107: End

His twin blades slashed toward the newly emerged Upper Rank Demon with the force of a thunderbolt. However, the monster that had separated from Warabihime's body did not dodge or hide; instead, its ribbon-wrapped arm lashed out, forcefully parrying the fierce strike. Metal clashed with ribbon, erupting in blinding sparks.

However, the Upper Rank Demon that had crawled out from Daki's back reacted even faster! Shaking his arms, he gripped two hideously shaped sickles from seemingly nowhere. The blades shimmered with an ominous purple glow—they were clearly lethal weapons coated in potent poison!

"Too slow!" the Upper Rank Demon sneered, crossing his twin sickles to block Uzui Tengen's dual blades. "Clang!" A piercing metallic crash erupted. Uzui Tengen's expression shifted slightly; he felt as if his blades were stuck, a strange pulling force emanating from the point of impact.

The Upper Rank Demon took the opportunity to exert force, pushing Uzui Tengen back half a step, and swung his right sickle in a horizontal sweep! Uzui Tengen leaned back sharply, the sharp blade grazing the tip of his nose, the accompanying stench of blood making him nauseous.

With a wild roar, the Upper Rank Demon swung his sickles, firing off several razor-thin blades condensed from fresh blood. They didn't fly in a straight line but carved eerie arcs through the air, flanking Uzui Tengen from different directions.

Uzui Tengen's dual blades danced wildly as his figure flickered and shifted rapidly through the narrow street. The blades clashed with the blood blades, creating a dense clanging sound. However, one blood blade eventually broke through his defense, slicing a gash on his left arm. A burning, intense pain immediately radiated from the wound, which quickly began to turn black!

"Poison?!" Uzui Tengen's heart tightened, and his movements inevitably faltered.

In that split second, the Upper Rank Demon violently threw his twin sickles! The two sickles, as if possessed by a life of their own, spun into a lethal spiral trajectory, sealing off all of Uzui Tengen's paths of retreat.

At the critical moment, a flash of golden light streaked by!

Lin Luo intervened just in time. Several moon-white light blades condensed from spiritual power accurately struck the spinning sickles. Although they didn't shatter them, it was enough to alter their trajectory. The two sickles buzzed, flying back into the Upper Rank Demon's hands in two arcs.

"His weapons and blood blades are all poisoned, be careful!" Uzui Tengen warned urgently, while simultaneously circulating his Breathing Technique to suppress the toxin.

Lin Luo's expression was grave. His gaze swept over the Upper Rank Demon and then glanced at Daki, who was kneeling and sobbing not far away, the flesh at her neck already beginning to squirm. He recalled the anomaly of having cut off "Warabihime's" head earlier without being able to eliminate her.

"Tengen," Lin Luo said in a low voice, "something isn't right. I cut off that female demon's head just now, yet she didn't die. These two demons... I'm afraid they are symbiotic!"

As if to confirm his words, the Upper Rank Demon let out a raspy, wild laugh: "Did you figure it out? But what's the use! Remember the name of the man who will take your lives—Gyutaro!"

Before his voice could fade, the evil energy around Gyutaro surged again. Blood-like energy swirled and flowed around him, forming a comprehensive defensive barrier of fresh blood.

Uzui Tengen endured the numbness brought by the toxin and exchanged a look with Lin Luo. Without needing words, the two instantly swapped positions—the Sound Hashira's dual blades spun as his sharp gaze locked onto Daki nearby, while Lin Luo charged straight at Gyutaro like an arrow released from a bow!

“You're looking down on me too much.” Gyutaro sneered and threw his twin sickles. The spinning blood sickles not only sliced toward Lin Luo but also cleverly curved through the air, attempting to block Uzui Tengen's path to Daki.

“You're looking down on me too much!” Lin Luo shouted coldly, his speed suddenly increasing. Facing the whistling blood sickles, he neither dodged nor hid; he raised his right leg high and brought it down like a battle-axe. His condensed spiritual power transformed into a crescent-shaped light blade, colliding violently with the blood sickles!

“Boom—!”

