Trouble Begins to Surface / Handing Over the Final Materials

However, perhaps because her memories were filled with the terrifying power of the Enlightenment Realm who could burn mountains and boil seas, she probably never imagined that such a crude Xuanhui Realm cultivation technique would cause such a huge reaction in this world. Although she had already regarded this technique as extremely precious, she did not yet realize just how precious it was, or whether it would be so precious that it would cause fear and unease among the people and organizations that received it.

Her thoughts were still stuck on fishing, or rather, finding an excuse to casually mess with Divine Gate. Otherwise, she could shamelessly storm into Divine Gate's presence, seize control of Divine Gate, and completely establish her authority.

The reason for taking this roundabout approach is simply to worry that the Divine Gate or the government might have some backup plan, so as not to end up in a situation like dealing with the Mountain God and the Xuanming Python.

As for Yuria's thoughts, they were also based on the information asymmetry.

All she could see in Okita Qishen was the impact of the Life Spiritual Qi Extraction Method on Okita Qishen and the Wagen Family behind him. Because the method was more suitable for a wider range of people than Spiritual Power cultivation, it meant that the government could find other people to cooperate with in order to suppress the One exorcist forces that were rooted in the government.

As for how broad the applicable group was, the materials she saw at the time had only completed the first few rounds of experiments, and the conclusion was strictly expressed as "much broader than Spiritual Power cultivation," so she never thought about its universality.

The suggestion of spreading the first level of the cultivation technique was merely a reasonable one, and its spread would cause a slight disturbance. If it were to circulate through the Wagen Family, they would be better prepared to handle such disturbances. Furthermore, after learning of Oone Jincho's presence in the military, she realized that the Wagen Family might have very close ties with the government. If handled well, the Wagen Family's status would actually rise, allowing them to gain even more benefits.

This kind of profit is based on harming competitors. Just like the recent incident, although both brands suffered huge damage to their profits and reputation, one is a core brand and the other is a non-core brand. When both sides were damaged, the non-core brand recovered faster than the core brand and then eroded the latter's profits and channels.

Clearly, Oone is the "non-core brand," and it has also interfered in military affairs.

This logic still has many flaws, but after all, I'm just a novice, so this is good enough. Okay, next is to introduce variables, namely the shrine.

Chapter 191 Unexpected Events Begin to Emerge

Just as Okita Qishen was gripped by anxiety over what was on his mind, the conference room door creaked open, and Oune Tatsu walked in, clutching a document in his hand, followed by a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

The middle-aged man turned his gaze to Okita Qishen in front of him.

"I hope we can reach a consensus on this matter, Okita- kun."

He sat down in the chair directly opposite Okita and gestured for Oune Tatsu to hand over the documents in his hand to Okita Qishen.

"Currently, you are the only one with the authority to speak with that person."

"I see."

Okita Qishen took the document, his eyes quickly scanning it, and he couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.

He didn't intend to consider one of Yuria's suggestions: spreading the technique, even using Weigen's position, would be extremely risky. Her other suggestion, however, was much more favorable in comparison.

If it could really be done...

Okita Qishen solemnly began to peruse the document, word by word.

Then, he put down the documents in his hand, looked at the middle-aged man sitting calmly opposite him, and slowly nodded.

"I see."

"Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone call from Okita Qishen, Yotsuya Miko looked out the window at the frolicking crowd on campus, her gaze calm.

The next batch of Divine Gate's goods arrived, Okita Qishen informed her to collect the last batch. After this batch, her transaction with Divine Gate was officially completed.

During this time, Divine Gate must have figured out the extraordinary nature of the technique, but it's unknown when they will target her, the provider of the technique.

Perhaps it will happen on the way to this handover of materials?

Yotsuya Miko became slightly expectant. Although she hadn't yet figured out whether Divine Gate had any backup plans, she would soon be able to see Divine Gate's Divine Gate strength and weaknesses from how he treated her, and understand the true depth of this country's supernatural power.

If they have a backup plan to counter themselves, then that grand formation should come into play.

"It's about time we resolved this issue."

A long time passed after the amusement park. In addition to her leisurely and comfortable campus life, her increasingly proficient Hiding Concealment Technique and Falcon Spirit Wind Control Incantation accelerated her nationwide deployment, and this morning she had completely completed this grand formation.

Although it's a one-time use item.

