Hunting Down the Jashin Cult

However, the tactic of using one's status to intimidate others has completely lost its effectiveness in front of these people.

They just stood there, as if they hadn't heard, or as if they had heard but didn't care.

A dozen pairs of eyes peered out from under the black-clad figure, their gazes empty and unresponsive, not even blinking.

Zhen's heart sank.

Something's off about these people.

She reflexively pulled out Smoke Bomb and threw it at her feet.

With a "bang," thick smoke exploded, filling the entire side yard in a white haze.

The dozen or so men in black were choked and retreated repeatedly. Some raised their sleeves to cover their mouths and noses, while others turned their heads away to avoid the smoke.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he used his Body Flicker Technique to slip through the gaps in the encirclement.

About five seconds later, someone rushed out of the white mist to chase after her.

Zhen kept looking back, and when he saw this scene, he immediately understood.

These people aren't that great.

If they were truly skilled, the smoke wouldn't be able to deceive them at all.

They were choked and their vision was obstructed, indicating that their sensory abilities were inadequate and their Strength was at most that of a Chunin.

That makes things easier.

While running around with Tamamo-no-Mae sorts of strange ways, he wrote rapidly in mid-air.

"Service!"

A flash of black light, and the writing disappeared into the ground. Then, a clone that looked exactly like her emerged from the side.

He didn't stop; he wrote eight more.

Eight clones followed her, their appearances, auras, and even the folds in their clothes were exactly the same.

She raised her hand again and wrote the word "" on half of the clones, making a copy of Tamamo Mae's appearance.

Four real ones were pulling four Tamamo-no-Mae as they ran around her.

"Disperse!"

At Zhen's command, the clones scattered in all directions.

Shinji, holding Tamamo-no-Mae, mingled with the others and ran towards the outer perimeter of the Pleasure Quarter.

When the pursuers emerged from the smoke, they saw five or six figures scattering in different directions.

They hesitated for a moment, then split up and gave chase.

Tamamo-no-Mae was being dragged along by Shin, her steps faltering as she gasped for breath, "Brother, he...?"

"Lady Tamamo-no-Mae, there's no need to worry." Without turning his head, he spoke quickly, "They're after me, and Lord Tamaro is Strength powerful; she'll definitely escape!"

Tamamo-no-Mae naturally knew how strong her older brother was.

Although Tamaro has been rescued by others many times over the years, it's just because he's unlucky and always gets tricked. When it comes to real skills, there aren't many of Hiroyama's men who can beat him.

Knowing this doesn't stop me from worrying.

Who knows what might happen?

He pulled her along for a while, then turned into a quiet alley. At the end of the alley was a pile of broken baskets and rotten hampers, emitting a smell of rotting vegetable leaves.

He stopped, turned around, and stuffed Tamamo-no-Mae the pile of garbage.

"Please hide here, Lady Tamamo-no-Mae," she said in a low voice, "Until the pursuers leave."

Tamamo-no-Mae in the garbage heap, her back pressed against a wet, tattered basket, her skirt stained with rotten vegetable leaves, looking utterly disheveled.

But what she was more worried about was, "But you..."

Zhen smiled and took a step back.

"You're running too slowly. It'll be safer for me to escape on my own."

Tamamo-no-Mae opened her mouth as if to say something, but she had already turned and run away.

Her figure flashed and disappeared around the corner of the alley without even turning her head.

Tamamo-no-Mae raised her hand, trying to stop her and make her hide with her, but a series of footsteps came from above, and several figures swept past the alley entrance.

She bit her lip and buried her face in her knees.

After settling Tamamo -Tamamo-no-Mae, he ran towards the forest.

She was, after all, Chunin; Chakra into her legs, allowing her to leap a great distance with each step.

He turned from one alley into another, climbed over a low wall, and jumped over a ditch.

She dodged and weaved, using every method at her disposal, but that aura remained lingering behind her, the distance never widening.

Her heart tightened.

This person is far superior to her! She must find someone to help her!

Kakuzu, who was leaving the Izakaya where the party was being held, was about to leave when he suddenly heard the sound of rubble breaking and couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

He looked up and saw a figure flash past on the roof, golden hair whipping in an arc in the sunlight, as fast as a startled bird.

There was another person hanging not far behind.

Kakuzu frowned.

He recognized the blonde figure; it was the eldest daughter of the Tsuchigumo Family.

He had caught a glimpse of it from afar during the chaos at the dock.