Spiritual power and evil energy clashed violently, erupting in a blinding light. The crescent light blade actually forced the blood sickles back, and Lin Luo, using the recoil to leap into the air, formed a hand seal in front of his chest:

“Come, Thunder!”

Several bolts of blue lightning suddenly condensed in the night sky, striking down like flood dragons! Gyutaro's pupils shrank, and he hurriedly recalled his twin sickles as a blood-like barrier appeared around him:

“Blood Demon Art: Rampant Arcs!”

The lightning struck the blood barrier, exploding into a mist of blood. Under this cover, Uzui Tengen had already broken through the encirclement, his dual blades carrying brilliant sonic booms as he went straight for the still-recovering Daki!

“Don't even think about it!” Gyutaro roared, trying to go to her aid, but he was blocked by Lin Luo.

“Your opponent is me.” Lin Luo's spiritual power surged, and golden runes flowed through the void, firmly locking onto Gyutaro.

At the same time, the “Warabihime” facing Uzui Tengen also underwent a terrifying transformation! The ribbon Clones he had previously slashed to pieces did not dissipate; instead, they turned into black shadows, surging back into her body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.

As these Clones were reabsorbed, her form changed drastically—her long hair instantly faded to snow-white, with only the tips dyed a strange emerald green. On the irises of her left and right eyes, the characters for “Upper Rank” and “Six” appeared respectively. A magnificent pink tattoo spread from her left cheek to her temple, eerie and hideous.

A powerful evil energy soared into the sky. At this moment, she truly revealed the complete form of an Upper Rank Demon!

Facing this terrifying change, Uzui Tengen showed no fear. Instead, he flashed a flamboyant, cold smile and spoke with mockery: “Oh? I didn't expect you to be an Upper Rank too. But... seeing your pathetic state of barely piecing yourself together by absorbing Clones, that ‘Upper Rank’ title of yours—could it be you only got it by tagging along with your brother?”

Instantly ignited by this precise humiliation, a towering rage erupted, and a sharp roar echoed through the night sky. What she hated most was others questioning her strength and denying her qualification as an Upper Rank!

“You damn bastard—!!!”

Warabihime, restored to her original form, became the Upper Rank Demon Daki. Her sharp roar almost tore through the night. Countless ribbons imbued with terrifying power, like dancing venomous snakes, swept toward Uzui Tengen, blotting out the sky and instantly sealing off all his paths of retreat.

However, Uzui Tengen's figure seemed to move with ease amidst the dense offensive. He was like a flamboyant performer dancing on the edge of a blade, consistently avoiding the lethal entanglements of the ribbons by mere millimeters, his dual blades occasionally swinging out to precisely sever the most threatening ones.

“You really are weak.” He even had the leisure to mock her during an elegant backflip, the Sound Hashira's characteristic flamboyant tone exceptionally clear on the battlefield. “Too slow, way too slow! With this kind of speed, you can't even touch the corner of my clothes?”

His words were like sharp needles, precisely piercing Daki's most sensitive pride. She recalled the hundred years of being treated like a star in Yoshiwara, but also the doubts she had endured in the shadows because her strength was protected by her brother.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Daki's offensive became increasingly frantic. The white ribbons no longer followed any pattern, simply whipping and piercing crazily, tearing the surrounding buildings into a mess of holes. Anger doubled her strength, but it also made her lose her calm judgment.

“Angry already?” Uzui Tengen's eyes were sharp, precisely capturing the openings she exposed due to her rage. “It seems I've hit a sore spot, Young Miss Fake.”

Before his voice could fade, his speed suddenly increased, no longer just dodging. His dual blades, carrying brilliant sonic booms like silver flying fish cutting into waves, began to close in on Daki's main body against the frantic tide of ribbons!

On the eaves far from the battlefield, Tsukuyo and Uzui Tengen's three wives were watching the death match below with bated breath.

Moonlight shone on Tsukuyo's pale face, her pupils trembling slightly with shock. Although she had long known that Lin Luo and Uzui Tengen were not ordinary people, the scene before her still exceeded the limits of her imagination.