Firstly, she didn't possess a complete grand formation; secondly, she lacked the strength; and thirdly, she didn't have any usable formations at hand. The current grand formation was ultimately a clever trick, achieved by piling up the quantity of tools. Moreover, calling it a grand formation covering the entire country was an understatement; the country was simply too small. Even in the Xuanhui Realm, such a grand formation wouldn't be considered particularly large.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the moment the grand formation was completed and confirmed to be usable, Yotsuya Miko felt an immense sense of relief, so much so that she wanted to cry. The grand formation's power had reached that of a Golden Core cultivator, and even a casual strike from Golden Core Great Cultivator was stronger than hundreds of her own. Within such a grand formation, she essentially had no chance of failure. Even the shrine that had previously made her wary could now be tested using the grand formation.

Of course, before that, she needed to completely resolve the issue with the Divine Gate. If she started doing something else before finishing one, even with the support of the great formation, unexpected things could still happen. She needed to nip this in the bud.

Only by doing this can you be responsible for your own life.

As she pondered, she recalled the bloody and tearful history of dealing with the Mountain God and the Xuanming Python. This time, she had been extremely cautious and had even specially set up a large formation. Surely, nothing serious would go wrong?

However, objective reality will not change because of her will.

Just as Yotsuya Miko received the phone call from Okita Qishen, another department in the local Divine Gate was also facing difficulties.

The head of the Special Affairs Department stared at the supplies being moved by his Special Affairs Department, utterly bewildered as to why they were doing this.

His career began to decline after his mishandling of the Shepherds branch incident.

First, there's the exorcism work in the city. For some reason, the number of extremely harmful spirits in the city has decreased significantly, leaving the Special Affairs Department with nothing to do. Only now have they realized that some spirits that were previously very troublesome have completely disappeared. Moreover, there are basically no powerful spirits coming from the outside to harass them.

Moreover, it was the Investigation Department that told them about this situation.

According to their investigation, the wolf and Tiger-class Spirit roaming the city had actually been being consciously eliminated over the past month or two, and with great efficiency. When this news reached him, he already knew the situation the Special Affairs Department was about to face.

Is it really that the Divine Gate Special Affairs Department lacks the ability to eliminate these wolf-tiger level spirits, thus allowing them to harass and harm ordinary people? This is only a small part. After paying the price of some casualties, the Special Affairs Department could quickly carry out a cleansing of powerful spirits in the city, but they never thought of making such a decision.

This is based on rational and economic considerations.

The Investigation Department isn't the one that deals with spirits. Their main job is to investigate urban legends and other paranormal events, record and register unlicensed exorcists, and assist the Special Affairs Department in confirming the location of certain entities or spirits when necessary. Because of this, they don't need to worry about whether the spirits are alive or not, because regardless of whether the spirits are alive or not, they have their own things to do to maintain the department's existence.

However, the main job of the Special Affairs Department is to clean up these spirits. Just like a cat that catches mice in the house, the owner is not afraid of the presence of mice, but only feels trouble and annoyance, hence the need for a cat. Once there are no mice in the house, the cat loses its purpose and will soon be neglected and abandoned.

The Special Affairs Department is even worse off than these cats, because they're not cute either, at least not in the eyes of the government's tax department. If it weren't for Ling, this "rat" who needs special handling, they wouldn't even consider paying the Special Affairs Department high salaries and benefits.

Now, someone has killed the very thing that kept these "scoundrels" alive, cutting off their means of survival by raising bandits to maintain their dignity.

The head of the Special Affairs Department felt frustrated. What was even more frustrating was that their performance evaluation was about to be conducted, and he hadn't had time to do anything.

"Okita Qishen ..."

After much deliberation, he could only vent all his resentment on the person he already disliked. Looking at the strange materials that Okita Qishen had assigned them to handle and compile under the guise of the Investigation Department, he spat on the spot, thinking it was just to disgust him.

After spitting out the curse, he finally began to consider the issue of his political achievements. He vaguely remembered a tunnel, a tunnel far from the city, where the spirits might not have been cleared away yet, and even if they had been eliminated by others, they could claim them as their own.

Anyway, the Investigation Department wouldn't go to such a far place to verify.

Chapter 192: The Final Handover of Materials

"Speaking of which, this should be the last batch, right?"

After school, Yotsuya Miko, who was sitting in Okita Qishen's car, suddenly spoke up.

She was in a good mood and full of anticipation for the journey to Divine Gate.

Since the last time she handed over the cultivation technique, Divine Gate hadn't done anything to her, nor had he shown any signs of resistance. She could take this as Divine Gate not wanting to cause any trouble before the transaction was complete, but today was the moment when the handover was finally finished.

