains.

Unable to see the battlefield, many people turned their gazes to Minamoto Kiyomoto. He lowered his eyelids slightly, concentrating on controlling the Hakone giant dragon, his expression very peaceful.

Soon, Abe and the Hakone giant dragon came out of the pile of snow mountains.

One person and one dragon, on one snow mountain peak after another, and on the continuous ridges of the snow mountains, they fought and flew at the same time. The dazzling divine power shockwave was colorful.

The huge dragon’s body was like a beautiful carp swimming in a pond, leaving one colored water wave after another.

Immediately after, Abe was the first to rush into the clouds, and the giant dragon followed closely behind.

“It’s that move again!” the crowd in the ice palace, who were watching in a daze, came back to their senses slightly in this sudden voice.

They didn’t have time to see who the voice was. They stared at the clouds.

I saw Abe again, like an ordinary person, running desperately on the clouds towards the moon.

“Don’t let him jump in!”

“Kill him! Kill him!”

A hundred people roared in unison.

This roar, coming from the mouth of the Hakone giant dragon, turned into a series of thunderous roars.

“Bang!” Without any acceleration process, the dragon’s body instantly entered the speed of sound.

As the giant dragon advanced, in the terrifying sonic boom, the snow mountains on the ground collapsed one after another.

When it rushed over the ice palace, many of the guests felt a sense of suffocation, as if they had been hit by an invisible big wave.

But it was still not in time.

Just as they were about to collide, Abe jumped into the moon.

“Abe lost,” at this time, the Kyushu Shinto Lord said.

“He lost,” the Shikoku Shinto Lord also said.

Some shrine maidens and Kasen also nodded.

“Why?” the crowd was puzzled.

“The Rakuzuki Kasen’s ‘Rakuzuki Spell’ is a binding spell on the moonlight, turning the moonlight into water,” the Hokkaido Shinto Lord explained.

“What’s wrong with that?” Minamoto Nagatoku asked.

“You were unconscious just now. You didn’t see Abe climb out of the moon, like an ordinary person drilling out of the water,” the Abe clan leader said.

Minamoto Nagatoku blurted out, “He can’t breathe?”

“That’s right.”

“I was unconscious for four or five minutes. Abe’s time to hold his breath underwater should be about that much…” Minamoto Nagatoku paused and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was still controlling the Hakone giant dragon with his eyes closed. “I just don’t know if the hundred-person demon body spell has a time limit.”

In the night sky, the dark clouds near the moon had been dispersed by the Hakone giant dragon.

The bright moonlight sprinkled on Sapporo and the mountains, like another kind of snow.

The avalanche had not yet stopped, and the rumbling sound came from time to time.

The Hakone giant dragon, plated with a layer of moonlight, coiled into a circle under the gaze of the crowd and the moon.

The dragon’s body began to turn red and bright.

When the light was connected, the coiled giant dragon became a sun.

Layers of heat waves, with the sun as the center, began to attack the city and the land, attacking the heavens and the earth.

Like another kind of snow, the clouds and snow mountains were dyed with an ominous twilight color.

The moonlight began to heat up.

Not long after, Abe jumped out of the moonlight. The exposed parts of his face were scalded red.

The giant dragon swung its claws, like an eagle catching a rabbit that had run out of its hole.

Abe didn’t care about the steel-hard claws. He endured the excruciating pain and concentrated, trying to use the illusion spell.

His illusion spell was very powerful. Although it was not at the legendary level of being able to switch positions with the illusion at any time, it could at the moment he used the illusion.

Before he could concentrate, the dragon’s claw tightened slightly, and Abe let out a miserable cry.

At the same time, the dragon’s mouth of the Hakone giant dragon, aimed at its own right claw and Abe, was pulled open like a strong bow. The destructive volcanic divine energy gathered in a beam.

“Wait! I admit defeat! I admit defeat!” Abe shouted anxiously.

The Hakone giant dragon released him, and its coiled dragon body flew back to the ice palace.

The red light dissipated, condensed into a red and black diamond-shaped crystal, and a hundred people fell down.

“Ah—”

“So hot! It’s so hot!”

“It hurts so much!”

A hundred people let out different degrees and different miserable cries.

The practitioners in charge of treatment went forward and were shocked to find that no one was injured.

“It’s the pain of the capacity,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s long and fair fingers pinched the remnant that had flown back.

“The principle of the demon body spell is that the capacity of a person and a yokai are combined. If the capacity is not strong enough, even if it turns into a demon body, it will die because it can’t bear the pain that the yokai bears, and its capacity will collapse.”

He put away the remnant and continued:
“In the future, in actual combat, although low-level practitioners can play a greater role, they also have to bear greater risks.”

“This spell… can it be promoted? Besides you, can others also use it?” the Takekuma Kasen of Kyushu asked tentatively.

“Whoever subjugates the remnant, whoever uses it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh. “As a trial, I plan to first form a Hakone giant dragon team. The personnel will be on a voluntary basis, and the treatment of these hundred people will also be higher.”