The blood sickles swung by Gyutaro carved lethal arcs through the air, each strike carrying corrosive poison. Daki's ribbons danced crazily like living things, tearing the entire street beyond recognition. Amidst this destructive offensive, the golden spiritual power flowing around Lin Luo intertwined with Uzui Tengen's flamboyant blade light, each clash erupting in a deafening roar.

“Is this... truly a Realm that humans can reach?” Tsukuyo unconsciously gripped the Kunai in her hand, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Just then, several figures arrived quietly; the members of the Hyakka had finally caught up.

“Leader, we found a disturbance here. What happened?” the leading female ninja asked urgently, her hand instinctively resting on her sword hilt as if preparing to join the fray.

“Stop!” Tsukuyo shouted sternly, her eyes never leaving the battlefield below. “Report to Lord Hosen exactly as it is. This battle... is no longer something we can intervene in.”

There was a hint of imperceptible trembling in her voice. An aftershock from a blood sickle happened to sweep across a distant building, and the entire house collapsed like it was made of paper. A Hyakka member instinctively took half a step back, her eyes full of horror.

Suma gripped Hinatsuru's sleeve tightly, her voice carrying a sob: “Lord Tengen...”

“Don't worry,” Makio said, forcing herself to stay calm, but her hand gripping her sword hilt betrayed her unease. “Lord Tengen is a Hashira, after all.”

Tsukuyo took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain her composure. As the leader of the Hyakka, she had to make the most rational judgment.

“Evacuate the surrounding area immediately and set up a perimeter. No one is to approach.” she ordered in a low voice, taking one last deep look at the golden figure weaving through the blood sickles and ribbons in the battlefield.

“I'm already familiar enough with this; there's no need to continue.”

Lin Luo suddenly retreated several steps, distancing himself from the relentlessly attacking Gyutaro. The probing look in his eyes had vanished, replaced by an icy calm. In the storm-like exchange just now, the opponent's combat patterns—relying on blood sickles and Blood Demon Arts—the trajectories and habits of his attacks, and even the speed at which the poison took effect, had all been thoroughly observed by him. This opponent had very little combat experience left to offer.

In that case—

“Tengen, let's do this together!”

Before his voice could fade, Uzui Tengen erupted like a bolt of silver lightning! The dual blades in his hands transformed into the most flamboyant execution tools, the blade light dazzling and eye-catching as it tore through the night. The speed was so fast it seemed as if the air itself was being sliced, emitting a piercing sonic boom. The trajectory of that brilliant blade light was the ultimate display of power and skill, precise and lethal—

“Sound Breathing, Fifth Form!”

A dazzling arc of the blade flashed by, and Daki's beautiful head, filled with astonishment, along with her frantically dancing ribbons, were severed together in an instant!

At the same moment, Lin Luo's offensive was another kind of ultimate terror. There was no flamboyant sound or light, no majestic Aura—only a killing intent condensed to the extreme, soaking the surrounding air like ice water. This killing intent was so pure that Gyutaro, a battle-hardened and cruel monster, saw his pupils shrink suddenly, and a shiver born of instinct instantly froze his entire being!

“Impossible...”

Gyutaro let out a raspy roar, his blood sickles instinctively lashing out in a frenzy. The strikes from his Blood Demon Art poured out like a rainstorm. However, all the attacks that hit the faint layer of golden light on Lin Luo's body were like waves crashing against a reef, fruitlessly shattering and dissipating.

That layer of golden light didn't even show a single ripple.

Only at this moment did Gyutaro truly realize the insurmountable chasm between them. For the first time, a shadow of despair was reflected in his crimson pupils: “Is the gap... actually this large?”

Lin Luo's palm slowly reached out amidst that despairing gaze. The faint light of annihilation swirling at his fingertips was not dazzling, yet it made every cell in Gyutaro's body scream—it was an end deeper than death.

“It's over.”

As the calm words fell, Lin Luo's palm brushed lightly across Gyutaro's neck.

Almost at the same instant, the heads of the siblings were separated from their bodies. Under Uzui Tengen's blade, Daki's expression of shock had yet to fade; and when Gyutaro's head rolled onto the ground, only an unbelievable blankness remained in those eyes engraved with “Upper Rank” and “Six.”