Approach, dialogue, or coercion and intimidation?

Her attitude towards Divine Gate is unknown, which is precisely why she is filled with anticipation.

"... Yes, Ms. Yotsuya. It's a pleasure to work with you."

Okita Qishen was a beat slow to react to such an abrupt question. He didn't know what this deity, who had become untouchable in his eyes, meant by such a question, so he could only answer honestly and take the opportunity to ask Yotsuya Miko's opinion.

"I wonder what Miss Yotsuya thinks of Divine Gate? I'm sure after working together these past few days, Miss Yotsuya must have formed her own impression of Divine Gate by now?"

To appease this powerful figure, he used the prestige of the Wagen Family to silence many dissenting voices, ensuring that Divine Gate didn't reveal any shortcomings or weaknesses in front of Yotsuya Miko. To this end, he even mobilized personnel from the Special Affairs Department to guard this final batch of materials, ensuring nothing went wrong. Even if the head of the Special Affairs Department had a poor political sense, he should have known through the Investigation Department and his own intelligence network that Divine Gate had such a prominent figure in the city, right?

Since he knew this, there was no need to worry about them being careless in this matter. He was well aware that because Yotsuya Miko had killed most of the spirits in the city, the Special Affairs Department had fallen into a state of semi-paralysis. And the review of Divine Gate's performance was coming up soon. Under such circumstances, even if that guy was stupid, he should know to put in his best effort to complete the handover of this last batch of materials.

If the Investigation Department hadn't been so small, and if a large portion of its existing personnel hadn't been transferred to other areas because of Oune Tatsu, he wouldn't have been willing to let the Special Affairs Department handle this kind of task.

Thinking about this, Okita Qishen was quite troubled again.

Oune Tatsu's business trip was purposeful. With the approval of his superiors, the final decision was made to distribute the Life Spiritual Qi Extraction Method to all branches of the Divine Gate Sect. Of course, only the first few layers would be distributed. Regardless of whether this technique would spread, the Divine Gate could not afford to be in a passive position; at least they had to fully grasp the power of this technique before it became widely known.

Oe Oune Tatsu was there to finalize these details, and without his capable assistant, he felt somewhat overwhelmed. Ultimately, while the Investigation Department was nominally at the behest of its head, it was actually at the behest of Oune Tatsu. Many within the Investigation Department were Oune Tatsu's direct subordinates, because he wasn't there to actually do anything, but rather to gain experience and prestige.

It was just that during the process of getting his credentials honed, he encountered this nobody who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

A nobody...

Okita Qishen chewed on the word. At such a young age, he had become the head of the Divine Gate Investigation Department and had the backing of the Wagen Family. His abilities were not lacking. At least he was able to discover Yotsuya Miko and make his own arrangements regarding what happened to Kawamori, which showed that he was a shrewd strategist. But it was precisely because he thought too much that he felt powerless.

Yotsuya Miko is undoubtedly a pure powerhouse.

Such a powerful being is impossible to scheme against, because any attempt to do so will inevitably fail. Furthermore, the schemes of such a powerful being are unbearable, as the problems arising from the current cultivation method clearly demonstrate.

If Yotsuya Miko hadn't shown no intention of establishing her own organization, and if he hadn't temporarily abandoned the Wagen Family, he would have completely given up on negotiating with Yotsuya Miko and simply sought refuge with her. Standing opposite such a pure powerhouse would be tantamount to courting death.

The more he thought about it, the more he regretted his idea of sending Yuria to Kawamamori; he was filled with remorse. If he had just kept his word and truly treated her as a deity, he wouldn't have provoked Yotsuya Miko's hostility.

"Let's wait until we see the last batch of materials I need before discussing this issue."

Yotsuya Miko remained noncommittal, and after giving a single reply, she closed her eyes, clearly indicating her unwillingness to continue the conversation.

She could see that Okita Qishen was afraid of her, as if he regarded her as some kind of demon, so she naturally didn't expect to see Divine Gate's true intentions from him.

In her view, Okita Qishen had already guessed her thoughts, which was why she felt afraid.

Of all those who knew her, Okita Qishen was the one who understood her true strength best. Because of this, he felt more fear and apprehension towards her than other individuals of similar strength, and dared not act rashly.

But only he dared not act rashly, along with Oe Oune Tatsu at most. Given their positions, they ultimately could not influence the decisions of those above them, and the government also had a matter of face. Some things were not something they could simply choose not to do, nor were they things they could do at will.

