Smack!
With a single sound, Chen Mo's katana did not cut into the old monk's neck. Instead, it was caught by a pitch-black hand! When the blade struck that black hand, it did not make the sound of cutting flesh, but rather the sound of slicing leather without cutting through.
With a whoosh, Chen Mo swiftly pulled back his katana and then kicked the old monk flying!
The owner of the black hand had apparently not expected Chen Mo's movements to be so fast. Before he could react, the old monk was already flying away while spraying blood!
If he was surrounded and attacked, the old monk could keep launching energy attacks from the side. They might not pose much of a threat, but they would still be troublesome. Who knew when he might get injured by one of those attacks?
Therefore, Chen Mo swiftly kicked the old monk away, saving himself the trouble of having him hopping around at his side later.
He turned to face the Shikigami, whose Spiritual Body had condensed into a humanoid form and whose entire body was pitch-black!
The Shikigami was clad from head to toe in black armor, a complete suit of large lamellar armor, much like the armor worn by high-ranking ancient Japanese warriors! Its face was covered by a lion-bite mask, and its entire visage resembled that of a terrifying Strange Beast!
The Shikigami stood before Chen Mo, more than twice his height. The hand that had caught his katana earlier was several times larger than Chen Mo's palm, and it was damn black too!
Huff! The Shikigami let out a deep exhalation, one truly capable of stopping a child from crying at night!
Japanese people were not particularly tall on average, yet no matter what they did, they always had