The girl was standing in the middle of a group of people, her shoulders hunched, looking utterly useless.

It runs quite fast now.

As he and the other man emerged from the Izakaya Wūwū Liánběi looked up and watched the two figures disappear one after the other at the edge of the roof, muttering something to himself.

"It seems we're not the only ones involved in this Summer Festival incident."

He ran all the way.

She used every available foothold—the eaves, the walls, the tree branches—to find support.

Chakra surged into her legs, and with each stomp she could leap a great distance, the wind whistling past her ears, almost drowning out her breathing.

But she didn't know where to run.

She wanted to find someone to take refuge, but as she ran, she realized that she had no idea where the people she had ever met lived.

Enma and Luotai had spoken, but men and women shouldn't be too close, and since she was going to marry Tamaro, she had to avoid suspicion, so she didn't even ask for their home address.

She had been staying at the Ise Family's residence for the past few days, but her clan and the Ise people were all trying to capture her. Going back now would be like walking into a trap.

Needless to say, Tamamoya just ran out of there.

In this vast Land of Hot Water, she only knew these two places.

The presence behind them grew closer.

She gritted her teeth, climbed over a low wall, and almost fell over when she landed because her knees buckled. She braced herself on the ground, caught her breath, and got up to keep running.

The girl couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with grief, thinking that she might Yomi today.

But she didn't want to die.

Life is not something to be given up on so easily.

Even if she didn't know where to run, even if her legs were getting heavier and heavier, she had to run, until she couldn't run anymore. She wouldn't stop until then.

Just as I turned out of an alley, a bright and open space opened up before me—a forest.

Behind the woods is a mountain, densely covered with trees; going inside would at least provide some hiding place.

She rushed towards the woods.

But just as she was about to step into the woods, her wrist was suddenly tightened and someone grabbed her.

The hand was very strong; it lifted her up, her feet off the ground, and she was swept away in another direction.

The aura chasing from behind suddenly stopped.

Only then did Zhen see clearly that the person pulling her was a young man dressed in a dark kimono, with a slender figure, clean and sharp profile, and dark blue eyes that gleamed in the sunlight.

He stepped onto the treetop, used the momentum to push off, and carried her up to a higher place.

I looked up at him.

"Lord Izuna!"

Izuna glanced down at her. "You run pretty fast, I almost couldn't keep up even when I was flying."

I was stunned for a moment, and then my nose tingled with emotion.

She couldn't quite describe the feeling; it was just that the strength that had been supporting her as she ran suddenly gave way, and her eyes welled up with tears.

She quickly lowered her head and rubbed her face in her sleeve.

Izuna didn't look at her, but simply carried her all the way to the beach and landed in a secluded spot.

Mokushō appeared beside him two seconds later. "It's all taken care of."

Izuna nodded and looked at the still-shaken Shin.

Shin immediately inquired, "Lord Izuna! Tamaro and Lady Tamamo-no-Mae...?"

"Don't worry, I'm alive." Izuna released her wrist and pressed down on her shoulder. "I'll go find her now. You need to make sure you're safe first."

I breathed through my mouth and slowly relaxed.

"Look over there, that boat with the red and white rings, see it?" Izuna pointed to the sea. "Go over there, Madara will protect you."

He stared at the ship for two seconds, then nodded vigorously.

"I understand," she said, her voice still a little hoarse from catching her breath. "Then please, Lord Izuna, save Lady Tamaro and Lady Tamamo-no-Mae."

Izuna waved his hand casually, "No problem, no problem."

Before he finished speaking, he pushed off the ground, his clothes billowing in the wind, and swept towards the direction of Tamamoya.

Zhen looked up at his back; the figure drew an arc in mid-air, as fast as a startled egret, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

She stood there and watched for a while.

Just now, when Lord Izuna grabbed her wrist, she admitted that her heart skipped a beat for a Setsuna second.

The sense of security from being pulled out of a desperate situation was so strong, especially from such a handsome person. Even knowing she was out of his league, she still hoped for a moment that Izuna would glance at her.

But she quickly suppressed the thought.

Tamaro is her future husband.

When she was surrounded by her clansmen and had nowhere to go, it was Tamaro who stood in front of her.

That person spoke roughly, wasn't good-looking, and had freckles on his face, but it was precisely that person who stood up for her when she was most afraid, and now she was in danger because of him.