She didn't have much of a concept of group decision-making; after all, there will always be some people who disagree in a group. Some people may be rational, but others will show different opinions. At least when it comes to matters that don't truly involve life and death, reaching a true consensus is impossible.

Yotsuya Miko doesn't need to assume that any force is absolutely rational. As long as one party dares to attack her or shows the intention to do so, things become much easier to handle.

"..."

Looking at the girl with her eyes closed in the rearview mirror, Okita Qishen opened his mouth, but ultimately decided against saying what he had originally intended to say.

Besides asking Yotsuya Miko about her impression of Divine Gate, he also wanted to ask her what she thought about Divine Gate spreading his techniques in the branch.

Some things, before they've all settled, don't necessarily end up in the worst possible way. Just like Okita Qishen's estimate that the Life Spiritual Qi Extraction Method would spread among ordinary people, such riots might not necessarily occur.

At least... he was certain that the riot would not benefit Yotsuya Miko in any way, so she might have the means to suppress it.

Chapter 193 Only This Time

In fact, before arriving at Divine Gate, Yotsuya Miko had considered what kind of situation she would encounter.

For example, someone might suddenly jump out and attack her face-to-face, acting like a complete idiot, using her as a scapegoat to test her temper. Such methods are indeed very effective in many situations.

Even though Yotsuya Miko had imagined all sorts of methods Divine Gate might use against her, she never expected their test to be so simple and unpretentious.

"Minister Okita..."

She scanned the neatly categorized materials before her with her Spiritual Sense once more, confirming that she hadn't misread them. There was nothing tampered with on the materials, not a single monitoring device, but... she had to return them.

Can you explain what happened?

The spiritual energy lifted up a piece of the required metal material, which had been cut and stacked in an open container, as requested by Yotsuya Miko herself. She didn't need a container; her shoulder bag was the best one.

As the metal was further peeled away, a pool of respiratory secretions slowly lingered in mid-air from the top of the metal.

Although she could physically remove the discharge, the psychological impact it had on her was indelible.

She even found it strange that such an unpleasant thing would happen when the deal was almost finalized.

"This... this..."

Looking at the pool of phlegm floating in mid-air, Okita Qishen's face quickly turned from rosy to pale, followed by deep anger.

How serious is the situation? That depends entirely on what this Yotsuya Miko thinks.

If she uses this as an excuse to make a fuss, then the matter is serious; if she doesn't pursue it, the matter is still serious, but it will be very serious if it involves him.

Without a doubt, no matter what, he cannot escape responsibility for what happened in this transaction.

And what followed was anger, an incomprehensible anger.

In this troublesome transaction, why did such an absurd thing happen when the matter was handed over to the Special Affairs Department? Did they really lack their own intelligence network to learn about the transaction and have to rely on the Investigation Department to tell them openly?

Despite his busy schedule dealing with all sorts of complicated matters, including meeting several times with the Wagen Family's direct supervisor in the city, he had no time to go to the Special Affairs Department and explain to them, like a kindergarten teacher, exactly how important this deal was.

He believed that this kind of thing couldn't possibly be kept secret from the Special Affairs Department of the same branch. After all, their brains weren't so degenerated that they would be completely unaware that Yotsuya Miko had already visited Divine Gate several times and that several batches of materials had already been transported from the outside world.

If you really don't know, what exactly is their Special Affairs Department doing here? Are they just there to freeload?

Suppressing Yotsuya Miko's actions was the order from above, but such matters are difficult to suppress within the branch office in Yotsuya Miko's city. After all, Yotsuya Miko's movements within that city were far too obvious. While ordinary Divine Gate members might not be aware, how could someone holding the position of the Special Affairs Department Director not be unaware? Did he have absolutely no superiors, rising to power solely on his own?

There must be some misunderstanding here.

Okita Qishen his anger, Okita Kishin put on an expression of guilt and bitterness.

Despite all his calculations, he hadn't anticipated this small step.

If this incident causes Yotsuya Miko to have a negative impact on Divine Gate, then it will be essentially irreversible. All the things he has worked so hard to negotiate and discuss will have been in vain. Not only has he risked his current position, but the entire Divine Gate will also face unpredictable risks.

The emergence of the Life Spiritual Qi Extraction Method has proven that Yotsuya Miko has the power to completely incite riots, and it is completely unimaginable that such a powerful being would turn against the government.