“Lord Shinto, I apply to join!”

“I have experience. Let me do it!”

“Me too!”

The ice palace was instantly in an uproar, making people worry that it would melt the ice.

Minamoto Kiyomoto gestured for the crowd to be quiet and said, “Today is the Ice Lantern Festival. Everyone, have fun. We’ll talk about official business later!”

Hearing him say so, the crowd could only give up.

The topic of the subsequent banquet was all about the ‘Hakone giant dragon team’. The low-level practitioners were rubbing their fists and looking forward to it excitedly.

“Taiko,” the Ogosho raised his cup to the Taiko with a smile. “I toast you.”

The Taiko, who was suspected of having fallen asleep, stretched out his chicken-claw-like hand and picked up his wine glass.

On the snow-built stage, the snow women danced gracefully, and their dance also gave people a cold feeling.

After the banquet, leaving the venue, the moonlight was beautiful.

Minamoto Kiyomoto and Kamibayashi Miko, Himegami Izayoi, and Rikka met. The others all went to play on their own.

The four of them walked in the park where the crowd had dispersed, admiring the exquisite ice sculptures.

“I didn’t expect you to have this move,” Himegami Izayoi held her lips with her fan.

“I’ve been thinking about this since the New Year. I’ve only made progress recently,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

Just as he said two sentences, someone came over and said that the Taiko had asked the Honshu Shinto Lord to go over.

“I’ll go with you,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“It’s okay,” Minamoto Kiyomoto comforted. “It should be about the demon body spell. It’s nothing to give it to him.”

Kamibayashi Miko was still worried. Minamoto Kiyomoto had been in the limelight too much today.

“Alright,” Himegami Izayoi hugged her arm. “I gave him the mirror. Even if the Taiko and your father team up, he can hold on until you arrive.”

Kamibayashi Miko thought for a moment and then agreed to let Minamoto Kiyomoto go alone.

“What mirror?” the Hokkaido Miko asked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Uh—, you ask her,” Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at Himegami Izayoi and quickly left.

Under the leadership of his attendant, Minamoto Kiyomoto returned to the ice palace.

The ice palace, which had just been full of people and lit up like a crystal palace, was now dim, like a pile of tombs.

The Taiko was in his palace, drinking one cup after another.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stood outside the palace.

“Lord Taiko, you were looking for me?” he asked.

“After you left,” the Taiko held his wine glass, “I also looked for the Ogosho.”

“Oh?”

“He also refused.”

“Are you talking about fishing?” In his black sleeve, the mirror slid into Minamoto Kiyomoto’s palm.

“Hmm, but he has a new proposal,” the Taiko drank the wine.

In the darkness, his eyes, which were glowing with green light, looked directly at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto subconsciously thought that this battle would be like the waves and the coast, a mutual probing that would last for countless years.

However, the reality was an unpredictable earthquake that suddenly began on a day when he was not prepared.

“You are too different,” the Taiko sighed and put down his wine glass.

“People who are different often don’t have a good ending,” the Ogosho walked over from behind Minamoto Kiyomoto. His suit was gone, and he was wearing a samurai uniform.

“Compared to the two of you, I’m not different enough, am I?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh. “Do you think you can kill me?”

“We can’t, but something can.”

“Something?”

“Boom—”

In Sapporo city, Itomi Sayaka, Itomi Yuki, Yuka, Rabbit, and others, who were having a meal in a tavern, trembled.

Itomi Sayaka dropped her chopsticks and rushed out of the tavern.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Itomi Yuki asked in confusion and chased after her.

Hanyu Chika, Yagyu Michiko, Yuka, Rabbit, Koi, Monkey, Horse Face, and Fatty followed closely behind.

On the street, it was already full of practitioners who had come to a small gathering with their friends after the banquet.

Their faces were illuminated by a strong light, and their faces were dazed, terrified, and afraid.

In Odori Park, Shirako and Little Butterfly were carving their own ice sculptures, and Noi was playing a game.

Kamibayashi Miko, who was watching them, and Himegami Izayoi, who was dealing with Rikka, and Rikka, who was being perfunctory by Himegami Izayoi, all turned their heads at the same time and looked at Mount Bankei.

In a blazing white light, Mount Bankei slowly disappeared as if it had been evaporated.

In the night sky, the originally bright moonlight was like a huge surgical lamp. Someone was preparing to perform surgery on the world.

In the white light, three shadows sometimes merged and sometimes separated, fighting faster and faster. The rumbling sound was endless.

A mirror was forced into the distance by a long sword and a magatama.

The entire Hokkaido was trembling. The mountains along the way were all turned into ashes.

The white light covering Mount Bankei slowly disappeared. The mountain had been evaporated, and what was left was not a flat ground, but a bottomless deep pit.

The white light accumulated in the deep pit, making it look like the huge mouth of a monster.

“Kiyomoto—”