Although she didn't know why her clansmen and the people of Ise wanted to capture her, or why they needed the Fury Seal on her body, she was now a ticking time bomb. She had to calm down and prioritize her own safety.

She looked away, took a deep breath, tore a dirty rag from a broken basket beside her, and wrapped it haphazardly around her head, completely covering her blonde hair.

Then she quickly made her way towards the dock.

When Izuna returned to Tamamoya, the courtyard was already empty.

The dozen or so men in black had vanished without a trace. A large hole had been smashed into the wall of the side courtyard, splinters of wood were scattered all over the ground, and there were a few drops of blood that hadn't dried yet.

He followed the trail of blood to the backyard and found Tamaro in the alley outside the back door.

Tamaro sat leaning against the wall, a sickle resting on his knees. His left sleeve was slashed, and blood seeped out from under the fabric, staining half of the sleeve dark red.

His face was pale and his lips were bloodless, but he was still relatively conscious. He raised his head when he heard footsteps, and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing who it was.

"Lord Izuna."

"How badly are you hurt?" Izuna crouched down and pulled open his sleeve to take a look. The cut wasn't deep, but he had bled quite a bit and needed to be treated quickly.

"Just superficial wounds," Tamaro said. "Where are those people?"

"She's gone." Izuna took out some medicine and bandages from his sleeve and quickly bandaged him up. "Your sister took Makoto away. After settling her in, Makoto lured away the pursuers by herself. I just got Makoto to the ship; my family will protect her."

Tamaro nodded, his tense shoulders relaxing a little.

What about Tamamo-no-Mae?

"If I really hid her in the alley outside the Pleasure Quarters, she should still be there." Izuna stood up. "I'll go get her. You go back to Tamamoya and stay there. Don't move around."

Tamaro didn't try to be brave; he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Izuna turned and left the alley, stepping on the rooftops as he sped towards the direction of the Pleasure Quarter.

Mokushō leaned close to Izuna's ear and whispered, "I've marked everyone here."

Izuna nodded slightly, not asking any further questions, "Okay, I'll go check it out in a bit."

He turned and darted along the eaves towards the outer perimeter of the Pleasure Quarter.

Izuna landed in the alley where Tamamo-no-Mae was, walked a few steps in, and stopped in front of the pile of broken baskets and tattered hampers.

Tamamo-no-Mae was curled up inside. She raised her head when she heard footsteps. Her hair was covered with rotten vegetable leaves, and she was clutching a wooden stick that she had broken off from somewhere.

Upon seeing it was Izuna, her shoulders relaxed, and the wooden stick in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud."

"Lord Izuna..."

"It's alright." Izuna reached out and helped her up. "Your brother is still alive. I'll take them both to a safe place."

Tamamo-no-Mae wiped the dust off her face and nodded.

When Izuna brought Tamamo-no-Mae to the back door of Tamamoya, Hiroyama Takebu had already arrived.

The burly man stood at the door, followed by several henchmen, his face taut with menacing features.

The receptionist in the front yard, Tamamoya, had been evacuated, and people in the surrounding area were keeping their distance and gossiping on the street.

Hiroyama stepped into the house and saw Tamaro sitting against the wall, surrounded by a mess, her face looking grim.

He rushed over and crouched down to check on him. "What happened here?"

Tamaro raised his head, his voice hoarse. "It's the Evil Cult we've been investigating."

Hiroyama frowned. "Evil Cult? Those people couldn't possibly hurt you?"

When this was mentioned, Tamaro shook his head, "Big Brother, we were all wrong before."

Hiroyama looked at him.

"The number of Cultist has exceeded our expectations," Tamaro said, frowning. "They are not a newly emerging sect at all."

Hiroyama's brows furrowed even more. "What do you mean? Why do you say that?"

"Rokurō, Kenji, Guran," Tamaro called out the names one by one, "And many others. They are all their followers."

The room fell silent for a moment, and those who had helped clean up the mess stood frozen in place.

Hiroyama looked stunned. "How is this possible! How many years has Rokurō followed you? Kenji even took a knife for you last month! Guran... Guran, she..."

"It's all true." Tamaro closed his eyes. He didn't want to believe it either. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that these people were actually members of that Jashin Cult.

Hiroyama still couldn't accept it. "Are you sure you didn't see wrong? How could they be Cultist? They seem perfectly normal most of the time, not at all like the crazy members of Jashin Cult."

"If you could tell, how could you call yourself a believer?" Izuna walked in.